Video art

Kraftwork + House Music

As someone who has never listened to house music of any sort, it was fun looking through each of the links. Nothing like being exposed to something totally different in one dose! By far the most interesting to me was Chip E's "Time to Jack" The use of the repetivtive vocals was intertesting.

It reminded me of a song a friend of my in high school use to blast, Bruce Willis is Dead. Though at the time I was kinda like "WTF is this," knowing what I know about house music now, I can definetly pick out the clear inspiration.

Perhaps the most interesting thing for me about the Kraftwork documetry was the discussion about their influence on hip-hop. It definetly speaks to the post-modern crisis that genres keep creating themselves out of other genres. The cycle continues.

Advertising Vs. Prop

I think there is a huge difference between advertising and propoganda. While yes, they are both attempting to persuade, I think the main difference lies in the audience.

Advertising is so succesful because it has relied on a the exact science of breaking its audiences into tiny groups. Black, White, Lation. Age 20-25. Age 40-45. Generation X, Y, Z. Male. Female. Income levels. Interest groups. The combonations are practically infinite. Yet advertising broke the code. Each advertisement you see has made an exact combonation of these, trageting a direct group.

With Propaganda, there are no demographics. When a propganda message goes out, there is no care for who sees it. They are trying to persuade everyone. Lets turn to the ever overused example of Nazi Propganda. When they created the posters, there only dempgraphic was non-jews. They were trying to persuade EVERYONE to believe in their party.

Propaganda also distorts facts. Now while advertising does this to some extint, there are government groups whose main task is to shut down people who make these false facts in advertising.

I think that the intent is what really seperates the two. People can lambaste advertising all they want, but I truly don't think it has any curel intentions.

EVA & ADELE + Flashmobs

AVA & ADELE say they have come from the future. They also are deeply in love.
Some things they won't reveal. Like their real ages. They refer to themselves as "walking museums."

They also state that neither of them is a woman or a man, and that they have in fact created their "own sex." The bald heads are masculine, yet the dress is completely feminine. Also every detail down to the symmetrical way their carry their purses, and wear their jewelery is absolutely stunning.

Why do they do this? For spectacle? Because they're in love and refuse to spend anytime apart? Who knows. Maybe a little of both. But they are certainly beautiful to look at. And their story is quite moving. Eva went through the process of a trial just to have her sex changed on her birth certificate to "female." They also sate that they've never spend a night apart since they fell in love. Going through all that trouble leads me to believe maybe this isn't all for spectacle. Maybe it started as something more pure and just evolved itself.

As for flashmobs, this probably my most favorite. Talk about decontextualization. In an airport is probably the last place you'd expect to see a flashmob. Though I wonder if it made anyone late for their flight.

Iconoclast+Orlan

i·con·o·clast/īˈkänəˌklast/

Noun:

A person who attacks cherished beliefs or institutions. A destroyer of images used in religious worship. Is Orlan "iconoclast" in the religious sense? Aside from having people dress like priests, no. But she is certainly an iconoclast in the sense of attacking cherished beliefs -- and she'd probably be offended if you said she wasn't.

Orlan's whole intent was to attack the "institutions" of the view of women -- as objects, as symbols, in their "cherished" roles. Everything she did sought to attack that view. And I feel that the view of women and their role is in fact an "institution." She also is an iconoclast in her method of extrapolating the beauty rituals of other societies. The fact that she even features them probably makes some more traditional members of those cultures cringe and call foul. But she is purposefully stripping them from their context, removing them from the institutions they are rooted in, and having the viewer observe. 

I would comment more on her surgery videos, but since I faint at the sight of blood, I think my eyes were closed most of the time. Sorry.

I'm not sure if I necessarily agree with her methods. I think that the Guerrilla Girls were probably more my speed at getting the feminist message across. While not handling the exact same issues, they certainly had similar aims. On that note, I'm sure you could call the Guerrilla Girls iconoclastic with their art as well. Hell -- if they weren't they wouldn't be very useful would they?

I thought the Lady Gaga video was surprisingly amazing. I have never been one for Lady Gaga, though I appreciate her views on the LGBT community, and the video was actually quite stunning. Once again, it amazes me how much of what we learned in the class, as niche as it may seem at first, is attacking still embedded in our  popular culture.

Xerox Project- Claustrophobia.

For my project, I only focused on two body parts: hands and the face. I've titled the piece Claustrophobia.
The process began with trying to capture a image of my face on the scanner. I wanted it to almost look like the person had received some bad news over the phone.

After that, I glued layer upon layer upon layer of hands. I played with the lightness/darkness on the xerox machine to achieve a variety of colors on the hands, so it didn't appear flat.

I wanted the hands to look like they were beginning to crush the face underneath; piling on and inching closer and closer. I wanted the hands to also act as a metaphor for stressful situations. Each hand represented a stress causing factor, all piling until there was barely a hole for you the breathe.

Bauhaus + McCarthyism

Well when I hear Bauhaus I immediately think of the band, but the art movement is pretty nifty too! On my searches, I found an image of a poster for bauhaus furniture that said "art as life" which is an absolutely stunning concept when you think about it.
Bauhaus is incredible because of it's functionality. In a way, it reminds me of apprropriation art it that it took a modern day object (say, a chair) and turned it into something much more, making people look at chairs, shelfs, tables, in a totally different way. That's what Duchamp and Man Ray achieved with there pieces, but they never tried to make it functional.

Art as life. Sitting in art, making tea with art, putting your books on art. This idea overwhelms me with it's simplisty and it's beauty.

McCarthyism, on the other hand, overwhelmes me with it's absolutely stupidity. It's not even anything I can fathom -- that someone could cause such chaos by saying so little (not to mention he was an obvious nut job.) How people listened to him, and ruined peoples lifes -- it seems so science-fiction to me. The fact that there was no real evidence, is astounding. But people were so terrified of this abstract idea that they didn't even care. It's like the salem witch trials, which even in the McCarthy era I'm sure seemed arcyan.
But even know things like that happen; people who travel feared anyone who looked remotely Muslim after 9/11, despite proper proof.
I've watched footage of the trials, and it seems like a circus. Here's a clip:

Dada Manifesto

Given how random everything else was, I found the Dada Manifesto surprisingly poetic. 

"t will serve to show how articulated language comes into being. I let the vowels fool around. I let the vowels quite simply occur, as a cat meows . . . Words emerge, shoulders of words, legs, arms, hands of words. Au, oi, uh. One shouldn't let too many words out. A line of poetry is a chance to get rid of all the filth that clings to this accursed language, as if put there by stockbrokers' hands, hands worn smooth by coins. I want the word where it ends and begins. Dada is the heart of words."

I guess my problem is I have a hard time seeing things in a the framework of a timeoutside my own. As in Dada for example, I found it utterly ridiculous. How could anything as absurd as this spark a movement the art world?
However, when I wake myself out of here and now, and place myself in the time in which Dada was being birthed, Dada movement is amazing.

Also, I feel I'm at a slight disadvantage as I studied speech pathology for two years. Being in hospital wings where people litereally cannot speak and seem to be reciting a dada poem with the words they can't quite get out as hard as they may try, it's hard to find a lack of language beautiful or groundbreaking. I think those without language are truly at a disadvantage. I've seen it with my own eyes.

Maybe I'm overthinking it. I'm clearly not very Dada.

Grid Art

For my gridart I did a peacock feather. While I knew I could never replicate the detail in the photo, I thought the colors (and the sections of the colors) would look interesting in a grid fortmat.
I used roughly 900+ beads.

Original Image:

Tada!

Videogames + Bullying

Well, to begin. The documentary, while very interesting, had some major flaws. To begin the "girls games" was incredibly sexist. The got the whole idea wrong! Trying to make a place for in games for women, so they don't feel "left out," because they couldn't possibly enjoy "violent" games, was just offensive. Maybe that wasn't their aim, but as a "girl gamer" I found it offensive.

But, on to bullying! I think that saying we can't call the other characters "people" may be incorrect. The whole point of video games is to feel immersed.  In the documentary, one of the people playing  a game stated "We're shooting each other." People often refer to the avatars as "me." So naturally, the other characters become "people." If we get so immersed in a game we begin to see ourselves in the avatar, is it that big of a leap that the characters become "people"? I am inclined to say no. That's the power of games -- to feel like you're a part of a different world. If they didn't do that, it wouldn't be such a successful industry.

Are you actually killing literal "people" when you play a game? No. But it may feel real enough where it feels like you are. Maybe.

I think that video games definitely have an effect on violence. Just as if a child watches his father beat up his mother, he may handle his anger in similar ways. Some children, especially young children, are very susceptible to being taught things. I think we can all agree that a 5 year old should not be playing Mortal Kombat. It's just not appropriate.

I think it can lead for children to be more aggressive  Are they going to become psycho killers? Slim chance, and if they did, it's not because of the video games.But it could lead to some more aggressive behavior, as the see in video games. The video game Bully, in fact, makes the player a bully in school! The message doesn't have another way of looking at it. Here's an article that discusses this game, and opinions on it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1576078/Video-game-glorifies-bullying-say-critics.html

While I don't think video games should be banned by any means, some violence in games is just absurd. In a world where bullying is a major problem in our society, I do think caution needs to be exercised with children playing games.

War of the Worlds + the Ghostwatch Effect

The reason why War of the Worlds drove everyone bat-shit insane, was because...
they only decided to say it was fake right at the beginning!
This was problamatic for those who tuned in mid way through, and when it sounded just like a trusted news story they might hear on there nightly radio. Those who were tuned in ahead of time, of course heard it was fake, but it seems not many were able to do tat.

While this seems like something that would happen long ago, and couldn't possibly happen today, let me direct you to a show called Ghostwatch. Ghostwatch was a show that aired on BBC in 1992. When it aired, it recieved an "estimated 30,000 calls to the BBC switchboard in a single hour." And it has not been aired in the UK since. This news style, documentary drove the viewers into an extreme fear. The show itself was banned for a decade after it aired.

It was a long running set up, that a famous news anchor (real one, that is) was going to go to a haunted house and film on Halloween night. What happened was one of the most terrifying hours of TV ever, and many people beleived it to be real. While it started innocently enough, it escalated from there. One viewer, a 13 year old boy, commited suicide, many believe to be a direct result from the show.

BBC was even taken to court, when viewers beileved it caused psychological harm to the viewers, and that they had a responsiblity of doing a little more than HINTING at its fakeness.

My first flipbook

video to come, but for now - a few selected pages

And back to photography...

10 of the Most Famous Photo Hoaxes

http://www.flavorwire.com/333176/10-of-the-most-famous-photo-hoaxes-through-history

Wendy Carlos + Singing in the Rain

I guess I'll start with why Singing in the Rain was used in Clockwork Orange. After filming the rape scene, Kubrick decided that it was too "stiff" and asked Malcolm McDowell to sing a song. Since it had to be decided upon on the spot, McDowell choose "Singing in the Rain" because it was the only song he knew all the words, too (sort of). Kubrick apparently liked the effect it had, as it's used in another scene, as well as over the end credits. Rumor has it that Gene Kelly was upset by this decision.

As for the rest of Clockwork Oranges soundtrack, we turn to Ms. Wendy Carlos. Well of course the main thing about "Walter" Carlos is that she now goes by Wendy Carlos. She had sexual reassignment surgery that she prefers not to discuss. She had not yet received the surgery at the time of Clockwork Orange, so she was credited was "Walter Carols."

She has some very interesting takes on soundtrack music. She has a flair for using previously made tracks as a sort of guide for her own music. She makes it more electronic, as she was one of the pioneers of using the Moog synthesiser.

We heard some of her work in Clockwork Orange, such as the scene in which they use the Beethoven song, which becomes a very interesting catalyst for the story. We probably all recognized it has a Beethoven song, but it was now being played on a synthesizer. This gives it a very interesting sound a feel. Old, but new. Familiar, but yet somehow very unfamiliar.

Playing on an instrument that can at times sound incredibly cheesy, Wendy has mastered her craft.

Rosebud...

 "Kane was a man who got everything he wanted, and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn't get, or something he lost."

CITIZEN KANE! Even if you live in some far off land, disconnected from Internet and TV, you have probably heard of Citizen Kane. And you probably also know about the infamous mystery word "Rosebud" To truly understand what "rosebud" means, I recommend watching the film. But, I will try to give a taste for what it means, and to the best of my ability, explain it's meaning.

The movie opens on Xanadu, Charles Kane's sprawling estate, and a lone-lit window. As we cross the estate, we see a snow globe, held by Kane. Kane whispers "rosebud," the snow globe hits the floor and shatters. The meaning behind his last word become a media sensation, and people begin scrambling to solve the mystery. The media look to his private life and childhood to find the answer.

It is discovered the Kane had a tumultuous and underprivileged childhood. However, when gold was discovered on the family property, Kane was shipped to the east coast by his mother to begin schooling. Kane had no contact with the family's suddenly-acquired wealth, until he became 25. After this, he entered the newspaper company, becoming a writer of "yellow journalism" for the New York Inquirer. He eventually seizes control of the newspaper. His reign, however, is hardly positive, and we see that his means were hardly pure on his rise to the top.

He eventually runs for mayor of New York, and becomes married to Emily. Slowly, his marriage begins to disintegrate. He begins an affair with a woman named Susan. The affair is soon discovered by his wife, but also his political opponent. The affair is leaked, ruining his campaign and his marriage. His marriage to Susan is tumultuous as well, as Susan attempts suicide, unable to cope with Kane's controlling ways. The rocky marriage ends when Susan finally decides to leave Kane. Kane is left alone  on his sprawling estate, and stays this way until his death.

At the end of the film, it is declared that the mystery of "Rosebud" will never be solved. However, it is revealed to only the audience that Rosebud was the name of the sled he played with as a child, and it becomes clear to the audience that this was the only time in his life during which he was completely happy. The sled is sadly burned along with the rest of Kane's belongings.

A heartbreaking ending to a heartbreaking life. Kane lived a life full of turmoil and loneliness. The moral is simple -- power and possession does not lead to happiness. Kane spent his whole life attempting to collect wealth and power, though it never quite filled the void in Kane's soul.

I think the power of Citizen Kane, visually, is how Wells forces your eye toward the back of the scenes. There are layers in each shot, be it the lit window that makes you look to the very edge of the scene or a boy outside the window.

Cinematography porn:

Audio in Film + Technicolor

Diegetic vs. Non-Diegetic

For this post on audio in film, I wanted to focus on the pros and cons of diegetic vs. Non-diegetic

I first want to define the two:

Diegetic: Sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film: 

• voices of characters 
• sounds made by objects in the story 
• music represented as coming from instruments in the story space ( = source music)

Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world Digetic sound can be either on screen or off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frame or outside the frame.

Non-Diegetic: Sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action: 

• narrator's commentary
• sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect
• mood music

Non-diegetic sound is represented as coming from the a source outside story space. The distinction between diegetic or non-diegetic sound depends on our understanding of the conventions of film viewing and listening.  We know of that certain sounds are represented as coming from the story world, while others are  represented as coming from outside the space of the story events.  A play with diegetic and non-diegetic conventions can be used to create ambiguity (horror), or to surprise the audience (comedy). 
Another term for non-diegetic sound is commentary sound. 

(source: http://filmsound.org/terminology/diegetic.htm)

Putting it Together

While yes, non-diegetic is very powerful in the terms of mood setting, I do prefer diegetic. I think lots of times, if you are to take out the non-diegetic sounds, the film can certainly feel less effective -- be it simply added sound effects or a soaring soundtrack.

Another powerful non-diegetic tool is the use of themes for a character. This goes back to Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, when a small portion of Tristan's theme would play whenever he was on-stage. This is still used in films today. It helps set not only the mood, but help define the character themselves. Are they stoic? Are they depressed? Are the frail? Take superheroes for example. In movies, they have theme songs specifically written for them. This often plays as the heroes saves the day. 

The Jaws theme that plays each time the shark is about to attack is a good example of a GOOD use of non-diegetic. In fact many horror movies do this, most likely taking a cue from psycho. It gives a feeling of dred as the audience hears the themes begin (particularlly Jaws escalting song) The audience can hear it and no what's going to happen, but the characters have no idea of what is about to hit them.

I do believe sometimes the use of film soundtracks can be abused. It becomes all about the soundtrack and less about the subtleties of the films soundscape. Crescendos do not a film make (Looking at you Hans Zimmer...)

Solely diegetic sounds have their own effect as well, and can at times be just as harmful. It depends on what effect the director is looking for. Sofia Copolla tends to use mostly diegetic sound in her film. It certainly aids in the realms of realness, but can tend to make the film feel slower. However, this is often Copolla's aim. In this scene, we hear all the sounds of the bar, including a softly playing piano, coming from the bar itself.

Technicolor

Despite the fact that Wizard of Oz is one of my favorite films, I had not previously known how they managed to make such a colorful world.

It's pretty remarkable the effect it had, by using a relatively simple technique. However, just because the idea was simple, does not mean it was as simple to execute. In fact technicolor was expensive and the process overall was cumbersome. Adding to it's cost inefficency was how many lights it required for it to work properly.

Skeleton Dance + Napoleon

While I couldn't find any music videos that used "The Skeleton Dance," I did find a few omages in film history.
One specificially is the scene from The Corpse Bride (awful movie) but it definetly uses some of the same coreograhpy, particularly when the skeleton is drumming on the others spine. (1:33)

I have definetly noticed this video being used in more and more pop culture, or at least more people seem to know about it. It has gained notice once more on popular sites such as Tumblr, where I find at least one gif a day of The Skeleton Dance (see first picture)


Napoleon
While I have never seen Abel Gance's Napoleon, it is certainly one I have heard of. It is refered to as timeless and is part of the Criterion Collection. In my research, I found that is is mainly the inovative cinemotograhy that makes it such an important film. Gance apparently used close-ups, multipile camera exposure, and unqiue editing styles for this film. He also used underwater cameras and split screen. Most of these styles had not been used previously, and these techniques created the sort of "epic" film we may see nowadays. More immediately, he inspired French New Wave film makers, who also used experimental cinematograhpy methods for their films

A Trip to the Moon and Why I Hate Instagram

Melies' Le Voyage dans la lune is absolutely stunning. Though I've seen the iconic moon face-shot before, I have not seen the film in it's entirety.

Each scene is full of spelendor and detail, which is what I imagine Melies became famous for. His use of the magical and beautiful is something that to this day, is still stunning.

I also found it interesting how each scene is so long. I imagine this is because it is a silent film, you need lenghter scenes so as to ensure each audience memember understand fully what is occuring. I also think in the case of Melies, the scene length serves as a way to ensure that every detail is seen. He sets it all up so it almost becomes a piece of artwork, so I feel that the length is a way to have peopl relish in those details. In particular, the shot of them standing on the moon is somehow both cheesy, and beautiful.

The wa Melies made his sets dynamic is also remarkable given the time. 

As a lover of sci-fi films, I love seeing where it all began. I think Melies was almost ahead of his time, but I'm glad people of the time appreciated the Magic Melies.

I'd also like to take a second to talk about photography and Muybridge

Muybridge has always been a favorite of mine. Muybridge motion studies turn into beautiful pieces of art.

Photography has always been a hobby of mine, though I am a die-hard film enthusiast. I had a mourning period when Polariod was discontinued, and will have yet another when film is killed. I personally hate instagram. While anyone can use it to take pictures of their feet or what they had for breakfast, it does not have the same soul as film. The effects you get will film are may be able to be duplicated visually, but instagram just feels souless to me. 

People will argue that instagram allows anyone to become a photographer. Well, in my opinion, anyone can become a photographer whether they had instagram or not. VIVA LA FILM!!!

Tech-Saavy Broadway

1. Wicked-

We'll start with the simple illusion of flight on broadway. Somehow broadway has us believing that people can actually fly. And in this fantastic scene from Wicked when Elphie takes flight on her broom, with her cape soaring behind her, the flight-illusion was taken to a whole new level.

2.Wicked (Again, because I love Wicked...)

Again with the flight illusion. But this one is a little different. Here we have Glina who is supposed to appear to be floating down to the Ozians in her bubble. I enjoy this one because it reminds me of the Operas and the Deus Ex Machina. Specifically The Queen of the Night entry in the Magic Flute.

3. Chicago- They Both Reached for the Gun

A more simple use of technology. Amazing how the use of strings being suspended from the ceiling, attactched to hands can give the illusion that everyone is a puppet!

4.Spamalot-The Black Knight/The Knights Who Say Ni

One of the more humorus "illusions" or uses of technology. The Black Kights limbs seem to be chopped off, and he appears stabbed, and then vanishes. This scene is hilarious. Also, the Knight who says Ni appears to be 7 feet tall. While these are both simple uses of technology, one cannot dismiss them, as the scenes wouldn't be half as effect, both visual and comically, without them. Can you imagine a fight scene with the Black Knight where his arms DIDN'T fall off? Can you say boring and pointless?

5.The Phantom of the Opera

Say what you will about Phantom of the Opera, it has some impressive uses of technology. The fog, the moving boat, all impressive. It certainly isn't anyone flying over the stages or soaring into mid air, but it is yet again highly effective. I don't think the scene would have worked as well had the boat been stationary. It may not be the best broadway, but when it has such good stage trickery, you gotta respect that.

6. Les Miserables- Javerts Suicide

How the heck did they make it look like he was falling?! (Also, I'm just going to say that I LIKE Les Miserbles...) There's been a few variations of this scene, all using different technology, but I enjoy this one best for it's falling illusion. Flight is easy enough, just have to find the aparatus to lift them, but how do you get it to look like the stage has no bottom? Much trickery, and well executed here.


7.Phatom of the Opera- Masqurade

Let's skip to the end of this one, as we sit in awe and say "how did he....how is he!!!???" AGAIN- say what you want about Phantom of the Opera, but this stage illusion is remarkable. Not sure how many broadways can say they made someone disappear and then reappear out of thin air. Sure, it's much more complicated than that, and probaly easy to breakdown, but the stage effect is strong and poweful, and make the character fearsome.

Broadway, Jazz, and Why I Hate New York

I guess I'm a little jaded about New York and Broadway. Watching that video was almost laughable as it's hard to see NYC as this glorious town of arts, as it was where I was mugged, went broke, and probably got most of my nerousis. I also avoided Time Square with every fiber of my being. It was especially laughable when in the video they mentioned the Bowery, as it was where I lived for my two years in NYC (between a homeless shelter and...an OPERA HOUSE!) Hard to imagine the graffiti covered buildings as a haven of culture.

Here's a picture of my old apartment (the building on the left) and the Opera house (the white building)

Anyways, I digress. I guess as jaded as I am, Broadway still definetly has some sort of magical pull. I'll give an anecdote. I work in a dance store, where I fit pointe shoes, and various other dance shoes. The other day I had a young girl and her mother come in to the store for shoes for the girl. Obviously hard on their luck, I wondered why they would be spending hundreds of dollars on shoes. I struck up a conversation with them, and found out that the girl had relocated from Colorado with her family, so as to attend the Patel Conservatorvy (this is a dance/theater/music program at the Straz Center). Her goal was to make it to Broadway, and her and her mother were dead-set that this was going to happen.

My favorite discussion about Broadway today was the talk about womens liberation! There's something I can get behind! I think women looked more free then than they do now!
Also, I nearly swooned when we mentioned Dita Von Teese. Be still my heart!

Jazz

Let's talk about Jazz. Which, I'm going to be honest, I don't know much about. So I had to do a little research before I begin here. Which was difficult as jazz has so many genres, and sub genres, and sub sub genres, it's hard to sum it up. Jazz, from what I gathered, seems to have originated in the South, specifically New Orlean. I was confused as to why they kept stating jazz was "birthed" in NYC, as I beleived it to be popular in Chicago before New York. And my research seems to have confirmed this. Jazz went to Chicago and was popular their during the 1920s, and was also gaining momentum in NYC. I think it would be a travesty to overlook the jazz culture developing in Chicago, and saying the New York was jazz's only haven.
Also, fuck New York.

Todays Entertainment

I'd have to say that since the recession, todays entertainment has become less creative and original. Seems like there's an influx of sequels, prequels, trequels, "Released in 3D!", and so forth. I think now people in Hollywood and show business don't really want to take gambles on something that might not succeceed. So their solution is to churn out things they know have already been successful in hopes of simply making money. We were talking about in class how Disney movies are now being made for Broadway...and why? For money!!

And has anyone seen that Finding Nemo is going to be released in 3D now? Just because.

The only original content I've seen recently was ParaNorman which is AMAZING and everyone should go see it. But aside from that, I can't name one other original movie I've seen recently.



Back to Broadway
I'll end the blog entry on a happier note, a Broadway song! Which is my favorite broadway song ever, and I wish it had been discussed more in the video we watched. Perhaps not a happier note afterall...

Opera, Opera, and more Opera!

It was fun to really start dissecting and looking at some operas in class. I can admit I've NEVER seen an opera (How uncultured of me.) They were just never my cup of tea...or so I thought! I think the stories behind the operas themselves, and how politically charged they are, is absolutely fascinating.

I do appreciate that the Deus Ex Machina (practicing how to pronounce it so I don't sound like a fool anymore) was phased out. I like the drama of the operas, so why get rid of that with a lame save? I think the drama and the tragedy is what makes the opera so unique. 

I believe I'm preferring the more romanticized operas overall. Wagner's music is break taking (despite the fact that he's a big ol' racist...) and the music for Madame Butterfly still stuns me.

I think the appropriation of opera into modern TV, Film, and even commercials (both musically and story telling) is an exciting study. I think it seeps in more than we realize, and has infiltrated our culture. I recently watched Melancholia (the most depressing movie I think I've ever seen) and they use one song throughout. I loved the song, and didn't realize until recently it was the Prelude from Wagners Tristan and Isolde.

Excited to start my paper soon, now that I feel like I have an understanding on opera and won't sound like an idiot.

The Diva!

Talk about a modern interrpration! Nothin' like an alien woman singing Avia in a rad scifi film to moderinize Opera. This movie is incredible. This scene is incredible. The song itself is so heartbreaking and magical, and then it's turned into an ass-kicking jam. I don't think many versions of Opera songs can be described as "ass-kicking jams."

The Stop-Motion Butterfly

When I first started watching Pjort Sapegin's interruption of Madame Butterfly, I was a little skeptical. Perhaps it was the Avenue Q-esque "puppet" sex scene, but I just wasn't drawn in. However, I gave it a shot, and by the end I was eating my words. This little video was packed with so much beautiful imagery, by the end I had tears in my eyes.

I must admit, though I've heard of Madame Butterfly, I was not privy to the story. I was so lost in the beginning that I ended up having to look up a simplifed version of the plot. The story itself is a masterpiece. Not to mention the soundtrack kept in the

Perhaps the most powerful image for me was the point that I imagine was meant to be Butterflys suicide. The ripping off of the skin leaving only the bare makings of a doll. This video had a perfect balance between the silly (the Barbie doll American) and the truly heartbreaking.

The more I see about Operas, the more intriguied I am to get more into them.

Juan Delgado

I think I had an immediate attraction to Juan Carlos Delgado's piece that we studied in class. Without even being able to read the text, just visiuallly it was just a stunning piece. Inventive, moving, emotional, and incredible strong. 

My first intial reaction to the piece, before we started discussing it during class, was I felt that the girl looked vulnerable. The bust had a solmen expession. As we began to scroll and see the freezing process the bust of the small girl endured, I felt saddened. The more ice she was covered in the more I wanted to help her, rescue her. I found it so heart breaking that there was nothing I could physically do. 

I reminded me the story of "The Little Match Girl." As a small girl I found that story too unberably sad that I vowed to never read it again. Juan Carlos Delgado gave me similar emotional feelings. However the difference was the small hands with the flame resting in the middle. It was a literal beacon of hope. When Professor Echeverry reaveled the artist create this piece as a symbol of his relationship struggles, it became so much more moving, and was just so revealing.

I think my biggest struggle with this class will be being as vulnerable as this artist was as this piece. I have a tendency to be somewhat guarded, not really airing my personal feelings out. But to present such an heartfelt piece is what I think truly makes great work.

I was great moved by this piece.

Me, Myself, and I

My name is Tessa, a UT student for two semesters, originally beginning at NYU. I originally started in a medicial field, studying Speech Pathology. Though I have kept interests in the human mind and the way we verbally communicate, and often research speech effects from traumatic brain injury as a hobby, I quickly found out that I could not see myself as a speech pathologist forever. I found my way to Advertising through a series of twists and turns, and enjoyed the creative outlet the art side of adveritsing supplied. 

Living in NYC for two years, I had access to some wonderful museums. However, I have never really researched much performance art or video art. I hope from this class, I learn how to better utilize these tools myself, but also develope a better understanding and appreciation of them. I hope to expand my creativity.

To share one of my experience with technology as an art form, a few weeks ago, I attended a concert in Ybor by a band named Taurus. Throughout their performance, they had the above video projected behind them while they performed. It gave a completely different atmosphere to their music and the concert as a whole. Hopefully I can learn how to change an entire enviorment by using multimedia art.