ALEXANDER BRENNER

var sc_project=6768005; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_security="a3eee541";

[alexanderbrenner]

Though I really need a more high-res background shot of myself, I now have an about.me profile!

[alexanderbrenner]

In fact, genres construct the proper spectator for their own consumption.

Dudley Andrew, 1987

[alexanderbrenner]

Getting there.

[alexanderbrenner]

Since I am now more or less finished with my classes at Coventry University, I am enjoying way too much free time for my taste.  That's why I'm putting myself to work and trying to expand my portfolio a little. Here is a sample from a mock brochure which I recently started designing.

[alexanderbrenner]

Taste classifies and it classifies the classifier.

Bourdieu, 1984

[alexanderbrenner]

The exercise of power perpetually creates knowledge and, conversely, knowledge constantly includes effects of power. The university hierarchy is only the most visible… and least dangerous form of this phenomena.

Michel Foucault

[alexanderbrenner]

[alexanderbrenner]

Dear December

I woke up today without the aid of my alarm clock, since it had apparently ran out of battery during the night. Trying to figure out what time it was, I had a peak outside my window. Against the odds, and my great surprise, I found that it had been snowing. It's been strange, not seeing snow around this time of the year. Although I suspect I'll have to deal with quite a lot of it once I get back home to Sweden next week. It's been a pretty great first term here in Coventry. The city does not deserve its ill reputation. That is not to say that I am living in a world metropolitan designer city, but it's pretty good. And 'pretty good' is good enough for me. There's an indoor market where I can buy fresh fruit, an Asian convenience store with +20 brands of noodles and, most importantly, a terrific university. 

Many new people have crossed my path. Some I'm glad to say I've befriended. I've been to many places, begun to grasp the culture and ideas which are driving modern British society and, very, very slowly, begun to get a feel for badminton. The damn Finns keep beating me at it though.

I'm hanging around until Monday next week, but many of the other ERASMUS students are heading home come Friday. So we are all meeting up tonight to share a pint and give our farewells and best wishes. I remember having a hard time deciding whether to stay one term or three, back when I was writing my ERASMUS application. Today, I can say I'm glad I picked the latter alternative, even if part of me is missing snowy Sweden. Well, at least I'll get toss a few poorly aimed snowballs at my friends for a few weeks before next term starts. Maybe that'll be enough.

[alexanderbrenner]

Loving the tilt-shift function in Photoshop CS6. 

[alexanderbrenner]

How have I not heard of Trent Reznors 'How to Destroy Angels'? Man, this sound really takes me back to my teenage years of listening to Nine Inch Nails. Oh, nostalgia. I hope the band goes on tour next summer, although the rumors suggest that maybe mr. Reznor will be busy working on something NiN related. Time will tell. Speaking of NiN, let's all take the time to check out possibly the best opening credits to a film. At least one of the most interesting ones, as it acts as the film's dramatic 'pull'. I speak, of course, of 'Se7en', which features a remix of NiN's 'Closer'. To view this work of filmic beauty, click here.

[alexanderbrenner]

[...] intertextual relations are so pervasive that our culture consists of a complex web of intertextuality, in which all texts refer finally to each other and not to reality.

John Fiske, "Television Culture"

[alexanderbrenner]

"Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us."

Neil Postman, "Amusing ourselves to death".

[alexanderbrenner]

"Action is character."

Syd Field, The Definite Guide to Screenwriting

[alexanderbrenner]

[alexanderbrenner]

Here are my current engagements this lovely Sunday evening. Looking out my window, I remark to myself how of my favorite things about living in England that the sun sets a little later. I wonder what it'll be like here in December/January when it starts getting dark early for real. Maybe it won't be so bad here. Hopefully.

[alexanderbrenner]

Cambridge, U.K, 13/10/2012

[alexanderbrenner]

Leamington Spa, two days ago. Tomorrow, Cambridge.