Super Marie

super-marie.jpg
Originally uploaded by imazine.

This image is an example of what might be called a "detournement", a type of art, stylized by the founders of Situationist International. These types of images create a contrast between pop iconography, advertising images, media concepts, and the "realities" that exist in the world. They portray the absurdities that often pop up when you consider the meaning of the message that advertising and public relations sends, in the face of what is happening around us.

Another term that is similar to detournement is "culture jamming", a style of activism that employs a similar method.

Just read a good review

I’ve just read a good review about this book, and after seeing it in so many hands of readers all over, including my sister’s, I just have to check it out. Right now, though, I am reading about 5 or 6 different books about corporations, globalization, and development. They all touch on the environment in many ways and the ideas of sustainable development. As an anthropology major in college, though, I still have my interests in evolution, religion, and the philosophy of science.

See more progress on: read the god delusion

Matt Weber, Costco, Consumption, and Loneliness

Granbury Walmart
Originally uploaded by granbury18.

Matt Weber is an excellent photographer. He really knows how to capture an emotion through one single image, and he can also put together a series of images that explore the complexities of our culture and what it means to be human, at least in our age.

I like this one of the little girl and the young couple, shopping at Costco, one of the many giant "superstores" that reduce the sticker price of the products they sell, at the cost of reduced wages for their employees and the demise of the "mom's and pop's" stores. Costco, WalMart, Sam's Club, and many other big chain stores represent what globalization, global culture, and development really mean to me: homogenization, dehumanization, and the marketing of consumption as a way of life.

The little girl in this image does not appear to be happy to be where she is, and that may not reflect the reality of her inner feelings, but it definitely adds to the messages this photo sends to me. She looks lonely, neglected, and sad, to me. That's how this world sometimes makes me feel, and I think I see that in others too.

Thanks, Matt. I think art needs to be out there, and I am glad that the internet helps get the artists to throw their works up for people all over to view.