Final Art Project

My final art piece was inspired by the guy who recorded himself saying that the viewers see it as him, however our minds make this person up because what we are really looking at is just a bunch of small pixels on a tv screen. This gave me the idea to make an avatar of myself because its not really me, however its represented as me. This was the topic for our video art projects, presentation vs. representation. What inspired me on the content of the video was based on another video that I saw a couple days prior to making this video. The video that inspired me is actually in my blog called "back to the basics."

Anyways, here is my final art piece.

Sight

This video is very strange and I hope that it's not what is going to happen in the future. This video makes life like a video game, which to some many seem exciting since many people live their lives inside a video game, however to me this is just sad.

My thoughts aside, I think that the video is made very well, and that if this were to happen it could be useful in some ways, however mostly distracting as we saw while he was on his date with the girl. He could barely hold a conversation with her because he was too busy thinking about other things and posting on his Facebook page. He was reading her profile and surprised that she did not put everything on there that is of importance to her (her being a vegetarian.)

Back to the Basics

So I saw this video come up on my Facebook, one of my friends shared it. And I loved the video! I think that it's totally accurate and that people should stop moving forward so quickly and take a step back. We need to remember whats important in life, and I know that if we watched this video it would make us stop to think about how we live our lives.

Now I know technology is advancing and its exciting but in reality we are loosing our ability to be social and interact with one another just as this video states. I babysit for children between the ages of 3-8 and it is really sad to see that they don't even play with each other. They play NEXT to each other on the same video game, but rarely do they go out to play football in the back yard. To me that is just the saddest thing.

One of my goals in life is to move back to the country. I want to be able to raise my children in an area where they are not connected to the internet every day, a place where they have friends who go out and play tag and go see a movie together. People wonder why we have such an obesity epidemic in the US today, and it's because we are LAZY PEOPLE. We don't go out and play. For most adults its hard to find even 30 minutes a day to dedicate to working out. And its only because we live this lifestyle that we have to dedicate time to "workout." In the good old days, people didn't "workout" they did activities of daily living, and that consisted of their workouts. They would go out and play with their children, go take the dog for a walk, chop down trees to keep their house warm in the winter, go on a hike to find a deer that they would eat for the next week. The lifestyles of then and now have changed tremendously, and I look forward to the day where I can revert back to the lifestyle I want to live.

Anyways, heres the link to the video page.

http://elitedaily.com/news/world/this-is-one-of-the-most-vital-messages-gen-y-needs-to-hear-video/

Golan Levin's Interview

Golan Levin's interview was very interesting, yes. However, I couldn't help but thinking about how this is a perfect example of our final art project topic: Presentation vs Representation. This is a perfect example, and could very well inspire my video.

40th Anniversary Northern Soul

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20131108-a-very-british-dance-craze-at-40

I tried to watch this video but the website was down both times I tried. However from the little blurb about the Northern Soul 40th anniversary, I know that is in an underground UK movement. These young adults would gather together fighting against the top music charts and fashion trends. These people would travel here to get together and dance to 60s and 70s soul African music. The video is of the dance and interviews from some of the people who attend this event each year.

5 Artists in different music genres

Electronic 

In the electronic genre of music, I would add the dutch duo the Bingo Players. They are a modern electronic band who I got to see at DayGlow 2012 in Tampa. The song that I like the most, and think represents them the best is called "Rattle."

Girl Power

The artist that I would add to the girl power genre, is Miranda Lambert. She is a country artist, which you do not have many country songs in the music section. For anyone who listens to country knows that Miranda Lambert is an icon for women. She is a strong, powerful, independent woman. Her attitude shows through her music and influences many women around the world, including me. She's my favorite female artist and I had the pleasure of seeing her perform as well. Some of her most influencial songs include "Kerosene" and "Mama's Broken Heart."

90s

I think that the band Red Hot Chili Peppers should be added to this genre because they are a very popular 90s rock bands. They also influenced a wave of new "hippies." I love this band, however when someone thinks about this band, they also have a certain group of people who they would image listen to this music. This is what any band wants, is to influence people. They were able to reach out and influence a new revolution of people. Their most famous song is "Under the Bridge" for several reasons, one of them being the emotional meaning behind the song.

Dubstep 

Bassnectar is the artist that I would add to the dub step genre. This band, just like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, influences a large population. They created a new wave of people who like to go out and rave. Bassnectar was formed out of San Francisco, and is known for his DJing and light shows. Their most popular song is "Bass Head." This song was said to be the song that started the dub step in the United States.

Industrial 

The artist that I would think belongs in the Industrial/Gothic genre is Marilyn Manson. He is a very different character, however I grew up listening to some of his songs with my parents. The song that most people know if for is "Beautiful People." This song has so much meaning behind it looking back at it now. I still enjoy the song if I'm in the mood for it.

Graphene

Graphene

Graphene is a manmade material composed of carbon. It is the strongest, thinnest material known to mankind. This product is only ONE atom thick. This product is going to be used in computer programing in quantum computers and electric clothing. Graphene is everything that you wished it would be. It is transparent, strong, pliable, and inexpensive. This is going to be the future of technology and computer science. It will be interesting to see where this goes in the future.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/bits/2014/04/13/bend-it-charge-it-dunk-it-graphene-the-material-of-tomorrow/

Massive Attack

Massive Attack is the 1988 English band from Bristol. This band rised up so quickly and became very popular. Their song "Unfinished Sympathy" was voted the 10th greatest song of all time by The Guardian. Below is the music video.

They are known for their popular songs without choruses, but more of the instrumental styles. The song "teardrop" is another one of their most popular songs, below is the music video.

UK Underground Music + Smiths

The Smiths

The Smiths are an English rock band of the 1980s. They filled a spot in UK music called independent music. They were part of the underground movement and influenced many. The Smiths could be considered anarchist because of the music they sing about. They are the "rebels" of UK.

Here is one of their songs, "How soon is now?" This song shows their political views as well as their views on others. They are singing about how they aren't getting where they need to as a person, and the struggles they go through. The suffer from the pressure of being different in the UK. This shows through their music.

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20130524-the-smiths-thirty-years-on

The Pogues

The Pogues are an Irish celtic band in the 80s in UK. This band is part of the folk punk genre. Below is a picture of their Irish band. Some of the music that they produced is also based on their political views.

One of their more popular songs is "dirty old town" and below is the music video about their performance. This meaning on this song is similar to the style of the Smiths, in that they sing about their struggles and how society is challenging them. During this time, UK is going through a revolution in art and that is why we are seeing so many bands with the same views.

Video Mapping

ALIVE PICTURE

Although this video is short, I think that it's awesome. I think that because it's more than just a performance piece, its a dance piece as well. This piece was used at what looks like a rave, and this is something that moves along to the beat of the music. I think that it is very well put together, and I would enjoy seeing something like this next time I go to a rave. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXWtO4Ltw9g

IBM CONFERENCE

This is not the best video mapping performance I've seen, however I like that it's used in a professional setting such as the IBM conference and not just for show. Although the performance is for show, it is also a way of showing off new technologies that IBM has to offer. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riySMkueB54

LIVE PERFORMANCE ART

This was my favorite video. I love that it is involving dancing and the dancer himself. Most of the other examples that we've seen of video mapping are great, but they are all projected on to a building or a flat screen. The projection is the main focus, however in this performance the projection and the dancer work together to make a great performance! 

http://vimeo.com/50197298

Videoartes.com

Videoartes.com is a website that has a bunch of videos that are made by video artist. There is so theme to what they do, it is just interesting to see.

VIDEOGIOCO

This is an interesting video because it reminded me of the flip books that we did. However this type of work is much more intense and requires a lot of planning. What really sold me on the video is the audio that goes along with it. It makes the video that much more entertaining and come to life.

PIXELS

This is so cool! this video combines real world and 3D animation. I have no idea how to do this animation, but we watched some videos on how they make video games and I'm sure its along those same lines. I know that it is very complicated and for the I give these artists a lot of credit.

BAD NEWS

Bad news was probably my favorite video. I liked that it has a meaning behind and it reminded me of the post that I posted previously about the difference between commercial and propaganda. This video is in a new paper where you see a lot of commercials and propagandas. This video has a political point they are trying to make and show that throw new paper headlines.

Unfortunately the video wouldn't load but here is the link to watch the video:
http://player.vimeo.com/video/7189740?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&color=ffffff

performance art piece

This is my performance art piece. The topic we were assigned was to create a performance art piece that related our university major. My major being math, this was very difficult to do. I had many ideas of things that I wanted to perform however could not find a way they related to math. Most of the ideas that I created were along the lines of technology or communications. Both of which I hate, by the way!

However, I thought that by going around a public area performing my art by allowing the users to be interactive with my piece would be a great idea since most math people are quite sheltered. Santiago even made this point that math people are usually alone working on paperwork, computers, or reading. This is very true, as I personally love to be alone and don't like being bothered my others or modern technology. What I love about math is that there is a very set in stone system of how things work. These ideas will never change, they may be applied in different aspects however the rules of physics don't change.

This performance was very nerve racking. I was so afraid to do this because I do not like being out in public being the center of attention. But I had my friend come with me and together we made the project fun. We asked people who were either running, walking, or biking down bayshore if they would like to participate in my art project. They were asked to make anything they wanted on my poster with the paint provided and a sponge.

A lot of people did not want to participate, most likely because they do not like being bothered while they are working out. Which is understandable, if I were doing my daily run down bayshore I probably wouldn't have participated myself.

However, those who did participate were very interesting. They all had different reasons for drawing what they drew. Most of the items were very cliche hearts and squiggles. Some people chose the color of paint based on their moods at the time. One man said that he wanted to paint with blue because he was calm, and then yellow because he was excited. Those contradict each other which was interesting and I sort of laughed when he said this. He clearly didn't know what he was feeling.

But I liked that piece a lot, and I think that it came out interesting at the end. Here is a picture of the collaborative painting after about 15 people worked on it.

Difference Between a Commercial and Propaganda

A commercial is a t.v. or radio advertisement intended to make a profit whereas propaganda is information used to promote or publicize a particular point of view, typically political.

An example of a commercial is a Ford F-150 t.v. advertisement. During a t.v. advertisement, they are trying to sell you their truck. They want to make their truck stand out from the rest and be so irresistible that you have to go out tomorrow and look for their truck!

A classic example of propaganda is posters of Uncle Sam trying to recruit U.S. soldiers for the war. These posters are propaganda and not commercial because they are not trying to sell a product, they are trying to sell a point of view, or convey a political message.

After comparing the two definitions with examples, it is clear to me the difference between the two meanings. It is also clear to me how the two could be confused. I think the best way to look at the two definitions is by defining them with examples. 

Sheryl Oring "I Wish to Say"

Sheryl Oring "I wish to say" is a really neat project that she's working on. She goes around and tells people to write out something they would like to say to the president on a post card from all different areas. She then actually sends them to the president! These letters were collected in 2004 when George Bush was president.

Some letters that I liked are:

I liked this letter first because its from someone from Boston, MA which is the area that I am from. But I also liked it because it is like the guy is reaching out to the President saying please, please do not lie to us. We are the people and you are suppose to have our back. I think that these types of requests are very common from the public as we feel we have no control and the President, along with other members of congress do not fill the public into all the details that they know.












The second letter that I want to talk about is from Tampa Fl. This man, Jim, is addressing his hatred towards the President. Letting him know all of the things that he does that bothers him and those around him. I like how he addresses topics such as racism, sexual preference, religion and class. These are all issues that were problems during 2004, however still continue to be problems today. This man is from the south and for him to be disapproving of racism and sexual preference is refreshing because most people are set in their beliefs in the south.










Overall after reading through several letters from all over the United States during this time period, the letters all say the same thing. No one is happy with the government and how things are being run. People are needing a change and feel they need to express to the President that they do not agree with how things are being run right now.

Although I believe that there no way to make everyone happy, and what makes one person happy will make another upset. This makes being president a difficult job, when you have billions of people that you have to please. Knowing that I think that it is interesting to see so many people with the same attitudes. Now I was too young during the time to remember or even understand the negative implications of what George Bush did to the people, however I do remember my mother being quite upset at points.

Looking back now, it is commonly said that George Bush was the most hated president, and based off of these letters I certainly would agree!

Tristan Tzara

Tristan Tzara was an activist. He was the leader of the Dadaist in Europe at the time. He liked to express himself through art and through how he was feeling about violence and the war.
Tristan Tzara

His work closely resembled the image below:



Titled "Manifesto Dada" this piece was done by Tristan Tzara. The image itself has no meaning because its a man on top of what looks like a platform, in some foreign land. However what is important is the face of the man who clearly is being tortured. These are the kinds of art pieces that were being produced by artist during this time period.

Dada

The Dada is an art movement that evolved from the artist who feared WWI. These art pieces were not something that I could relate to and I found them to be confusing. If the Dada were around today I feel like they may be the outcast group of artist. Their works had no meaning, or if there was a meaning they were not meant to be known. These group of artist produced art that is to abstract for me to understand. I can better relate and appreciate are that is of realism.

Below are some images from the Dada movement:

Persuasive Games

Colorfall

Colorfall is the first game that I looked at and I thought that it was neat. It reminds me of a game I used to play when I was a child, about putting puzzle pieces together. This game however, is designed to challenge your brain. I think this is an excellent field because people are totally not thinking to their capacity because of all the technology. And from the way that the world is going, technology is not going to slow down anymore. Unless we want to have a bunch of robotic people walking around the US I think that those who created a way to use technology but still improve peoples minds are great. This is similar to the games in Lumosity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGDMqj7kwtQ

FatWorld

FatWorld is the best game on the list! So many people today are overweight and wonder why? Well it's simple! We live in a world were people are lazy and don't want to workout or eat right. Then they go to health professions asking for more medication to help them lose weight because they are too lazy to lose it on their own. It's a sad world that we live in and I can't believe that so many people would just lose themselves to this society. It is so sad/disturbing when I see people walking around 400+ lbs. This games gets people thinking straight and understanding the negative effects of bad health. I like that its a virtual world that you can be fit or be fat. Hopefully people apply these rules to their own real lives when they see how damaging poor health can be.

Reviews of Everyone's Art Project

I thought that everyone's project was really neat. One thing that I liked was that everyone's was different. And I think that is because I know that I was unsure about what you completely wanted, so I'm sure others felt the same way. Maybe this was the point so that we would all come up with different ideas. The ones that I liked the best were Holly's (the two face sides of college) and Gina's (the luffa skirt). I liked these two the best because Holly's had a ton of meaning and you can tell that she put a lot of thought into this project. She used elements of light and dark to make her statement and I really enjoyed that. I liked Gina's because it was a wearable element. That is something that I didn't even think to make, is a 3D project. But I liked that she also had a theme. And I was under the impression that we were to use parts of our body so I liked that she used a lot of different elements other than the body.

The projects that I didn't much care for were Andrea's and Bryan's. The only reason that I didn't enjoy theirs so much was because I know that they are both great artists and although the work wasn't "bad" I just expected more from them because I know that they have presented better work previously. Andrea's looked like she just did it before class, she only used 4 pictures and they were on a white canvas shirt. I did not feel like there was a lot of design behind that work, especially since she was making a piece of fashion. I didn't like Bryan's that much because the work was very sloppy, you could tell from the picture. I also didn't like that he only used on scanned image instead of multiple.

Xerox project

For my Xerox project, I decided that I wanted to do something the represented myself. Being that I don't have many hobbies besides working, I love to travel. To represent that I was going to do a map of the USA. However, when I was planning out how I was going to do this I changed my mind because you wouldn't be able to tell the difference in the states and that would have bothered me. So then I decided to make my journey from Massachusetts to Florida. 

Below are some pictures of my project:

The total picture

Close up of FL

Close up of MA

MA

FL

This is parts of my tattoo making the path to MA to FL

The original hair element

The original hand picture

The original tattoo picture

The original kiss face picture

The original picture of my cheek

The original picture of my elbow

That's all! :)

The Video Game Revolution

So... I am not a big video gamer but I know that there are far more people who enjoy video games than those who don't. I am the kind of person that likes real life situations rather than fantasy, so if I were to play video games I like racing games or sport games. These games are based on real life situations and not based on anime characters. However watching this movie on the video game revolution makes me realize why so many people are interested in these games. I think that the development side of video games is cool how they create the games. I like the grids that they use and the real people who mimic moves that allows the developers to simulate what moves the characters should make. This element can be anything from running, kicking, punching, even as much as how the mouth moves when someone is speaking.

One of the things that are neat about modern video games is the ability they have to make these games appear real. And that is one of the reasons why so many people are addicted to the games! Like the video says, its a way to escape reality and for a moment be part of something bigger and ideal. This video also makes me have a lot of credit for the developers and engineers I honestly had no idea how much work goes into making one video game! They said it can take up to years!! I also thought that the video games progressed so quickly from simple games with little color such as pacman to intense real life games such as Call of Duty.

Just as a side note, I don't remember if this was mentioned in the movie but I think that video games lead up to the use of simulations. These can be used to teach pilots how to fly a plane in unideal conditions, to the ice road truck drivers who need to learn how to drive the truck when there is so much ice on the roads. Situations like these, and war simulations, are helpful because they allow the person to get a feel for what is going to happen in the real world without being thrown out there to make mistakes that could potentially be life-threatening.

Steve Jobs Commencement

The Steve Jobs commencement at Stanford University was a great speech! Although we only viewed 15 minutes of it I thought that he had a lot of great things to share and was a good motivator. I should be graduating next Spring and that scares the shit out of me!! I have no idea what I am going to do and how it is going to work out. But I think that what he said about not being able to connect the dots looking forward, only looking back is the best advice. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Jobs says that if you know that you can only connect the dots looking back, you will be more motivated to live life in a way that makes you happy. This is because knowing that 10 years from now all the pieces will have fallen into place gives you the courage to live without the fear of regret. And I think that is wonderful advice! :)

Grid Art

My grid art project was inspired by my doggy Ginger. She's my baby!! We adopted her in December if last year, she has made our house a home! When I heard the project was grid art I first was confused and did not know what I would create. When I started looking at stores for a pre-existing grid, I remembered rug kits that I used to use as a kid. They are easy to use with a certain piece however I didn't have that piece. I had to make the rug by hand and it took probably 12 hours of work to get this complete. 

Here are some pictures of my grid art: 

Above is the original picture, below are the front and back of the rug I made. 

I thought that the class had really great assignments too, I think that my favorite was the guy who did the Mario out of bottle caps. That was very creative and original. 

Triumph of the Nerds Part 3

This was by far the best of the three videos! I really liked this one because it had a twist in it that I did not see coming.. I did not know that Steve Jobs job fired from Apple!!! And all because we are so passionate about his ideas.... that's ridiculous! I cannot believe that. I think that in this video as he was talking about how he did not make it in Apple he was a little sour towards Microsoft Windows. I also think that it's interesting that they were all friends and then ended up going in their separate directions. Also Steve Jobs and Bill Gates became two of the biggest rivals in computer history. That is sad because their jobs most likely took away from their friendship.

But I did think that the video was interesting to see how these companies were made and how they fought to stay alive. I personally, am an Apple user. I find that they are easy to use and much more dependable. I have had my MacBook for over 3 years now and it has yet to crash. My roommate has had her Windows PC for 3 years and is now on her second computer because hers has crashed so many times.

I also like Lennol. I think that he has the right idea that computers and PC will not be the future, that internet will be the future. And we have already seen that in way of the Cloud. This information can be reached from everywhere and anywhere. Another thing that I like about the MacBook is that you can connect all your devices together in one place. So my iPod and iPhone and Macbook can all have the same information. Now that's easy!

Triumph of the Nerds Part 2

Unlike the first part of these videos, the second one is about the rise of Microsoft and Intel. They also discussed the fall of IBM company. This video was not as interesting as the first one just because I am an Apple user so it is more interesting to me to watch about the rise of Apple than the rise of Microsoft just because I do not use that program as often as the Apple. However, it is still interesting that they were all friends, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Steve Wozniak and they ended up all competing against each other in different computer companies. Fortunately they were all luck enough to make it big in this industry and are all wealthy men.

I did realize after watching this video that you really need to act fast on ideas that you have. I learned this through watching the IBM fail. They were a big company however did not have their eyes open to new opportunities and basically let them slip through their hands onto someone else. After this one mistake in their business they were left in the market with few buyers. I also learned some business skills throughout watching this second video.

1) Getting ahead is a lot in who you know and making good connections.
2) It is good to get out there and start making connections because you never know in the future who you might like to work with or what they have to offer you.
3) And finally I learned that the best business skill to have is to think ahead, think quickly, and most importantly ACT on it!

Triumph of the Nerds Part 1

This first 50 minute video is basically an introduction to how the computer industry evolved into what it is today. I thought that although the video had a lot of background information it was pretty interesting. This first video describes mostly how Apple company became famous and it's two founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. I liked that these companies were like started in garages and were meant to be used for fun and to impress their friends. I think that those make the best companies and fortunes is when you least expect it. These nerds had the intensions to make a device that was easy to use and could get things done, not with the intention of making millions of dollars. That was just an added bonus!

From this video I learned a lot, I learned that Apple company was started by two college friends who were super nerdy. They were early on fascinated with the digital world. They went on the school however found themselves attending conferences with computer companies. During the spare time these friends would hangout and listen to music while building the beginnings of personal computers. When several doors opened the two men took it upon themselves to start marketing for this idea that they believed would be a good sell. Luckily for them these ideas landed them big time jobs and boat loads of money all before the age of 25. These men did not even need to finish college because they realized that they were set for life. They got pretty lucky with that one, I wish that at 25 I was worth 3 million dollars!!

Ray Kurzweil

Ray Kurzweil is an awesome guy! He is the director of engineering at GOOGLE! The latest search engine website. It has become so much more than that. You have Google as a search engine, but you also have Google mail (gmail), Google docs, google images! So much comes from Google. It is an amazing thing, and probably a very interesting place to work. Kurzweil went to MIT and excelled in his classes. He is responsible for having a computer scan text and read it in many different fonts. He is also responsible for having the computer read out loud to the user to help the blind in using computers. Overall Ray is a pretty cool guy, who has an interesting story. He loves to help out those who have minor disabilities such as blindness, ADD, and dyslexia.

He has gone on to write books about what he believes as a Futurist, and how he feels about people with disabilities and the use of technology to assist them.

Mark J Stock

Mark J Stock is an artist, mostly dealing with digital art. One of his pieces is called the Sprawl. This is an image that is displayed on a grid (just like our assignment for grid art) and it is of a branch sprawled out over the grid. This is an interesting piece because it's as if the two parts do not belong together. The grid is very organized and neat, while the branch that is over it is disorderly and does not fit into the grid very well.

One thing about me is that I am a Math major. Being a math major, you have to like grid and the imaginary planes. I love this stuff. But for me, when I use a grid I use one to make graphs that make sense that have specific points on the grid. However here he uses a grid which is traditionally used to mark specific known points, as a backdrop to a branch.

This is a little odd and out of place, but I like it. :)




The second piece that I want to talk about is called Red Streamlines. This is amazing!! This is all math and I love it. Here he puts together a piece using the inverse square of a function. He puts together a piece that makes sense to me. This is speaking my language. It is something that can be solved and shown again and again. The result will always be the same when using the same functions. That is what I love about math... consistency.

Douglas Engelbart

Douglas Engelbart is an American engineer and inventor. He is interested for human-computer interaction. Engelbart is responsible for the invention of the computer mouse. This is a pretty cool invention seeing as how this makes a lot of computer part accessible. For example, the transition between a type writer and a computer could be argued the invention of the mouse. In the type writer you can write text, but you cannot backspace. You are also unable to clip anywhere in the document to review what you have done. With the mouse, and of course the software of Microsoft, we are now able to type on a computer but have the ability to move the mouse around and view different areas of the computer screen.

War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast

This is the original War of the Worlds radio broadcast and it is amazing. At the time this came out, everyone was stunned. This was first heard in 1938 and produced by Orson Welles. Radio could be heard by anyone who had a radio, was at a diner with a radio, everywhere! People were enthralled with the radio at this time, and so Orson Welles thought that he would recreate the War of the Worlds over the radio and get people to believe that aliens were actually taking over.

Because of this the public freaked out. They thought that World War II was coming and panic flew over the US. This was a big controversial in radio history.

Today radio is such a part of our everyday lives, I sometimes wish that I grew up in the time when people actively sat and listened to the radio. I am a huge fan of the radio (minus all the commercials.) However I really like sitting and listening to the radio. Back in the early days of radio it was mostly used to tell news and talk about current events. Now most of the radio is for music, which I do enjoy, but I would like to know what it felt like to sit down with the family after dinner and listen to the radio to get the local news rather than sit down and turn the TV on.

I'm a bit old fashioned. lol

My Flip Book Animation

My flip book animation was inspired by a simple story. This is the story of a baby caterpillar trying to find his way through life to become a butterfly. Along the way he meets a frog friend and he shows him the way to become a butterfly.

Through the animation, the caterpillar, Cameron, is born, he begins exploring the world. He is then picked up by a bird who is there to help him find his way. The bird brings him to a beautiful land full of nature. Here he finds beautiful flowers and his frog friend, Frank. Cameron and Frank continue into a forest where they find a pond. This pond has lily-pads and they float on them to another land area. Here they find the perfect tree for Cameron to transform into a butterfly.

Once Cameron is a butterfly, he goes to find his friend Frank again. They share over missed times together, and continue the adventure into a cave where the story ends. This ends in this way to give the viewer an imagination of their own, of where the two friends will explore next. :)

Hope you like it!

A Trip To The Moon

A Trip to the Moon was kind of a boring video for me to watch, definitely not one of my favorites. It brought me back to the opera, which isn't that interesting to me. What was interesting about this video was that you could tell that it was from early film because you could see that the colors were all drawn on to the film. You could tell because when changing frames, some of the colors wouldn't match up or be different shades. It didn't bother me that you could tell the different frames and that everything wasn't perfectly colored because I think that it brings character to the film. :)

Singing in the Rain Comparison

Singing in the rain is a song performed by Gene Kelly in the musical Jazz Man. It was originally released in 1929, right after the Great Depression. When people make songs and movies, they usually reflect on what is happening in history during that time period. The original song is a joyous man singing in the rain, happily trotting through the puddles. This is a reflection of the time period. 1929 marked the year that the US finally was out of the Great Depression. This is a period called the "roaring twenties." It makes sense that this song would be recorded in happy spirits.

The movie Clockwork Orange was filmed in 1971. This is a period where everyone is experimenting with drugs and free spirited. The movie is based on a couple of teenagers experimenting with drugs that make them violent. This movie plays the song "signing in the rain" as the teenager is raping a woman. This is completely contradictory to the original song. Here I believe the director let them use this song because it is meant to be a happy song, and in the movie these teenagers are so happy on their drugs and causing trouble. To them they couldn't be happier raping this woman. I think it is meant to cause the viewers a little disgust when they watch this man singing such a happy song, while committing a horrible act.

Theses two differences in the same song, just goes to show the difference movies have during a specific time period.

Mise En Scene

Mise en scene is all of the components that make up a shot. There are several pieces that are important such as the angle, color, lens, and depth.

Angle:
There are 5 different camera angles, birds eye view, high angle, eye level shot, low angle, and oblique angle. All of these different angles were tested in the early 1930s when film was really booming. As some of the video clips we saw in class, it is obvious the director is experimenting with all these different camera angles.

Color:
The color of a shot is important because it tells the viewer where they should direct their attention. For example in this shot everything in the picture is all brown and grey but the woman is in bright blue. This makes it so you direct your attention to her.

Lens:
There are several different types of lens used in film today. Such lenses are called telephoto lens, wide-angle lens, fast film stock, and slow film stock. The telephoto lens draws objects closer but takes away from the depth of the image. The wide-angle lens takes an image an increases that depth of that image, sometimes blurs the edges.

Depth:

Talking about changing the depth, the depth is another technique used to draw the viewers attention to one object or another. In the picture above, it creates a depth in the background, making that blurry. This allows the viewer to focus on what is "in focus" little depth. In this image, it is the characters that have little depth, and the background that is farther in depth of the image. 

Stop Motion II

Still Moving

The first video was a cool architectural video, I liked how they used different building and parks to base their video off of. I also felt like sometimes they used two or three different background scenes in one shot. They would be cruising past a park, however the same building was present in the background at multiple parks in different locations. This was not my favorite because it seemed a little boring and repetitive.

Big Milk

This video was interesting... Not sure how I felt about it because it was a little too abstract for me. But I believe the artist was trying to get the point across that we are human have the "americanvirus" which basically is living every day the same, and rushing rushing rushing. We are repetitive in our lifestyles, and every day wake up and go to work, and wake up and go to work the next day. This kind of makes you think about your life, and how you can create ways to be happier and enjoy every day. I believe that the artist was also trying to say that we work ourselves to death because they kept showing images of the person working and struggling, then there would be images of a skeletal. Sometimes the person would be struggling and even wresting the skeletal. So this was a cool video if I got the message that they were trying to give out.

http://vimeo.com/1452564

Stop Motion I

Bumble Bee Boy

The first animation that I watch was called Bumble Bee Boy. I obviously chose this one because it reminds me of the awesome movie series Transformers. :) This animation was cool because it reminds me of the movie and also because the descriptions says that these clips are based of real life things and not hand drawn clip by clip. So that means that someone took the time to build the model and take picture after picture of the object moving to create this sorta of mini movie. So I can appreciate that because I certainly don't have the time to create an animation of this sort.

http://vimeo.com/3784930

This is Where We Live

This was a cool video to watch because it was all about the characters in books. I liked the beginning because it reminded me about our animation flip books that we have to do in class. But I really liked how they made a video about the book characters but making sure to keep the closed books in the background. This reminded me that there is more to a book that what you think, and when you actually sit down to read a good book, all of the stories that come out of that book are amazing. So needless to say, I liked this video. :)

http://vimeo.com/2295261

Almeria 

Okay, so I know that I really liked the book video, but this was probably my favorite one. I am a math major, but I have an environmental science background because I love the environment and Earth. This video was an amazing way to represent the wear and tear we have created on this earth. That no matter when, the trees still stand tall, withering all that we throw at them. The wood shows signs of old age and hard times however, still holds up buildings and bridges. This was just so cool. Well done.

http://vimeo.com/2910853

Quinta's Stage Door Posts

Whatever Lola Wants

I thought that this was a cute little number. I really like the dance and song that goes with this song, I am a fan on jazz music and dance so that was neat to see. This song actually reminded me of the song that we watched in class with Queen Latifah "When you're good to mama." I don't know why they reminded me of each other, but I think it's because they are both about girls being seductive to guys in the same manner. I liked it though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLx7qUeRGU0&feature=player_embedded#at=221

A Christmas Carol

Christmas time is one of my favorite times so I had to choose A Christmas Carol to blog about because it just makes me happy to think of Christmas. This part in the musical looks as if its the ending part where he is getting a look at how miserable he is. Enjoyed this clip, however having seen the musical performed live I obviously like that much better. The musical was amazing to watch, I love when the audience just has Christmas spirit running through the atmosphere. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaFcmYIVGf0&feature=player_embedded#at=89

Applause 

This was a musical that I've never seen before, but it was nice. I liked how it was like expressing about the money and education problems that were happening in the real world around that time. That is what I liked most about the operas, was that it was based off of events and things that were going on around them in the real world. Also, those yellow and green pants that she has on are pretty awesome :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89DzMDC6gws&feature=player_embedded#at=110

Transgender Presentation

This presentation was an interesting one to say the least. I have no experience with transgender people, I have never met one, never spoke to one, so needless to say I have no idea what they believe and their values. This was sort of an eye opener for me to realize what these people are struggling with. I thought that the artist had a good eye for art and some of the pieces were really neat. I liked how the pieces were all large 10 - 12 ft drawings. That was the coolest part because it must be so hard to complete a drawing of that size! I also liked the idea of taking pictures of yourself each day and see how you change, and how the hair and makeup styles change on a day to day basis. I also liked the drawings that they did based on the hairstyles. I have no artistic ability to draw or paint so that's pretty cool that these things can be done.

It was also amazing that they reached out to people internationally and were about to get other "sponsors" per se. The dancers in asian countries that were choreographing dances for those transgenders who lost their lives in a daily struggle against being who they really are. I think that people in 2014 need to open their eyes to many different kinds of people, and their choices shouldn't effect one's life to such the extend some make it out to be. Personally, I do not care of your sexual preference as it does not effect me. As long as no one is trying to push something on me that I don't like, then I am totally cool with whatever it is that you wish to me. With that being said, I can't imagine how it is to live in a world where people are trying to push you to be something that you are not. If this was the case for me and my sexual preference I would be very angry and express my feeling the way the artist did in this presentation.

Wicked

First of all, I saw Wicked at the Straz Theater. It was truly amazing! I went into it not knowing what the musical was going to be about, but I had heard only good reviews about it on the radio. I asked my mom if we could go (mostly because I didn't think that any of my friends would find this enjoyable) but we loved it!! 

Watching the behind-the-scene video really puts into perspective how much work really goes into a performance of this size. And the effort that goes into this has to be 100% from ALL the people involved. Like the video says, it requires effort from the director, cast, orchestra, writers, makeup, everyone's part is crucial to a successful performance. 

As much as I loved this musical, my all time favorite was Dirty Dancing. I saw this in Boston and I cannot even describe in words the way it makes you feel. It's so real and just takes you to a different place. Definitely makes you appreciate this type of art when you see it for yourself. 

Oculus Rift

These seem awesome! Now I'm not a big gamer, but I can enjoy a good action movie. This equipment seems as if it is similar to 3D glasses (which as such a hassle to wear through an entire movie!). But I like the idea that I can watch my favorite action/adventure movies through these as well as listen to concerts that I may have missed out on over the summer. I love music, and I love even more that music, is live music. These would be an amazing product that one day I hope to try and/or own. :)

p.s. I thought that the video at the end of the article was pretty cool too. I liked the way that this artist incorporated his own music into the orchestra and the chorus. Not very many performers like to take the spotlight away from themselves.

South Pacific and Coco Cola Commercial

There is much controversy in the most recent super bowl commercial for Coco Cola. This commercial is about America being beautiful and diverse and having it's own culture. Part of the song is sung in English and the other part of the song is sung is Spanish (which a high percent of Americans speak today.) The argument is that this should not have been performed in this way as those in American should speak English and be a true "American". These racial issues are the same that are bought up in the broadway music "South Pacific." This musical is about an American army man who falls in love with an Island girl, they have two children together. Then the man is a widower and cares for the two children of mixed race. As this man goes out to look for another wife he gets a lot of criticism for raising children that are of mixed race. There is so much controversy about this musical, and they got criticized hard for the main song of the musical. This song is called "How You're Taught." This is a song about racism being something that we are taught to feel it is not innate in us from birth. They sing about how each person should be loved and valued the same way no matter the race or background of the individual.

This musical was from the late 1940s, and we are currently in 2014. This is some 50 years later and we are still dealing with the same issues. Now there are laws and rules that say that each individual is equal in all aspects, however this clearly is not the case. I do believe strongly that it is how we are raised. Children learn by example and if there is some issue going on between a white man and a black (or other racial background) man, the children pick up on this much more that we would think. In the United States this has been such an issue that it created the Civil War. Although the war is over and rules have changed, society has yet to change. I fear that this issue will never truly go away.

It is really sad to see kids getting treated differently for something so small as skin color. I grew up in New England, Massachusetts to be specific and we did not have such racial issues in the little town that I grew up. Although people look at whites and blacks differently, there does not seem to be as much segregation as there is in the south. Now I learned this when I moved to Florida 3 years ago. I got a job in Ybor, Tampa and saw first had the discrimination. I was appalled at first, and spoke with managers and coworkers from the area and they see no issue with how they are treating minorities. They told me "this is the south, its our culture." Now after being here for 3 years I see how this is their culture and it is completely unlike New England.

I think that white Americans feel and act this way towards minorities as part of a pride issue? We are all taught in schools that whites came over to America and discovered this land and that it is ours (whites that is.) You do not learn about black leaders in school, only those white presidents and persons of importance. You learn in school that blacks are slaves, and that there was a huge problem that there was a war in place of it. Now things may not have changed because people do not want to accept change and believe in ways they were brought up, or possibly they do not change because people EXPECT things to be a certain way and look out for this.

As far as the Coco Cola commercial "offending" some people because it is in a different language, comes from those uneducated people who believe that there is no room for diversity. In all honesty, when I was younger I did not believe that we should allow immigrants into the country because we should maintain America's way and their culture. However now that I am older and educated, I understand that the WAY of America IS to be diverse and be different. This is a magical place where anyone is welcome and should feel at home. Not a place of discrimination and racism.

Now it may take years and years or we may never see true equality, but I certainly don't think that we should encourage this among children. I do see first hand that it is a cultural issue, and if children in MA are brought us to treat everyone equally I don't see why children in the "south" can't be taught the same thing!!

Madama Butterfly

This was a very interesting animated opera. It is clearly to be viewed by adult viewers seeing as there is graphic detail in the first two minutes of the opera. However, this is a story about a woman who falls in love with a man who leaves her. When he leaves, he gives her his jacket and hat, but takes her little butterfly. He also leaves her pregnant with his child and does not return for some years. This little lady waits and waits for her man to return, and just as it seems he will not return, he does. This time however, he returns with another lover. This wicked stepmother breaks up Madama and her baby girl. Now this woman has not her child, lover, or butterfly. She then cannot handle being alone and abandoned and commits suicide. I have mixed thoughts about this video. I find it interesting because of the story and I'm a sucker for love stories however the way it is presented is so odd to me. I do not understand why this woman's baby originally is a fish in a glass tank in her stomach, and then when she is born she is a normal baby? I don't know, maybe I'm missing an important idea but it just seems odd to me to make a video of an opera in such a way.

Deus Ex Machina - Catching Fire

If you are a fan of The Hunger Games, you've probably seen the most recent sequel Catching Fire. This movie was excellent!! I chose this movie to use as my example of deus ex machine because the entire movie is fictional, yet is portrayed in such a way that it feels real, rather than fictional. This movie is about a world where instead of fighting in the US Army to protect your country and todays democratic government, the world is flipped upside down. The government is so bad that it encourages those of upper class to watch the lower class citizens fight to the deal in a series of games called The Hunger Games. These games are similar to the Olympics that are taking place this year, however on a much sicker scale. The first movie of the trio is the introduction of how the games are run, and Katniss (the main character) volunteers to fight in place of her little sister. Here she fights along side another boy from her district Peeta. Together they end up winning the games together, which is unusual because the point of the game is to have one winner. However these two convinced the viewers that they were lovers and sympathy allowed them to win together. :)

The sequel to this first movie is next year when it's time for the picking for this years hunger games. They decided to do a unique year where they invite all of the winning tributes to fight as sort of a "advanced" game. Katniss and Peeta return for battle, knowing this time they won't make it out together. The government they have is so corrupt and brutal, that even members of their government are beginning to turn against them. Katniss and Peeta are favorites from the games, and they want to rescue them. The example of deus ex machine comes in the ending of this movie. They go through a series of challenges that bring them near death, and remember the point of these games is to "put on a show."

All of the other members in the tournament decide that they want to go against the government and save Katniss, since she seems to be the head target of the game leaders. We, as the viewers do not know that everyone is on Katniss' side and this makes the movie very interesting. People come close to killing her but it's all for show. The ending of the movie happens when one of the members sacrifices herself to save Katniss, she cuts her tracker out of her arm. And just when Katniss is about to die she is randomly rescued from a jet that enters the game zone and picks her up. Obviously the game leaders do not know that this has occurred since her tracker has been taken out. This is when we find out that her mentor and Peeta, and other members of the government team were out to save Katniss this whole time.

I thought that this was an example of where technology saved an unseeingly solvable problem because in the movie it's at the end, and the entire field is going to burn with everyone in it. Katniss has encountered some serious battles and is almost dead from exhaustion and just at the last minute this giant jet comes from no where and picks her up and puts her on IVs to save her.

Hope this is what you're looking for!! :)

Opera Gone Modern Video Game

The opera I chose is Ernani by Verdi. This was originally performed in 1844, and was a very dramatic opera. This opera is classic in that it is about a woman, Elvira, that is a love triangle. She is told to marry Gomez de Silva by her family, however is in love with bad boy Ernani, whom she cannot marry. Ernani is collaborating with a bunch of bandits who feel sorry for him because he is so gloomy. They decide to capture Elvira and run away with her. Ernani breaks in when King Carlos and Silva are there, he challenges them both to battle and tells Elvira to prepare to flee. Elvira chooses to marry Silva because she believes Ernani is dead. Ernani however finds his way into the palace again, to tell Elvira they will run away together, and she tells him that she plans to kill herself at the altar. Then Ernani and Silva get together to get Elvira away from the King. Strangely the two worked together well, and even though the King demanded answers and help Elvira captive, Silva did not turn Ernani in. Carlos overhears Ernani and Silva talking and demands that Ernani is dead however once he sees the connection between Ernani and Elvira he decides to unite the two lovers. At the end Silva hands Ernani a dagger and he ends up killing himself as he promised Silva he would do so in return for freeing Elvira from the King.

From this opera I learned that many operas are the same story, however presented differently. It seems to me that most operas are a dramatic love story between two lovers who cannot be together and at the end one of the lovers commits suicide. When this opera was originally presented I think that the audience reacted very well to the opera because it was based on events that were happening around them. This time people were forced into marriages and many times, the ones whom they were told to marry were not the ones they loved. I'm sure many men and women could relate to the feelings that were presented during the operas. Besides, everyone loves a good love story! 

This piece is important chronologically to opera because it is telling stories of what was happening in this time in history. It also is testing the limits with opera by performing acts that may have been otherwise known as taboo. Committing suicide on stage has got to have been a bold statement at this time in history. Unfortunately, today we hear of suicide much too often. There is minimal use of technology in this opera however it can be seen in the beginning when the bandits are fighting the man on the white horse. This use of technology makes the skit come to life. Also as in most other operas the use of technology can be seen through the different back drops during the opera. 

If I were a 21st century director, I would turn this opera into a video game by making the game about capturing Elvira. The way the game would work is by going up levels each time you get closer to Elvira. You would encounter challenges such as Silva and Carlos, however to win the game would have to overcome these obstacles and eventually get the girl. This game would have lots of action as Ernani is part of the bandits and there is a lot of "almost" fights between Ernani, the King, and Carlos. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcInGVq_ERw