Harrell Fletcher

After taking a look at Harrell Fletcher's website, I really liked the sunlints video, and how he used something simple and just took pictures of it and put it all together in a faster speed. Also the idea he had about video taping the sunset for six months and then putting all together also in a fast speed, i tried to think of what that would look like. It reminded me of a video a saw a while back where a person take a photo of themselves everyday for 8 years.

Go cougs

Cougs beat the huskies. 87-80 :)

seam lines

Seam lines can be found in many objects that are made out of many types of materials. Plastic seems to be the most common material that you will be able to notice the seam line. I recently noticed a seam line on a ping pong ball which just goes down the center of the ball dividing it into two semi-spheres. Others are harder to notice or the may be done so the seam line is hidden giving the object a clean uniform look. I was surprised when I found one on my iphone case which is done on the part that begins to wrap around the phone.

OK Go

OK Go is a rock band from Chicago Illinois, and more than their music what has attracted me to them is their some of their music videos. The first video I saw by them was in 2005 for their third single Here It Goes Again off of their second album Oh No.  The video is done in one continuous shot, which is what impressed me the most.  It feature the members in the group doing a dancing performance on treadmills. The second video I saw was their second single, This Too Shall Pass, off their 2010 album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. This video is also done in one continuous shot which uses a giant Rube Goldberg Machine in a factory building. The complexity of the video being done in one shot is what I enjoy in these videos, knowing that they had to try it many times before it came out just like they wanted.

Advertisement

There is an advertisement for a video game call Dead Space 2 which I have seen several times on tv. I looked it up on line and found a video for the commercial. Their headline for the commercial is, Your Mom Hates Dead Space 2.  They had a group of moms go into a room with three large t.v.'s and play clips of the video games, which includes suspenseful/thriller and gruesome scenes which is why the moms hate the game. I found this form of advertisement unique because they are showing teens that moms don't like the game for the intense scenes which will attract teens to want to get the game. With the idea that things that parents to like or disapprove are cool makes teens want to get the game.
http://yourmomhatesdeadspace2.com/

Interactive Film

Other than listening to music, I enjoy watching music videos that the artists make for their songs.  I try to compare what I imagined in my head when listening to the song and what the artist was original trying to say with their song which they usually show in their videos. Music videos also help me understand the songs better since I have a habit of focusing on the beat/rhythm of the song rather than the lyrics. I found an interacted video that the band Arcade Fire made for their song "We used to Wait". It uses google maps to combine your hometown with part of their video. I dont know if it was my internet or browser that caused the video to play really slow, but I will include the link for anyone to try it out.http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

New form of Information

My friend send me a link to Qwiki a new way to get information about anything. At the moment its in the alpha stage which means it still has some issues but they are working on it. You can enter any topic and it will bring up the information in a power point/slide format. It has pictures that can be clicked on to expand on the information and as the pictures are moving there is a voice that is telling you the information of the topic.  It also gives suggested similar topics for further knowledge. Its a very unique way to receive new information. http://www.qwiki.com/

Soundtracks

Movies usually produce soundtracks to go along with the film.  It helps to trigger emotions that the movie itself is trying to express, it can create suspense or hint us towards a climax. It can show us happiness or sadness that the characters are facing. An example where a movie didnt have the traditional soundtrack was No Country for Old Men, which included 16 min of music and some of it was part of the credits.  The music was also created without the use of instrumental sounds. Other than that most movies include soundtracks the length of a normal music album. I recently saw Let Me In, which is a movie where I noticed the use of music to create suspense and lead up to something unexpected. Being a thriller movie the music really helps get you into the movie and want to know what is going to happen next.

Craig Drennen

I really enjoyed Craig Drennen's lecture on painting. It made me think of styles of painting like fashion trends.  Trends will die off and wont be popular anymore once new ones begin, but eventually the older trends may come back and be popular again.  It seemed like some of the styles of paintings will die of and new ones will begin. I also found it interesting that other styles of art have tried to become like painting and create anything imaginable. With all the new technology, photographs and videos can be altered to create new ideas/change the reality. I also liked how he took something simple like the list of character names in the play and used it to create paintings for a project.

Claudia Fitch

During Claudia Fitch's presentation, one thing that stood out that I was able to notice in her work, was her love for Postcards.  She said that she likes collecting postcard and has a big collection that really began to grow when she was in Rome. The Scholars Rock work that she showed (picture below) is one that I can notice pieces of postcards or at least it reminds me of them. The silhouette of the image for some reason reminds me of a postcard it might be the simplicity of the outline. It also included black squares and other shapes that were painted to create the figure or object within the silhouette which I found that being an interesting way to show the overall image. I really liked the big heads/masks that are in Quest Field and will take a closer look next time I go there.

Music Festival

I'm really into music, and pretty much like anything but country.  My favorite genres are indie, alternative, electronic, hip hop, and combination of those. I enjoy going to concerts when I can or have the money, one of the things I have wanted to attend but don't have the money, time or sometimes both is to a music festival. Two that I have been interested in going is to Coachella in Indio, California, and Sasquatch in The Gorge, Washington.  Coachella just recently released their 2011 lineup, which is packed with many artists that I enjoy, and wish to watch live. Sasquatch! will be releasing their lineup Feb. 6th, normally three days, this will be the first year the be celebrated over the course of four days. I'm looking forward to the lineup for Sasquatch! this year, if there are enough artists that I would want to see this might be the year I go.

Potholes

While driving today a lot all over Pullman, I noticed something that has been caused because of the snow. The snow can be a fun and entertaining thing but it can cause many problems.  It can cause accidents the can injure people, whether in car or on foot.  But the thing I noticed today was that I saw many potholes. It might not be necessarily the snow being on the roads, but not taking care of it correctly when cleaning the roads. The trucks have been scraping the roads since it first started snowing, that it slowly began damaging the roads until we began started getting potholes all over the place. Snow alike most of nature elements, are beautiful and can be a source of entertainment, but can also be dangerous and cause disaster.

Leaf Blower in the Wind

Leaf blowers are used to clean pathways, from leaves, gravel, dirt, and other materials that creates an unclean path for pedestrians. Tonight at 10 pm my roommates and I went to walmart, we noticed that it was really windy, I then checked to see how strong the wind was and it said 34MPH wind. As we walked out of walmart we see a worker leaf blowing the entrance to the store.  This didn't make sense and still doesn't. Why would you be leaf blowing when the wind can either do the work or make it harder, because the wind can blow the leafs and gravel back to the entrance.  It just seems like a waste of time for the worker, and if it were me I would do it when there isn't wind or just let the wind blow everything.

PARTY

During the weekends most students go out to party.  Many have plans and have an initial party to go to, but as the night goes on new plans can develop and they will go to other parties. When looking for parties, people are attracted by the music, lights, and the amount of people. If the music is not right it can make the party boring, and unappealing. Lights are like an accessory for a party, they are not necessary but they do add to the overall feeling. Black lights, strobe lights, and other types of lighting create a different atmosphere, but it can also create a false advertisement just like the music too. From the outside of the house it can look like a great party, if you see black lights on and hear great music, but it could still be a boring party and that is where the amount of people influence the party. There can be too many people at a party, which just makes it frustrating to navigate around the house cause its too crowded, and there is no room to do anything but stand in one place. If there isnt enough people, then its considered more like hanging out than an actual party and people base how good a party is on the amount of people at it.

X-ACTO

The name X-ACTO is only the name of the company that produces several utility products.  So the object i refuse to be without is a utility knife, but not just any ordinary knife.  It is the the size of a pencil or pen, both in the length of it and the diameter of the knife. It is made of a metallic material that gives it a cold, fresh feeling every time i hold the knife in my hand. The handle part of the knife has two sections on the metal that has been etched to create a grip, but also to give a texture that contrasts from the smoothness of the rest of the knife. The blade for this knife is as small and delicate as the precise cuts that it can create on material. The top part of the blade is 1/8th of an inch wide and it goes into a sharp point creating a triangular shape. The bottom part of the blade is a rectangular shape would an oval hole in the middle which helps lock the blade in place when in the handle. Which such a delicate blade, it can become dull very fast especially when used to cut wood, wire, cardboard, or other material.  The tips of the blade can also break off, and if you keep using it will not create straight cuts. Because of this you always need to be prepared with extra blades. The top part of the handle of the knife is both a grip and can be twisted to release the blade and install a new one. The knife comes with a very simplistic cover made of plastic that is put over the blade to protect the person when not in use.

MASKS

Masks are used for many purposes, whether its for entertainment, part of a culture, a holiday, or protection we have seen a wide variety of masks in our lifetime. During Halloween we see plenty of masks the range anything from a popular movie character to the president. Many cultures also create masks that are then used for rituals, the ones we see or think of first are the traditional African masks. Masks can also be used for protection, which is seen in sports like hockey and lacrosse. Masks can also protect people from the the environment, for example gas masks and surgical masks are used to protect people from chemicals in the air. These are all physical masks that can be touched and seen, but masks can be thought of representational. People can be considered having a mask on if they pretend to be someone they are not. They can also have different personalities or act different depending on the group of people they are around.

Warming up in the cold

While walking to class i noticed that students wore beanies, baseball caps and their hoodies to keep warm, some didn't wear anything. While I was on my break i sat in the cub in looked out into Terrell Mall and counted how many students walked by wearing one of the three options or nothing at all. The results were: 64 wore beanies, 85 wore their hoodies, 190 were not wearing anything and 27 wore baseball caps.

This is a 1 to 5 ratio of the results. Green is beanies, brown is hoodies, orange is baseball caps and blue is wearing nothing.