Monday, April 30, 2018
Grouper has a new album
Sunday, April 15, 2018
culture shock
John Mulaney, a comedian I like who used to write for SNL
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5K6CrtQfpRipgTDZbaSj7k?si=YITQXrc2SDyH_gqc1jVNww
Crazy Rap- 2001, Afroman, an incredibly raunchy song about one dude's sexual escapades
https://open.spotify.com/track/1ACZpHI5vZ5Ea4xGlkdGWM?si=8MyLsdhsQY-4PIkoN3vNwg
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5K6CrtQfpRipgTDZbaSj7k?si=YITQXrc2SDyH_gqc1jVNww
Crazy Rap- 2001, Afroman, an incredibly raunchy song about one dude's sexual escapades
https://open.spotify.com/track/1ACZpHI5vZ5Ea4xGlkdGWM?si=8MyLsdhsQY-4PIkoN3vNwg
Friday, April 13, 2018
Culture- Bridgette
1- Fawn Veerasunthorn is a story artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios who, along with the majority of her peers, have an instagram not only posting her work, but watercolor pieces, and most importantly her comic strips she posts about her everyday life. I've been following her well over 2 years now, and have seen a lot of her adventures drawn in a comical yet meaningful way.
2-That Dragon, Cancer.
This is a game that follows the true story about a young boy having to battle cancer in the point of view of his parents. While one uses religion in hope of his son surviving, the other uses doubt and faces the undeniable truth. The depiction of how this mother and father, who developed the game, depict the narrative to tell the story is very powerful and meaningful. If you like to play, go to http://www.thatdragoncancer.com/#home where it tells the full story of how its made, and where you can pay for the game ($10) where you can support the developers personally AND BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT GETTING PAID THROUGH OTHER GAME WEBSITES, ALWAYS ALWAYS SUPPORT THE CREATORS!!!
I discovered this game back on my 21 birthday when I was waiting for my parents while they do errands. I was home alone, trying to find something to watch, and this came up. This was the first time I was introduced to let's play videos. The video lasted for an hour, and it was an emotional roller coaster. The parents tackled everything about death and religion, to the point that they think they're were being punished or have done something sinful for the son to suffer. I don't wanna spoil to much, cause I REALLY want you guys to play. If you can't, look up a let's play from Markiplier, who was the first youtuber I was introduced. If you can't afford to pay it, please donate at least a $1 on their page. This game was an inspiration for me to work on concept design for game development
3-Music City Mystique- Windows to The Soul
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pSaQSUcAgE&t=122s
This is a program based on an independent WGI (winter guard international) group from Tennessee. It's essentially a professional indoor drumline group of 16-21 year olds competing across the south west/east side of the U.S. Every year, a total of forty groups or more go to Ohio for the championships. These groups do get sponsored by big percussion brands, or even Nike and Adidas sponsor their brands. I've heard about this group my sophomore year in high school when I was playing snare in marching band. A lot of my percussion teachers perform with MCM. The group is the oldest yet most successful percussion group in WGI history. In this show, one of my instructors even performed in it. You might not be able to spot him because of the quality, but he is the blonde one playing in the front ensemble on the marimba. This show recieved high praised in the championships, even most downloads in watching the show (over 500,000 downloads). A lot of WGI shows are either trying to express a message or are considered artistic in their story telling. The show is about the different personalities and what we see in ourselves through other's eyes. The play different varations in what kind of sounds they can produce in the front ensemble while at the same time pushing the boundaries of what the battery can do visually. Other shows that I highly recommend in watching, and I love as well is their 2017 show, The Hand of Man, based on a painting of man kind destoring the planet earth, this was another all time favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVEVKz_SVrc and RCC, a different group from California, who also express thier performance of saving trees but in a light hearted way in 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyQQGC5U9Sg (skip to 1:00) my favorite part is 6:10, play it until the end.
This is a game that follows the true story about a young boy having to battle cancer in the point of view of his parents. While one uses religion in hope of his son surviving, the other uses doubt and faces the undeniable truth. The depiction of how this mother and father, who developed the game, depict the narrative to tell the story is very powerful and meaningful. If you like to play, go to http://www.thatdragoncancer.com/#home where it tells the full story of how its made, and where you can pay for the game ($10) where you can support the developers personally AND BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT GETTING PAID THROUGH OTHER GAME WEBSITES, ALWAYS ALWAYS SUPPORT THE CREATORS!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pSaQSUcAgE&t=122s
This is a program based on an independent WGI (winter guard international) group from Tennessee. It's essentially a professional indoor drumline group of 16-21 year olds competing across the south west/east side of the U.S. Every year, a total of forty groups or more go to Ohio for the championships. These groups do get sponsored by big percussion brands, or even Nike and Adidas sponsor their brands. I've heard about this group my sophomore year in high school when I was playing snare in marching band. A lot of my percussion teachers perform with MCM. The group is the oldest yet most successful percussion group in WGI history. In this show, one of my instructors even performed in it. You might not be able to spot him because of the quality, but he is the blonde one playing in the front ensemble on the marimba. This show recieved high praised in the championships, even most downloads in watching the show (over 500,000 downloads). A lot of WGI shows are either trying to express a message or are considered artistic in their story telling. The show is about the different personalities and what we see in ourselves through other's eyes. The play different varations in what kind of sounds they can produce in the front ensemble while at the same time pushing the boundaries of what the battery can do visually. Other shows that I highly recommend in watching, and I love as well is their 2017 show, The Hand of Man, based on a painting of man kind destoring the planet earth, this was another all time favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVEVKz_SVrc and RCC, a different group from California, who also express thier performance of saving trees but in a light hearted way in 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyQQGC5U9Sg (skip to 1:00) my favorite part is 6:10, play it until the end.
Check out my CuLtUrE!
The first thing are these cool interactive installations my Color Comp class just did. My group made these backgrounds of famous paintings as well as the iconic props that go along with them. It's set up on the first floor of the Dodd near our class room so please check it out! Step into a famous painting holding the prop and snap a photo! We did Munch's "The Scream", A Self Portrait of Vincent Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo's "Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird" and Magritte's "Son of Man".
Another group in my Color Comp class made a photobooth with a projector of lots of neat backgrounds and fun props. They set it up in the Foundations Gallery on the first floor near the stairs. Bring some friends and take some pics! If you use either this photobooth or the famous painting backdrops make sure to post on insta with the hashtag #lamardoddphotobooth
The second thing is my brother's EP that he made a year ago! He posted it on bandcamp so check out the link below if you would like to hear the rest of it. The last song, "Entertainers" is the one I used the lyrics for in my book and played in class on Wednesday. He did these completely on his own, so pretty neat!
https://saintsyzygy.bandcamp.com/releases
If you're feeling super into it, his actual band, Kwazymoto, is on Spotify, so you can check that out as well!
My third thing is a director I recently discovered named Xavier Dolan. He's a french film director whose very young but extremely talented. I've only seen two of his movies so far but they were both excellent.
The first was called 'Mommy' http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3612616/ .
The second was 'Laurence Anyways' http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1650048/
So if you're into arthouse foreign movies I'd suggest checking those out!
Another group in my Color Comp class made a photobooth with a projector of lots of neat backgrounds and fun props. They set it up in the Foundations Gallery on the first floor near the stairs. Bring some friends and take some pics! If you use either this photobooth or the famous painting backdrops make sure to post on insta with the hashtag #lamardoddphotobooth
The second thing is my brother's EP that he made a year ago! He posted it on bandcamp so check out the link below if you would like to hear the rest of it. The last song, "Entertainers" is the one I used the lyrics for in my book and played in class on Wednesday. He did these completely on his own, so pretty neat!
https://saintsyzygy.bandcamp.com/releases
If you're feeling super into it, his actual band, Kwazymoto, is on Spotify, so you can check that out as well!
My third thing is a director I recently discovered named Xavier Dolan. He's a french film director whose very young but extremely talented. I've only seen two of his movies so far but they were both excellent.
The first was called 'Mommy' http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3612616/ .
The second was 'Laurence Anyways' http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1650048/
So if you're into arthouse foreign movies I'd suggest checking those out!
Culture- Liz
1
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is one of my all time favorite books and I think everyone should give it a read. It's a Southern Gothic and has lots of dark situational irony. The story basically follows this family, the Bundrens, as they try to get the body of their mother to a town where she wanted to be buried. Along the trip everything that could go wrong, does. I think it's an important read because the whole storyline revolves around the effects of death on each member of the family and shows how they each deal with it. It also helps show the true colors of these people and how they often reflect our own darkness. I don't think death is talked about as much as it should be in today's American culture. Although it is sad, everybody dies and we need to accept that.
2
My second cultural topic is about Bulgarian women's choirs. Their music is so cool and is found in SO MANY pop and cross cultural aspects. It is a really awesome thing to recognize in the most random seeming places.watch this one is called Kaval Sviri and it may or may not be on my most recent Spotify playlist. A bop. Here are some links to their music in other media.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9zqXmraFKQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnJDdaUQNRI
watch
3
My last super interesting thing is fractals!! Basically, fractals are these never ending patterns in math that eventually repeat themselves again and again. Nature is also full of fractals: in trees, ice crystals, clouds, rivers, coastlines, lightning, etc. These are really awesome to recognize because it makes me appreciate the spirals of pinecones just a little bit more :) There is one called the Mandelbrot set and I think it's the most famous fractal pattern. The second image is Romanesco cauliflower and it demonstrates self similarity really well in nature.
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is one of my all time favorite books and I think everyone should give it a read. It's a Southern Gothic and has lots of dark situational irony. The story basically follows this family, the Bundrens, as they try to get the body of their mother to a town where she wanted to be buried. Along the trip everything that could go wrong, does. I think it's an important read because the whole storyline revolves around the effects of death on each member of the family and shows how they each deal with it. It also helps show the true colors of these people and how they often reflect our own darkness. I don't think death is talked about as much as it should be in today's American culture. Although it is sad, everybody dies and we need to accept that.
2
My second cultural topic is about Bulgarian women's choirs. Their music is so cool and is found in SO MANY pop and cross cultural aspects. It is a really awesome thing to recognize in the most random seeming places.watch this one is called Kaval Sviri and it may or may not be on my most recent Spotify playlist. A bop. Here are some links to their music in other media.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9zqXmraFKQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnJDdaUQNRI
watch
3
My last super interesting thing is fractals!! Basically, fractals are these never ending patterns in math that eventually repeat themselves again and again. Nature is also full of fractals: in trees, ice crystals, clouds, rivers, coastlines, lightning, etc. These are really awesome to recognize because it makes me appreciate the spirals of pinecones just a little bit more :) There is one called the Mandelbrot set and I think it's the most famous fractal pattern. The second image is Romanesco cauliflower and it demonstrates self similarity really well in nature.
Culture- Leif
This video shows all Images contained on golden record attached to the Voyager Spacecraft which departed earth in 1977 and are the most distant man made objects (now over 13 billion miles away). These images portray life and man's achievements by the time the satellite was launched. I find this interesting because it will remain untouched and protected by the vacuum of space for thousands of years.
Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album was one of the most easily recognizable and popular albums of the 1970's. Few people realize that it's lyrics, melodies, and beats align near perfectly with the plot and circumstances in the movie "The Wizard of Oz. Starting The Dark Side of the Moon on the 3rd roar of the lion in the beginning of the movie sets the movie and record into amazing parallel.
My third example of culture is Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone". This series, began in 1959 and was in production until 1964 might feel dated by it's black and white appearance, however it's plots and concepts are complex and well beyond it's time. This series often inspires my art. If you haven't watched it before I highly recommend checking it out on Netflix!
Culture - Josh S.
1.
The first thing I thought of to share for this assignment was the book Other Electricities by Ander Monson. It is a collection of short stories that all take place in or are thematically associated with a small town in Michigan that has suffered a couple of notable tragedies that color the lives of all its residents, and the stories are told from many different perspectives and jump around the timeline. Many of the stories were originally published separately in various magazines or journals and then compiled by the author to create this book (much like The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury). They are written in a very emotive and interesting style of language, and present a very human story. The book is also very carefully put together, and has several charts in the front of the book showing the relationships and associations of all the characters, as well as important symbolism in the book.
Here is an excerpt:
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4720049
2.
Blankets by Craig Thompson is a very important book/graphic novel for me. The ideas it presents about growing up, religion, family, and love really struck me at a time when I was trying to figure out who I was, and the gorgeous artwork really made the narrative come alive as well as made me think about what art and drawing could be and what it could do for someone emotionally. It tells a highly personal semi-autobiographical story of someone at the end of high school falling in and out of love, and pairs that narrative with important moments from his childhood. The themes in this book are realized to a stunning degree, and every time I read it I discover something new about it or about myself.
3.
The music of Liz Harris, AKA Grouper, is very unique in that it is equal parts lofi ambient and singer-songwriter. She writes somewhat minimalist guitar, piano and synthesizer compositions that are treated with reverb and delay and recorded to tape, which gives the songs a distinct murkiness and texture. The songs have an eerie but comforting beauty to them, and the atmosphere is totally unique. I have very personal connection with Grouper, as I frequently listen to her music both when I am falling asleep and when I am extremely depressed. The music creates a cocoon of comforting sound that is easy to disappear into. I love her song "Headache" in particular, as the melancholy atmosphere is fully rendered by the wider stereo image and reverb. The single artwork for this song is also much more colorful than most of her other album covers and lends a kind of hope or optimism to interpreting the music. The lyrics of this song (although they are all but impossible to pick out at times) also contain very vivid imagery that I find extremely affecting:
My mother once told me
She walked into the ocean
Didn't want to die
Just couldn't tell where the horizon was
Wanted to have a closer look
Why is this costume weighing me down
https://grouper.bandcamp.com/track/headache
4.
Alejandro Jodorowsky is a very unique avant-garde filmmaker. His films are mainly focused on the bizarre surrealist imagery he creates and the gut reactions they often provoke, as well as the metaphorical and symbolic meanings behind them. He is best known for his first two films, El Topo (1970) and The Holy Mountain (1973). However, this blog entry is for what would have been his third film, an adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel Dune. In 2013, a documentary called Jodorowsky's Dune was released that detailed the creative planning process for what could have been one of the greatest science fiction films ever made had it been released, featuring the creative efforts of H.R. Giger, science fiction illustrator Chris Foss, French comic book artist Moebius, and the visual effects of Dan O'Bannon, who worked on the Star Wars films. The film also would have featured music from Magma and Pink Floyd, as well as acting roles from Salvador Dali and Mick Jagger among others. The reputation of Jodorowsky's films as well as the extravagant cost (and its insane projected length of 14 hours) kept it from actually being made, but the conceptual artwork and storyboards were completely finished, hinting at huge amounts of unrealized potential. The documentary covers all of this and presents an interesting view of what could have been an amazing film.
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg4OCeSTL08
The first thing I thought of to share for this assignment was the book Other Electricities by Ander Monson. It is a collection of short stories that all take place in or are thematically associated with a small town in Michigan that has suffered a couple of notable tragedies that color the lives of all its residents, and the stories are told from many different perspectives and jump around the timeline. Many of the stories were originally published separately in various magazines or journals and then compiled by the author to create this book (much like The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury). They are written in a very emotive and interesting style of language, and present a very human story. The book is also very carefully put together, and has several charts in the front of the book showing the relationships and associations of all the characters, as well as important symbolism in the book.
Here is an excerpt:
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4720049
2.
Blankets by Craig Thompson is a very important book/graphic novel for me. The ideas it presents about growing up, religion, family, and love really struck me at a time when I was trying to figure out who I was, and the gorgeous artwork really made the narrative come alive as well as made me think about what art and drawing could be and what it could do for someone emotionally. It tells a highly personal semi-autobiographical story of someone at the end of high school falling in and out of love, and pairs that narrative with important moments from his childhood. The themes in this book are realized to a stunning degree, and every time I read it I discover something new about it or about myself.
3.
The music of Liz Harris, AKA Grouper, is very unique in that it is equal parts lofi ambient and singer-songwriter. She writes somewhat minimalist guitar, piano and synthesizer compositions that are treated with reverb and delay and recorded to tape, which gives the songs a distinct murkiness and texture. The songs have an eerie but comforting beauty to them, and the atmosphere is totally unique. I have very personal connection with Grouper, as I frequently listen to her music both when I am falling asleep and when I am extremely depressed. The music creates a cocoon of comforting sound that is easy to disappear into. I love her song "Headache" in particular, as the melancholy atmosphere is fully rendered by the wider stereo image and reverb. The single artwork for this song is also much more colorful than most of her other album covers and lends a kind of hope or optimism to interpreting the music. The lyrics of this song (although they are all but impossible to pick out at times) also contain very vivid imagery that I find extremely affecting:
My mother once told me
She walked into the ocean
Didn't want to die
Just couldn't tell where the horizon was
Wanted to have a closer look
Why is this costume weighing me down
https://grouper.bandcamp.com/track/headache
4.
Alejandro Jodorowsky is a very unique avant-garde filmmaker. His films are mainly focused on the bizarre surrealist imagery he creates and the gut reactions they often provoke, as well as the metaphorical and symbolic meanings behind them. He is best known for his first two films, El Topo (1970) and The Holy Mountain (1973). However, this blog entry is for what would have been his third film, an adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel Dune. In 2013, a documentary called Jodorowsky's Dune was released that detailed the creative planning process for what could have been one of the greatest science fiction films ever made had it been released, featuring the creative efforts of H.R. Giger, science fiction illustrator Chris Foss, French comic book artist Moebius, and the visual effects of Dan O'Bannon, who worked on the Star Wars films. The film also would have featured music from Magma and Pink Floyd, as well as acting roles from Salvador Dali and Mick Jagger among others. The reputation of Jodorowsky's films as well as the extravagant cost (and its insane projected length of 14 hours) kept it from actually being made, but the conceptual artwork and storyboards were completely finished, hinting at huge amounts of unrealized potential. The documentary covers all of this and presents an interesting view of what could have been an amazing film.
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg4OCeSTL08
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