Monday, December 8, 2008

Final Thoughts

We'll I learned that I don't know how to make a PDF turn sideways. But over all the piece was very interesting. I agreed with many things that they said, though for different reasons. I did like this quote though very much, "All of us, no matter what we do, have a right to make moral decisions about the world." (10). I find that a very interesting statement.

Though, the writer seems to be very bias towards artist. As if an artist is the only type of person who can transcend the cultural lock. They put artist on this pedestal and spends 20 odd pages loving them. But hey, who can fault someone for liking their profession.

Also, this artist really only focused on writers, there was reference to Picasso and then the poster and Bob Dylan but really, this person didn't mean to say artist but writers should think outside the box of culture. So really, I agree with the message that we should not just blindly follow the government, they do a bad job of boxing in artists which they already stated that they don't like when people do that. So this person seems a bit hypocritical to me.

But like the fake paper, it might just be that written work is just the easiest to present. I just feel that this person's use of artist is far to closed minded to be an artist themselves.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Article Idea

I think I'll write something about society finally realizes that video games are an actual art form and that violent ones are not the blame for situations like columbine. They will realize that hey, it's the family that needs to put perspective on what the child sees whether it's on tv or in a game.

Monday, November 10, 2008

New Artist statement.

This series of shirts is called I'm Black. It takes the phrase 'I'm Black' and morphs the text into many different images that represents different stereotypes and how they may or may not pertain to myself while others are more personal experiences. All of them are trying to get the viewer to think outside of their cultural norms. I want to make them think why do they think or don't think these stereotypes are true.
The reason I used shirts is because it makes the message portable. I can wear it and let others see and think about it easily. As well, the idea of shirts having phrases on them is not new, so people will be much more open to it than if I made a video. People will be more open to reading a t-shirt for a couple seconds that might bring up something they might feel uncomfortable about than watch a 3-5 minute movie on the same subject. The briefness of the shirt let's the viewer relax.
The great thing about this work is that it can be done by anyone and any race. While the viewer is thinking about how I work into stereotypes they can think on how they might be or not be similar to stereotypes they know. In the end I hope my shirts can help the viewer in learning about themselves and how they fit into society.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Project III

I'll be working with my first project with the I'm Black shirts. Here's a link that is somewhat of an example of what I had in mind when I started out. I felt this project had the strongest message and that's why I want to make more shirts and maybe remake the ones I already have. It's mah baby. I think I'll remake the shirts, make more shirts, and try to make them as professional as possible. As in making everything look as if they were made by some machine for mass production. All of this is really to just expand on the idea. It's like if I had more time to work on it, what would I do. This project 3 is that.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Street Fight

I was angered by the fact that the current mayor used his power in such a corrupt way, but again that's politics as it is, and that in itself get's me really angry. Politics have become such a dirty game. But I did like how Booker did fight a clean fight, that does show that there are good politicians out there, and of course how people saw that and voted for him, much like this election. We have a less vetted candidate running against someone who's been around. The vetted person has run a much dirtier campaign while Obama has kept it very clean. But this movie is different because it was two Democrats against each other so I'm sure they had similar policies.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Two for one.

I'm not voting for McCain, simply put they have turn this race into a carnival act of horrid politics. From bashing Obama for not having experience to then grabing up an Palin who has virtual no experience and then saying she's ready for the job is inexcusable. I've gown so tired of the Republicans trying to treat politics with such a visual facad with no substance. I'm just so ready for a change and I think Obama is at least the step in the right direction.


America just loves to commercialize any holiday. If they can cheaply make an item that corresponds to a holiday, you are sure to see it in every Walmart and Target in America. We are unable to celibate without having to buy something. Somewhere between our Declaration of Independence and now, we simply stopped caring about the small liberties and only cared about the big things. “What can I get out of this” attitudes and not “what can I do”. We've changed from a country that was ready to fight for freedoms to one that barely lifts a finger when our own government encroaches upon our very rights. Somewhere in time, we became lazy, maybe it was when America became fat.
From phone taping, to bottle necking the internet, to outright bias on our TV “news” stations, we have lost true control over our country. I mean we as in the citizens. Colectivly we have said to our government that we don't care if you tap into my phone as long as Idol will be one at 7. At some point in time, that nice carrot the government was dangling in front of was became our obsession. All other aspects of life no longer mattered. It's sad, I know that there are people out there that try to stand up and fight, yet the masses don't seem to hear them over their new plasma screen HD TV. So what are we to do? What will it take to change this American back into something to be proud of? Maybe a new face in Washington, maybe an economic failure, maybe another terrorist attack. Who knows, all I know is that I'll never stop fighting for true freedom.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Whale Rider

1) Name two situations where Koro ignored signs of Pai’s ability and aptitude to lead.

The fact that Pai was so interested about the culture and learned all she could without being forced to. As well as how she learned to use the taiaha on her own and excelled at it.

2) Discuss the scene where Rawiri took up the taiaha again.
How does this change carry on for Rawiri in the rest of the story?

It changes him, he was once slim and strong and he sees that.

3) When the community walk away together, Paikea comes
from behind them and walks alone back towards the big
whale. What did that image make you think about Paikea?

A bit like someone who knew they were right and was ready to do everything they could to fix something. No matter what anyone else thought. So much like a civil rights activist from the 60's.

4) When Pai is in the hospital how do they know Koro has changed his
attitude towards her?

Well he apologies and announces her as the leader. Seemed pretty obvious and or strait forward.

5) What is the significance of the waka? Describe the waka scene that struck you most, and explain why.

The canoe sort of shows her official acceptance by everyone of Pai being apart (or leader of) their rich traditions. A right of passage in some sense.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Project II Ideas

I'm still not too sure on what topic I'm going to do, but I think I'm going to make a song of sorts. It might be more of a spoken word to music but none the less it's pretty much the same. I have a lot of people that can help me record it so I think it will be fun writing and recording the work. Between the topics I can choose from, the election and activist are the most interesting to me. So I'll probably do something with that.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Our America Part II

Those children are not to be blamed for such an incident. We are to blame, for creating an environment that can grow incidents and a culture such as this. Yes, the fact that they "threw" a child out of a window is horrid. But within their culture that we, (white America) has created, that is nothing but abnormal. We should not sentence them for life, or for more than 10 years. We should put them in juvenile hall but we need to try and stop this sort of society from breeding. We need to implement a cleaning of these ghettos by bringing in better schooling, better parks and such. We must give this place life for life to come from it.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Our America Part I

The interview that really stands out and sets LeAlan and Lloyd apart from their peers is the interview with "shorty" the drug dealer. The two parties view on life is very obviously different. Shorty only expects to live for 10 years at most. He knows his life style will lead to death, yet he will continue to do what will lead him there. While the LeAlan and Lloyd are trying to make something of themselves. I just found the differences astonishing.


The last chapter of part I explains it best. Not to look at ghetto kids and see than as a difference being, we all are human. I think that they show that pretty well. They give reasoning to why things are the way they are, or at least they search out that reason. Thus sheading light onto the issue. They do this by showing thier conversations and allowing me to relate to them. They speak their mind and allow the reader to take what they will.

The community they live in is separated off from the rest of the city, if you are born there you die there. It's a trap that you can never get out of much like the example given. There aren't many differences, now it's not about race but wealth. Ghetto's are places where bad things happen to the people there, so it makes perfect sense that the word has a negative connotation. Also for white culture it represents things that they don't know and in turn gives them a fearful idea behind it.

Like any other neighborhood, people go through life, they live and love, laugh and cry. It just has a backdrop of a much more dangerous place. There is crime and violence right next to these other experiences. This makes having the good experiences harder to find because the negative ones are so much stronger at times.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

It's a Mask?

Sapatri, Orlan, Tenshigahara's characters and myself all deal with the issue of self identity. For Sapatri, during her childhood, she lived in a culture that was very restrictive towards women. She would go against the current whenever possible. She would wear American brand shoes, listen to punk rock and wear jeans. All to try and make herself stand out from the culture that she belonged to but didn't feel welcome in. That act is nothing new, trying to find yourself by distancing yourself from your culture is common. One can even say that you can't find yourself until your away from scociety.

Tenshigahara's characters were split over the issue of dress. The husband took a surprisingly Western stance with his mindset thinking that makeup was only for sexual appeal. The wife humbly disagreed and brought up the point of it being for humility and not vanity. This shows the natural sexual breakdown on dress that Orlan is avidly assaulting by her surgeries. Orlan is taking classical ideal beauty (created by men of the time) and actually bringing them into fruition. However, she's showing how unnatural they really are. She's trying to deconstruct the ideal women's physical appearance by saying it can't exist.

Myself, I live in a society that generally builds assumptions off of your looks. Though, I'm not attacking against a stereotype by my dress. I feel there is a time and place for every style of clothing. The clothes that someone wears in a certain situation can give you valid information about them. If someone went to a wedding in pajamas, you could get an impression of their personality. Though as with all things, you can't judge a book by it's covers. We can never truly understand someone only by their appearance. Humans are multilayered and it takes years to trully get to a persons core.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Possible Ideas for Project 1

The two main ideas I have in my head are as followed.

If I do a map of myself, I'd either try and make it into a video so as to be like a travel channel type showing of myself. On this corner if my love for soccer and over there is his love for video games etc. I think it would be funny to do but I don't know if I have the time to work on something and have it look polished. This would be a good way to show the many different parts of myself and make it into an enjoyable thing to watch.

The other idea is some sort of t-shirt with quotes I find relating to self identity. They could be mine or other famous people. I'd make each quote into a different looking font as to make them each unique. This one would be easier to make but I'd have to make sure it doesn't look bad. This would let me say what I think and find others that go with what I'm saying.

I just hope there is a easy way to save all of this into a final portfolio later. How does one save a t-shirt he might want to wear?

Friday, September 5, 2008

Questions Brought up by Persepolis

Persepolis reminded me a lot of A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, as it's main character was a young Middle-Eastern girl. As I read the graphic novel, I was reminded of many questions that I asked myself when I read ATSS. Firstly, I always had wondered why would a family choose to live in such a dangerous place. Maybe I'm just not very sentimental over what I consider my home. I find it hard to understand the will of someone to knowingly stay in a dangerous location when they appear to have the money to leave. Is the pride in one's home that much more important than ones life?

Another question is there any stories from a none rich family? The Satrapi's were rich enough to be able to be rebellious and educated. What happend to those not that lucky?

I'll leave this post with one last question. Is the quote, "to die a martyr is to inject blood into the veins of society." still relivant to todays American society?