So after watching Les Mis, I ended up watching some of the performances of Les Mis done in the past. You can probably imagine my surprise when I found Nick Jonas in the 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Mis. You can hear him sing “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, which is Marius’ (The character that Nick Jonas plays) solo number. Personally I found his voice to be lacking compared to some other renditions of the song. It’s still a powerful performance, lacking the vibrato normally found in musical theatre performances, but still emotional nevertheless. The orchestral accompaniment is a bit more restrained in Nick Jonas’ performance, which actually works very well.

There are many art forms associated with the holidays (i.e. Television specials, carols, home decor, holiday dinner, and more). What do you think about humor and the holidays? Today, I was watching a video YouTube and that video sent me to this song. It was included a list of unavoidable holiday songs. In this particular video the comedians at Saturday Night Live decided to create their own holiday song. What do you think about this comedic take on the holidays?

Hey guys! So, you remember how we did a video for the Macaulay Snapshot event! Well, here was my group’s presentation:
Macaulay

P.S. The piano sound in the background was actually played by one of our group members!

Hey all, just wanted to share one of the pieces I made on the computer. In the program I used, I set the “pull shape” function to random. Even though I’m unaware of what shape will come out next as I’m drawing, it’s up to me to decide where on the canvas to draw, the stroke size, and the amount of pressure to use.

Though I was aiming for a minotaur after seeing a general shape, people may think it’s something completely different because of how they perceive the image. It sort of looks like a zoom in of a squirrel’s face or even looking up at a dog from below. Now I’m seeing a creature crouched down and the darker bits make up its shadow.

I really need a break from studying.

POP CULTURE

-by Garth Britzman

Lincoln, Nebraska isn’t known for being a hub of creativity or for recycling waste materials, which is why Garth Britzman opted to design a striking parking canopy entirely out of 1,500 used soda bottles. Named Pop Culture, this brilliant installation is comprised of hundreds of plastic bottles hanging from thread of different lengths, and filled at the bottom with different colored water. The installation calls attention to our consumer ‘pop’ culture and the urgent need to recycle our mass-produced goods.

I found out about this installation a while ago. The format is so simple, yet the concept is so beautiful. I think that this artist is very inspiring. What do you guys think?

You know how in cartoons and shows, the announcer goes “tah-dah” to present something new or interesting or to indicate a punchline. It turns out that this phrase originally came from Jewish comedians. After finishing their performance, they would dance and end with a song praising God, using the word “todah” which means “thank you” in Hebrew. So the “tah-dah” we use today actually comes form the hebrew word “todah.”

Today we have a face off between Martha Graham and………you wouldn’t guess…..the birds of paradise–yes and I do mean those beautiful birds that are found in Brazilian forests. A while ago, I was working on the dance essay we had to do and I was watching some youtube videos of Martha Graham and her famous dance performances when I suddenly thought to myself, “this really does like familiar, looks like something I saw from bio.” And voila! Just watch these two videos and see for yourself if there is some resemblance.

First watch this one by Martha Graham (you can skip the intro): http://youtu.be/z2Q6UJN0ef0

Then watch this one: http://youtu.be/nS1tEnfkk6M

As I was listening to Professor Judell about the analysis of art in society/our presentations, I became more and more depressed as I realized that the end of this fun, amazing cultural road-trip is coming to a close. Some thoughts that were floating on my mind was: one definite unique, cool aspect of this class was that we always went out as a group to the performances (with some few exceptions), but the unity among us made the trips more memorable. Also, the ending of today;s class with Daniel’s group song (and the Marx Brothers documentary) really made me think of what we did this semester and the plethora of arts we learned. On Friday, I hope we have a mini-celebration type “event” for the “journeys” we had and especially for Professor Judell as his immense inspiration for us would never be forgotten.

Extreme Subway Ad

This article is about a new anti-Islamic MTA advertisement funded by Pamela Geller,the executive director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative. What’s everyone’s feedback on this? I know instinctively it seems wrong, and I agree, but we should also consider this woman’s viewpoints as well.

Feedback?

Seems like I’m providing a running commentary on A Cappella groups in my blog posts.

If I’m talking about A Cappella groups, I guess I should talk about my own group, the Triplets! (You should check out that website, guess who designed it 🙂

The Triplets were formed last spring, and they’re a pretty interesting group of people. Being with musicians is always fun, and I always have a great time singing with them. Even though the Triplets are relatively new, I think we might be one of the better A Cappella groups in the city. We made it into the ICCA Quarterfinals, which I guess is a pretty big deal for us!

We actually travel a good deal to perform. For the ICCAs we’re going to Rochester, and we went up to Binghamton a few weekends ago to perform there! There’s sort of a camaraderie between A Cappella groups. For example, we invited the CMU Originals to come perform with us, and they invited us to CMU to perform with them in April! It’s a pretty great community of musicians and singers, and I’m proud to be a part of it.