End of my Art Experiences

Art Experience 5

While at Rollins I have realized how much access to great concerts we have. From Pitbull to Avicii many different artists come through and perform so close by. I was fortunate enough to attend the Bassnectar. I am not a huge fan of Bassnectar but I have always had an appreciation for the work he has done. Being in the concert there was a great atmosphere and being surrounded by true fans you couldn’t help but leave the concert being a big fan!

Art Experience 6

Last Thursday I am proud to say that I went to the midnight premiere of Breaking Dawn Part 1. I am a huge fan of the Twilight Saga so whenever a new movie comes out I am alway there at midnight. Even though Breaking Dawn was not my favorite book of the series I thought the movie was absolutely amazing! Being that the movie was so good the first time I saw it, it is no wonder as to why I went back that night to see it with my other friends!

Art Experience 7

While being home, and with the Christmas season approaching I decided I wanted to do something a little different this year. I have always had an interest in making and building different types of things, or even just helping my dad out with work around the house. Due to this, I saw a commercial for Home Depot that had an interesting ornament decoration and so I decided to build one for my family and one for my sisters apartment. It did not look all that hard to make but once I started I realized I faced quite a few difficulties with measuring the wood evenly and correctly and then having the paint dripping while drying. However in the end I am really happy with how it came out and am really excited to hang it up when the Christmas decorations go up!

Art Experience 8

All through high school all the sports teams would always make t-shits, whether for homecoming or the last game of the season or just for spirit. I always enjoyed making the t-shirts and was always making shirts outside of school for random occasions as well. I was talking to my mom and we were trying to figure out what we all should be for the Disney Marathon weekend when I asked if she would Mrs. Potato Head. She thought it was a great idea and I was excited because I got to make the shirt for her. I ran to Michaels the next day and bought all the supplies. I designed the shirt so that she can velcro on and off different eyes and mouth expressions just like Mrs. Potato Head can, the shirt came out awesome and she is really excited to wear it!

Pitbull & Enrique Iglesias

At the end of October my mom, roommate, and I went to the Pitbull and Enrique Iglesias concert. As someone who is not a huge fan of either artists, I had a pretty good time. The crowd was really enthusiastic and my roommate was really happy to be there. The music, though not my favorite, was really good. The environment of the entire concert played a huge role in the experience. Enrique interacts with the audience a lot, making it a fun, personal event.

Bassnectar

Last month I went to a Bassnectar concert with my roommate. I've been to a lot of concerts, but this was by far one of the best. The music was high-energy and the crowd reflected that. The light shows blew my mind with all of the fast-moving colors. I would definitely recommend that if you get the chance to see Bassnectar live, you do it.

art occurrence 6

Last night I went to the Jay Z and Kanye West concert back at home in Boston with a friend. The whole time there were tons of different lights that were all going on at once. Since they were both preforming together and they had two different stages that they were on. It was really neat seeing what the two did with their props and stage equipment!

Art occurrence 5

Last Thursday I went to the mid-night premier of the new Twilight movie: Breaking Dawn Part 1. Before the movie a few friends went out to dinner, which was a lot of fun. While waiting in the theater for the movie to start, I was amazed with how many people came to see this showing. The movie had a lot of cool elements that made it stand out. I could tell that in some scenes that they had to enhance Bella being very thin. There were parts of the movie that I really enjoyed, but then there were some that I really did not need to see.

Art Experience

I recently saw the show Terra Nova on TV and became amazed on how hooked I was in only matter of a couple minutes. The writing is okay and the acting is sub-par but the overall plot in my opinion is great. Jurassic Park was always one of my favorite movies so by making a TV show that involves dinosaurs and has somewhat of a similar premise, count me in. Very cheesy, I know but the show itself is actually really entertaining and provides the viewer with a journey every time one watches.

What also makes the show so cool to me, is all the animation that goes into the dinosaurs in order to make the viewer get the realistic feel. I've seen all the episodes now, after the first I went back to my dorm and bought as many as I could off itunes. I highly reccommend giving the show a try, its not necessarilly a show for everyone due to some of the weaker aspects like the writing and acting. But, overall the show was a fun expirence and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.

Art Occurrence 6

Yesterday, I had the upmost privilege of hearing Richard Stoltzman perform live in concert. As I knew previously, Richard Stoltzman is the world’s best clarinetist. I was very excited to hear that he would be doing a recital here at Rollins, especially one that I could attend for free.

The first half of the concert consisted on Copland’s Clarinet Concerto and Bernstein’s Clarinet Sonata. Both are extraordinary pieces of music and Mr. Stoltzman’s performance of them was nothing short of that. His fluency and technical mastery of the clarinet was unimaginable. He made these two incredibly difficult pieces look easy.

The second half of the concert was much more relaxed. It consisted of 4 works by Gershwin. These pieces were nowhere near in the difficulty of the first two works but Mr. Stoltzman still made them shine. He is truly a master of his instrument and I only hope I get more opportunities to hear him play.

Art Occurrence 5

This past weekend I attended the Theatre Department’s Musical Production, Little Shop of Horrors. I’ve never been much of a theatregoer before but I found the show to be rather fun and exciting. The actors were fun and engaging and really brought me in; I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. The music was also very good. It was a tad on the repetitive side, but it’s Alan Menken, so what can you say? The songs were all very neat and often times made me want to tap my foot. It was an enjoyable experience.

The only thing that bothered me about the show was the ending. I was really rather confused about it. The large plant eats everyone and then a minute later they all come out and bow? I guess the plant wins in the end. Not on my top list of best endings. Oh well. I still liked the show and it made for a nice change from my regular classical music concerts.

Art Experience 8

I recently finished season one of a Japanese anime series know as High School of the Dead. It has one of my favorite things, Zombies! The show is set at the beginning of a Zombie apocalypse. It starts in a local high school. Zombies are trying to break through the school gates and the students are panicked. The zombie don't actually make it in until they bite and turn a teacher. Then, all hell breaks loose. Epic fight scenes ensue and a complicated plot involving High Schoolers, The Military, and awesome weaponry begins. Zombie and Anime fans alike should watch this anime.

Art Experience 7

I am follow-spotting for last show semester, Little Shop of Horrors. For those who don't know what follow-spotting is, it is when a person controls a light hub to bring up spotlights on performers during scenes. This person is responsible for fade-ups, fade-outs, and for keeping the light on the performer as he/she follows does their blocking.

At first I thought this would be pretty simple, it's not. Creating fades is difficult when the lever controlling the fades is very sensitive. It is also very easy to lose the performer while they are performing.

Opening night was the first time that my fellow follow-spot and I were able to do our jobs without any errors. We were synced in our simultaneous fades, we kept the performers in the light and it was altogether a successful.

Follow-spotting has opened up a number of ideas and concepts to me as lighting designer.

Art Experience 6

I went to see The Bald Saprano. While I love absurdest theatre I regret to say I had never seen this particular show. It was interesting to say the least. Ionesco is definitely a master of the absurd. The production itself was pretty successful in my opinion.

From a technical standpoint the show was brilliant. The set design was simple but displayed some very interesting characteristics including a bathtub. How they got a bathtub into The Fred is beyond me. My favorite part of the set was the Salvador Dali style clock painted on the center of the stage. It helped portray the lack of importance of time within the show as well as displaying some amazing painting techniques. The most impressive part of the clock was the seamlessness between wall/floor and scrim. The costumes were of the time period and the sound worked well. I loved how the light levels rose slightly with each chime of the clock.

The acting was very good. The accents were believable and they really got Ionesco's point across. They showed how little people really do pay attention to one another and how both sides of an argument can be correct.

Art Experience 5

I went to the Cornell Fine Arts Museum to see the new exhibits. There was a section of nudes. Now the work as a whole show seemed really well done but when just checked out individually there seemed to be a lot of stuff lacking. While some of the caricature seemed very well done other pieces seemed shoddy or rushed. Many of the pieces involving animals had this quality.

The pieces I really enjoyed were the faculty piece. There was a wooden landscape installed on on off the walls that had me completely enthralled. The texture, the rises and falls of the wood all seemed so interesting. I viewed the piece from multiple angles just to see what I could discover. Each angle created a new sense of the piece and I loved that.

Another faculty piece that I saw took Park Ave and the people on it and had it represented by color coded boxes. This piece was interesting. It was a very dehumanizing art piece which made it very poignant.

Art Experience

September 28, 2011 was my birthday so I obviously wanted to do something that I would not forget. Turning ninteen only happens once and I wanted to capture that exciting feeling by doing something I will cherise, so I did. I went to my first concert ever at the House of Blues with my friends, it was a Dj artist by the name of Avicii. He was internationally known and I was estatic to be going to my first concert. On the ride there my emotions were filled with high expectations as we got even closer I came to the point where I thought I wouldnt be able to sit in my seat anymore.
The music was extremely loud as the concert began and people were screaming for the main person to come out; Avicii. I remember when he began to Dj the entire building actually began to shake from all the people jumping up and down like a stampede of wild animals. The concert lasted for about four or five hours. It was an awsome night and the fact that I could spend it with close friends made it even better. Avicii's music was energetic and lively which kept me and the crowd on our toes the entire time. Great Birthday.

Rating System: What for!?

Do we need rating system? I feel like rating system is useless, and shouldn’t be there at all. Based on parts of This Film is not yet Rated we’ve seen in class on Monday, I feel like the members of MPPA cannot represent the whole population of the audience, especially in the U.S., a nation consists of very people with various backgrounds.

First of all, obviously many members are parents of either young children or teenagers; it is only natural for parents to be protective, but to bring personal life into the rating system is not right. Not all the audience would agree with what such protective parents think. Many people that go to movie are also adults that do not need that family friendliness on what they want to watch.

Secondly, not everyone comes from the religious background. Obviously, these members would consist of the major religions like Christian. Many people do not care about religions when they go to see movie. Even if they do, there still some intensity of how much a person believes.

Thirdly, everything changes with time, in short amount of time to be specific. MPAA members restrict these changes with their way of thinking that has been like that for decades. The audience is not necessary stuck in the same mental time-loop like MPAA; they wants to see movie that is right for the time period.

MPPA’s rating system is not justified, and unnecessary. People do not need to be told by raters what they should avoid seeing, as it is a commonsense. Parents are capable of knowing what their kids should avoid seeing. If the parents were unable to do that, they don’t deserve to be parents. No one wants to see movie that offended you. I mean, why would you want to spend 10 dollars or more for the tickets just to be offended? Even for some TV Shows, if any of them offend you, you can just grab the remote and change the channel. It is just commonsense. People’s tastes also change with time. Soap Opera is not popular anymore; and also kids grow up. They won’t watch Disney Chanel for the rest of their lives.

ratings

After watching the documentary in class the other day I do think that there should be an NC-17 rating because there is clearly a difference between it and R. The documentary showed me that there is a difference between the two if even the directors do not see it. NC-17 is meant for the older viewers and if it is given that rating it should tell the director that whom ever it concerns fixes it if they would like it to be seen in theaters across the country. The people who rate the movies should keep this rating for reasons that it people may not to see it.

Very different opinion... :)

G
PG
PG-13
R
NC-17

While I agree that the movie rating system is greatly flawed, I believe it is flawed for almost the exact opposite reasons than that stated in the sections of the documentary we watched. I personally believe that our grading system should be a lot stricter with its grading and should take both sexual content and violence into much more consideration. G movies should be absolutely innocent with nothing that could cause any sort of questioning present (only soft kissing allowed). PG movies can start to bring in some suggestive material, small amounts of violence, and perhaps even a few profanities. PG-13 can be more mature in content and can be allowed to show violence and very generic romance. R movies can be violent/graphic and can show sexual content as long as it isn’t “X-rated”. NC-17 is everything else that no one under the age of 17 should be allowed to see.

Things have changed greatly from yesterday’s world to today. Children are being exposed too much more than those of past generations and I’m not sure if it’s really for the better. Yes, they are maturing much faster because of it, but they are also being subjected to content matter that, in my personal opinion, is far beyond their years. Why can’t we try to keep children as innocent as possible for as long as possible? Why do we need to ruin their childhoods but making them grow-up and think of things they shouldn’t understand at that point in their lives? Our country needs to be stricter and needs to stop worrying about making everyone ‘happy’ when it comes to the entertainment business. We need to protect the people even if it means slapping a high grade on a movie, and the people need to learn to deal with that.

Movie Ratings

G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17

These ratings describe the appropriate ages to view a movie based on its content. They have existed for as long as I can remember. However, I believe over time these barriers will no longer exists, as they have become a less important factor in determining whether to see a movie or not. This is so as people are becoming more open and we are learning and doing things at younger ages. Likewise, what out parents would have been allowed to view at age 17 is not the same content we view today. This can be attributed to the evolution of society, as norms are constantly changing. The issue surrounding movie ratings is very controversial and is one that constantly needs to be re-evaluated.

I believe the movie rating is very subjective and based on what only a certain type of parent would want their child to see. This does not necessarily represent the majority of people. The issue of sexual scenes versus rape and violence is a very touchy subject. Personally I would prefer to subject my child to a sex scene rather than violence or rape. This is so, as I believe most teenagers before the age of thirteen know about sex, it is not something new and is a part of life. By placing a rating due to sexual content does not necessarily stop children from viewing the subject matter, there are so many other ways they can access this information today. On the other hand, violence, unlike sex, should not be practiced and therefore putting a rating on movies with very violent content is understandable.

Even though movie ratings are for society’s best interest, I do not believe they must always be followed. Every parent has the right to choose how they wish to raise their child, and soon enough I believe these barriers are not going to exist because we live in a very progressive society.

Moving Ratings

You see it while at home on the couch, or at the movies anticipating a new premiere. It is usually with a green background or black with white lettering with a single letter, or an abbreviation with two, or even with a number depending on your age, or more say, accessibility to viewing the film. It is the rating that determines what film is deemed appropriate for a viewer. In small font underneath (which is barely legible) there will be the rating descriptor. This varies depending on each individual film and with only a few words, gives the audience reasoning for why that movie is rated either G, PG, R, or NC-17.  This is in addition to the generic definition which is stated above. This clip before the movie might be only for a thirty second duration of less- but it is there, and it holds great influence and power of the movie industry and production process.
Movie ratings have its pros and cons. For your "average" parent they help oversee what their children are exposed. They are a reference key to those who seek additional information and with a rating it determines what film is picked for family night.
For your typical, rebellious teenager movie ratings are just a minor vexation; a bump in the road. Teenagers, speaking on personal behalf, pay no attention to them. They hold little value because if we really want to watch a movie we will. There is little regulation to see a motion picture at the cinema besides a check of an ID. But just as anywhere else, there are ways to get around the system and the majority of the time the ticket vendor could care less about the legitimate age. In other words, if you look old enough, you are old enough.
From the movie producer perspective, movie ratings are the gateway to how successful the film will be in box office and how many viewers it will get. It can be hurtful or harmful as seen in This Film Is Not Yet Rated, and an R- rated movie from an NC-17 movie makes the biggest difference in terms of its revenue. However, for producers who want to have an impact and depict the story to the fullest extent, ratings are another word for censureship. They restrict what is placed on camera and can take away the true natue of how the story transpires.
In my opinion, a movie rating for a mature audiences should not exist. If you go to the MPAA website and look up the meaning of what NC-17 you will find it reads "most parents would consider too adult for their children 17 and under. But what is "too adult"? It means something different for anyone and any age group asked. There is not a defintion for this phrase because it is open to interpretation. Maturity rather than age shoudld govern what a movie goer can be able to enjoy. The MPAA is an antiquited system that needs to change  along the dynamic of our pop culture is evolving. We all want the hassle-free right to see a film. Why should that be harder to do than say?

MAKES ME SO MAD..

Personally, I find many problems with America’s rating system. Not only is our system a monopoly that no one else has been able to get involved with, but it also inaccurately depicts what should be considered disturbing. The current rating system has a huge impact on who is able to see a film as well as the audience that the film is attracting.

            First of all, homosexual scenes are almost never found in mainstream movies. Originally, I thought this was because no one wanted to make movies about them, but after watching the documentary, I can now see that it is because those scenes are forced to be cut out or, God forbid, they are left in, those movies are deemed NC-17 for their content. After learning that, it is no surprise that there is so much homophobia in America. Cinema reflects the values and culture of our society and if something taboo is put on film, it is more likely to be regarded as normal and consequently accepted. If homosexuality was on film more, many more people would be exposed to it, and more people would realize that it is not something to be afraid of.

            Violence and sex is also something to be considered when rating a film. Sex is an every day act and is not one that should be banned inappropriate. All teenagers know and understand what sex is, so seeing it on screen would be nothing new for them. Teens have computers, and it really is not hard to find something online if you’re looking for it. Because of this, movies should be more sexually fluid and allow a variety of sex scenes. Like I said, most teens have already seen most of the “obscene” sex scenes that are found in higher rated films, and it should not be considered taboo because it is such a large part of our lives. The more people talk about sex, accept it, and feel comfortable about it, the more likely we are to have safe sex and avoid teenage pregnancy. Instead, of worrying about sex, violence should be a larger issue. Violence is something that SHOULD NOT be a part of every day life and that people should not be exposed to on a regular basis. If disturbing images are not put into your head, you are less likely to think that is “the norm” and act out in a violent way. Violence should be rated much more strongly than it currently is and sex should be more accepted.

            Our society is much more progressive and accepting than the 60- and 70-year-olds that are on the panel deciding for America who should and should not be able to view each movie that lands on the big screen. Either this panel needs to catch up with the rest of America or a new, more progressive panel needs to come along because we are way past those who are making decisions for us.