Persuasive Games

My computer does not run the games, so unfortunately I was not able to play them. Still, I explore the website and I liked some of their games idea.

Windfall is a strategy game that makes you create wind farms. The game consist in be able to recognize the most favorable places to harvest energy without altering residents life. This is an actual pretty idea, because we do not have to just place the wind farm, we also have to place it in a good location, and we cannot upset the residents that could be living there. There is also some risk taking in this game, that could help you win the game since it is not just about avoiding this places, but to place in place that you believe that are profitable and will not cause alot of turnmoil.

Debt Ski is also a pretty good concept. I think that it is an awesome idea to make college people realize that debt is not a good idea. Even though the game does not have nothing to do with manage your money, it could make the player aware of seriousness of the topic.

Elemental, I wish I knew this game while I was taking chemestry with old good sister Caroline.  I think that the hardest part of high school chemestry is to make students familiar with the topic. Sincerely, high school chemestry is difficult at the beginning because kids are not familiar with the field. It is a whole new world, then as time passes we become more familiar with the course.  

Sights

The movie was actually interesting, and the message was very clear for me. When is the limit? I mean with technology going out of control, when do we know it is enough? Today, Spencer mentioned before class that the smartphones keep track of our location, and it could be hacked. This is a very big concern for me because in my country, people can kidnap you by just knowing were you go to eat lunch. I personally would not like to live in a world Sights portrays. For me computers are just machines, but we are the decision makers. Computers will not kidnap, steal, or rape, is the people. Still, computers make our task easier and give more power to people, even the bad ones. The movie Sights also portrays that we are missing human skills like dating, get to know people (You cannot know people by reading their facebook profile), and many other things. Having a software that helps you to date might be great to get laid, but you will not really develop or increase your dating skills. You will be mindless following orders, instead of being yourself and grow from the failures.

Golan Levin

Interview
Some of the thing that I agree with him is about computer skills, the value of a degree, and that computers cannot be more intelligent than humans.  As he said, computer is a big area, that have space for everyone. As we learned in this class, computer began with military purposes then expanded into businesses, education, and science. Who could have predicted that computers are now used for art.  We are experiencing a whole new change in society as we were used to when we grow up.

In my opinion, we cannot put a price in education.  The degree is just a prove of your capacity in the field you chose to study. The college experience is about helping to grow and stimulate the new decision makers. It is not just to make you a kind of big shot professional that drives a Lamborghini, it is to create an environment to help you grow as a professional and adult.

I agree with Golan that computers are never gonna be more intelligent than man. People sometimes forget that the machine is a tool and not a living thing. It makes better operational things without mistake, but computers lacks of abstract reasoning, system thinking, collaboration, and ability to experiment skills that according to the former secretary of labor, Robert Reich are the key ingredients to attain job security in the XXI century. Before computers we used to rely heavily in people to handle a lot of the operations like keeping of track inventory, sales, purchase orders, etc... This people had life, and were not a 100% committed to the operations they were in charge. That is the reason why processes in the past were not as effective and efficient as they are today. Still I do not discard the possibility, but as is today. Computers are dumb, they just create information to us, the human to use.

Ursonography:
It reminded me of what dada said about how to create the most beautiful poem. To grab pieces of letter and mix them around, and with the mix create a whole new words so the appreciation of the poem can be in the dramatization, rather than the power of the words.

Messa di Voce
If difficult to think that this is art, but as Mr. Echeverry said, "What this mean in those time, does not mean the same in this times." For me this is art because it tries to interact with the new technologies and mix it with stage performance. Just another way to help artists to express.

Opto-Isolator
It is a very cool concept, I kind of find similarities with Juan Carlos Delgado's sculptures. Since Juan Carlos Delgado's sculpture interacted with the audience. It brings and redefine sculpture into a whole new level.

Two Sides of Life - Video Art

Presentation V.S. Representation

As I was doing my research about presentation and representation, I read that presentation is the authors purposes while representation is the audience perspective of the author's meaning. This made me think about Plato's Allegory of the Cave from the Republic. The story began with Socrates telling a story to a friend about 3 men that were raised in the shadows, and everything they knew was about living in the shadows. One day, they went out to the real world and they did not like it. They decided to return to the cave and would not want to go out to the world.  This is a classic because it remarks the different perspective, and how often people react to things that they do not understand.

Massive Attack

Massive Attack is a very interesting group, it is outside my field of knowledge. I find kind of interesting that there song focus more on instruments sound than the voice. The voice is more to enhance the the instruments' sound. What I am used is normally the singer as the main focus and the instruments to enhance the voice. It is also interesting than even without the singer, you kind of feel their music. It makes you think for a while and reflex what is the mean of the song.

UK Underground Music + Smiths

While watching the video, I remembered what Mr. Echeverry said about underground music and popular music. While popular music might be considered trends, underground music is usually ahead. This is because underground music creates the perfect environment for experimentation, while in popular music is more likely music already developed and approved for the masses. In my opinion, things like hip-hop, rock, electronic, etc... in their moment were considered underground, and it was not until those young adults transform into decision makers that those type of music were considered popular music.

Smiths for me were the results of a society full of uncertainty.  I think first was developed underground, and then became famous by the Smith at the right place and time, Manchester. Once the heart of the Industrial Revolution was facing a lot tension and they will no listen to lies from the current pop in the media that try to spread that everything was alright. The Smith were able to win the people's heart by telling the truth and making a connection with the real things that are happening in society.

Graphene

Graphene might be the solution to the limitations of silicon. I remember read about an article that the reason technology get cheaper is because we build the technology in order to have more output out of silicon, but that there will be a breaking point were we will not be able to increase that output. That is the reason every year there are faster and small computers.

If the technology can be develop to exploit this material, it would be wonderful. We would not longer depend on silicon, and we would get more output out of our dollars than the traditional silicom base computer give us. But still is kind of scary were technology will take us. If the U.S.A. is already able to store and process most of the things that happen in the digital world, I fear for what they would be able to do with the next generation computers. 

Music

Disco

I was surprise that ABBA was not in the list. I chose ABBA because is one of my mom's favorite. I think that it fits in disco category because believe or not in Mr. Echeverry time they used to dance this. And as he said, disco means danceable music.

Girl Power

  

Many people say that Shakira screw Pique's football career, but I think Pique screw with Shakira's artist career and make her into an entertainer. When I was a young child of God, Shakira was a symbol to any girl that woman can be beautiful and independent. She used her sexuality in a way that women are not seeing as objects. But that was in the old good days, now she signs things like Loca, Waka-Waka, I Don't Remember to Forget You, etc... It is good, do no misunderstand me, but is more to entertain than actually real art work.

Latin World

                                      

Yo solo quiero pegar en la radio, para ganar mi primer millon~~~

I chose Bacilos because is a group that was formed in Miami by people of different countries of Latin America. In my experience living in Panama, this feeling of latino does not really exist until you are outside the region. In my country, if you are a minority you are often categories from where your ancestry comes from. Even son's of Colombia and Costa Ricans that are next door are regarded as outsider, and even though they are part of the community you can feel that there is a wall. Bacilos really breaks the wall, and truly ties together people from that region. 

Nineties 

 

Nirvana really opens the door for rock to become popular music. For me is  transition from traditional rock that took a switch in the 90. It is a stamp of rock of the 90s.  

Techno

I chose Liking Park because I was running out of options. I think they are techno because they use alot of computers generated sounds.

TR808

Raga Bhairav

A Guy Called Gerald

 

HTRK — “Ha”

Videoartes.com

I had problems figuring out how to post this video here, so I'll be pasting the links.

http://vimeo.com/6605263

I found it very funny. It reminds a paper game that I used to play in elementary school where you flip papers and you get some answer. For me it is kind of ironic because it reminds me to the paper flip games, and this have a rated M content.

http://vimeo.com/13781357

Very weird video, but this reminded me of desconceptualization and gives me a better perspective of what video art is.

 http://vimeo.com/13362364#at=140

Another weird video, I think that I am getting the concept of video art. It might look weird and seems to not have a reason, but the main part is trying to dessconceptualization of reality in video. None of these video art have a story line, and does not seem to have a purpose.

Video Mapping

I was searching for video mapping, and found this one from Audi. I think it is a very cool concept since we been watching video mapping mostly in building. It bring into my mind that this new technology has multiple opportunities, not just entertainment. Audi is here using it to advertise their cars.

Here is another example of the unlimited opportunities of the use of this new technology. It really enhance the dance, and could bring live dance industry into a new whole level.

 

Advertisement, dance, why not art performances?

Propaganda V.S. Commercial

Propaganda and commercial, both try to persuade their audience with multiple types of media. They have similar methods influencing individuals, but for very different reasons. Propaganda is more associated with politics and the support of their causes. Commercial is usually related with business and changing consumer taste. They both have audience in which they try to manipulate or control.

During the Holocaust, Nazis used propaganda to justified their atrocities. No sane person would have supported the Nazi cause if was not for desperate time. Before the rise of the Nazis into power, Germany was in a depression similar to the Great Depression of the U.S. The Nazis in order to get the favor of the German people began to create a common enemy to create a sense of unity and right. They picked on the Jews and other minorities in order to blame them for the situation of the country. Propaganda does not only refer to negative things, it could also help good causes. In the beginnings of the green movement, educators used propaganda in order to create awareness. In the times of Mr. Echeverry, most of the people did not care about pollution or had minimum idea about global warning. Now, we can see people that have grew with the green movement trying to make decision in favor of a more green movement approach.

As a business major, I am very aware of the potential of advertising. It could be a game changer if used correctly. Commercial have many purposes, not just trying to make you buy. They could be used in order to let people now about products and services, and also steal some of the lights from your competition. I always been preferring Adidas over Nike, but after the recent Nike Risk Everything campaign I been preferring Nike.

 

The video is not advertising any Nike product in particular,  but making their brand known and being the one talked about. The video shows famous starts like the PFA young player of the year Eden Hazard, Lakers' star Kobe Bryant, the elegant Pirlo, Sideshow Bob-David Luiz, the heart breaker Irina Shayk and the most important my lost twin Cristiano Ronaldo.

Performance Art

Andrea: She was very brave by letting strangers paint her. I would personally not let stranger paint in me, even though I am 5'9, and 192 lbs.
Spencer: He did a great job with the camera. By hiding the camera he was able to capture the real essence of people observing a performance art.
Kirby: I like her analogy of journalism. She was sketching the different angles of his friend, as a journal have to do research about the different angles of the situations.
Marveen: I did not understand the relation with international business and marketing with his performance art. I think that as a performance it was good, since it was trying to portray the how busy we are that we are not able to see whats around us.
Kate: It was very clever to use a sign saying, "this is not an advertisement." Her performance art makes her audience think about it.
Ralph: It was really funny. He tried to express his feeling as an adult student.
Leah: I did not get the relation with her performance art and math. I like the observation of Mr. Echeverry about math and isolationism.

Art Performance

Xerox Project

                         

My work is based on Marcel Duchamp idea of decontextualize a toilet into a water fountain. I chose Marcel Duchamp's Fountain 1917, because it was a revolutionary idea for its time. He belonged to Dada, which were trying to redefine the concept of art.  In today's world flipping an object and transform into another does not have the same impact as they did in Dada's time. It is because our concept of art are pretty much built by those ideas of Dada.

Flipping a toilet and transform it into a fountain and call it art is a concept that many struggle to understand. I decided to simplify the concept of Fountain 1917 by Marcel Duchamp. Instead transform the toilet into a fountain, I decided to transform an sculpture of my eyes. I chose my eyes for my Xerox Project because of Father from the Japanese animation Full Metal Alchemist.




Father



Father is the main antagonist in Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. He is known as the obsession of   of seeking The Truth. In the end of Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, Father  is able to be infront of The Truth but his obsession, he is not able to recognize it. I chose father because we have the pre-existed concept of art, and when we are in front of a master piece we are not able to recognize it.

I Wish to Say

I Wish to Say is a performance art by Sheryl Oring, a firmly believer in the constitutional right of free of expression. The reason she is making this performance art is because she feels the lack of attention that the government pays to the common American. Up to this day 2 000 letters have been sent to the White House from this project.

Most of the letters I read were about bringing the boys back from overseas. I think that Americans/ tax payers do not believe in this war, and many of them are struggling daily to finance a war that they do not believe. In my opinion as a history aficionado, U.S. spends a lot in the military to keep the balance of power, and to keep the boys in shape. History teaches us that the greatest empire the world have seen, they have fallen because the under militarization. It might be true that the demilitarization of the U.S. would let other countries being number one, but being number one is just to feed the ego of the people on the top. There are many countries like Canada, Sweeden, Denmark that barely or spend nothing in the military and are able to give free education, health care, and  many other social benefits.   

I think this performance art is very powerful. In my opinion the audience will be the government and the canvas everyone who is making letters to the White House. It is very helpful since help us to understand the idea of performance art as a tool to create awareness.  

Grip Art

My muse for this project was the unique and handsome Mr. Santiago Echeverry.

Tristan Tzara, "Dada Manifesto 1918."

Dada was an art movement that began during the Great War. It literraly means nothing. Tristan Tzara, the leader of this group wrote a manifesto explaining Dada.  The entire manifesto is a clear example of Dada, it is literally nothing. The manifesto does not give us an idea of dada, since dada itself is nothing. Nothing is a very complicated concept. Since the beginning of mankind the term of nothingness was a very discussed one in monotheistic religions. Romans were not aware of the zero or in other words the nothingness. This is because the ideas in western civilization were base on polytheism. Polytheism is the idea or believe that the everything has been created out of something. For example in the Helen world of paganism, it was believed that the Earth came from a deity called Gaia. In the Sumerian's myth the world was created by the remainders of Marduk. These myths and many others that helped to shaped the West, they did not have about nothingness. It was not until monotheism and the coming of Christianity that the west was aware of the term of nothingness. In the Christian version of creation; Ex Nihilo, God creates the word out of nothing. This was revolutionary at the time, and the West began to be aware of nothingness. My Christian Doctrine professor; gave us this analogy of Monotheism myth of creation, "Monotheism is like a poet and a poem, the poem is created out of the poet and as long as the poet sings the poem it will exists." In my opinion, this is the main idea of dada, to focus on the ideas rather than the piece itself. In the pre World War I era, art was solely focus on the piece rather than the meaning. During the war, artists found themselves oppressed and experimented with many alternatives of expression. This formed a new group that will change the concepts of art from a strictly aesthetic form to a more expression form of art. This new group was known as Dada.

'The Mother of All Demos' Is 45 Years Old, Doesn't Look a Day Over 25

Thanks to Engelbart and his team we have the Graphic User Interface (GUI) and mouse. The Graph User Interface and mouse were key ingredients in the success of computer distribution in the 80's. By having a Graph User Interface and a mouse was more user friendly, way easier than turning on or off switches. This meant life easier, and since it was easy to use more people will be involve in computers. Sadly, Engelbart's and his team's idea were ahead of his time. Computers were still mostly use for military, and the idea for their use in business and civil use were days ahead.
I cannot imagine a life without a Graphic User Interface or the mouse. If computers were still make with switchers we will probably still years behind. Since the Graphic User Interface allowed many people interact. As more people interact with the computer, this allows more development. We will still use the library as the main source to do research.

Flip book: History of Multimedia

The first part represent the born of multimedia, when began to pass knowledge to their young by oral tradition. The hands of the man represent polytheism, since it was the main form of religion in the west.We can see a hand with five fingers and the other one with a kind of matter. This symbolize the polytheism idea of the world as a creation of deities by giving shape to something already existed.
The man created a doll within its shape. After that doll, it began to appear more dolls and then a man counting them. This is because the first evidence of writing system were form to take in account inventory. After we got the writing system, it was easier to spread knowledge. That is the reason why every doll transform into a man, and continue spread knowledge.
We can see a man with a Greek theater mask, symbolizing the importance of Greek contributions in the development of multimedia as way to educate the elites.
Roman Circus, the Roman realized that a way to control the masses was by giving free entertainment. In the Coliseum we can appreciate the use of control of the stage. The Coliseum could host gladiators fights, beast eating Christians, and naval battles.
The curtains symbolize the arrival of Opera. I portrayed a brief stages of Opera with L'Orfeo as the first popular opera, then the curtains close and reopen portraying a bright man symbolizing the focus of Opera to kiss monarch's asses and finally with Le Mirrage de Figaro  symbolizing the focus of Opera in the common people.
When the curtains disappear and the lights are began to shine is the moment of Broadway.  The stage is portrayed with balerinas, and the lights disappear to announce the beginning of the big screen. The big screen began to shrink to a t.v. and then the use of t.v. for video games.
In the end, I was trying to close the flip book with draws of a flip book flipping.
PD: This is just a friendly reminder that to Mr. Echevery that I got extra credit.

Flip Book Review

Gina: It was pretty cool, she really used the space available and it was very colorful. I think that she was not comfortable with the project at the beginning, but as the book progressed she found confidence to exploit the space.
Andrea: It was very touchy since it was personal. She found a motivation and stick to it. The quality of the drawings were pretty good, they talk for themselves in how much effort was into it.
Moi: Divino like always.
Spencer: It was brilliant idea to base the flip book on the activities he was doing. He draws things that everyone do, like navigate in social media, watch youtube video, or just by observing what was happening in his surroundings.
Kirby:
Holly: I found amazing how our drawings can reflect our state. Mr. Echverry was able to found out that the scene after the dragon was after she recovered from the food poisoning.
Katelyn: Seems that she enjoyed doing the project. It was very imaginative to use all the pages as a sequence, and came back with the same characters in the beginning and in the end.
Leah: Very nature oriented. I found very interesting that she was the only one to incorporate dialogues in the flip book.
Ralph: The quality was very good, it talks by itself. Even though he already had the 200 pages, he decided to finish the job.  I liked the part of the elephant, and how it was going to come out and then decided to go back.
Kyle: I think that the draw is kind of personal, since it about his hometown. He played safe did not take risk.

Video Game Revolution

I found myself identify with the video game revolution. I grew up playing, and learning from them. My favorite. My favorite video games were from Nintendo, these games were Pokemon, and Zelda. These game made allowed me to explore different worlds, and challenge my critical thinking skills.
I do not really think that video games make people violence, and if does most of the people addicted to it will probably just be a harmless guy. In Panama I got friends that are still addicted to video games and talk a lot about violence, but in reality they are harmless. Of course, Panama and U.S. are very different countries. In Panama we do not have a gun culture.
I will agree that video games are addictive, myself as a exMMORPG can proudly say that I have been clean for over 4 years. I think that the reason MMORPG are addictive because is an escape from the frustration of life, and because bring us to explore a world. While we live in a world of responsabilities and expectations from others, in MMORPG we are completely free of choice. It is not until you understand that there bad things are part of life, and that there are many wonderful things that you are missing until you understand that it is just a game.
Video games are part of a generation. It is hardly to find someone from that generation that does not play a video game. Video games are part of society, and it is a way we experience the world. I still play video games like Fifa and League of Legends to keep in touch with friends and have a good time.

Triumph of the Nerds

Impress your friends

It talks about how the multimillionaire computer began in the garage of college drop outs. They started it as a hobbie, but without knowing it was the first step that would revolutionize the world. I am amaze of the type of commitment they got into it. It was not just  a matter of luck that a bunch of indifferent people, they were the correct ingredients to make computers in the civilian world happen. College drop outs without a clear idea where they heading, but with thirst to do something. There were probably competent people able to do the job, but they were probably busy with their life and blind  to see the opportunities of their life. I find the this voyage of nerds similar to Colombus' voyages to the Americas, a voyages to the unknown who were able to sense an  opportunity and took the risk.

Ride the Bear

After the success of personal computing, IBM giants wanted a piece of the cake. IBM had the brilliantidea to assemble computers instead of building them. They look for Bill Gates to produce their OS and Intel for microprocessors. For a moment, they were dominating the market, but they failed to secure their product. Since it was assemble, everyone could copy their product. When people reverse engineer their IBM personal computer, they were able to sell cheaper since they did not have the amount of overhead IBM had. Even though IBM ran out of the personal computer business, Bill Gates and Intel were able to continue in the market since they were companies apart from IBM, and the ones who clon IBM pc were still getting their product of it.

Great Artists Steal

The episodes talks about the hundreds of names that have helped corporations like Apple and Microsoft and had not received credit for it. Jobs accepted that he has been using  the ideas of others and make it available. I do not really call jobs a thief, but someone who made something theoretical to practical. Many people can talk, but few can make things happen. Even though they were not his original ideas, he did no hurt or did something illegal to get them.

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

Steve Job's speech was very inspirational, and I found many influences on Buddhism in his speech. Although his story is just one story of the millions of stories about college drop outs. I am very sympathetic in believing that knowledge never hurts. I am majoring in accounting, and I am taking this class. Even though, I do not consider myself as an artist. If I was given a block to make a sculpture, I would probably just end doing a smaller block. Just by taking this class, I have more cards in my hands. I can meet new people away from career environment, be exposed to new opportunities, and see more of what life is about.
The biggest blows in life are the beginning of something new.If Steve Jobs was not fired from his company, he will probably be the same guy  before he was fire. He would not be able to found Pixar Animation, Next INC or met his wife. He will not be the same idolized man that the media is trying to make him seem like.
Be like water. Never settle down, there is a lot to see and to be exploited. In Buddhism, there is this concept that we are trapped by this notion of life that blind us from the real picture of life. As Steve Job quoted, "Stay hunger, stay foolish." I think that Jobs is trying to say that we are not destined to one, but to many.

Alan Turing: Pardon

I do not think Alan Turin should be pardoned. The British government should publicly acknowledge their mistakes and apologize. Alan Turin did nothing wrong, he was just different. Society condemned a good man, just because they did not understand him. I am aware that what is done cannot be changed, but Alan Turing should not be forgotten. I hope that this pardon is not just a presentation to make look the English crown more modern just because being gay is actually accepted, but to enlighten society that a person should not be judged for being different.

Kurz Weil Raymond and Mark J. Stock

 

Kurz Weil Raymond

Kurz Weil Raymon is a futurist, not the kind of futurist that read hands, but who tries to have an idea how society will be in 20 years. According Kurzweilai.net, "Kurzweil was the principal inventor of the first CCD flatbed scanner, the first omni-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind, the first text-to-speech synthesizer, the first music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and the first commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition." In my opinion, Kurz Weil Raymond is a very impressive individual. He has been pointed as the new Edison. He is not just an inventor, also a businessman. NSA offered him to work with them, but he denied to work for such an unethical company.

 

Mark J. Stock

According to www.markjstock.com, "Mark J. Stock is a scientist, programmer, and artist who creates still and moving images combining elements of nature, physics, chaos, computation, and algorithm." It is very impressive how Stock has found new ways to express himself. We usually think about art as paint, sculpture, music, etc... but who would thought that program coding could also be considered art.

Reference

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8538556914369528455#allposts

http://markjstock.com/bio.html

War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast

 

As new technologies arrive, societies take time to adjust to them. Specially with the introduction of radio. Radio was a revolutionize technology that helped nations to be communicated. Now, the nation could be in the same page. Someone in New York will be able to listen to the same news and trends in Los Angeles. In my opinion War of the Worlds was such a hit because the radio kept the families together. In the point that someone believe it was true, many others will believe in and spread the terror. It was like a domino effect, once someone believe in it, others will be believe.

Comments: Singing in the Rain in Clockwork-Orange

In my opinion, as Kubrick became a teenager, he experienced how U.S. became a super power. This changed the American culture to believe that it was a perfect society. The media began to glamorize life,and ignore the issues the nation was living through. The kids who were growing up with this idea became disappointed to realize that life was not glamorous as in the films. As a result, they began to rebel and question authority.
I think that Kubrick used Singing in the Rain in his film to portrayed all the lies that it was a perfect society. There were many social issues, and the country needed to change for good. When I watched the original Singing in the Rain, it made have the sense of perfection and that there is nothing to worry about. It was like trying to tell me that life is perfect. While in the scene of Clockwork-Orange, Kubrick is singing that song while beating up a innocent and in defensive couple. For me, it was like he was trying to say, "Life is not perfect, it is very messed up. Wake up."

Stop Motion

According to the webopedia, "In animation stop motion animation is a cinematic process, or technique used to makes static objects appear as if they were moving. This technique is commonly used in claymation and puppet-based animation. The objects are brought to life by breaking up the figure's motion into increments and filming one frame of film per increment."It is very amazing how people will find new ways to use the technology they have in hand.  In my opinion stop motion is a product of bernacular art, since it is just people exploring new horizons with the resources they have available. They do not have a script or something to follow, they do whatever it comes in to their mind.

Refenrence
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/stop_motion_animation.html

Trip to the Moon

I think that what makes a Trip to the Moon special is the way of how was set up. It was just a way to show something different that never have done before. In my humble opinion, George Melies is a bernacular artist. As we discussed in class, bernacular comes from the latin common. As technology became available for the masses, the masses found new ways to exploit their potentials as new ways of art. It is not like painting, ceramics, sculpture arts that discipline have been established and guided for centuries. Video is different type of art, since there are always new developments and is not established as a concrete discipline. George Melies is actually someone to be admired, he did not do it for the money. He was just trying to do something new and have fun at the same time.
As a business major, this is an example of entrepreneur. A guy who invested and took risk. George Melies came from a wealthy family. He could stay in the family business, but he did not feel that staying in the family business was part of him. So, he was innovative and took the resources he had available. He began his videos with family and friends and ended up recruiting cast from operas.He ended up entertainment industry, which produce huge amount of profit.

Angel La Quinta's STAGE DOOR Blog.

It is nice to read a blog of someone expressing their opinion in Spanish in a professional way. It made me a little bit homesick, since all my Spanish readings at the moments are texts. It is a very warming blog. He is humorous and professional at the same time. The blog essentially is  talking to the reader, and explaining the post by  giving background and his opinion of the topic and even gives personal nematodes.

Behind the Scenes of Wicked

Wicked was a challenge from the beginning. Trying to adapt the novel into a musical without taking its essence, and differentiate was a task that no one could predict the public's reaction. They were willing to take the risk, they did not withdraw for fear of failure. By setting up a goal and try their best to accomplish it.

The key of the success of Wicked was team work. I like how they emphasize that the director did not control the play, but was part of it. That is what leaders do, they remind and put the team together in other to achieve the goal. Instead of doing what he wanted, he put himself as a part of the cast, and  participate to understand his team.

Reference
http://www.wickedthemusical.com/multimedia/video
http://home.messiah.edu/~cr1256/images/wicked%203.jpg

Professor Jono Vaughan's Presentation

For me, art is a way that had helped many people to express, specially the oppressed and confused. It is not coincidence that society that have passed from moments of oppression and confusion have created wonderful pieces of art like jazz, reggae (do not confuse with reggaeton), salsa, etc... Professor Jono Vaughan's presentation shows the influence of her life as a transgender is reflected in her art.
It is very admirable that she dedicates many of her paints to help others, by portraying her moments of gender confusion. I found very interesting her paint of the minotaur holding the harpy over her head. In my opinion, the paint represented the struggle in her mind about what society expected (the minotaur) and what she really felt (the harpy.)
I find her style very similar to Picasso. Picasso's style was very peculiar, it does not show cohesion or aesthetically beautiful. Many people argue that it symbolizes the period of confusion that Picasso was living, which was during the Spanish Civil War. In that period, the Spanish society was very confused of what was happening in the country, there was war between factions that were fighting more for political power than their ideals.

Picasso's Guernica

South Pacific

The movie South Pacific explores the life of interracial relationships during the time. It shows the relation of a nurse from the segregated South of United States with a mix-racial man, and the relation of a lieutenant of the United States with a native of the island. The nurse struggles with her ideas of purity in which she was raised and the idea that she had fallen in love with a mix-racial man, when the lieutenant struggles with the pressure that society will put on his shoulder for being with a native of the island.

Even thought, the movie has been released many years ago and made people aware of the situation. The theme of mix of identities still provokes a lot of controversy.  For example we have the recently Coca-Cola's Superbowl ad, which was the American anthem sung in different languages. Many people were outrage, and claim that America should only be represented and sang in English.

In my opinion this is not racism, contrary to popular believe. It is that people feel that their identity have been threat. As a Chinese-Panamanian, I have heard many stories about parents having heart attacks and exiling  their sons and daughters for bringing a non-chinese at home as their partner. Most of the time is not racial issues, it is just that they feel that their children have dishonored their identity as Chinese. I think that it might be the same case in United States, people have this notion of America and when it is changed they feel that someone have offended their identity.

Oculus is Awesome for Games, But It's the Future of Movies

Oculus is device that allow us to experience a virtual world, it is like breaking the fourth wall of multimedia. It is mainly being develop for gaming, but film makers see infinite opportunities to revolutionize the film industry. In my opinion, Oculus is a cool idea. I would love to experience my favorite movies as if I were part of them, but as a Wall-E guy, I am afraid of the effects of this new technology in the behavior of future generations. I mentioned being a Wall-E guy, because the movie Wall-E is about how humanity has forgotten the meaning of life. Machines have been programmed to make the life of humans already figured out. Cool idea, until you realize that you have a society without desires or able to accomplish.  People are living constantly in flying chairs in which they do not do more than watch T.V., and eat. They do not have dreams or ambitions. Wall-E is a movie that shows how humanity obsession of seeking perfection, make us lose track. Instead of using the machine, we will become part of it.

Reference

Image: http://www.sickchirpse.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Wall-E-2.jpg

Madama Butterfly

In my opinion Madama Butterfly portrays the situation when we get obsessed with an idea that will doom us. In this case, the Japanese doll falls in love with the captain. She is so into the idea of having found her true love that she is not able to see that the captain had abandoned her. Time passes, and she has a baby. The kid symbolizes her true love, but when she sees the captain's boat back, you can see that she has almost abandon her daughter.She still wants  to pursue that idea of dream. She had not realized that her true love is already with her, her daughter. We can see the captain taking the daughter, this could symbolize how the pursue of old ideas that have failed can lead to the disaster of our current happiness. At the end she dismember herself, maybe because she just realized that she had her true love and because of her obsession with the captain made her lost the real true love.

Birth and Life of Opera

The Birth and Life of Opera is a documentary about the influence of opera in history. The idea of opera was born during the Renaissance by intellectuals called Camarata discussing about a new music drama based on Greek tragedy. The first famous opera was L'Orpheo, which burrowed church music into the play to help to create a dramatic environment. This new kind of music drama became a success and spread thought out all Europe. Mozzart, thanks to the popularity of operas is able to spread powerful messages that will unleash the periods of revolutions. Opera was also utilized by governments as a propaganda tool to influence the people into their ideologies like Fascism and Nazism.

Opera was born from an ideas that spread ideas throughout everywhere that was an opera house. I found fascinating the influence opera had in shaping the current world. It could be say that opera gave helped to give that push in order to make the oppressed masses rise.

Deus Ex Machinima

Deus Ex Machinima comes from the latin, God from the Machine. The term used in opera to describe the apparition of a divinity flying on stage. This was possible for the use advancement pulley system for the stage that was able to lift men in the opera. For example in the first popular opera, Orpheus. Orpheus after failing to rescue his love from Hell, Apollo came and make him a divine figure.  The term Deus Ex Machinima has evolved in today days to describe to describe the use of unexpected events that flip completely the story line.

                                        
                                    

King of Beggars
The story is about a young kung fu prodigy from a wealthy family that have lost everything.In the final battle, there is a wind that flips the Shan Long Eighteen Palm's books that helps him to realize the eighteenth move.

Zoolander
The story is about a model that is brainwashed to kill the prime minister of Malaysia. The model had a birth defect, he is not ambiturner (he is just able to turn one side.) In the climax of the movie he is able to stop a shuriken that was thrown to kill the prime minister of Malaysia by turning left.

Chucho Jefe
Chucho Jefe is an episode of  Betito Bacalao, a short comedy from the Panamanian T.V. show La Cascara. The serie talks about the life of Betito Bacalao a convict who suffers from bad luck. In this chapter Betito's friend Chucho is incharge of the prison and is willing to give the convicts special treat,even a visit from Betito's love in exchange of money. After the convicts gave their money to Chucho, he ran away. Later, it was find out that the whole thing was a scam, and Betito is not able to see his love.

Reference

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU3WvEQzcMU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx9O6q0pDAU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0-eLrWRm48

Raul Cuero's Interview about Creativity: Aplication

Aplication:

It was a very inspirational video, since I am a minority who has also faced discrimination. Even thought discrimination is not a nice thing to deal with, it can teach us important lessons in life and push to discover things about human nature. It has help me to overcome what he called loco attitude or also known universal consciousness. In other words, understand that the notions of limits and rules society set are just human creation.

I do not agree that technology like electronics are bad to stimulate a creative mind. I think is a whole new level to stimulate creativity, it helps the minds of many communicate and  explore new frontiers. The problem is that our society is very focus in fulfill objectives and we ignore most of what life can bring us. Set goals is an  important key to succeed but by getting obsessive with the goals makes us forget that life is more than that.

I do not really think creativity is a process, because I believe everyone is creative. It is just that some people are better showing off theirs.

References:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZugtaO85T_Y&feature=youtu.be
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21izLFyCgxL.jpg

Cuarto Norte and Multimedia

Comments:
Juan Carlos Delgado's Works are very impressive. He just not display his sculpture skills, he also use his engineering knowledge to add on into his sculptures. This invites the audiences to experience his sculpture with more than just eyes. He controls the environment in his gallery in order to affect the audience sense of touch by displaying his first two sculpture in a cold place able to create a sense of stillness, while the last sculpture will be in  a warmer
place that will create a sense of fluidity.

Relation with Multimedia:
Cuarto Norte is multimedia, because Juan Carlos Delgado use time and tools in synergy to interact with the audience. A sculpture is not multimedia, but by controlling the effects of ice and fire he is able to interact with the audience. Because he is able to time control the process in which his sculptures produce ice or fire, in a way he is narrating us a story by using the ice process in his first two sculptures and the use of fire in the last sculpture.

  Reference

http://www.revistaexclama.com/cuarto-norte/

  

Post #1

First Feelings,

I am a little bit nervous about the class. My friend took this class and told me that there were plenty of papers and quizzes based on art history, things that are in my comfort zone. For my surprise Mr. Echeverry changed the course scheme into a more project base course, and projects are not usually my strong points.

About me,

I am Bryan Fong, an international student from Panama.  I studied in Panama until high school sophomore year, then my parents decided to send me to Rhode Island and finish my high school education. After my 2 years in Rhode Island, I concluded that I hate snow and wanted to keep my education in the United States. I decided to attend to the University of Tampa, majoring in accounting.

Expectations,

Since my major is accounting, and it is very straight forward. My expectations in this class is to explore new alternatives and see more of what life is about.