My Tales
last week or so we were asked to construct a structure, a modern structure, we all had different projects that had to be made, some made houses, others churches, there were also transportation, and an amusment park. and we were made to express what we view ours was the mall, the idea was to condtruct a seasons mall, where there are 4 diff. areas to the mall and each of those areas have an assigned season to them and i loved that idea becaue it views progress and to be able to have a mall like that it means that we have progress in the economy. even the other groups ideas were so great a house made of glass and the glass becomes the tv. an amusment park that is out of this world, a teleportation system, a flying church. they were all great and wonderful. i even found myslef wishing and longing for that teleportation system, just imagine no more cramped LRT no more walking through floods. but as i walked out of the room the joy of brain storming passed i realized that we wouldnt get that soon because as our professor said architecture says alot about about peoples economic status, and culture. and lets face it that wont happen, not soon at least and it was such a shame, that people do not work for the progress of the country but for their own selves. maybe the house will happen the glass house for the rich but the rest just seems like a vague dream until the people wake up and decide to do good and progress
Malls have always been there for the longest time, I don’t personally know what its like to live on a day to day basis without the mall, I love the mall, it’s a place that relaxes me and I’m almost always glad to be in one, the place is cold, there is food available when I’m hungry, clothes and accessories when I need them, books when I’m depressed, you can even say the mall has everything, now the mall holds mass, there are govt. centers, travel centers, food courts, appliances, clothing. If you were trapped inside a mall you would survive. Knowing all of this it staggers me that I know so little about malls, about its design and architecture, come to think of it now I know I don’t even notice the form and structure from the inside, but now you can say I know better, it really amazed me that malls were specifically designed to fit the people they are supposed to accommodate, like the difference between shangrila and megamall, the former built sprawling up where in people are encouraged to purchase something, its for the upper crust of society, and then there is the latter with floors sprawling far and wide, to accommodate the people who really love to walk around, to stay awhile its for the middle to low class; you see I never thought of that I always believed that those malls were made like that because the company wasn’t able to purchase land so they had to sprawl up and not down.
Malls being well integrated into society already now aims to build a micro city I learned that today, most people who have the capacity to afford to be in one would enter one. A micro city is a small city that makes the life of people in a sense easier everything is efficient and within reach. Its cool and all and I would be a hypocrite if I said that I didn’t want to live in one, who could refuse no traffic, live near a mall, less pollution, less danger, walking distance school, oh how I would love that; but in the long run I would have to agree that it does cause indifferentiation people who are not confined in those micro cities are already apathetic and indifferent to one another what more if we entered a more secluded world. Apart from this I really noticed that if that happened our nationalism would begin to ebb away, we would no longer be true Filipinos by heart because not only would we not care about our country’s economy, we would not care about other people who need help, who are poor. We would be shaped into this western system where everything is about efficiency and every man is his own island. The people who already worship western culture as something cool, something that is desired and to be desired would get worst, they will imitate until they will no longer feel like they really are Filipinos and that in itself is a tragedy.
Personally I don’t know how to improve the system, my best bet is just to educate the people more and hopefully instill some compassion and passion along the way.
we have been talking about the mona lisa for a long time in class and it is a very noteworthy painting costing millions an millions of dollars it is one of the most expensive paintings now if not the most expensive and it is because of the mystery behind the mona lisa that captures attention world wide, there are mainly two mysteries in the mona lisa the first is her smile, and the second is who she really is.
Mona Lisa smile is very famous because you dont really know why shes smilng or what kind of smie that really is, is she sad? is that a heartbroken smile? dis she smile because Leonardo da Vinci asked her too, is she seducing? is she happy? there are many interpretations of that single smile, some even say she looks consipated and she smiled like that because she really wanted to leave but was too polite to go.
the second mystery about the Mona lisa, is who is she? is she Lisa Gherardini the wife of Francesco del Giocondo who was a silk merchant of Florence, is she da Vinci himself expressing his feminine side is she Isabella the princess. like the her smile who she really is made alot of people wonder some say shes da Vinci because her facial features matches his, the others are just prospects. now these two mysteries are gonna continue for a vey long time nobody will be able t solve them becaus the artist is dead, the suject is also dead, they have no one to ask that is gonna be highly reliable, there will still be some doubt and that is what makes her so popular its because no one can figure out who she really is and in my point of view that is best because the mona lisa will loose its spark its mystery if people kenw who she really was, no one will take a second look to figure out who she is, no one will no longer ponder and think, thats bad.
the mona lisa has been subjected to diff kinds of change per artist that tried to draw her, some are spoofs some to sell products, some just to really try and evoke thought as to who she really is. we were asked to make such versions and what people came up with are well really unique, from shampoo ads, to boxer shorts ads, to the nude, to squiggles it was really amazing and they were able to defend it too, but my question for that activity which i never got to ask is there are diff versions bue if some of those versions are compleatly different like mona lisa with her hands behind her back, or mona lisa with fly away hair with a different pose. how can you say that that is still the mona lisa, i mean if i looked at some versions they were very pretty but i just cant see her, now the question is how much can you change the mona lisa for her to still look like mona lisa?
here are some images that i really liked:
This is going to be my personal reflection of film and what it has taught me, for the longest time i have had a mentality that just because you are a film maker, an actor or an actress you wont have to work as hard in life as most people do. ive always felt that it was easy, anybody could do it, but i now know i was wrong these people work just as hard at it because not only do they have to think to make a quality movie, they work hard to know what people want, what they need, what needs to be on screen, what needs to be said and all those things. it really hit me that its hard and given the opportunity to make a film, i would probably suck at it.
i learned that film is not something you compleatly make up as you go along, it has elements, it has to be studied its and art. you have to think of the camera, its angles what kind of shots to use to amplify the importance and emotion of a specific scene. becaus if a long shot was used when the character is emoting and you can barely see the face while he/she is wailing her lungs off then it would not be effective, the viwers would just ignore it and they wont even remember that scene when it is in fact relevant to the film. that example shows that the film maker needs to know what angles to use, and how to use them.
apart from that film makers also think about some aspects of production or the mise-en-scene, the editing the audio and its not an easy job, when things are messy and out of place people wont get it and the film would not have made a difference, it beats the purpose of the whole thing.
my favorite example was the one in cinema paradiso as explained before that when Salvator had just given up and he was walking away there were glasses being shatered everything was bright happy and bubly except himand all the shadows the colors even the traditions of that town made that scene so wonderful and effective.
so now when i go see a film i try to look at these things and appreciate the hard work of the people who made them, and appreciate it.
for the past 2 weeks we were asked to watch two workshops, one of music and the other of dance, i expected to like muxic more as i am totally clueless when it comes to dancing but schockingly enough i connected more to the dance than the music, the strength of their movement the preciseness of it; maybe i love it more because i cant do it and it amazes me how others are able to put their passion in the dance. the dance that struck me most was the indian dance, the flamenco and our very oun philippine dances such as the: maglalatik and the mindanao dance. the indian dance amused me so much because of the facial expression the sharp movements and the costume itself is sheer work of art.
and for me it was amazing how the dancer mastered this dance and executed it well...
the flamenco was actually the dance that i chose if i were to explain my life because of the passion that the dancers exert when doing it the stomping of the feet claping of hands are the basic steps that ive noticed..the dance is eye catching yet the music in reality is what makes it go alive or the Cante which are actually poems.
the costumes of those who choose to dance the flamenco are usually extravagant lots of swirls and deep rich color, reds usually that signify the spanish descent
the maglalatik and mindanao dance surprised me because i didnt think i would like them very much but when they were executed the dancers were able to show the purpose of the dance especially in the mindanao dance the chase of the man after the woman, the reluctance and the giving it..it tells a story that can be understood even without words, and even though the dance itself is old the generation today can still relate to what its trying to say. the maglalatik however struck me more as a fun dance and not a war dance, the dancers look exhilerated with the dance and not angry maybe because there is no emenent threat that one of the men would go psycho. and kill the other, but it was very very amusing for me to see as well how the dances have evolved and have been re-interpreted as such.
dancing is truly an art that communicates without words yet it creates the same if not more impact.
For the past two meetings we have been watching a film entitled Cinema Paradiso, it was the first time I have ever heard of that film and partly because I was not even born yet when it was made (1988) at the beginning of the film I was skeptical it was a very old Italian film that did not capture my range of interest (I love fantasy films and romance) which the film was neither, after the first showing I admit a little to myself it was good and what amazed me is that I was able to analyze the film using the techniques and frames that were taught previously in class. as I was watching I already automatically took note of the close ups, the mid shots and the long shots, at the back of my head I kept on thinking if this or that was appropriate for the scene, did it make it more effective, do I like it more because the man's expression was focused on, and now I can confidently answer yes! what I liked best about the film I realize now is the emotion on their faces it made me feel what they were feeling I particularly like the face of "Alfredo" he was an elderly helper in the cinema i liked him because he was able to portray the character with such kindness and concern that it had made an impact on me. and I find that the shots were really well thought off and they were justified, it zoomed when the characters are emoting in the film highlights and gets long shots when the place and setting is emphasized, to show the situation of the characters. 
film is something that I had loved ever since I was a child and I wish to continue on becoming more knowledgeable in this area of the arts.
im not sure if im supposed to continue with the entries i already have three and were only supposed to have one..but since im trying to make a habbit of posting every other day, i hope no one minds
the title actually expresses how i feel with what i have learned today in my class, what are the objects, people, things that can be considered art...there are millions literally and i have always believed that nature and technology were a part of that bunch.
i find nature so beautiful, complex, and incredibly unique but it turns out that it is not art until it is interpreted by a human by using another media like this 
and this
art needs to have both form and meaning...and it needs to be created by humans..similar to technology there are very few which are really considered art because it is now made not only for the sake of art but for the sake of mass production and money..but for me i find it very hard to differentiate them...how do you know..
the history of art is also very fascinating..even though i know only a very small portion of the whole. the transcition of art focus from god to nature to self is pretty amazing, and it also reflects how modern art formed, i really hope to learn more of it..
art for the day:
by: Elaine10