Use of Cinema in Museums

For readings this week we were assigned to read an article posted on Blackboard. This article discussed the importance of video art in museums and how informative it can be. I am not sure if I have ever seen video art in a museum, I have watched informative videos at history museums, or documentary type videos in museums but I'm not sure if that is what this article was talking about. I do enjoy cinema technology in museums however, I feel like they are easy and informative ways to learn about many different sorts of things.

In Hawaii I went to a marine and wildlife museum and I got to watch interesting documentaries about whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals. Video art is a very affective way of getting information across to a wide array of audiences. I feel like emotion is easily expressed and shared through the cinema and can touch people the easiest. I think that I might be affected easiest by the cinema. I get emotional sometimes when i'm in the right mood and when I hear an amazing song, or even when i see an amazing dance or musical. However I can cry easily in movies no matter what mood i'm in because movies put their audiences into the right mood. I can get into movies really easily so i get emotional in movies very easily. I am very greatfull that movies evolved into what they are today. They are such a fun pass time and I feel like my life is enriched from many of the movies I've seen throughout my life.

BYU Dancesport

I have never attended BYU's Dance Sport competition before, but I really enjoyed watching it. I took my fiance to watch it and we both had a lot of fun watching all the couples spin around on the floor. I really enjoy watching ballroom dancing! It is so interesting that each dance has a specific style and set of moves that are important. I felt like I did not know enough about the different types of dances to be able to be a very informed judge, however we were able to pick out favorites in each group. It was really neat to see how popular the sport of ballroom dancing is. There were so many competitors there! I would never imagine that so many guys were involved in ballroom dancing, but there were tons of guys there and they would all get so into the dance! I tend to watch the guys because I feel like I can tell how they are doing a lot easier than I can tell how the girl is doing. The man in a ballroom dance is supposed to be masculine, he is expected to the support the woman and always lead her in the right direction. I feel like their job is to make the girls look good and support them whenever it is necessary. There were definitely some guys who were better than others. I could tell that some of them were really trying hard to play that masculine role, however, some of them could just not pull it off. And others were so believable and strong out on the dance floor. The best part was watching the guys faces, like I said before, some of the guys were so believable and others just looked kind of funny. But the girls are always so beautiful! They are all in pretty outfits and have their hair done up with pretty make up on. It is impressive to watch a really good couple interact with each other. They know their steps so well and know how to move with each other to make their dance look beautiful.

The music in ballroom dance is also really fun! I watch So You Think You Can Dance and there is always really exciting and strong music playing for dances like the Tango. But there are also a lot of possibilities for the music, there are many contemporary songs out that can be danced to as well. I think it is really impressive when choreographers use newer songs to dance too because I think people can relate to the dance a lot more.

Week 7 in Class

This week in class we talked about Cinema. I was very surprised at how much goes into making a movie. I honestly didn't think there would be so much that went into it! The parts I loved talking about most were the different types of camera angles. Its really fascinating to me that every shot in a movie is chosen for a specific reason. I especially like that we got to watch different examples of the camera shots, and analyze them. My favorite was movie clip we watched was the one from the Life of Brian. I liked analyzing the camera angles but I also liked it because it was really funny! I feel like learning these different things about cinema are the most useful things we have learned in this class. Probably because I probably watch at least 2 or 3 movies a week, so I can use the information I use often. I have always loved to analyze movies and their deeper meanings. One of my favorite movies ever is Hook. I love that movie because when I was younger I watched it because I thought it was cool and a good movie, but now that I'm older I continue to find things in it that I never noticed before, or that mean something different to me now then it did when I was little.

The other thing that I liked about this week was when we got to watch the first movies that were made. The Great Train Robbery was really interesting. I loved to watch the special effects, like when they would punch each other, but if you watched closely they wouldn't even get near each other. And the best part was when one of the robbers beat up one of the train conductors and through him off of the train, but it was just a limp doll! haha I really liked that part. The other movie that was neat was A Trip to the Moon. That one had really good special affects as well! But honestly, the first movies were really impressive, especially because no one had ever done or seen anything like them. It was weird to hear that when the movies first came out people were scared of them, and that people got so scared when the bandit shoots into the audience at the end of The Great Train Robbery. But then I guess if I had never seen a movie before I would be a little freaked out by it as well!

My brain is hooked on music

I really learned a lot listening to "This is Your Brain on Music".  It was not the most entertaining thing I have ever heard, but it was definitely interesting!  I play the piano and guitar so I love music, but I learned a lot listening to this tape.  

I loved the part that talked about how the brain responds to music in a very real way.  When we hear music our brain is literally hearing it and responding in real time, and in a sense makes the music in our brain.  I looked up information on this and I found a really cool youtube video that has a man hooked up to a computer and then the computer is hooked up to a piano.  The man hooked up to the computer was told to think about a beethoven song in his head and the computer read the brainwaves that resulted from it, then it is able to separate those brainwaves and send them to the piano, and the piano played it!!!  I was amazed by this! Then the man was told to think of a Satie song, and the music on the piano switched to a song by Satie and played in the same style as Satie.  How amazing is that!  I don't know how to post the video on here, which is sad cause its amazing! But if you want to check it out, here is the link,

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx__8XmMiv0

It is amazing to me that our brains are that involved with music.  What is it about music that allows our brain to react that way? Why does it have that special connection with music but not with other things.  I think one reason why might be because we literally internalize music.  It is like food, the sound waves actually enter our body.  Whereas paintings and sculptures are just observed on the outside.   I know that I am most affected by music. More than anything else.  A song can bring me to tears, or can make me so happy.  And there is no better feeling than to hear a song you love for the first time, or to create music.  I am not good at writing my own songs, but I enjoy trying! 

 Music is also something that brings cultures together and people together.  I lived in Hawaii for a year and one of my favorite things to do was to go to the beach and just play the guitar with some friends.  And my most memorable night in Hawaii was when I was walking home from the beach with some friends one night and we saw a group of big polynesian men just sitting in a group playing the ukulele and singing some hawaiian songs.  they voices were just beautiful that night I truly felt privileged to have been able to just sit and listen to them.  

Modern Drama

For this week's class discussion we talked about modern drama and we were assigned to do a little research of our own and write a blog about it.  At first I typed in "Modern Theater" to the google search engine.  All that gave back was information about how the "modern theater" is built, or broadway plays.  So then I changed my search to Modern Drama and that returned more of what I wanted.  

I learned that to modernists the theater or drama is the best way to express their ideal's and beliefs, the web site i read said this, 

"It might seem an exaggeration to ascribe to the modern drama such an important rôle. But a study of the development of modern ideas in most countries will prove that the drama has succeeded in driving home great social truths, truths generally ignored when presented in other forms."

They talked about how the modern drama is what started the modern awakening in most countries like the US, England, and Germany.  However what I thought was interesting was that it said that the modern drama was not needed in France or Russia because these two places had already been awakened to the ideas and thoughts of Modernism because of their political turmoil.  

At one point the writer of the article I read talked about Socialism and how wonderful socialism is, but how uneducated people rarely understand the greatness of it. I found this to be very interesting!  The writer was trying to spread the ideas of Modernism around, but his idea was of socialism and fairness for all.  And he believed that through plays these same ideas can be understood and portrayed to those watching.  It was a very interesting read, and even though I don't agree with his own personal views, it is good to know other peoples ideas and beliefs.  

Reading of Dance

I really enjoyed reading about Dance this week.  I really liked learning about the history behind the more strict dance genres like Ballet and Ballroom.  It is interesting to me that these types of dance started as gentlemen's dance, that originally only the wealthy learned these types of dances because only the wealthy could afford to.  And then if your compare these types of strict dances to the folk dances of the day, they are completely different! I love this because folk dances are so different from the fancy wealthy dances and it was a way for the poor people to show their emotion and skill even thought they didn't have money.  When I think about dancing today, I don't think it is as separated by class level and wealth as it once was, but I still think there is a separation based on where you are raised.  Here is america there is a rising generation of break dancers, and street dancers.  These types of dancing I would compare to the folk dances of earlier times.  Street dancers many times start dancing as a way to express themselves even though they don't have enough money to take formal dance lessons.  They can do amazing things and this genre of dance is growing in popularity very fast! 

I have said this in class a couple times, but I watch So You Think You Can Dance, in fact is is one of my all time favorite shows!  Every week for the last 5 years my friends and I have gathered in front of the TV to watch the dancers dance their choreographed piece of work.  The show is a competition to see who "America's favorite dancer is" and every week people call into to vote for the favorite or the person who danced the best.  Every week the dancers are paired up with another dancer and they learn a specific genre of dance.  The genres are hip-hop, jazz, broadway, contemporary, balli-wood, tango, flamanco, swing, waltz, and many other types of ballroom dancing as well.  Then every week watchers vote for their favorite couple or their favorite dancer and the dancers with the lowest number of votes is voted off.  

I seriously love this show and as I was reading this week I was thinking about why this is so.  I'm not even a dancer, except for 5 years when I was very little.  I am musically inclined, but that is not what attaches me to this show.  And I decided that the reason that I love this show so much is because the dancers and choreographers create these dances to portray feelings and emotions.  And when i'm in the right frame of mind, and the dance is performed to its top ability, I can feel those feelings and emotions through the dance.  A couple times the dances have moved me to tears, and other times they leave me astounded and so happy!  I am really grateful for this show because I knew nothing about dance before it, and because of it I now know what to look for when I watch a ballroom dance, and I know how lines should look in contemporary dances.  It has opened my eyes to how amazing dance can be, and how much emotion it can have, and I love it now!  Here is a link to my one of my favorite dances on So You Think You Can Dance, and it has zombies in it so I figured Jasie would like it! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AohSzvBr4cA&feature=related

Pioneer Day Fair

This Friday (like any of you didn't know) was Pioneer Day.  I love that the state of Utah created it's own holiday to celebrate! I grew up in Las Vegas NV and never celebrated Pioneer Day, so this year was fun for me because I experienced it for the first time.  I went to the Pioneer Day celebration at North Park in Provo.  The park was very busy, I'm pretty sure it looked like what the farmers market would look like on the 4th of July, only with people running around in Pioneer outfits and playing Pioneer games.  There were many little booths set up with people selling hand made goods, pillow cases, and there was one stand up with indian made items.  This was my favorite stand because the two ladies there made all of the things that they sold, including purses, indian jewelry, wind pipes, and some animal skins.  There were also a few antique cars and old fire trucks that kids could run around and look at.  And there was lot's of food as well.  It was so much fun to just walk around and look at the crafts and listen to the music that was being played.  

There was an indian tee-pee set up with indian drums and artifacts around it, and my favorite part was the little pioneer village.  This village is put 

on by volunteers who teach people about how the pioneers at the time would have plowed their field, or created nails.  There was a blacksmith shop, a grainary, a kitchen, and a pioneer house.  All of the volunteers were very cheerful and informative and all the people that visited seemed very happy and impressed with the little town and its volunteer pioneer members.  This town reminded me a lot of Nauvoo Illinois and all the shops and stores that the church has restored there.   Here is a picture of me pushing a plow through the field at the little pioneer town, and it was a lot harder than it looked! 

Yesterday when I was thinking about the Pioneer's I couldn't help but think of what a different time that was, and how much they sacrificed for what they believed in.  I don't think that I could do what they did, that is, leave their homes and families in the east and travel west without any assurance that they would make it or even find the religious freedom they were searching for.  And then when they did make it into the Salt Lake Valley, they still had many hardships and trials.  But look at what their sacrifice has led to!  There are so many people here now!  and the church has grown so much and I'm sure that part of that is in response to the great sacrifice the pioneer's made.  I have a few pioneer ancestors and I am so grateful for the sacrifices they made, so that the church could grow and prosper in the West.  And even though I sometimes make fun of Utah and its different customs and celebrations, I am very glad that they have a day set aside where we can think of the Pioneer's and all that they did for us.  Pioneers are a part of Utah and LDS culture and it is so nice that we have a day that we can celebrate them and all that they accomplished for us!