Coming To An End

     Well, the semester is coming to a close and I gotta say, I have learned and gone through so much. It has changed me in so many ways and I love every second of it! I'm definitely going to miss this class and the students in it! We had a great year! I had a lot of fun learning about broadway and the advances in technology and performances that it has undergone over the years. From it's racist days to the many creative musicals it has created, it was great to learn about something I really like. It was even better to learn more on something I really love too which was animation. Seeing a more in depth look into Disney's studio and the teams they had was really cool! And the guy who created a lengthy hand drawn animation by himself was impressive! And I can't forget about the history of music. Seeing how genres cultivated into sub-genres and expanded different styles was awesome because I got to see the beginnings and how it adapts over time. This class has definitely gave me a more open mind when it comes to art and all different types of it. Never have I thought I would get into Operas! I built a greater appreciation for something that I use to hate before this class! Definitely gained knowledge in many different areas and that will carry on with me through the rest of my art career!

Video Art

     For my video art project I mostly wanted to try and make a story out of it. Back in high school, I used to make short youtube videos with my friends where we would come up with stories and usually try cool effects with the software. Using the effects again reminded me of how cool they are once you learn how to use them! I cam up with a story of me taking advil because I wasn't feeling good and dealing with side effects. All medicines come with side effects right on the label but when on earth do they ever happen? Never! But.... what if they did?? That was what I was thinking of, what if the advil put me in another state of mind just seeing colors, reflections of myself and tons of other random things and noises. The sounds were pretty much to make it sound like I was insane, little things I put together on Garageband which added to the insanity. Of course everything I'm seeing is only for me to see. What everyone else sees me doing is having a mini seizure! I kept going back and forth between reality and my mind to also explain what drugs do. You have a whole different perception that what people perceive you as. Of course this is a real stretch but yeah. Anyways this was a fun thing to work on and just got me used to the editing again.

Chip E. and the Origins of Breakdancing

     Break dancing is a type of street dancing that can date back to the origins in New York City from the 1970s. Since it's origins, it has spread worldwide  to many different countries and has become quite the talent if you are able to do it because me for sure could never be able to lift myself up and spin without my legs ever hit the floor! The music is associated with hip hop and is still done today as you look at any type of hip hop music video and look at the choreographed music, it's all hip hop. Chip E. was a DJ and music producer that supported break dancing and created tracks that would influence the dance. He would spin hip hop records that would get people to dance and adapt to the changes in the songs. Also the craziest thing about break dancing is that it can literally be done anywhere! Including those moving subways.

Music Got Me Movinnnnn

     Since middle school I have probably went through every single music faze out there. I am so open to music and always make sure to listen to every genre because I usually find my new favorite songs out of it. Discussing music movements in class got me remembering some of my favorites over the years!

Deadmau5

     They were thrown into culture on the list but they are definitely progressive house music. Of course he is from Canada but still, the music definitely fits the house genre and he has created tons of music that can be heard at raves and parties because he is able to get people into his music. The beats he creates range and he is a guy you rarely see without his signature mouse mask. He also got Shigeru Miyuamoto to autograph his arm and then later got it tattooed. That makes him ten times cooler that he takes inspirations from video games.

The Cranberries

     A 90s Irish rock band that is still relevant in this days music. There music is able to touch me in ways not much music can mostly cause Dolores O'Riordan has a beautiful voice. Usually guys don't listen to music sung by girls but no one can deny they have released great songs! I wish there were more bands like this instead of the pop we have today.

Radiohead

     Another amazing 90s band and it is still one I listen to today and it's great because they are still around! Although they are a rock band, they have added a lot of experimental elements into their songs putting it into a league of their own. Rolling Stones even rated the 2nd best artist of the 2000s.

Vitamin String Quartet

     Literally just started listening to this group today! That is super strange. They are a gifted violinist group that remixes songs from any genre. They actually come out better than the real versions! They create the beats and lyrics all through the violins. There are no lyrics but they are able to create the sound through the strings. They are my new study playlist and show that the violin is still a work of art!

Hatsune Miku

     Anyone who doesn't call this music is crazy! Hatsune Miku is a Vocaloid created by the Japanese which people are able to program in lyrics and and the way they are sung. Even though it is not a real voice, it sure does sound like it. Since then, Miku has become a pop icon in Japan and is slowly making  it's way around the world. It is a revolution in technology and music itself knowing that people aren't the only ones to sing. She has spawned many video games too on the Playstation family and came out with one in the US last year. The games are decent but it's the music and the Vocaloids that sell it. I really need to go to her concert!

Brion Gysin

     Brion Gysin is a painter that has work that I can say I've never seen anything like it! He created calligraphic works that mashed words together where you had to really look to see the message he was saying. Simple pieces with yet a lot of meaning behind them that inspired me. He also created the dream machine that had flickering art work inside that put you into a trance, like a sober trip. It is an invention that many of us have seen before remade and you may not even realize it. It's a cool idea that definitely gives me a better appreciation. His work, yet simple, really inspires me to try more calligraph pieces. I have done them before but I think after seeing his work I would like to do some with some meaning behind them! Here are a few examples of my favorite works from him.

Performance Art

     I gotta say the hardest part about this assignment was coming up with an idea. I always want to do something that has a message and it almost took me forever to come up with one! Thankfully this idea came to me! Throughout the performance I put a piece of paper over my mouth and didn't speak while interacting with the people. I had to try and ask a question or a request solely on hand motions and head nods. I wasn't trying so much to make a message but to experience something I've never experienced. Many people that live in America can't even speak English and struggle with communicating everyday. Instead of going to another country and trying to communicate with their citizens, I did it here without saying a word. It was pretty fun and I actually didn't expect the ones at the field to answer those questions due to a hard time trying to explain what I wanted. Ordering at Salsa Rico was hilarious mostly because they thought I was the strangest thing. Many people not even involved in the questions and such also threw in comments or just laughed at my actions. Some comments were just down right mean but others were pretty funny! Overall I had fun with the performance piece!

Be Yourself?

     For my Xerox project, I wanted to do something different and try to integrate myself into my concept. What I did for the project was xerox a ton of my hands and along with that, many different facial expressions. The idea was to have all of the hands as if they were clawing at me along with a mask full of expressions. With the xeroxed body parts, I'm holding up a sign that says be yourself.

     At first looking at this, the message may be a little strange of what I'm trying to convey but I wanted to explain the difficulties of staying true to yourself. The hands reaching towards the body are different people that come into our lives that try to steer us into different directions which is what the facial expressions are for. Those expressions symbolize the people we turn into. We always say to be ourselves but it is very hard to do that when we have peer pressure of trying to fit into groups or joining cliques. Throughout high school, I myself have changed to fit into "popular" cliques or try to hang out with others that I really wasn't similar too. It's an uncomfortable feeling hiding who you are which is why the only part of my body that isn't covered is holding the sign. I intentionally did that to show the pureness of who we really are. It's who we are underneath the fake personas.

     Overall, I'm pretty happy with how this came out. It was an interesting idea that I had and was glad to bring it to life! The only thing that could've went better was xeroxing the face but I was able to work with what I had!

Art History at it's most randomness!

     I watched a video on a timeline of the history of art from the beginning of its origins. I gotta say it's pretty crazy how far we have come and it's still growing! It was really interesting to see works of realism and to see how artists began to work on that to exaggerate features on a person to soon even distortion of a person like Picasso. I am always a sucker for the work of ancient Greece. Not even the paintings and such, but also the architecture always amazes me. The statues felt larger than life and the way they were able to sculpt them. What's even more amazing is the architecture found around the city such as the Coliseum. That venue is still even more advanced than some stadiums today! The one thing about this video that still makes no sense to me is the fish. Now I know thats not the main part of this but seriously why even put it in! I could barely pay attention to anything else but the little aquarium stuff going over the artwork!

Modern Saints

     Our class took a trip to the HCC Art Gallery to come check out Santiago's solo exhibition. He had a piece that was called Modern Saints which was a series of photographs of faces of people with the experiences they have faced in their past. He called these kids saints who were facing demons. It was a very interesting piece especially with the meaning behind it. I thought it was cool how he was able to project the experiences they faced right on to them. It was actually very eerie in a way but made me intrigued to find out more. I really wish their was descriptions of what each faced because the photographs interested me to know more which is a really good thing being able to captivate an audience like that. I think Santiago was very successful in not only this piece, but the rest of the ones in the show as well. I was a real fan of his pirates work as well, taking all of the faces of people arrested in the tampa bay area to form a grid art piece of the Buccaneers logo. I can't wait to see more from him in the future!

Grid Art Scud!

     Okay it is currently 6:30AM and I have finally finished my grid art project! I really don't know why I like the feeling of procrastination. I started this five days ago and have felt this to be one of my most accomplishing works. South Park is a show I really want to work on and it takes them 6 days to make each episode so that time frame inspires me to try and do the same to see if I can compete in an environment such as that. But anyways enough about that onto the project!

     Scud is a character I created that gets the name from my last name of course, but he's been someone I've been drawing since I was in 4th grade for tons of assignments such as this. Over the years he has changed drastically as my artistic style develops. He's a reminder of progress I have made over the years. 

     What I did for this project was use that character to create the name Scud. Of course I thought it would be super boring to draw him in the same position a hundred times so this gave me an awesome opportunity to tell a story throughout it! As you can see through this whole work, the characters are doing a ton of different things and in some way, they all interact with each other. There is even a few costumes, different characters, emotions, etc. 

     I started out by writing the word Scud to map where I would put the characters in each letter and from then on I began to pencil out the characters and ink them in. As I was done with all of that I began the coloring stage to give it a much better polish. As I work on stuff, I get pretty anxious to see the final version so often I would begin to ink them in even if I wasn't done with a letter. I just like looking at a more finished version to show the work is worth it in the end.

     The hardest part of this project wasn't the drawings themselves, it was the ideas I had the characters doing as stupid as that sounds. There are 110 characters on this work. How many possible expressions can a person play out!? Well I tried as much as I could and only a few have the typical smile or something but seriously give me a break!

     My favorite part of the work is the way that each letter interacts with one another. As you can see characters on the S and C are having a football toss on the top and on the bottom their is a duo playing gameboy connected with that wire. Or the C and the U having a pizza delivery. It was little stuff like that, that definitely make me like this so much more. Overall, I'm pretty proud of myself on completing this and can't wait for the next project!

Best Game of All Time?

     Talking about the best game of all time in class had me really thinking. What is the best game I've ever played? I've been playing games since I was 3 years old with the Sega Genesis. Since then I have owned every system to come after and have played hundreds of games. There is absolutely no way I can pick one out of the past 15 years of my life! Of course it's a hellafun to try and make a list. I'm not too sure of the order but it definitely is pretty close to my personal favorite. These are the top ten games I've ever played. The one rule of the list is that I can only pick one franchise too, no doubles on the list.

10. Kingdom Hearts II

     If I was making a list for the most confusing storyline of all time, this would take the cake. Kingdom Hearts isn't a series you can just jump into at any point because each game plays a significant importance to the overall story of the Xehanort saga. Each game has had an impact on me but II absorbed me into the story with beautiful worlds, the best soundtrack, and emotionally invested deeper with Sora, Goofy and Donald. Any game that can make the most cheery Disney characters into badasses must really have something special in it.

9. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

     Uncharted is the closest thing to a video game being a movie. With cinematic set pieces, amazing acting, and one of the most realistic looking games out there, there is no way you can't invest in a world like this. This game also tightened up the controls of the second game and added a sweet combat system. It also went into the psych of Drake and really answered why he does the things he does. It was a great way to end the trilogy and hope they continue to bring out more of his adventures.

8. Resident Evil 4

     Resident Evil hasn't been scary for a while and I'm still trying to figure out why. They decided to go with action and while the games are still great, I just wish they were like this one. This was the first 3rd person Resi game and it set a standard for the rest of the series. The game was also horrifying and kept me in panic mode in soo many situations. Controls were tight and had some insane zombies. Who can forget the chainsaw zombie. Leon needs more lead games like this.

7. The Orange Box

     3 Valve games in one? Your not sold yet? This was the best compilation game of all time having the  most critically acclaimed game of all time, Half Life 2. The standout of this game was definitely the introduction of Portal which was a mind challenging game filled with puzzles and hilarious dialogue. I couldn't decide whether to add Portal or Half Life to the list so why not have them both in this!

6. Super Mario 64

     This game has changed the gaming world. The first 3D Mario was definitely his best. An open world mushroom kingdom. Why not make every game like this. I remember as a kid running around the castle, exploring the coolest worlds and finding all of the little secrets hidden away in each level. Mario gets better and better every game, but he lost that non-linear experience that was found in games like this and Sunshine. Fighting Bowser in 3D was also amazing. And collecting all 120 star coins to find Yoshi at the end. This was one of the first games I truly completed everything in it and what an experience it was.

5. Shadow of the Colossus

     Whenever you hear an argument if video games are art, show them this game. This was not only PS2's masterpiece, but an artistic innovation. The game had just a boy and his horse taking on giant monster bosses, that was the game. You would travel fields, mountains, beautiful scenery to find these monsters to take down. Each monster was a puzzle to defeat and here's a question: Have you ever felt sorry for the monsters you kill in games? It's not like they were ever trying to attack you, you just have to do it to save the one you love. I cried every time I killed one of them and that's what made this game special, it was the emotion that it drew from you into a world. Beautiful game.

4. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles

     I am a giant Sonic fanboy and this is the first game I have ever played. Playing back on some games, I realize they don't age to well, but I see this getting better with age every time I play it. It was a platforming masterpiece with the best soundtrack of the entire series and that's saying something. Also the first Sonic game to involve cutscenes and a story. For 1994 thats pretty impressive. Skiing down the slopes of Ice Cap and Reaching the Death Egg in Sky Sanctuary, this game takes you on the most imaginative journey of all time.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

     Now if I didn't pick Sonic as my number 1 favorite that's saying something. Since 2011, Sonic 3 has been my favorite game of all time, until Skyward Sword came out. I'm also a big Zelda fan and have a tattoo of the triforce on my chest. This Zelda game is as much of an innovation as Ocarina of Time. The Wii remote was your sword and the way you would swing it would actually be the way Link swung it in the game. Also this was the origin story of Zelda and it showed how they all ended up in Hyrule, how Zelda became the princess, and was the first time they had a love story between Link and Zelda. It was a huge change from the little elf boy must save the princess. This also featured the monster who became reincarnated into Ganondorf. This is also number 3 on my list because how emotionally attached I was to the characters. Zelda truly is a gaming experience.

2. The Walking Dead

     Next year a new best game of all time came out for me. It seems as each year, gaming gets better. Telltale released the Walking Dead which was the most unique game experience I have ever played. You decided what you did, who would live, how you treated friends, who you kill. The journey is you. You play as Lee who is taking care of this little girl, Clementine in a world becoming infected with zombies. Every decision you make puts the weight of the world on you and it's the first time I really had to think about what I had just done. It really is a depressing game as the world seems to never get better, but the moments that Clementine is happy are the ones you cherish the most. Can't wait for Season 2!

1. The Last of Us

     This year, Naughty Dog released the greatest game of all time. I played through it four times to make sure and each time it left an impact. Never have I ever felt the way I do about 2 characters like I do with this one. 20 years into an apocalyptic world, you follow a man Joel and a little girl Ellie as they travel across America to figure out a cure from an uninfectable Ellie. Following them on this adventure, there isn't any way you can't become attached to them. The little conversations they have, the people they meet, the things they have to do. You are basically teaching Ellie what the world once was as she was born in it, she only knows this world. Have you also ever played a game when your beating up a bad guy to there death, before you strike the finishing blow, they plead to you to let them go? How about when you run out of bullets, the bad guys hear that sound and they know your vulnerable and go right after you? Or what about every little sound you make could get you killed when undercover. That's how fucking powerful this is. It's the closest thing to real life. This game just knows and acts different for everyone. I won't ruin the ending to the game but it's so damn powerful. This is a must play and defines what video games are.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

     Those four words of the title make up what I have been living my life by for years now. Steve Jobs has been a hero to me since I entered high school. I admire his visions and his ability to take risks and he knew exactly what people wanted. I have seen his Stanford address before and it is one of the most inspirational speeches I have heard from him. The struggles he faced in his life, between getting Apple started, fighting for his visions and through his cancer, he fought for what he truly loved, and that was creating the future. He was a perfectionist that wanted to bring out the best products and knew the simplest things make a difference. I learned from him that you don't have to change the world to make a difference, and that's what he did even with the simple different fonts and calligraphy. Many people try to make the man look like an asshole because he didn't care about money, he just wanted to give a simple user experience to the customers. Of course he has made mistakes in his life, but who hasn't? Everyone must read the book and movie about him to really learn in detail what he did to change Apple, animation and the computer industry in general.

Alan Turing

     Alan Turing was a man that could have changed the world much sooner than it did. Turing worked for Britain's decoding center as he was able to decode the messages from the Germans. He was working on a digital computer that his colleagues dismissed, so the project never went over. Looking back at his studies, it seemed as the computer was going to be designed far more powerful than anything released in the upcoming years. The man had a genius vision that was soon later discovered and it does relate to what were talking about in class as we move through the computer era. The one thing that it seems relates the most is everyones denial over the computer. No one thought it was a good idea for Turing and it can still be seen today even with Jobs and Wozniak. They tried to get the Apple computer over with people and try to find investors to really make an impact, but everyone just wasn't into the idea and didn't believe people wanted a personal computer. So now when the computer was a hit and people did want computers, the ideas Jobs had behind creating the Lissa lead to the board of directors kicking him off the project and onto the Macintosh, where that became more of a success than the Lissa did. As Steve Jobs said "People don't know what they want until you show it to them."

Radio Days

     Radio Days is a movie that takes you through the life during the radio era. It goes through the scene in the city with the broadcast shows and celebrities along with the life of a boy growing up with the radio. I also just realized that the boy in the movie was Seth Green! Must've been what really launched his career because this movie was amazing! It really made me want to live through this era to experience the radio like these people did. Just seeing how everyone mesmerizes over the device shows what it meant to them and I don't think we have ever felt something like that in our era. Were surrounded by video games, movies, TV and still even the radio that it's all really just there. It's not like we hold these things on a pedestal, it's just our entertainment. In a time where the radio was really the only source you could find entertainment such as this, it must have been a lot of fun tuning in every night. Overall, great story, great characters and I found it pretty funny too! It's a great throwback to an era that Woody Allen was fortunate to live through.

OZR.com & MZTV

     When exploring these sites, I realized one thing about the radio era, and that it is soo similar to the TV we watch today. The radio had tons of shows, comedy, sci-fi, drama, talk shows, it's the modern day without the visuals. These people were celebrities in their shows and the ones who offered these programs are still doing it today in the TV era such as NBC, CBS, etc. It was interesting to look at the shows found back then because you can spot the similarites of franchises to come that were inspired. Even some of them, such as Flash Gordon were adapted into TV shows. The interesting thing about the radio is it's a lot similar to books than TV, with the use of detail descriptions and dialogue, it feels like someone reading a story to you. Of course the use of actors and sound effects bring that TV feeling, but it is like your getting the best of both worlds with some of these broadcast shows.

CD / DVD / BluRay

     Out with the cassette tapes and in with the CDs! As VCRs became irrelevant, the DVD player came in to introduce a new digital viewing experience which changed the way we watch videos forever. CDs also made an impact not only taking the place of video cassette tapes for music and movies, but video game cartridges as well.
     DVD players could date back to 1958 with the creation of the laserdisc, but that doesn't really count. It was the first type of compact disc to play movies to try and compete with the VHS but it was an utter failure. In 1995, Philips, Sony, Toshiba and Panasonic invented the DVD player which had more storage, higher resolution and great audio. Many of the companies were backing different technology, but to avoid format wars, they all unified to created one format which definitely made the DVD a much greater success. Because with one format, there was no competition. The DVD went straight against the VHS and easily took it out because this wasn't any normal competition, it was the future. DVD players were originally sold at under $200 and eventually dropped to under $50 which is cheaper than a video game! And unlike previous competition to the VHS, there was actually a difference in quality with the DVD player. DVD's actually had menus which usually has scene selections, bonus features, different languages, everything you couldn't do on a cassette tape was found in the compact disc. The extra features and the new conveniences made the DVD player much more desirable and instantly became a hit in households.

     This is all thanks to the CD. Sony and Philips worked together in 1988 to create the Yellow Book, which gave CD-Roms the ability to hold any type of data. This right there made the CD's a revolution. They also took out the cassette tapes due to greater quality and more space to hold data. CD's then made there way to video games when Sony introduced the Playstation in 1995. Unlike Nintendo and Sega at the time still using cartridges with the Nintendo 64 and Sega Saturn, Sony's console was able to not only create bigger and more powerful games, they could use high def audio which really did make a difference. The Sega CD tried using the discs in 1992 but the technology just wasn't there in gaming, the audio was incredible though and the graphics were improved.

     BluRay discs were released in 2006 and became the somewhat successor to DVDs. It showed high definition video and immersive sound unlike the DVDs. High Definition was starting to become an interest at the time and HD TV's were starting to hit the market. However, DVD's would not be able to show off the technology due to their limitations which is what BluRay was to do. BluRay can play HD content and movies were starting to come to the format. BluRay even went through a format war with HD DVD's from Toshiba, but in 2008 they backed down from the war making BluRay the standard. Not only was the quality better, the space was unreal. They can put the whole DVD collection of say the Friday the 13th movies all on one BluRay disc. Playstation puts their games on BluRay discs and it definitely makes a difference when you get an Xbox game like Mass Effect 3, and it comes on 3 discs. You have to switch the discs out in the middle of your game to continue on while Playstation games can keep going.

     It is too soon to consider BluRay a successor to the DVD player like it was to the VHS. It definitely didn't take off the same way. Of course BluRay players are cheap now and a majority of households have now switched to HD TV's, it is the definitive way to watch content. However, times are changing real fast as in the current 2013, it seems as if discs aren't needed anymore as movies are now being streamed through services such as iTunes. Movies can be streamed through all media devices. DVDs and BluRay are still around today but we may be coming to their last legs.

Video (VHS/Beta) / VCR

     The VCR is a device that is able to play VHS tapes, which were able to record sound and images right onto the magnetic tape inside of the cassette to relay a movie. It's so fascinating how it worked and not even that, the convenience it brought to the household. You were not only able to watch your favorite movies, but you could pause, rewind, fast forward and the coolest thing was taking a blank VHS tape and being able to record a anything on TV to create your own tapes!

     In 1956, the first video recorder was created by Ampex for professional broadcasting use. However, this was not used at home and was made for television broadcasting studios due to it's hefty price of $50,000. Toshiba, Philips, Sony, and even more companies were all trying to get into the market due to it's success with the studios. They began to create it for more uses involving medical use, businesses, airlines, etc.

     1963 was the year that the Telcan was created by the Nottingham Electronic Valve Company and became the first ever home video recorder. Of course, like the beginning of everything, it was a failure. The thing only recorded 20 minutes of black and white video, you had to build the thing yourself, and it was still real expensive for the average household. However, many companies still saw something in the device as they began to try and improve on it, making it more affordable, and actually sold it in one piece.

 
     As the video recorder became more popular and began a library of videocassette tapes of movies, Philips created the VCR in 1970 which became the true video recording experience in the household... but not at first. This thing was expensive at over $2,000! Even now it still confuses me that nothing is ever successful at first and it's because the developers make the same mistake everytime. $2,000 for a VCR? No one can afford that so why not sell it at a loss in the beginning instead of no one buying anything and wasting money anyways. They eventually find ways to build it cheaper but wouldn't you at least want sales? Your losing money anyways but anyways that rant is over.

     The VCR eventually did pick up steam in 1975 and had six big companies developing them with the most successful companies coming from Japan, Sony and JVC. They began to make them more advanced and affordable and making an impact in the households across the world.  

     Being the most successful, they dominated most of the home markets which brought the competition directly between them. Sony was trying to one up JVC by creating the Betamax, which is the equivalent to the Blu Ray player against the DVDs, expect it was a failure. Of course it was one of the two standards in the households, but it just wasn't convenient to the consumer. The Beta had a higher resolution, but it only recorded one hour while the VHS recorded 2 to 4. Also when recording home movies, the VHS was able to rewind and show what was recorded in the cameras while the Beta was only straight recording, if you messed up, oh well. And you couldn't see it until it was finished. Over time, VHS took pretty much 75 percent of the market and the Beta vanished. It was innovative in ways when it created a second fast forward option on the Betamax which sped it up even more. It also began to create tapes that could record more time. 

     Pretty much after the Betamax, VHS was what the majority of households owned and became the standard. There was tons of other viewing experiences coming out at the time like the laserdisc which came in like vinyl albums because they were giant discs and showed higher resolution videos and audio. The thing was pretty cool but who the hell owned one. Everyone used VHS and at the time resolution wasn't as big a deal as it is now with High Definition TV's that really show quality.

     However, all good things come to an end. The VCR was really successful in the 80s and 90s. Who doesn't remember popping in their favorite Disney VHS movies! In the 2000s, the DVD came out which was the beginning of the digital age of video. VCR's were still around in the early 2000's, but only to the people who haven't moved on to the DVD players. In 2005, it pretty much became obsolete. Movies stopped producing for it, and video cameras became handheld, recording on mini cassettes and even digital. The VCR was a revolution, becoming a form of pirating as well being able to record the TV, an easy way to record memories with video cameras, and changed the way we watched video entertainment.

Orson Welles was a Genius!

     Just listened to War of the Worlds... wow. I don't care if it was on the Radio I saw everything that happened in it. It's like reading a really good book that describes scenery and the events in explicit detail. You feel as if you are there. The specific detail put into what was happening to the towns and cities gave it such an apocalyptic feel and it was just a great story told. I could tell why this was the golden era of radio. However, this was during a time where TV wasn't compelling and was just starting up. I'm thinking if this was released now in the golden age of TV, it would have the same impact I felt listening to it. I'm not bashing the radio, I'm saying that it felt like such a similar experience to watching a show. If I was in 1938 listening to this at home I would have crapped my pants. Even today, it still has that eerie feeling and I think that's also thanks to Welles' voice. He sells the story in his speech and would have been a phenomenal actor I think in the TV era as well. He makes it believable. Definitely a must watch!

Philip K. Dick

     After reading about Philip K. Dick, I had no idea how much his work has inspired the films we see today. He writes of science fiction worlds that aren't the ordinary stories you hear all the time. In a way, the world is actually very similar to ours, or at least thats what it's coming too. It seems as time goes on, Dick's wild theories are getting closer to these futuristic nightmares is what I'll call them. I am fascinated by his work and love his concepts, but they really are worlds no one would ever live in because of the danger on every corner, the governments having total control over people, it's scary. You can even see with the NSA that they monitor every conversation you have had in your life over phones, texting, computers you name it. That's recent, think about the future. If they already have that much control over us, how long is it until they will have cameras in literally every room in the entire world to make sure nothing happens without there watch. The thing about Dick's work is that it really makes you think into our world. He makes us look into our selves and the place we live. It just seems that he may have also had an idea of what this world was coming too as well.

SOURCE:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/05/m-philip_k_dick_and_our_predicament.html

Stop Animation

     I feel so bad for 2D animators and give them so much credit. Just doing 200 pictures was ridiculous now I can't even imagine a team doing over 1,000,000 for Snow White! But anyways this project was a lot of fun! I actually did this all in one sitting, not because of time or anything like that but I kept having random ideas as I was going along and wanted to continue off of that! This was basically all off improv which I thought is the only way to make a random animation! I did actually notice I made my character fall a lot and I think I actually made a story out of it somehow. All the times he fell he either fell in the ocean, on a giant bird, a snowboard and it just seemed like he kept getting lucky. Now the one time he actually has something that could save him from his fall like his parachute, he's out of luck as the string breaks off and he falls flat on the ground with the parachute finally coming out after the impact. I guess I can make a moral out of this story saying there is only so many times you can get lucky before it runs out but really it's the most random video I've ever made. I'm actually gonna include my 3D animation video on this because it seems like it goes with the whole animator theme so enjoy that one too!

EDIT: Okay so I'm gonna update this ones bloggers video finder wants to work. I left the links below and will get the video on the blog as soon as this thing wants to cooperate!

EDIT 2: No success on that stupid YouTube thing so now I uploaded it through Blogger. Use the YouTube Link if you need to view it on there.

Stop Motion Animation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTdUMRow7KE&feature=youtu.be

3D Animation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC9iH9thPj4&feature=c4-overview&list=UURS9aj-LsU7wRR7XErf3_vQ

Clockwork Orange

     Clockwork Orange is a brilliant movie that at times, is very messed up but has that creative genius and smart storyline that keeps you wanting more. A scene in particular, the rape scene used Gene Kelly's "Singing In The Rain" which adds to the demonic acts happening. Now I don't have the right answer to this but I definitely found irony in the scene. Whenever I think of this song, I don't think of that jolly ol' man running around in the rain, I think of Alex raping this woman. This song was completely used out of context and gives me a bad vibe every time I hear it just like how Alex can't listen to Beethoven anymore because the way it was used with violence, such as scenes with Hitler and murder and such. I feel as if the director wanted to use the song in it's wrong context to give the audience the same feeling Alex suffered through during his treatment. It definitely makes the scene that much more gruesome and one that will leave a mark in your brain forever.

Earthquake

     Okay... so my parents don't remember if they saw it in the theatre's so this blog isn't exactly what it should be but I did like the idea they had for the rumbling theatre with surround sound. It actually seems like an early prototype for IMAX which I'm not even sure if that's still around. Maybe if movie theatre's didn't compete with college tuition prices people would go see them but yeah. The idea to make the sound rumble the theatre and immerse the audience into the movie is a great way to make those blockbuster movies even more memorable and especially for coming out 40 years ago, it's great to see that technology was developed and advanced for the future. Not only is it seen in IMAX movies, but amusement parks have created these 4D rides which immerse the audience with smells, motion, 3D, etc. It's the closest thing to actually being in the movie and I can totally see movie theatre's soon coming out with it in years to come when it's more affordable but definitely keep your eyes out for 4D!

Animation!

     I watched a bunch of cool animation videos from the Videos Artes website and was a big fan of the time lapse videos because it's just so damn cool watching the sky like that! It never gets old! Also the Bumble Bee stop motion was great too! The dance moves were pretty impressive and it looked like a lot of work went into that. The one I didn't like was the stop motion of real life. It was too close together to make it even seem like stop motion and it just wasn't that impressive.
     Of course I am a major fan of animation because I'm going to school for Computer Animation and I definitely have some ideas for the upcoming flip book project! At first I was thinking of just really making an animation of exactly 24 frames per second but it would only be like 8 seconds long after 200 pages and it wouldn't even be that cool or long and would get super boring drawing it after a while. I do like the theme many people go for and that's the transformation throughout the viewing. I definitely have some great ideas and can't wait to share what I got!

Hollywood Beginnings

     Wow movies have come a long way! I appreciate the early beginnings of cinema and the technology they used to create some of the most groundbreaking events. I remember watching the 1933 version of King Kong and just being blown away with how they did this stuff 80 years ago. Two movies I have recently watched were around 30 years before King Kong and I can easily say they are the most cheesy things I have ever seen. The Great Train Robbery and A Trip to the Moon are some of the first motion pictures ever made and for their time and even years to come were pretty advanced, especially A Trip to the Moon. Now I gotta say this... there pretty much unwatchable. A Trip to the Moon was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. I did like the painted backgrounds and stuff, but the face of the moon was scary as hell! The funniest party was the cheesy landing along with the crash into the fish tank where you see little goldfish trying to get the hell away from the disaster their throwing into the tank. The Great Train Robbery was definitely the better film, but it was so oddly put together. Now back then, their were no camera angles and stuff, they would set up the camera somewhere and just film the whole scene in one take. That's what makes it so odd, like when they are tying up the ticket guy. I felt like that scene went on a lot longer than it really needed too, and not even that, the way it's filmed seems like we were in the room just watching it happen. I felt like we should've stopped them! But I guess thats enough ranting for me!

A Whole New World

     One of the craziest things I've learned about this week is definitely Camera Obscura. Abelardo Morell has taken a ton of shots in many different rooms showing off this crazy technology! The most unbelievable thing about this is that it has been around since before 500 BCE. I found a ton of pieces from her that really intrigued my interest. It's as if it adds a whole other life into the room. The ones with bright lights are the coolest because they look as if an imagination box has opened and poured all over the room! The fact many artists have used this before cameras and learned that this would work still amazes me to this day and I look forward to stumbling upon more work like this in the future!

Racism in Disney

     If you wanna find modern racism, look no further than Disney's movies. Now I'm the biggest fan of the Mouse House (Getting a tattoo of Mickey soon!) but I do realize how they create their characters. No characters in Disney movies are similar to each other and you can distinguish 'em all which shows just how good they are and also just how racist they can be. Many of their characters are stereotypes of several cultures and they use that to make up their cast. When your little, you would never know but as you begin to look back at childhood favorites, their are many moments and characters that show stereotypes, prejudice and racism. There's a video I watched in my Sociology class in High School that definitely goes into detail on what they do.

Broadway Magic!

     Technology in broadway has come a long way and it definitely adds to the immersion and storytelling. Many of the broadway plays I have seen recently have had some pretty cool stuff in it! It definitely adds that special effects found in movies and bring them right to the audience!

     Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark is the first one that comes to my mind when using special effects. Now there was absolutely no way to save a Spiderman broadway show cause think how bad that idea is, but they added some web slinging action as Spiderman would swing around the theatre right to the audience to add some immersion along with a Green Goblin battle. That seems awesome and it is... half the time when they do it right. Make sure to see this broadway show when they are on there A-Game or your gonna see some serious injuries.

     Newsies was another play that used a creative choreography through the use of what looked to be moving stairways and hallways to show all the action during their songs. It was a great musical and it was one that needed a lot more space than a stage which is why they made such great use of this giant prop.

   
     Chiddy Ciddy Bang Bang didn't really offer to much that I remember in technology except for one of the coolest things at the end! Right at the end of the last song they took that magical flying car and had it drive up into the audience making the effect that seemed as if it was flying. In a musical about a flying car they needed to back it up like this in such a cool fashion!

     Lion King was one that didn't use technology in the props, but in the characters themselves. Every actor and actresses heads were present throughout the whole musical, yet it did not take away from the immersion. They created very detailed costumes and masks placed on the top of their heads which was very clever because in a story about nothing but animals, you needed the performers to have their voice heard and not muffled in Disney World costumes. I think the way the outfits were decorated had become a milestone in broadway.

Now to get away from Disney musicals, the Phantom of the Opera was another one that definitely used the chandelier to add the the horror and suspense. In the theatre, a giant chandelier hangs above and looks like it's just apart of the place as a decoration but as the Phantom starts to cause terror, the chandelier begins to rock back and forth and starts to turn on and off repeatedly and even to the point where it almost drops on the audience. It's a freaky thing that if your not aware about it before you walk in you'll have no idea what to expect!

Robot Chicken-like Operas!

     I just recently watched a stop motion video on the Opera, Madama Butterfly, which has been recreated by Pjotr Sapegin. Now I haven't actually seen the Opera but I'm pretty sure this was loosely based on it, but the animation was really good! Of course it was a little odd throughout with many strange ways of acting out scenes such as when the girl has her daughter which she cracks her.... er.... glass stomach open and a.... fish comes out and immediately transforms into like a 3 year old girl... yeah that's what were dealing with here. Also at the end when the Lieutenant returns with his new family at the end and takes the daughter, watching the lady tear herself into pieces literally was a great way to show how she is feeling on the inside. It's definitely a trippy video, but I enjoyed it because I am a real sucker for stop motion videos!

Here's a link to the video and also along with it is my favorite stop motion video of all time! Definitely worth a look because it has such a powerful message and it's flat out adorable.

The Desert Queens

     During class, we watched a movie called "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,"and it was definitely an interesting one. It's about three guys who are showgirls that are traveling across Australia to perform at Tick's wife's resort. Of course it isn't as easy as it sounds as the trio get stranded in the middle of deserts, come across gangs, and tons of performances. The movie is definitely pretty strange when your first watching it, but as it goes on it had a lot of laughs and a pretty good story! I think the movie also tackles a controversial topic involving homosexuality and men cross dressing and I think the movie makes the viewers a little more aware of these situations and helps them accept it. The movie also did a great job tying into what we talk about in class involving the Baroque and Rococo era with the pizzazz and over the top costumes. Overall, the movie was definitely an enjoyable one and I definitely recommend checking it out!

Modern Opera Fun!

What I don't think many people realize is that how much Opera is really around us! It's in so many TV commercials and we don't even realize it! I think the greatest thing too is that they are hilarious and pretty smart. Looking around on YouTube I came across a couple that were pretty cool. The thing is the commercial itself may not focus around the Opera itself and more on the product, but it's just smartly used! These three were definitely my favorites!

What is Creativity?

     Creativity is hard to come by in this current generation. Growing up, we have been surrounded by technology that pretty much does the thinking for us. It can actually be seen in video games and movies which have been over-saturated by sequels, reboots or adaptations. Original is a hard name to earn, however, it seems like Dr. Raul Cuero has figured the answer to creativity. The way he stays creative is by changing the expectations by doing something that another person would not expect you to do. I think that concept is genius! The meaning of what he says is that we shouldn't stick to the same formula because others have tried it and it works. We should think outside the box and come up with our own things even if no one has ever heard or seen anything like it. You have no clue if a new idea will catch on unless you try it. When I have artist block and don't quite know what to work on, I will take what I learned from Dr. Cuero and do the unexpected. Think of the craziest things of my imagination and see what happens because you really don't know until you try.

Frozen in Time

     I just checked out Juan Carlos Delgado's most recent work and my initial reaction to his project was... wow! Definitely one of the more original works I have ever seen! The statue is actually the perfect example for multimedia as it changes over time and gives the viewer a different perspective each time they examine it. How it changes from a beautiful renaissance-like statue into what could pass as Clayface from Batman! The article connects the work with the theme of memory as it begins to fade the more distant it is. I definitely suggest everyone to give Delgado a look and really can't wait to see what creative genius he comes up with next!

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