so…

does anyone post here anymore…?

Fun with Texting

Texting has become a very popular form of communication over the last few years. Last night, my friend Jordan and I discovered a new way of using text messages. While studying for an art test with our friends Lee and Justin, Lee went back to his dorm to get his laptop charger. Unfortunately for him, he left his cell phone on the table. What else was I to do but mess with him? I added Jordan’s number to his contact under the name of our art teacher. Then I switched my name in his phone to G. Blair Dowden. Later that night, Jordan and I began to send text messages to Lee from his “art teacher.” Luckily, he fell for it. We had a good conversation with Lee about his study habits. He even asked his “teacher” if she was sending a mass text message to all her students. Next we pulled out the big guns. G. Blair “himself” sent a text to Lee about the HU Text Message Hotline and asked for the students’ initials as a sign of confirmation. When I…I mean Dr. Dowden received a text message on my..I mean his phone, saying DLP II (D. Lee Peffer II), we pretty much lost it. I had a nice conversation with Lee with me being President Dowden. Finally we revealed our true identities and this is what Lee had to say:

“Oh my gosh. I was so happy that I had gotten a text from the president. Dang you.”

—-”Quiting Happens Once”—

I am going to write a little more about art & fear because to be honest this is my last blog and I couldn’t think of anything else to write about, and I will say that it is really interesting as well.

Again as I continue reading the arthur continues to give encouragment but also some warnings. I really liked the saying that you “only quit once” because after you quit there is no going back. It also went on to talk about artist becoming frustrated because they’re art is not mirroring what they see in they’re heads, A few of my teachers in past art classes have told me this as well and it sorta makes sense, but it still can be frustrating when working on something.

I really liked the example of the ceramics class and how it was devided into two groups, one group focused on quality and the other on quantity. The quantity group did better because they were turing out so much work that they learned as they went, while the quality was only focused on bring one piece to perfection and were unable to gain any knowledge. What I take out of this book is that as an artist I need to get rid of the fear of myself, myself and my expectations and the fear of not being a “god” at art are hurting the learning/growing  process.

—-Art & Fear—-

I’ll be refrensing mostly chapter one for this blog post. As I look over chapter one I get a real sense of encouragement to be independent, the way it mentions that there is no certain breed on this earth that are only one’s talented with artistic skills. I understand what they were saying, but could someone who unable to get past drawing stick figures no matter how hard they tried be able to do something and it be considered legitiment art?

It seems to really encourage anyone who might be thinking that they’re art is not up to par with the art that is surrounding them and I totally agree that to our eyes our art will never be “finished” or as good as we might like it to be.

I thought it was interesting how it spoke about others not caring about our art, it talks about how the world doesn’t really give a crap about our work but or friends and family support us and therefore being an artist is a learning experiance for me as an artist and maybe every once in awhile I can create something that will grap the worlds attention. I’m not sure that I agree with that a 100 persent right off, it is a new idea that I hav’nt thought of yet.

Alex’s Video

Alex’s final project was fantastic. First of all, the song that his friend recorded sounded great. I think it was a good choice to change it from “October” to “November” because it created more of a snowy/wintery mood than a leafy/autumny mood. The story was told very well, especially being that it was all filmed in about two days. The editing was also very well done with the various fade ins and outs. My favorite part of the video was when the empty swings changed to being occupied by the girl and then back again. Although Alex said he wasn’t too happy about the special effects, I think they were really solid. Another great shot was the bathroom scene when the girl appeared in the mirror.

I honestly was not expecting that video. Not that I didn’t think Alex was capable or anything like that, it just surprised me for some reason. I’m still trying to understand how he did that all in just two days. I could never work that efficiently if that was all the time I had. Alex, if you’re reading this, just wanted to say that you have a lot of talent and I’m looking forward to seeing your next production.

Lars and the real girl

For the first time it actually took some persuasion for me to watch a movie.  I’m usually not apprehensive at all about watching new movies but this time I was.  Then fianlly a buddy convinced me to watch Lars and The Real Girl.  It was amazing.  I laughed, I cried, I experinced every cliche emotion that one can experience during a great movie like that.  I couldn’t believe how long I had gone without seeing that movie.  Ryan Gosling played his role in the most charming way imaginable.  The casting seemed perfect,  right down to Bianca.  It amazes me that a film can be so sensitive, so genuinely caring about all its characters, and, while without question is funny at times (and sad at others), Lars And The Real Girl is never mocking, degrading or lewd – a true miracle for a film about one man’s relationship with a sex doll, especially in this era of cinema where crude gross-out has become such a predominant form.

—–Social Life Online—-

Last night as I was “studying” for finals, I decided to take a little break and got online to check my mail and so forth. As I came around to check my facebook I noticed that there was more people online then there normaly is on a weekend night even. So I ask myself why are people spending more time on facebook and chatting online on the one weekend when there should really be….no one online?

Though the years of using Myspace and Facebook I have noticed that my conversations can go sour very rapidly in a very short amount of time, why is this? What could the difference be compared to talking in person? I have no problem with leaving a few post and throwing small coments at people online, but when it comes down to really comunicating I see a few flaws. One big thing I think it is lacking in a conversation is the ability to read a persons emotions while speaking, a freind can say something and without being able to hear the tone in which it was said you can take something completly different that the way it was meant.

In the past when I have chatted online I have completely misunderstood a freinds words and then gone through allot of trouble which could have been avoided had it been in person. So I’m not knocking online social life (well….sorta) but I somehow this came to mind when I saw everyone online last night.

My favorite Movies Thus Far

Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Dodgeball, Saw, Black Hawk Down, War of the Worlds, Surf Ninjas, The Last Castle, Braveheart, Anchorman, Just Friends, Fearless, 28 Days Later & 28 Weeks Later, 30 Days of Night, Stranger than Fiction, Smokin’ Aces, Identity, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, No Country for Old Men, Kill Bill Vols 1 & 2, I Am Legend, Green Street Hooligans, Pan’s Labyrinth, Four Brothers, The Last Samurai, Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror, Hero, Jet Li’s Fearless, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Session 9, Bad for Business, V for Vendetta, Equilibrium, Hellboy, Fight Club, Snatch, Hot Rod, Planet Terror, There Will Be Blood, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Pineapple Express, Kung Fu Panda, Quarantine, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Burn After Reading, Raising Arizona, Brotherhood of the Wolf, The Mad, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, Feast, The Lost Boys, Stand By Me, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Lars and the Real Girl, Casablanca

So many of  these films are ones that I just watched for no reason and fell in love with.  Actually, upon reading this list I just realized that I have terrible taste in movies and that’s simply because I just like to watch movies.  If you tell me to watch a movie chances are I’ll probably check it out just because I like to Increase my movie knowledge, besides you never know, the next trivia contest could be just around the corner.

——Talent to Far?——-

So my question for this post isjust because you are the best at something, are you able to justify pride? There are many succesful artists out there who remain behind the scenes and just do what they do best in writing music while others will not miss an opportunity to put themselfs up front and let you know who you?should be voting for. I am going to give an example of one of these artists….Kanye West, this guy has some pretty poplar riffs and beats, but any kind of humility is non exsistant.

Kanye is the most prideful human beings I have ever seen or heard of butI have talked to people and some argue that sense he is so good that he has every right to tell the world. I’m not sure about you but to me the best way of showing that you are the best is by producing quality while at the same time not thinking that you have to justify your work by building yourself up.

When you see someone like Kanye who works so hard to make people think he is cool by yelling it in they’re face it makes you wonder why he is persuing art, is it all just place him higher? I’m not sure if this is a good comparision, but puting Kanye and Radiohead on the board I personaly see and artist and a poser. Radiohead does art for arts sake while Kanye does it for his own self image.

A Clockwork Orange: Unfairly Judged

I am a frequent visitor of rottentomatoes.com and the other day I was talking to a friend about this review he read online about a clockwork orange. He said that it was very brash and uncalled for.  when i read it I instantly agreed.  The review almosts feels like she didn’t see the film and instead was forming her opinion of the film after what her baptist friends were telling her.  Give it a look. see what you think about.  If you have’t seen it, give it a shot, see what you think.

A Clockwork Orange
Capsule by Dave Kehr
From the Chicago Reader

A very bad film–snide, barely competent, and overdrawn–that enjoys a perennial popularity, perhaps because its confused moral position appeals to the secret Nietzscheans within us. It’s a movie that Leopold and Loeb would have loved, endorsing brutality in the name of nonconformism. At best, Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film suggests an Animal House with bogus intellectual trappings. But the trappings–the rationalizations and spurious arguments–are what make it genuinely irresponsible, genuinely abhorrent. With Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, and Michael Bates. R, 137 min.

Eraserhead

Last year a friend and my self decided we wanted to watch something that would cause us to lose sleep.  So we did what every information seeking college students would do.  We entered that exact criteria into the google search bar.  “what movie made you lose sleep?”  It was funny at the time but actually took a long time for us to stumble across Eraserhead.  When got hold a of it and decided we were gonna have a great night expecting to be creeped out.  WOO HOO, yeah, creeped out………I was not dissappointed.  It has been a long while since I have seen a movie that actually got to me, this one did.  I’m not sure what got to me more, was it the skinless, bodyless rat-child thing, or was it the opening scene with what appeared to be two testicles being destroyed?  Either way, the film left an impression and we got what we wanted. After the end, we didn’t really know what to say to eachother, I’m not sure that we actually said anything when it was over.  Maybe we just left . In any case I’m curious to see the G-rated film by the same director and I’d like to see how much if that style carries over from film to film. 

What makes good horror movie?

thought this was very clever and thought it was beneficial for all the horror movie afficienados out there.

What Makes a Good Horror Film?

written by Jennifer Park on Thursday, October 07, 2004

Five things that are a must in a horror film…

Catch Phrase
A good catch phrase will outlast the forgettable plot of the horror movie, and is usually seen on the movie poster or being said from the jerk at work over and over. Some favorites are: “They’re here” from Poltergeist and “I see dead people” from Sixth Sense.

Sequels
Sequels are a major requirement to horror movies, and they are usually much more cheesy and gory than the original (with exception to Friday the 13th Part 2). And it doesn’t matter if the main killer of the movie has been blown up, drowned, hacked to death, burned, shot, run over, tarred and feathered – he’s making a return in all of the many, many sequels to come.

Unknown Actors
This is not so much a requirement, but a must.  Unknown actors put their heart and soul (and screams!) into horror films. Unknown actors don’t mind getting gallons of fake blood poured on them, an axe to the head, or getting naked for the creativeness of the film. You can’t expect that same dedication from Hollywood’s finest these days. And just remember where would Kevin Bacon be without Friday the 13th?

Creepy Music
The music that supports a horror film is usually way scarier than the actual movie. And it often gives the audience a heads-up before something “bad” happens. Try turning off the volume to movies like Halloween, Jaws, and The Exorcist…not so scary, huh?

Evil Entity
Every horror film needs a good versus evil storyline. Good is usually the hot, semi-clothed teens and evil can be anything from a guy in a mask, a great white shark, a haunted house, zombies, a guy in your dreams…the list can go on and on.

S.W. Belated Fargo

I know it’s been a while since this was shown but it is still an oppurtunity to get double blog credits. Car salesman Jerry Lundegaard (Macy) hires low-lifes Carl and Gaear (Buscemi and Stormare) to kidnap his wife, hoping that her wealthy father will pay a ransom from which Jerry can creama share. The abduction goes according to plan, but the kidnappers commit three murdersas they drive by night through the snowyMinnesota wastes. Police chief Marge Gunderson (McDormand), a slow-talkin’, smart-thinkin’, pregnant housewife, investigates.  The Coen’s beguiling film is both very funny and, finally, very moving.  The idea that someone. Even with the violence, this is still a more mild answer to there privious films. Marge and her husband are genuinely good, ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events of, to them, unfathomable evil.  Peter Stormare’s character still makes me question humanity every time I watch the movie.  I feel the Fargo wil go down in my personal history as one of my favorite movies.

The Big Lebowski

The Big Lebowski is the tale of a lazy, good-for-nothing, bowling team-mate, Jeff Lebowski or “The Dude”, who, accompanied by his Vietnam obsessed friend, Walter, and their perpetually clueless teammate, Donnie (who shows up very little in the film considering the importance I’m giving to him at this moment), embark on a very twisted road of confusion and reconciliation only to find that the beginning is very similar to the end in that nothing significantly changes. The most emotionally alarming portion of the movie comes unexpectedly when Donnie has a heart attack and doesn’t recover. “The Dude” is the main character in the story and early on in the film the viewer realizes that he has very little worth to society. This point is what gets him into trouble, partnered with the concept of sharing the same name with a wealthier Jeff Lebowski who has a twisted plan to get rid of his gold-digging, jailbait wife. The film also presents a barrage of other estranged characters such as the beautifully strange daughter of the wealthy Lebowski, and a nihilist porn actor. “The Big Lebowski” is the seventh film created by the Coen Brothers. It won no awards, got no real special recognition and was anything but special in the all-knowing eyes of any first-rate movie critic’s standards. The movie is tasteless, tactless, and vulgar. This film has no redemptive qualities; however, “the Big Lebowski” is a comedy, maybe not by the standards of Buechner, but it is a comedy. “The Big Lebowski” may still hold some moral value but the standards on which it is judged are beyond me.

Good hype for A Good Burger

Good Burger is an extension of a famous bit from Nickelodeon’s all-kid sketch comedy series “All That,” featuring a teen version of Laurel and Hardy played by Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell. In fact the whole “All That” team.  The plot finds these two teen-aged pilgrims of the service economy in the cross-fire of a war between burger joints. Mondo Burger — fronted by a scrawny neo-Nazi played by Jan Schwieterman who faces a fine future taking all the roles David Spade turns down — literally wants to take over the world. First it must take over Good Burger across the street, a funky, down-home, multi-culti kind of place that despite its overwhelming incompetence is a neighborhood institution.  When the movie goes high tech toward the end — with frantic plot twists, kidnappings, exploding hamburgers and the fiery destruction of a fast food joint conceived as a museum display of crass consumerism — it tends to lose contact with the character work that provided its original charm.  Most adults will find it as tiresome as their younger kids will find it delightful, but anyone who doesn’t smile is probably either too adult to count or too dead to care.  So that is my attempt to tastefully judge a crap movie as though it was something good.

Over View

   

    Well I would just like to say, that Intro to DMA has been one of the most interesting class’s all semester.  The videos we watched where both amazing and disturbing.  Not to many class’s can show you videos that can make you want to jump off the high end of a building one day (you know the ones I am talking about) then make you laugh the next class.  I have to say, watching so many underground videos and animations was an eye opener.  So much is taken for granted with high end Hollywood movies.  That the underground movies don’t get half the credit they should.  Which is very sad considering that the underground is what develops the top side movies from behind the scenes.  This class has really helped me not only to see the story but also what they are trying to get across in the movie or short film.  Plus you can’t help but like a class that is 80% sitting there and watching animations and short films.  S&W was also a really nice touch that helped me to watch movies I have never even heard of.  Over all it was a crazy first semester this class helped.

Hot Rod

Okay so I’m just going to come out and say it.  Oneof my favorite movies is indeed Hot Rod.  I know this means that I’ll lose a lot of the very little respect that I currently have. I can’t help it. The review value for me to watch that movie is off of the charts.  It’s so much fun to watch especially if you are with some very serious friends who don;t like it at until.  and when you laugh, they think that you are crazy.  Many people I know just don’t get the humor of Hot Rod.  Many see the film as overeemphasized cliche, well they are wrong.  The film is quite hialrious if you can find it in your heart to give it a chance.  Andy Samberg does very well in his first major motion picture.  I hope that the next movies they come up with are even better and even dumber.

Violence…..

   Violence is all around use in so many ways movies, games, TV….. Etc.  Why is this, is it just because we find violence to be funny or have we been trained to think that it is funny just from seeing so much of it.  Or is it some kind of sad attempt to deal with this aggressive action that seems to have reoccurred over and over throughout time?  Please by no means take me as a pacifist; I am one of these people that enjoy action movies and violent video games.  I am just trying to figure out why we are so attracted to something that should probably a pawl us. There are some that say are violent video games and other such things like it are the reasons for people acting out in anger against others.  Grand theft auto is attacked a lot I mean a lot.  The interesting thing about this game is the fact that you have the freedom to play as a fireman, taxi driver even drive an emergency vehicle around town and save lives.  The fact is that most of us chose to do the more violent (entertaining) thing and try and see how many stars you can get.  I think we need to really take a step back and look at it and try to understand why we love these movies, games so much. How far do we really want to dull are sense to this kind of thing. (just another random thought)

Hot Fuzz

Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is the best of the best. His arrest record is 400 percent higher than any other officer in London. He’s so good, he’s making the rest of the department look bad. Because of this, Angel is shipped off to the small, crime-free town of Sandford. There, he is partnered with Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), an over-eager cop dying for some action. Suddenly the town of Sandford has some mysterious accidents and Angel is convinced something is wrong. The men who made “Shaun of the Dead” have done it again. This time they have combined a classic cop-buddy movie with a quaint town in England, and yes, laughs definitely ensue. Because of the success of “Shaun of the Dead,” “Hot Fuzz” was able to get an amazing supporting cast. Jim Broadbent, Timothy Dalton, Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman and Bill Nighy all get laughs. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are quickly becoming a fantastic on-screen duo and “Hot Fuzz” makes sure that besides the comedy there are plenty car chases, gunfights and explosions.  One of teh best scenes on the movie is when Butterman (Frost) has Angel (Pegg) watch “Bad Boys II.” Not only do they show the part where Martin Lawrence says, “This sh*t just got real,” but it proves to be a turning point in the movie when Angel begins to break the rules, and take the law into his own hands.  Hot Fuzz, although not as good as its zombie counterpart, is still an amzing film for fans of several different age groups.

Pimp My What?

So i’ve never had the chance to rant about this before so i’m going to take all the time i need.  There are so many crappy tv shows out there now that I just so not know what i am going to do.  I think one of the worst, most idiotic shows on television has got to be PIMP MY RIDE.  Really? Are they serious?  People actually watch this crap?  And the saddest part is that people do actually watch the show. and some don’t even complain, they actually enjoy the time they spend watching that garbage. It’s nothing but a miserable waste of anyone’s time.  But now it’s okay because they have much better versions of the show such as Trick My Truck, which makes total sense.  Why would I want to spend all my time completely loathing only one show?  I don’t know how anyone can put up with the show but i don;t care so I leave you with this. It made me laugh.