Monday, April 25, 2011

The Mystery Workshop


The Mystery Workshop was surprisingly fun.  I didn’t think it was going to be as interesting as it turned out to be.  I really didn’t know what to think because we were bringing in all of that stuff to class… that was weird.  But, in the end I had fun I liked how the white bed sheet was used as a screen.  Although, a bunch of adults sitting in the fort was not ideal.  I felt cramped inside the thing, so I fell that we should have made it bigger.  Even though the fort was the biggest that has been made in the class yet.
The food was very good too.  I didn’t really contribute because I really didn’t know what was going on.  But, thanks to everyone who did… it was all good.  We had everything imaginable.  Pizza, chips, dip, doughnut holes, cakes, drinks… etc.  So I really enjoyed that aspect also.  I brought Combos, for that is my “guilty pleasure food.”  For those who don't know what Combos are… they are basically a cracker rolled up into a cylinder.  They make different kinds, and my favorite kind is the regular pizza flavored.  An episode of Reboot and a bag of Combos, and I’m in heaven.  (For those who don’t know what Reboot is… one of the GREATEST shows ever produced!)
The films were interesting too.  I enjoyed all of them, and for being produced in forty-eight hours they were really impressive.  All of them were very creative.  Some were more cryptic than others, but I liked that aspect.  What was really interesting was that no one had a similar project.  Each one was vastly different from each other.
In the end, I think that the Mystery Workshop day was one of the best/more enjoyable classes that we have had all semester.  It seems that the Mystery Workshop should have been our last class.  It was for the most part, but I think we should have saved it for April twenty-fifth.  I’m not complaining though.  At least we got to do it… regardless of the date.  I can’t believe that the semester is almost over.  It feels like it just started a month ago.  But, I’m ready for summer, so I’m glad that it is coming to an end.  This last week is going to be hell though… so much stuff to do with such little time.  But anyway… only one more blog left (thank god)

Monday, April 11, 2011

Beet Stretch (9v2 m 2)


My thoughts on Beet Stretch… Well, I cannot say that I’m really impressed by this form of music.  I listened to “9v2 m 2” from the beginning till about an hour into it.  In that hour I kept feeling like something was going to happen.  Like it was the beginning of a concert.  The fact that everything is slowed down is relaxing, but I wouldn’t listen to this on an everyday basis.  It’s great that someone can do manipulate this music, but if someone is going to listen to Beethoven’s 9th then he/she should do that instead of listening to this version.
I really didn’t understand how the process was complicated to do.  Slowing it down without losing the pitch of the music?  It’s not something I would really look into doing, so I really don’t care.  I just think that a person shouldn’t do this to another persons work and try to sell it.  That’s a cop-out… Now, if this person did an original piece and wanted to slow it down, then go for it.  At this point you are just trying to cash in on something that they really didn’t manipulate that much.
Not that this is all bad. I said before this is very relaxing, and I could fall asleep to it.  So, not thinking about this music too much would be relaxing to try to sleep to.  The music itself sounds like I’m looking into the sun setting for the day.  Except in this instance, the sun is taking an extremely long time to set.  The other good thing was that I was cooking while I was listening to it.  I felt like I was a chef... Okay, that was dumb.  But, it was like a scene from a movie when someone is cooking, and they play that crappy music to make it look classy.  That’s what it seemed like.  To bad I was just making Ramen Noodles…

After I stopped listening to it, I pressed stop.  It was like everything was uplifted from me.  Because I had felt like a lot of noise was just being fed into my brain.  The first thirty minutes wasn’t bad, but after that I kept looking at the time to see when I could stop listening.  The music (if you wanna call it that) became noise after a while.  I really couldn’t take anymore than what I heard.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Molotov Man/The Ecstasy of Influence


Molotov Man:
            I would like to talk about the paintings themselves first.  I really like the author’s original paintings.  These paintings remind me of the Ralph Bakshi film American Pop.  This film was rotoscoped from real people to look like an animated film.  American Pop is one of my favorite animated films, so this is why I liked the artwork so much.  The intense looks on the subject’s faces make the artwork stand out.  I particularly love the one with the man on the microphone.  The shading on the faces is so realistic.  I really am drawn to look at these pieces of art.
            I do not feel that the author should feel bitter or mad about other people taking his artwork and making that their own.  Now, I do not feel like the author is mad.  I’m just saying he shouldn’t be mad.  I feel that the author is upset that the “Molotov Man” was taken in the direction of anti-corporation ads like that of Pepsi.  But, the artist should have been aware.  This artwork is similar to what Warhol made in 1960’s.  This idea proves that anyone can take an image and make a piece of artwork.  Others should learn from the mistake that this artist made.  

The Ecstasy of Influence:
            I find this article interesting.  I agree that art is basically a whole if you were to think about it that way.  This idea implies that all artists are influenced by another work of art.  I think that this is true everything that I have ever made or wrote has been inspired by something else.  I also enjoy the beginning of the article in which they use Bob Dylan as an example.  The reason I enjoy this is because I do not care for Bob Dylan, and I’m sick of people trying to tell me how “original” he is/was.
            This article also discusses other ways one can be inspired.  For instance, blues player Muddy Waters talks about how he wrote a song about his girl friend leaving him.  I enjoy this part of the article as well, because sometimes the best art come from emotional pain.  This pain makes the artist determined, and takes the mind off the pain.
            Finally, the author does a great job at backing up their points that they are trying to make.  The article goes as far as using cartoons as an example.  Without The Honeymooners the Flintstones would not exist, and without the Flintstones the Simpsons would not exist.  This idea is odd, but very true.  So, in the end all forms of art/media is influenced by something else