This past Wednesday, I had the opportunity to listen to about 14 poems from famous poets, all from the New York area. Each poem was assigned randomly to the students, which I felt gave the class more opportunity to reach outside their normal comfort zone. Not only did we have to recite the poem but we also had to research the author, as well as state our opinion and thoughts on the meaning of said poem. This allowed not only myself, but also many of my classmates, to better understand the thought process behind the poem. The poem I had, So Many Lives by John Ashbery, was quite a handful due to the abstract thought and non-specific subject. I determined from my reading that So Many Lives was about a person realization that their partner is only with them for financial security, not out of love. The poem may also be about the way some can not leave their significant other, no matter the terrible things that person has done. Ashbery truly displays this ” no matter what we are together” attitude when he says, “I can walk away from you, Because I know I can always call, and in the end we will, Be irresolutely joined.” I learned a lot about the author that I may not have known otherwise, such as that he has won a pulitzer prize for his work on a collection of poems known as, Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror. I also enjoyed others reciting as well, and found that many of the authors had vastly different stories/backgrounds, but still were able to craft beautiful pieces of poetry.
Author: tysen1998
Blog about video sculptures
Last week in class, my group, along with four other groups, presented our 20 minute long sculpture videos to the class. After each group would present, Professor Kahan would ask if we had any question, which would then lead into the next video. The first group to present was Cece’s group, whose main focus was on the Statue of Liberty and the 9/11 memorial near the St.George ferry terminal. They presented interesting facts about the Statue of Liberty sculptor and how it was originally built. They also spoke about Christopher Columbus and how his influences carried over to the United States. Another group that stood out was Eva’s, as they did statues such as Benjamin Franklin. This was a different subject as he did not serve in a war, nor did he serve in major political office. My group spoke about the various equestrian statues in Central Park and how they represented different military leaders throughout the Americas. Overall I enjoyed the presentations but I felt that sitting through each video felt repetitive, and sometimes boring.
November 2
This past Wednesday we had a guest lecturer, our ITF Joseph Pantenglo, who led our class in discussion about the film, A Bronx tale. Mr.Pantengelo began the class by speaking about the story arc of most movies, describing each step in detail. First we spoke about how exposition is key for the development of most movies because they are set in a world that is previously set up for the audience. Next we spoke about how rising action and climax of the movie are usual the points when a conflict befalls the main character and a big event follows. Additionally we spoke briefly about the falling action of a movie, as this is usually the shortest and most joyful part of the movie. Using these four elements we began to analyze the movie and as a class spoke about how these points played out in the movie. Mr.Pantenglo than started to discuss themes present throughout the film such as: Allegiance, Neighborhoods, Race. As a class we discussed the themes all while Mr.Pantenglo would use specific examples from the text to support each theme. Towards the end of class we got a tutorial on how to use iMovie for our video project, while also brainstorming as a group what are some specific examples of adaptation across multiple factions of media (movies, tv shows, music).
Blog Post #8
This week we were able to hear about the life of a career musican and his experience living in New York. Dr.Wechsler spoke about how a career in the arts can have its ups and downs but it is possible to make a living off of it. We first spoke about a place known as Tin Can Alley, which is where famous songwriters would go and hang out with other famous songwriters. We than spoke about how the culture of “live music” in music recording is dying and how this has effected the way people choose their careers. Dr.Wechsler spoke about his involvement in a Flute Society, which he wrote a dissertation on. We then watched several cartoon for reasons that are unknown, but nonetheless they were funny and entertaining. Dr.Wechsler spoke about a range of topics, from cars to a hotel on the upper east side which housed a farm and a Turkish bath house. To finish off the class the Professor treated us to a performance using his electric flute, which didn’t actually sound that bad when compared to a flute. Overall Wednesday’s class was interesting to say the least and I enjoyed the spontinuity of Dr.Wechsler.
October 19: Bob Dylan
Before class on Wednesday I had never actually sat down and analyzed an artist lyric, picking out particular themes and discussing them, but I found that while listening to Bob Dylan this practice became very natural. Also before Wednesday I never truly paid attention to Bob Dylan when he was on the radio and could honestly not differ between him and another folk artist from that period. Listening to Dylan was surprisingly pleasant and gave me a new standard at which to hold artist in regards to their lyrical message.
I enjoyed most of the songs on the playlist we were giving, but I especially enjoyed “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Tangled in Blue,” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’.” “Like a Rolling Stone,” told the fascinating story of a woman, who presumably grew up with a modestly wealthy family, but was now experiencing the real hardships that many faces every day. The story chronicles her journey from living high and mighty, to her triumphant fall, as she loses much of what she has early on in her life. The song almost is painting the image of a person who believes that they will live the perfect American life and live comfortably forever. Towards the end of the song, Dylan sings “He really wasn’t where it’s at, After he took from you everything he could steal” explaining that when her husband left he took everything from her, leading to her ultimate demise, being poor. Dylan then sings “They’re all drinkin’, thinkin’ that they got it made, Exchanging all precious gifts, But you’d better take your diamond ring, you’d better pawn it babe” explaining that while her old friends are out wining and dining, she has to struggle to meet ends meet. This song perfectly describes how arrogance can come back around and bite you in the butt.
Another song by Dylan, “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” describes the forces that were driving change during the 1960’s, and how it was a “Join us or get out the way” mentality. This song speaks about the changing attitude that the youth in the country had more power than ever before and they were going to make that power known. This song also has connections to the Vietnam war, which at the release of the song was a hot-button issue in the United States. The song draws comparisons to both Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” and Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going on,” which have similar messages that the war was causing turmoil within many different communities within the United States. The song “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” is reminiscent of Bob Dylan’s idol Woody Guthrie and has a real southern, blues feel to it. Overall I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the music and would not mind adding some of Dylan’s song into my current playlists.
October 19: Don Giovanni
This past week I had the opportunity to view the classical opera, Don Giovanni, which contains music composed by Mozart and acts written by his longtime librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte. This being my first opera, I did not know what to expect, how long were the acts, would I be able to understand the play, were some questions I pondered upon entering the opera house. After about the first 10 minutes of the opera I was already confused as to the events that were occurring. In class, we watched the first scene from the opera, which led me to believe that the woman, Donna Anna, was furious at Don Giovanni for even attempting to enter the house, but the opera we saw, I felt, told a different story. From what I saw, Donna Anna seemed to be begging Don Giovanni to stay, while he says that he must leave before anyone sees him with her. The play continues, but this caused me only to become more and more confused as the opera went on.
The second half of the opera was much more interesting than the latter, bringing drama to the stage, making the audience wonder if the mobs would ever catch Don Giovanni and allow him to take accountability for his actions. Through the whole play all I wished for was for them to final stick it to Don Giovanni and persecute him for his hennas actions, but this never happens. Masseto allows the Don to slip through his hands and when they could be looking for the real Don Giovanni they are questioning whether or not to kill Leporello, who has not harmed a soul, which once again fed my frustration that the mob still had not done anything. The lone shining star in the opera, by my standards was Leporello, whose presence made the opera an overall more enjoyable experience. The sarcastic, light-hearted Leporello allowed the audience to laugh at what was a mostly dark opera focused around wicked deeds.
I did not expect the opera to end in the way it did, partly because I wanted Don Giovanni to be killed by Donna Anna, or her lover and also partly because I did not expect the ghost of Don Commendatore to be the one to have the “last laugh.” Being that this was my first opera, I went in with an open mind, but throughout the performance, I realized that this form of art was not for me. I can digest small clips from the operas we watched but attending one is placing too much on my plate. This will be my first and last opera, but at least I was able to see, what is widely regarded of as one of the best operas of all time.
Opera
We started off the lesson speaking about Mozart, learning about how the gifted composer lived life and how his actions subsequently led to him dying a poor man. We spoke about how Mozart was able to compose pieces in one single draft, all without making any corrections to the music. Later Professor Kahan spoke about how some of Mozart’s pieces were eventually turned into opera’s and how they are considered some of the best ever produced. We spoke about the importance of Lorenzo da Ponte, a prominent liberttist of the time, and how he was able to translate the music of Mozart into a piece of spoken word art. We then spoke about one of the most famous Mozart operas, Don Giovanni, speaks about topics such as, rape and potential sexual assault, that would not go over well with people in modern times. Reading Kierkeguard’s evaluation of the Don Giovanni was shocking, due to the fact that he places Don Giovanni on a pedestal for being an “an essential genius of sensuousness,” when many of Don Giovanni’s actions were essentially terrible. Kierkeguard often speaks about how Don Giovanni is very musical, which is backed up by the fact that he only has a small aria, when many main characters in opera have multiple arias.
Ace in the hole
Although I wasn’t in class on Wednesday I was able to watch the movie,”Ace in the hole” on my own and was very shocked by the way the movie played out. The movie was dominated by the carismatic Charles Tatum, using his charm to manipulate the people around him for his selfish goals. He turned several people into his personal servants; Ms.Minosa, the photography boy, the engineer and even the sheriff. What was scary about some scenes in the movie was that these people that were supposedly “helping” leo to escape the cave where only interested in how they could advance their own agendas rather than helping leo. Tatums pursuit of a story caused many people to lose sight of their own morals and made people fame-seekers. Even the people that came to the sight of the cave in were only there to be on the radio or TV. This movie displayed an ugly side of human nature, sometimes losing sight of what is morally right for something that may make you famous or rich.
Movie Analysis
This week’s class started off with a discussion of different movie techniques and how different directors apply these methods. We received a paper which described the different methods in which a camera shot could be captured and how the varying depth affects the emotion, frame and focus of the shot. First, we watched a western film to see how an object in the distance can go from a small figure to the main focal point of the frame. To gain further knowledge on this technique we viewed the opening scene to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho”, which had the camera appear to fly from the sky in to the window if an apartment building. We looked at the work of director, Orson Wells, for perspective on the tracking shot which was used to create greater suspense for the select scene of the movie. Once again to further the understanding of this topic we watched Goodfella’s famous Copacabana scene, in which the scene follows the main characters through the club as they converse with various people. After viewing the various films, we began to watch the Billy Wilder film, “Ace in the Hole”, which focuses around a small town news reporter trying to make it big by creating a story out of a man who is entrapped in a cave.
After we watched the film we attended the CSI Gallery opening exhibit of refugees and their struggle. I was very confused as to what the performance art was about and felt that some of the photos and videos were out of place in the gallery. If the main point of the gallery was to be about the refugee life and its subsequent struggles this exhibit did not accurately represent it. Most of the pictures of people who had been displaced by war in the Middle East showed that refugee vibe but other photos in the exhibit did not.
-Jason Luna
Photography Lesson/ Brooklyn Museum
I have always had an interest in photography but I never took it up as a hobby because I would convince myself that either its too expensive or that I would never actually get serious with it. After listening to Professor Reinhardt speak so passionately about photography and the different methods in which a photographer goes through to capture the perfect shot, it reignited a flame in me to take up photography as a hobby. Professor Reinhardt spoke about how she curates an art collection and spoke about when two photos are placed next to each other they “speak” to each other and communicate feelings. These “feelings” may be the subjects of the photos and their body-language or it could be the setting/backdrop of the photo. I thought the most interesting section of Professor Reinhardt talk had to be when she showed the class her scroll of photographs that she had taken when on a trip to India for Kumbh Mela, which is pilgrimage made every twelve years to the Ganges River. She explained the story of how the festival was loud and crowded but by just capturing images of people walking in and out of smoke it made the atmosphere appear to be calm and scarcely populated. She showed us how a photo could manipulate the mood of a place and how photography could be seen as the most powerful tool for people to convey feelings. While analyzing the highline photos it felt long and drawn out so maybe next time we could choose a handful of people to go and just those chosen will share their photos.
As for the Brooklyn Museum trip, I felt that it was unnecessary to go there for two hours to record five minutes of conversation and also have to go when people may have other work to complete. The pieces in the museum where very interesting to talk about but there was no need for us to stay for along as we did. Other than that I had a good time talking to friends and looking at the art in the museum.
-Jason Luna