Spalding is balding..

And Everything is Going Fine.


To be honest, I am not very fond of monologues. Especially, monolgues in English.

English is not my first language. It is hard for me to catch English subtleties and humor, which is a huge a part of monologue.

However, I was very interested in watching this movie, not only because I get 2 blog credits, but also because I wanted to learn more about storytelling. Most importantly, I was intrigued by a man who enjoyed to tell stories. It was Spalding Gray that interested me.

In Korean philosophy, there are 5 things that composes life:  joy, sadness, anger, fun, love. I think the reason that a person sitting in front of a table with a cup of glass was able to reach out to so many people was because he talked about joy, sadness, anger, fun, and love. However, that is not it. Who cares about someone talking about their own life. Why do I have to pay money to listen to someone having a therapy session for himself?

I believe that it was his longing for childhood and question of death that drew people in. I think childhood and death were the main topics of his presentations.

Have you ever looked at your albums of when your a baby or a little boy or a girl. Every time I spend some time to go though my pictures and recall moments of my childhood or look at my photos with my parents' commentaries, there is both sadness and joy in my heart. Joy, because they are funny. Sadness, when I realize those time of "purity" will never come back, and the fact that my parents became older as I have gotten older. Then I realize "Oh.. nothing lasts forever". With smooth transition, I start to ruminate about death.

Childhood/birth and death. They might be antonyms in dictionary, but by nature they seem to stand right beside each other. Life is a moment, and artists we attempt to catch the beauty of this life in that blinking eyes. What do I want to see? What do I want to feel in that moment called life.

"Emmanuel" what a comforting name that is...

 Throughout the movie, I felt futility from Spalding Gray, and after the movie Leeper said that he actually committed suicide. I was not surprised. My intuition was correct.

Spalding Gray was heavily influence by his mother, who believed in Chistian Science. Maybe that is why "And Everything is Going Fine". Maybe Spalding Gray wanted to say, "And Everything is Going Fine...Not"

Maybe storytelling was his own way of penance.

Drama Llama?

Today's Blog is About...

The Drama Momma Llama I doodled real fast.

Howdy, y'all! So, today, I would like to delve into a fun, irritating, random, and structured topic: the topic of drama. Big fat mamma llama drama, you guys! 

The Rant

First of all, my roommate, Katie, and I stayed up late watching a movie called He's Just Not That Into You last night, and It was almost shocking how accurate it was on boy/girl drama. 

Something that really surprises me is that when we are less then four weeks into our school year, there are already freshman couples, people being madly in like with other people, hearts being broken, and all kinds of similar drama. What's up with that?! Maybe it's just me, but I think it might just be a little early for that. 

Just for fun, I'm going to take a Master Leeper quote slightly *cough cough* a little more then slightly *cough* out of context. In class on Thursday, he said, "Don't you think the rooster should be more like that?! Stupid rooster..."Although in reality, he was talking about the charming poems, and trying to make a point on how the rooster's prayer was just as legitimate as the dog's, I'm going to pretend this applies to the validity relationships. 

I think most of us would say something like this, "Why are those people already in a relationship?! Stupid freshman..."I'd like to gently hint at something, though. Just because someone is doing something you would not do, please do them (and yourself) a favor by not judging, and just loving them as Christ does. It's not our place (note that I do say "our place", not just "your place". This definitely is a reminder to me) to judge anyway, right? Right. 

For instance, I don't intend to get into a serious relationship with a guy until I have turned 22. This is because I felt like God wanted me to dedicate myself to Him while I was growing and most susceptible to development in Him. However, just because that's what I feel convicted to do, does not mean that no one should date before 22. It would be wrong for me because I've made a commitment, but it probably isn't wrong for my friend got engaged to her best friend at 18 the beginning of the summer, and is soon to be married.

The End

So, yeah. I just was thinking a lot about relationships, and about llamas, so, I hope you enjoyed this REALLY random blog. Peace out.

A Glass of Water

And Everything Is Going Fine was, to me, more than just the story of a man’s life. While the story and narration of Mr. Spalding Gray was the main focus of the film, I saw the film as a lesson to actors as well. I found it fascinating just how far this small-town, rural boy had to go just to find work in his chosen field; all the time he spent on the road or in the air or on the other side of the planet. Any career is an investment, but Gray had to invest an incredible amount of time, effort, and resources to get to where he needed to be. It showed just what kind of crap some actors have to wade through to simply catch a break, often having to go way outside of their comfort zones and simply being in the right place at the right time simply to earn a paycheck. To even become a name recognized in the acting ‘underground’ you have to have a frightening level of talent, desire, and even dumb luck to succeed.

And Everything Is Going Fine wasn’t just a life story; it was a message to aspiring actors that sometimes the impossible must be accomplished to reach your goals, no matter what life throws in your way. It may be a simple moral to teach, but the way Gray presented it and the way the film was directed it becomes a powerful moral.

And on another note, I liked the touch with the glass of water at both the beginning and end of the film. Gray was all about telling stories, and just as we all discussed after the movie, when he was done he felt he had no other purpose. The glass was a representation of his inspiration of story-telling; he started with a well of memories to pull from, and eventually went through it all so many times he felt it didn’t have the inspiration to be drawn from again.

- Garrett

The art of the Stunt

               

                After watching Keaton perform all of his stunts without a stunt double, I had a whole new respect for the actors that risk their lives for entertainment.  Back in the day, graphical effects couldn’t cover up some of the more dangerous stunts.  So when people saw something dangerous happening back then, they were terrified because someone actually had to do that.  Now, when someone does something dangerous in a film it is just done graphically so no harm can come to the actor.  But I believe this eliminates some of the thrill.  I think what’s so thrilling about Keaton’s work is that we know he is doing this himself and because of that the scenes have a greater effect.   

                I looked online for the top actors who performed their own stunts and the three that came up first was Tom Cruise, Buster Keaton, and Jackie Chan.  Tom Cruise surprised me when his name popped up but it said he did all of his stunts in all the Mission Impossible’s as well as his other movies.  But, of course, I wasn’t surprised at all to see Jackie Chan on the list as number one. Jackie Chan is probably the best stunt person I have ever seen and knowing most of the stunts I see him doing on screen are things he actually did just make it even cooler. 

I hope that as time goes on and graphics get better and better and stunts become more CGI filed, there will still be people willing to risk themselves for a stunt.  Cause let’s face it, we would all be much more entertained to see raw unaltered fight scenes and stuff than see a CGI fight scene.

And everything is not going fine

     The Signs and Wonders movie that was shown on Thursday was a very depressing movie about a guy who had a really sad life. He led a life of failed relationships and seemed to hold a worldview that everything in the universe had no point, and therefore didn't matter.
     Have you ever met a person or seen a person in a movie who believed some really weird religious or philisophical ideas? That would be the guy who this movie was about (his name was Spalding Gray, by the way.) His mom was into the "Christian Science" religion, apparently. They both died by suicide, and I just felt depressed by that, because it seemed like they were searching for the truth by being involved in religions and stuff, but they never found truth; atleast, they never apparently got to know Jesus. I actually think Spalding was on the right track to truth when he talked about chaos. He seemed to believe that everything is just a bunch of chaos and accidents. He even referred to the birth of his children as accidents; like, he meant his children, and everyone who as ever been born, is just an amazing accident. There was no one to choose to create those children, there is no plan for anyone's life, we're all just a bunch of cosmic accidents who had a good chance of never having existed at all.
    Now, the reason I say that I think Spalding was on the right track is because, the world IS in chaos, because of sin. The world doesn't make sense. Like C.S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity (and I'll try to summarize this the way I remember it, but I don't have the book in front of me), people are always trying to be "good", and they all believe that there is such a thing as "good", which is a very strange thing to believe because nobody ever manages to always be good, even though we think it's such a good thing to be good. Spalding realized that the world didn't make sense and was messed up. He just could never figure out why.And I think the saddest thing was Spalding Gray near the end, when he seemed to give up hope. I think he gave up because he either realized he'd never found the complete truth of what the world and people and the universe was all about, and he thought he'd never figure out the complete truth, or he figured that the world was a chaotic accident, and that's just the way it was, and it wasn't worth existing in it anymore, because nothing mattered.

 

Image is everything revisited

So my last blog post was on how image is everything in storytelling. How it is the start of every narrative. Well I want to revisit that because it has be an amazing breakthrough in my writing since I've realized that truth.
For years, probably since I was 14 I've had these images in my mind for a story. I've always worked on fleshing out the story, but not much comes from it. As of coming to college I had only rough details about the story and I just couldn't make progress. Then I heard Lewis say that every story begins with an image. And Master Leeper taught on how art is all about seeing and about teaching others to see. So I decided to test that theory. I took a notebook, I took a pen, and I asked myself what I saw. This is what followed:

What do I see? I see a middle Eastern villa in the middle of the desert with a cobblestone road leading to it. I see a giant army weaving towards it. I see a young, dark skinned man meditating on cushions. I see him telling those around him about the army. I see a man going out to meet the army. I see them attack him. I see fire. Men dead. The messenger moving. Conjuring more fire. I see the dark skinned man being dressed in armor. He places a helmet with horns on. More fire. It comes from both sides now. Archers. Fire hits the gate. The dark skinned man is handed a sword. He walks down a hall. The hall explodes before him. He shields himself from the blast. I see him retaliate. He lashes out with fire. Death. He continues. The door is assaulted. More death. The dark skinned man reaches the man. Sand beneath his boots. He drinks from a bottle and then secures the gate with spells. More fire at the gate. Then a group of men approach. They move their hands. The world slows. A shockwave, then sound. The creaks. The dark skinned man pushes back. They try again. Splintering. The door explodes. Wood everywhere. Screaming. Death. Men rush in. Swords and axes. The dark skinned man cuts through them. Fire and metal. He lashes. He clears the entrance. A spear bounces off him. He reaches the gate, death behind him. He steps into the sun. He pushes men back. He drinks. Men follow him, ready to fight. They move in unison. The sand shifts. A form rises. A beast, terrible. The dark skinned man is atop it. Shifting, undulating. It rears back at his command. It swats a group of soldiers away. Men throw fire at it. It tips back. It falls. The dark skinned man leaps. He reenters the villa. Dead everywhere. He is surrounded. He crouches. A crack. He is gone. Another crack. He is in a palace. Salty air. There is marble. Columned windows. Life.

Obviously this is a rough draft, just a laying out of thoughts. But in ten minutes I was able to lay out an entire scene in a story through images that had been disjointedly in my head for years. This is more progress then I have ever had.
Images really are everything.

Anatomy of Gray

The whole time I viewed this film I thought "why should I care about a man who I don't know tell his life to me?" And actually, most of the time I was thinking "why do I care about this man who I don't know?" This answer was most likely brought up in the post-discussion. He is connecting with our story. I think that's what the most powerful films do, they connect with the viewer.

Even though we heard so much about this man's life, including very intimate details, I felt like I really never got in his head. What makes him tick? Why is he so compelled to do this? I found his quote "I like telling life more than I like living it" very interesting.

I almost think that his storytelling was a wall for him. Even though he was very open about his life, I felt like he may have been hiding more. It's something I can't place my finger on.

Was he addicted to the laughter? Was telling his struggles his only way to cope? He obviously had some very deep issues. His life had some tragedy, but when I think about other stories I've heard it's not the worst life in the world. But without Christ, I guess that was enough to kill yourself. I've seen Christ transform people's lives and give them hope where they had none. It fills in the gap we're all born with.

What's most tragic to me is how much Gray really didn't get life. He found suicide almost poetic. With Christ I believe he would have seen the world very differently. It's also sad that near the end of his life he began to be the happiest. For all the stories about life he told, I don't think he was able to put it all together. Maybe that's why he told stories. To make sense of it all. He said he liked telling life more than living it. But not to say that he was completely lost, I think there's a lot to be learned from his story.

And Everything is Going Fine...OR IS IT!!!???

AUGH!! My picture is leaking into the names!!

Last night, I went at signs and wonders, we watched this particular film, about a guy named Spalding Gray. I beforehand had never heard of Spalding gray before, I might have watched some of his movies, but then again, I don't know. The movie wasn't really a movie, there was no plot curve or anything like that, it was just him talking about his life to the camera. It wasn't just that though, it would occasionally switch scenes between different monologues and various interviews, in a sense though, the pattern wasn't completely random. It did start with him talking about his younger years, and then at the end he was talking about his current life and an accident he got into. The whole format of the movie was interesting, but the most interesting thing of all is the man himself, Spalding Gray. Even though I have never heard of this man before, the whole time I was thinking " how could I have not?". There are just some people out there with a more interesting life than others, the experiences, the trials and challenges they've had to overcome, all of it, some people just had it harder and overall more interesting than others. If you were to put me in front of the camera and have me talk about my life, I would have some interesting things to say, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to top the part in his life where he tried out homosexual sex. That's another thing I enjoyed about this film, the sheer awkwardness of some of the scenes. He talks about some pretty weird stuff, and if you don't know what I'm talking about or haven't seen the film, go watch it and see what I'm saying here. Somewhat early in the movie he is talking about something, but whatever it was, I had no idea, because he was holding up the cover of a playboy magazine... Okay, now I wasn't entranced by this magazine, but the whole time I was thinking, "why is he holding this up, and what relevance does it have to the scene??". He might have been talking about it, I don't know, the point is, it was this raunchy, raw and completely unexpected moment.   Now what saddens me and sort of "gets me" about this film, is the ending. After Leeper said that he committed suicide ( it might've been someone else who said this ) in 2004, I had fully convinced myself that he was happy in the end. He had been through some tough stuff, what with his unexpected son, but the one scene that told me he was happy was when he started dancing. He was doing a monologue and held a boombox up to the mic and explained how his whole family, his children and wife, were all just letting loose and dancing the night away. I figured that was it, he's happy, all of the troubles of stage performance and his parents and his thoughts of suicide... All gone! He has reached the conclusion, that he is going to die happy, knowing that he had a family that loved him... Why was I wrong? Was it not enough? Was raising a family not enough to make him live it out and not kill himself? He was old and he did have some sort of mental illness, but for the most part he seemed physically healthy aside from the busted leg towards the end. The broken leg however, is just a broken leg, it heals, it recovers. Some of the things he had to go through in his life wouldn't heal, and were scars, but towards the end, he still got up on stage, put the mic to the speaker, and told the world how his family danced.

And Everything is Going Fine

Seeing the Signs and Wonders movie Thursday night was quite an experience....not necessarily because of the things that the guy had to say, but more because he just spoke his life out to whoever was interested in listening. He held practically nothing back describing the stuff he went through and his desires and fears. In doing this, he made me feel as though I actually knew him, not just knew of him, but could think about him and associate his face with a background and a person. Usually comedians or people on talk shows put this face on and act a certain way in order to get people to respond. But this guy was completely himself, and he showed himself to those watching and listening as the quirky, funny, suicidal, sexually obsessed individual that he was. People were given the chance to see him as an entire human being, and respond to that at a deeper level than just at face value.

My response was one of both feeling sorry for him and looking at myself to see how much I hide from the world. How would people react to me if I gave all my secrets away, and would I really want to do something so extreme? It really got me thinking that people judge others based on a limited understanding of that person so much, and I think that if we were all to know everything about each other, there would be a whole lot more sympathy and a whole lot less prideful pointing of fingers. Even though we would have more knowledge of their sins, and therefore more to shove in their faces if we so chose, I honestly think that if you are opened up to like that, you connect with them because you know that there are things about you that you would hate for others to point out and shove in your face. I think that compassion is a lot more natural when you see someone in their most vulnerable state, however repulsed you may be by them.

Saying this, I totally agree with Prof. Leeper when he says that your story tells you, and that is far more powerful than you trying to tell your story. Because if we try to tell our own stories, we're the ones in charge of what goes in and what doesn't, and so we're bound to leave out the dirty details, the things we would rather no one know. And now, having seen this film, I know that it is precisely those messy parts of us that allow others to get more out of our story, because they connect with us at the point of vulnerability.

I don't know exactly how this is meant to be done....I mean there must be a reason for being vulnerable, and so when I create art I want it to flow from my deepest self. But I think it's a process, and something that definitely doesn't come naturally. I'm not going to be able to give my life's whole story to the world like the guy in And Everything is Going Fine did, but I think we can start discovering more about who we are as artists the more we allow ourselves to be vulnerable...

How are you?

"And everything is going fine"

Isn't that what we tell people who ask us "How are you?" It's always been interesting to me how American culture asks each other such questions that they really don't want to know the answer to, which is why we politely reply with an answer that doesn't involve any action on their part.

I've been a few situations where someone kept prodding me, "You sure? You face look tired..." (this was actually my Korean boss last year, so don't forget to read it in the correct accent) What do we say to that? It seems so irregular, so we reply again with a common answer crafted to prevent their further involvement. Sometimes I wish our culture was different in this sense, that we would actually care about the well-being of other people rather than so much about ourselves.

For the character in last night's Sign's and Wonders, it seemed that he also wanted to shut people out by telling these stories we could all laugh at or relate to. The movie seemed to be developed with symbolism in the sense that while he was telling the story of his life, each time we saw his glass of water, it would gradually become more empty.

Some other great points that he made were about death. It was clear he believed that there was nothing after death, which really shapes one's thinking about the meaning of life. Some people interpret the phrase "you only live once" to serve as an excuse for being selfish and always living in the present, but should it instead remind us that we only have one chance to make a difference in this world?

Spalding mentioned that one way to "live forever" is to pass on your story—create something that will last to impact future generations. This is a great way of thinking for those who don't believe there is anything after death, but I don't think it would give me enough purpose.

Soupcans

Andy Warhol painted a soup can, in defiance towards the snobbish society of artists around him, propelling a movement forward for the modernistic view of the arts. This movement was all the push most artist needed, and this movement of the sort of mentality that, "anything can be art" is still being reflected in our society today.
Looking into that reflection, I feel as though I am beginning to see a inconsistency of sorts. Although people say "anything can be art if you feel something from it" most people would be offended by Marcel Duchamp  urinal that he signed, before placing in an art museum. They would say that that piece is not art, because no work was put into it, or it isn't pretty enough, etc. However, if  one person in the room out of the hundreds of people walk by that sculpture and  make an emotional connection, are we so presumptions to continue to say that it isn't good art?
I feel like we should be.
This is not a popular belief to take, and I do understand that it also looks very arrogant on the surface level. I'm not trying to say that we should dismiss some forums of art because they are supposedly "inferior" in comparisons to other art forums,(quite the opposite, actually. I adore markers and crayons, mediums that usually are dismissed as being inferior) I am merely saying that we should not usher in every piece of art that is put before us. We must take a critical look at the art that we find, before simply glossing it over and saying, "oh, well, I get this emotional connection from this, so it must be good" We are fallen creatures, and because of this, we cannot judge on emotion alone.
I don't know about the rest of you, but part of me likes sinning. That's part of my human nature. Part of my emotional connect to the world is this darkness. Our hearts are desperately wicked, that is why we must look a little bit harder at what we see, before saying that it is good art simply because we made an emotional connection.
I saw a soup can in And Everything Is Going Fine.
The film was nicely done, but in many ways I question if And Everything Is Going Fine should be considered a masterpiece of film. I'm not saying that it is, or is not, a masterpiece of film, I am merely questioning it. I question it simply because in many ways I feel as though the view of the film maker was slightly off. In many ways I did feel like I was in a counselling session. His past had left him with extreme emotional scars, and it was apparent in his view of the world around him.
Obviously my view of the world is not the only one, but I would say that Spalding Grey's view of the world is a warped one.
Even so, I applaud him for creating a piece of film that is unique, unusual, and is somewhat jarring in it's depiction of reality. I would not say that this is a great film. I would say that it was a moving film, a unique film, but I would not say great. It is a soup can film. It is jarring, and it makes us pause to look at the films around us and see that just because a film has special effects doesn't make it a good film.
Even so, in the end, it is just a soup can. Iconic in it's individuality and uniqueness, but this is not a film that resonated deep within my soul.
And that's just me. I did really appreciate this thoughts on life, because everyone is entitled to their opinion, and even the smallest of persons can change the universe.
Although I question the film's art forum, I do appreciate it.

It's a Wonderful Blog Post!

Okay, so the above is meant to be a joke. I know that's not how it really happened. Professor Leeper wasn't out to prove me wrong or anything (though he still did ^_^). So I just hope no one took it the wrong way. It was interesting, because see, I didn't know that Capra was Catholic, so it didn't really strike me at first. And even so, I'm not completely convinced about the whole moonbeam thing (that he did it on purpose. I'm thinking it was more unintentional and that he was unconciously doing it), but I could be wrong. I mean, all those pictures did have Mary glowing...but that's not how I pictured what George was telling Mary. I don't know. That could just be me. I always pictured the moonbeams to look more like this, the ones coming out of their eyes:


These are some freakin' scary moonbeams...


 

I pictured that, except white and coming out of her fingertips and toes and hair. Not a big ray of light, little beams of it. I don't know. I guess when you have that image in your mind its hard to think of anything different. Of course, the guy that wrote the essay also kind of annoyed me (I have no idea why. Maybe because a lot of what he was suggesting seemed unlikely at the time) so I probably was less likely to believe what he was saying.
Still, you have to admit with Capra's background, he had to have been influenced by these images and probably used a lot of them purposefully. Even though I don't want to believe it (I'm such a stubborn person ^_^) its hard to ignore the facts.

Fairy Tales Do Exist!

"Good and evil meet and do battle in the fairy tale world as much as they meet and do battle in our world, but in fairy tales the good live happily ever after. That is the major difference." I think for the most part, everyone enjoys a good fairy tale, it really doesn't matter what your age is. Fairy tales and happy endings, allow us to escape from the real world, and enter into a realm where anything really is possible. Personally, I am fascinated with fairy tales for that reasoning, I just wish that my imagination was a great as it used to be, when I was five. Sometimes people ask me, "Aren't you a little old to be watching cartoons and Disney movies?". Well, no I am not, actually. There is no age limit to imagination and creative thinking. I like to watch Disney movies and cartoons, because they are very much inspiration to my own artwork, and the kind of artwork that I would like to create as an animator. Not to mention, I do enjoy watching a good animated movie, just for the entertainment. :)

In the book, it says that "the gospel is the meeting of darkness and light and the final victory of light". The gospel kind of sounds like a fairy tale, when described like that, huh? I mean, think about it, it's the good and the evil battling it out, and in the end the good side wins. I feel like that to some degree we all want to live in a fairy tale like that, where everything goes our way, and the good ones win in the end.Well, it seems to me that fairy tales really are true, just open up your bible and read about it. :)

"Don't ask, Don't Tell"

We'll tonight I just got told to turn off a movie that I was watching because it is deemed inappropriate by the college. I think that what their trying to incorporate here is noble yet a bit naive, saying all R rated movies are bad is a general stereotype that is outdated. I can watch a pg-13 movie that shows nudity yet when I go into my room to watch a brilliant film with an amazing storyline and acting It is against the rules. I realize that their is not a very good way to regulate it but on the other hand I also think the rule is a bit extreme especially for someone going into film production. It goes against everything that the Liberal Arts has taught me so far; what I have learned in my first few weeks is to formulate my own opinions on what I observe, well what I am currently observing is a problem in the regulations of one of our school policy. Now it is easy to point out a problem of an imperfect system but finding a workable solution is very difficult and I don't think the current solution of shutting your door is good enough because it is basically "don't ask don't tell." A very brilliant man made this quote "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" most of you may recognize this from the bible and I think it has great application to this problem. This verse does not say to ignore the world but that you should not be conformed by it. The movie policy has a valid place in a Christian setting but I feel like were using a rocket launcher to kill flies, this effectively works to not allow the flies to remain but in the process you destroy the beauty that may surround the flies and currently I think HU is losing out in some of the beauty in films. Their are many movies that are rated R that have been some of the greatest films to this day, for a Christian example The Passion of the Christ is rated R yet it is shown in churches across the nation as a type of evangelism. Now I am not ignoring the fact that their are just as many if not more bad movies than good movies but it should be the responsibility of the student to differentiate between what they believe is appropriate and what is unacceptable. Until their is a policy that allows for the student to make a choice than the college atmosphere that administration is working for is only a fable. A fable in the sense that it only lasts for a semester and students go back to their regular habits in media consumption. I think though if the freedom is granted to them, students will take on the responsibility of regulating their media and actually grow from depending on the status quo of a college to feed them their morals.

What is Comedy? - Now reflect on Joy

Now what is the definition of a Comedy? And why do we laugh? What makes it funny and what is the purpose of laughter? All these questions I've been really thinking on. Like seriously, what makes us do this thing called laughter. According to dictionary.com, here is the definition of laughter.

Laughter- the experience or manifestation of mirth, amusement, scorn, or joy. 

Here's a video I found that also has an explanation of why we might laugh. -> 

Just the fact that laughter is so awesome and gives us that sense of happiness. I don't know about you but I love comedy movies a lot, and there's always certain movies that I like rewatching because they're that funny. But then again, like they said in the video about listening to a joke the 2nd time isn't as funny, this could also be the same towards comedy movies. Some I don't particularly like to watch more than a couple times. The one thing I want to point out is where in life can we find never ending happiness? 

The thing is though, the word that caught my eye is that last word in the definition. JOY. Where do you find joy in your own life? And what makes you have ultimate happiness? My ultimate definition to this... is Jesus. There is nothing better than finding joy in God. He is always there, always loving, giving hope, peace and just ultimately joy. 

Psalm 97:11-12 - "Light is shed upon the righteous and joy on the upright in heart. Rejoice in the LORD, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name." 

Romans 8:37-39 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Psalm 118:24 - "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Even just these verses here are a reminder that God is always there for us and he loves us so much, now if that doesn't make you happy, there is definitely nothing better.

So yeah, basically I just wanted to write down my thoughts on joy and laughter and why we can be happy. 

God Bless,

J-White

Myths, Images, and the Making of a Story

 

 

 

 

     I will start this post by stating a fact about myself: I love myths and legends. I find them fascinating not only in the essence that each offers a look into the beliefs and history of a given people, but also in that they tend to be some of the most imaginative stories that humankind has ever produced. This will be the theme of the rest of this post

 

     A few classes ago it was pointed out by Professor Leeper that the Greek god Bacchus is to found within the Chronicles of Narnia books. It is also worth noting that fauns and centaurs, among other mythical creatures, are to found throughout the books as well. I find it interesting that so many people want to tell stories, and yet they have no fundamental knowledge of probably the greatest treasure trove of inspiration that there is, namely myths and legends. Has no one stopped to notice that the other extremely popular book series of our time, Harry Potter, also borrows heavily from myths. For those of you that have not studied them very in-depth, The Lord of the Rings series borrows very heavily from Norse mythology, and the if you take all of his books and notes concerning Middle Earth as a whole, Tolkien's intention was to tell the birth of England, based upon the Creation myth of the Bible (a myth he and I consider true). The popularity of these stories and there use of myths is not accidental. Myths (and creatures and characters based upon myths) speak to people in a way that other stories and characters cannot. They bring magic and wonder to a story. They let the reader or cinemagoer use their imagination to bring something fantastic to life. They not only bring a sense of a fairy-tale, but also make the story more believable because the characters from myths are so ingrained in us that they have become as much a part of us as any historical figure.

     In short, I think it is wise for those who would tell a any story, whether it be fantasy, science fiction, or boigraphy, to study the stories that allowed us to create and undertsand story today. Who knows what inspiration you may find there.

 

 

Good Reader Vs Bad Reader

Todays class was pretty awesome. I loved watching the old comedy shows with Buster Keaton, it reminds me of the time when i used to watch the Three Stooges reruns with my Aunt Francis. We would laugh until we had tears coming down our eyes. I would have loved to see some Charlie Chaplin movies but maybe we'll watch some another time. The last movie we watched in class was absolutely hilarious! What the old woman went through is kinda what everyone goes through, everyone is in such a rush to do something or go somewhere and they don't take time to slow down and pay attention to whats going on around them.

Il Racismo

If the first flag didn't catch your attention, hopefully and probably, the second one did its job.

Today, after having watched a lovely short movie "the lunch date", I started to think about racism. The question that I had imposed on myself was "Could anyone truly not be a racist?"

First, a definition of racism is:

"a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among thevarious human races  determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others."

The conclusion that I have come to today is that everyone is a racist in one way or another; especially, if you are from a post-industrial country. I just feel like many people think that political correctness exempts them from being racists. LOL If you are truly not, my apologies... I do believe in exceptions.

Well, to explain the first flag before I share my thoughts... If the Jews and the Western world would be deeply offended by Swastika. Asians would be appalled to see the first flag in the public. The name of the flag is "the Rising Sun" that Japanese carried around during the World War II as a pride of their imperialism. If Swastika reminds Jews the atrocities that Nazis had committed to them, "The Rising Sun" reminds Asians what Japanese had done to them. However, the second case is not well know as the Holocaust event. It is probably because Asians are not as rich as the Jews to impose influence on the rest of the world or Japan has great lobbyists in the U.S.

Unlike Germans, Japanese never have repented from World War II. "Grave of the Fireflies" is the great example of that. Japanese choose to romanticize the war and make their own people to believe that they were the victims. You'll never see Swastika in any sporting events, but if you watch and game with Japan, you will see that flag 100%. What a irony...


I didn't start writing this blog to prove my point that I have made today or to talk about world politics and condemn countries that consider itself as superior, but to apply this to what we do as artists.

One musician said in an interview, "I have my own tastes of music, but I appreciate all styles of music from country music to dance music. If I start to favor one, there is no difference from racism".

I do agree with this musician. If we are just an audience, we might have a right to be "art racists", but as long as we are artists, we should attempt to dig deeper and become a good reader. However, it would be very important to discern what is art and what is fake art. I do believe that there are many wannabe arts in our media. Because just like Satan reveals himself as an angel of light, many garbages borrow the form of art and beauty.

Also, as Leeper (took me a year and a half to call him only by the last name despite of his permission..not an Asian thing I must say) told us in the very beginning of the course through the reading, our purpose is to delight with art. While thinking about racism today, I thought that if I try to impose my idea on someone through art, I am not doing art, but it would be propaganda or an expression of another form of racism. 

I have been wrestling with the concept of "delight" from the first reading. The question that I had until the the reading awhile ago was, "how should a baptized artist's baptized art should be different from non-baptized art or a non-baptized artist?" However, my question has changed, "How can I delight my audience from different race, religion and background as a Christian while preserving the restoring power of the cross?"

Sometimes we try to display our arsenal of thought or ideas and impose them through art like an arms race during the Cold War when the U.S and Soviet Union competed with each other.

Lev Tolstoy said, "the purpose of the art is to disarm". Maybe that is the role of delighting.

Let's disarm ourselves first FOR OURSELVES. Let's express what we feel, rather than what we ought.
Let's be delighted everyday :)

Flowers for you S2

What do we do with grief?

What do we do with grief?
I know that we were in fact talking about the gospel as comedy, but I wanted to take a look at grief, through comedy, through the eyes of one of my favorite films, Moulin Rouge. The premise for the film is about a young man, who goes to Paris in search of all of the things he holds dear, that being truth, beauty, freedom, and love. This young man finds a girl in the city, a courtesan, and in the end, this girl that he falls in love with, dies.
I consider this film to be rather unique in that it is actually classified as both comedy, and tragedy. It is this factor that immediately made me think of it when Leeper said that comedy and tragedy are intertwined, and without having one, you cannot really understand the other. This is one of those films that on a personal level inspired me to see beyond the simple story, and to see the deep, rich life that characters can have. In the film,  there is a lot of dancing, singing, (and frankly, a lot of humor related to sex), but in the end, when the film has gone through it all, it is simply...sad. Not heartbreaking, because the comedy in it has lifted us from that, and the relationships that we have watched forum in front of us carried us through the rough places, but sad. Sad, because we know it's true. Because sometimes the happy ending just can't be there.
Despite this sad ending, I have returned to this film again and again. Because it holds truth in it, for me. Truth about following your dreams despite the hardships, and truth that even through sometimes something is sad in the end, that doesn't mean that it wasn't worth having to begin with.
In that sense, what do we do with grief?
Those with healing abilities, the artists of the world, help us to see and deal with grief, in the only meager ways we know how, but even then we are still left wanting something more.
The only thing I know for sure is that grief cannot defeat us. Because if it does, we will have nothing to live for. We cannot give up on hope, because with hope we cannot live to our fullest.
We find a certain life source within the media, this is why we have favorite films. We learn, and gain energy from good media.
Tragedy may be unavoidable and inevitable, but comedy comes along with it, unforeseen, and joyful, lifting us up from the dark place we were before.
We cannot deny the tragedy of our world, but humor is our defiance to the human condition. We cannot afford to be numb, when there is so much at stake. We must find ways to deal with our grief, intertwining it with the cosmic irony, so we can move forward towards our goal.

Comedy is Tragedy Vis versa

Today was funny...

joke(s):

It was Palm Sunday but because of a sore throat, 5-year-old Johnny stayed home from church with a sitter. When the family returned home, they were carrying several palm fronds. Johnny asked them what they were for.
"People held them over Jesus' head as he walked by," his father told him.
"Wouldn't you know it," Johnny fumed, "the one Sunday I don't go and he shows up." 

this is a funny skit:

Inspirational funny video clip:

We all should make a list of some film makers, artists, and authors. Then see what they give and we should receive. If we dont feel that we are learning from there we should just take some time and try again. I really liked the Good reader Bad reader diagram. It was well written out. I really enjoyed the videos and todays over all lesson.   

Tragedy/Comedy

Was a little more lazy on this one...as evident by the copy/paste cutout background people. To be honest, I couldn't remember all who were sitting around me in class, and even then I didn't even know if anyone woud WANT me to draw them. So...if you are okay with me drawing you in the future comics, why don't you give me a holler, specifically on a comment here, because even if you tell me in person I'll probably forget -.-; (I forget a lot of things that aren't written down).

So anyways, time to talk about class! The readings we have had to do have completely redefined comedy and tragedy for me. I think I'm starting to understand them now, and how we use them in almost opposite senses nowadays. Today if someone's death is 'tragic', it probably means it was unexpected, and something humorous we often see coming a hundred miles away. A great example of this is in the use of resurrection. In the book they describe Jesus' resurrection as being comedic, and I totally understand that. But in today's day and age of storytelling, resurrection has almost become a cop-out, something you expect. In most Disney movies, if the prince dies, he comes back to life a few minutes later after a cool light show (Think Beauty and the Beast  and Tangled). I have even read one book series where the same character is resurrected three seperate times, in three seperate ways, in three seperate forms...which becomes super obnoxious especially since he is a really bland character. Its almost like people today are afraid to kill off characters for good (I sure know I'm not).
So yeah. There's my two-cents.

Reed Read Ried

Today in class I didn't necessarily find it very interesting to learn about good readers and bad readers. It may be me but I feel like that it was a bit trivial but in saying that a review was probably good. I really enjoyed that clip from duck soup because it caught my attention with its weird yet funny scene. I also really enjoyed the video of the guy who had a wall fall on him and rode a paddleboat blade while it was moving. The guy had some major balls, (I don't mean to offend someone but sometimes theres not a phrase that will give  the same reaction) I mean the fact that this guy risked quite a bit just for a great shot kind of inspires me...maybe to not go cut the bottom off of a hot air balloon and hop in but it still inspires me. I think that when a filmmaker puts that much effort and love into a film their making it will be great. Whether or not pop culture deems it as great is another story altogether but from an art perspective it will be amazing. I also found it interesting that critics who have a job based on their opinions can be completely wrong on a movie even when they are the majority, but I guess to each his own and I am going to start a new book now and try to be a good reader...yes.

Good Reader VS. Bad Reader

I did not get very much from the reading tonight, other than the obvious, that it was comparing "It's a Wonderful Life" to stories in the Bible. I thought that the reading was interesting to see how the two were similar; however, I didn't feel like I got any great wisdom from it, like I usually do after reading in this class.

In class today, I really enjoyed learning all of the characteristics of a "good reader" and a "bad reader". I think that we are all "good readers" and "bad readers" at some points in our lives. The things that automatically get your attention while reading, will probably make you want to reread a book, and help you to embrace the fullness of it. However, if you are reading a book for an assignment, and have npt been interested in it from the beginning, I think it would be safe to say that you will only read it once. While we were writing down the list, I found myself on both the "good reader" side and the "bad reader" side, depending on the books that I was thinking of. That is how I made my conclusion, that we are all probably a little bit of both.

I also enjoyed the videos, that were examples of how comedy is unforeseeable. They were entertaining, but also a good depiction of what comedy should look like.