Bcaldwel's Blog

Art Exhibit

bcaldwel — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:09:40 +0000

I decided to go the museum at the University of Oregon to look and judge some fine pieces of art. The piece of art that I decided to do a post on was a painting by Jay Backstrand called ” Pick an apple, any Apple”(2005). Without looking at the description of what the painting is suppose to be, i judge the painting. The first thing that caught my eye in the painting was that it was separated into 3 parts vertically. On the left side of the painting there is a big horse that looks like it is riding something sort of vehicle, it is interesting it is almost like the horse is trying to escape from something. There is also pink polka dots through out the left sid of the painting. THen in the middle there is a pair of women’s legs sitting on a table with the feet touching at the bottom. In between the feet is a small chinese women who looks like she is trap and cannot go anywhere. Then on the right portion of the painting there is another asian women holding a fish and in front of her there is a bucket of what looks like dead fish that she is about to cook. I am not sure what the artist is trying to portray with this part of the painting. Overall this painting is very strange and it is hard to tell what the artist is saying, but I think that the painting is trying to represent that do not get trapped by society.

After I z the picture I decided to read what the artist was trying to get across to the viewer through his painting. After reading the little blurb about the painting I found out that the artist is from the Pacific Northwest College of Art. The article talked about how the panels or sections are meant for the viewer to move in and out through out the painting. Then the polka dots and vivid colors are supposed to add depth to the painting. I can see how the panels make the viewer run in and out , but it is interesting how the artist used vivid colors and polka dots for depth in the painting.Then as I continued to read the article I found out that the painting is suppose to represent some asian history and a little background on what the asian culture is all about. I found this interesting I had very little idea on what the painting actually represented. But then looking back after reading the article it all made sense. I think when examine art a person should judge the art before the read what it represents and then read the article about the art. Then look back at the painting and you will have a completely different outlook on the painting.

Images

bcaldwel — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:42:11 +0000

Art, Games, Technology Research

bcaldwel — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:45:15 +0000

Article 1

This article brings up a lot of interesting points about video gaming being a lifestyle. The article first talks about what it means to be a video gamer and which type of people usually become “gamers”. The article goes in-depth about how the term gaming lifestyle is tossed around way to loosely and often. Most gamers choose to live a lifestyle that revolves around video games because the enjoy the rush and excitement that they receive from video games. A gaming lifestyle is like any other lifestyle but it just revolves around games that do no physical exist. The article also talks about the bad rep that video gamers get for living these lifestyle. The perception a gamer lifestyle is that all they do is sit in a room and play video games and are geeks and have no social life. But as determined in this weeks reading technological games are a type of art also known as a digital art. So an underlining point that this article makes is that gaming lifestyle is no different from having an artist lifestyle. They are both lifestyles that are based on creativity and representing your inner most feelings through many different types of outlets. The quote that really summed up this article and how each type of lifestyle is different is that a lifestyle is “a manner of living that reflects a person’s values and attitudes”.

The True Gaming Lifestyle. Gamer 2.0 . published September 18 , 2005.http://www.gamer20.com/features/127

Article 2

This article talks about how technology specifically mobile technology has grown dramatically in the last couple years. It talks a little bit about how cell phones have come out with so many designs and shape in the last couple years. It seems once somebody buys a new cell phone in a couple months it is already out of style. This is the same for a lot of technology like televisions, iPods, and computers. But the main topic that this article talks about is the new marketing strategy is doing. The company is called yellow narrow net and the company is all about advertising. “One art project, Yellow Arrow, based in New York City, has developed a system where people can place yellow stickers in the shape of arrows around the city, stating that they have something to say about that particular location. Each arrow, which is ideally placed in a location that holds significance to the person, has its own unique code that can be sent to a mobile phone via text messaging, allowing others to read the message that was left”. The main goal for this technological advertising system is to make “spaces look like places”. Summing up the entire article it talks about how people don’t pay attention to their surroundings as much anymore, but if they got advertisments on their phone people would have to pay attention. This is an interesting marketing strategy the only question I have about it is that many people could become very annoyed with getting random texts to their phone. But i think in the near future we will see many more marketing strategies similar to this.

Stacy M. Perlman. The Art of mobile Technology. The Boston Globe. Online Article Retrieved on November 22, 2009

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2005/04/18/the_art_of_mobile_technology/

Creative Spirtituality Reflection

bcaldwel — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:24:13 +0000

Spirituality is very hard to define because it has a different meaning to everybody. Spirituality is formed with in a person, and that person can decide what spirituality means to them. Spirituality in most cases can not be seen which makes it hard for many people to believe. In a lot of cases spirituality is connected things that people may not be able to see but just believe in. Although many doubt they have spirituality, everybody has a little spirituality in them . People may not experience spirituality everyday, but for the most part spirituality is a big part of our daily lives.

For me I have a really tough time differentiating spirituality from religion. Growing up I was a lot more religious than I am now. But I always connected spirituality with religion and believing in god. With religion you have to be spiritual or it is hard to believe in that religion. For me I am christian, I have to be spiritual and believe that there is a god and that their was a Jesus Christ, even though nobody that is around today has ever seen the two. I have to believe that the two do exist or else i don’t believe in my religion.

Creativity is another tough word to define. Creativity is types of expression. Creativity is making something your own different from anything else. Creativity is very crucial when it comes to art and writing . In art, artist have to be able to express their feelings, if they do this then that will make each painting creative. In writing if you are not creative and do not make you writing different from another writers work, then it is called plagiarism. For both of these two types of expression it is crucial for somebody to be creative and make it their own.

Everybody has a different source of creativity. But I believe creativity comes from the inside of a person. It can come from emotion of how somebody is feeling, it can come from a past experience that a person hasn’t forgotten. It can even come from a day dream that somebody has during a class. But mostly the source of creativity just comes from the expression that one has coming from the inside of their body that they want people to hear and see. Everybody has different forms of expression that’s what makes creativity so unique and so special. Nobody can feel the exact same way as another person at every given time.

Enjoying Horror

bcaldwel — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:39:49 +0000

K-State Professor’s Opinion:
WHY WE LIKE TO WATCH SCARY MOVIES

MANHATTAN — Is it the chill on the backs of our necks, or the acceleration of our hearts pounding in our chests that make us watch scary movies?

According to Leon Rappoport, professor of psychology at Kansas State University, it is the same thing that attracts people to amusement parks to ride roller coasters.

“It goes all the way back to sitting around the camp fire telling ghost stories and folk tales,” Rappoport said. “It’s a very prevalent, deep-seated, human characteristic to explore the boundaries where they can tolerate fear and anxiety, and then master that fear and anxiety by working through it.”

Rappoport says that Freudians and analytical thinkers believe that the more we develop and progress as a civilization, so things become efficient, safe and secure.

“The more civilized we get the more we repress our sort of uncivilized nature,” Rappoport said. “And one way to release that is through festival occasions, vicariously enjoying horror movies and all sorts of related things.”

In a study, Rappoport asked people about the sorts of films and television shows that they enjoy watching. Results showed that there was a shift in the age of people who enjoyed horror movies and extreme fantasy.

“For example, you don’t see too many people over the age of 25 playing the game Dungeons and Dragons,” Rappoport said. “Maybe they don’t have time, but the general view is that people basically get bored with that type of thing.”

Rapport says this is why horror movies are so popular with teenagers.

“There is a pleasure that kids experience by exploring unconventional boundaries of these movies,” Rappoport said. “It’s sort of like forbidden territory when horror films come out, and parents or adults say they’re not fit for children. It makes them even more attractive.”

He says that for some teenagers, watching scary movies is somewhat of a passage into adulthood.

“As people grow up, they have to explore or test their limits to discover what sorts of things make sense to them — what they enjoy and can tolerate, compared with things that are too extreme and threatening,” Rappoport said.

“And so the horror movies have a great appeal that way,” he added. “It’s a safe, convenient and relatively easy way to try to explore your own feelings of anxiety and your own repressed feelings of hostility or aggression.”

According to Rappoport, sociologists argue that in our society, teenagers are physically mature, and yet they’re required to conform to a system that insists on keeping them out of the mainstream of society, so they’re not allowed to do all sorts of things that adults do until the ages of 18 or 21.

“They no longer have the indulgences that we give children, but they are not allowed to take the freedom that we give adults, so they’re in between,” Rappoport said. “And in addition to that they are seen as potentially troublesome, with all the anxieties about teenage crime, drugs and sex.

“So teenagers are going to develop a fair amount of tension,” he added. “And by vicariously going to see movies in which the high school gets burned down, or a teenager turns into a werewolf or a vampire and eats the principal or something, it releases some of the repressed frustration and tension that’s associated with being a teenager nowadays.”

Rappoport says there will always be criticism that movies of this type will harm impressionable youth. However, he says the same was said for comic books, video parlors and rock music.

“The general view is that people who re-enact what they see in films probably would get into trouble anyway, because they are right on the edge to begin with,” Rappoport said. “In every society at every time there are always people out on the edge who are just not socialized or developed to the point where they are able to manage their rights in a more reasonable way, so you get criminal behavior and the more extreme kinds of actions.”

But mostly watching horror and scary movies is just for fun.

“There seems to be this general quality that almost all of us share in enjoying a certain level of threatening stimulation or hazardous stimulation,” Rappoport said. “The ability to do something that seems to go beyond the usual range of things.”

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For more information, contact Leon Rappoport at 785-532-0616.

The first article that I read was posted by the University of Chicago Press Journals. The article brings up many interesting points regarding the topic of why so many people love watching horror and scary movies. The first reason that the article brings up about why so many people enjoy horror movies is that people love the feeling of euphoria or adrenalin that they feel during the movie. This is mostly pointing to the feeling of relief when the horror/ climax of the movie comes to an end. This means that most people will go through the terror and fear the experience throughout the movie just to get to that sense of relief that someone feels at the end. The other reason that the article points out is that many people watch horror movies because most people are not actually afraid of the movie but rather excited. I think both of these statements are very true. I think many people see horror films for the excitement, but then I also think a lot of people watch scary movies for the relief that they feel at the end.

But the most interesting thing about this article was the theory about how people during horror films have the ability to experience both negative and positive emotions at the same time when watching scary movies. What this means is that a person that is watching a scary movie they can experience both a positive and negative feelings at the same time. A great quote of the article that describes this experience is ” the most pleasant moments of a particular event can also be the most fearful”. I thought this was very interesting because what other things that can make you have two different types of feelings simultaneously. I don’t think many people realize it when they are watching a movie that they are experiencing two different emotions, because they are so into the movie. But if somebody were to point it out for them then I think most people would recognize it.

University of Chicago Press Journals (2007, July 31). Why Do People Love Horror Movies? They Enjoy Being Scared. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 8, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2007/07/070725152040.htm

The second article I read was titled “Why We Like to Watch Scary Movies” it was written by a professor from Kansas State named Leon Rappaport . He brings up a lot of good reasons on why so many people like watching horror films. The first reason that he brings up is that people like to watch horror films because they like conquering fear. Getting through a horror film and mastering the fear and working through the horror. This is an interesting way to think about why people e go to pay and watch something just to make sure that you are not scared. The next idea that Leon talks about in his article is that most people who are watching these scary movies are teenagers. He says that kids from the ages 13-19 are teh majority of the people that are sitting in a movie theatre watching a scary movie. Then he brings up an interesting point on why teenagers watch these horror films. The first reason that he talks about is that watching a horror movie is a right of passage for teens. Most right of passages come at the ages of 16, 18 and 21. watching scary movies makes teens feel older and closer to adulthood. I think this is very true. Growing up I felt that many of my friends just wanted to watch scary movies just to feel older. On this topic I think that most teenagers watch scary movie impress other people. If a young kid was to watch a scary movie over the weekend then comes to school the next week saying he watched a scary movie, I think he would become more popular because people think that he is not scared of anything. The last thing that the professor from Kansas State brings up in his short article is how people watch horror films to rebel and fantasies about things that probably will never happen. Many young children watch horror films to rebel against society and more importantly their parents. Then other people watch movies to witness things that are made up and probably will never happen in real life, and it is just a big fantasy.

Rappoport, L., (1997). ‘K-State Professor’s Opinion: Why We Like to Watch Scary Movies,’ Kansas State University. Retrieved November 4th, 2009, from http://www.k-state.edu/media/newsreleases/seasonal/listscarymovies.html.

Food As Art

bcaldwel — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:44:05 +0000

This article is much different from the one that i just read about.This article has to do with McDonald putting in a restaurant in the mall right by the entrance of the Louvre. The Louvre is the most prestige’s museums in the entire world. The Louvre is home top arguably the most recognized piece of art in the world the Mona Lisa. Now there is a big up rage that their is a museum which is a mass produced restaurant that has taking a lot of heat for the products they put in their food. Although McDonald’s is the biggest fast food corporation in the world it has no artistic value in their food, which contrasts the museum and their art.

In one of the you tube videos it talked about fast food and how it is mass produced, and the main fast food restaurant that the video talked about was Mcdonalds. The video talked about how in one burger their could be up to twenty different cows. The article also talked about how McDonalds creates horrible living environments for the cows that they use for their food.This is a big reason why McDonalds is criticized so much and that is partially why many people are wondering why they are putting a restaurant in such a sanctioned place.

One of the biggest reasons why this story of putting a Mcdonald’s in the Louvre is because Mcdonald’s food doesn’t have any creativity and prestige. Although there are many restaurants in the Louvre there is no fast food place, all of the food places have much creativity and put a lot of art into their food. The point that one of the readings brings up in this weeks readings it talked about it is hard to almost impossible for fast food places to incorporate art into their food. fast food places cater do the large majority and not to each individual customer, which is different from slow food which caters to the individual customer.

Barthelemy, Claire (2009, October) ‘Bad taste’ cries as McDonald’s moves into ‘Mona Lisa’ museum [On-Line Newspaper]. retrieved October 25th, 2009 from http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/07/mcdonalds.louvre/index.html?iref=newssearch.

Personal Adornment Reflection

bcaldwel — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:24:35 +0000

What I wear changes on a day to day basis. Some days mostly when I have early classes I wake and just put on the closest thing that is to my bed because I am so tired I could care less on what I put on. But then on some days ( mostly when I get to sleep in) I actually think about what I am going to wear and those are probably the days that I express my personalty more through my clothes. But all in all i don’t put that much thought into what I wear. Looking back at what I wear, i realize that I don’t separate myself form the what the average college student wears. Most of the time will be wearing jeans and then an Oregon shirt. I try to wear a lot of sports shirt or funny shirts much like any college male would.This represents might personality a little bit, I am big into sports and consider myself to be somewhat funny. Then on the weekends at night i mostly wear a collard shirt and jeans like the majority of people. I wear a collard shirt on the weekends because it makes me look more classy and well put together in the eyes of other people. I choose to wear what I do because it makes me happy, and in the end if your not happy with what you are wearing and how you look then nobody is. Over the years my personality has not really changed and that is the same with my choice of clothes. I might have become a little more sophisticated with the way i dress compared to back in middle school where i just wore a t-shirt and basketball shorts everyday. But all in all my style has not changed that much over the years.

Growing up all through Elementary school my parents made me wear a collard shirt and either cargo shirts/ pants or jeans. I think that they made me look very nice for class at an early age because both of my parents growing up went to Catholic schools up until 9th grade. I think they also wanted to instill in me that you should always look your best when you are in public and also I think just wanted me to have some what of the same upbringing as they had . I had to wear collard shirts up until 7th grade, once i got to choose my own clothes i started to rebel and just wear sports shorts and t-shirts. But once I wised up and realized that it is important to represent yourself properly in public like my parents had always taught me. So in the end i think my parents have had a lot to do with how i represent myself in the community and in public.

University of Oregon is different from any other college because we have the sponsorship on Phil Knight and Nike throughout our whole campus. With that combined with tremendous school spirit everywhere on campus you look there is somebody with some type of Oregon gear on. On a day to day to basis i witness a lot of people value the good education and what a good school system the University of Oregon has become. As far as the core beliefs represented in the community, there is always a lot of people speaking their free mind on their beliefs all over campus especially over buy the fish bowl. There is always shirts being made and sold to represent different beliefs and how they effect the world.

Food as Art

bcaldwel — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:45:17 +0000

This article is about a restaurant in Europe that is known for their creativity for their food. The restaurant is called El Bulli and the head chief is called Ferran Adria, Adria is called the chief for his artistic ability with food. His restaurant is only open 6 months out of the year because it costs so much to produce the artistic food. Some of the food and drinks that available at El Bulli is a margarita in a square ice cup with a hole drilled in through the center. This restaurant was voted the most artistic for the things that they do with their food.Although the food is very nice too look at, but then it is also filling and good to eat.

In the readings and you tube videos that I have watched over this last week it talked a lot about slow food and fast food. This article that i just read talked about how the chief Ferran Adria taking much time to produce his find artistic food. His restaurant was only open six months out of the year because it takes so much maintenance and time to run. Which is the bad thing about slow food, it is hard for a chief to produce so much food when a chief has to spend so much time on one food plate.

Another point that the readings brought up were how slow food is usually much more organic compared to fast food which is mass produced and contains non organic ingredients. The restaurant El Bulli uses many organic products for their food. Much of El Bulli food is organic and is purchased form local food stores. The readings also talked about how creative people can be with their food. Chief Adian is one of the most creative chiefs in the world, he uses all of his own recipes and creates all of his own styles of how he presents his food to his customers.

Pollard, Stephen (2007, May 17). Food as art, or pie in the sky?.retrieved on 2009 October 25 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article1799233.ece

Paleoanthropsychobiological

bcaldwel — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:14:21 +0000

You will not find the definition of paleoanthropsychobiological in the dictionary. That is because it is a made up word in the article written by Dissanayake. Dissanayake uses paleoanthropsychobiological to describe how art is not only used to describe things but is used in many different aspects. If you break down the word it breaks down into paleo/anthro/psycho/biological.Dissanayake combines all of these different words to form paleoanthropsychobiological because included in most art pieces their is history,society, and emotional aspects.

In the article Dissanayake brings up the phrase “making special”. She describes this phrase as every individually art piece is special and unique. Every piece of art is looked at differently from one person to the next. It is impossible to make the same piece of art twice, so that makes every piece of art unique in its own way. Every piece of art expresses a different emotion about the artist which makes it special.

Life Values Assessment

bcaldwel — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:02:11 +0000

My Life Values: Family, Friendship, Health, Wisdom, Personal Accomplishment, Loyalty, Personal Development, Enjoyment, Security, Integrity, Creativity, Independence, Leadership, Community, Wealth, Location, Expertness, Power, Service, Prestige.

Today was a pretty relaxing Sunday. I slept in pretty late and played inter mural football with some of my friends( friendship). Then i went back to my house and cleaned my room which is an accomplishment, because i can go weeks without cleaning my room (personal accomplishment). Then i went to the gym and played basketball (health). After basketball I went back to my house and got some of my homework done (Wisdom). Then half during doing some homework my parents called me to see how my week went (Family). In a lot of my days I consistently accomplish at least 4 of my top 5 values. On Sunday I was lucky to accomplish all 5. But when it comes to my top 6 values their are not hard to accomplish on a daily basis because they are so important to me.

For me most of my values have been shaped off of what my parents values are. My parents have instilled in me over the years that there is nothing more important in life than family,friendship, health, and loyalty. I also learned from my parents that it is important to have wisdom and personal accomplishment because that is how you get ahead in the world and stand out form others. My parents always told me to remember where I am from (location), which is still in my values but really isn’t valid anymore now that I live 600 miles away. Looking into the future some values that I think will change dramatically are independence, Wealth, and Prestige. The thing that stands in the way of the change of independence is time. Then the aspect that stands in the way for wealth and Prestige is college and education. when it comes down to it all of the listed values are important to me. I might not do something each day to remind myself of each value but they are all always in the back of my mind.