4B. Audio Reflection on the Music/Song Assignment

The people I did audio reflections for are:
William Blunenschein (music/song wasn't posted)

Brie Donovan

Caitlin Stone

4A. Written response to Brainwashed:

http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/66.01.Brainwashed

Acknowledging the Lizard:
Basically the Lizard is the little scared kid inside everyone of us that doesn't like being made fun of.  But it is an important part being an artiest to be different and to have some of our stuff laughed at or made fun of.  Without this then we couldn't perfect our artistic skills.
Learn:
This layer basically says that we never stop learning and it is important that we never stop.  If we stop learning then we stop growing as a person and artist.  It is by learning we can make our art better and grow as a person as well.

Personally I hate these blog assignments and they do nothing to help my creative process.  For me creating something can not be taught, but is learned through hands on experience.  I have a hard time learning when someone puts limits on my creative projects.  All these blog assignments due is busy work.  I don't get anything out of them other than it being fairly open in the sense, the blogs, are not to strict.  Kind of like do this, do that, and do one of those.  It is more open ended questions to be answered. I better way to spend my time or "class time" would to be handing out tutorials to follow and we recreate them without any limitation on the creative process (of course).

3B. Critique three Soundscape Assignments

I commented on the following blogs:
Patrick Koga
Shannon McAdoo
Isabella Knazek

3A. Demo and Written exploration of Cover Songs

~Chuck Berry

~Elvis Presley

   Both these videos or songs are from back in the late 1950's, early 1960's.  They songs are called Johnny B. Good.  The first video is done by Chuck Berry (the true King), while the second one is down by the "King" Elvis Presley.  The song was originally done by Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley just used the song.  The lyrics are exactly the same in both the videos above which is kinda of surprising.  There is one verse that only Chuck Berry sang:

"He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack
Go sit beneath the tree by the railroad track
Oh, the engineers would see him sitting in the shade
Strumming with the rhythm that the drivers made
People passing by they would stop and say
Oh my that little country boy could play "

    I feel like Chuck Berry would of wanted money from Elvis Presley because Elvis used Chuck's song while preforming.  Although I believe Elvis Presley used a lot of Chuck's songs and styles.  I read somewhere that Chuck Berry started rock 'n roll, unlike the popular belief that Elvis Presley started rock 'n roll.
   The musical quality is much better in Chuck Berry's version of the song, in my opinion, because the tempo or speed is much slower and it seems much more organized throughout.  The pitch of both songs sound about the same during the whole song.
  In my opinion, Chuck Berry's song is much better.  For me Elvis Presley's version is to fast and I just do not like how quickly he sings it.  With Chuck Berry's version I get a much better appreciation for the song because it is slower and song better.  I really like how I can understand Chuck Berry's lyrics more so than Elvis Presley's version of the song.  The instruments even sound better within Chuck Berry's type of Johny B. Good.  It is also better because Chuck Berry actually started rock 'n roll; therefore, this (rock 'n roll) song should be better.  Elvis Presley has a unique performance, I will give him that, but he does not put feeling behind his lyrical notes as Chuck Berry does.

song

sound scape

audio response: Find Your Howl

http://changethis.com/

  One aspect that I will summarize is the one about the tiger in the cage.  This tiger is trapped within a cage within a zoo.  He is really good at jumping out of the cage, but after he jumps outside of the cage he ends up within another cage within another zoo.  This story is trying to parallel human life and how we are in cages even if we don't realize it.  Take the job you work at, you have been working here for awhile now and have gotten pretty good at every task that is asked of you.  After awhile you will become sick of this job because nothing new is happening and every day is the same almost.  Well one day you decide to quit this job.  Then you realize that you need to get another job to make money.  So as soon as you learn everything at the new job, it will become boring once again.  You will want to "jump" into another job.  Just like the tiger wants to jump from cage to cage.  Human's have cages too.

The word "howl" can be considered your soul or what makes you, you.  Everyone's howl is different and by that I mean howls let a person stand out from the crowd of people.  It will let the other people around you know that you don't conform to what other people do because it is what everyone else is doing, but rather you make up your own way of life.   You basically become a leader that everyone else can follow.  Possibly other people can find their howl too, through you.

The Greatest Enemy of Knowledge is Not Ignorance, It is the ILLUSION of Knowledge. -Stephen Hawking

 
This quote can be equated to being a creative person too.  Just change knowledge to creativity.  The illusion of creativity to me is someone trying to control my creative process.  It is like someone telling you how to be creative when truly creativity isn't something you learn but something you practice.

1B Written response to reading: WAYS TO GET IDEAS

http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/49.06.14Ways

1. Follow Your FascInatIon :
This suggestion is a good one because being fascinated with something is a great way to make something really cool.  I get a lot of great ideas just because I like or am fascinated by a certain item or idea.  These ideas I can bring into my artwork or creative process.  It is important to be fascinated or interested in an idea before you bring it into your work.  So I would have to say that this step is one of the more important steps because this is where you can draw inspiration to create something awesome.  To follow ones fascination is a great way to get started in the creative process.  The things that fascinated us are the easiest because if we are fascinated by that item or idea then we are more likely to dive deeper into learning about that item or idea to use it in our creative process.   Although just because one is fascinated with something doesn't always mean it will translate into something that is creative.  Ones creativity is not always best used on things that are fascinating.  One might get more out of things that are not as fascinating to that person.  I guess it all depends on the artist who is the designer behind the creative process.

8. take a Break
I think this can be a little of both, good and bad.  It can be a good thing when you are working on a project for school or something that has a goal in mind.  This is because it is true, when you come to a problem it is best to just take a break.  Then you come back to it with fresh and new ideas to add too it.  Like I said this can also be a bad thing too.  It is only bad in my opinion when you are creating an art piece.  Something that you just want to express through artwork taking a break is bad.  It is bad because I feel that when working on an art piece that express how I feel then I want it to express how i feel at that very moment.  If I were to take a break then that emotion that I was feeling when creating this artwork maybe lost during that break.

9. notIce anD cHallenGe exIstInG Patterns anD trenDs
This suggestion is really a great one because in the art world it's all about making yourself stand out from the crowd.  It is important to notice all the patterns within our culture because once you find these patterns you can change them and make them your own.  By changing them we can challenge the trends within our society.  As an artiest the most important thing in my opinion is to point out the facts about society and the dullness of it.  If we can recognize those dullness's then maybe we can change them for the better.  It's like adding spices to food, it just gives it a better overall taste.  I might implement this into my creative life by choosing to challenge those existing patterns and treads I notice.  I may choose to write a satire or use irony to make my point about those constant patterns and / or patterns.


What new idea is fascinating you? What new possibility has captured your attention? 
In what ways can you honor this inspiration today?
The new idea of 3D without using the normal 3D glasses is the idea that is fascinating me.  So many new possibilities have captured my attention with this new technology.  Some examples include use of this 3D technology in video games, TV, movies, computer, etc.  I would love to see a world where I could play a video game in 3D without using those annoying glasses.  Come to think of it, I don't think there are any 3D video games out there right now.  Not to many in 3D at least.  Since I might go into creating video games, I might want to honor this new inspiration by starting to think in 3D.  By this I mean I need to start thinking about how people my interact with a 3D game.  Will they touch the screen? Or will they have to touch something that is sticking outside the screen in the 3D space.  Will the user even like 3D games?  These types of questions are important to keep in mind when coming up with new ideas.  Especially since it looks like our technology is headed towards a 3D future.

1A. Demo and Written answer to: Who influences you as a Creative Person?

Michael Bay: Movie Director

Michael Bay is known for his use of explosions and over the top special effects.  I think this is why I admire him.  I am fascinated by special effects and Mr Bay is one of the best directors to use them.  The video above is a montage of explosions and special effects in multiple films of Bay's work.  In some of Michael Bay's work he uses Tension and Release by having close ups of people talking, then it moves to extreme close ups of them talking causing this tension, and finally "releasing" us back to a normal view.  Contrast and Affinity can be seen in Bay's most recent film Transformers.  The two different types of auto-bots have different colors.  The "good" auto-bots are more colorful and the main bot has the colors of red and blue symbolizing "America's flag/colors".  The "bad" auto-bots are dull and less colorful.  Most of the films that Bay does lean towards Didactic vs Active.  Didactic because Bay uses the explosions and special effects to tell the audience what to think about this film.  If you see someone in the explosion then 9/10 times they are dead, especially if they are not a main character.

Matt Stone and Trey Parker: South Park Creators

Matt Stone and Trey Parker two extremely funny men who created South Park one of my favorite TV shows.  These guys influence my comedy a lot because I love their comedic humor they use through their TV show South Park.  They use Text and Subtext in South Park most of the time.  They have the children of South Park solving all the adult problems in every episode this being just one example of irony.  Irony because the kids are smarter than the adults cause they solve these problems.  At the end of almost every episode they have a little "I've learned something today" moment.  This is where Matt and Trey use more Didactic approach and not Active.  Didactic because they are telling you exactly what to think through what the characters have learned in that specific episode.  The South Park creators use Subjective stories more over Objective.  Most, if not all, of Matt and Trey's work is open to opinion because they use real events in our history.  Those events being bias; therefore, the events are subjective because they are opinion based.

The Blue Scholars: Music

The Blue Scholars are my favorite music group as of right now because they use such great beats and have amazing lyrics to go along with the beats.  Their song 50 Thousand Deep is one of my favorite songs by them.  The song is Subjective more than Objective because I think the Blue Scholars wanted you to have an open mind when it comes to the "riot" described in the song.  That is wasn't a riot but a uprising.  This song is also more Active than Didactic because the audience is suppose to make up their own minds when it comes to the police shooting the crowd/ protest.  The Contrast and Affinity in this song is about the poor and rich within the protest that the singer is in.  How the rich get arrested on purpose while the poor get arrested even though they are not part of the protest.

It's a broom