Song Critique

Here are some critiques of the songs a few of my classmates created, along with liks to each of their songs

Mike Mulig Song
Stephen Hicken's Song
Steven Martin's Song

Brainwashed Response

HERES A LINK TO THE ARTICLE I'M ABOUT TO DISCUSS

So the first part of this assignment was to summarize two parts of this article. Thats thats what I'm gonna do now.

The first segment, entitled Acknowledging the Lizard is basically how our brainstem that we've possessed ever since lizards existed and evolved is what stays in the way of much of our artistic ability.  It is the part of the brain that keeps us from taking risks that others might think stupid and laugh at or critique harshly.  Essentially, this fear of failure often keeps us from being creative and original with new ideas.  The segments solution for this is to "acknowledge" the lizard brainstem and look past it when coming up with ideas.

The second segment i chose to summarize is titled "Ship". In it, a more business-like approach is taken to look at the aspect of creativity.  The concept of "shipping" being that the person who gets things done and ships the product out first is much more useful and important to have around than a person who doesn't "ship".  Importance is also put on the ability to first "Acknowledge the Lizard" in order to be able to "Ship" effectively.

Next we're supposed to discuss how these practices may relate to this Blog we're doing for the class...

Both of these practices can easily be connected to the purpose of these blogs.  A lot of people probably get nervous of posting their personal opinions for all to see. That's why nobody ever raises their hands to answer questions in class, the "Lizard Brainstem" is telling them not to out of fear of a negative class reaction.  On here you are given somewhere to state your opinions for all to see, but unless someone chooses to leave a nasty comment, you may never no how stupid some people may think your ideas are.  An especially helpful tactic because it allows you to get your ideas out there, without the looming possibility of failure.  The tactic of being able to "Ship" is also a good one.  It can be connected to the blog through the various projects we post while doing group work.  Being a person who "Ships" and gets stuff done makes you a much more desirable and appreciated partner.  Its a very helpful tactic for these sorts of situations, as well as virtually any aspect of life.

Song Project

We recently did a project that required us to maje some songs. These are those songs.....
SONGS LINK

Blog 3B: Blog Critiques

Here are a few other MDIA 203 students soundscapes that I commented on...

Critique 1

Critique 2

Critique 3

Blog 3B: Blog Critiques

Here are a few other MDIA 203 students soundscapes that I commented on...

Critique 1

Critique 2

Critique 3

Blog 3A: Song Covers

Above is the song "Lollipop", originally performed by the rap artist Lil' Wayne.  The song is from the album The Carter III which was released in 2008. The song lasted 5 consecutive weeks atop Billboard's Hot 100 chart

        
Above is a cover of Lil Wayne's song "Lollipop" performed by the punk rock band Framing Hanley.  This version of the song was released as a bonus track on their 2008 album The Moment. The cover would become certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Be it that one song is almost directly copying the format of the other, there are a number of apparent similarities.  First of all, both songs are centered around the main chorus starting with "Shawty wanna thug" as well as including the "Call me so I can get it juicy for ya" portion towards the end of it all.  Another similar feature shared between the two songs is the opening sequence.  The opening of each song contains the same basic musical notes, be it synthesized or guitar riffs, the same opening of "She said he's so sweet, so i let her lick the rapper".  On top of these factors, the opening vocals of each song are also accompanied by some sort of autotune.

Interestingly there are a number of ways in which the two songs contrast.  The first noticeable difference is the already stated alteration of the song's opening.  While the Lil Wayne version employs the use of whats seems like a series of synthesized beats, Framing Hanley instead chose to use guitar riffs to achieve the same effect.  By doing this and establishing it early in the song it tells the audience listening that this cover is going to be a whole different beast than the original.  The speed of the guitar riff is also quicker than the speed of the synthesizer beats and in turn results in the music quality of the Framing Hanley version being faster than that of the Lil Wayne original.  The pitch of each note seems to be much higher in the Framing Hanley version as well.  Another difference between the two is that the lyric "Get on your knees" is used in the Framing Hanley and is not included in the Lil Wayne version.  However, a good portion of rap lyrics from the original version are excluded in the cover by Framing Hanley.  On top of that, the majority of inappropriate words that were incorporated into the Lil Wayne  version were kept out of the new, punk rock version.  By making all of these deletions, the Framing Hanley version is also nearly two whole minutes shorter than the original version.  Another noticeable difference between the songs can definitely be attributed to the absence of Lil Wayne himself.  In many of his songs, Lil Wayne really likes scattering random exclamations such as "Oh Yeah", "C'mon" and "Uh huh" all over the track.  Since Framing Hanley doesn't share in this specific artistic technique, their version of "Lollipop" can be deemed 'random exclamation free'.

Similarities and differences aside i think both songs are great.

Soundscape

Here's my Soundscape, our theme was ANXIETY..

Week 2 Blog assignment

LINK HERE!!!

Here is a link to a story about the red wolf.  In the seventies the red wolf nearly went extinct and were brought into captivity in an attempt to save the species.  When they were felt to have been somewhat stabilized they were rereleased into the wild.  However, while in the captivity they had forgotten how to howl and communicate which is essential to the social structure of the pack.  The tale is told of a wolf named Mumon who goes on a journey to rediscover the howl. In his journey he is advised by a deer and raven who gave him subtle clues as to how he could fulfill his journey.  He is eventually triggered to run through the wilderness and encounters a farmer with a gun and Mumon's spirit enters into the gun.  Mumon then seems to enter a mystical realm where there are natives playing drums to the neat of the wolf's heart and surrounding a fire.  Mumon enters the fire and as he does lets out his howl.  He then comes to the realization of being surrounded by his pack and the connection is made that Mumon has become his howl.

For the second part of this blog entry here is a video of me explaining a quote you could say is my "Howl" it wouldn't upload to blogger so heres a youtube link My Howl

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LINK HERE!!
This is a link to a site that provides a list of 14 ways to think outside of the box and generate new, fresh ideas.  The suggestions supplied here are intended to shake the reader from their everyday realm of thinking and allow their creative process to prosper. Some of the ideas are actually very good, and a few of them stood out to me:

#2 Immerse
The basic principal of this suggestion is if you have an idea you think may have the possibility of turning into something greater you should allow it to, in a way, consume you.  Think of all the aspects of your idea and from every angle imaginable.  It points out how big companies like Google, 3M and W.L. Gore give their employees a significant amount of on the job time that is supposed to be dedicated to them immersing themselves in their own personal projects.  Apparently these companies see the opportunity for advanced creativity that may arise as a result of encouraging their employees to use their creative process for more personal projects that may spark their minds to think more openly and bring that to their job.  This idea really makes sense if you think about it though, the more time an individual spends working on a specific topic the more they should be able to discover and learn about it.  Logically the same can be said when it comes to learning about and exploring new ideas.  When you want to become good at something it requires lots of practice and what better way to practice something than to immerse yourself in it! I may implement this process when trying to write a script about a historical event, by surrounding myself with all the info possible concerning that time period.


#3 Tolerate Ambiguity
The basic principal of this idea is to be okay with not knowing quite what your doing and to be okay with failure.  The thought here is that, first of all, not knowing isn't necessarily a bad thing.  When you don't quite know what you are doing you are at the same time generating as many ideas as you can for what alternative could possibly allow you to be successful.  Not only does this process allow you to potentially solve what your trying to, but it also may provide you with ideas for other new things that you wouldn't have even fathomed without stumbling onto them accidentally.  Learning from failure is an important part of this principle as well.  When an idea fails to solve the problem you are working towards it doesn't necessarily mean that solution is a complete failure.  The failure could be teaching you more about the aspect you are trying to solve because you will know one more way that isn't a solution, the example that Thomas Edison failed 800 times before inventing the first successful light bulb is used with great emphasis to bring home this point. I could use this strategy to help me when attempting to find the perfect ending to story or video I create.


#5 Fantasize
This suggestion for thought is perhaps the most obvious on the entire list.  To fantasize is to sit and think, plain and simple.  In order to come up with new ideas it is necessary for you to think about them.  By fantasizing you are given the opportunity to think of ideas and solutions, regardless of whether or not they are at all realistic or even possible.  Fantasy has brought us such great ideas as unicorns, mermaids, spider-man, superman, the loch ness monster, dracula, frankenstein, zombies, harry potter, frodo baggins, gandolph, luke skywalker, darth vader, pikachu, bulbasaur, the list could go on and on for eternity.  Fantasy calls for the purest of creative ideas, ideas that are not possible anywhere but inside of the mind of the individual.  Some may be possible i suppose, and for practical purposes those would be the ones a person may follow to find their most preferred solution.  I feel as though the suggestion to fantasize to gain ideas is one you really do not need to tell people, because your just asking them to think! I could easily employ this tactic when working on an idea for a new internet short and have trouble generating practical ideas.


I actually employed idea number 5 and fantasized as a means to solve one of my own predicaments.  A friend and I have been attempting to create an internet short to put on youtube and in turn achieve internet stardom.  Out principal idea had been the concept of having a gay ghost inhabiting the dorm room and sexually harasses the inhabitants.  In fantasizing what might happen if a gay ghost were to in fact haunt a college dorm room, we were able to generate some extremely creative and unique ideas and generate our first script.  Hopefully the script will make the transition into being shot some time in the near future.

Who Inspires My Creativty

I've never really stopped to examine what specific kind of creative person I happen to be.  However, when I think about it i feel the best way to describe myself as striving for originality.  Originality in media is easily the aspect I admire the most and in return aspire to produce ideas and concepts of my own that may be equally if not more creative.  The most prominent figure that i can think of who creates with supreme originality is director/writer Darren Aronofsky. Aronofsky has created a portfolio which includes the films Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler and the highly acclaimed, Academy Award Nominee The Black Swan. What makes his films so great is that the concepts, scenes, storylines, audio... I could go on forever but the fact of the matter is that what Aronofsky does with these elements of filmmaking is unlike anything that has been seen before.  His directing style often includes unique angles and cut scenes, the sound effects employed are crisp and real and the stories he tells are blatant indicators a unique train of thought that is always cleverly displayed in his films. Seeing as I hope to be a filmmaker someday it should make perfect sense that i would be inspired by someone like Darren Aronofsky, someone who has been very successful employing a creative process i hope to one day rival.

Requiem for a Dream, probably my favorite Aronofsky film, tells the stories of four addicts and how drugs essentially bring their lives to ruin. In the film, examples of some of the concepts we have discussed in class. For example, here is a scene where an example of affinity can be found. (Link 1 Here!!!)  This scene in particular is showing two of the main characters before, during and after shooting up heroin, all in a 30 second window and without any visual illicit drug use.  What makes this possible is the short compilation of clips in the middle of the scene that displays the steps that take place during drug use (fluid injecting, eyes dialating, etc.).  What adds the element of affinity to all this is the fact that this same quick compilation of 'drug steps' is used in the film whenever any of the addicts uses, thus creating a connection between all of them. Seeing as the characters somewhat contrast in their drugs of choice, it can be seen the process they go through to get high is essentially the same in each case.  The style Aronofsky uses to portray drug use here is easily one of my favorite sequence styles i have ever witnessed in film.

Next I think I'm going to go with an example of tension and release, check it out (Link 2 Here!). The life of Sarah Goldfarb is a very sad one to say the least.  The movie begins with her son Harry Goldfarb, heroin junkie, stealing her television in order to pay for more drugs.  As the story progresses we learn that she is also a widow and an extremely lonely person who spends her days watching infomercials.  When she receives a phone call informing her of a potential opportunity to be on television she is desperate to fit into an old dress of her's for the event.  This desire to lose weight causes her to turn to diet pills, which become addictive, alter her lifestyle and ultimately spell her doom.  In this scene the effects the pills have had on Mrs. Goldfarb's mental state can be seen. The tension in this particular scene is caused by the evil, seemingly volatile refrigerator.  The release comes when she can relax and escape back to the false reality inside the infomercials.  The way Aronofsky is able to display such a clear meaning in the midst of a scene of pure insanity simply amazes me.

Finally, i would like to demonstrate an example of text and subtext from Requiem for a Dreams.  This is a link to the final closing minutes of the film (Link 3 Here!).  This scene quickly sums up where drug addiction has gotten each of the characters through the course of the film. As an example I am referring to the end of the clip specifically, where Sarah and Harry Goldfarb are reunited inside the infomercial.  This is a prime example of text and subtext.  When looking at this scene from a textual standpoint, this reunion seems very real and could have possibly happened at some point.  However, the subtext of this scene is saying something else.  As the prior scene is one of Sarah Goldfarb laying in her bed institutionalized, then transitioning to the infomercial it is intended for the audience to interpret this reunion as yet another one of her infomercial fantasies.  The creative element that I admire most about this finally series of events is the way Aronofsky pairs it with music, adding strong emotion and gravity to the situation of it all.

IPhoto Picture

I altered this spider-man art and fancy cow jump using iPhoto.