Extra Credit Blog: Emblem

Here, I present to you the emblem of my representation: The Void

At first glance, it may appear to be an empty blank, but in reality, it is just a lightest of shade emitted from the darkest of substance. Something of a facade, misguiding its observer. It is bare, as it is nothing.

A nobody.

Devoid of any identifiable properties. It is a canvas which waits to be marked upon. And because the white hew conceals its nature, it is alone, forever to remain unrealized.

You see, the light-particles (photons), upon coming into contact with the item, immediately bounce right off. None stick; as if believing they are better off on their own trajectory. The Void however, does not believe itself to be better off without the photonic accompaniment. This is inferrable by the ironic outcome of its color, which incidentally, is conducive for inviting other colors. Yet, all that awaits it, all the reply to its proposal, is deception. It remains empty. An empty blank to which imagination can endeavor unabated and infinitely.


Harry Houdini died on the same day of the year that I was born. If there's anything his spirit transferred over to mine, it is knowing how to disappear.

Community Legislation (Blog 4)

Alright folks. Let me tell you about a form of local legislation that recently, has not only constrained my behavior, but my literal lifestyle. For those of you still living in dorms, take especial heed to what I'm about to say. View at your own discretion.

Okay, so the place I lived at for the majority of my college career--whose name I won't mention (though I don't know why... I really should... But I guess I'm just nice like that)--is run by an administration of fucking Nazis. For the sake of convenience, I'll just refer to these folks as, "the Regime". So, reason 1) why they are Nazis: the population hosted by the Regime is, as I've witnessed it, largely regulated to maintain a certain "quota" of "client-types". By this I mean, a good 80% of the residents are student females, and about 80% of that group is either blonde/fair haired, or simply, slender. Now, at first I perceived this to be a good thing; it certainly couldn't hurt my chances, right? But after a while, I noticed the kind of effects that this 'demographically exclusive' culture had on its community.

Let me go ahead and give you an example. So there I was, about to fall asleep like a typical diurnal creature, when all of a sudden, I get a midnight call. The caller was someone I had met through a sublease--they were a small, non-white female. She had called me on the basis that, as she was getting ready to leave the office study, she noticed a handful of 'fellas' suspiciously "chillin'" outside the office in their vehicle. I did not need to ask to already know what about them she thought was so suspicious. Yet, she told me anyways... in her own way: "that they did not look like the 'type' that lived in this neighborhood." On one hand, I could have acted gentlemanly, escorted her through the dubious loiterers to her place, and surely, proven myself a hero of the night! Instead, I told her she would be fine and returned to my slumber. (Oh, she still owes me $200 btw. Forgetful bigot.)

Reason 2) The Regime implements a yearly purge to meet their quotas. It's called: Not renewing your lease--an annual event where they get to treat you like assholes. On these occasions, the administrators unmercifully oust everyone they deem unfit to go live out on the streets. This year it happened to be me. I assume that as a dark-haired-not-woman man, I simply didn't meet the standards of their quota. I don't know what I will do without a bed, or a room, toilet or kitchen. Indeed, there are enough squirrels on campus to provide adequate sustenance... but it is the nightly mosquito raids that really worry me.

And speaking of raids, reason 3) is that the Regime conduct their operations like the damn Gestapo. I have seen them in action. Persecuting my upstairs roommate who--was an asshole! and thought that for some reason, it would be ok to start cleaning up for the move out at 1 am last night; costing me over an hour of sleep and a serious seretonin depletion by vacuuming the entire upstairs (and stairs) like a vampire crak-head; and who--had done a shitty job of paying his bills on time as well as returning his calls from the Regime about the matter. Consequently, I heard a pounding on the door; I opened it to find a couple of petite punishers charge in to stamp a letter of condemnation against his door. They moved like shadows in the night. So swift, so stealth. Truly a scary experience.

The point is, that I have been made the victim of an unjust purge simply because I was not born a dumb blonde. Fucking fascists.

Proposal Essay Possibilities

Problem: Modern day economic growth, dependent on mass-production and consumer culture, is enslaving societies to consumerist ideology; perpetuating hierarchies of wealth (i.e. material and social inequality); depleting the world of its natural (and often irreplacable) resources; and creating irreversible damage to global ecosystems and wildlife.

(A) Practical/Policy Solution: This form of resolution would require one of two things:
        1) The advance of federal authorities in confiscating key industries from corporate ownership--reappropriating the distribution of fundamental goods/services to assure the coverage of destitute communities (medicines, communication media, food, shelter)--while also reconfiguring the methods of manufacturing (aka away from designed obsolescence) to reduce waste and energy consumption.

or     2) To establish a popular activist front demanding a higher level of philanthropic qualification from elite proprietors, in the face of populous preparation for the dejection of consumerist obligations, which would radically endanger corporate operations.


(B) Research Solution: Research for this measure would revolve around alternative forms of economic exchange. Works from theoreticians may be compiled, trial-studies put in place in small communities, and analyses performed which seek the efficacy of neo-economies. Such models might include the speculation of a pluralist society, in where a socialist apparatus is implemented to address confines of poverty while a 'free market' derivative resides above to regulate and sustain a more liberal output and range of products.


(C) Media Solution: This, I would like to have more fun with... I would like to make a film, a blockbuster, centered on a tight coalition of filmmakers whose residence in Los Angeles has guided them to disillusionment with consumer culture and against political hierarchy--both of which they consider expressions of corruption. Determined to antagonize the existing regime and its capitalist pillars, they devise to kidnap and execute a string of wanton big-business elites and their political affiliates. They decide however, to film the vigilante enterprise. They intentionally tip off local investigators, initiating a suspense-filled manhunt; all the while, using their studio as headquarters, production equiptment for communication, costumes for disguise, cameras to capture candid footage of their own as well as their victims' crimes, and their sharp wits to eliminate any remnants of evidence from their activities. Still proving elusive to law enforcement, despite the investigators' suspicions, they market their upcoming film as the summer's next hottest crime thriller. Making sure to cover up their tracks, the film crew edits out the identities of their victims and pulls through in producing a kick-ass flick whose plot is exactly what I've just described. The movie's theatre release is attended by the detectives. They realize the contents of the film, but are left reveling in their rage knowing their prosecution had failed to avail.

Yup... Warm up the popcorn and get ready to give this motherfucker a two thumbs up!

challenge check in 2

To: Whom it may concern, notably Professor Beaudrie

From: Hector Fontanet

Date: July 27, 2014

Subject: Challenge Update



I am pleased to report that the completion of my Challenge is complete. I have uploaded links to the original music productions below. Enjoy! (or don't...)



https://soundcloud.com/hector-alexander/broken-1


https://soundcloud.com/hector-alexander/04-ghosts

Blog 3 -- Entertainment?

Entertainment? Is that the theme for this week's blog? I've stopped believing in entertainment; I probably wouldn't even bother addressing the topic were not for my thought that, they are better ways to interpret what you indulge.

My impression is that entertainment is supposed to bring either amusement or some form of joy. Well, amusement comes at an expense, and joy, like happiness, is an occurrence, not a pursuit. Entertainment is either an abhorrent pastime, or just a farce.


Thus, my story begins with hate. A similar origin as Christian Bale's, Bruce Wayne. At the beginning of the Dark Knight Trilogy, Bruce is born into the trauma consequential to criminality; and effectually, becomes baptized in his hatred for it. His only ambition for his life there on is to corrupt the criminal from their existence; to beat them at their own game--and to do so, by overwhelming them with the very element they use to enact evil: fear... "to fight fear with fear". The purpose of Batman, regarding everything from his costume to his intentions, is to engulf wrong-doers in the darkness they claim to behold--like a phantom beyond all fathom. But, to fight monsters, he must become one himself.


So here I stand, instrument in holster, knowing that if music is my future, its career will bring me into the climate of my contempt: the "entertainment industry". Inarguably, the music business is as corrupt as Gotham. It turns artists into celebrities like a factory output turns raw substance into plastic product. It needs inversion. I'm driven to excel, contrary to most beliefs, not because I love music but because I hate it. It can be better--at every turn of the corner. The industry should be taken down. At all costs, I intend to sink that titanic. Such a gargantuan task though... I often wonder if my ambitions deviate from possibility. I can anticipate the criticism: "Nobody can do it." Well, if that's the case, then I will be nobody... No more a single man, just a mere shadow. I will lose my name, lose my face, wear a mask, become forgotten, and be alone. If that's what it takes, then consider it done. If an entertainment industry can be changed into an inspiration industry, then no degree of sacrifice would be in vain.

Opening of Alexander Graham Bell’s

School of Vocal Physiology

Brochure October 4 1872

            This document advertises the unveiling of 25-year old, Alexander G. Bell’s first private business, an institution which sought to teach pupils the mechanics of vocal expression by using the system of “Visible Speech.” The methodology was invented by Bell’s father, Alexander Melville Bell, whose professional study of elocution helped him conceive the means of communication for those enduring deafness, by learning and practicing phonetic vocalizations. Clearly, his father’s study had enormous influence on Alexander Graham Bell’s interest in audio science; not only in reference to the Boston School of Vocal Physiology’s practice of Melville’s curriculum, but also in regards to Bell’s subsequent career in phonic-based research which culminated with his invention of the telephone in 1876.

            For all of us who like our music played loud—our woofers “cranked up” to ensure the body can bounce—we have Alexander Graham Bell to thank. In inventing the telephone he created the speaker, a device that delivers to the appeal of our ears; but his creation also included the microphone, which receives rather, the sensation of our voice. With a single contraption (the telephone) Bell captured the duality of existence and communication alike; signifying the importance of both reception and transmission.

            It seems the best things come in pairs. It took almost an entire century after Bell for the music industry to realize this. Upon receiving the package that contained a second speaker, Beatle’s producer George Martin dismissed the delivery boys, telling them to leave the monitor outside while he continued working in the traditional custom with a single speaker. Shortly after, the necessity of the second speaker (aka ‘stereo’ set up) became realized—by the Beatles and the world alike; and since then, the delivery of sound has transformed astonishingly.

           The speaker is now a canon. When placed on the stage it can tear down the barriers separating people. For a moment, in its service, it can abolish the sorrows which daunt our species.

And I can make that cannon mine. With the amp as my authority and the guitar my scepter, I am empowered to lay down the tremors for a new age—to spread into this generation the seismic sounds of spiritual upheaval. I will simply turn my dial up and the Earth will absorb the ripples I deliver.