I just sent out the week #2 media assignment; so look for that in your email.  So far only two students have posted on the Proc2Synth2 site.  (So you two are currently my favorites.)  I have gotten reactions for the first media assignment from 2 (different) students.  Both were spot on.  (So you two are also currently my favorites.) 

I also sent out a separate document that is designed to help you write an "Art Proposal".  Please read that at least once before class.  I will have hard copies for those of you who like paper.

Here are some extra recommendations for the week:

1. 11/5/13: this story about a food truck chef and entrepreneur has almost all of the themes of the class contained in one interview (especially the importance of starting from yourself and where you are but also the importance of looking for synthesis).  The audio version is much better than reading the transcript.

2. I head this story this morning and just thought "wow" (Ice Music Festival)

3. I strongly recommend the movie Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow.  It is about Anselm Kiefer and it does a fantastic job of communicating his aesthetics and it does it almost completely silently.  I kid you not I think I watched 38 minutes before heard any voice or dialogue or before even seeing a human being.  If this does not sound like your kind of thing, its ok if you skip it but if you have the patience for slow and quiet, this movie is for you.

here is a preview:

4.  nyartbeat's 'not quite a review more a preview' of the recent KAWS exhibition (but it just came down).  Check out the gallery page, KAWS at Mary Boone- though it is unsatisfying due to lack of installation shots (i think the show may be just the four pieces but you have to admit that the two sculptures are impressive).  

5. Here is an interview with Stephen Malkmus, formerly of Pavement.  The interviewer is not great, many of the questions are a little to inside-baseball or cliquish, and Malkmus is never particularly forthcoming, but nonetheless their are some interesting thoughts in there.

Here is a recent video by Malkmus, the song and the video are both subtly clever:

6. I have been thinking about Jim Jarmusch, and the movies Deadman, GhostDog, and Broken Flowers.  They are all about being true to yourself, and knowing who you are, but he usually argues that the pursuit of identity is complicated and that we can achieve authenticity through the adoption of someone else's identity.  

here is the preview to Broken Flowers: