Code.org

Before taking this class, I was unaware of the applications of computer programming (coding). I generally, thought of coding as a mundane task reserved for computer geeks. Now, I understand that the possibilities are literally limitless.


The film mentions how technology is an ever expanding field and that the United States is not producing enough qualified graduates to fill jobs in computer science. Overall, the United States is not producing enough COLLEGE GRADUATES.


Even still, coding is not taught in most public schools for economic reasons. At my high school, computer science classes were offered as an elective but, schools in economically disadvantaged areas would not have the resources or even see the value in teaching computer programming.

On the other hand, schools that do have the ability to teach computer programming should educate students about the benefits of learning computer programming. From open source to social media, coding offers benefits for everyone. 

Kevin Warwick

Kevin Warwick is best known for his research in the field of cybernetics. He has undergone operations in the hopes of becoming the first real cyborg. Warwick believes that human capabilities are limited and the way of the future is to enhance our capabilities by merging with intelligent machines.

I think the work of Warwick shows a clear split between new media productions and science (fiction). Warwick is not focused on creating art pieces, instead he wants to use new technologies to enhance himself.

There are some viable applications of cyborg technology. For example, neural implants could restore movement in paralyzed individuals. However, I think improvement for the sake of improvement represents a slippery slope. Cyborg technology will only be available to those who can afford it. Human-machine hybrids would be so far advanced from the general populace that it would be nearly impossible for regular people to compete.

Many science fiction movies have suggested that intelligent machines are a dangerous and I am inclined to believe it.

Klaus Obermaier and Gideon Obarzaneks

This piece is absolutely amazing. The black and white colors used created an eerie quality. Dance is one of the oldest forms of art, incorporating new media into a choreographed dance routine creates a beautiful contrast.



This piece is similar to the work of Obermaeir, but even more precise. Each movement is complemented by a digital representation. The effects are more complicated and they change rapidly. This kind of technology could reintroduce the beauty of dance to younger generations.

Golan Levin

Golan Levin is one of the forerunners in new media. Most of his work is highly interactive. 

His piece Opto-Isolator, has a mechanical eye that looks back at the viewer 

Another one of his pieces, The Dumpster, is a data visualization of the romantic lives of American teenagers. 

New media represents a merging of art, computer programming and science and I am excited to how this field of art progresses. 

Video Art Project

I had a hard time coming up with a topic so I looked to the example videos for inspiration. After viewing the video about PTSD, I decided to take on a political issue. Last year in Congress, conservative Republicans spoke out against insurance coverage of birth control. Rush Limbaugh went as far as to call a graduate student, Sandra Fluke, a "slut" and "prostitute" because she took birth control.

Even more recently, several college campuses have come under investigation for their treatment of rape and sexual assault victims. It almost seems that society is going backwards in its treatment of women. 

I chose to juxtapose news clips with a scene of a woman being raped. The news clips are in black and white to symbolize how the reporters are out of touch with the issues. 

The amount of sexual assaults and rapes on college campuses in particular is appalling. Furthermore the rape culture advises that women dress or act a certain way in order to prevent themselves from "getting raped." The message should not be "Don't get raped" instead it should be 'Don't rape"

I used a free video editing software and it imprinted a watermark on my video. I hope it does not distract too much from the video 

Music of the Latin World

I'll be honest the extent of my knowledge on Latin Music extends only to Shakira, Don Omar, Elvis Crespo and other popular music acts.  Exploring these artists has introduced me to some new and interesting music.

I like the African influences of this song. The beat is catchy and fun. It has a reggaeton feel.

I love the way that the pink panther theme song is incorporated into the Mambo. This song makes me feel like I am in the streets of Miami. I found myself dancing as I was listening to this song. The rhythm is infectious.

kiss me- sexy lucy
Honestly, I don't like this song at all. I find the beat to overpowering. The voice filter used makes my skin crawl. The lyrics are horrible and repetitive. I am not sure that I understand the Latin influence of this song

An Exploration of Video Art

The first video that I chose is from the stop motion category. I enjoy these kinds of videos because they remind me of claymation movies from my childhood. This video is entitled Iron Man vs Bruce Lee. The subject matter is light-hearted but the editing is incredible.



The second video that I chose is from the time lapse category. I believe that time lapse videos have calming quality. As the cars in this video speed by the sun rises and sets. The mirror effect creates an abstraction of the normal highway.





The final video that I chose is from the macro category. This video incorporates images from Google Earth with electron microscope images of flowers. At first it is reminiscent of a scientific documentary but there is something intrinsically artistic and beautiful about these cellular structures.

Performance Art

youtube link

For my performance art piece I chose to continue exploring depression and mental illness. On  January 22, 2012 I voluntarily hospitalized myself for depression. I learned a lot about myself while I was in the hospital and I began taking medication to cope with my depression. Even so, it is a daily struggle. I worry about how people would view me if they knew that I suffer from depression. This project put me far out my comfort zone but in being vulnerable I gained some healing.

The pill bottles on my necklace are mine. I have never thrown one of my bottles away. One day I hope to collect enough bottles to use them in an art piece.

The History of Magnetic Tape

Oberlin Smith developed the first theory of magnetic tape recording in 1878. It consisted of a string full of iron fillings that passed through a coil of wires. A telephone circuit converted the sound into modulated electrical currents that magnetize and demagnetize the filings as they travel past the coil. When the string is rewound and passed through the coil again, an electrical signal can reproduce the original sound. Unfortunately, Smith never built this device

In 1894, Valdemar Poulsen discovered the principles of magnetic recording.  He created a machine called the Telegraphone and demonstrated a prototype in 1900 at the Paris Exhibition. It was the first successful magnetic sound recorder. At this exhibition, Poulsen recorded the voice of Emperor Franz Joseph, which is still preserved today.

The recorder worked by using a steel wire wrapped in grooves around a cylinder. An electromagnetic head was passed over the wire for recording and playback. 

In 1928, Fritz Pfleumer received a patent that would change everything. The patent was for the application of magnetic powders to a strip of film. This created "tape-recording"

After WWII tape recorders gained commercial appeal. The invention of the 8-track in 1965 revolutionized music recordings.

Tape recordings eventually came to be used as a medium for recording videos and storing computer data. 

Flash Mobs

Flash Mobs have reached mainstream recognition. The romantic comedy Friends with Benefits includes two impressive flash mob scenes.

The last flash mob video takes place in mall. It utilizes the popular song Gangnam Style

Guerilla Girls

The Guerrilla Girls are an anonymous group of feminist artists. Their motto is "reinventing the "f" word. Feminism!" The group was formed in 1985 to combat sexism and racism within the art world. I searched the Guerrilla Girls website and found an interview that reveals why the group came to be. 

Q. How did the Guerrilla Girls start?

Kathe Kollwitz: In 1985, The Museum of Modern Art in New York opened an exhibition titled An International Survey of Painting and Sculpture. It was supposed to be an up-to-the minute summary of the most significant contemporary art in the world. Out of 169 artists, only 13 were women. All the artists were white, either from Europe or the US. That was bad enough, but the curator, Kynaston McShine, said any artist who wasn't in the show should rethink “his” career. And that really annoyed a lot of artists because obviously the guy was completely prejudiced. Women demonstrated in front of the museum with the usual placards and picket line. Some of us who attended were irritated that we didn't make any impression on passersby.

Meta Fuller: We began to ask ourselves some questions. Why did women and artists of color do better in the 1970's than in the 80's? Was there a backlash in the art world? Who was responsible? What could be done about it?

Q.What did you do?

Frida Kahlo: We decided to find out how bad it was. After about 5 minutes of research we found that it was worse than we thought: the most influential galleries and museums exhibited almost no women artists. When we showed the figures around, some said it was an issue of quality, not prejudice. Others admitted there was discrimination, but considered the situation hopeless. Everyone in positions of power curators, critics, collectors, the artists themselves passed the buck. The artists blamed the dealers, the dealers blamed the collectors, the collectors blamed the critics, and so on. We decided to embarrass each group by showing their records in public. Those were the first posters we put up in the streets of SoHo in New York 

Most of their work is in poster format and displays depressing yet, true facts about the entertainment industry.

I am a feminist myself and I support the Guerrilla Girls brand of whistle-blowing. My only hope is that the Guerrilla will branch out to fight discrimination against women and minorities in other fields.

The Genetic Computer

Biological Computer



Researchers at Stanford University have created genetic receptors that can act as a "biological computer" . The team has created a series of genetic transistors that can be inserted into cells and turned on and off if certain conditions are met.

"Once the transistor determines the conditions are met, it could then be used to make the cell, and many other cells around it, do a specific thing--like telling cancerous cells to destroy themselves."

"The researchers' biological transistors, which they've dubbed "transcriptors," use enzymes to control the flow of RNA proteins along a strand of DNA, just like a computer would use silicon transistors to control the flow of electrons."

Sheryl Oring

The work of Sheryl Oring is more interactive than other performance art pieces that I have seen. My favorite piece of her's is called "Writing Home"

Oring sets up a 1950s office and invites people to dictate letters to their ancestors. Her work has a spontaneous quality. Oring has no idea what people will ask her to dictate and this gives the work an authentic quality.

By asking people to write letters to their ancestors, Oring is able to explore family relationships.

Her Morning Elegance

YouTube operates as a microcosm, showcasing the high (and often lows) of our culture. The way that videos spread through the internet is so rapid that it has been termed as "going viral." Her Morning Elegance is a mediocre indie song with a stunning video. The still frame animation of the sleeping woman is simple but beautiful. 

The artistic cinematography almost makes the song sound better.

Historic Computers

The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California is home to two rebuilt IBM 1401 Mainframe computers. These prehistoric monster computers were a business staple in the 1960s and 70s. Instructions were entered on these behemoths by punch card and the data was stored on spools of tape.

Robert Garner, one of the technicians who has spent the last decade rebuilding the computers, says that the old computers are like a time machine. "When people are here, experiencing this, it sparks their imagination. It transfers them back in time, but it also takes them forward in time. It makes them feel like they too can build new things."









I often reflect on how technology has advanced just in my lifetime, I remember the first cell phone that my parents owned. It was a copycat of the Nokia "brick."



10 years later my phone is essentially a small computer. 






Seeing how far computing has come since the 1960s makes wonder what lies ahead. 

Flip Book

I had a lot of trouble with this assignment. When I began I didn't grasp how much material was needed for a 200 page flip book. I did a lot of stopping and starting. Overall it took me about 5 non-consecutive days to finish.

Grid Art

For my grid art project, I choose a picture of my nephew.He is four months old and I love him so much.

This is what dreams are made of

The surrealist movement began in the 1920s. It grew from the Dada movement of the early 20th century. Artist Andre Breton wrote the surrealist manifesto. He defined surrealism as Pure psychic automatism, by which one proposes to express, either verbally, in writing, or by any other manner, the real functioning of thought. Dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic and moral preoccupation." 

The Golden Age of Surrealism occurred in the 1930s. Salvador Dali is arguably the most famous Surrealist painter. Most of his works were derived from dreams and they include heavy symbolism.

His most recognizable piece is the Persistence of Memory (often incorrectly called "Melting Clocks")


My favorite work by Dali is Swans Reflecting Elephants. Elephants are a recurring symbol in Dali's work



Rene Margritte was another surrealist painter. My favorite image by him is The Son of Man 

August Sings Carmen

I definitely was not expecting the video to include a parade of sexual fetishes but somehow it works. I did my research paper on "Carmen" and when Carmen sings this piece in the opera she is talking about her many suitors. The alternate of the song is "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" which translate into "Love is a rebellious bird" This video highlights the strange and rebellious ways that people can show they're love of each other.

Triumph of the Nerds Part III

August 24th 1995: Windows 95 is launched

In 1983, computers were still difficult for the average person to use

Graphical User Interface (GUI):  allowed for PCs to become more user friendly

In 1971, Xerox set up the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)

The Xerox Alto computer was built in 1973. It doesn't qualify as the first personal computer because it was not for sale and the parts costed about $10,000

"It had the first GUI using a mouse to point to information on the screen. It was linked to other PCs, by a system called ethernet, the first computer network. And what you saw on the screen was precisely what you got on your laser printer. It was way ahead of its time."

The companies headquarters did not see the value in this technology.

"Xerox could have owned the entire computer industry today. Could have been you know a company ten times its size. Could have been IBM - could have been the IBM of the nineties. Could have been the Microsoft of the nineties."-Steve Jobs

The Macintosh computer was Apple's answer to the IBM PC. Bill Gates was hired to design a GUI as the software. It needed more applications in order to become a successful competitor.

John Warnock: co-founder of Adobe systems, helped developed the laser printer.

The Adobe Application created "desk top" publishing

"The launch of Windows 3 in 1990 killed off Apple's hopes that the Macintosh would win the GUI wars." It made IBM PCs and all the clones as easy to use as Macs. 

Larry Ellison, the founder of oracle is quoted as saying 
"I hate the PC with a passion. Me going down to the store and buying Windows 95, I've got to get into my car drive down to a store buy a cardboard box full of bits you know encoded on a piece of plastic CDROM and you bring it home and read a manual install this thing - you must be kidding you know, put the stuff on the net - it's bits, don't put bits in cardboard, cardboard in trucks, trucks to stores, me go to the store, you know, pick the stuff out, it's insane. OK I love the Internet - I want information you know it flows across the wire."

In 1995 he made a prediction that the PC would be replaced with a cheap device called the "information appliance." I believe that this prediction has come to pass in the form of smart phones and tablets.

Triumph of The Nerds Part II

IBM started off making mainframe computers for businesses. Once the computer business started to take off, IBM decided to build their own PC within one year.

PC's require software and an operating system.

Gary Killdall  ran a company m Interglactic Digital Research. He had invented the PC's first operating system called CP/M.

Jack Sams was looking for a package from Microsoft containing both the BASIC computer language and an Operating System. Unfortunately, Microsoft hadn't written an operating system and they needed Killdall's permission to use CP/M.

When IBM went to Gary Killdall's home to discuss the agreement, he sent them away. "This is the moment Digital Research dropped the ball. IBM, distinctly unimpressed with their reception, went back to Microsoft."

Microsoft was able to fashion on operating system by modifying a version of CPM. Microsoft and IBM called it PC DOS 1.0 

There were still some legal problems that had to be worked out before Microsoft could move forward with the operating system.Tim Patterson worked for Seattle Computer Products, or SCP. They still owned the rights to QDOS. The rights to the operating system were sold for 50K

 The IBM PC wasn't much better than what came before. In order to increase success, IBM created a spreadsheet program but called Lotus 1-2-3. 

The IBM PC had 50 percent of the market share and other companies wanted to reverse engineer their product.

Compaq was able to successfully reverse engineer an IBM PC and in their first year they sold 47000 PCs.

"Where Compaq led, others soon followed. IBM was now facing dozens of rivals - soon to be familiar names began to appear, like AST, Northgate and Dell." Bill Gates was providing the operating systems for all of these "IBM clones"

IBM wanted an operating system that could not be copied. They called it OS/2. 

At the same time Bill Gates was creating Windows "We kept saying to IBM, hey, Windows is the way to go, graphics is the way to go, and we got virtually everyone else, enthused about Windows. So that was a divergence that we kept thinking we could get IBM to - to come around on."

Larry Ellison the founder of Oracle says that IBM made a $100 Billion mistake by giving a third of their market value to Intel and a third of their market value to Microsoft by accident. 

Triumph of the Nerds Part I

The documentary is off to a good start, but one statement in particular caught my attention:

"This is a boy thing, we call them engineers and techies" Frankly that is absolute garbage. Women are entering the computer field and they are just as capable as men. 

This blog is my stream of consciousness as I watch the documentary:

This section seems to glorify "nerd culture". Eating, bathing and data are frowned upon. I would rather just learn about how computers work. 

Programs are written in binary code and computers must be given instructions on what to do with the programs.

Grace Hopper:  US Navy captain that invented the first computer language. Alas, a woman that was important to the history of computers. 

The microprocessor allowed for the desktop computer. Intel invented the first computer chip. It is made of millions of transistors etched on a silicon plate 

Altair 8800, 1975 was the worlds first personal computer. It was a computer kit that had to be built before it could be used. Information was loaded by flipping a series of switches

Paul Allen cofounded Microsoft. The company was started in Albuquerque, NM.

The hippie movement was important in sculpting the PC revolution. There was a sharing of knowledge

Apple Computers was the first computer company. The first computer was introduced at the Homebrew computer club meetings. The Apple II included a keyboard and a case,

Visicalc was the first spreadsheet program

Google Boys

I cannot remember a time where I didn't rely on Google. During elementary school, I can recall using other search engines like AskJeeves and sifting through loads of irrelevant results.

I am always intrigued to learn how much complex mathematics is involved in computer programming.The basic structure of the Google Search engine uses a software called Googlebot to copy and store every web page onto the Google server. It keeps track of how often every web site changes it pages.The web pages are cataloged by subject. When a search is executed, Googlebot scans its on servers for relevant information. An top secret algorithm called Pagerank is used to categorize searches by relevance. The basic idea is that web pages that have the most links are more important.

In order to perfect the search engine Larry Page and Sergey Brin had to create their own computer out of many smaller hard drives. This combined computing power allowed Google searches to be executed much faster than their competitors.

Google was also the first company to integrate advertisements into the internet search experience. When a user types in a search time, advertisements for companies related to the search term. This allows companies to attract customers.

 Like many visionaries Page and Brin's ideas were not embraced by their contemporaries. Companies like Yahoo! and AOL were more concerned with monetary gains and they could not see the big picture. In my opinion, Google's success can be attributed to its "desire to make the world a better place"

Do violent video games breed mass murderers?

A quick google search reveals millions of articles linking violent video games to violent behavior. Most recently, it was discovered that Newtown shooter Adam Lanza owned dozens of violent games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Such video games are played from a first person shooter perspective. The victims are often less than human (i.e zombies, aliens, or war criminals). Players are awarded points for killing as many bad guys as possible. There is no guilt and no remorse.

When confronted with the pathetically lacking gun legislation, the NRA suggested that violent video games are to blame for recent shootings but is this really true?

I cannot deny that violent video games include many problematic themes. The most glaring seems to be the violence against women (Grand Theft Auto). Teaching young men, the primary purchasers of these video games, that violence n is something to be rewarded is absolutely deplorable. On the other hand, blaming video games removes accountability from the parents.

As a child and a teenager, I was often exposed to problematic concepts in the media. Fortunately, my parents took it upon themselves to explain these confusing themes to me. I can recall a time when my parents asked me what kind of music I was listening to and explained why songs that glorify promiscuity were not appropriate for my 10 year old ears.

Newtown was an unspeakable tragedy but I don't believe video games were the cause. There needs to be an honest conversation between parents and children about violence and the value of life.

Culture does not exist in a vacuum and yes video games can affect behavior. But even moreso good parenting can CORRECT behavior. After all, I played Guitar Hero for years and I never thought I was a real musician.

so what exactly is a "futurist"?

Raymond Kurzweil has become one of the most influential minds in the field of "futurism." When I first heard the term, I immediately felt that I had chosen the wrong major. Getting paid just to theorize about the future seemed like the ideal profession. However, as I did a little research, I realized that futurism is more than just spouting bullshit. Futurists such as Ray Kurzweil analyze current trends and predict how technology will continue to advance.

In 1990,  published his first book The Age of Intelligent Machines which theorized about advancements in the field of AI. Kurzweil has since written other books theorizing about the future of intelligent machines.

Forbes has called Kurzweil "the ultimate thinking machine." Kurzweil and others like him are able to pave the way for new technology.

Allen Turing

Allen Turing was a computer scientist that was crucial in the deciphering of the Nazi code language Enigma.  
Turing created an electromechanical machine that was that helped break codes more efficiently than the polish bomba kryptologiczna.. The bombe, as it was called, became one of the primary tools used to attack Engima-enciphered messages. 

In 1942, Turing devised a technique that could be used against the Lorenz cipher messages produced by the Germans new secret writer machine  This was a teleprinter rotor cipher attachment codenamed Tunny at Bletchley Park. Turingery was a method of wheel-breaking.

Unfortunately, due to the secretive nature of his work, Turing was not able to publicize his strides in computing techniques. 

Ten years after his discoveries in computer science, Turing was convicted for indecency because of a homosexual relationship that he had began with a 19 year old man. He was order to undergo hormonal treatments that were designed to decrease his libido. It is believed that these treatments caused Turing to become impotent and that his inhumane treatment resulted in his suicide on June 8, 1954.

The horrific treatment of Allen Turing is a powerful example of the destructive nature of homophobia. Maybe if Allen Turing hadn't been subjected to such humiliating tests he would have lived long enough to further revolutionize computing.

Source: Allen Touring

Technology and The Grammys

While watching Frank Ocean perform his hit song Forrest Gump, a video screen projected scenes from the motion picture  of the same name. The front of the keyboard also projected running legs to make it seem as though Frank Ocean was running while he played the piano. The use of technology adds interest to the otherwise somber ballad

Pes

On Wednesday February 6, I attended the 500-750 section because of a scheduling conflict with President's Leadership Fellows. During the class discussion, a student mentioned the works of Pes. I had never heard of him before and I was inspired to investigate. In this video, Fresh Guacamole Pes uses  non-food items, such as grenades and light bulbs to make guacamole

In Game Over, food and condiments are used to represent classic video games such as Space Invaders, Frogger and Pac Man. I enjoyed the lighthearted nature of these short films and the creative use of editing to create seamless transitions. 

Stop motion videos

Bottle by Kristin Lepore

This short film depicts two creature on separate sides of the world. The sand creature and the snowman send each other objects in bottles. As time progresses they grow more fond of each other. They decide that they want to meet up. In order to do this, they will have to travel through the ocean. Before they can reach each other they dissolve. I honestly wasn't expecting this video to bum me out as much as it did. Like Madama Butterfly, it proves that words are not needed to tell a powerful story.

Muto by BLUBLU

The first few minutes of this animation made my skin crawl. I did not like the insect like way that the figures moved. It reminded me of spiders crawling up a wall.  This animation is unique because it is a compilation of wall graffiti. I liked the way that music and sound were used to add to the story. There is no definite story line. When the insects spewed out of the mans mouth I had to cut the video off. I did not like this at all. 

Broken Fingaz

This is another graffiti based animation. The drawings are more intricate and realistic. Unlike Muto the artists are shown painting the wall. Three dimensional objects are also incorporated into the video. At one point a box catches fire and is then extinguished with water. I enjoyed this video the most. 

A trip to the moon

In this silent black and white film. A team of six astronomers go on a voyage to the moon.  The is portrayed with a strange face. I found it to be a little unsettling

The other planets and stars are also personified.

The astronomers settle in for the night but they are later woken up by precipitation (rain or snow??) Most of the sets are hand painted. I enjoyed the contrast between the 2-D background and the actors.  The astronomers seek shelter in an underground cavern that is full of giant mushrooms. 

They are they confronted by one of the native creatures. One of the astronomers strikes the creature and the creature dies in a puff of smoke. I find it interesting that the astronomers make no attempt to learn about the creatures  and instead react with violence. More and more creatures appear and the astronomers struggle to get away from them.

The astronomers retreat back to the space ship for safety. The ship makes the journey back to Earth and crashes into the ocean. It is then towed ashore.

The short film reflects the fascinations with science fiction that were prevalent in the 20th century.  

Technology in Opera

Wicked uses technology to transform Idina Menzel into a green, flying witch.

In the Addams family musical, the stage is transformed into a gothic manor.  Mechanical gates open as the show begins. Each actor dons powdery white makeup; spotlights are used to illuminate the otherwise dark stage. 

In this scene from a Christmas Carol, fog rises from the stage. The child actors are also holding artificial candles. 

The most obvious use of technology is when Mary Poppins floats up to the roof on the house but technology is also used in the scene where a large umbrella spins over the stage. 

The costumes in the clip immediately bring you into the time period. The camera expertly zooms to show close ups of the stage actors. 

In this scene from Annie the camera stays focused on Barbra Streisand as she sings. The spotlight shines solely on her and the rest of the stage is bathed in darkness.

In this video clip the entire backdrop, which is in the shape of a keyboard, lifts up to reveal more dancers. Later in the video the backdrop is lowered down. This provides an easy way to make the stage larger. 

Representation of Blacks in the Early 20th century

While watching the "Blacks and Vaudeville" documentary I got the feeling of being sick to my stomach.  One line in particular stuck out to me "As hundreds of blacks were being lynched, their lives were being portrayed on stage as happy and carefree" The offensive black face characterizations are yet another reminder of the tense racial relations during the 20th century.

On the contrary, Josephine Baker represented and elegance and sensuality that could not have existed in 20th century United States. She refused to partake in the absurdity of Minstrel shows and was sexual in a time of sexual repression.

Opera goes Hi-tech

The set design for Das Reingold is absolutely phenomenal. The rotating stage and projected background add a beautiful scenery to the dramatic piece.

Madama Butterfly

Prior to Madama Butterfly, my exposure to stop motion animation was limited to cheesy Christmas movies. I am amazed at how the creators managed to put so much thought and emotion into such a "primitive" video format

Although, the characters do not speak are able to express the anguish and despair of Madama Butterfly through visual cues.

As she waits for her sailor to return, the sun and moon continually rise, symbolizing how much time has passed. When her child is born and as she matures, she is still connected to ther mother by umbilical, symbolizing the bond that the have with each other.

When the sailor returns and takes her child away, the umbilical chord rips and her hair greys.

I believe the most powerful scene is when the main character begins to disassemble herself. If she cannot be with her daughter and her one and only love, then she feels that she is nothing.

Neo Baroque

The Burj Khalifa tower and Dubai has taken the crown as the worlds tallest building. It  is a near perfect representation of the Neo Baroque. The tower extends over 2500 feet tall. Each level is smaller than the next to form a classic needle shaped structure. The Burj Khalifa may be the closest example to the fabled tower of Babylon



Similarly, the Church of Salta in Argentina features strange colors and embellished decorations that were common in Baroque architecture

About Me

My name is Ebonie. I am a Biology major with a concentration in molecular biology. Science will always be my first love but I am also interested in exploring my artistic side. I have taken a few art classes in the past including: Advanced Placement Art History and Art 101. On campus, I have been involved with the 2012 Homecoming Board, the Honors Program, and Presidents Leadership Fellows. I look forward to whatever opportunities await me this semester.