Against the Machine Chap. 5

Lee Siegel brings up some good points in this chapter. He discusses originality, how it comes from the inside-out based upon how someone reacts and responds to the environment around them. He does contradict himself however; in one sentence Siegel says that originality is impossible because we are overwhelmingly influenced by the environment and by others. He also wonders why anyone would want to take the risk of doing something original. Then, he goes on to explain that originality is an essential part of pop culture, and gives examples of originality from Elvis’ pelvis thrusting to Keith Jarrett’s piano playing style. If originality is impossible, how can he talk about it as if it exists? It left me scratching my head a bit.

The point about American Idol and how it goes against originality is a good one. The contestants sing other peoples songs, they are packaged and presented in predetermined ways and their fate rests in the hands of voters. It is a glorified popularity contest where the winner does not win solely based upon level of talent. Siegel makes an excellent point when he says that what makes American Idol unique is that it fuses privacy with publicity and exposes them for the world to see. This ties in with earlier points about how the Internet has made privacy public. Whether it is YouTube, social media sites or reality television, things that are probably left behind closed doors are put on a digital pedestal on display for all of us to see.

Siegel also brings up television shows and how actors are no longer characters who are disconnected entities from the viewer. Because of the Internet, viewer interaction via websites of television shows allows them to become part of the show, changing outcomes and participating in situations. In essence, they become the character and play a part in the narrative. Not only has the Internet drastically changed the way we view entertainment, but it also changes how we receive our news and what kind of news we want to receive, all because of user interaction and customization.

Behind the Type pages

The images on the home page and history page will be animated slide shows of various ancient writing/inscriptions. For the A page and every other letter page, the plan is to have an animation in the lower right section of the page showing how each letter evolved, starting with their original form in the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet, through the Phoenician, Greek, Etruscan and Roman alphabets. The idea is to do something like a shape tween in Flash so each form morphs into the next, showing the evolution of each letterform. If I can't get that to work, I will probably just do an animated slideshow showing each form. In addition, the words on the A page (man, primal energy, strength, etc...) are derivative meanings for the letter that were attributed to it throughout history. I plan to do this for each letter, but can't decide which type to use, Arial (man, primal energy, strength are in Arial) or Sujeta, the type used for the big red A and for my logo.

home page

letter A page (in progress)

the history page

Behind the Type Revised

Stuck making a "contemporary" navigation bar, could use some suggestions! The letters on the lower left will be gone and I want to put a slide show of images of various ancient inscriptions and writing