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.