Connected

I read the article on a browser; honestly, how I wish I could have printed it out. Then I can read it on the bus while I am going home.

Possibilities are everywhere, there is no exception to the ever-evolving new technology. Is the Web dead? Who cares if it is really the case? I am pretty sure that a technology will have its replacement when it is to be eliminated. The corporations earn so much money in the industry, therefore they would not stop making new things to make people happy to spend their money. But the terms "new" and "happy" are subjective and vague, that is why critics can never finish their work.

In my opinion, applications - like Facebook, instant messenger, Google map etc. - extend what the internet can do (or we can say that the internet allows the extensions). They are mostly social networking sites or to connect people more with the world. However, how much is more? How much is too much? Does the connection work well? We already have cellphones on all the time (most people do), do we really need to connect to the world through a virtual space?

It depends on how the person uses it. To me, I do not want to connect to the internet all the time. I still need space to read printed media and see the world with my own eyes. As a musician, I hate distraction. When I am doing practice or composition, I switch my cellphone off; if someone knocks on my room door - without noticing the "Do not disturb" sign - I would be really annoyed. But, is this a kind of isolation? No, I do not think so. It is focus. then I would come back to real life, unlock my door and talk to my housemates.

Intimacy with the world comes by stepping away from new technology gadgets. We can actually see and listen (and FEEL) so much without clicking a button at all. We participate so much on online applications; however, based on the similar idea of participation, we can be so connected by just walking or sitting in a park, just like how we scroll a Facebook page and sitting in front of a computer the whole day. The former sounds more fun. If we can add strangers as friends on Facebook, we can also make friends with strangers in a park. 

I have two laptops in my room and a cellphone with unlimited web browsing plan. But I still prefer to be in the "real" world, because the virtual ones are just small puzzles in this universe.

Believe

I am quite stupid when it comes to visual creativity. However, writing, singing, and the piano strings know me pretty well. The courage to believe in myself might be lost sometimes, but I feel blessed to be able to write and sing.

Gabriel Orozco - an artist of his own life

Visual arts were a foreign language to me until I took the course FACS 1900 Arts and Ideas taught by Professor Robert Gill two years ago. Striving to be a songwriter, I understand the importance of connections between various artistic disciplines. While in Arts and Ideas, I got to know this incredible artist - Gabriel Orozco.

Orozco said he does not have a fixed studio; he works anywhere as long as he feels comfortable. He loves walking and taking pictures of anything simple or sophisticated. While taking pictures of candid nature, he might change the setting by rearranging the items and background - trying to create an "unnatural" yet thought provoking scene. In this sense, he is like a photographer in a studio, but he just improvises anything while he is walking on a street taking pictures. The process of walking, seeing, modifying, and taking pictures becomes so intimate to the artist himself, and also to us as viewers.