Alex Abandons Blogging and Gets An Extension · Friday November 17, 2006
Last night, I sat in front of my computer until 4am, brainstorming and writing in a vain attempt to narrow down my topic of blogging, hegemony, politics, and other stuff.
In a rare moment of clarity while laying face down on the bed, I thought about Google. And for some reason, the phrase “The Gospel According to Google” popped into my head. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but I typed some quick stuff in an email and sent it off to Angie and Rob because they are much smarter and cogent than I.
I woke up at 8:30 and prepared my presentation for “Music as Communication and Creative Practice,” which was on Glenn Gould’s essay on performing vs. recording (he gave up performing in 1964 to pursue a career solely based in the studio) and I brought up tape splicing/manipulation as stylistic concern and played Olivia Tremor Control and talked about The Beatles. Interestingly enough, The Beatles gave up performing live just 2 years after Gould, and although Gould said “style can never be spliced,” the Beatles started to splice and make tape loops for style and effect rather than for fixing mistakes and piecing songs together. I also talked about the democratisation of recording and DIY home recordings. The presentation went well.
After the seminar, I went into the Media and Communications office and they lovingly informed me that I could turn in my dissertation topic on Monday. Thanks be to Jah!
Then I went to Cafe Crema and sipped a double espresso while brainstorming my Google idea. The clouds cleared, the sun came out, the fog surrounding my brain lifted, and the words came pouring out in a SPECIFIC and POSSIBLY EMPIRICALLY RESEARCHABLE manner. Praise be to Jah!
The next post will outline the dissertation topic and will include a summary of proposed questions and arguments I might make.
A clue: THE PANOPTIC GAZE OF GOOGLE!
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