First Impressions

So i'm going to begin how i intend to finish, by rambling. So to all of you expecting a very detailed thought through discussion on visual culture.....please look else where, and for those of you looking a very rough first impression of visual culture, stick around, this could be interesting.

The Issues on Visual culture... to me personally right now is just the name of a class i am taking this semester, but hopefully that'll change over the weeks to come.

Lets begin....

First class complete, what do i make of it so far?
in one word, CONFUSING.

We discussed several things, including but not limited to what is creative? watched a few insightful clips and got a recap on what we would've learned in english when we were thirteen... I'm actually interested at how all these seemingly random things will all come together,or why they are all apart of the one class.

Theres many things i suppose i should be blogging about and I'll discuss the laws of simplicity and semiotics in a later post, but in this post i actually want to discuss a very small part of the class i found really interesting.

NONPLACES

Yeah, contradicting word or what. A non place to put it simply isn't a place, its like a fake place you go to get to a real place. Good examples of a non place are airports, motor ways and maybe shops.
This wasn't actually a topic up for discussion in the lecture to be honest, it was barely even mentioned but its just one of those things you hear and think.....i want to find out more about that one unimportant word.
So i did, and i found theres a book all about it, by Marc Auge, i haven't read it yet, but i intend to, the reviews all seem to be similar (link below)
My opinion of this new found word is, mindblowing. and not in the 'oh that makes sense' kind of way, i actually mean in the 'how did i not pick that up before' sense.

Here is a link to a review of his non place book. I intend to read it, so should you.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/mar/28/non-places-marc-auge-review

I know it didn't explain visual culture, but in a three hour lecture of visual culture, this is what sparked my interest, a non place, a place we go to that isn't a place, its an area we go to get to a place. The airport is my favorite example. i mean think of how long you spend in an airport and it has things in it,its an area and yet, its not actually a place, its a gateway (many gateways infact) that allow you to travel to a different place.

Since we are on the topic of new words in todays lecture that apparently will make an appearance in basically every class, I'd like to share another new word i learned today. Zeitgeist.

"The defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time."
-Google dictionary

A word everyone else seems very interested in but i haven't enough understanding of it yet to get that enthusiastic about it.... so what will i do between now and next week? i'm away to research Zeitgeist, and non places, and hopefully have more of an understanding of visual culture to actually discuss it properly.

Claire