Sunday, February 27, 2011

Harmonizing with Scissors

Harmonizing with scissors... When I say that, I think of playing a musical instrument with the aide of scissors. Like banging or piercing a drum with a sharp blade, just for the destructive sounds. Or clanging scissors against a metal surface to hear that screech, clank and bang. Industrial! 


Oh, awesome, on that topic:


Heh-heh... Witty.



Anyway, I have composed a creative activity which can aide children in become aware of their perspectives - emotionally, musically, and visually. I have engaged in such activity whenever I feel nervous, or totally chill with the beats I am listening to. Here's how it goes:

What Does the Song Look Like?
Have you ever listened to a song, and closed your eyes, and just watched the shapes and images that your brain associates with the sounds? They can be obscure clouds, lines, polygons, squiggles; but they can also be like your very own music video, as the music plays, you reminisce a past memory that relates to the lyrics or emotive beat. Well, this activity can allow you to expand on this. 

It's really, very simple. Grab a sheet of paper. It could be any size, but preferably something large, maybe even body sized! Once you've found that, you could set it on a flat surface. 

Find some colours. It doesn't matter what kind of writing utensil it is - whatever you feel -or your kids feel most comfortable expressing with. Paint; Pastel; Chalk; Coal... You know. 

 Get a music player... If you want this to be personal, a headset is totally cool... If you want this performed in a group, you need something that can play for all the ears to catch - a stereo system?

Find some music which will produce an emotive response. Well, THAT'S easy. All songs can do this. You can have children think of their favourite songs, and this way they will feel a sense of individuality, or togetherness, when they get to select a song which represents, them, or their friendships. 

The song's playing, now, right? Okay... Whatever the music's making you feel, in your hands, act it out with your utensil!

The song's soothing... Ooh.. it makes my hand lazy... Can you imagine how your shapes and scribbles would look? Gentle, dragged strokes across a huge page. Swirls caressing the page. What colours would you use? Nothing too bright and exciting, Perhaps gray, pale blues... It makes me think of the rolling sky. 

Oh, but let's change the track. Now it's a samba! Ha-ha! This is exciting! I feel the urge to party and dance! How does that make you feel? *scribble scribble dot dot dot dot jab jab JAB the pencil!* The colours are so festive and exiting - yellows, reds, electric blues! I am thinking of confetti! I will draw confetti! 

As you can tell, the music that you play will have an effect on each person in an individual sense. The activity will also have a cultural value, when you use music of cultural significance. You know what I mean, just a simple tune from a nation's significant instrument, will make you picture you're submerged in that culture? Yeah. :) 

Well, the bigger the page, the more parts of your body you could use! The more messy and intense! You could dance on the page (just make sure the paper and paint isn't of the slippery persuasion)!

The Art Word of the Week that correlates with this topic would design. Really, the artwork that is produced from this activity is a composition of shapes, lines, colours and patterns to create an emotional response to a tune. The design can depict whether the artist was pleased, or displeased; feeling organized, or totally scattered and confused. It's all out, in the open, and debatable. 

CellarDoor

Why are we watching movies for homework?

Because:


(... Not that I didn't want to!)


Here's the run-down of my assignment's process:

-The Selection-
Oh well... Let's go through these movies... Princess Mononke? I heard of that, it's a Hayao Miyazaki movie, like Spirited Away, or My Neighbour Totoro. Those movies are so cool... Maybe I'll watch that... Wait a second... No way... They are suggesting to watch...

DONNIE DARKO!?


SERIOUSLY? Oh my God, NOSTALGIA! I watched that when I was only thirteen! It was SO WEIRD! I had no clue what was going on! Maybe I should watch that again, now that I'm older, it'll TOTALLY make more sense! Right!?

-The Viewing- 
I watched my movie with two friends, and my movie buff little brother. Here's the rundown:

The whole watching of the movie involved mixed emotions: GUYS SHH! I WANNA LISTEN? Oh God I missed what he said. Now I have NO CLUE what's going on. Oh my God WHAT'S GOING ON! HAHAHAHHAHAA What did he say!? Oh my God, eewww! HAHAHAHA! ... What? OH MY GOD! *Gasps* ... What? Wait.. What? REWIND!! What?! Oh my God. I don't get it! Oh wait, maybe I get it! OH!!! WHY DOES SHE WEAR THOSE EARMUFFS?!

Thank God my friend did some research on the movie, prior, and I had seen the movie, before... It made the discussion very informative.

-The Discussion-
Well, after the movie was finished, we all looked at each other, and blinked, and were like, "AWESOME MOVIE! ... I DON'T GET IT!" Well, except for one of us, who was smart enough to have looked it up. The thirty minute discussion that we had after the movie consisted of this friend explaining the dialogue and images present in the film.


It is evident that the main character - Donnie - is "troubled" and "pretty confused". Within the movie he is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, making him prone to "daytime hallucinations". But these hallucinations turn out to visions of the preordained, and his destiny, as "The Receiver".

Within the story, it is Donnie's duty as "The Receiver" to guide the "Tangent Universe", or a parallel universe, back into a normal state, "The Primary Universe". It is made clear in this movie, in a very unclear, mysterious and disturbing way. This is why the movie is most often accommodated with a manual - in order to make sense of it all.

The symbolisms in this movie will span from notions of medieval witchcraft, to time travel... It is a sci-fi, a mystery, a comedy and tragedy all wrapped up into one oddball package. If you are into the strange - I recommend.

Here's a trailer of the movie for you to see:





The best art word that I could associate with the watching of Donnie Darko is LINE. See what I did there? Underlined the word line. Ha-ha!

Anyway, a line suggests directions, or movement. In this movie, Donnie Darko begins to envision lines jutting out of people, which would predetermine where they would travel along a continuum of space and time. In other words, he could predict where they would go, before they went. Line was used to represent time travel within this movie.

-The Suggestion- 


My dear professors of Creative Arts. If I could make a suggestion for the next choice of movies? I am hoping you have seen the movie before, because it would be relevant for this entry for future students. It is relatively popular among cult classics - a childhood 80s film.
It is about humanity's hopes and dreams, the significance of childhood storytelling and imagination. I feel it would be totally relevant for Early Childhood Educators, and it's SO fun to watch!

It is called The Neverending Story (1984). Have you heard of it?

Here's a trailer:


Please, consider this! :) I guarantee some students will have most fun with this movie! Thanks!






Saturday, February 26, 2011

Happy Birthday, Squishy!

I'm celebrating a birthday this month! You'll never guess whose it is... Or rather, WHAT it is... But I'll tell you, and please try not to laugh at me... 

This is Squishy. :) She is my computer, and she is a year old now! <:o)

... Yeah I'm not joking... Okay, normally people wouldn't celebrate their computer's birthdays... But there are reasons to why I am, just hear them out, okay?

1) I'm a total nerd. B-)
2) It is the success of my boyfriend and I. We built this thing as a little home project. Yup, all the parts that make her work - and glow that hellish red - were purchased and put together, by us. It was quite a learning process, and many arguments arose, but it was so worth it. I mean, look at it! Isn't it pretty? You gotta admit it's pretty...
3) My previous computer was ten years old - and a total mess.This was my computer's start-up routine:

1. Get my ON button pressed.
2. Make a beeping sound.
3. Black screen with white text telling you how I'm doing.
3. Welcome user to Windows XP
3. Load. 
4. Load. 
5. Load. 
6. Load .
7. Load for another fifteen minutes... 
8. Did you click on something? I can't tell.. I'm so busy..
9. Load. 
10. Load. 
11. Load. 
12. I'm sure you clicked on something this time! I felt it, for sure!
13. Groan.. groan... my fans are so dusty...
14. Load.
15. Load. 
16. Load for ten more minutes.
17. Avast! Antivirus is now running!
....
 You know computers like that, right? Having the relief of owning a computer that can actually start up and get its programs a-movin' in less than ten seconds is a blessing. 

Anyway, reason 4: 
4) It is going to allow you to show my understanding of patterns. Awww yeah, once again technology comes to my homework's aide. Here we go! 

Pattern is a pretty neat art word. You hear it a lot. "Ohhh, that blanket had a funky comforter! Ikea is so cool!" What does pattern entail, I wonder? To me, it is the presence of regularity, sequence, symmetry. So when you see a little row of the same shape, THAT'S a pattern. 
Apparently pattern also allows a viewer to get a sense of flow and motion. Well, Squishy has all of the descriptors of pattern right on her face! Allow me to explain:

As if you couldn't already tell, this is a close-up of Squishy. It's her bright, red smile! Err.. I mean, it's her front-panel intake fan behind a grill... 

This section of her body is really important: It lets cold air inside her, and allow her to keep going without getting too hot. Overheating is Squishy's (and my boyfriend's) biggest fear... But it's okay, because this fan not only makes her safe, but it also makes her look beautiful, because while the fan spins, it glows a beautiful bright red. How pretty!

Yeah I know, I'm lame.

Anyway, the pattern seen here is a symmetrical and efficient sequence of circular holes, with the purpose of allowing air to flow through the computer's chassis, as well as the passing through of light via LED fans, for aesthetic quality.. In that case, this image brings to me the sense of pattern, because the grills show a sequence of circular shapes, all symmetrical in size... And the purpose of these shapes is for movement and flow: Of air and light. :) 

I thought this blog was the right about time to introduce squishy, because she - and the resourcefulness, ingenuity, inquiries, frustrations and brainstorming her birth gave to my boyfriend and I - became in a sense, a work of art.

And so, I say, happy birthday, Squishy! And have a good one, readers! ... You may laugh at my silly geekiness. :)