The Two Rooms

How can one say what is the essential Columbia?  A school with more then 18 buildings and with even more infinite majors.  With all of this the only thing that is certain is the diversity of the people that will go there.  I myself am a film major, with animation as my core.  What I may consider to be what Columbia is all about will differ with others.  However, in my short experience at Columbia I must admit that two places come to my mind faster then any others.  And both are conveniently located at the 1112 S Wabash Building.
The first is on the ground floor.  Enter the doors and take the quick right.  You are greeted by blue and green chairs, white tables, and two walls that are all window.  This space, while usually meant for passing time before classes or groups throwing ideas around is more then that.  Just as Columbia is.  As a school you think of projects and rushing around to get to places on time.  As you see in this room.  However there is another side.  Take the brown haired girl siting in one of the blue/green chairs.  At first glance she is merely looking out the window to pass the time.  But, if you continue to look you see that she is completely focused on the outside.  Studying it, seeing something none of us do.  The only clue we have to her being aware of her surroundings is when a stray hair falls on her face and she pushes it back behind her ear.  That is one thing that wonderful about this lounge, even when not doing school work everyone is still creating and seeing the world.  
The other place in this building in on the top floor.  While the ground floor is filled with natural light and greens and blues, this floor is nearly all white.  And while it also has windows, it is artificially lit as well.  The difference in the ways these two room are set up is so drastic it's like being in a different building entirely.  And yet it has the same feel as the ground floor.  You can see students hunched over notebooks scribbling away with great concentration, while others lean back lazily on their laptops.  It is almost like the rooms are two different art forms.  And yet both draw students.
To see such a difference in these rooms truly describes Columbia in my eyes.  This the film building, however no two floors are alike.  Much like how with the films student, no two are alike. 

Anything but Rap Music

  

            When asked about what kind of music I care for, these are the words that tend to leave my lips.  Bring on the Jazz, Hip-Hop, Classical, and while not my first choice even Country.  To me rap was always a just a way for musicians to sing about sex, violence, swear, and just be angry at everything.  I never got a message, and to speak the whole and honest truth most of the rap that I heard I couldn’t decipher except for a few swear words and obscene comments about a woman’s body and what they wanted to do to it.  So to say that I wasn’t the target audience for Dave Chappelle's Block Party would be a fair assumption.

                However while watching this I came to realize something about rap music, I will never like it.  This statement, however, is just because of how rap music is played not what it stands for.  I do not like the words that are used in rap or the way women are portrayed.  What I do like, and what I’ve come to understand about it, is the reasons rap music is made.  The people who rap have a lot of anger and frustration in their lives.  They see wrongs being done and they are trying to raise awareness to them through their music.  They realize that they alone can’t fix the problem so they try to show the problem to as many people as possible in the hopes that a group of people will be moved to act. 

                And it was not only the rap music that made me think when watching this movie.  Dave Chappelle is famous for not only being a top-notch comedian, but also for his famous disappearance.  For those unaware Dave Chappelle did a shocking move by leaving during the production of the third season of the Chappelle’s Show.  In this absence he took a trip to South Africa to get away from all of the fame and the craziness that came with it.  He stated that the reason he left was that he was not happy doing what he did anymore.  Singling out one incidence, when recording a pixie sketch, he saw that a crew member was laughing in a way that made him feel uncomfortable.  He said that “it was the first time I felt that someone was not laughing with me but laughing at me.” This is very important information, in that these are the incidence that lead up to his block party.

                The block party is a place where fellow artist can come together and have fun doing what they love.  All of this was inspired because of Chappelle wanting to get back to what he loved to do, make people laugh.  He seemed to want to have a small moment where he and other artist could get back to the reason they were doing this and be themselves, not the people they are when in the public’s eye.  After all everyone, not just superstars, have a personal and a public face.  The block party was a way of merging the two.  A sort of celebration of being able to do what you love with other people who are just like you. 

                Another thing that is interesting about this movie is what’s not in it.  Dave Chappelle wanted to get away from all of the fame and the fifty million dollar deals.  They did not make him happy.  Many people would praise him for this, saying that that he tossed away the chance to have everything money can buy and chose instead to live a simpler life.  We should all strive for that to love what we have to reject these things that corrupt us.  These same people would turn around and then reprimand the other performers at his block party and say that Jill Scott sold out because she’s acting now or that Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr., a.k.a Common, is only in it for the money now that he’s modeling for Gap’s fall line. 

                My question is, are any of these people artist?  If they aren’t then allow me to shed a little light on this subject from an artist point of view.  From personal experience, and through interacting with other artist, I can say with confidence that artist love to explore.  I’m not talking hiking in the mountains or anything.  I mean they love trying new mediums and seeing what it’s like.  Because I can’t speak for another person on their personal feelings on this subject allow me this brief moment to tell how I am when it comes to other art forms.  I am an animation major and thus my focus is not only in drawing but also in studying every movement ever done and trying to recreate it.  However in the past I played the clarinet, I took two years of singing, I made pottery for a year and a half, I’ve taken acting classes, I’ve been learning how to sew for the last two years, I can create special effects on the computer, I hope to learn to carve wood, also how to make little glass figurines, I want to take a class on making shoes, I have written over twenty poems, and hope to one day learn calligraphy.  These are outside my field of study, but because I want to create I have a need to expose myself to different mediums.  So when I see Jill Scott on The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency or Common in a magazine wearing Gap I merely see an artist looking at another medium and seeing what they can do with it.  Though what artistic value to reality tv Keyshia Cole sees I’ll never know.

All the Things That Make Us Effin Cry

            I have never been one to hold back my opinions of the television show Family Guy.  My experience with the show being that for every accidental incident of view this revolting and sad excuse for a show is the feeling of hatred that I’ve never known.  This show pees on everything I love about animation.  However, due to an assignment I sat down and watched the first two episodes of season one and two random episodes from later seasons.  And while my opinion of the show has not changed in the slightest I do now have more information to fuel my loathing for Family Guy. 

            From what I watched the least offensive episodes where the two from the first season Death Has a Shadow and I Never Met the Dead Man.  It was very clear the influence of the Simpsons, a spectacular show by the way.  There is the overweight dim husband, the attractive and smart wife, a son, a daughter, and a baby.  Even in the way of plot you can see the Simpson family going through the same situation.  While the episodes are certainly not good they don’t give me the urge to kill everything related to the show.  In fact I grew a sort of fondness for Stewie who wanted to kill his family. 

            However all of this changed when I saw the later episodes.  These episodes made me feel like a Boa Constrictor was slowly wrapping itself around my brain and squeezing.  The episodes in question where Peter's Daughter and Dial Meg for Murder.  The episodes try to show abuse and rape in a humorous way.  Call me uptight if you must but I don’t think any aspect about rape or abuse is humorous.  The way Meg is treated in the beginning of Peter’s Daughter is awful, and from glimpses of episodes that I’ve seen before this she is treated this way all the time.  Also in Dial Meg for Murder I did not find Peter’s off screen rape by an animal amusing.  And the fact that they bring it up again in the episodes was revolting. 

            This show can also never let a joke go.  I do not find peter holding his knee going “hssss ah!” for two minutes funny.  It’s annoying and I wanted to punch whoever came up with that joke.  Also the constant cut a ways are never funny and they are everywhere.  What really enrages me is when they reference another animated show.  I don’t care if you take a crack at another show, if done right if can be hilarious, the Animaniacs make fun of Disney all the time and it very funny.  But Family Guy is just plain mean and rude to the other shows that it references.  

            It’s discussing and I don’t’ know how anyone can watch it.  The only thing tolerable in the show is the character Stewie, and I know the only reason I like him is because he wants to kill everyone.  I feel like the show is trying to be edgy when it makes jokes about subjects like abuse and rape.  But it only comes across as being ignorant and insensitive.  And the fact that these jokes are in almost every episode is nauseating.  Perhaps the creators should be abused or rape so they would know that it is not a funny matter.  And it is certainly not funny enough to keep making jokes about it. 

Wood Type, Evolved: Experimental Letterpress & Relief Printing in the 21 Century

When one goes to an art show they should leave with a strong feeling.  A person could come out of an art show with a new perspective on life or angrily talking to their companion how pointless they thought the art was at that show.  No matter what the feeling the artwork needs to leave an impact.  The worst art show is the one that leaves the viewer with nothing, because then it wouldn’t have mattered if they ever went at all.  And sadly Wood Type, Evolved: Experimental Letterpress & Relief Printing in the 21 Century left me with nothing. 

                I have had experience with people experimenting with letter art.  Interesting things have happened; like a meaningful message put in a downward spiral, the art of typography, and word that have been warped to form pictures.  So I will admit to having somewhat high expectations.  Sadly what I saw was just paper with different sized letters on it.  And while this may be appealing at first one gets bored after seeing it over ten times.  The artists also put their letterpresses in a glass case under their work so you can see what they used.  And while I’d admit that it was nice to see the materials they used, it does nothing to lessen the boredom of seeing similar pieces repeating.    

                The show also had a few more features that draw your attention.  One being a timeline of sorts that explained the history of letterpresses.  However, for an art show it was done rather mundanely.  The timeline in question was plain with only words, and for a show set on lettering the type itself was rather dull and didn’t seem to have any artistic aspects to it.  It was a bit like being in a history class and the teacher just putting up a timeline on the overhead to talk about.  There were three other pieces that where videos, and they were the best part of the show.  To see the letters and numbers come across the screen was attention-grabbing.  

However though these where visually stimulating pieces I didn’t know what the artist where trying to say.  I didn’t know what any of the artist where trying to say.  Where they just trying to push the boundaries of text being only used for writing papers?  Where they trying to comment on some sort of social issue?  Was I missing something vital in understanding this show and its art?  Or was there really nothing to see?

I don’t have the answers to these questions, or any of the others that I thought of as I was headed to the door.  All I know was that I wasn’t moved.  I couldn’t tell you how I felt about the show, because I had no feelings at all.  And sadly by the time I had reached the crosswalk outside the building where it had been held, the show was completely out of my mind. 

Fan Videos

   (each link is in grey and will take you to an example of a video I am talking about)

            I’m a collector, and I have been since I was very young.  I do not collect things like stamps or baseball cards, these have held no interest to me.  I collect many different things, like manga (over 300), Box sets (about 30), I have a box full of empty Japanese candy boxes, Disney pins, clothing patterns, shiny stickers, and more.  Each collection is put in a specific place in a precise way.  They are almost like little galleries in a museum called my bedroom.  My newest collection, however, is not tangible.  It is virtual and on the internet.  It is the art of the fan made music video.

            Fans have always shown there love for shows, comics, ect in the form of art.  You can buy Spider-man shirts, Sailor Moon paintings, and Harry Potter jewelry.  However a new way of showing love for a particular genre of entertainment is making fan videos.  Most, if not all, are put together with sound.  A verity of video editing programs are used.  From free programs like Windows Movie Maker to five hundred dollar video editing software like Sony Vegas Pro.  Often times the more expensive program owners will produce more visually pleasing videos, but some video editors prefer WMM and can produce lovely videos as well.  Most of these videos are posted on websites like YouTube.  The convince of posting these videos on YouTube is that YouTube lets you make a playlist.  This particular feature of YouTube has made it much easier for people, such as myself, to collect these videos and also keep them organized. 

            Another great thing about these fan videos that there are all sorts of different kinds out there.  Some videos are effect heavy, others are dramatic, and others are humorous.  There is also a growing favoritism to crossovers (example 1, 2, and 3).  This is were you take one character from a movie and place them next to a character to a different movie.  One goes about doing this by using the key and masking effects that come in higher end programs like Sony Vegas.  Also, because so many people love to make videos they have even made “studios” where a few different editors come together to video edit to a song.  The song is broken up into about five or seven different parts and each editor gets a part.  Then all the parts are put together to make a MEP, a multi editor project.

            There are so many different videos out there, and I can’t get enough of them.  I have started my own playlist of the video that I enjoy.  And I am always adding to it.  In fact because of these videos I have even made few myself.  And because of this desire to make some of my own I discovered how much I truly love animation.  This was one of the reasons that I decided to change my major to animation.  So to say that they have had a slight impact on my life is an underestimate. 

Razor

Smooth.  Metallic.   Simple.  Grey.  Perhaps some wood splashed on the handle.  The device folds out emerging from the grip were it had been tucked away.  A simple blade, nothing fancy.  Maybe the blade’s point is round for the inexperienced hand.  Should the hand be a veteran the blade may have a square point.  Either way the razorblade is made for one purpose and one only, to extinguish unwanted hair.  It glides across the skin cutting all in it’s way.  

The next generation of razor, the safety razor, gives the users their vanity but also safety.  Its textured metal handle is attached to the blade, but does not hide it, like the Straight Razor.  The blade is instead has a smooth metal guard.  It is smaller and does the job well for all who use it.

Plastic, colors, and brands.  The only things metal anymore is the blade.  There is no weight to the device, a Barbie doll is heavier.  The color coating screams of who it is to be used by.  Blacks, greys, and blues for the men.  While women have pinks, yellows, and purples.  They are mass produces.  They have one blade, two blades, three, four, five blades with a sixth for trimming.  They have new names Soleil, Schick, Venus, Orbix, and Fusion.  They are manual and they are battery powered.  They have strait blades and circular.  Hers come in crinkly plastic bags with bright pink flowers and ideal photoshopped legs or wrapped in plastic like a gift you pay for with light blues and purples emitting or circling the razor.  His is packaged the same but in place of flowers and bubbles there are waves and strikes of bright light against and black background.  Prices ranging from three dollars to two hundred.  So many choices so many options. 

But though the devices do the same job they are gender specific.  Our hair has not become tougher but we need more razors to cut it.  Male razor packaging has images that represent power, while all they are doing is pulling a little plastic stick with a few blades across their face.  A mundane task that many do mindlessly.  Woman’s packaging shows flowers and other soft images, but the razors cut their skin and form streaks of blood down their legs.

Is the razors modernization a step forward?

Color: Fully Engaged

Disappointing, unsatisfactory, second-rate, substandard, and tacky.  These are words that I would not use to describe the art show Color: Fully Engaged.  The show focuses on color and color theory through different mediums and what people experience as a result of these colors.  Every artist took a different approach to this theme.  A different idea, a different medium, and each gave a different reaction.  Two of my personal favorites where the works of Jeanne Dunning.

Dunning’s had two pieces in this art show, Red Edge with Food and The Edible.  The Red Edge with Food shows an extreme close up of someone’s skin and a thick red liquid.  These two images combine at the center with a harsh strait horizontal line.  The mind immediately believes that the skin is hurt and bleeding.  The stomach twist itself with the familiar sickening feeling that one gets when seeing a particularly gruesome wound.  The other piece, located to the right of The Red Edge with Food titled The Edible, does not give the viewer a more pleasant scene.  There is a kind of thick peach colored ooze that’s been twisted and coiled around a person’s chest.  It gives the spectator the idea that they are looking at a kind of intestine. 

The effect on the viewer is like that of spectators looking on at the aftermath of a car crash.  It’s something you shouldn’t just stop and gawk at but for some reason you can’t tear your eyes away.  The need to know more about these pieces is overwhelming.  And, another wonderful thing about this show, you can know more.  Beside the artist name or work you will find a sign that has the author explain something, read a quote, or simply read about what he or she was thinking about when making their pieces.  Dunning explains that what we are seeing is simply food on skin; it is not blood or some kind of bizarre ooze.  What makes our minds believe that it is, is different colors can be related to different things we already know. 

Dunning showed a mastery of understanding how the mind can conceive colors.  After reading about the pieces I went back to look at the artwork again.  I assumed that now that I had information that I didn’t before I would have a different reaction.  I anticipated that it would be like a magic trick, only magical when you don’t know how it is done.  This was not the case in the Red Edge with Food and The Edible.  In fact, the information that you read on it only seems to intensify how amazing these two pieces really are.  For you can still see the blood and the oozy intestines.  To declare that I was impressed is to say the very least.  And these where only two pieces out of the entire show.

A feast for the eyes as well as the mind, Color: Fully Engaged at Averill and Bernard Leviton A + D Gallery (619 S. Wabash Ave. 1^st Floor) is a must see.  From videos to paper buildings each artist brings something unique to this show.

Rear Window

Alfred Hitchcock.  The images, memories, and references this name brings to mind are almost unmatched.  Even now he is still a household name.  However, while his name may be known, are his movies?  I had grown up hearing of Hitchcock, though my parents quoting him and his movies to my grandparents talking of their experiences while watching his films.  I however had never seen one.  Until now.  I decided to take a look at Mr. Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” and see for myself if he truly is the master of suspense.

The movie begins by the opening of the blinds of three windows from right to left.  We are then shown around five or six different people/couples, never staying on one for to long as to suggest that they are the main character.  We are then shown L. B. "Jeff" Jeffries (played by James Stewart) in a wheel chair.  It is later explain that he was injured by taking a dangerous photograph.  We learn that while he has been cooped up in is apartment he has taken to watching his neighbors, almost to the point of being obsessed with what ever they do.  The movie continues to introduce the other character in the story like his girlfriend Lisa Fremont (played by Grace Kelly), his insurance company home-care nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter), and the other people living beyond his rear window; Miss Lonelyheart, Miss Torso, the songwriter, several married couples, and most importantly Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), a jewelry salesman with a bedridden wife. 

By now the stage has been set, the characters introduced, small conflicts established, and the audience is ready and waiting for things to begin.  And that they do.  In the night we see Jeff witness a possible murder.  I say possible because the blinds have been pulled and all we have heard is a single scream.  We watch Mr. Thorwald leave his apartment three times in the course of the night.  At this point in the movie I do not feel the suspense that I would have thought when watching a Hitchcock film.  On the contrary I am eager and curious as to whether or not Mr. Thorwald killed his wife. 

As the movie continues We hear Jeff try to convince not only Lisa of the murder that he is sure has taken place, but his friend a detective Tom Doyle (Wendell Corey).  I believe that these two characters are more important than just their relationship with Jeff.  Lisa believes Jeff in that a murder took place.  Tom on the other hand does not.  These two characters are important, not only so that there is a conflict, but they represent the split audience.  Some viewers will believe Jeff in that Mr. Thorwald killed his wife (Lisa) but others will not (Tom).  The audience also is able to have a choice in what side they want by listening to the arguments of both of these characters.  This was a very smart move, it makes the audience feel like they are in the room with the character taking sides and arguing why it is or is not possible.  Better still as the movie progresses we see how certain blind spots, the wall between the windows, at first don’t mean much but latter this small blind spot can make the audience sit on the edge of their seat.

Better still even if you thought Mr. Thorwald was innocent the entire time, even after his fight with Lisa, you can not help but feel fearful for Jeff’s life at the climax scene.  Jeff’s apartment is completely black and he is alone.  Then when Mr. Thorwald comes though his door he is wrapped in darkness.  Completely covered save for his eyes.  Even I, who believed Mr. Thorwald was innocent though out the entire movie to this point had my heart pounding so hard for fear of Jeff’s life I would not have been surprised if it had burst out of my chest.

This movie is extraordinary.  From the sets, to the lighting, to near miss able details that make the audience feel included in this adventure, every detail comes together to make near impossible to breath near the end.  Hitchcock truly made a marvelous movie in “Rear Window” and it must be watched. 

Dwelling

“Dwelling” is the exhibition being held at the C33 Gallery (33 East Congress on the first floor).  The show features thirteen artists and their work.  Now if one considers art to be only paintings on a wall or sculptures of marble in a hall this may not be the show for you.  However, if you have a broader concept of art then this could be a show worth dropping in on.  

The gallery room itself is small enough that it won’t take you half a day to go through but big enough that you can be their with a small group of people without bumping into each other.  The art is set up in a U so that you can go around and look at all the pieces with ease.  So it makes for a pleasant hour of being around some new pieces. 

Now onto the pieces.  The art focuses on simplicity, they try to say a lot with very little.  Also the title of the show “Dwelling” has an importance as well.  All of the pieces are connected to a kind of residence, yet the residence in question does not have to be tangible. 

An example of this is Carrie Schneider’s Family Videos.  One video was of her father washing her hair and the other of her trying to have her mother hold her.  Neither has a tangible dwelling.  Nevertheless, you can feel a kind of belonging in the videos.  In “Dad washing my hair” you can see a kind of calmness in the females face.  The subject has no problem with the fathers hands washing her hair.  Now when one is showering they are completely exposed and not just in a physical way.  There is nothing to hide behind so in this state of complete exposer the last thing most people want is another person there.  However the fact that the girl is completely calm and lets the fathers hands wash her hair shows that she can be “naked” as it where and her father will care for her.  In this fashion you can see the non-tangible home that the father has created for his daughter. 

A tangible example of dwelling can be found with Heather Boaz’s Escape.  The piece is a window hanging from the ceiling and sheets tied together to form a rope that hangs down.  This piece is interesting in that the window is a darker color then the sheets.  The window is a dark green and is made of wood, thus is has cracks and creases in it.  The dark colors and the choice in material for the window suggests that the person is escaping from a cruel dwelling.  If so then that would explain the decision in using white sheets.  The white would symbolize the escaping to a brighter place.  However the sheets do seem to grow a kind of yellow tint near the bottom, suggesting that the location the person escaped to is not all they hope for but still better then the previous dwelling.

These two pieces are just a taste of what you will see in the new gallery “Dwelling”.  So if you are looking for different artistic takes on the concept of dwelling or just have some time, be sure to check out “Dwelling” at C33 open until September 10^th.