Grid Project

I decided to do my grid project on "Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper. I was torn between this painting and one of Van Gogh's sunflowers. I chose this one because it reminded me of home. I live very close to Chicago, and I would often go to the Art Institute of Chicago and see this painting on its walls.

                                                                   The final product

This piece also kind of reflects myself because like the people in the painting, I tend to be a nighthawk and stay up past the normal hours of living. In fact, I created most of this grid project after midnight each day over spring break. It took me around three days (at least five hours a day) to complete this.

                                                         My work station

I decided to use hole punched paint samples because I could capture the exquisite colors of the painting with ease, as I did not have to do any cutting. If I had to cut out each unit of the grid, it probably would have taken double the time.

                                        
                                          Close up                                             The grid

The grid is 30 x 54 units, for a total of 1620 punched holes. I had to draw a grid on top of my reference to be more exact. For each square, I picked the most represented color and matched it as best I could with the paint samples. I did not have all the perfect colors, but I tried my best. Some colors I had no match or I ran out of, so I had to make another trip to the hardware store.

                                                                       Comparison

The final product is not a perfect match, but it still looks really cool. The best way to see it is on a slight angle and further away. you could also be a little closer to it and take off your glasses. Overall, it was a really laborious, but fun project. I think I might want to do another. Maybe Van Gogh's sunflowers this time :)

Gaming

I do not consider myself a "gamer," but I love video games! My first portable "video game" ever was a tamagotchi in elementary school. I was so addicted to my digital pet, and I loved feeding and playing games with him to make him happy. I would constantly play until the batteries ran out. Over the years, I kept getting the new additions, so I probably had around three of them.

Before that, I loved to play computer games. There were some that I played from a disk and some online. Some of my favorite games were Pajama Sam, Put-Put Saves the Zoo, Nancy Drew, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The Nancy Drew game was the one on Shadow Ranch and it was very challenging. I do not think I ever completed it. Harry Potter was my all-time favorite computer game. I loved the movies, and the game was pretty much as awesome. I played it all the time and I completed it thrice.

I soon moved on to Nintendo video games when I got my Nintendo DS. It was my first real video game, as my family did not have a gameboy, gamecube, or xbox. I was also addicted to this. I loved playing Animal Crossing, Nintendogs, Mario Kart, and Super Mario Bros. This is when I discovered Mario and I fell in love. We soon got a Wii and I played all the Mario games. Super Mario Galaxy was my favorite. I also liked the Super Mario Bros. for the Wii, but my siblings and I would always yell and blame each other for dying, so my mom got mad and told us not to play it.

When I was in elementary school, I also had a ton of Webkinz and would always play online. Club Penguin was also a large part of my online life. I actually paid to be a member. I have no idea why; it is really not that fun. I also played a lot of online games on the Disney website. They had games for Zack and Cody, Lizzie McGuire, and other shows I liked. Later on, Disney also came out with Toontown, which I loved to play. I did not want to be a member though, so I played until I cannot get anywhere without being a member.

When my little brother got older, he got an xbox one. I played Forza Horizon, a racing game, with him and enjoyed it, but I don't really play it that often. Now, I do not play video games at all because I brought non with me. I still like them, but they aren't as fun as they used to be.

Spring Dance Concert

On Friday, February 20th, I attended the Spring Dance Concert. It was surprisingly really good. I had no idea that the dancers of UT had such talent. Santiago Echeverry's video dance was in the first performance: Theme and Variation...with a twist. This dance was really cool. It combined older and classic music and dance with a newer feel. The video playing in the back as well as the beat in the background of the music added the "twist" with modern technology and art. The video playing in the back was projected onto the dancers and you could see their gridded "reflection" on them.

The rest of the program was very good. I especially liked the one with the pointed-toe ballet dancers because I haven't seen a ballet in such a long time. I never really saw much of the artistic side of the University of Tampa, but I have to say that after I saw this program, I realized how talented of a school we are.

FLIPITY BOOK

I hope George R. R. Martin does not get mad at me for decontextualizing one of his great works: A Feast For Crows (from the Game of Thrones series.) I love his books, but he can be a little bit murderous in his stories, as he kills off practically everyone. This flip book is a tribute to him.

  I decided to start off with the viewer traveling though space because it looks awesome and it shows a lot of movement. I needed to move the story along, so an abstract green blob hatched from his egg on some distant planet and decided to go on an adventure. He became a rocket and a fish, which our old friend George R. R. Martin, the sadist (as it points out in the end), decided to destroy. When I created this flip book, it was completely random and was the result of no planning, so I guess my mind and subconscious took over. I suppose they were saying that although you could feel free and make anything of yourself, you could die any minute; even more so if your life was in the hands of George R. R. Martin, the sadist. However, I still remain optimistic because alas, all men must die, so one should not always fret over this universal truth. Don't worry, be happy.

Mark J. Stock

I thought Mark Stock's work was really cool. There were a lot of abstract smokey and wavy elements in his work that makes the pieces captivating. One of his videos, called WAVE, was really neat, and it reminded me of the grid projects we have to do. In the video, single colored squares and rectangles fuze into a wave that looks like paint is being mixed.It is similar to the grid project because each unit is one color and is combined with other units to create a greater work of art. The video is almost trippy and is hypnotizing to look at. Being a longer video (13 minutes) it would be perfect as a computer screen saver or on a TV in a fancy waiting room.

The Man Who Was Tomorrow

I remember when I was younger, my dad used to listen to the radio when he went to bed. Sometimes I would creep into his bed at night and listen to it. Twilight Zone was always on at 11 pm. I found it captivating, and in the darkness with the amazing sound effects, I could visualize each scene perfectly. And although at my young age each program would leave me scared and unable to sleep, I thought they were so cool to listen to.

For this class, I listened to the old time radio program, "The Man Who Was Tomorrow." It is a science fiction show that was very similar to Charles Dickens' Cristmas Carol in that a man was shown his future in order to get him to change his ways. In this program, a man broke up with his girlfriend and thought nothing of it but the man who was tomorrow talked to him and showed him that this girl was his future and by being with her he would have an amazing life. The man then got back with her to have a happy life.

I thought this form of entertainment was very cool. There were amazing sound effects that made the "action" seem real even though there were no visuals. The voices were really good too and each actor conveyed the correct emotion very well.

Overall, I thought this was an amazing radio show. I really enjoyed it and I can see why people used to listen to these all the time. You can have your hands and eyes free while having some good entertainment. While reading a book, you have to look at it and use your hands to hold it, and with the TV you have to look at it. However, with radio you can do just about anything and have great entertainment.

Pandora and Spotify

I use both Pandora and Spotify regularly and love and hate them both. I love the aspect of Pandora where I can choose one song or artist and the website creates an ongoing playlists similar songs. I really enjoy how I can stumble upon songs that I have never heard of before but like. I have even made playlists based on new artists that I have discovered from Pandora. It is amazing how the playlists can be even more fine tuned by me "thumbs-up/down-ing" the song.

I use pandora a lot when I want a very specific genre of music. For example, Pandora can create a playlist of just Disney songs or just songs from Les Miserables if I type in a playlist based on Tarzan or the famous musical. I can make it even more specific by typing in a certain performance. I have two Les Miserables playlists; one "Les Miserables (Original London Cast)" and another "Les Miserables (2010 Cast)." Both of these playlists give me music that is mostly from that album. I use Pandora a lot when I am painting or creating an artwork. I love to listen to film score when I paint, so I usually listen to score from How to Train Your Dragon or Lord of the Rings.

I do really love Pandora, but I really don't like how I cannot pick a specific song. In Spotify though, I can. In fact, I can skip around from song to song often. The downside of this is that I need to find a particular playlist that has these songs, but the good side is that you can see all the songs available and choose them. Spotify has many pre-made and good playlists that I like to listen to. I can also choose a playlist based on my mood. I listen to Spotify a lot when I go for runs. I really like the playlist "Songs to Sing in the Shower," which I listen to when I run. It is just a compilation of songs that make you happy and can sing along to.