CUNY Macaulay Honors College at Baruch College/Professor Bernstein

Go To: ballparks.dantonios.net

For my entire life, I have always been a baseball fan, yet what I have always enjoyed more than the game itself or the players on the field has been where the game is played: different ballparks. Naturally then, a collage project that could convey my liking for the stadiums would be in order.

The first decision that I made was that I wanted my project to be entirely digital; doing so I felt would be a significant aid in several respects the first of which being that it allowed for a multiplicity of design elements (sound, video, still photos, etc.). Yet for me, the ballparks themselves could not afford a simple passing glance as a mere frame in a movie, but rather they deserved something that could allow for a better appreciation of them by the viewer. And so, at that point I decided to break up my project into two parts, the latter of which would allow for a closer examination of the different playing fields throughout major league history. While it may sound at a first a bit disjointed, doing it in two parts allowed me to offer the viewer different perspectives on the same overall product, which ultimately (at least in my mind) bettered my final creation.

The next step was accomplishing said objective, and I believe that I was able to do so only with my choice of interactivity in the second part. As you will notice, the first part serves as a mere introduction and overview of what is to come; I accomplished this through the use of video, which hopefully enhances one’s enjoyment of the collage. (For those that might have missed it, the opening scenes of Ruth (3), Jeter (2), and Smith (1) are intended as a countdown, Ozzie Smith’s flip is too cool to leave out a baseball montage.) The second part, which opens only after seeing part one, is arguably the ‘true collage’ part. Scattered photos of all sizes, this part allows the user to click on any particular baseball team and be zoomed in on their current stadium (from multiple perspectives) as well as stadiums of their recent/not-so recent history. Unfortunately, the one thing that I seemingly forgot was to label the stadiums and so if time allows, I will try to produce a little guide to the collage in the coming days.

Making the collage itself was not all that difficult, in fact it was almost as simple as it can get. It came down to the programs that I decided to use and Microsoft’s ‘Deep Zoom Composer’ and their ‘Expression’ series were able to accomplish what I wanted to get done. Don’t get me wrong, it definitely helped that I had preexisting knowledge of the software but what I did anyone could easily do in the future. In the end, the multiple elements I believe were a good support for the collage, and because it was done digitally I believe I was able to offer something different than what one might ordinarily expect from a collage. Enjoy.

Forewarnings: There is some audio in part 1, and it may take some time to load and Pop-Up may be blocked; sorry!

Photos Thanks to PC-Ballparks, Video Property of MLB.

watch the digital collage here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvIv3W0Fg-k

My mom always tells me to let a smile be my umbrella. I generally roll my eyes at the statement but in truth I can’t help but smile. Whether greeting a friend, acknowledging an acquaintance, catching the eye of a stranger or simply enjoying a song, photograph or film I need to grin. What is the downside? A smile is a peace sign, an expression of joy or humor and a salutation. It doesn’t matter whether you like a person or not, if you make eye contact, a smile is almost always better than any possible alternative.

I am not new to New York. My permanent residential address is in New Jersey but my grandparents lived in the city and my mom and dad grew up in Manhattan and Brooklyn respectively. I therefore have a habit of defending New York City- the people here aren’t that grumpy and self-involved, they’re just like everyone else, only faster paced. It’s not true though. New Yorkers seem to have come to embrace their hostile stereotype, and illustrate their contentment with the description by continuing to ignore, shove, death glare and cut off their neighbors and fellow city people.

I do it too. Pushing someone out of the way is faster than waiting your turn, and glaring at a person across from you on the subway is easier than striking up a conversation, but something is lost in these constant exchanges of hostilities- a sense of camaraderie and the smile that often comes with it.

New Yorkers don’t smile enough. I decided to play around with this idea in my collage. Smiles can cross any language barrier and therefore any culture, they shouldn’t be quite so rare. I focused on the people around me, snapping photographs of my friends smiling and frowning; often accompanied by a bright yellow smiley face sticker that either mirrored or contradicted their own expression. I also tried to incorporate audio elements by capturing video shots of some New York people explaining what they think about smiling. Answers varied, and were more often than not humorous (an unintended side effect of asking people about smiling is apparently a smile).

To accompany the visual elements I made the video’s audio backdrop a song called “Kids” by the band MGMT. It’s an upbeat song noting a happier time in most people’s lives where smiles probably came easier. At one points the lyrics read, “No time to think of consequences,” emphasizing my point- there is rarely a downside to smiling. Everyone knows it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown so why not just do it?

I think my digital collage was relatively upbeat and I hope it generates a few upwardly curved lips. To do a project on smiling seems corny but it ought to serve as a reminder that smiling is safe and feels good. Not only does it feel good but also it can put those around you at ease. My mom says let a smile be your umbrella. There is nothing both easier and better to show the world.

Sometimes, it is difficult for me to relate to the students at Baruch College. Most of them commute from home, and those that do not usually come from no further than one hundred miles away. Most were born and raised in New York City; it is their home by nature rather than by choice.

I have lived in New York City for a little over three months now. Yet it feels like I have been here forever. It feels like I am home.

Home is where the heart is. This is something I believe unconditionally. I have consciously chosen my home, something very few people at Baruch have yet to do. People are often put off by the lack of regard I seem to have for the people and places I left behind in Miami. “Don’t you miss them?” they ask me, “Don’t you want to go back home to visit them?” Yes I miss them; however, going back to visit them does not equal going back home. I am home in New York City. I knew this from the second I stepped off the plane, throwing my one-way ticket in the trash. New York City is my chosen home. And it feels more like a home than Miami ever did.

I had originally planned to do my collage project on Japan, but that idea, like life itself, changed without any warning. Looking through my photographs, listening to the song in my video, I was suddenly filled with a sense of warmth. A sense of belonging. A sense of being home. And because I have chosen this home, I can accept and reject the parts of it that I wish to. Through my camera lens, and my own eyes, I can choose to see only the parts that fill me with a sense of happiness.

In Miami, everything I liked and did not like was already out in the open, shoved down my throat before I could protect myself from it. I know the city too well, one could say, and because of this I know that it is not the right home for me. There is no other place like New York City, and there is nowhere else that feels more right as my chosen home.

My photographs are not special. They show people and places that I see almost every day. Yet that in itself makes them special to me, because they are photographs of my home. I am showing you my home. Although we all live in New York City, my home is not the same as your home. Home is a subjective place, an imagined existence which can be built just as easily as it can crumble. Here is my home. Call it Manhattan, call it the Lower East Side, call it New York City, call it the East Village. Call it what you wish. It has no proper name; it is a feeling. A feeling of acceptance and belonging. A feeling of always knowing who I am and where I am going. A feeling of familiarity and love. A feeling that I am never alone.

The song playing in the background of my video is one that I have known for a long time. It is in Japanese, and I do not understand all of the lyrics. When I listen to music, I do not listen to the words. I listen to the intonation of the vocals, the notes themselves. I listen to the feeling. The feeling of this song is, to me, incredibly uplifting. It is inspiring and soothing at the same time. It provides the same feeling as my home. It is the song of my home. My reality. The final lyric of the song is “subete wa honmono da”. Everything is real. New York City is my real life. I am finally living. Everything before this feels like a dream world. A dream. I was comatose, unmoving, stuck in a life I had not chosen for myself. Three months ago, I began living. Once I found a home of my own.

collage project photo link: http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/3410/sarany.jpg
collage project video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oljgmPKSuJM

Link–>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTMZAT92ev0

As Michael Jordan dribbled down the court, you could see the ferocity in his eyes; the type of ferocity a lion has when it locates its prey.  The Utah Jazz fans held their breath.  For many years the Jazz had been a great team, but they had aged, and this was perhaps their last chance to win it all.  However, Michael Jordan had his own goodbye to make, as he was considering retirement. After letting a few seconds go off the clock, Jordan dribbled to the top of the circle, crossed over to the left, giving Bryon Russell a slight nudge, ridding himself of the pesky defender.  He rose above the defense and let the ball go. When he came back down to the hardwood, he kept his extended hand in the air, like a dagger in the hopes and dreams of the Jazz and their faithful.  “SWISH.”  It was moments like these that made Jordan the greatest basketball player of all time.

Growing up as the son of a huge Knicks fanatic, whenever the Knicks played the Bulls, I would often hear my dad yelling at the television screen in anguish, as Michael Jordan crushed the Knicks hopes time after time.  However, the Knicks weren’t his only victims.  In his reign in the NBA, he took down major powerhouses such as the Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Detroit Pistons, and created his own dynasty.  He went on to win six championships, five MVP trophies, and set many records.  Over the past three decades, Jordan has become a superlative for greatness.  Even today if I do something well, I will say, “ I’m the Jordan of … (whatever I have done well)”.  Never has there been an athlete as popular or as dominant in his sport than Jordan.

The reason why I chose to do my collage project on Michael Jordan, was because of the masterpieces he created on the court.  When I look at old videos and photographs of Michael Jordan playing basketball, I am always amazed by the countless number of stunning images that capture some of his most magical moments.  Although Jordan probably has been commemorated hundreds of times before, I thought that I should do it with my personal touch.  For my music I used three tracks.  One was the recognizable theme song of the Chicago Bulls.  The second was the instrumental portion of Eminem’s Lose Yourself.  I used this song, because in this song Eminem tells listeners to make the most out of the moments they are in, which Jordan has done consistently over the course of his career.  I end the video with a portion of Drake’s song “Forever”, where he says his name is Greatest Ever, but I use it for Jordan, who, when it comes to basketball, truly is the Greatest Ever.  For the photos and video clips of my collage, I picked my six favorite Michael Jordan moments, one representing each Larry O’Brien Trophy he has hoisted in his career.  My favorite moment is the one I wrote about above, where Michael Jordan ended his legendary career as a Bull with an unforgettable shot; this moment has a very artistic feeling to it.  Another moment I included is what some consider as the leaning dunk, and others as the Superman dunk.  This dunk/photo gives me chills every time I see it, because his body is at an angle where it almost seems as if he is flying.  I also included his free throw line dunk, which is well known as the logo for the Jordan brand.  As much as it hurt me to do so, I even included a photo of Michael Jordan throwing down a vicious dunk on Knicks star Patrick Ewing, just because of the aesthetic beauty of the dunk itself.  I added a dream like effect to all of these photos and videos, because some of these things that Michael Jordan did on the basketball court could only be conceived in a dream.

If ever there was a basketball god, Michael Jordan would be it.  The combination of poise and skill that thrived within him, truly allowed him to make the game of basketball look like it was easy.  It was this sense of easiness that he brought to the game, which allowed for these photographic masterpieces to be produced.

Sidekick Collage

(Written piece is in the description of the video and below.)

Whenever we hear the names Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Superman, Batman, and the like, we recognize what they mean to us as a society. These individuals, whether fictional or not, have contributed to their respective careers, whether winning NBA championships or saving the day. However, you rarely heard of the underrated individuals who work alongside them. Even though this select group of people rarely gets the credit they desire, still they work with their better counterparts to be great. These sidekicks not only have assisted these “heroes” in whatever task they are supposed to perform, but also they have been unappreciated in the process. That is why for this particular collage project I have chosen to pay tribute to all the sidekicks who never got the recognition they truly deserve. To me, these sidekicks are heroes.

The song in the background is called The Show Goes On by Lupe Fiasco. The reason behind it was that for every single sidekick, the show had to go on even if they never deserved the attention or fame they should have achieved. These athletes or superheroes continued to struggle and survive, hoping one day they achieve something more than fame; they achieve greatness. I began the collage with one of the most well known sidekicks, Robin, who helped Batman battle and defeat all those criminals who were in Gotham City. Even though everyone knows about the courageous acts of batman, we rarely give credit to the acrobatic Robin who always helps Batman in times of crises. Similarly, basketball players such as Scottie Pippin and John Starks have helped superstars such as Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing win. Rarely do you hear about these sidekicks, and every time commentators talk about the game, it’s always the names of the superstars and how much they have contributed to the growth of the game.

Link to Collage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0EgIqNahb0

Kings of New York is a jam that has been held for the last seven years in New York City. Dancers from all over the world come to this event in hopes of reigning King for one year. However, this year was the most crucial Kings of New York to be ever held because it would be the last, whoever wins this year, would rein King forever. Kings of New York does not attract your conventional dancers; it attracts a more underground form of dancing that could only be truly experienced in New York City.

The types of dances range from popping to break dancing (bboying) and a culture follows each dance. The roots of many of these dances originated in the Bronx itself and were forms of rebellion. Gradually the dances branched off and formed different styles that were unique. During Kings of New York there was a clash of cultures, however, hostility was not a feeling that these dancers felt towards one another. There were poppers watching the bboy competitions and bboys watching the locking competitions. Different forms of dancing were united for one night.

My collage focused mainly on urban dance culture. The various forms of dancing and the different moves that are incorporated into a dance form a collage unto themselves. It could be said that what I essentially have created are two collages, one collage of all the dances and another of the different movements each dance uses. Getting the scenes for this collage was the most difficult part of making it. I attended the jam at around 10pm and it last until 5am on a Monday morning. In the end it was worth it because the experience was one that was very different from a conventional dance competition. After I recorded the scenes I decided to put many dance forms and dance moves into the video creating a collage of movements; however, I wanted to remain true to the dance form so I decided to let the video flow in continuous motion. Dance is a continuum and I felt that if I cut the video into many different segments I would not be respecting the art that is dance.

I chose to do my collage on dance because I felt that dance was a changing collage. It is rare that we ever see a dancer use the same movements over and over. Dancers must be able to free style and follow the music. Since music is always changing throughout a melody a dancer must be ready to react properly. I also wanted to expose everyone to the underground forms of dancing. Too often we are presented with mainstream dancing such as hip-hop, ballet, or salsa. There is another world of dancing outside of mainstream dance that gets little attention and those dance forms are popping, locking, and bboying. If these forms of dance do get media attention, the media destroys the culture and meaning behind these dance forms. Everyone that bboys or pops are brought together through these forms of dance and we become a community. We know each other and respect the original meaning of the dance.

It turns out that other colleges get a whole week off for Thanksgiving, which means that my sister is home again. But she didn’t come home alone, she brought along her new boyfriend who just happens to be from Massachusetts, and lives in a town just outside of Boston. What I have learned so far is that people in Massachusetts curse very differently from us. The F word isn’t as casual a phrase as it is in New York City, but Bastard turns out to be a word these New Englanders like to use a lot.

With an accent straight out of The Departed my sister’s boyfriend, Jimmy, nonchalantly calls people a dirty bastard like its normal or something. My sister had to explain to me that they do things differently up there. It’s a less explicit way of saying things compared to what we’re used to in NY, but that doesn’t mean these guys don’t curse. Jimmy is still able to holding his own with all of us New Yorkers, who might talk fast and act tough, but won’t get into a fight as readily as some of our more physical neighbors in the North.

I haven’t learned much about what actually goes down in the Mass. But I figure it’s just like the way we do things in NY, except not as grand. When it comes down to it all I really care about is that he is a Democrat from the North and that makes him alright with me, even if he does use the word bastard as a curse.

Link To Collage: Magazine Collage Project

I chose to do my collage theme on magazines because I felt that it was something that represented a wide range of different demographics in our society. There are magazines for technophiles, reading groups and even pornography. Not only do magazines represent a wide range of cultural possibilities but most magazines, especially magazine covers tend to be very visual. I thought this visual aspect was something I could easily integrate into a collage, unlike newspapers or other forms of media.

What I felt was most important to my collage was representing the diverse and eclectic mix of magazines we have in this country. There are literally hundreds of magazines I could have chose from, but I decided that my collage would work best if I chose the most recognizable and widely read magazines. What I had to do next was show all of this in a collage.

At first I wanted to do a collage that was a just a still image of different magazine covers mixed up together, but after listening to what other people’s ideas were as well as some advice from our local Tech Fellow I decided to make a movie. I wanted the video to show the diversity of magazines.  One night, while I was watching television I saw an iPad commercial and realized the same concept might work just as well if I replaced the iPad’s apps with magazine covers.

I chose a variety of magazine covers, some more famous than others, that I thought would be a good sample population of the different kinds of magazines that are out there. After finishing the movie I felt like I had only scratched the surface of all different magazine combinations. So, I decided to expand my collage by taking a much larger sample of magazines by taking names of magazines in their original fonts and colors and putting them altogether on a white canvas. After this was completed I had two different collages.

I thought that having two collages might be confusing, so I added my still image collage of al the different magazine names and added it to my movie collage. I did this by adding the opening theme music from 2001: A Space Odyssey and some dramatic camera sweeping. In the end I felt that the combination of the iPad parody and the more traditional collage got my point across in a more thorough and entertaining way than if I only did one or the other.

Magazines have played such an important role in American culture. Television and newspapers usually overshadow them but magazines have impacted us in ways that no other form of media can. For example Time magazine has recorded down the most influential people of all time, while Mad changed the very ideas of humor and popular culture during its prime. The Economist and The New Yorker influence our opinions in ways newspapers cannot. The Rolling Stones set the standard for serious music critique since its foundation. The history of magazines is just as varied as the selection of magazines on store shelves today.

In the end all I really wanted to do was provide people with a view of how varied and diverse magazines can be. From Playboy to The NewYorker, no matter who you are, or where you come from you will probably find a magazine that is right for you

Last week, I was made aware of the concept of driving lingo. I use it all the time without even realizing. Last week, I was behind the wheel, and I mentioned to my passenger something about flashing people on the road. A non-driver, she heard “flashing” and her imagination immediately was way off the road. She resisted the urge to question my most unexpected exclamation.

When I talk about “flashing people,” I mean repeatedly shining my bright lights at pedestrians who walk dangerously on the road. It’s something I feel is my duty as a driver. I flash people who do not wear reflectors. I flash people who are too close to oncoming traffic. I flash my bright lights all the time.

Apparently, it was a foreign concept to my passenger that “to flash” could have any other meaning.