[THE LOST POSTS] post11

TECHNOLOGY

Let's talk about the cellphone for a second. To think about how the far the technology has come from the first cellphone...is insane. I remember when I was younger and my dad had one of those phones that was the size of his forearm with a massive antenna. Ten years later, I'm typing a paper on my personal cellphone. It's amazing! It goes without saying that this is a technological re-vamp from the original telegraph which became the original cellphone with the spinning dial system. But the cellphone became a mash up of multiple technologies that we don't even think about anymore. It's not only communicating via speech but we have messaging (email?), THE INTERNET AND THE COMPUTER (which is crazy in itself because we essentially are holding little computers in our pockets everywhere we go), plus way more such as video technology, camera and photo technologies. I could really go on but we all know how the smart phone works. It has because so natural for us to Know of all of these technologies and actually use them with ease! 
It's like when the teacher asks "does everyone has a smart phone" and for the past few years, I don't think I've ever seen anyone say no. It's amazing that this hybrid of multiple technologies and having a decent understanding of them. Am I saying we can all deconstruct computers and a video operating system? No of course not but we have the access to these complex technologies like it's nothing. Elementary school kids are having a better understanding of how technology works than they ever have (this isn't really a statistic but a pretty good observation!) 
Seeing how FAST these technologies have grown and combined with one another it'll be really interesting to see what the future generations envision and make a reality! I think the future is heading more towards hands-free operating systems so I'm interested to see how this idea finalizes and grows because I mean we already have speech functions and hands-feee accessories. I just hope we don't all become robots and technology was the demise of humanity like in all the movies. 
Whatever.
Having an iPhone is fun

[THE LOST POSTS] post10

STAGE DOOR

Shockingly enough, upon reading an article of the civil rights movement I came across a couple video clips of "Hair" and I must say! I appreciate the blog/site shedding light on more than just the pretty and the simple when it comes to musical theatre. In my opinion, we don't think that much deeper about the impact on broadway, especially socially. It pushed for social change and equality by putting the narratives in front of you, forcing you to pay attention which I think we all need! Like really bad. Anyways, back to Hair. Being a brown girl of an ~other sexual identity~ I appreciate plays like this that gave a voice to the young people that gave Us a voice when weren't there to make a voice for ourselves. Without the people putting drugs, sexuality, and race to the forefront, we wouldn't have the fight we have today. 
Now I'm not saying the fight would have never happened, but they started these movements which took a lot of COURAGE especially with the amount of violence that these people (and still do) face with their adversity. 
I just mainly appreciate the spotlight being on pieces like this because we need a reminder that we are not only visible to others but that there is beauty in our struggle and history!

[THE LOST POSTS] post9

MADAMA BUTTERLY

I had to do some research on the opera/short story before watching this because the way the artist made the video made it hard to ACTUALLY know what's going on. That being said, OH MY GOD.
First of all, I loved how the artist found their way to portray the story using the figurines and even breaking the fourth wall for emphasis. The attention to detail was phenomenal and even though some of the finer details from the story were left out, the story still read very well.
It's actually really unfortunate because I feel like this kind of narrative isn't just fiction and this was the reality of a lot of women (plus if you want to water it down and apply it to dating now, but shh we don't have to do that) during this time! I especially loved the depiction of child birth and how the artist creatively depict the baby forming and finally being born, along with spending time with the mother. These are little things that not many think of make differently (like breaking through ice) but this artist did and I appreciate that! The artist also condensed the story into something that you can take all at once without feeling like you made too much of a commitment and I think that's very powerful as well! It's hard to take all the details and mash them together into one, short, cohesive piece.
The ending where she commits suicide is also very interesting (even though I thought she ended up not killing herself in the end and she kept her child?) because of how the artist depicted it. In the original story she stabs herself but in the video, she takes apart the joints that make her move, as if to be a toy coming to life. The emotion and distress shown while she does this is also very powerful. It is almost a PG way of ending your life but still getting the message across.

[12-13-16] post8

i've always been fascinated with how we interact with one another on social media and how let our Internet Voice (or how we look on the internet) have a significant impact on how we view ourselves. if we let it, it becomes a vicious cycle of constantly needing approval from others and being anxious with the next thing to be post to get the most approval and attention. 

in any of my work, i use myself and my body as the ultimate vessel because it has always felt the most honest. i can't tell anyone's story better than i can tell my own. making a collection of my snap chats was my way of making a personal commentary on how we let what we pos define us, and ultimately it doesn't matter. if anything, we are complicating the way we communicate and making it harder to have genuine human connection (which we literally need). showing this absurdity and complexity through a montage of a bunch of my snap videos that really have no purpose seemed...appropriate.  

 

[11-29-16] post7

PERFORMANCE ART

there is something very vulnerable about dance as a performance art because you are putting directly what you are creating into the public as it comes to you; kinda like a stream of consciousness. at least, in an improv/free style sense. if you mess up, there's no do overs just as if there was a success, it was a single moment in itself never to be found again. there's this relationship between the constant present and tendency to keep things constant and expected that i'm trying to explore. more often than not, we let fear hold us back from impulsion. now i'm not saying the type of impulsion that would lead somebody to jump off a building or harm another person, but the impulsion to simply do something that we think would make us happy. i think performance explores this because it's using the art of dance to express what we cannot express with words (or even really images!!). we need this direct, impulsive outlet in my opinion! we have so much built up inside of our psyche that it constricts us from enjoying the things we really we ACTUALLY enjoy. am i saying everyone needs to be dancing? maybe not! but i think everyone needs to find a healthy, impulsive release of energy. 

[11-29-16] post6

MUSIC

1) ELECTRONIC: CHROMEO
i personally really like this artist for their unique sound and humorous song content. like it's not ha ha funny but there's a goofy-ness about it. plus the music is just really fun lol it just shows how much they take themselves seriously and i think that can reflect how others feel. it's ~relatable~
since their music style is electro-funk they use not only guitars and keyboards but synthesizers and a talk box (which, if you don't know, makes your voice all auto tune-y)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGksDvKZ9ek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2wPVO92_xc

2) DISCO: EARTH WIND & FIRE
honestly, earth wind & fire are so iconic in themselves that they just deserved a mention. they were such an incredible influence for disco, and took that disco influence to the 80s with a more electronic style of music. the fusion of electronic sound and disco i think really started the wave of blending music (this is a personal opinion, not fact!!!!!). their style is so iconic and just
listen for yourself. enjoy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrle0x_DHBM
is this not the best song ever

3) TECHNO: DAFT PUNK
for the mainstream, i think daft punk really put techno to forefront for a lot of people. not that many people were /really/ listening to techno and then daft punk came out and everyone was like "what is this (insert the eyes emoji here)" i also loved how they used anonymity with robot maks as kind of...i don't wanna say "gimmick" but it's ultimately what they became known for. i heard it was so they can walk out in public without being bothered, but rumors are just rumors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAjR4_CbPpQ
this song started it all tbh

4) GIRL POWER: LION BABE
granted one of the members is a boy (who makes the electronic beats) but the lead singer is so wow she takes the category for herself. they blend a funk and jazz sound with electronic and synth beats and create this new wave of electro-funk. well, not Create but you know. i use this under the category of girl power because the lead singer, jillian harvey, really steals the show and allows her womanhood to be the forefront for the music. not to mention she has such a beautiful and unique voice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-VET23C-9A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnNOr9OjczI

5) LATIN: JLO
i almost didn't want to use jlo ask an example because i think ultimately she's a piece of shit (she uses her latin-ness as a front and doesn't actually do anything to better the community) but! her music was still influential and if she didn't play selena in that movie i don't really know what we would have done. anyways, her early 90s work has the cool, hip hop beats along with some VERY NICE visuals and aesthetics. i'll post a video just for that because i think fashion is technology and it really pushed the music further. i think fashion has that power. but as the times progressed, she used the popular electronic-style music in her work creating the majority of what she has now. not my fav person, but latin girls only get so much american representation you know?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjx9oSJDAVQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeTzr7gqBDo

[11-15-16] post5

With this project I chose to gather inspiration from modern art and the dada art movements. Modern art, for me, took art outside of the academic setting and made it more personal for not only the artist but for the viewer as well. I decided to take the art work outside the expected area in which art is appreciated and put it in a non-conventional setting: in this instance the car window. I also gathered inspiration from the site specific works from the modern art movement with artists such as Michael Asher and Jenny Holzer. With the dada movement, I loved the idea of ready-made work, making art out of just about anything. That's why I used the full sheets of paper against the window, making the work as "ready-made" as possible.

For this assignment, I chose to touch of the topic of the secrecy of sex and what we a society we allow. We shame sexual interests (especially for men but that's a convo for another day) and there's a lot of guilt that gets produced with sexual feelings. Using the images of hands and faces against the window represent the primal behavior that follows sexual contact. The point of placing it all in one window is to show the restrictions we put along with the fear of being seen and noticed. I think it's important to discuss sex in my work because there are still a lot of stigmatized ideas about sex which leads to the miseducation of youth about sex should and can be. We need to release all stigmas with what our bodies naturally want and help people expand their minds.