Who’s msGNU?
The character “msGNU” was forged in the fire of frustration and conscientization which foments on the edges of the new InfoTech frontier.
Originally a critical theorist, with her nose buried in volumes of Lacanian psychoanalysis and Foucauldian genealogy, msGNU’s heart grew faint and sad with a growing suspicion: this crazy world cannot be fixed with theory alone. Cutting edge technology is our best bet to address the existing problems faced by humanity.
I love computers, but I am not an expert coder or a hardware hacker.
I partake not of emacs, nor of vim, nor of nano. Heck, I’m just getting in my stride on the command line. So in short, don’t expect to see me pushing useful commits to The Projects That Will Change the World. What I hope to do, instead, is to proselytize such projects and explain to larger populations Why, In Fact, They Might Just Change the World.
I aim for my goofy music videos to serve as an analogue to a GUI for non-techies– particularly youngsters– to catch the New Tech Fever. Welcome to the Schoolhouse Rock of disruptive technology, y’all!
Slapdash Aesthetic: There’s No Accounting for Taste!
I’ve never produced something polished or smooth. My tastes trend toward MS Paint and Crayola; my fashion sense hasn’t changed since age 6.
I like nostalgia, randomness, and uneven edges. Bright colours and jump cuts [Like 75% of my editing is just jumpcuts and colour manipulation]. This stuff is what makes me laugh, I have genuine fun with it.
Using Pieces of the Past
I’ve generally produced all of my artistic projects on a near-zero budget.
The times I did pay for props or backdrops, it was exclusively at the dollar store and the backroom junk at Goodwill. I like to reuse everything I’ve ever owned until it breaks down into pieces.
In addition to this Yankee-spirited thriftiness, the majority of the props and costumes used for “Stuck in Cyberspace” hold great personal significance for me. These videos are filled with objects from my childhood home, and crazy clothes from when I was a teenager.
Most consistently, I used knick knacks and settings that belong to my Nana, who instilled in me this taste for quirkiness.
The most unique example of this, perhaps, is the handmade wedding dress from 1949 she allowed me to “remix” into an outfit for the “What the Foucault” video. I’m honoured to wear it, and hope to ensure it lasts another 60 years!
Unfinished Art: The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good
Despite a tendency toward analysis-paralysis style procrastination, when it comes to art I’ve always been more interested in slapping things together and getting them out there, while I’m still fiercely passionate, instead of worrying about perfecting the details.
I will always look back on any song, video, or writing that I produce with at least a slight cringe, a critical eye, so I may as well just keep pushing forward. As DJ Khaled advises… “Another one. And another one. And another one.”
Intentional Vulnerability
Making such fleeting, construction-paper-style, childlike art, I realize that I’m putting myself out there. Like many people, I get anxious about being cool in the day to day social world, but that doesn’t seem to extend to the goofy media production.
Writing rap and making videos just makes me happy, deep inside. I’m okay with being pigeonholed as a weird nerd, as long as I can get my ideas out there.