-26.3-

Disclaimer:
I am tired, running low on sleep, and it's dark out so these issues may very well be "night thoughts" and possibly are out of porportion to what I usually think during the daytime and at happier times.
Three minor issues:
1. Can I have hobbies?
I was a little bothered by this during the song writing workshop. I know that I'm not as serious about songwriting as my peers, and I don't intend to write songs for a living, so I feel like someone else who really cares should be in my spot. That I'm not...worthy enough to be with the serious people. That I'm out of my league. And yet...I want to be there and learn, too, but using chords and chord progressions is hard and it makes me think that I'm not cut out for song writing, but then I remember how accomplished I feel when I finish a song, and how I like the feeling of my brain turning off as I write a song, almost like when I'm drawing or painting.
2. Does everything have to be original?
Sometimes I want to play around. To not turn everything I do into an artistic statement, or something "of my own"- to not feel pressured  to make a great work and compete with others. To just do what I want. But sometimes I don't quite know what I want to do with Art.
3. Art funding vs. Science funding
This is from part of an episode of the show "Slings and Arrows" (which I love and I'll talk about in a later blog post.)
In one of the episodes, the financial director of a theatre company has to get funding for the production. He goes to the Minister of Culture, who grudgingly allots some funding. The Minister makes it a point that the funding for the production was the cost of one MRI machine, which could have been used to identify many terminal diseases in early, preventable, stages.
Ever since that episode, I was troubled by this. One must have bread, but also roses, I know this. However, I have a cousin who needs financial medical assistance, and I know that she's struggling to wait for a new wheelchair because hers is partly broken and a repair is too costly. It makes me uneasy to think that some of the money in the government that goes towards art programs prevents people in need, like my cousin, from getting much needed assistance. I know that funding art is important, I was angry when STAC got all of its funding cut (why can't they put some money from sports towards us!), but thinking about this issue brought feelings of conflict to the surface.

-25.3-

My brief commentary on two movies seen this year. (I would have included Kontroll, but I already reviewed it.)

-Rear window (seen in STAC): Great story, nice acting, and many beautiful shots. However, the plot moved slowly at times (we were discussing this in class, and this may be because of the style of the time...but I got a bit antsy while watching the beginning, which is odd because I'm used to slow movies.)

-Lincoln(seen outside of STAC): A good period piece, they really captured how dim things were eithout electricity, but the language was hard to understand at points... They did a good job at making a movie centered aroundthe passing of a bill be not as dull as it sounds.
(Also, it was odd to see Lincoln as a person...it shows how much you've learned about history when you didn't even know that Mr. Lincoln had children!)

-23.3-

The song writing workshop with Brian was different than I expected. It was more of a casual workshop. Brian brought his own chairs.
We sat and listened to some things that Brian was working on, and he took us through some of his creative process.
Sometimes songwriting seems overwhelming...you could have lyrics, but no music (I seem to be this type), music, but no lyrics...you can have a song in one key or change keys...you can take the melody up and then down again to change the pace or tone...then  many different styles...you could also pursue music writing, which is a different approach. With all of these options I feel a little overwhelmed whenever I sit down to write a song...
However, sitting down and writing seems to be the only way to find out which styles you're comfortable with, and which chord changes feel good to use. Brian showed us all of the files he had for a "daily practice" of song writing he had...I don't know if I'm /that/ dedicated to songwriting...sometimes I get in the mood to make music, but I'm never always flipped on. I like writing songs, but I feel worried that my seeing this as a...hobby isn't as good as the passions of the others in my group...but then again STAC is supposed to be for experimenting...
I think I need to find a method to approach songwriting -my very own procedure (since there isn't a set way to write songs...it's so boundless!)
I really liked the songs Brian showed us. My favorite was the Beatles tune he made for his girlfriend. He took famous lyrics from all of the Beatles' songs and turned it into a love song...in the style of the Beatles tunes, of course.) It was such a whimsical idea and very clever (I could feel myself grinning when he played the song for us!)
Brian also gave some good tips, such as, "Ask a question in your song so the audience's attention is grabbed." I wish he went more in-depth on how to approach styles of baselines/chord progressions, but I think I need to experiment with that (when writing the music for songs, I'm normally ok with the lyrics, but I get freaked out over how to approach the music.)
The song I presented went pretty well, I wrote it faster than my last two projects and actually had time to practice it, but I think I need to have more confidence in singing louder...it was odd, because Brian suggested that I record the instrumental and audio separately, and that's how I've been writing songs.
I was worried that mine wouldn't sound as well as the other people in my group, because I had so little experience with writing music, but everyone's songs were so different that it was hard to compare them to eachother.
Overall, I took away these five points:
1. To get good you need to practice a lot
2. Sing out
3. Try picking the tone of the song and writing music to that
4. Work on descendig baseline/chord progressions
5.You don't have to go through the process alone

edit: adding a point:
-Australia seems to be encouraging musicians to travel more than the American government. (see John's blog for more about this)

-24.3-

Trip 1: Met and The Neofuturists:

At the Met, Ishna and I went up to the exhibition on the roof, Cloud City. I had been on the exhibit earlier this summer, but it was just as fascinating as the first time. Every time you go into the sculpture you see new angles, and different ways people can be reflected.
After that, we ended up in the  Andy Warhol exhibit. At the exhibit, it was fun seeing how other artists stole ideas from Warhol and incorporated them into their own art. (My favorite pieces that I remember were the giant cigarette box and the maple syrup art of Jackson Pollock.)
We managed to get to the photography exhibit, but we didn't have a lot of time to look around. It was funny to see how people manipulated photographs before photoshop - a humorous example being an artist who boasted he could take a picture of the sky and moving waves...when in reality he took the pictures seperately and pasted them together (some of the waves in different pictures being taken from the same photo, as shown in the exhibit!)

I also realized that there is a HUGE AMOUNT of mediums to work with.  cuz luke showed animation that I've seem before, but I didn't know the animation was made on a linoleum (check if it was a linoleum)

-Trip both plays:
I love all of the work of the Neofuturists!
In the first play, On the Future, they focused on lighting techniques. It was fascinating to see some of the shadows created... I also loved how they constantly broke the 4th wall and interacted a lot with the audience (that meatball smelled amazing...) There were a lot of good things that could be borrowed (I really liked the time travel one, with the guy yelling out the window at himself and constantly coming and going...the one about the history of space told by gay people was interesting also...great lines said. I wish I had the script to that show!)

The second show, Too Much Light Makes the Baby go Blind, was fun, but not as...serious with their meaning, from what I could remember. There were good things to borrow from there, too, but that one was a real "experiment" (slightly ironic since it's been around longer than the first performance...)

Great trip as always...I hope to see more neofuturists!

-22.3-

So. In preparation for STAC live, I've been assigned to play piano for "Street Fighting Man" and trumpet for "Alone Again or."
--
It was difficult to figure out the piano part because it was so soft in the background. (It was hard to hear even when I pulled up an instrumental version.) I think I've figured it out, now, so I just need to practice it.
--
For the trumpet part, I've never seriously played trumpet before, so I had to learn it on my own. I borrowed Ellen's mother's trumpet, and a few books. Youtube helped, and last thursday, the 6th, Mr. Taylor gave me some good advice on adjusting my embouchure to that required for trumpet (and those high notes). Before, I had been approaching blowing into the mouthpiece the same way that I had for when I was playing trombone.
Now I know that I have to keep my lips closer together in a more "flat faced" embouchure, and to focus on the speed of air rather than volume. I've also been practicing for 15-30 minutes every day (I've been consistent until last Thursday and Friday, which I missed practicing...)
--
At first, I played around and figured out the basic scale- concert Bb: link

Scale from today's practice (day13): link

--
Mouthpiece exercises(day9): link day13(today): link
After exercises (day9): link
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Then, on the second day where I had more time, I experimented with figuring out the trumpet parts to "Alone Again or" by listening to the song and playing along with it.
(This is from the day after I got the trumpet: link
Playing along with the song on the 3rd day: link day4: link)
I practiced the song without backgrounds, to get the notes:
day3: link day4: link day5: link day6: link day7: link day8: link day9: link day10: link link2
day11: link day12: link day13(today): link

I'll be playing again with the song during my next practice. It's been really exciting learning how to play a new instrument! (One of my bucket list items is to sit down one day with a bunch of instruments and just play around on them for a day.)

-21.3-

Night thoughts are bad. Night thoughts discourage. Night thoughts make you say things you usually don't believe. Night thoughts make you tired. Night thoughts get turned off by sleep.

Good night.

-20.3-

Kontroll.
A Hungarian movie we saw in class on Tuesday.

Initially, I liked the movie...except for the fact that it had a feeling of claustrophobia. Since it all took place underground, towards the end, I kept on looking out the window to get some mental fresh air.

The acting was great - it all felt natural - and some shots were beautiful (I specifically remember one of the light hitting two enormous fans underground; the way the fans cut the light and dark of the scene appealed to my aesthetics.)

Most of all, I liked the characters. I liked the sense of camaraderie among the main team of Kontroll. Although they split up in the different trains, they always managed to get back together by the time the train got to the next stop. I also liked seeing different tropes among the group. For example the Professor and Tibi (I think? The young guy...) fit into the old cop young cop trope. (Mugi also fits nicely into PluckyComicRelief)

The end scene of the movie seemed pretty symbolic of death. Bulcsu goes with the train conductor's daughter, who's waiting for him in an angel's costume, up the escalator and into the light. Why Bulcsu had to suffer as a Kontroll poses the subject of atonement. If he did push the passengers off the platform, he may have had to suffer before he went to "heaven". Another way of looking at this is that Bulcsu is part of the "untouchable" class in the hierarchy of the subway, and must suffer in order to have a better next life (When he leaves the subway station, it's implied that he can go back to a successful life/job, with a girlfriend.)

---
Another point I'd like to bring up is that there is, basically, an all-male cast. I didn't notice this fact before Luke pointed it out, which brings up some issues to think about.

I don't think I noticed the lack of girls, because I've grown up in an all-male world. My Mom and Dad told me stories about male heros...the Greeks, Norse mythology, Peter Pan, Robin Hood...I grew up liking adventure and doing things by myself. When playing with my friends in elementary school, we used to pretend to be superheroes and we'd have our own myth-like adventures. In middle school, I was introduced to anime, and most of the ones I read had a very strong male myth structure to it. I think I'm so used to the male myth that female leads have become...on the back burner for me. I'd really like to see a strong female lead, but the shows/stories that do this are few and far between (off the top of my head I can't remember specific titles...maybe the show Madoka Magica?). I feel like boys get to have the adventures while girls stay at home. But I want to do things, too.

But does one have to be a man/act manly to have an adventure? How can girls stay as girls but still provide a strong point? I think this may be a better way of looking at things: link.

Gender roles is an extremely interesting subject, but it's so hard to overcome the partitioning ingrained for thousands of years in society. You've got to be carefully untaught, eh?
---
Misc. point: When the soundtrack to the chase sequence first came on (the one used in "The Laramie Project" commercial) I started grinning, because I recognized it, but didn't know it was from this movie.
---
Unrelated note: When we were talking about STAC live and all of the instruments required for the songs, I thought about my goal for trying to play a different instrument(s) bass, trumpet etc. I will delve further into this subject another time.

Another unrelated note: I like the main theme in the Thor soundtrack.

=====Edit=====
Perhaps Bulcsu fits into the MustMakeAmends trope, since he could leave at any time, but it was the trap of his mind that kept him underground until the very end.