Panopticism

Jeremy Bentham, "The Panopticon Letters"
Michel Foucault, "Panopticism" extract from Discipline and Punish
You can find the original images that accompany the Foucault here.

Have the following readings completed, along with the first two chapters in the Lyon text by next week. Your assignment to accompany the readings is to watch The Truman Show (Peter Weir, USA, 1998) and Enemy of the State (Tony Scott, USA, 1998) and relate the concerns and dramatic features of the films to the issues raised around the issue of panopticism in the Foucault and Lyon texts. How is the panopticon being represented? What is not being considered? Are the problems raised by panopticism being contained in the films?

Pop Music Genealogy

Popular Music Genealogy

Lotsa Posts

Many posts all together. Doc, Surveillance and Pop Music classes all have new material and new reading assignments to look at. Scroll back or as usual use the tags/labels here on the side. Enjoy.

Complete Standardization

From WNYC's Soundcheck here is a report on a new Microsoft music making software called Songsmith. How does a computer program that composes and produces the musical accompaniment to whatever you sing into a microphone allowing you to adjust for tempo and style sound like? Standardization in action.


Here are fun examples of Songsmith in action: collection of videos including the involuntarily funny Songsmith ad from Microsoft and versions of some classic pop tunes redone by the software.

2007 Privacy Rankings

This is the link to the 2007 International Privacy Ranking Report developed by Privacy International. You can find the map that we looked at in class and the single country reports along with the criteria for the different rankings.

Also, please listen to these reports form this week's On The Media as they all revolve around issues of privacy, secrecy, transparency and surveillance.

NSA monitoring of domestic communications of American journalists.


President Obama's commitment to digital document transparency.


What if the ads you're watching are watching you back? A company called Quividi designs software that allows advertisers to guess your age and gender using tiny cameras inserted into billboards and video displays. Quividi's chief scientific officer Paolo Prandoni explains how the ads work.


And, finally, a report/article from Pop Matters, the online music magazine about the relationship of surveillance and hip-hop. Here.

Rock'n'Roll! Transubstantiated RnB?

Elvis Presley - That's All Right, Mama + Blue Moon of Kentucky
Bill Haley & The Comets - Crazy Man Crazy
Fats Domino - Ain't That A Shame + Blueberry Hill
Little Richard - Tutti Frutti
Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues + I Walk The Line
Chuck Berry - Almost Grown + Little Queenie
Bo Diddley - Pretty Thing
The Chords - Sh-Boom
Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers - Why Do Fools Fall In Love

Independent Labels

Independent Labels

Big Joe Turner

Mainstream Pop

Patti Page - How Much Is That Doggie In The Window

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers (1941)

This is the Lindy Hop, the Jitterbug, the Suzie-Q. The clip is an excerpt from H.C. Potter's Helzapoppin' (1941). The Lindy Hoppers doing "The Big Apple" in 1939 are here. Enjoy.
In this clip the dancing starts at the 2:15 mark.

R'n'B is on the indies

Big Joe Turner - Shake, Rattle and Roll
Big Mama Thornton - Hound Dog
Rufus Thomas - Bear Cat
Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup - That's All Right
Jackie Brenston & His Delta Kings (aka Ike Turner) - Rocket 88
Junior Parker - Mystery Train
Little Walter - Dead Presidents

Postwar Hillbillies

Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys - Take Me Back To Tulsa
Hank Williams - Hey Goodlookin' + Lovesick Blues
Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys - Muleskinner Blues + Blue Moon Of Kentucky

Pop Music Readings II

in Garofalo:

-Chapter 2: Blues and Country Music: Mass Media and the Construction of Race

-Chapter 3: “Good Rockin’ Tonight”: The Rise of Rhythm and Blues

Charlie Gillet from The Sound of the City, "The Sound Begins"
Nelson George from The Death of Rhythm and Blues, "Dark Voices in the Night"

Pre-War Specialties

Doc Boggs - Sugar Baby
Jimmie Rodgers - Mule Skinner Blues
The Carter Family - Wildwood Flower
Jimmie Rodgers & The Carter Family - Blue Yodel
Skip James - Devil Got My Woman
Robert Johnson - Love in Vain

Barnouw

Barnouw - Chapter 3

Please read Susan Sontag, "Fascinating Fascism" and be prepared to discuss issues related to aesthetics and politics in documentary film and non-fiction representation. New York Review of Books link to the original article here. There's a 'multimedia' version of the article here --footnoted with video clips of examples discussed in the article.