neon debris

The Coachella Wristband/Facebook Fail

brieflower — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 06:36:30 +0000

How do I feel about the Coachella wristband Facebook check-ins? About as disappointed as a kid with an empty stocking on Christmas. As a both a music and social media junkie, I felt as though I was promised a sparkling, majestic gift that arrived torn up, half-used, and dirtier than I was on the last day of the festival. The execution of this brilliant idea was incomplete and off-beat.

Here’s why I’m dissatisfied with the integration of this billion-dollar internet company and my favorite desert music festival:

1. The fact that you could register your wristband and then scan it to “check in” on Facebook at various points throughout the festival was barely publicized both before and during the festival.

Had I not scoured the website specifically looking for any insight into how the festival was aligning itself with social media, I would never have found the tiny section on wristbands and the small footnote that explained how/why to register them. Over half of my friends never registered their wristbands. Of the ones that did, just one other besides myself used them to check in. This occurred mainly because no one knew the location of the check-in stations within the festival. It’s hard to find a six-inch by six-inch Facebook icon on a piece of cardboard that is erected far below eyesight in a convoluted sea of 80,000 people. Additional identification of these points (even on a map!) was more than necessary. Come on, Coachella. Not only are these Facebook check-in stations fantastic publicity, but they’re also a means by which to remain a cutting-edge event that is on the forefront of the new and now in the technology realm.

2. What appeared on your Facebook after scanning your wristband was unnecessary and (for lack of a better term) stupid.

Had I known what scanning my wristband would do to my Facebook, I never would have done it. Did I want to lightly brag to all of my friends at home about what I was doing and who I was seeing? Yes. Did I want to check in to Coachella? Yes. Did I want the check in to post more than “at the [Insert tent/stage here] w/ [Insert band name here],” followed by a link to the Coachella Facebook?! YES. YES. YES. This “check-in” was not a check-in at all! It was a status update, one with poor grammar to boot. Someone who has never been to Coachella before is not going to know what the Gobi Tent is. Someone who is not privy to up-and-coming indie music isn’t going to know about the band WU LYF either. To anyone unfamiliar with both, these status updates [read: NOT check-ins] look like a bunch of gibberish. And I never intended to direct any of my Facebook friends to the Coachella Facebook page. I barely directed myself to the Coachella Facebook page. As a friend of mine put it, once he’d seen how he’d littered his timeline, “I thought there would be a prize or something. Turns out i was just running free advertising for Coachella. I feel used and violated.” These awkward “check-ins” only made me devalue the service.

3. There’s such potential in what could have been.

The biggest upset of the entire ordeal is the potential that it had to be absolutely amazing. If the check-ins were actual check-ins that would have been one thing. If they linked those who checked in at a particular stage with the live stream of the performance on YouTube, well, that would’ve been another. What’s better than bragging about being at a stage seeing a hologram of Tupac? Doing so with a picture via Twitter (we should have been able to register wristbands to Twitter feeds too!). These check-ins could have also generated a picture of the performance that could’ve been posted to the festival-goers’ Facebook wall. Additionally, the option to later go back and tag those who were with you in the check-in/status update would have been nice. No one likes to look as though they are checking into all of these places alone.

I’m more than enthusiastic about the integration of social media into new and innovative realms. This endeavor, however, fell flat rather quickly. It’s time for another festival to do it better. Outside Lands, where you at?

Twitter and Techno-Tupac

brieflower — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:20:37 +0000

Late Sunday night through most of Monday, my Twitter feed was littered with posts and tags mentioning holograms, Tupac, and Coachella. Upon reading these tweets, it took just a split second to discover that the digital version of the deceased rapper has, indeed, become “officially the most popular hologram of all-time,” as declared by the alleged hologram himself via the @HologramTupac Twitter account.

After watching the incredibly realistic video of the hologram performance, reading a handful of articles, and seeing a “Coachella 2013 Exclusively Hologram Lineup” meme, I wondered if the hologram would have been met with the wildfire of attention and success that it is currently relishing in, were it not for the social media advances of Twitter. No doubt, the approximately 100,000 festival-goers would have eventually spread the word, but just how many of them got on their iPhones the second Hologram Tupac appeared, and told the Twittosphere to be jealous of their experience? I’m willing to bet that the number is high. Subsequently, how many of those tweets were immediately re-tweeted? Techno-Tupac is a classic example of how Twitter is not only becoming the preferred vehicle by which news travels at a light-speed pace, but also a means by which to facilitate continued conversation centered around said news. @HologramTupac sent a tweet to Rihanna, for chrissake.

Additionally, all of this hologram hullabaloo showcases just how integrated social media and other, more advanced forms of technology are. I can’t say that I would ever have been interested in familiarizing myself with San Diego-based AV Concepts, the productions company that raised Tupac from the dead, before this event. Seeing this name floating about my Twitter feed (partly in thanks to Jimmy Kimmel) caused me to take a deeper look into what they do- and talk about it. Yet again, Twitter sparks a conversation.

Perhaps I’m merely a Twitter addict. Maybe I’m only paying special attention to the goings on of the first weekend of Coachella because I will be attending the second. Or it could just be that I think that holograms (or rather, a 2D technology that is made seem 3D) are pretty damn cool. In any event, the relationship between social media and the advances of complex technologies is certainly worth some scrutiny.

Thank you, AV Concepts, for resurrecting Tupac. And thank you, Twitter, for making sure I knew it had occurred.

We Met By a Trick of Fate

brieflower — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:37:05 +0000

A new friend of mine recently presented me with an interesting and thought-provoking question. In a “getting-to-know-you” effort, he requested my answer to, “what makes a good life?”

Puzzled, I pondered, and came up with this:

“My answer to this question is twofold. First, the theory. Then the personal application.

The foundation of a “good life” is based entirely upon one’s values and ideals, thus it obviously is different for each individual. I’m no philosopher, but we, as humans, inherently strive for a sense of satisfaction that is based upon our own personal belief systems. Some may say that attaining the aforementioned level of satisfaction renders one a “good life”, but I tend to disagree. It seems to me that it is the act and experience of striving for this level of satisfaction- and beyond, that causes one to grow, learn, and become- hopefully who they want to be. A “good life” is built out of experiences- but not necessarily all good ones. My English grandfather (who, at 92, has lived in seven different countries and somehow currently resides in Aurora, IL) often tells me that he has lived a long, good life, full of experiences that no one else will ever know or fully understand. When he tells stories of the things that he’s done, he does so with such authentic pride, that the very essence of his “good life” is both apparent and contagious . My grandfather is not a thoroughly-educated man, in fact, I don’t think he made it past the equivalent of 7th grade, but he is extremely well versed in hidden ways of the world that most of us won’t ever know.

Personally, there is nothing rational about my “good life.” Must I be successful? Of course. Must I be happy? Indeed. But what exactly constitutes success and happiness is still an area of exploration for me. Do I tend to find exactly what I need as a result of nonsensical, spontaneous, and obtusely mindless endeavors? Undoubtedly (Ask me about how I ended up at Bonnaroo in 2009 sometime). I know what I generally want out of life, but I also know that I have a whole lot of adventure ahead of me before I will have the means by which to get me there. In short, my “good life” is one where each day I grow to become a little bit better of a human than I was the day before.”

****Don’t forget to check out video for the the inspiration behind the title of this post- Camera Obscura: French Navy

Brianna LaFleur Designs

brieflower — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 06:34:46 +0000

Introducing my new line of handmade feather earrings! All of my feathers are found and dyed. Each pair is unique, as I use drop beads that I’ve collected over the years- many from English vintage jewelry that my grandmother has given me.

If you like anything you see, please shoot me an email at brianna.lafleur@gmail.com!! I can most certainly make you a custom design, or you can have any of the ones featured below. I am currently offering free shipping on all orders!

The Blue Dazzle design features 36 gray and electric blue feathers bundled, tiered,and linked onto a sterling silver chain with a metallic silver drop bead. Each earring measures about 5" in length. ($20)

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The Rainbow Burst design is one of my favorites! This design features 18 neon green striped, orange, canary yellow, hot pink, electric blue, and purple feathers, bundled and tiered on a sterling silver chain, hanging from a zebra-backed square-cut rhinestone drop bead. Each earring measures about 5" in length. ($20)

: This Dream Catcher design features 36 gray, white, and natural-toned striped feathers bundled and tiered on a sterling silver chain with a unique dream catcher drop bead. Each earring measures about 6″ in length. ($22)

The Kerry design features 28 feathers in a variety of natural tones bundled with a gold vintage heart bead hanging from a gold post. Each earring measures about 6" in length. ($17)

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The Nicole Design features 36 deep red and black colored feathers bundled and tiered on a sterling silver chain, hanging from a wire-covered black heart bead. Each earring measures about 5" in length. ($20)

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The Sleek Spots design features 17 black feathers and 6 black and white spotted guinea feathers bundled and tiered on a sterling silver chain, hanging from a hexagonal hematite drop bead. Each earring measures approximately 5" in length. ($18)

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The Flo design features 14 electric blue and hot pink feathers, with accents of pink and white spotted guinea feathers, layered on a chain link and hanging from a rhinestone drop bead. This design can be replicated in any color! Each earring measures about 4.5" in length. ($14)

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The Ahrynn design features 22 black, teal, blue, gray, and spotted feathers of several varieties, bundled and tiered on a circular silver fashion chain, hanging from a wire-wrapped cylindrical black drop bead. A unique feature of this design is the leather cord with turquoise and translucent stone hanging from one of the tiers on the chain. ($22)

Making a Mess in America

brieflower — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:04:23 +0000

Much like the moon, there is a dark side to our “American Dream.”

Today, most of us probably refer to said dark side as the current economic depression, or, for the fiscally stable, (of course they’re more optimistic), the economic recession. From Margaret Sanger’s heroic push for readily available and legal birth control in the 1910s and 1920s to Hilary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2008 (who’s campaign debt is still not retired, I’ll have you know), there has been a pristine portrait of what an American woman is supposed to look like, act like, speak like, think like. Over the decades, the essence of this portrait has barely, if at all, changed.

Enter foreign Indie-pop heroine bombshell. Blogosphere, if you haven’t already, please meet Marina and the Diamonds. Marina Diamandis- who is known for her stage name, Marina and the Diamonds (The Diamonds being a translation of her Greek last name, which she uses to reference her fans, not her backing band), is a twenty-six-year-old singer/songwriter from Wales. And oddly enough, Miss Diamandis is soon to release her sophomore album, Electra Heart, which, according to BBC News, “represents a darker side to [American] suburban life.”

Though she is not a native, Marina and the Diamond’s debut album, The Family Jewels, has undertones of an acute understanding of the American paradox of freedom. Just take a listen to her single, Hollywood. Being a woman in America has never been more of an empty shell. Or, perhaps tune into her song, Shampain, a satire of women in America who, “savor the taste of fabricated wealth.” Spot on. Isn’t she ever so spot on?

This 1950s-made-famous-June-Cleaver-happy-housewife is still the ideal American woman that we ruthlessly cling to today. In her upcoming album, Marina begins to reveal the layers behind this perfectly imperfect ludicrous idealism. The persona of Electra Heart- who is NOT an alter ego, is “A vehicle I’m using to explore American archetypes – the housewife, the beauty queen, the pin-up, the starlet,” the singer explains to BBC. Electra Heart is not June Cleaver across the decades, but the messes that these “June Cleavers” make.

Take Part 1: Fear and Loathing, a tumultuous ballad. In the video, Marina is featured wearing the same dress she adorns in the Shampain video but endures an identity crisis and cuts off her own hair. Though the singer claims that the song was not directly inspired by Hunter S. Thompson, his themes “of oblivion and losing yourself” resound.

Then, move into the much more upbeat and remix-worthy (ahem) Part 2: Radioactive, in which Marina and an unknown lover are featured in scenes reminiscent of a less-gruesome version of the Quentin Tarantino film, Natural Born Killers. Covering her newly-shortened and dyed mane in what Marina refers to as “the $20 hustler wig,” the singer becomes a different feminine version of America entirely. It’s almost as if she is screaming back at us, “Ladies, where is freedom were you fighting for?!”

It’s trapped in an unrealistic identity. American woman, stay away from me. It seems as though Marina may have learned a thing or two from The Guess Who.

And, did I mention that on top of all oh her historical and societal insight, Marina is devastatingly gorgeous as well? Maybe us American women don’t have everything, after all.

Marina’s single, Radioactive, is out now, and her second album, Electra Heart, is due out in Spring 2012.

Glitter and Doom

brieflower — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 02:01:48 +0000

Neon Debris is finally here. A place for artists (of all media) and art-lovers alike to gather as a digital community to share, enhance, learn, flourish, and have a platform to stand on. This blog can, and will, be taken in any direction that you and I choose. Drowning in digital euphoria, I am currently finding myself at an incredibly rare loss for words. In lieu of my speechlessness, go ahead and check out Crave You feat. Giselle by Flight Facilities, the latest single from my new favorite Aussie band.

With four-on-the-floor beats paired with unsyncopated ensemble rhythms, this track fits perfectly into the soundtrack for a sunset drive on a dreamy summer’s day. The smooth female vocal adds a jazzy element that brings a sense of whimsy to the track. If you aren’t already drumming along and swaying to the beat, I guarantee by the end of the song, you’ll at least be tapping your big toe.

On that note, dive in, get down, and check back often. Neon Debris is here.