Hatsune Miku

Hatsune Miku is a singing synthesizer with a female voice. This synthesizer may just be a fake voice placed against music, but it has exploded. Individuals actually paying to see hologram projections of an animated female singer is ridiculous. I don't understand how anyone in their right mind would want to watch something so synthetic and dumb. People paying money to see an animated singer live is insane.

Propaganda vs. Advertising

Propaganda is a form of communication that is focused on influencing individuals. Advertising is a form of communication aimed at marketing and is used to persuade. Advertising and Propaganda are easily confused, however Propaganda is associated with tyrants and dictators. Countries like North Korea used excessive amounts of Propaganda to keep their civilians in the dark about the rest of the world and remain completely under the governments control. Advertising is used to sell products and is huge in the United States. The difference is that Advertising is not used to influence, it is used to sell.

Flash Mobs and Eva and Adele

Eva and Adele are an artistic group who claims they landed in Berlin after the wall fell. Neither of them have disclosed their real name or age. They extremely eccentric and oddball. They dress completely identical with dresses, bald heads, and make up. Since they met they vowed to never spend a night without each other and never allow visitors if they're not in full body make up. Eva argues that although her body is the body of a male, her soul is that of a woman. After various meetings with a judge, the judge issued a new birth certificate for Eva saying she was born a girl.

Iconoclast

Iconoclasts destroy religious icons through religious or political motives. Orlan was an advocate of this when she dressed as St. Theresa. She destroys the icon by showing her breasts and creating sexual positions with her body. Her feminist undertones are completely exemplified through the pictures where she is exposing her breast. 

Joseph Beuys

Joseph Beuys was a German Fluxus artist who worked with concepts relating to philosophy and humanism. His career was full of debate on whether or not he was a brilliant artist. However, today he is recognized as one of the most influential artists of all time. Beuys was a huge advocate of social sculpture, a phrase he coined explaining that the entire world was a canvas for art. One of Beuys projects in the field of social sculpture was planting 7,000 Oak trees in Germany.

Video Art

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8pZ0e2_kiQ&feature=youtu.be

Performance Art

Brion Gysin's Dream Machine

Brion Gysin created the device to transport audiences to another world, creating a sort of high without substances. People sit in front of the cylinder with shapes and patterns cut out. As it spins the viewer closes their eyes. Many have seen colors and shapes swirling, creating a dream like trance for the viewer. Many have described the experience as extremely intense.

Dada

Dada blossomed following the horrors of World War I. The movement began with a group of artists and poets who proclaimed they had had enough. They spouting meaningless gibberish, giving meaning to sounds and noises. Led by Tristan Tzara, the movement concentrated on anti-war protests by rejected to common and accepted forms of art and language. Tzara through out language all together, creating his own way of communicating. He assigned meaning to noises and sounds, spouting poetry that had no real words in it. The movement spread fast and furiously, tearing down the walls of modern art and culture. The movement eventually became a stepping stone the creation of surrealism.

Grid Art

My grid art project was very fragile, so here are the pictures of its progression.

Bullying and Video Games

Since the creation of video games, people knew the medium would explode into a billion dollar industry. However, what was not anticipated was how violent games would become, and how much opposition they would receive for being too controversial. Parents across the country argue over the gore and excessive violents children are exposed to in video games. They believe these video games cause children to act out violence and lead to brutal incidents like Colombine. A major argument is that games that are too violent should be banned in order to stop bullying and vicious acts among children. However, most children playing these M rate 18 and up games are 12 -15 years old. They have no way of showing ID to purchase the game. It's their parents that purchase the very brutal games they dont want their children to play. So, I ask how can you blame the video games for increased bullying or violent outbreaks, when the parents are purchasing the games for them?

Apple?

Apparently Jobs came up with the name while working on an apple orchard in California. He was on a fruitarian diet and thought the name was fun, spirited, and not intimidating.

The image above was the original Apple logo. It depicts Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree. The image references Newton's theory of gravitation while alos showing off an apple tree to connect with the name.

Ray Kurzweil

He an author, inventor, and futurist. He is involved in optimal character recognition. Kurzweil is recognized as a strong advocate of futurist and transhumanist movements. One of his main belief is extending human life through the combination of humans and machines. He was a strong believer in technological singularity, the idea that one day a superintelligence greater than humans will emerge. This is seen as an intellectual even horizon.

Radio

The show that I listened to, was an excerpt from The Shadow. The show starred Orson Welles as a hero never seen, but always assisting individuals in trouble and saving the day. He possessed super human abilities such as profound strength and agility, puzzle solving techniques, and ability to disappear. The show was immensely popular and helped to showcase Orson Welles acting abilities before he exploded with the fame of War of the Worlds.

Flip Book

Here are a few of my favorite parts from my flip book. My goal was to create what someone experiences when they're having a bad trip on any kind of hallucinogen. I tried thinking of weird and creepy scenarios to play out as the trip got progressively worse and worse. 

War of the Worlds

When Orson Welles broadcast a Halloween special of the classic novel War of the Worlds in 1930, the country immediately plunged into a state of emergency. Many listeners entered the broadcast part way through, missing the beginning, which explained that it was indeed just a broadcast. Welles use of bulletin style updates for the first few parts of the show made the whole endeavor seem as though it were really happening. People rushed into the streets, shotguns in hand. Many tried to dig trenches and shelters to escape the invaders from Mars. The broadcast has since gone down in history as the greatest of all time.

Walter Carlos and The Rain

Walter Carlos was an electronic musician and composer who came into prominence in 1968 and later went on to compose the scores for A Clockwork Orange and The Shining. In 1962, after becoming a student at Colombia University, Carlos underwent the process of sexual reassignment. In the fall of 1967, he began hormone treatments, changed his name to Wendy, and began living full time as a woman. These fantastic works are two of my favorites, specifically the off putting Clockwork Score. Carlos' mix of classical and electronic synthetic music created a dizzying effect that transports the viewer Kubrik's dystopian future. Many synth pop bands in the future would refer to this composition as one of their inspirations. 

When he created A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrik asked Malcolm McDowell to sing a song during the rape scene. McDowell only knew all the words to one song. That song happened to be Singing in the Rain. Kubrik told him to sing it and the rest is history. The scene is now infamous for the brutality of the rape, juxtaposed with the classic up beat tune. 

Below I posted an extremely odd music video for one of my favorite electronic songs. Check it out if you want to watch something weird.

Fantasy by DyE

Technicolor

Technicolor helped to revolutionize the world of filmmaking in a new and exciting way. Black and white became a thing of the past as color quickly populated the frames of film. Not only was it a remarkable new way to project and illustrate stories, it allowed directors to create shorelines that relied on color in order to progress. In a film like The Wizard of Oz, color was necessary to tell the story. The world was magical and full of vibrant images. The slippers were described as ruby in the book, something that just wouldn't translate to the audience were it in black and white. The Emerald City needed to be green. The images of the world of Oz had to jump off the screen. Technicolor made this possible and created one of the most influential films of all time. With the addition of color at the movies, audiences were able to feel the fantastical worlds movies create. It helped to capture the audiences attention and transport them to different worlds. 

Also, here is a David Lynch short film using the early Lumiere camera:

Great Train Robbery and Napoleon

The Great Train Robbery revolutionized filmmaking with its engrossing movement shots and landscapes. However, I think the film's greatest contribution was in its more realistic violent take. This was one of the first films to start introducing very violent images to cinema. The murder on top of the train is striking not only for the movement, but for the brutal violence as the bandit tosses the body off the train. Today violence is what fuels cinema and it started with films like this. I found the brilliant imagery on top of the speeding train fantastic and understand why they would've frightened audiences at the time. I also found the final shot to be quite ballsy, as the character breaks the fourth wall and shoots the audience.

Napoleon today is considered a masterpiece for its fluid shots. Most films of the time were very static endeavors, however Napoleon introduced moving camerawork. It included fast cutting, close ups, and handheld shots. The film was received with mixed reviews when it was first released. As time passed it people realized how revolutionary the techniques used in the film were, considered it a masterwork today.

Trip to the Moon

A Trip to the Moon stands out for its technical creativity and wild imagination. For its time, the visuals are outstanding. They paint the landscape and set a very fantastical tone. As the story progresses and the travelers finally reach their destination, the world continues to spiral in strange new directions. I found the film quite breathtaking and I can see why it was so inspirational at the time. The film is pretty epic for the time period and nowadays would cost upwards of 200 million dollars to make. The production value for the time period is unbelievable. I think the oddness of the whole endeavor is something worth admiring. The moon face and the goofiness of the landscape is enjoyable to see, things that probably wouldn't be green lit today.

Horrorist

Here is a terrifying music video for the song One Night in New York City by The Horrorist. Anyone interested in dark electronic music should check it out. However, be warned, it gets extremely creepy and disturbing towards the end.

Early Film

I loved our discussion of the earliest films in our last class. What interested me the most however, was the very first film ever created. The blurred black and white picture created a very haunting and somewhat creepy image that I found fascinating. I thought the stark image was almost more engrossing than the rest of the films that featured more crisp pictures with things actually happening. I am excited for the symposia to see the rest of the early films you didn't show us in class.

Creative Use of TECH

Wire technology is used to outstanding effect to create the illusion that Peter Pan is in fact taking flight and gliding around the room. It is used outstandingly to showcase the talents of Cathy Rigby and effectively convey the joy and wonder associated with flying.

Towards the end of the exquisite Jesus Christ Superstar compilation, a raised platform is used to raise Jesus out over the audience. This helps to give the character a larger than life feeling, helping to portray him as a messiah. The creative use of this platform also helps to connect the audience with the actors and make them feel closer to the actions of the play. 

I found the set design in this video to be stunning. The creation of a set with multiple levels in which the characters were to interact and move through was absolutely brilliant. The entire set made use of fantastic architecture and excellent lighting to create an interesting and engrossing environment that  never seizes to hold the viewer's attention. 

This video illustrates how Mary Poppins employs a fantastic use of light and background design to create great depth to the story unfolding on the stage. The chimney sweeps appear to be in an entirely different area that is intricate and deep. It really seems as though they exist in the depths of a black and charred city, marked only by the lights of the buildings. 

Wicked uses wire technology to fantastic effect in this video, as the witch ascends in the air seamlessly. The technique brilliantly creates the illusion of flight, as she continues to rise towards the ceiling.  

They main thing I found interesting about this video was its outstanding transition towards the end, as the background cascades to the floor from the ceiling. An effortless and beautiful way to move the musical along and catch the viewer's attention. 

The brilliant use of lighting built into the set the dancers are utilizing creates an outstanding background and helps to accentuate the dancers. 

Jazz

Jazz originated during the early 20th century in small black communities located in the deep south. Its African beginnings are evident in its use of improvisation and incorporation of blues style notes. As we learned in class, Jazz exploded in the United States during the Prohibition Era in alcohol fueled speakeasies. Jazz quickly gained an the reputation of extremely immoral music. Older generations viewed the free form improvisational rhythms as threatening to established values. Criticisms aside, Jazz continued to evolve and grow, leaving its mark on society.

 

The Birth and Life of Opera

One of the main things I find intriguing about Opera is how quickly it developed. Unlike the symphony or concerto, Opera gained fame almost immediately. Following its birth in Florence, it quickly igniting a fire. Opera not only emerged as a predominant form of entertainment, but as a way to convey important social commentaries and cultural incites. During class, I loved experiencing the evolution of opera as it matured into a phenomenon that swept the world. Monteverdi's brilliance lit the fuse that embedded opera in the world's subconscious, forever transforming the medium with his ingenious compositions. All in all, I am very much enjoying our exploration of Opera and how it forever changed music and entertainment.

How to Destroy Angels

For any fans of Nine Inch Nails, this is the band Trent Reznor created after they broke up. They have a dark and edgy electronic style that I find unique and quite mesmerizing. The songs below are two of my favorites.

The Space in Between
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWbfgGDl6XE
Parasite
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSu7Rd2CZHk

Kane

I revisited one of my favorite films of all time the other day, Citizen Kane. The sheer ambition and scope of the picture is unparalleled, even compared to today's film industry. Orson Welles gives the performance of his career and possibly the greatest performance of all time. One thing in particular that struck me this time around were the absolutely stunning backgrounds. The hand drawn canvases stand the test of time and rival most CGI today. All in all, the film remains an absolute must see and a brilliant example of classic American filmmaking at its most impassioned.

Madam Butterfly

Madam Butterfly struck me for the sheer beauty of not only the singing, but the animation. The juxtaposition of the simplistic stop-motion and profoundly moving story impressed and helped to bring home the message of the story. I loved the bit where she begins to take herself apart, blowing away with the wind and disappearing from the world's memory. The audience feels her pain, even though she is nothing more than a doll. I found the piece to be an extremely interesting take and a great way to condense the opera into a more accessible format.

ULTRA

ULTRA

For anyone else who is a huge fan of electronic, ULTRA Music Festival is coming to Miami in Spring. All the best and brightest artists will be there from March 22-24.

Who Am I?

At the age of two, I found my one true passion in life: movies. As I relaxed in the trunk of my parents truck, gazing upon the revolutionary pixar animation projected on the drive-in screen before me, I realized film would play a major role in my future. Ever since the faithful night I first viewed Toy Story, I have studied film religiously. I hope to advance my understanding of film during this semester and learn how past art forms have influenced the progression of the medium.

My favorite films:

There Will Be Blood
Children of Men
Aliens
A Clockwork Orange
2001: a space odyssey
True Romance
The Fountain
The Proposition
La Haine
Punch Drunk Love
The Dark Knight
The Darjeeling Limited
Kill List

My favorite music:

Nine Inch Nails
Blink 182
MGMT
Sublime
Dispatch
Slightly Stoopid
Arcade Fire
The Chemical Brothers
Deadmau5
Skrillex

My favorite books:

Blood Meridian
The Road
No Country for Old Men
Light In August
Fallen Angels

Day 1

As I proceeded to enter class last Monday, I had no idea what to expect from my first honors class at the University of Tampa. I had two significant goals in mind, and those goals are to broaden my horizons and understand the evolution of art. Upon meeting Professor Echeverry, I realized my goals would easily be met. After looking over the class syllabus, I am looking forward to not only the units focusing on film, but the unit that focuses on electronic music. I am a huge dubstep and electronica fan so I hope to learn how my favorite artists rose to popularity. All in all I am extremely excited for the rest of the semester.

Short Film

This is a short film I shot last year in my hometown. I attempted to explore life from its inception to its conclusion. I filmed images of the progression of nature in order to parallel the man's travel through existence and tried to illustrate the beauty that surrounds us.