I will expect a critical essay from all Fine Arts students on the Stephen Sondheim musical A Funny Thing Happened. If you cannot attend the performances at CMHS from Feb 25 - 28, please rent the movie and get the essay completed by Tues, Mar 3.
Follow guidelines that call for
- vivid opening,
- evaluation of the main players,
- timing and clarity of speakers, and
- technical matters,
- audience response, and an
- area(s) in which improvement might me made.
- You may ignore plot summary.
- 15 pts.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, says Wikipedia, and a book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart.
Inspired by the farces of the ancient Roman playwright Plautus (251–183 BC), specifically Pseudolus, Miles Gloriosus and Mostellaria, it tells the bawdy story of a slave named Pseudolus and his attempts to win his freedom by helping his young master woo the girl next door. The plot displays many classic elements of farce, including puns, the slamming of doors, cases of mistaken identity (frequently involving characters disguising themselves as one another), and satirical comments on social class. The title derives from the line that vaudeville comedians often used to begin a story: "A funny thing happened on the way to the theater".
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
The Beat Poets, precursors to the psychedelic generation
The Beat Generation is a term used to describe a group of American writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, and also the cultural phenomena that they wrote about and inspired (later sometimes called "beatniks"): a rejection of mainstream American values, experimentation with drugs and alternate forms of sexuality, and an interest in Eastern spirituality.
The major works of Beat writing are Allen Ginsberg's Howl (1956), William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch (1959) and Jack Kerouac's On the Road (1957).[1] Both Howl and Naked Lunch were the focus of obscenity trials that ultimately helped to liberalize what could be published in the United States. On the Road transformed Kerouac's friend Neal Cassady into a youth-culture hero. The members of the Beat Generation quickly developed a reputation as new bohemian hedonists, who celebrated non-conformity and spontaneous creativity.
The original "Beat Generation" writers met in New York. Later, the central figures (with the exception of Burroughs) ended up together in San Francisco in the mid-1950s where they met and became friends with figures associated with the San Francisco Renaissance. During the 1960s, the rapidly expanding Beat culture underwent a transformation: the Beat Generation gave way to the Sixties Counterculture, which was accompanied by a shift in public terminology from "beatnik" to "hippie."
The major works of Beat writing are Allen Ginsberg's Howl (1956), William S. Burroughs's Naked Lunch (1959) and Jack Kerouac's On the Road (1957).[1] Both Howl and Naked Lunch were the focus of obscenity trials that ultimately helped to liberalize what could be published in the United States. On the Road transformed Kerouac's friend Neal Cassady into a youth-culture hero. The members of the Beat Generation quickly developed a reputation as new bohemian hedonists, who celebrated non-conformity and spontaneous creativity.
The original "Beat Generation" writers met in New York. Later, the central figures (with the exception of Burroughs) ended up together in San Francisco in the mid-1950s where they met and became friends with figures associated with the San Francisco Renaissance. During the 1960s, the rapidly expanding Beat culture underwent a transformation: the Beat Generation gave way to the Sixties Counterculture, which was accompanied by a shift in public terminology from "beatnik" to "hippie."
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
The history of pop culture and psychedelia!
The word psychedelic is an English term coined from the Greek words for "soul," ψυχή (psyche), and "manifest," δήλος (delos).
A psychedelic experience is characterized by the perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly ordinary fetters.
Psychedelic states are an array of experiences elicited by sensory deprivation as well as by psychedelic substances. Such experiences include hallucinations, changes of perception, synesthesia, altered states of awareness, mystical states, and occasionally states resembling psychosis.
The term was first coined as a noun in 1957 by psychiatrist Humphry Osmond as an alternative descriptor for hallucinogenic drugs in the context of psychedelic psychotherapy. Timothy Leary, who was largely responsible for the popularization of the term "psychedelic",[citation needed] was a well-known proponent of their use, as was Aldous Huxley. Both, however, advanced widely different opinions on the broad use of psychedelics by state and civil society. Leary promulgated the idea of such substances as a panacea, while Huxley suggested that only the cultural and intellectual elite should partake of entheogens systematically.
The use of psychedelic drugs became widespread in the modern West in the mid-1960s.
A psychedelic experience is characterized by the perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly ordinary fetters.
Psychedelic states are an array of experiences elicited by sensory deprivation as well as by psychedelic substances. Such experiences include hallucinations, changes of perception, synesthesia, altered states of awareness, mystical states, and occasionally states resembling psychosis.
The term was first coined as a noun in 1957 by psychiatrist Humphry Osmond as an alternative descriptor for hallucinogenic drugs in the context of psychedelic psychotherapy. Timothy Leary, who was largely responsible for the popularization of the term "psychedelic",[citation needed] was a well-known proponent of their use, as was Aldous Huxley. Both, however, advanced widely different opinions on the broad use of psychedelics by state and civil society. Leary promulgated the idea of such substances as a panacea, while Huxley suggested that only the cultural and intellectual elite should partake of entheogens systematically.
The use of psychedelic drugs became widespread in the modern West in the mid-1960s.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Brief review of the movie American Graffiti
Review -
- Describe a scene from the movie that is symbolic of what you liked or didn't like.
- Basic plot.
- Evaluation: why you thought it was worthy. Or why you thought it was a mixed bag. Or why you thought ti was recommendable.
Here's my little evaluation:
American Graffiti is a teen romance set in Southern California in the early 1960's.
At the low-budget film's peak of fun, the preppy senior, a most-likely-to-succeed fellow, is coerced by the Pharaohs, a street gang, into pulling a prank on the cops. He hooks a rope to the cop car's bumper and ties the line to a post. When the cops try to whip into the street to bust a speeder, the cruiser is snagged and wrecked. It is a scene, perhaps improbable, that gets the best laugh in the low-key, if historic, film.
For a movie that has won the recommendation of the Library of Congress and a huge audience, it is a light-weight. The script asks teens whether the hero should squander his college scholarship and opt for his comfort zone - attending junior college. Otherwise, the tales in American Graffitti are like comfort food: pleasant and sleep-inducing.
- Describe a scene from the movie that is symbolic of what you liked or didn't like.
- Basic plot.
- Evaluation: why you thought it was worthy. Or why you thought it was a mixed bag. Or why you thought ti was recommendable.
Here's my little evaluation:
American Graffiti is a teen romance set in Southern California in the early 1960's.
At the low-budget film's peak of fun, the preppy senior, a most-likely-to-succeed fellow, is coerced by the Pharaohs, a street gang, into pulling a prank on the cops. He hooks a rope to the cop car's bumper and ties the line to a post. When the cops try to whip into the street to bust a speeder, the cruiser is snagged and wrecked. It is a scene, perhaps improbable, that gets the best laugh in the low-key, if historic, film.
For a movie that has won the recommendation of the Library of Congress and a huge audience, it is a light-weight. The script asks teens whether the hero should squander his college scholarship and opt for his comfort zone - attending junior college. Otherwise, the tales in American Graffitti are like comfort food: pleasant and sleep-inducing.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
History and impact of pop music and pop culture
History of pop music in America / from rock to hip-hop
What is its impact on our lives?
How does it relate to the Fine Arts?
Has pop music been partly responsible for eroding the deleterious dictatorships and totalitarian regimes of the world?
The Dance Theater of Harlem recently performed classical European ballet moves to the James Brown funk song, "Mother Popcorn." The unexpected collision of the historical fine arts and the classical modern expression worked marvelously. People were amused and enlightened by the juxtaposition.
Specs:
- 10 slides on the assigned topic, 10 on your choice of additional topic.
- 3 recordings - mp3's - on each topic.
- Brief printed explanation to accompany each slide.
- store in Google Docs.
1. Gospel - what about gospel music provides a background for pop?
2. Folk - which fold musics have been inspirational to pop artists? Which folk songs have won a place in pop culture alongside rock and R n B?
3. Country music - what parts of country music contributed to the birth of r n r? How has country become sort of a variation of rock?
4. Blues - what qualities of the blues are bedrock parts of pop?
5. R n B - early forms of RnB were called Race music and were immediate predecessors to the rock revolution.
6. Leo Fender and the revolutionary aspects of developing the Fender guitars, amps and bass.
Part One: the Strat and the Tele.
7. Leo Fender 2: pop music and the impact of the P Bass and the Jazz Bass, too.
8. Leo Fender 3: guitar amplifiers that changed the world - the Deluxe, the Bassman, the Super.
9. Les Paul and the Gibson Les Paul guitar and pop music.
10. Les Paul and multi-track recording. Pop music and technology.
11. Hair and the excitement and image of pop stars.
12. Costumes of pop music: from the ducktail to the feather boa.
13. Dance and pop music: get them on the dance floor and you will be a success.
14. Drugs and pop culture. From Liquor to Horse to PCP.
15. Urban and African-American slang and pop music. The language of pop.
16. Movies that brought pop music and pop culture to the masses.
17. TV and the pop star: how TV fed the appetite and spread the culture of pop.
18. Radio and the development of pop.
19. 1950's rock: the initial revolutionary confluence of musics and heroic performers.
20. Black culture meets white culture and America is revolutionized.
21. British rock: in the 1960's talented people in one European nation shook the smug Yanks.
22. Singer-songwriters and pop music: in the 7o's multi-talented performers established a sort of folk-rock category.
23. Punk: the British and the urban background of million-sellers like Green Day.
24. Psychedelia: drug-drenched, stately pop music that reflected poetic space journeys.
25. Metal and Heavy rock: grinding guitars and basic riffs seem eternally part of pop.
26. Progressive rock: jazzy and complicated.
27. Icons: Ray Charles
28. Icons: Little Richard
29. Icon: Chuck Berry
30. Icon: Michael Jackson
31. Icon: the Beatles
32. Icon: Jimi Hendrix
33. Icon: Bob Dylan
34. Icon: Prince
35. Icon: Stevie Wonder
36. Modern icon: Radiohead
What is its impact on our lives?
How does it relate to the Fine Arts?
Has pop music been partly responsible for eroding the deleterious dictatorships and totalitarian regimes of the world?
The Dance Theater of Harlem recently performed classical European ballet moves to the James Brown funk song, "Mother Popcorn." The unexpected collision of the historical fine arts and the classical modern expression worked marvelously. People were amused and enlightened by the juxtaposition.
Specs:
- 10 slides on the assigned topic, 10 on your choice of additional topic.
- 3 recordings - mp3's - on each topic.
- Brief printed explanation to accompany each slide.
- store in Google Docs.
1. Gospel - what about gospel music provides a background for pop?
2. Folk - which fold musics have been inspirational to pop artists? Which folk songs have won a place in pop culture alongside rock and R n B?
3. Country music - what parts of country music contributed to the birth of r n r? How has country become sort of a variation of rock?
4. Blues - what qualities of the blues are bedrock parts of pop?
5. R n B - early forms of RnB were called Race music and were immediate predecessors to the rock revolution.
6. Leo Fender and the revolutionary aspects of developing the Fender guitars, amps and bass.
Part One: the Strat and the Tele.
7. Leo Fender 2: pop music and the impact of the P Bass and the Jazz Bass, too.
8. Leo Fender 3: guitar amplifiers that changed the world - the Deluxe, the Bassman, the Super.
9. Les Paul and the Gibson Les Paul guitar and pop music.
10. Les Paul and multi-track recording. Pop music and technology.
11. Hair and the excitement and image of pop stars.
12. Costumes of pop music: from the ducktail to the feather boa.
13. Dance and pop music: get them on the dance floor and you will be a success.
14. Drugs and pop culture. From Liquor to Horse to PCP.
15. Urban and African-American slang and pop music. The language of pop.
16. Movies that brought pop music and pop culture to the masses.
17. TV and the pop star: how TV fed the appetite and spread the culture of pop.
18. Radio and the development of pop.
19. 1950's rock: the initial revolutionary confluence of musics and heroic performers.
20. Black culture meets white culture and America is revolutionized.
21. British rock: in the 1960's talented people in one European nation shook the smug Yanks.
22. Singer-songwriters and pop music: in the 7o's multi-talented performers established a sort of folk-rock category.
23. Punk: the British and the urban background of million-sellers like Green Day.
24. Psychedelia: drug-drenched, stately pop music that reflected poetic space journeys.
25. Metal and Heavy rock: grinding guitars and basic riffs seem eternally part of pop.
26. Progressive rock: jazzy and complicated.
27. Icons: Ray Charles
28. Icons: Little Richard
29. Icon: Chuck Berry
30. Icon: Michael Jackson
31. Icon: the Beatles
32. Icon: Jimi Hendrix
33. Icon: Bob Dylan
34. Icon: Prince
35. Icon: Stevie Wonder
36. Modern icon: Radiohead
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Why American Graffiti has come to Fine Arts class
American Graffiti was nominated for five different categories at the 46th Academy Awards, and in 1995 American Graffiti was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress, and was added to the National Film Registry for preservation, says Wikipedia.
Fine Arts class will see it in the context of a) history of pop music b) history of cinema and c) how to write an evaluation of a movie.
George Lucas began developing the film shortly after the release of his THX 1138 in 1971, while at the same time developing an "untitled science fiction space opera",[2] later to become the basis for Star Wars.[3]Drawing upon his large collection of vintage 45 rpm singles, Lucas wrote every scene of the movie with a specific musical backdrop in mind, while listening to the various record albums. American Graffiti would be the first film to feature such an extensive soundtrack of original rock and roll recordings.[14]
The cost of licensing the 75 songs that Lucas wanted contributed to United Artist's rejection of the script; they saw it as "a musical montage with no characters".[4] They also passed on the science fiction idea, which Lucas temporarily shelved[4] (this would eventually become the birth of Star Wars).[3] Lucas spent the rest of 1971 and early 1972 trying to raise interest in his script for Graffiti. THX 1138 had brought him an unwelcome notoriety, and he was instead offered the chance to direct films such as Tommy (1975) and Hair (1979).[4] Lucas took the script to American International Pictures, and was told "we will accept if you make it more violent and exploitational".[16] Columbia Pictures passed on Graffiti as they felt licensing the songs would be around $500,000[17] (the final cost only came to $80,000).[18]
American Graffiti was a low-budget project, and the studio had only modest expectations for its commercial success. However, they did object to the film's title, having no clue what "American Graffiti" meant (some thought it was about feet). Universal submitted a long list of 65 alternative titles (with their favorite being Another Slow Night in Modesto).[5] Francis Ford Coppola and Universal also insisted on changing it to Rock Around the Block.[27] Lucas didn't like any of the choices and persuaded the studio to keep the title.[5]
In post-production Lucas proposed 80 background songs, before narrowing it down to 45.[27] The studio suggested hiring an orchestra to re-record the songs. In turn, Universal proposed a deal that offered every music publisher the same amount of money. This was acceptable to most of the companies representing Lucas' choices, but not to RCA (with the consequence that Elvis Presley's songs were not used).[19] In total, $80,000 was spent for music rights, and none for a film score.[18]
American Graffiti opened on August 1, 1973, earning over $115 million in North America. The film was a box office success, recouping 92 times its budget of $1,250,000.[8] Graffiti is the highest cost-to-profit success in film history,[1] and is often cited for helping give birth to the summer blockbuster.[33] Adjusted for inflation the film became the 41st highest grossing movie in North America.[34] George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola had a controversy over control of box office profits, affecting their friendship.[1] Film rentals went up to a staggering $55,886,000. However, Graffiti was less successful in foreign countries, earning only five million dollars overseas, although the film developed a cult following in France. Lucas stated, "Francis [Coppola] was kicking himself forever for the fact that if he had financed the film himself, he would have been a rich man." No one expected Graffiti to be a financial success, least of all Lucas.[1]
The film's box office success made George Lucas an instant millionaire. He gave a large amount of the film's profits to Haskell Wexler for his visual consulting help during filming, and to Wolfman Jack. Lucas's net worth was now $4 million, and he set aside a $300,000 fund for his long cherished science fiction project, which he would eventually title The Star Wars.[22] With his profits from the film, Lucas was able to establish more elaborate development for his company Lucasfilm and created what would become the successful companies Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound.[22]
Dallas arts district update in NY Times
From the NY Times on visiting Dallas:
Go on a walking tour of the Dallas Arts District (www.artsdistrict.org), a 19-block area straddling downtown office skyscrapers and uptown luxury hotels.
Highlights include the new Dallas Center for the Performing Arts (2100 Ross Avenue, Suite 650; 214-954-9925; www.dallasperformingarts.org), a four-venue complex for music, opera, theater and dance in a parklike setting that’s scheduled for a fall opening. The center will include a drum-shaped opera house designed by Norman Foster and a cube-shaped theater designed by Rem Koolhaas.
To take it all in, find a bench at the Nasher Sculpture Center (2001 Flora Street; 214-242-5100; www.nashersculpturecenter.org), a museum designed by Renzo Piano with a lush garden that features works from a collection that includes Rodin, Henry Moore and George Segal.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Art-like, melodramatic decorative stuff: kitsch
Kitsch is a negative word. Kitsch refers to non-original stuff that has some of the qualities of art. Art in the broadest sense. But kitsch is just appealing junk. The key to an educated person's life is knowing what's kitsch and what's art. While I'm proud that my house is full of original and bold art, I must admit I have kitsch, too - and it is dear to me.
Kitsch /kɪtʃ/ is a term of German or Yiddish origin, says Wikiepdiia, that has been used to categorize art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an existing style. The term is also used more loosely in referring to any art that is pretentious to the point of being in poor taste and also commercially produced items that are considered trite or crass.
Because the word was brought into use as a response to a large amount of art in the 19th century where the aesthetic of art work was associated with a sense of exaggerated sentimentality or melodrama, kitsch is most closely associated with art that is sentimental; however, it can be used to refer to any type of art that is deficient for similar reasons.
Whether it tries to appear sentimental, glamorous, theatrical, or creative, kitsch is said to be a gesture imitative of the superficial appearances of art. It is often said that kitsch relies on merely repeating convention and formula, lacking the sense of creativity and originality displayed in genuine art.
Kitsch /kɪtʃ/ is a term of German or Yiddish origin, says Wikiepdiia, that has been used to categorize art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an existing style. The term is also used more loosely in referring to any art that is pretentious to the point of being in poor taste and also commercially produced items that are considered trite or crass.
Because the word was brought into use as a response to a large amount of art in the 19th century where the aesthetic of art work was associated with a sense of exaggerated sentimentality or melodrama, kitsch is most closely associated with art that is sentimental; however, it can be used to refer to any type of art that is deficient for similar reasons.
Whether it tries to appear sentimental, glamorous, theatrical, or creative, kitsch is said to be a gesture imitative of the superficial appearances of art. It is often said that kitsch relies on merely repeating convention and formula, lacking the sense of creativity and originality displayed in genuine art.
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