The other day while perusing along the avenues of the internet, I happened to discover these remarkable pieces of art, created by Disney Video Visual Development Artist, Katia Oloy. What made these paintings so different than any other Disney princess artwork was the moment that they were drawn in, the climax of their story. There is nothing that captivates an audience more than a good climax, and I would have to say that Disney did a spectacular job with each of these Disney classics, with Katia Oloy doing just a phenomenal job in bringing these scenes to life in a different art form. Here we have Snow White, just as she eats the poison apple given by the evil queen. Note that the background consists of dark blacks and browns, contrasted by the primary colors of blue, red, and yellow on Snow White, bringing her into attention. I personally love the way she seems to be floating, showing the supernatural nature of the apple that was given to her, and the dream-like state she will soon fall into as a result.
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It really does seem as though music has been around since the beginning of forever, doesn't it? People have used music to express how they feel when words are not enough to do so for hundreds of centuries now. In Othello, Desdemona randomly starts to sing, in front of Emilia, when she is feeling wary and fearful of Othello, but nowadays when we're feeling angry, overwhelmed, or anything we just plug in our earbuds and listen to our music. Obviously in those times they didn't have iPods or anything like that, but it was still weird to just randomly burst out into song. She is so caught up in her emotions that she doesn't even care anymore. When I was younger and was sitting about a foot away from the t.v. watching Disney movies, I would always wonder why they would just start singing out of nowhere. Now I can see that it was to set the mood of the movies, and to get the audience to continue watching it. (That realization only took about 10 years).
It's amazing how the lyrics to a song can match up to your current situation and give you the solution to the problem without you even realizing it. That was what always made me love music. -Post by Kathleen The best villian EVER was in Othello by Shakespeare. Iago pretends to be everyone's friend to get the information he needs in order to use and manipulate it to anger others. He thinks up an elaborate plan that is executed and destroys many relationships. This characteristic is also seen in the villians in nearly every Disney movie. They all pretend to do something but in actuality what they are doing is all a part of a plan to get what they want. Look at Dr. Facilier, a.k.a. The Shadow Man, from the movie The Princess and the Frog. He takes advantage of Lawrence's dire want to become a prince, and transforms him to look like Prince Naveen using a voodoo talisman, causing Prince Naveen turn into a frog. The Shadow Man only cares about money, so his plan was to have Lawrence, who looks like Prince Naveen, to propose to and marry Charlotte, daughter of a really rich man named Big Daddy, so he can kill Big Daddy and split the riches between himself and Lawrence. Have you ever had someone in your life who was a disguised evil? I know I have. I saw this saying on Facebook and I figured I might as well share with you even though you've probably already seen it: "Don't fear the enemy that attacks you, but the fake friend that hugs you." -Post by Kathleen
Music. It is something which is like air, or the clothes you wear, or your nose. Easily forgotten. Tuned out by your brain. You don't realize how special it is until you need it. Or...bump it into a door. Today music is everywhere; it is accessible and listening is easy and almost instantaneous. Music is a soul food, it always has been even before the advent of the radios, internet or Ipods. Its been around since before recorded history in some style or form, form all over the world. If you ask people, "what's the oldest type of music you can think of?" I bet you'll get a whole lot of 'classical-Beethoven' type answers. You might get a few 'tribal music', maybe. But the thing is its been around for a while. I always wanted to know why? Why does music...exist? Sure it probably did start as the human voice experimenting with mimicking the various sounds of nature, but when did the primitive "...shuuushhhhhshussssh..." of water evolve into opera or folksy tunes? I don't know. That is a whole other crazy banana of its own, and I don't want to figure that out. But luckily some very cool people have... tried. Check out these links! http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_19-6-2012-9-59-1 http://www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/dcrr/dcrr002.pdf (that one is a bit of a read, about 200 pages. It's a research paper called the The Evolutionary Origins and Archaeology of Music) http://www.questia.com/library/music-and-performing-arts/music/history-of-music/history-of-music -More great links at that link above! So why am I blabbing on about music? I was reading Othello in class and this one scene coupled with an interesting idea from my teacher got me thinking about this whole music origins thing. Desdemona and Emilia her attendant are talking while Desdemona gets ready for bed. Desdemona is really emotional and so to sort of vent her anxieties, she breaks out in song. Othello isn't a musical. My teacher made a point of pointing that out to us. And I was like," oh yea, that's...noteworthy, that's cool that's cool. She sang to relieve her emotions, understandable." But then my teacher delved deeper into the significance of that scene. He said something along the lines of," wouldn't it be weird today if when you got emotional, you started to sing? Duh, imagine the weird looks you'd get. Of course it would, people just jam their ear buds in and turn on their smartphone. But they didn't have Ipods back then did they?"...etc. Of course my brain had a fart moment and went " Huh?...they didn't....?" Don't worry it was only a fleeting moment of stupidity, Iv'e recovered. Anyways, after that I had fun entertaining the question, "why music?" So far I can only give my answer. Music to me is a profound emotional experience, an art of expressing our souls and of course a language untouched by the everlasting effects of the Tower of Babel. I cannot live without it. ~ Tina
Contrary to what Pokemon games may want you to think, being confused is not a bad thing! In fact, being confused simply means you're open to asking questions, or to receiving more information! In addition, being confused can often lead to interesting ideas or methods that were not previously thought off. In this world, we seem to be always rushing, trying to be more efficient, and shunning the action of repeating things, or people who are slow thinkers. What confusion allows us to do, is slow down and think about things, a deeply unappreciated gift during these times.
The most important part of confusion, though, is not dismissing it. In order to take confusion as a gift, it must be used and explored; that is, questions must be asked. Many scientists in the past have found some unexpected outcome or phenomena, and were confused on why things turned out that way. Instead of dismissing it as some irrelevant data, they explored their confusion and asked questions, to which they tried to answer. So, the next time you feel confused, take a moment to relax. Think about a question you want to ask, and go ahead and ask it! Above all, don't dismiss it! -Kevin I'm sure that I am not the only one, at least of the girls who are reading this, that has looked back at all of those old fairytale stories and think that they are nothing but lies. Most of us girls have probably been waiting for Prince Charming to come and thought that it will never happen, that he is never coming and you will end up forever alone (I really don't like that phrase because nobody ends up being alone unless they themselves choose to be alone). But trust me when I say that there's still time. You're still young (even if you think you're not, at least believe you're not old) and your Prince Charming will come into your lives eventually. Also, ladies, don't leave it all up to the guys; you should be out there trying to find him too because the poor guy might be stuck in a tree somehwere (credits to a Facebook post that I saw this last line on).
-Post by Kathleen Is there a word for that envious yet empowered feeling you can get from an EPIC movie or book? You know, the kind of story that makes you want to live in that world. Come on, I wasn't he only one who was totally bummed OUT that I could not hop into my closet and pop out the other end in Narnia, right? And who else was mind blown by Inception? I am so amazed by these utterly unoriginal ideas, by the sheer variety of other peoples imaginative powers. Taking original ideas and making them into a new, unforgettable unoriginal ideas is then super awesome isn't it? A poorly envisioned and executed re-make is always a let down. But a well made re-mix is its own type of unoriginal creation. After all, everything we know is a remix of many things. New style trends are recycled, modified from there older versions but still are inherently the same. Similar story plots are written with different characters and settings. People are constantly re-imaging old movies making them into new ones. A couple of my all time favorite re-mixes of classic movies (classic to me) today are Man of Steel and Snow White and the Huntsman. My favorite princess growing up was Snow White. Repeated viewings on VCR can do that to a susceptible young toddler. I think it had to do with the black hair and singing. I was a sucker for a good song back then, still am today. The new movie sort of opened my eyes to the beauty of a timeless story. The more serious and less girly Snow White was a very interesting story twist. Actually the whole mood of the movie was much darker than the original story was which was a cool contrast. I loved it. Man of Steel relocated the story of Superman to the 21st century. Many elements stayed the same yet the new setting really made the adventure more relate able. I loved how this movie actually gave a more detailed 'history' of Superman's home planet and family. I love the older movies just as much as the newer ones. It's just that the re-mix was capable of giving me that same feeling of longing, which is something I appreciate and hate bitterly because it isn't real. I can only wonder and dream, which is fine by me. ~ Tina
mood music, give it a listen. seriously.Today, October 16th marks the 90th anniversary of The Walt Disney Co., meaning that I have only been alive for less than Disney's existence. Oh, how young I feel. Anyway, I'm sure if Walt Disney were alive to see how his company has been doing, I would like to think he would be fairly proud of how far it's come. From the first feature-length animated film in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, to the upcoming Disney movie, Frozen, coming out on Thanksgiving, Disney's certainly has developed its distinct animating style and direction. I for one am excited for the upcoming movie, Frozen, whose trailer I will discuss in an upcoming post! For now though, let us reminisce, raise our mickey hats, sing praises to Mr. Walt Disney, and of course mark our calenders for the movie, Saving Mr. Banks starring Tom Hanks as Walt Disney.
Naturally, a large group of people is extremely chaotic. Just go to any sort of concert or high school dance *cough* *homecoming*, and you can see the insanity that bringing so many people creates. It is when this insanity is organized, though, that the most magical things happen. In my 5th grade, there was a period of time in which the 5th graders and 4th graders came together as one large group with the sole purpose of playing capture the flag on the full soccer field. Even after we split up into teams, how is it that about 40 kids managed to form a relatively organized game without any extreme difficulties? The key was division of roles. Any successful military or business organization can tell you that controlling large groups of people would be near impossible if they didn't break them up into sections, be it smaller squads or teams. And so that's what we did, divided up our team into 3 essential roles, with of course smaller subdivisions as the game developed: the attackers, the defenders, and border control. The OffenseThis was our front line: the fastest, wittiest, and most fearless players. If we were Spartans, these would be our 300. Now their job was to undertake the journey across the border to take the enemy's flag and bring it back. Now, considering we were playing on a full soccer field, this was HARD. However, the most difficult part of this role was having to keep attacking, keep moving in hopes of catching their defense unawares. In this way, the offense could be considered as entrepreneurs starting out a business or a project of some sort. They're the ones that pitch ideas and then try to sell them to potential investors in hopes of obtaining huge success at equally high risk. Another thing they might do is attract people to their project so that it gains more support. The most important part of being the offense is never giving up. The DefenseThese guys would no doubt be the backbone of the entire team or project. Their job was to protect the flag from attackers, so they need to be on constant alert. The few times they do see action, they become the hounds that you never want to encounter, forcing you back with ferocity that seemingly comes from nowhere. In a business, the defense would be the people in charge of planning and scheduling, the seemingly trivial work but is in reality the most important of all. They would make sure everyone is running smoothly and doing what they're supposed to. Other tasks they might have are managing a website of some sort, or other social media websites. Border ControlWhile many would consider this role as just a sub-category of the defenders, there's an important reason why I have placed this as its own separate role (other than the amount of times I've won in Capture the Flag). The border control would be the most versatile of all the groups, being near offense but also playing a defensive role. Their job is to psych out the enemy offense into thinking they're trying to get their flag, but in reality they're actually there in order to make sure the enemy doesn't cross the border easily. This could is easily one of the most fun jobs, as nearly anyone can take this role and simply toy around with other people. In a business, these are your jack-of-all trades. They're there because they have many skills that can be used. They round out the different groups of people on a team and eliminate any glaring weaknesses. One day they could be helping creating spreadsheets, the next day they could be shooting a promotional video. Yet another day they could be just driving people around or making coffee. Their job is to make sure everyone else's job is running smoothly and nobody is overwhelmed. Now of course, by no means does a team consist solely of these three categories. In fact, you may not with to define a team by these terms at all! After all, these are concepts created from the minds of 5th graders playing capture the flag. However, the greatest ideas often come from the most simple of concepts, and you can't get more simple than elementary schoolchildren. It is my hope that this brief explanation of some team concepts, you can develop your own ideas of how a team should function, and what roles people might take.
-Kevin Just thought I would post up a few pictures that pretty much sum up my childhood, and most of these still relate to who I am now.
And yes, I spent most of my time in front of a T.V. screen. (: -Post by Kathleen |