Woodchopping

Writing little bits did nothing, so I wrote a lot.

I just wrote freely, and pushed out over 1K words in about an hour (in segments of course). It was halfway between and introduction and a plan, but really addressed what I was/am thinking and where it might go.

One thing that struck me was that my thesis is still changing. I thought I'd found where it was going and that I could write to that, edit a thousand times and be done, but my Super has thrown a spanner in the works which is moving it ever elsewhere, not just in terms of this thesis but in terms of my overall research arc.

I used to think this kind of thing was a problem (in a big way), but it turns out it is only a mild inconvenience (regarding temporary block). So long as I write when I can and don't when I can't, it isn't too much hassle.

What becomes tough is when I don't write/read/think for more than about two days, or if I do for more than five at a stretch. There is the need for a balance in there and I just can't seem to hit the nail, or when I do the balance shifts. Maybe I can't find it, because there isn't actually a balance at all.

Whatever.

What I do know is that there is a difference between media archaeology, media genealogy and new materialism and that the train of thought I'm following is somewhere between the three.

On a side note, I kind of invented an idea regarding insistent, persistent and resistant media (maybe I'll chuck in consistent while I'm at it - I typed it and sometimes mistakes work out for the best), but that was a little more related to my pursuit for after Honours, like my "Rockstar Barista" thesis, or my "Connected v2.0" project.

Anyway, the main point is that I broke my drought. 

Goodnight.

Writer's Block

I was sick all of yesterday so I stayed in bed, watched anime and did nothing Uni related.

What happened when I woke up today? I was still sick, but I read a few things and started to write.

By that, I mean I sat at my computer and rewrote a single paragraph about 400 times.

Massive writer's block.

I know what I want to say, I just can't shrink it down into English.

I asked The Boss for tips and she said to just write in subheadings, picking concepts or big readings and writing about them. I tried that for a bit but I'd been too long in the blockage so I wrote out a revised plan of attack and started looking up potential supervisors for PhD (which is looking slimmer by the day - especially if I keep writing like this) roles.

I like the look of one guy, but he may or may not be marking my Honours paper so I'm not certain about the rules. On the plus side, if he did take me on at least he'd have an idea how I write.

I'm really hoping a good sleep and an early rise will assist in my block. Kind of have a few thousand words I need to rip out...

Mediating/Mediatising

And there's the rub.

Mediating - semantically and in general usage - is a great thing for me, but Mediatising is where it gets hairy, and where I may need to go.

Theatre is the birth of mediation as we know it (so says my argument) but in order to rejoin the debate I might have to expand on the mediatising of theatre.

It sounds like a cute reworking, but the difference is monstrous. Zemmels puts it quite neatly in one paper, but this again needs to be pulled out of the greater whole.

Kim was spot on when she wrote about a 12000 word paper consisting of a series of definitions to be used in context and nothing more. 

M & M? Oh dear...

Re: Mediating Theatre

It's so simple.

The first chapter is still Remediating, but focuses on where the concept emerges specifically in terms of interfaces. New Media is interface based, and more specific to participation and interaction in terms of users and producers.

The second chapter is still centered on the fourth-wall, but explains the New Media argument in theatrical terms, offering The Wall as an interface, but consults theatre as a participatory/interactive media with users (audience) and producers (makers). The possibility here is to highlight theatre as the media form current media in all of its forms aims to remediate.

The final chapter still offers case studies - the same ones (Gob Squad and Punchdrunk) - but becomes far more useful in terms of both proposed staging and actual effect. GS stage in the most contemporary way possible to both New Media and theatre, while PD almost remove New Media entirely, but offer the experience New Media crave, itself almost a direct throwback to pre-fourth-wall theatre.

And all of this combines into the single argument that in terms of B&G, theatre is absolutely hypermediate, both today and in antiquity.

It also creates a more engaging read, highlights the fact that my own reading is further abroad, and makes a springboard to launch my future research.

Re: Mediating.. Possibly Re: Mediatising?

Or maybe I'm looking at the next step early (Cyberformance, Digital Theatre).

Props to Jason for reading too much, Ed to actually asking me questions, Larissa for knowing everything but feeding me only as much as I can chew and Daniel for writing in the way I can only hope to.

Workout

Short one because I'm at work.

Did my usual physical training sessions the other way around this week - with great results overall.

Spent much more time reading this week too, and I'm formulating ideas to be written proper (still jotting down words as I read) next week.

Hoping to see it work out the same way my workouts have.

New Media Uprising

Read a lot more than usual today, which had a pretty big impact on the words I wrote.

I read about Marshall McLuhan (specifically Understanding Media) and how his theories directly effected B&G, to the point where their book title is a remediation/pun on McLuhan's text.

I really like puns so I was more satisfied with my choice of theorist.

One thing that really struck me was the lack of theatrical discourse in B&G when compared to McLuhan. The Daddy Mc gives theatre a lot of air time, comparing it to film, television and newspapers, as well as giving it a bit of a look as a standalone.

B&G give it pretty much zero, except to comment in passing - or refer to theatre in terms of place (cinema and home movie).

This led me onto the train of thought that theatre is not new media, but much new media evolved from theatre.

Theatre clearly remediates other media, employing practically anything in pursuit of a show, but also remains resistant to new media in a few important ways - ephemerality, immediacy and locality.

Theatre disappears. Theatre is local. Theatre is not immediate - at least in B&G's terms.

What becomes my two fold problem is applying an interface to theatre (the fourth-wall) by which it may be viewed in terms of new media, then refuting the claim to immediacy that this media appears to warrant.

This is going to be fun....

Strange Day(s)

Today was a funny one.

'Strange Days' is a film that opens Bolter and Grusin's discussion of Remediation and sums up my day nicely.

I did a few of the more mundane things - another application of my ethics, a session at the gym and a quick meet with a friend back from Germany.

Following this I pored over a PhD thesis my Supervisor sent me from one of my potential markers. Larissa sent it my way for the obvious reasons (he's likely to mark me so become familiar with his work and quote him positively), but also for slightly more opaque reasoning (he writes in a similar fashion to me, structurally and in terms of how he uses and addresses content).

I got out my new media pen and paper (stylus and iPad) and attacked his opening chapter. There is some stuff to mine in there, but also a few things to potentially rebut, or at least recycle in a different fashion.

With some reading done and an ever-shifting perspective in hand, I sat down to write. I ended up writing more of an introduction than anything else, which then turned into an amusing ramble about why people don't go to the theatre anymore, which according to my ramble was because it is common courtesy to turn off your mobile phone during a performance.

THERE IS SOMETHING IN THIS, but probably not for now. It felt very good to get it off my chest however and the combination of new direction, alternate reading (that cites many of my sources by happenstance) and a little venting has me in better spirits about not only this project, but the future of my research/career.

I also revisited an earlier paper and found that there is specific reference to the theorist (Denis Diderot) behind the construct (the fourth-wall) I'm investigating. A good find.

All told an oddly productive day, but I'm left feeling the same way I do when learning lines. I know they're in my head somewhere, but for the life of me I can't bring them out. Only writing (time) will tell.