The Punk & The Godfather: My Reading Response to Guy Debord's "Theory of Derive"

+Note: please excuse the fact that the word derive has a fancy 'e' in it with a dash above it, and the fact that I chose to skip that for the sake of getting this blog through in time. Thank you.

Guy Debord's "Theory of Derive" spoke to me.

In a derive, one or more persons during a certain period drop their relations, their work and leisure activities, and all their other motives for movement and action, and let them be drawn to the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there. (- Debord)

I find this entire concept of derive to be extrodinary because it happens in all of us. When we need something done most of us possess this sort of extra passion to get it done. Some people even go completely out of their way to complete the task at hand. In the idea of using Derive for a soundwalk, the concept becomes it's full blown definition. One of the things Debord mentions in his essay, is the fact that cities are a bad place to develop derive because of city limitiations and building zones and restrictions. One with derive will eventually become creative, and be "forced" to take matters into his/her own hands. This will cause trouble in some cases forcing the deriviter to talk to the law or even get mugged, and in the end that person is obligated to have derive in future situations.

I'm going deep into the idea I know but at a personal level a lot of my derive actually comes from obligation. The idea that if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it right (and good) comes into the game involvement everytime. Most derives are obligations for me but if I look in the past from other moments where derive has taken place, I remember mostly positive situations.

Am I obligated to go out and do a soundwalk? You bet your sweet bippy I am.

Why you ask? Because I'm a lazy college student.

Then what's going to happen? The same thing that happens everytime. I will force myself to get off my keister and derive will evetually kick in. I will want to go on a soundwalk, no I need to go on a sound walk.

Debord also said the derive will most likely not work early in the morning nor at night, and it really only lasts a few hours. This in my opinion is all true. In the morning, people are usually too groggy to even think of the idea of putting in effort. Most people need to be really motivated to derive in the morning. Same at night, people are tired and they are less motivated and to some degree crankiness kicks in and that's no fun. True as well derive only lasts a few hours, but hey for those of you with derive, look at what you did in those hours.......A statue of liberty designed out of cheese!? Wow, motivation's a crazy thing.

My motivation comes from purely derive. If I (Hypothetically) become a world famous director and I'm shooting a movie, bygonit I'm not gonna want to shoot every day, I'm a lazy person. But There's millions of dollars, hundreds of people, and set galore all waiting there for me. Skipping would be disastrous. That's when obligational derive will take it's form, and I will remember why I come to the studio from 6AM-10PM each day. Derive is a crazy concept, but it fills our hearts with joy at the fact that we accomplished something that day. And we were a little creative along the way. Thank you

Doctor Jimmy Interviews the Pinball Wizard

A teacher walks up to me and started asking me these questions. So I figured I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and I answered them accordingly. It went as followed:

The Teacher: Were you able to find places and spaces where you could really listen?
DIRK:oh yes very much so. Inside the union, there was an overwhelming amount of noises and sounds. I loved the transition between inside, the loudness, and outside, the quiet peacefullness of the community. I loved the parking garage too.

The Teach: Was it possible to move without making a sound?
DIRK: For me it wasn't possible. I'm sure there was some sort of micro-sound forming from my shoes or my jeans.

DR. Professor:What happened when you plugged your ears, and then unplugged them?
DIRK: When I plugged my ears, all I heard was the extreme low noises and the loud ones. Unplugging them though, that transition, was cool when you think about it, because everything sounded more crisp. Kinda like when your eyes are shut for a while.

Teacherino: In your sound log exercise, what types of sounds were you able to hear?
DIRK: let's see: vents/crushing leaves/woodchips/door open squeak/door shut/pavement/louder vent/scraping of shoe/crowd/cash register/change (coins)/window/cup/muted steps/trash cans/newspapers/notebook/bike chain/pen clicking/high heels/light buzz/reverb echo/car opening/car starting/radio/metallic ping/counting machine/printer/beeping/swirling mixture machine/chair squeak/computer type/cap of a bottle/pen tapping/pen clicking/dumpster/basketball/metallic ping/ manhole etc.

Teach-orama: Were you able to differentiate between sounds that had a recognizable source and those sounds you could not place?
DIRK: I think so. All the sounds I heard were common, as far as I was concerned. where they were coming from was tough to decifer though.

The Teachanator: Human sounds? Mechanical sounds? Natural sounds?
DIRK: The human sounds were actually quite cool, because you could kinda sense their attitudes at the time by the action sound they made. Mechanical sounds seemed extremely redundant as if it were on a loop, and the natural sounds were very constant and different each time.

Teacherman: Were you able to detect subtleties in the everpresent drone?
DIRK: I think so, if I concentrated on the drone alone it was easy.

Dr.Teacher M.D.:Extremely close sounds? Sounds coming from very far away?
DIRK: Again if I concentrated solely on one of those things at a time, I could. Sound is so layered it needs to be broken down into parts

Sir Teacher II: What kinds of wind effects were you able to detect (for example, the leaves of trees don't make sounds until they are activated by the wind)?
DIRK:The activation of wind caused many things. For instance, the leaves on the ground rustling through the grass, My papers in my notebook, even someone's hair next to me sometimes. Also wind blowing though a window or a pole.

Teachling of the planet Mars: Were you able to intervene in the urban landscape and create your own sounds by knocking on a resonant piece of metal, activating wind chimes, etc.?
DIRK: Yes, I made metallic pings on hand rails and flag poles or by walking on a man-hole.

Wise-One of The North: Do you feel you have a new understanding or appreciation of the sounds of our contemporary landscape/cityscape?
DIRK: Actually yes I do. I think I have a better understanding of this project and how I will approach it, thanks to the soundwalk

TA:How do you think your soundwalk experience will affect your practice as a media artist, if at all?
DIRK: I think it will definitly benefit from these soundwalks, because sounds give a film another depth of feeling and life. Sounds can either enlighten someone in a romantic/drama movie or they can scare you in a horror movie and maybe even thrill you in an action movie.

Go To The Mirror/Welcome

Hello everyone, and welcome to MY blog. Here we will have some fun writing and drawing and canoeing, oh yes, and you just might learn something along the way. This is where my research will be written and kept track of by my secretary, Janis (she's very good at her job). So me and Janis will be taking notes on the stuff we find. Who Know? We might unlock some secrets of the universe! Or, not. Most bets are put down as not. oh well.