A. Foodz.

noreply@blogger.com (Ashley) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:49:00 -0800

My first video podcast was one based on my love of food. When told that I had to record interesting footage over the weekend, I knew that I was only going to be in my house and at my job all weekend, two places that don't seem too interesting to me anymore. However, when thinking of what the two places had in common except for the fact that I inhabit both of them frequently, I realized what the connection between the two is: they both have food. Upon thinking of this, I took out my camera during every meal I consumed over the weekend. When I went on break at work, the camera was there. When I was eating lunch at home, the camera was there. After recording my first meal of the weekend (McDonald's, which actually didn't make the video) I played it back and sped it up. I found it pretty cool that the food seemed to disappear so fast during a speedy playback. This is where I got the overall idea for my video.

There were a few problems that I encountered while putting this together. Firstly, when recording the food I was eating, it was difficult to get the camera to sit in a way that could record the food and still look clear. For example, a few of the meals I recorded were a little too close, therefore making the image a little blurry. However, I didn't realize that they were so blurry when I played them back on my camera, because the screen was so small that it looked clear.

Another problem I came across had to do with background music. I'm not a musician, nor do I have any software on my computer to help me to create music, so I found it difficult to think of what I should have in the background. As I thought more about it, I realized that I could perform a beat of some sort on some pots and pans, both creating my background noise and sticking with the theme of food. After listening to the beat, I realized how much I wished I were a musician so that I could've done something better, but I figured that it would be fine since pots and pans aren't usually the greatest instruments in the first place. I added some audio in the background of the crunch of eating some chips, and this can be heard throughout the piece as well.

When thinking of the message that my video conveys, I believe it is simply this: I need to eat more vegetables.

A Stroll Down Main Street, USA - An enhanced podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Ashley) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:32:00 -0800

The space that I chose to take my listeners on a tour of was Main Street, USA at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom theme park. I chose this space because Disney has become a very important part of my life. The atmosphere of Walt Disney World makes me feel very happy at all times, and I used some of my favorite audio from the park's parade and fireworks show in order to recreate that. My target audience is someone who has never been to Walt Disney World before. I address that in this podcast by telling them exactly where they need to go after they get off of the monorail and which way they should get into the park. I also tell them how today, while listening, they should feel like a little kid in the park, something that most people who visit WDW come to realize.
Space and sound interact in my piece in harmony. There are people speaking in the background as well as the parade going on. Popcorn pops as footsteps walk by them. There are so many instances in which these sounds are harmonious.
My intentions in this piece were to gain the interest of anyone who has never been to WDW before. I wanted them to feel the "magic" that they could get there and maybe want to plan a trip there someday. Or, for people like me who have been there before, I want them to feel like they are there again and to help bring back fun memories of that vacation.

Take a walk through The World

noreply@blogger.com (Ashley) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:15:00 -0800

I used sounds from Walt Disney World to create this piece!

Conflux Exhibition

noreply@blogger.com (Ashley) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:25:00 -0800

The Conflux Exhibition finally opened! Here are my top three favorites from the gallery:

3. Milton 2.2.2 (HD Video) by Raphael Perret, 2010

I loved how the video was displayed on the wall in the front of the gallery. It was the first thing anyone noticed when they walked in, and for me it seemed to set the entire idea of the Conflux exhibition being a new media art exhibition.

2. Paparazzi Bot by Ken Rinaldo

This bot stands at the height of an average human and senses when one is standing right in front of it. Without getting too close, it snaps a picture of you. It's so crazy and awesome how it isn't controlled by a single person other than the person who stands in front of it to trigger it to take the picture.

And my absolute favorite piece of the Conflux exhibition was

1. The Quick Brown Fox (A Pangram), by Alan Bigelow, 2011

I cannot stress enough how amazing I found this piece to be. Hovering the mouse over each letter not only had a short video/picture accompanied with words to help tell the backstory, but also made a small sound that intensified as you went down the alphabet. The sound along with the pictures gave me the chills. Loved this piece.

Spotlight on Raphael Perret

noreply@blogger.com (Ashley) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:02:00 -0800

Raphael Perret is an artist from Switzerland who came to speak at OSU Mansfield on Thursday. During the lecture, Perret talked to us about some of his projects that he has spent a lot of time working on. I loved the fact that his works were made from the movement of people, but what really made me appreciate his work was the fact that he chose to sculpt the movements of someone who was doing a Brazilian form of martial arts. This meant that the images of movement that he captured were not only arm and leg actions, but also the movement of the martial artist spinning upside down in the air and doing flips and such. The swift motions of the martial artist made for an image that looked seriously awesome as a sculpture.

Someone during the lecture asked Perret if he had ever done similar art but with pedestrians rather than martial artists. At first, I thought that a sculpture done of the motions of a pedestrian would just be a straight line that was in the shape of a person and that it wouldn't look like anything but a human. But as I thought more about it, I realized that along with the arm movements of the pedestrian and the alternating steps of the legs, it would be an interesting piece that I would be interested in seeing one day. The Perret lecture put into perspective different ways that I can look at motion and like Perret, notice that even though a motion is done and you will never see it again, there is a way that the entire motion can be captured forever in an intriguing sculpture piece.

Icebreaker

noreply@blogger.com (Ashley) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:55:00 -0800

Listen here first!

Walking around Ovalwood and collecting sounds was a difficult task, seeing as how the building seemed to be utterly silent during this common class hour. However, as I walked around, I realized that I became attracted to the sounds of water that I found. I found the waterfall on the wall in the Cyber Cafe gave a nice, clear sound of water falling. I also found that the ice machine gave the sound of both ice and running water as someone got a drink. There was a bathroom on the fourth floor that had a toilet that was constantly running water, but in a different sound than that of the waterfall in the cafe. Later on, upon going to the same floor, I heard that the toilet was continuously flushing without stopping, so I picked up that sound as well. The sound of a drinking fountain was used as well. Any instance of water I found, I realized that I was recording it.

The theme of my soundscape was water, but I wanted to put a story to go along with it. The soundscape follows a person who is getting ice and a cup of water, rushing upstairs, using the restroom, flushing the toilet, and washing their hands. Every one of these actions involves water, but each in a different way. I used the ice machine to convey ice, the fountain to convey the restroom noise, the flushing toilet for the flush, and the drinking fountain for the washing hands.

I think I can...

noreply@blogger.com (Ashley) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:00:00 -0800

The piece that I chose to listen to for this exercise was Bahnhof Auschwitz in der Nacht by Marcello Mercado.

As I am listening to this, I hear what sounds like water in a car wash. It gets louder and louder until I think it reminds me of a washing machine. I envision an open washing machine sloshing water and moving clothes around within it. I also think of teeth being brushed in a circular motion. Now the sloshing sound stops and begins to sound like water running in a shower, and makes me think of a shower even more when a man starts to sing to himself all of a sudden. Now all I hear are squeaking noises and a low beeping noise below it. The squealing reminds me of when my ears are ringing. It has now faded out.

I finally just allowed myself to scroll down in the information section, and in it, Mercado says that these were the sounds of the trains in the Auschwitz station at 11:30 at night. My mind is blown because I really thought that water had to be involved in it. I was so certain that bubbles were involved somewhere. What sounded like a clearly hygenic piece turned out to be a train station. It's so cool how very different, yet very similar sounds can be.

Here, go hear for yourself! Get some laundry done to it. Play with your old toy train. Brush your teeth. Whatever. Here's the link..just click on Marcello Mercado!

http://soundlab.newmediafest.org/index21.html

"Listen, baby!"

noreply@blogger.com (Ashley) — Mon, 9 Jan 2012 23:04:00 -0800

My deep listening session took place at Fazoli's around 8:30 pm on Saturday.

As I sat down in my booth and prepared myself to listen, I realized that since this was such a familiar place in which I've learned to tune out certain sounds at times, I needed to clear my head and be able to focus on each sound I could hear from not just the dining room, but also the kitchen and elsewhere in earshot. Of course, the very first sound I noticed was the music playing from the speakers in the ceiling. In the particular booth I was sitting in, the ceiling speaker was located to the left of me. During the entirety of my listening session, the music played in the background, sometimes softly, sometimes more lively, but never stopping. Either way, the music makes me feel more relaxed and at ease than I know I would be in a room of complete silence, and I imagine that the music has this same affect on the other guests in the dining room as well. Though the music is discernible, it is quiet enough in the background for me to hear the conversation of the couple in the booth two tables down from me. Their conversation blends together with several other conversations I hear going on around me, all of them consolidating to make more background noise that continues for the entirety of the session. All of the voices sound very monotone, comparable to the voices you would hear at a funeral. It adds an odd feeling to the air. Ignoring the monotone part of their voices and just focusing on the voices themselves makes me realize that the restaurant is getting fuller and busier on this Saturday night.

As people walk into the dining room, I hear the scuffle of their feet on the carpet, and then the silence that comes with their feet stepping onto the tile in front of the condiment stand. I hear the "thwack," of them pressing down on the ice lever and the grumbling of the machine as it readies itself to drop some ice into their open cup.

The sound of beeping is coming from a few certain areas in the restaurant. I hear a manager press a button on a register, resulting in a "beep." Immediately after this beep I hear three beeps come from a screen in the kitchen. As I'm registering the beeps, I suddenly hear an unpleasant squealing noise that I realize is the pasta machine in the kitchen. It's an awful screeching noise, comparable to nails on a chalkboard almost, but easier to handle. The noise proves that work is being done in the kitchen after an order has been placed.

It's a little strange, but to me, I feel like the more people came into the dining room and the louder everyone talked, the louder the music became and the more dominant the music became in my mind. Looking at it this way, I also felt as though my ears were a camera in which I was using the zoom option before to hear every tiny little sound I could, but when I zoomed out, I could see the big picture (this being the music playing and the guests walking around with trays of food and such). All of the little sounds made up the big picture and the fact that this was a restaurant during a busy time on a weekend night.

Podcasts I'd take home to Mom.

noreply@blogger.com (Ashley) — Mon, 9 Jan 2012 22:12:00 -0800

I have listened to a few podcasts, but I haven't actually subscribed to one before! Here are some podcasts that I found to be worthy of my very first podcast subscriptions:

Audio podcasts:

WDW Radio: Your Walt Disney World Information Station

Within a minute of pressing the Play button, I knew I was in love. The intro to the podcast was filled with sounds and music that were very comparable to the ones found in a Walt Disney World park. I subscribed to this podcast because of its attention to every detail of the Disney theme park and the discussion of new things to come to the parks. It's such a fun show to listen to and makes me feel like I'm back in Orlando!

Gossip Girl AfterBuzz TV AfterShow

I subscribed to this podcast because my guilty pleasure is Gossip Girl. I've been watching it on Netflix for months and downloading this podcast to my iPod will be able to give me a GG fix while I'm on the way to school or work!

Video podcasts:

Chelsea Lately

Chelsea Handler is my favorite comedian! Much like her TV shows, her video podcasts feature her and members of her cast on her show talking about celebrities, telling stories, and doing ridiculous activities that I happen to find hilarious.

D23's Disney Geek

D23 is a giant Disney fan club that happens to cost big bucks to be a member of. Since I can't afford to dish out the money to be officially in the club, this podcast is the next best thing! It tells me Disney movie, music, television, and park news. It's also officially ran by Disney, so I know I'm getting the exact facts, all while having fun listening to it! Love it!

Recipe for one Ashley J.

noreply@blogger.com (Ashley) — Thu, 5 Jan 2012 12:10:00 -0800

Ingredients:

My personality is very happy and almost childlike. I've also always loved making little crafts for fun. I'm the Kid's Night Coordinator at Fazoli's Italian Restaurant, so I get to make crafts with kids every week. I love it!

I'm an employee of Walt Disney World and in 2011 I completed the Disney College Program internship there! Disney is a big part of my life, and I plan to have a career with the company. These are some of the Mickey ears I have accumulated over the past year.

My personality is very bubbly, especially when I'm at work and having fun! The bubbles are spilled in this picture to signify the fact that I'm always trying to spill my bubbliness onto others when they are feeling down :)

Food is one of my favorite things and I'm always talking about it. This fork and spoon were handed down to me by my great grandma when I was seven and my food obsession had begun, so I took this picture to celebrate two of the most important things in my life: family and food.

I'm at Fazoli's almost every single day! I've worked there for four years, one year for each of the breadsticks in this picture.

Instructions:

Throw all together in a large mixing bowl. Mix well. Yields one very excitable Ashley Johnson!