1. The 5th Wave, by Rick Yancey
2. The Casual Vacancy, by JK Rowling
3. Looking for Alaska, By John Green
4. The Boy in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown
5. Divergent Series, by Veronica Roth
6. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
7. The Martian, by Andy Weir
8. Left for Dead, by Beck Weathers and Stephen G. Michaud
9. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, by JK Rowling
10. Me Before You, by Jojo Moyes
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Week 13: Celebrity: Performance as Self
I haven't been paying a lot of attention to politics, but I have seen Trump speak and think that he is a joke. I chose this picture because it looks like he is confused or saying I don't know. I think it is silly for him to run because it seems like he is doing it just to be famous and just for the sake of running not that he wants to really help with anything. He is racist, sexist and just plane rude and he gets away with it just because he is Donald Trump and he is rich and we don't expect him to be nice so he can say what he wants. I think the people who are planning to vote for him need to take voting seriously. The United States is really having some problems and we need to pick a candidate that we can have confidence will be able to solve some of these issues.
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Week 12: The Film Auteur
This week I watched three movies by Sofia Coppola. The movies were, The Virgin Suicides, Somewhere, and Lost in Translation. I found her style of directing interesting, but I didn't actually really like the movies I watched.
One of the biggest similarities I saw in her movies was that she has a lot of shots that are very long of people doing mundane things. For example in Lost in Translation there is a shot of the two main characters riding the elevator with a bunch of other people and instead of seeing them enter and cutting to the next scene you watch them ride all the way in silence. Anther example of this is in Somewhere when the main character is getting his face molded for a part in a film. They cover his whole face with some sort of white clay substance and then we sit and watch him just breathing from his nose for much longer then you'd expect to see. I thought this style of filming created an awkward tension that was actually boring to watch after a while. It made the flow of the films seem to move very slowly.
Another similarity was that the character in the three movies I watched all had rather rough lives. They struggled with something, which I think is very realistic. They weren't fairy tale love stories that ended happy and had characters with happy lives. They were rough and raw and sometimes ended uneventfully. In The Virgin Suicides all of these girls are trapped in their house under the rules of their extremely strict parents. This leads to all the girls committing suicide and making poor life decisions. In Somewhere, Johnny is an actor who lives a sad life that mostly consists of drinking and partying and watching poll dancers in his room. The only happy part of his life really is his daughter who gets left with him when her mom decides to leave. He bonds with his daughter, but still participates in his movie star life of having sex with beautiful women and traveling around. In Lost in Translation these two characters, Charlotte and Bob, are both struggling with in their marriages and having trouble fitting in in Japan. They form a strong bond and spend a lot of time together, but are separated at the end when Bob goes home to his family.
I noticed that Sofia Coppola has two movies with Kristen Dunst in it and in the rest of her movies there was at least one well-known actor. I think it is interesting that she makes these what I think are more quite, real to life films and gets big name actors to be in them. I think this was a very interesting assignment and I'm actually glad that I took the time to watch these three films. Although I didn't like these particular films very much it was interesting to watch multiple works by a director and start to see the similarities in their films.
One of the biggest similarities I saw in her movies was that she has a lot of shots that are very long of people doing mundane things. For example in Lost in Translation there is a shot of the two main characters riding the elevator with a bunch of other people and instead of seeing them enter and cutting to the next scene you watch them ride all the way in silence. Anther example of this is in Somewhere when the main character is getting his face molded for a part in a film. They cover his whole face with some sort of white clay substance and then we sit and watch him just breathing from his nose for much longer then you'd expect to see. I thought this style of filming created an awkward tension that was actually boring to watch after a while. It made the flow of the films seem to move very slowly.
Another similarity was that the character in the three movies I watched all had rather rough lives. They struggled with something, which I think is very realistic. They weren't fairy tale love stories that ended happy and had characters with happy lives. They were rough and raw and sometimes ended uneventfully. In The Virgin Suicides all of these girls are trapped in their house under the rules of their extremely strict parents. This leads to all the girls committing suicide and making poor life decisions. In Somewhere, Johnny is an actor who lives a sad life that mostly consists of drinking and partying and watching poll dancers in his room. The only happy part of his life really is his daughter who gets left with him when her mom decides to leave. He bonds with his daughter, but still participates in his movie star life of having sex with beautiful women and traveling around. In Lost in Translation these two characters, Charlotte and Bob, are both struggling with in their marriages and having trouble fitting in in Japan. They form a strong bond and spend a lot of time together, but are separated at the end when Bob goes home to his family.
I noticed that Sofia Coppola has two movies with Kristen Dunst in it and in the rest of her movies there was at least one well-known actor. I think it is interesting that she makes these what I think are more quite, real to life films and gets big name actors to be in them. I think this was a very interesting assignment and I'm actually glad that I took the time to watch these three films. Although I didn't like these particular films very much it was interesting to watch multiple works by a director and start to see the similarities in their films.
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
In Class Writing: What is My Voice
I would have to say that my voice is very influenced by the way I've grown up. I like to base a lot of my work on the many places I have lived and growing up as an air force brat. So I'd say that part of my voice is about my upbringing.
Another part of my voice that influences my writing more then my art is that I like to try to be really descriptive. I enjoy doing creative writing and I find that I like to tell stories with deep description and tend to use sentences that are probably way too long.
In my design work I'd like to think that my voice is light and fun. Most of my work is graphic and bright and mostly all on the computer. But I do enjoy when I get away from the computer and work with my hands specifically using the letterpress. I could say that the fact that some of my work is letter pressed as apposed to all digital is part of my voice as an artist.
What I notice when doing critiques in my studio classes is that I start to get an idea of what everyones style or voice is in their work, but its very hard to pinpoint what my own style is. I look at each piece as something new and don't usually stop to think if it is similar to the last one. Whereas someone else might be looking at my work thinking that it looks very me.
Another part of my voice that influences my writing more then my art is that I like to try to be really descriptive. I enjoy doing creative writing and I find that I like to tell stories with deep description and tend to use sentences that are probably way too long.
In my design work I'd like to think that my voice is light and fun. Most of my work is graphic and bright and mostly all on the computer. But I do enjoy when I get away from the computer and work with my hands specifically using the letterpress. I could say that the fact that some of my work is letter pressed as apposed to all digital is part of my voice as an artist.
What I notice when doing critiques in my studio classes is that I start to get an idea of what everyones style or voice is in their work, but its very hard to pinpoint what my own style is. I look at each piece as something new and don't usually stop to think if it is similar to the last one. Whereas someone else might be looking at my work thinking that it looks very me.
Week 11: Auteurship
First of all I have to say I loved the illustrations in Asterios Polyp and the cleaver way the artist made the type tell the story. It was little details like having the speech bubble shapes different for each character, based on their personality. For example when the main character was walking through the subway station past a guy with a guitar. You could clearly tell he was singing because he had lines with the words written as notes. Or a little later in the story when at one point Still says "Hey Babe" to his wife and his speech bubble is a heart.
Another thing about this graphic novel that I thought was really great and shows the authors voice is that whenever there was a flashback or a pause in the main story where we were getting told important background information, the illustrations would change. Sometimes color and sometimes style. This really helped me as a reader to understand the story with it jumping all over the place. And it was nice that the author didn't have to say he was taking you back or giving you a brief history of a character we understood by the way the illustrations looked at the time. This method of changing the style the characters where draw in could also help us know what type of emotions were being felt at the time. It was also used a lot when a room full of people we being drawn. I think because we didn't need to concentrate on those other people so it wasn't necessary to make them as detailed at the main characters.
Similar to Karen Russel with her very descriptive similes, David Mazzuchell is also very descriptive but with his drawing. For example in part of the story the main character is remembering driving with his girlfriend while she knits. In order to get us to see that visual David drew a knitted scarf acting as a rode with dots marking destination and even a car driving on it. This is a fantastic visual without him having to say much other then she was knitting in the car.
Thinking about the tone of the piece I would say it was serious all the way until the end. The whole time it's such a serious story about this poor professor who has lost his love and has nothing and it seems a little sad and depressing. By the time you reach the end you are feeling a little better because he has gone back to his love and she seems to want him back and then it is almost funny in the end how it is all tied back to the stranger in the diner by having them hit by an asteroid.
Similar to Karen Russel with her very descriptive similes, David Mazzuchell is also very descriptive but with his drawing. For example in part of the story the main character is remembering driving with his girlfriend while she knits. In order to get us to see that visual David drew a knitted scarf acting as a rode with dots marking destination and even a car driving on it. This is a fantastic visual without him having to say much other then she was knitting in the car.
This whole time I was reading this story it felt strange which kept me wondering what was going to happen. I felt connected with this couple and looked forward to flashbacks to learn more of their story. It really felt like a story with in a story, which kept my interest and made me want to read to the end. It also helped that the visuals and typography were beautiful and descriptive and really added the story.
Week 10: Voice in Contemporary Literature
In Sleep Donation Karen Russell writes with a very clear voice. The first thing I noticed about her voice is that a lot of times she will end sentences with two adjectives. For example when talking about the moon she writes, "Its radiance makes every white of human manufacture seem dingy, impure." I think this way of writing just flows well and adds a little extra description to her stories.
The second thing I noticed about the authors voice is that she writes with a lot of almost asides like she is speaking to the audience. Some examples being, "Our contact is limited to this office (unless you count our public performances at Corps fund-raisers, the Charity Balls and Charity Golf-Offs)." and My mouthy, gorgeous, stupid-brave sister Dori, Miss “Drive It Like You Stole It” (even when the only “It” available to us was our great-aunt’s haunted house of a wood-panelled Chrysler—who ever heard of a car with termites?),". These little notes in parenthesis help the reader to dig deeper into the story the author is telling and make you feel included. They also give you a better taste of what the character and the authors personality is like.
The second thing I noticed about the authors voice is that she writes with a lot of almost asides like she is speaking to the audience. Some examples being, "Our contact is limited to this office (unless you count our public performances at Corps fund-raisers, the Charity Balls and Charity Golf-Offs)." and My mouthy, gorgeous, stupid-brave sister Dori, Miss “Drive It Like You Stole It” (even when the only “It” available to us was our great-aunt’s haunted house of a wood-panelled Chrysler—who ever heard of a car with termites?),". These little notes in parenthesis help the reader to dig deeper into the story the author is telling and make you feel included. They also give you a better taste of what the character and the authors personality is like.
The third way I think we hear the authors voice in this story is her amazing description of things. She uses a lot of really great similes that I don't think everyone would think of. It is because of these similes that she doesn't need to use a whole lot of other description because we get the point after just one well written sentence. A good example of this can be seen even on the first page. The author writes, "Rudy slaps his bald spot and leaves his hand there. A grapefruit hue spills underneath his fingers, as if the scalp is blushing." After just one sentence we get a clear picture of the man she is describing and his actions.
As far as tone goes I think hers could be described in different ways. With her snappy asides to the audience you could almost say her tone is sarcastic. After reading the list of different tones from the link on the class page I picked a few that I think fit with this story. First of all I think the tone could be considered candid meaning truthful, straightforward: honest or unreserved. The reason I think this is that the author doesn't beat around the bush with this story. She jumps right in and begins to tell the story very straightforward. Although she has very descriptive sentences she doesn't write with a lot of other unnecessary flourish. Another way I think the tone could be described is almost chatty meaning informal; lively; conversational or familiar. I think this part of the tone comes out in the authors asides to us. The whole story to me just feels like she is talking to us. We are easily immersed in this world of sleep deprived people because the author is so great at giving us lots of information here and there through various methods.
Overall I thought that this novella was very interesting. I enjoy Karen Russell's style of writing a lot because it feels very personal. I also thought the story in general was a totally new story and I haven't read anything with the same plot. The idea of a insomnia apocalypse is a very cool yet creepy idea.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)