Filling in the CATTt pt. 2

CATTt generator (heuretics)

C (contrast) = Advertising (Marchand, commodity sign)

We know that, according to D & G that, advertising has taken control of the creation of concepts for the purposes of capitalism. We must take note of their methodology and co-opt that for our own purposes (this is how we contrast): introducing the Unthought to our public policy topic.

A (analogy) = Art (Evans, appropriation)

The collection of essays outlines for us the various forms that appropriation has taken throughout the history of art. We can glean from the text how the appropriative art project was successful and even instructions towards its use (i.e. the 4 Laws of Detournement - Debord and Wolman)

T (theory) = Philosophy (Deleuze and Guattari)

We look to Delueze & Guattari for a set of instructions for creating a concept. They establish for us the components of philosophy so that we may identify them for ourselves and simply apply the instructions to our own project.

T (target) = Public Policy Topic/Disaster (Virno, public policy formation)

In the context of a disaster or public policy issue, Virno shows us the importance of the innovative action. He posits that the joke (or at least its "logicolinguistic" structure) is the best example of innovative action precisely because it is unexpected, original, and divergent. The "divergent path" (as Virno describes the joke) can lead us to a conclusion that wasn't previously thought - or the Unthought (according to D & G)

t (tale) = Blog (Dean, Stand-Up comedy).

Dean shows us the routine that is implemented in the telling of a joke. While his text is meant for the stand-up comic whose purpose is to make people laugh, we can learn from it how to deliver our "joke" (Virno's innovative action) in order introduce the Unthought through appropriative methods.

Sophisticated Pirate Jokes

Here's a link to McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Pirate Riddles for Sophisticates. Since we've read Virno (I'll post more on that later) we have found that the joke is an "innovative act." So how does that apply to our projects? While we don't necessarily have to make jokes that are funny or make us laugh (Virno refers to the logolinguistic resources of the joke) I thought this little gem on the web was amusing. I also thought it might be a good example for the voice of my conceptual persona. Pirate speak was a phenomenon that became popular a few years back. There's even a Facebook language option that's in pirate. While the riddles in the beginning are great, I think the "joke" is most successful towards the end - you'll see why. It kind of reminds me of the lolcat Bible. They've finished translating it and you can read the whole thing online here!

Vexation Island

The other day while I was driving I was thinking about my blog, and my project for this class. I was thinking about pirates and all of a sudden I remembered a video I saw in my Late 20th Century Art History class with Shep Steiner. The piece, entitled Vexation Island, was created by Rodney Graham and depicts a pirate stranded on an island, stuck in a Sisyphean situation in which he continuously passes out from being knocked on the head with a coconut. The footage is beautiful and is meant to be looped. I was able to find it online (isn't the internet awesome?). Instead of trying to write about what the piece means, this ArtForum article would be more interesting than my interpretations - it even has a shout-out to my favorite art history professor Shep!


Rodney Graham - "Vexation Island"
Uploaded by arginati22. - Full seasons and entire episodes online.

I suppose this has relevance to the class because it sets up an interesting "tableaux" for the pirate to exist in.