By Geoffrey Sirc

I love Chris’s project.  I’m amazed at how much it gets done in just eight-and-a-half minutes.  It provides an overview of Girl Talk and the whole mash-up phenomenon, goes into a little art history/art theory riff on Duchamp/Warhol/readymades/appropriation (a topic about which there can’t be too much discussion in the media), unravels the copyright issues behind such appropriative art, and offers calm, measured advocacy for artistic freedom.  That’s a pretty nice gamut to cover! In terms of the text-grammar of the piece, I really like the introductory strategy (the Congressional testimony riff – how cool is it to hear one of our nation’s elected officials read a phrase like “He blends Elton John, the Notorious B.I.G. and Destiny’s Child all in 30 seconds” into the congressional record?  It almost makes me believe in politics!)  The images are all nicely chosen; I don’t even mind the Ken Burns effect thing-y.  It’s nicely divided into the 3 main strophes.  And Chris’s narrative text is very nicely written and delivered.  Then there is the cool treat of the coda, listing all the samples used in the music played.  A very excellent piece showing how well students can produce some very interesting, very effective educational materials using their interests and their laptops.