viz.

Image Credit: Lady Gaga at the VMAs, Designer Franc Fernandez

I realize that I may be a bit behind the times to be addressing (ha!) Lady Gaga's fashion stunt of last fall, but meat's been on my mind this week as I'm about to embark on 30 days of eating vegetarian - largely as a result of the text we're teaching in our introductory rhetoric classes here at UT: Colin Beavan's No Impact Man. But that's another story.  Gaga's appearance at the Mtv Video Music Awards sparked controversy that dissipated rather quickly, and though this may have been due to the singer's own inability to adequately (or logically) explain the reasons behind her wardrobe choice, the images left behind offer a really interesting opportunity for varying and disparate interpretations.  

Image Credit: Adriana Cervantes, created as final presentation for my RHE 306 class

Particularly in technology-based classrooms like we have here in the DWRL, instructors are always looking for new ways to teach students non-traditional forms of writing. A few weeks back, Ashley wrote a viz. post about the on-line animation program, Xtranormal, whose motto is “if you can type, you can make movies.”  Her post inspired/challenged me to give it a try with my students. It's extremely user-friendly, and we were able to create animations in a single class period. Users enter text, and the program animates the dialogue for them. Above and after the jump are examples of my students' work, and I'll talk more about pedagogical value of the program.

Image Credit: "Smashed Glass" by Jessica Alpern

Guest blogger and Austin-based photographer Jessica Alpern discusses her recent work, Useless, in which she offers new visions of everyday objects.  As she explains, "This collection is a look at common object, made or found, that no longer serve their purpose due to damage, defect or the inevitability of time."  More from the artist after the jump.

Image Credit: MTV ad via YouTube

Researching last week's viz. post about domestic violence PSAs started me down a rather depressing rabbit hole.  I was curious to see how often humor was used in these ads (infrequently), but weeding through a few dozen of them yielded some interesting trends while simultaneously making me sad for the human race.  This ad, narrated by Helena Bonham Carter, is a strange juxtaposition of verbal abuse acted out as physical violence.  While I won't subject you to watching the plethora of PSAs that I waded through, I'll talk about trends in target audience, invisible vs. visible violence, and how these commercials may or may not have the desired effect.

Image credit: The OPCC via YouTube

H/T to Rachel for suggesting the topic sending me the clip

Although Halloween is behind us, and we've packed up the glam make-up and eaten all the goodies, I'd like to call your attention to an interesting use of bunny suits I recently came across.  Or, perhaps "interesting" isn't quite the right word... inappropriate, insincere, ineffectual... these seem more apt.  While this ridiculous domestic violence PSA has already been addressed by Irin Carmon over on Jezebel, I think there are some more fundamental issues we can tackle from a rhetorical standpoint.  Ultimately, the commercial leaves me with questions about when humor actually hits the mark and when it just goes horribly wrong.

Image Credit: Jon Montmayor photo of "Rejected Brother" by Tildon Humphrey

H/T to Jessica

Partly in the spirit of the upcoming holiday, and partly as a thematic continuation of recent viz. posts, I'd like to introduce you to an Austin-based artist whose work repurposes and reinvigorates "natural history."  Tildon Humphrey's creations look right back at us and ask us to re-think what we see.

Image Credit: Jason Freeny Moist Productions

Elieen's viz. post from a few weeks ago on Justine Cooper's photo-documentation of the American Museum of Natural History in New York has been bouncing around in my head ever since.  It (re)kindled a long-standing interest I've had in both natural history museums and slightly morbid kinds of art.  In both digital images and sculpture, artist Jason Freeny invests familiar children's toys with anatomical interiors, suggesting an inner life/death that both unsettles and intrigues.

Image Credit: screen shot from barbie.com

H/T: Noel

From coloring books to glitter to unicorns, my viz. posts seem to be revolving around adult repurposing of the trappings of youth.  Naturally, we'll have to throw Barbie into the mix.  While she has certainly seen her share of fashion updates over her 50-year reign as fantasy icon extraordinaire, this creepy 21st-century update to Barbie's accessory collection reverses the gaze and turns Barbie’s body into a tool for surveillance.

Image Credit: Norton

H / T to my mom for sending me the video in response to last week's post

Last week on Viz I posted about glitter as an undermining agent in images of solemnity.  In this commercial for Norton security software, the glitter use results in deadly (and delightful) consequences.

Image Credit: posted by "Hellen Killer" on Regresty, originating from PeachyProfiles.com

H/T to  Megan Eatman for sending me the blog

As recent Twilight films have demonstrated, sparkling is one of the few things that doesn't translate well into new media.  It also makes it hard to take anything seriously - regardless of authorial intention or gravity of subject matter.