I was looking on internet this past and found this youtube channel that mostly uploads videos showing the making of custom weapons. These weapons are chosen by the comment section and are often weapons from movies, video games, or other fictional genres. I really enjoyed the videos not just because they fulfill that fanboy need in me but also because the videos go into some detail about how the weapons are mades and forged. There are two main series on the channel, Man at Arms and Reforged, both of which makes different types of custom weapons. It is sort of difficult to see the making of weapons as an art form, but when you see the amount of work that goes into the process, the art in their weapons becomes very clear.
Today I was browsing through the list of sports websites I usually keep track of when I noticed this link to a shoe blog. This blog actually had pictures of existing shoes that were redesigned through the inspiration of different superheroes. The designer for these conceptual shoes was Patso Dimitrov. He took some of the best selling basketball shoes made by Nike and came up with designs that were inspired by superheroes such as Ironman and Batman. I took an immediate interest in the designs, despite not really having any prior interest in shoe design in the past. Perhaps the connection that these shoes had to other fields made me more interested in them.
Upon looking up more of Patso’s conceptual designs, I found out that he also came up with other concept shoes in the past. His previous shoe designs were inspired by some of the rap albums that has been released over the years. What made his shoes stand out so much was the use of colors and motifs related to whatever thing he was inspired by. Despite not being a sneakerhead, I definitely look forward to any future designs by Patso and would love to own some pairs of sneaker with designs on them.
Here is two of the links from which I found his concept shoe designs.d
https://www.behance.net/gallery/21860331/NBA-Signature-Shoes-x-Superheroes
Let’s be clear. I’ve always been into cars. Heck, I’ve been a car and driver subscriber for years now. I wouldn’t say that I’m some incredibly informed car enthusiast but I definitely have a lot to talk about when it comes to the topic. One thing I’ve noticed recently has been how much better cars look now than in they did in the past. However, I’m not just talking about those dream cars that everyone has posters of in their dorms. I’m not talking about the Lambos and Ferraris. I am talking about the cars that anyone can afford to buy.
Lamborghini Reventon
2012 Ford Fusion
Take for example Ford. Ford in the past has mostly designed their cars to be modest and inconspicuous. Things have changed. Take for example the Ford Taurus, their 4 door sedan. The car has gone from being lanky and blah to being quite good looking. The Ford Fusion and Fiesta are probably the two best examples of cheap Fords that still look good. A huge reason why cheap Fords have looked better in recent years. First of all, consumers have actually become more concerned about appearance. With less to separate cars in competitive markets and less consumers in the market, car companies need to do everything to separate themselves from the pack. However, when it comes to Ford, the biggest reason in design improvements has come down to personal. After Ford sold Aston Martin to Tata, the company went on to hire several of the sports car companies designers to their own company. All of a sudden, this designers went from creating cars that easily cost more than $100,000 to cars that anyone can afford.
2008 Ford Taurus
2013 Ford Taurus
However, branding has also become increasingly more important in car sales. Hyundai, and their sister company Kia, are probably the most prominent examples of changing your brand through improving the design of your cars. Both companies as recent as five years ago were thought of as companies that produced cars that were cheap and ugly. They were all utilitarian and no style. Things have changed in recent years. Not only has sales for both companies improved significantly, but the cars have also gotten prettier. The perfect example of this branding change has been the release of the Hyundai Genesis, a car designed to compete in significantly higher markets than in the past. All in all, when it comes to cars, style does pay off.
2015 Hyundai Genesis Sedan
2014 Hyundai Genesis Coupe
Simply entering the Guggenheim museum was an experience. The building seems to almost open up because of how small the entrance is compared to the rest of the building. You look up and see the tall roof and notice that you can’t even see any artwork. Looks like Frank Lloyd Wright’s intention to put the focus on the building first worked.
The first exhibition that I saw was ZERO: Countdown to tomorrow, which was interesting given the amount of advertisements I saw on the exhibition during my time on the 4 train. This first exhibition was full of abstract and conceptual art full of arts such as Yves Klein to Jesus Rafael Soto. It was a really unique group of works due to the strangeness of the pieces. For example, Klein’s work didn’t have any physical piece. When I asked the tour guide for the reason, he stated that the original piece actually was Klein smoking next to the piece and the smoke itself was meant to the piece. It was difficult to find out what the pieces meant but they were definitely interesting to look at.
The second exhibition I saw was Wang Jianwei’s Time Temple. I was not a big fan of the wooden piece that the artist created, mostly because it was difficult for me to appreciate it since I neither understood the piece’s intention nor did I find the piece aesthetically pleasing. However, I found the painting incredibly beautiful. The contrast between the acrylic and oil paint was cool to see as was the decision to portray the painting was four different connected parts of an actual painting.
The final exhibition I saw there involved modern Indian art, specifically focusing on the art of Vasedeo Gaitonde. This final exhibition was difficult to see simply because of how worn out the paintings were as well as because of how abstract the pieces were. Most pieces used extremely dark colors, making it difficult to notice any details on the paintings. While the pieces were created using interesting tools, I personally did not enjoy the paintings. Altogether, I had an enjoyable time at the Guggenheim. Perhaps the next time I see an advertisements on a new exhibition for the Guggenheim in the subway, I might actually go to the museum.
Going to the opera for the first time last week was quite a strange experience, whether it be for the fact that we had to watch a performance from such as elevated height (which I actually quite liked) or the fact that I actually ended up enjoying an event that I was not looking forward to. The largest fear i had towards going to the opera was obviously falling asleep, yet there was more than enough interesting things that occurred that caught my attention. Whether it be the extravagent sets or the clothing, I was definitely interested. However, the thing that caught my attention during the whole performance the most was the music of Carmen, especially the individual arias performed by the singers. Down below, I’m going to talk a little about some of my favorite musical moments from Carmen.
Habanera – Carmen
Definitely the most recognizable aria from the opera, the reasons behind the popularity of the habanera is quite clear. The whole of the habanera is followed by an immediately recognizable set of cello notes from which the whole aria is based around, whether it be the backing chorus behind Carmen or the phrasing of the words that Carmen sings. However, the highlight of the aria is quite clearly Carmen, whose repeated verses show off the seductive nature of her character and balance perfectly with the backing of the chorus, who repeat important phrases at louder volumes and different tones.
Toreador – Escamillo
While the backing to the Toreador song is also very recognizable, the backing rhythm is based more around violins during quite parts when simply Toreador is singing, while the percussion instruments join in when ever the chorus chimes in. The intention of this aria in relation to Escamillo’s character is to show him off as a majestic, brave character, and to show him of being of higher stature than anyone around him. All in all, while the aria does it’s job quite well and is easily recognizable, it definitely pales in comparison to the habanera.
Je Dis Que Rien – Micaela
The last aria of Carmen is quite unique in that unlike the previous two solos, this one by Michael neither has an easily recognizable rhythm nor the backing of a chorus, being a true solo. Furthermore, this aria only receives musical backing from a piano, rather than any string instruments, allowing for a larger focus on the singing of Micaela. It is quite clear, even without understanding the words, that Micaela is singing about her love of Jose. However, the aria suffers from the lack of a easily recognizable rhythm, as it prevents listeners from easily remembering the aria in the same why you would remember the habanera or the toreador song.
Bebo Valdes, a pioneer in Cuban music and important individual in the spread of Latin jazz across the United States, passed away a year ago on March 22. His influence on jazz however was quite strange, given the limited amount of times he even went to America. The spread of his influence shows how the power of popular producers and record labels can allow for the spread of one’s music. The reality is that you do not have to be popular amongst everyone to be influential. You simply have to be popular amongst everyone who goes on to become popular to become influential.
A clear example of Bebo spreading his influence during his limited trips to the United States came in 1950, when he had a couple of recording sessions with Nat King Cole. By the 1950’s, Cole was one of the most popular jazz musicians in the United States and was the leader and pianist of an extremely large jazz band. The interaction between this two great musicians perhaps was an important, but perhaps unnoticed event in jazz history and could have played a role in spreading the Cuban and Latin jazz that Bebo was responsible of making.
Going to the National Jazz Museum allowed for a pretty unique experience not just because it exposed me to jazz, a genre of music I do not actively seek out often, but also because it made more aware of the great but perhaps relatively little known musicians in jazz history, such as Charlie Parker or of course Bebo Valdes. After all, not everyone can be as well known or entrenched in pop music in Miles Davis. There needs to be pillars to music, a backbone that drives and pushes music forward. It was clear after our trip the museum that Bebo was definitely responsible for being one of the pillars of the house of jazz music and his influence can still be felt in music, whether it be Latin jazz or Cuban music.
While there were several poems from Saeed Jones book, Prelude to Bruise, that caught my attention, the poem, Daedalus, After Icarus, was probably the first. Some of that might have to do with the fact that I felt like I understood the meaning behind this poem almost instantly, while for some other poems in the collection, comprehension did not appear until after a couple of extra reads. The poem is quite short, being only two stanzas long, and reference the Greek myth of Daedalus, the great but cursed inventor, and his son, Icarus. The original myth is one that warns of hubris, as Daedalus constructs wax wings for his son and himself to escape Crete. However, Icarus’ hubris gets the better of him as he flies too close to the sun and crashes due to the wax on his wings melting. Saeed Jone’s poem seems to reference Daedalus finally reaching land after his long journey and looking back into the sea, where his son is now lost in. In the scene, there are children, many of whom seem envious of the wings, but one boy in particular mentions how they don’t wants wings. Instead they wants to be fish. The poem almost seems to mock Daedalus, whose only real hope in the past of saving is son was if he invented something that allowed him to be fish. The poem itself seems to be quite dark, with no real interaction between Daedalus with the other characters, with Daedalus more focused on looking out at sea than listening to the requests of children. It was an interesting poem to include in the collection, seemingly because the piece seems to be somewhat out of place. Perhaps the only connection between the poem and the rest of the collection is that the poem references Greek mythology and the collection as a all is supposed to be inspired by Greek epics like the Iliad or the Odyssey. All in all, I enjoyed the poem.
I’m also going to include two of my poems here. The first one was the poem I wrote during the poetry workshop, while the second poem is a found poem that is based on “Previous Condition” by James Baldwin.
Is A Dark Morning
Her shot glass is blue bubbles is tongue is dripping lipstick
is tingling hair on an unwanted mustache
is a red, sweaty face is ripped sheets and no company
is an empty room is heels all over the place
is a painful swollen nose ring is a dark morning
Back In New York
I had been dreaming
woke up in the morning, trembling
Back in New York and hating it
Heavy ceilinged, perfectly square
the color of chipped dry blood
was so hideous
Everyone had gone to bed
Everyone was asleep
Banging on the door
I sat up and lit a cigarette
Don’t let them scare you to death
“Took his crap”
Nothing but a bum
Same rents for same old shacks
Dirty as sin
Had not been painted
We had a stormy relationship
But we stuck
Took a couple of beatings
Worse things have happened
Robbery or murder in my neighborhood
Acted like I didn’t know a thing
Back in New York and hating it
Beaten as a person
In some regions of Ghana, it is typical for coffins to be shaped and styled to make a personal statement about the traits and interests of the deceased. However, I was unaware of this fact when I first came across this coffin during our night at the Brooklyn Museum. I simply saw it as this extremely small coffin in the shape of a Nike sneaker.
I became especially confused when finding out that this piece of art was in the Arts of Africa collection. As a result, when I first came across it, I tended to focus more on the aesthetic traits of the piece. I was immediately captivated by the amount of detail put into this object made out of wood, metal, and pigment. Perhaps the only two things separating this coffin from an actual shoe from Nike was the size of the coffin and the actual texture of the piece, which seemed to look more like plaster.
The piece caught my eye not necessarily because it was large but because it was not large enough. The coffin seemed to be less than four feet long and three feet wide (and definitely had less space than that inside of it). That pretty much indicated that this coffin probably was not intended to actually serve its original purpose but be more of a piece of art.
In terms of what the coffin itself represented, the sculptor, Paa Joe, said that it stands as a symbol of status and modernity in the late twentieth century. According to Ghanian beliefs, the coffin represents an object of interest to the deceased so that it can serve as comfort for the deceased to pass on to the next world. However, for me, the coffin is more of an aesthetically pleasing piece rather than an object that serves as a bridge to the next world.
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