Last night, at the Nets and Knicks game, I started to realize many things that I wouldn’t have otherwise realized about Madison Square Garden. Because I’m the least interested in basketball in our trio (Me, Ronny, and Danny), I was able to just look around and enjoy the scenery while the game was going on and not feel bad about missing out. I’d like to first start with the jerseys which i think are one of the most interesting things about basketball. Each team gets a specific jersey so it is kind of interesting to me to see what each team has on their jersey. I really like the Nets Logo, even though its simply just a picture of a bridge with the word BROOKLYN written on it. I feel like even though it is plain and simple it gives people a sense of pride in their borough. Almost half the stadium donned a Brooklyn Nets jersey or Hat and I started to realize how Flashy and Artistic Jersey designers have to make their jerseys. People who watch the sport are going to want to buy the jersey of their favorite player but they wouldn’t want to if the jersey looked ugly. There is some sort of artistic element in the way jerseys are made so that it can appeal to the masses.

The other thing I noticed was the way the game was played kind of reminded me of a nicely choreographed performance. When you think about it, each team has their own set of plays that they have practiced and are now performing for us the people to watch and enjoy. Sounds kind of similar to a theatrical event if you ask me. Not only that, but some of these players are so nimble on their feet that it is just amazing to see. Some of them are so light on their feet that if they weren’t so tall, I swear they would make great Ballet dancers.

Finally, Madison Square Garden itself is just beautiful. You got the Large pictures of the knicks players on the walls. The mass of people wearing blue and orange just adds a nice tone to the garden. Even the court has like a nice glow to it. Whoever designed this building made sure that even though it is a sports arena, it had to be aesthetically pleasing to people

Hey guys, here is our final project brought to you by me, Danny, and Ronny

ENJOY!

So, I’ve decided to put these two posts together because in both events we went to go see comedy performances. At Uptown Showdown, it was an interesting new experience because I have never seen comedians do a debate while still trying to be funny. I felt like it was comedy improv in a sense where they’re given a topic to talk about, and even though that topic may not be funny , they are kind of forced to make it funny anyway. For example, that first guy who presented his argument for Hanukkah, even though he was pretty much just telling us the story of Hanukkah and how it came about, i thought he was one of the funniest comedians of the show. I think it is because of the way that he performed the story, adding in little jokes that would otherwise be offensive but because of the setting were not. I found myself laughing at things I should find offensive. They kept making fun of the miracle of christmas and the story behind christmas, and being a religious person I was kind of confused when i didn’t find myself getting angry. I think it’s because it was a comedy and sometimes the only way to laugh at something is to be offensive about it. I can accept that. Overall it was a great night and i still think Christmas should have one, no bias at all. That Hanukkah team was slacking. I really liked the question and answer portion of the night as well, especially when the comedians attacked that guy who asked a really stupid question to Michael. It kind of reminded me of the Louie clip that we watched in class. *NOTE TO SELF* never ask a comedian a question

At the BAM, The night started out great. I’m not really and Alfred Hitchcock fan so i thought i wasn’t going to enjoy the movie but I loved it. Hitchcock was such an great movie and I really like the way it was done. It felt kind of like an inception….a movie with a movie if you get what i mean.

The Second Half of the night…That Comedy was Horrific. I thought it was gonna be better than the Uptown Showdown because it was going to be comedians doing whatever they want, but it was horrific. The host was alright and i found myself laughing, but then the first two comics were just awful, so awful that i just walked out the show. It’s unfortunate because other people were laughing so I felt like I didn’t understand the jokes. Then I realized that everyone was probably just drunk off the Free Beer. Clever Move BAM, clever move.

I know this is a little late, but I just recently received WiFi after Sandy’s Aftermath. I hope everyone is doing okay and that they are all safe.

Anyway, I thought the opera that we saw was good, and that even though I don’t regularly go to operas, I had a great time. I have to admit I wasn’t looking forward to sitting for a few hours and listening to people sing. It turned out to be a remarkable experience and I enjoyed the opportunity we had. The singer who played Ariel in the opera had a remarkable voice. I couldn’t understand anything that she was saying, but the pitches that she was reaching just did not seem humanly possible. Overall, the singers were great and I felt that they put on a wonderful performance.

The one thing that really struck me about the script of the opera itself was the use of the word Art. They seemed to never use the word Magic, when clearly it is Magic that Prospero is using. The word Magic is replaced with the word Art. This has me wondering if Magic is considered an art form. Are performance magicians artists? Is there a reason that the term “the ART of MAGIC” is sometimes used? This word swap had me interested the whole night and I find myself still with no answer.

Hey guys, so I tried to find the pictures that I was going to talk about right now to make it easier but i was only successful in finding one of them. So the first picture that I found and that struck my curiosity was a picture by Tim Jarvis titled, Anglican Priests at graveside of Craddock, Eastern Cape, 1985. This lengthy title does the liberty of giving some of the details of what I saw in the pictures. So, It was a close up of Anglican Priests, all of which had their fists raised up. Behind them was a crowd of people, most of them regular except for this one irregular white woman in the back. “What was this white woman doing?” I asked myself. What place did she have at this graveside, and was she there to mourn or was she there to show support. She didn’t seem to have a mournful face but she seemed rather joyful. It was weird. And i couldn’t exactly wrap my finger around it.

This next picture, I saw as I was leaving the picture of the Anglican Priests. It is by a photographer by the name of Gille de Vlieg and is titled, Pauline Moloise, two women and Winnie Madikizela Mandela mourn at the memorial service for Benjamin Moloise , who was hanged earlier that morning, Khotoso house, Johannesburg, 1985. Here I saw a row of ladies in the front mourning over this man with a row of men in the back also holding up the same fist that I saw in the first picture that i came across. I started to think about this symbol of the fist. What did it mean? What was it a symbol of? Why a fist raised up? Fists usually symbolize aggression, but how did that tie in? Questions, Questions, Questions.

Finally, the last picture that i saw was another Tim Jarvis picture entitled, UOF meeting, Claremont, Cape Town, 1985. It showed a white woman on a podium also holding up her fist like the men in the photo above. This just added even more to the curiosity behind the fists!

My experience of the 9/11 Memorial was rather interesting. I didn’t think it would affect me the way it did because I didn’t personally know anyone from the incident. I felt like a tourist, as if I was going to look at the scenery of New York and take pictures and then leave. But that’s when it hit me – that the 9/11 Memorial is a part of the scene of New York. As a New Yorker, we bear the image of the drastic attack that our nation took on that day. While the attack may have not affected me directly, it has affected the way that others see New York. While there, I realized that there were tons of tourists who were there to take pictures and too look at the pools. I realized though that when I walked up to the pool, my first inclination was not too take a picture. I stopped. I paused. I gave the people who lost their lives a small moment of silence. I felt the need to pay respect for these people even though I knew nothing about them. The same happened at the Vietnam War Memorial. I didn’t know any of the heroes who lost their lives, but I read the letters that were on the wall and sympathized with the families who lost their loved ones. Here, I have a picture that shows the letter from the Vietnam War Memorial and the names from the 9/11 Memorial. I took the picture of this particular name because of the rose that I found laying on top of the name. It spoke to me more than just the rest of the names around the pool with no flower. It was like the flower said to me that somewhere in New York was this person’s family and they were still hurt from the days of the attack. But that was all that I could get from it. However, the Vietnam War letter spoke so much to me. It was like this person was real and you could feel like you know more about this person. A letter turns this soldier almost into an acquaintance or someone that was a family friend. I started to imagine what he looks like, or how he died. I wanted to know more about the author of the letter. Whereas in the picture above it, I wanted to visit the victim’s family and comfort them. I wonder if the 9/11 Memorial is all about New York. I feel as if it was meant to inspire unity in New York, as if it was meant to be a way of saying, “Hey, you may not know this person, but what if you had?”
Now to talk a little bit more in depth about what I thought about the pools in the 9/11 Memorial. I thought that they were interesting because of the two effects that one could could get out of them. The water falling from the sides makes a lot of noise and is very chaotic. When you stand close to the pool, it is the only thing that you can hear except for the people who are standing next to you and talking. It’s this chaotic sound that I think is supposed to remind us of the Chaotic events that occurred on this tragic day. It’s too remind us that while everything in New York may be peaceful now, there was a time when things were dark and when things were getting out of hand. Interestingly enough though, the center of the pool looks so calm. I’ve juxtaposed the two pictures because i wanted to make that comparison. The inside of the pool looks like a nice pond, with a small current pushing the water to the center where it is then dropped off into the square hole. Peaceful. The Sides however have the free falling waterfall that crashes to the bottom in obnoxious sound and even causes a white disturbance in the water. The pools are a blend of chaos and peace, almost as an indication of the blend that New York has been in ever since the attack

Finally, I would like to leave off with this last picture. In it, is a line of names that have flowers on them as seen in the earlier picture, but also a nice statement written to the Pilots in the crash. This note was powerful. It had emotion in ways that the flower of the name did. I picked this to include in my post because I was wondering what people thought was more powerful.

Yes, The music in the background was very necessary.