Literature in a Wired World

Kirt Gunn’s The Neverything & Lovely by Surprise

One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn’t belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?
[. . .]
Three of these things belong together
Three of these things are kind of the same
Can you guess which one of these doesn’t belong here?
Now it’s time to play our game (time to play our game).
from Sesame Street’s “One of These Things”

Kirt Gunn’s linked “movies,” The Neverything and Lovely by Surprise are recognizably movies, yet they’re also quite different from traditional cinema, such as Snakes on a Plane.

The Neverything (http://www.theneverything.com/theneverything/movie.asp)
Lovely By Surprise (http://www.lovelybysurprise.com/lovelybysurprise/movie.asp)

For Exploration 2 you are to list as many differences as you can between the Gunn movies and traditional cinema (it may help you to pick one movie against which to compare the Gunn works). Then, select the three differences you feel are the most interesting, perplexing, important, or otherwise noteworthy and discuss each. Turn in your list and your discussion.

Exploration 2 (excluding the list) should be about 1 page long, single-spaced, and is due in class on Tuesday, September 5st.

For Exploration 3, you are to list as many similarities as you can between the Gunn movies and traditional cinema (it may help you to pick one movie with which to compare the Gunn works). Then, select the three similarities you feel are the most interesting, perplexing, important, or otherwise noteworthy and discuss each. Turn in your list and your discussion.

Exploration 3 (excluding the list) should be about 1 page long, single-spaced, and is due by 5pm on Wednesday, September 6th. You may either turn Exploration 3 in to my mailbox in Old Mill 413 or you may e-mail it to me.

NOTE: You may find it helpful to compose both lists at the same time.

Chris Klimas’ “An Ode to Pants”

Nobody does it better
Makes me feel sad for the rest
Nobody does it half as good as you
Baby, you’re the best
from Carly Simon’s “Nobody Does It Better”

For your first exploration, read Chris Klimas’ short narrative “An Ode to Pants” (which can be accessed here: http://www.gimcrackd.com/true/pants/), and consider the following question:

What is the best way to read “An Ode to Pants”?

Answering this question will require you to explore the work fully (after all, you can’t make an argument about a story without fully familiarizing yourself with the story), and also to explore your own reading practices, your comprehension of the story, and your experience of the story.

For this exploration, describe in detail what you believe to be the “best way” to read the story and provide enough evidence and support to persuade your reader that you have, in fact, discovered the best way to read “An Ode to Pants.”

Your exploration must be at least 1 page long, single-spaced, and is due in class on Thursday, August 31st. All future explorations, however, will be due by 5pm on the day before each is due. You may either turn these future explorations in to my mailbox in Old Mill 413 or you may e-mail them to me.

Today in class we watched the short clip remixing the really terrible horror movie >Cabin Fever into a trailer for a terrible tear-jerker.

Here’s the clip, if you want to watch it again.

We’ll be discussing this trailer (and many others like it) later this semester as we examine remix culture.