Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Earthquake



Beside the Earthquake that happened in the mid 20th century, and the big earthquake that everyone imagines, therefore it is understandable that this movie can effect on people.

I did talk to my mother about the movie, and she did see it. However her attitude towards the movie didn't seem as an impact. First of all she watched it on television (stereo sound back then was not as realistic), and second of all, the 70's produced a lot of disatorious movies. Second, she never lived near California or any where in the west to where Earthquakes occured. Third, she was used to B movies and disatorious movies of this time. Especially since two of the actors that played in Earthquake, George Kennedy and Charliton Heston, also had roles in many other disatorius movies, namely airplane hijackings.

George Kennedy - Airport Series (Airport, Airport 1975, Airport '77, Concord Airport '79)

Charliton Heston -Skyjacked, Airport 1975, Two Minute Warning

Another common theme in all disastorius movies was a love interest with a pretty girl (example: Alfred Hitchcocks "The Birds"), along with affairs between the characters.

For the movie Earthquake, I believe the use of the sound system to amplify the realism of an earthquake and people panicking was a result for the cultural attitude. It is a brillant move during this stage of movies, for use of sound to provide amplication and realistic effects to simulate an actually event.



A movie that my mother did mention that was a shock to her in theaters was Wait until Dark, a movie starring Audrey Hepburn (her character is portrayed as a blind woman), who is tricked by two bumbling thieves and their shady boss, in search of a doll that has drugs in it. Audrey got it by accident and therefore is in chaos with the thieves, whom will do anything for it. My mother found that the main villian of the film was a cultural reference to sadistic but clever killers .

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Little Nemo and Tintin

Professor Santiago didn't go into much detail with Little Nemo (not the fish), but I like the little documentary he showed us. The artist was not well appreciated and had to deliver several art clippings (frames) in a film slideshow. I loved how the artist drawings where made in small strokes within the course of frames. Winsor McCay, creator of Little Nemo, really made an epect artistic performance into the future development of animation within comics, much like Garfield, Baby Blues, and The Boondocks.


Little Nemo is about a boy that dreams and has adventures of himself when he dreams. He enters a magical kingdom called Slumberland. Declared by the King, Nemo is deemed a companion and playmate to the princess of the kingdom. Nemo becomes a friend and a promised prince of the kingdom. All is well till he meets a clown named Flip and his companion the Imp, who turn things topsy turvy.


The comic is pretty postive and humor based, but the animated movie provides a darker approach. Nemo has nightmares until he embarks into Slumberland. Nemo is greeted well as if he was in a great dream. Like the comic,  Nemo becomes a friend and a promised prince of the kingdom to the princess and King. All is well till he meets a clown named Flip, who once again turn things topsy turvy, but this time accidently releases an evil nightmare which plagues Slumberland and is the cause Nemos nightmares....


I won't it spoil anymore. I'll let you watch the movie and enjoy the story yourself.

It really is a good movie. The sounds and music really add suspense as well as the characters own duet performances.


Enjoy the Dreams, but beware of the Nightmare :)

Here is Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland: 


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Another good comic strip I wish to add is the Adventures of Tintin (Once again not to mistaken by a relative name Rin Tin Tin, the dog). After class I got into a little conversation about Tintin with professor Santiago and I think that it resembles a likeness to Little Nemo in the comic art within the 1920's. What I like about Tintin is simple drawing techniques. For example Tintins head doesn't do anlot of change wihtin shape. It retains structure of the sphere shape on the eyes, nose, and when he moves. Hergé really uses simple ink drawn techniques to simulate both motion and animation.

Created by a french artist, Georges Prosper Remi (aka Hergé). Tintin made first appearance in Le Petit Vingtième, a children's supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le XXe Siècle on January, 10, 1929.

Tintin is about a Belgium reporter who goes on wild adventures to find treasures, stop illegal activity, and help his fellow friends, his dog snowy (French: Milou), two inspectors Thompson and Tomson,  a clumsy professor Cuthbert Calculus, and a drunk captain Archibald Haddock.



For the Cartoon (1992), I found it interesting that the creator of the Tintin series did animated cameo scenes. Hergé did a wheres Waldo and Alfred Hitchcock appearance within the show. He's the blond skinny middle aged man, with wrinks on his cheeks. He is shown in Tintins painted sketch below. Hergé often appears in the background of the series.



Sadly I never could get into the comics as much when I was little for they were hard to find, but I remember when I was little about 8, (1993). They showed the Tintin series on Nickelodeon. Interesting that many Nickeodeon series weren't censored during those times like Kablam, Weinerville, Ren and Stimpy. Those are also good shows.


Anyway before I go off topic. Here is the link to a good episode of Tintin, which also happens to be my favorite episode due to the vast story depth and awesome conflict Tintin has with two thieves, whom are bumbling about for a stolen idol. Yeah the story may seem a little cliche but for me it was a fan fav. I liked it when I was little and still think it is still great today, especially the music.  
                                See if you can spot Hergé in the Broken Ear. Tell me the Times :)

Here it is...
Tintin and The Broken Ear:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL_SMIp4WpM




 (* A exerpt of Carmen is also sung in the episode. Cool) 

Please Comment

Georges Méliès (A genius for recreation) and Lumiere Brothers (Photography/Movies)

The film we watched in thursdays class, voyage to the moon (Le voyage dans la Lune), made in 1902, by Georges Méliès, was indeed a great film.


My favorite scenes were the scientists landing on the moon from a cannon. On the moon being a underground forest scene with the mushrooms (changing from the umbrella), the alien monsters poofing in a smoke screen, and the falling of the lunar rocket into the sea.

(Interesting note* The spaceship in voyage to the moon is very similar to the metallic ship in "You only live Twice", a James Bond movie. The evil group Spectre was capturing American/ Russian space shuttles and using blame games to lead the world in global war, with Spectre gaining the finincal gain. Bond of course stopped them.)


I was amazed by the film layers when the sparkiling nova going across the screen and the overlay of night sky and star in the background. Layers were really amazing and this was indeed a precursor to photoshop. I was also surprised on the use of using stars with human actors as faces. It was indeed a brillant idea. In later films, the sun, stars, and moon have had faces to symbolize all sorts of avertisement.


This film was really a dawn of a new age....

Auguste and Louis Lumière provided a good take on early black and white movies. I was surprised by the nudity in the small films, but I do believe it was a good marketing gimmick for that time. It is the dawn of risque (women in the past had long clothes), and the evolution of exposure (nudity and pornography).  

Now the moving train professor Santiago was describing is indeed true. For the evolution of technology simulating real events did infact cause a stir among people. We find it funny but in truth it was a new thing for them. Pictures of people moving was normal but now realistic engines and automobiles was incredible. Amazing that the Lumière brothers started the black and white movies and comedies. What if the brothers showed them a high definiton TV with color. That would probably cause a war.

Both the Lumière brothers and Georges Méliès provided a great recreation of how todays technology is accredited to them and so many others.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Black Performers, Jazz, and StockMarket Crash

 BLACK FACE PERFORMERS


The Black Face performers were minstrel entertainers during the 1900s.  It is said that it was white performers masking themselves just to make fun of black people, who were the outcasts during this time. However it also said to be a beginning to era of multicultural performance art, since the 1840's to early 1900's brought the immigration movement.



 *The problem is indeed sensitivity to racial issues which can be true but the pillars of artistic expression need to fall down somewhere.  Thus the fourth wall of performance emerges...


Al Jolson a famous musical entertainer, and immigrant from Russia (of Jewish faith). He was famous for description of mammy, during the hits on Broadway during the early 1920's. Al Jolson was actually a beginner of trying to bring togetherness for the black minority and whites through comic/drama interpretation.


JAZZ

The historic significance of Jazz begins during the civil rights era, where African immigrants were slaves and worked laboriously on the plantation fields.  Jazz was supposed a swing term to offer a positive facade of emotion and talent for what was going on for the African Americans during the time. The term Blues offers more emotional into sadness and in depth feeling of story song, whereas Jazz itself embraced more of dance entertainment.

Originated in New Orleans and embraced itself through the US, especially suburb Chicago. Jazz became a generation of new style of music. Bebop, Hip Hop, and Rock and Roll emerged within its creation.

STOCK MARKET CRASH


The Stock Market crash 1929 was a terrifying event, because all styles of business and entertainment went into a huge halt. Bad economic marketers are to blame and possibly bad networking. Due to flow of enjoyment and evolution progress, little time was spent on worldwide flow economics. Money, Property, Stock, and Business income lost money and resources. This also lead to the Prohibition (ban of (alcohol) and eventually the great Depression, which lasted for years. Embrace of drugs, mafia, and illegal activity occurred. However the newspaper, radio, and television offered more widespread networks, and eventually became a future development of the entertainment industry, with the Hollywood pictures (Movies and Television series).

Monday, September 13, 2010

"Carmen" by Georges Bizet

For my class in Art and Technology, I chose the opera of Carmen.

Believe it or not, I first learned of Carmen through a Tom and Jerry cartoon when I was little. Afterwards I was always interested in seeing what the real Carmen was about.

                 From seeing the opera, first I will say most definitely that the opera is different from the cartoon :)
I was in for a surprise. From the opening prelude of the opera having a march like emotion, to the tragic ending. This opera really has a mixed flow of emotions and melodies of music. Carmen is indeed a love triangle story that starts in a march of bliss to an ending in cryful tradegy. All four acts of the story tell a more meaningful individual story through the concept of the stories, background, and ranges of music.

Act I - being the prelude/introduction.  March songs embersh of everybody doing their business in the village square. Favorite part in this act is the children singing in the square, pratice fencing to be soldiers and apply help changing the scenes. Deep emotion with Micaëla's role (own feelings and conflicting mannerism with Don Josés mother). Don Josés  entrance makes a great solo performance in a duet and also allows a great shiftchange to the fight scene between Carman and another woman.

Act II- This act performs in the tavern. Don José is enroused by the presence of Carmen and her dances. He loses emotional interest in his duties and spares off with his military superior (Zuniga)
, before joining a band of smugglers. To me this act was a great fanfare of Don José s full love trance with Carmen.

Act III-Favorite scenes- Carmen and her friends unravel a fortune telling in cards of love and fortune but also death for Carmen and Don José. A conflict occurs because a bull fighter Escamillo comes forth in the scene and centers himself on Carmen. Don  José gets jealous when Escamillo arrives (after trying to shoot him), whom seeks love with Carmen. Micaëla comes and tells Don José  to see his mother
 . Carmen mocks DonJosé   of dedicated passion, and Don José  is convinced, until Micaëla says that Joses mother is dying. Don José leaves but Escamillo sings and this changes Carmens love interest. This is the shift in the triangle.

Act IV-Being the Bullfight and Cliffhanger ending. This Act is similar to the frst act as the scene shifts to a bazaar, but a new star emerges as Escamillo. Basically this reshifts act one and resides Carmen on Escamillo instead of José. Escamillo leaves for the bull fight and  José returns enraged, but Carmen loves him no longer. Do José  begging, gets no chance, so he kills her. Don José gets upset after her death in dispair.

Seeing the opera story and its acts, It can really show how love affects people. Like Carmen who is a hopefully romantic and wants love. Yet becomes like glue when she falls in attraction, hence her saying "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle"----> Love is a rebellious bird.

This opera deeply resides morals, espically the fortune telling scene of love, money, but also death for both Carmen and Don José. Price of desertion from military and flares of how love changes life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwAvG2egAvs&feature=channel

*I chose this version because it has the opera from start to finish, and the shifts of scenery are excellent. My favorite scenes are the children singing the opera, perfect synch.


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

*This is the Tom and Jerry Cartoon version I saw when I was little and deeply inspired me to see the real Carmen. It is titled "Carmen Get It", performed by the Tom and Jerry orchestra (100 man and a Mouse)

Enjoy

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

My Realm

Hi and welcome to my blog,


My name is John. I'm an artist whose passion is into idealism. I like to create things that come right into my  brain. I love to write, read, and create pieces of art through sculpture, electronic media, and abstraction. I'm a second year ut transfer student, planning on graduating this spring. My goal in life is much like my blogs title. I wish to embark the narrow dark roads of my creativity to create a path to art.

I wish to venture into website/animation/videogame design. I believe the lantern to my path is to create works that surprise and illuminate imagination. I believe my art should always have two things: A Story and Emotion.

Hi-da-ho

Hello,

I just created my blog.

Yeah!