Passion

Lately I've been thinking about what really makes art beautiful to me; what is it about art that I am drawn to, and that I love to put into my own art? I think at least part of the answer for me is passion. The reason for this is probably a combination of being drawn to works that communicate deep emotion better than words can, and also in reaction to some aggravating art that I've been exposed to that appears completely void of any emotion at all... I think that if an artist is to make art, it should come right from his or her heart. Art is at least partially an expression of deep feelings, I think, and if it is done well, these feelings will be revealed in the piece and will make an impact in those who view it.

I think that one of the things that makes some of these modern Christian films (like Fireproof) a bit less "artistic" is a lack of sincere, personal, raw emotion. There is a portrayal of people being emotional...and for what it's worth that might have an impact on some people. But viewing the film as a piece of art is difficult because it, as a whole, lacks what I like to call the "life" of the artist. By life, I mean to say the one thing that connects everything together...the thesis statement of the heart, if you will. I think what we talked about in class regarding the difference between message and meaning can be seen as a result of this. When you try to make a point or communicate an idea to the rest of the world through your work, that is all that will be communicated - there will be hardly anything else other than a message that could just as well have been passed on without pictures. It fails the "test of real art" because it does not start with a picture. It does not start with a feeling...with a raw element of humanity. Instead, it starts with an attitude of superiority and with a desire to play teacher to the rest of the world, hoping that they will convert and demanding that they listen. But artists are not teachers, they are children.

So I guess the point of this is that an artist should probably find out what makes him or her feel... not just feel sad or happy, but feel suicidal or euphoric....the deepest parts of us are, I think, the things that make art the most meaningful. It's like something else that we talked about in class... how you don't tell your story, your story tells you. And you are so much more than you can tell of yourself without just letting yourself be told.

Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Have you ever feel like you are not cool but you enjoy that aspect of your life.  Well Perks is for you.  The film stars Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, and Ezra Miller.  Lerman stars as the main character Charlie who is a freshman trying to survive high school.  He meets Sma and Patrick.  They all have troubled pasts and thoughout the movie those histories are revealed.  The soundtrack is almost obscure but is terrific music.  It even includes David Bowie.

Emma Watson hasn't done a live-action feature film other than the harry potter films.  She does a wonderful job as American girl Sam. Trying to break away from something that she did for so long is not easy as opposed to Kristen Stewart or Sylvester Stallone who did other films while making Twilight or Rocky.  She rose to the occasion. 

The other actors do well since the subject matter is difficult, closeted gayness and child molestation.  Neither are easy to talk about.  Melanie Lynskey is a great choice as the aunt.  Playing an aunt who looks absolutely sweet but has problems is not easy and seeing her play something different then Rose was great but I liked that but characters are still sweet-like women.

WATCH IT!!!!!

The First Presidential Debate: Who Did Better?

When the firs presidential debate occurred I didn't know what to expect for I haven't been paying attention to the campaigning since I don't religiously agree with either candidate.  However I thought I might vote so I decided to watch the debate.

Now when it started I thought that Obama was gonna start b.s.ing like he often does as opposed to Romney who seemed to be more straight with the audience and more believable. However soon the president started to speak more realistically to his viewers as well.  Romney does a decent job defending what Obama says and claims about him.  Also I like that Romney does in fact break down his plan into his number points.  Obama doesn't break it down so it can get very confusing.  Also he seemed to look down a lot during the debate.  Maybe it just to look at his notes but that's beside the point. Also he said um a lot

Now both men were disrespectful to moderator Jim Lehrer.  They both cut him off and tried to not follow the rules.  Especially when the subject was social security.  They said just a few words on that and jumped straight to medicare.

Now I'm not gonna give my views but in terms of speaking and performance I believe Romney did better.

Trees

I think "The Man Who Planted Trees" was a great story. Seldom does an animated short like that pull off a large scale feel. I researched it more, and found that it come to much acclaim. I believe Prof Leeper already mentioned it won the Academy Award, which I think it greatly deserves. It has also been voted in the 50 Greatest Short Films of all time.

I did not know that it was originally a book. (Unless we were told in class and I forgot.) I tried imagining this as live action, but I don't think that would have the same impact as the animation has. It is so visual, and so many creative things are done with this short. This story is so well told and animated. I even read that some people thought that Bouffier was real.

This makes me want to discover other shorts that have the same amount of scale and depth to them. This was an enlightening story with a positive message. Nothing is cynical about this.

The man who planted trees

I still don't know exactly what it is about this film that makes it so great and uplifting. The story was so simple and yet it kept me gripped to the screen the entire half hour and made me feel inspired to go do something productive with my life. It is so rare to see a film where there was barely any conflict or evil, just pure determination and progress. Before i saw this movie i would balk at the idea of a movie with no conflict inspiring anybody to do anything, but now i see that this positive energy is just as powerful, if not more so, then the use of heavy darkness in a story. Although darkness can also be used in a powerful way to send a message; sometimes light is the better option to really drive home a certain point or message. I want to see more films that reflect this positive light and stop constantly watching movies in the dark. 

Strange

I have a new appreciation for strange. Not because of the movie that I'm about to talk about, but just because of college so far in general. You're all strange. I mean, some of you are stranger than others, but you are all really, really strange. And so am I. Strange is beautiful, not physically so to speak but it's just really beautiful to know we're all super strange and in that strangeness we can come together.

On Sunday at Signs and Wonders we watched Lars and the Real Girl. Lars is a socially awkward 27 year old man who lives in the garage of his brother, Gus, and sister-in-law, Karin's property. Oddly enough, Lars is loved by everyone in his life. Karin wants him to come to dinner or breakfast, or lunch, anything with her and Gus. At work, Lars' coworkers love him, and talk to him genuinely even if he doesn't respond. It was awkward to watch these people, especially those at Lars' church care about him when he didn't respond in a socially expected way. I was shifting around in my seat and making fists anyway.

Moving on. While Lars really made me rediscover what social awkwardness is, he had a kind and loving heart. He'd do favors for people, and he was incredibly polite when he would talk. It gave me hope for Lars.

And then he ordered a sex doll. As soon as Bianca came, Lars became a new person. Suddenly he was coming to dinner with Gus and Karin--never without Bianca. He would talk to Bianca, his coworkers, to Gus and Karin, this love suddenly made Lars lovable. Hm, reminds me of a class, "something can't be lovable until it is loved" or something along those lines.

Lars was having a delusion. He would love and see Bianca as real until he didn't need his delusion anymore. This was Lars' brain's way of helping him cope with something drastic in his life that he couldn't face anymore. Meanwhile, the small town Lars lives in went to work playing this delusion with him. Bianca was helping out at the local school, getting involved in the church's ladies nights out, volunteering, and so forth.

"I have a school board meeting. Bianca got elected, so... " -Lars 

Soon though, Bianca begins to die. Lars is the one who allows her to develop this illness that ultimately causes her death--this marks the ending of his delusion. Okay, while I'm pretty sure real delusions don't work this way and I think a community in this day in age would be pretty hard pressed to play along with Lars' delusion, the movie was great.

I'm going to leave out the love interest and the Lars' portrayal of how to play a good boyfriend even to a sex doll and the controversy on other mens' opinions of how to treat women for the one thing that struck me in the movie: what I think created Lars' delusion.

Lars' mother died while giving birth to him. He never had a mom, and his dad was always heartbroken. So if you think about it, Lars' childhood was depressing and he never really learned what it felt like to be loved. Of course Lars is loved, but that's at 27, and while it's a kind of love that most of us search after, Lars was looking for the kind of nurturing love that comes from a mom.

Ever heard the saying, "Mom is a little boy's first love?" You don't have to believe it, I really don't, but I think in this movie, Lars is trying to find a love that he never had. He wants that special kind of companionship where you can love and nurture someone, and they'll love and nurture you back. Karin, Lars' sister-in-law, is pregnant throughout the movie, and as she becomes more and more pregnant, Lars seems to discover what it's like to want to one day have a life with someone and love them enough to want to have children that he can nurture and love and call his own. But Bianca can't have children, and Lars states that not long before Bianca's disease starts to make her die.

Overall, I think it took Lars delusion with Bianca to see what love really is, and to discover that love that was absent to him for 27 years. In the end he gets a real girlfriend by the way, and all along throughout the movie viewers see him kind of giving her wondering looks like, "Huh, wonder what it would be like to have her around" which I found a little humorous. Lars' numbness to love thawed at the end of the movie, and it seemed like he discovered that he didn't have to hide from it.

So as strange as Lars was, he got it in the end. And his strangeness was really what brought a community of people together, and their strangeness helped him to get it together.

"We are here to celebrate Bianca's extraordinary life. From her wheelchair, Bianca reached out and touched us all, in ways we could never have imagined. She was a teacher. She was a lesson in courage. And Bianca loved us all. Especially Lars. Especially him." -Reverend Brock

And Lars thought that people coming over to sit and knit and give him food while Bianca was upstairs deathly sick was strange. 

Glow in the Dark

When we were talking about Christian society's growing fascination toward darkness today in class, several things struck me. Not only is it true, but I think that curiosity isn't the only thing to blame when it comes to the "good" dallying in the darkness.

The world is growing more and more sinister. Humans are inherently evil at heart, and with the revolt against God in more recent generations, the ideas of goodness and morals have been tossed in the God boat and set to sea. The US culture is pretty much in shambles. Our culture is selfish, dark, and full of the wrong, unrealistic kind of hope. And while media is often times more dark than light, I think it's wrong to assume that every film is solely dark, and that while lighter media is good, I think it's less relative to most viewers.

My reasoning for the disdain for happier, "good" films is that we live in a dark world. This world is evil, and portraying movies with small conflicts that don't need a thrilling, heroic action to end the darkness seem quite frankly less hopeful.

Anyway, back to dark films. Within those films there's the positive light that's often the protagonist or a sudden sway of events that make the world in the movie a better place, but it's those type of things that make me believe that society, regardless of dark media, still values light. Light isn't sexy like darkness, but it's powerfully conquering, and I think the only way to truly show that is through the worst of darkness.

This type of conquering in darkness is probably partially why Christians are so fascinated with dark media. In a world where we're becoming a minority but aren't an endangered species yet, we have it slightly comfy when we stay out of the way. But when we stay out of the way we still want desperately to be in a situation where we can boldly proclaim that there is real hope and light, and that idea is great, but hard to put to practice sometimes. Dark media gives us as Christians the chance to feel that momentary bravery of feeling what it would be like to be that good conquering the dark--without doing anything but watching.

Another point I wanted to hit in regards to what makes darkness so intriguing to people --even Christians-- is freedom. We talked about that in class, how darkness has no rules. In society today, rebellion and disrespect and just feeling free are becoming more and more essential. Even those of us who recognize that boundaries are good actually have this rebellious attitude somewhere inside us that we feel entitled to liberties and privileges. So no matter how good light is, there's going to be apart of goodness that's going to disagree with some part of our darker shaded parts and when that happens, we automatically rebel or struggle with it.

I feel like just having any liberty I could possibly want is what helps make darkness so appealing. I won't lie, in movies like Star Wars I honestly think it'd be cooler to be on the Dark side most of the time because heck, everyone's scared of them and they can walk around and do whatever they want. And the Dark Side empire is huge.

But there's the challenge in goodness and light. And I think opting for a challenge to obtain admirable power is better than getting power which means nothing later. So that's the end of my ramble. I hope it makes a little sense.

Forester Lecture

So I went to the Forester Lecture hopeful. I figured I would get to listen to two intelligent adults have open discussion about a hot issue. I was disappointed.

The debate started out promising. They both stated how they were friends and respected each other and didn't fight and I decided to take them at their word and believe them. This is was dumb and niave on my part. They did not follow their own rules. What started out as a friendly discussion between two friends turned into a sniping argument about who was more wrong and who actually followed the Bible.

I want to talk on three of their issues specifically. The first was economics. The woman, who was the Liberal, stated her views on the economy. She believed that the big businesses in America were hurting the lower classes. I agree with her that the empire status of different businesses is not good, and I loved her theory on how if businesses took the Sabbath off they couldn't grow to empirical size. This is, I believe, the only point I agreed with her on. After that she descended into lunacy in many of claims.

The second point I want to talk on is the issue of same-sex marriage, which was talked about for quite a while. Both had interested viewpoints. In principle, I actually agree with the woman. She stated that she doesn't think marriage should be legislated. I agree. As Christians, we can't expect the rest of the world to follow our moral code. We have morals and they are ours. If a Christian is living outside the moral code of Christianity, then we need to confront them, but if a non-Christian is, we have no right to tell them otherwise.

What I did not agree with her on was her rationale for getting there. She claimed that marriage has never been an institution, it has just been a a commitment between the husband, wife, and God. Her exact words were "back then if you had sex with a girl she was your wife". This is patently untrue. They had week-long wedding celebrations in the ancient near east. Marriage was a big deal and it was not simply a commitment between two people. Her theory that the term is an ever evolving word was absurd.

The last point I wanted to touch on was that of illegal immigration. She tried to argue that we should take care of illegal immigrants because both Jesus and Abraham were immigrants. She is wrong, however. Jesus was not an immigrant, he was a refugee. We do not turn away refugees in America. Abraham was an immigrant it is true, but did not sneak into another country and hide. He entered the nation, contributed to the society, and was a blessing to the nation he entered. This is not the same as illegal immigration, but she tried to make it that way.

In all of this, I was very disappointed with both speakers. The fact that I only spoke about the woman is because she was verbal in her stupidity. The man kept his ignorance to himself.

Frederic Back Films

In the films we watched in class today, I have to say that I did like the story lines and the way that Frederic Back went about telling the stories, however his mediums that he used to produce the films, I was not a fan of. I did not like that "sketchy" drawing look about them and they way the lines were constantly moving, I found it hard to focus on the film, and it even distracted me from the story at times, especially in the film "The Man Who Planted Trees".

The story line in "The Man Who Planted Trees" was beautiful. The fact that the man changed his job of being a shepherd, to a beekeeper, because the sheep kept eating the trees. I think that it is just a beautiful concept that he cared more about nature and the trees he was creating around him than his job.

In "Rien", from the beginning of the story it was very obvious that he was retelling the creation story. Until, Adam and Eve began transforming into all of these different animals and creatures that they saw and wanted to be like. However, after the discussion I understood the point that Back was trying to make about how when God created them, the humans thought that they knew better than God, and they destroyed everything and were never satisfied by what their own desires were. I thought it was great way of getting people to understand that if you trust God, and allow him to be the ruler of your life and take control of your life, you will much happier with his decisions than your own.

Masters of Art Helping Moviemakers 3

 

 

     In continuation of the theme of "master" artists who have inspired/helped moviemakers, I will be going over in this blog probably the oddest, yet most successful, example their is. Today's artist is the Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger. I will start by saying that I do not enjoy surrealism in the least, and Giger's work brings surrealism to a whole new level. However, his contribution is definitely worth noting.

 





     Giger helped create the greatest, and most famous (other than Godzilla), movie monster in history, the alien from Ridley Scott's masterpiece Alien. It was his work that inspired the moviemakers to attempt to create the most ferocious, yet rather odd-looking alien, that could still be taken quite seriously. Giger was asked if he would not only let them work off of his designs, but was asked to be a part of the moviemaking group. He contributed to the work as a whole, and was awarded the 1980 Academy Award for "Best Achievement in Visual Effects." This is even more impressive when one considers what it took to actually create the monster in the movie, which icluded from my understanding, plastic tubes and other rather crude materials. Yet it was a grand success. The pervasiveness of his work in Alien would carry on to James Cameron's Aliens. While it is true that surrealism can be very hard to bring to the big screen, the fact that they were able to use such odd pieces of art, and yet able to bring it all together into an understandable whole, is a testament to the moviemakers, and to Giger's imagination.

   This is the "H.R. Giger Environment"



Stop Motion

Stop motion is a particular interest for me. Probably my first introduction into it was Gumby. Then it was me favorite computer game called The Neverhood, where everything you saw in the game was made out of clay and animated with stop motion. I have loved Wallace and Gromit ever since I first saw them and Chicken Run is smart and hilarious.

I'm glad we got to watch some stop motion films in Tuesday's class. Co Hoedeman has a gift for this kind of creative storytelling. I think stop motion is about as intriguing as any art form gets. When it is done well, it is something amazing to see. This has to be the ultimate labor of love in the animation world. I don't like thinking about how long it takes to make, but I can't help it. The best part is what you are seeing actually exists. They are physical objects that have come to life without the help of a computer. 

The Sand Castle was a very interesting film. I think the story it told was captivating and interesting to watch. Tchou Tchou drug a little for me, but it still connects on a universal level, and I think it was very creative. 


This below is the most disturbing stop motion I've viewed. I have never seen the whole film so I can't really put it in context. But it contains themes of creation, and I thought of this while watching The Sand Castle. 

And here's a clip from The Neverhood. (The whole game's premise is based on the Genesis account of creation.)

Planting Trees

So...midterms still. At least I had a comic idea, but it came out super sketchy.HOWEVER, the sketchiness made it easier for me to draw what I wanted. I may do more like these sometimes. It takes a lot less time than going through and using the really specific lines with a TON of correction on it (which can overcorrect and then I have to erase and start over -.- and it looks super forced and stiff. This looks more like how I draw on paper, which is usually loads better than what I can do on the computer.
(And, to my defense, I actually DID the reading, but it was two weeks ago and I just skimmed it...)
BUT ENOUGH ABOUT THAT
This week has probably been my favorite of all class. We have watched a lot of great animations, and I've been introduced to two great figures in modern animation. I literally can't look away when I'm watching these. They are that good. Today's were especially beautiful. The use of color and motion...it was spectacular. In 'The Man Who Planted Trees', I was struck with how simple it was at first. The animation had very little color, was simple lines, and yet conveyed a great amount of motion, and even more powerful, emotion. As the forest grew and life returned to the barren wasteland, the color began to grow, until finally at the end there was a rich palette, a literal feast for the eyes. You could see the influence of Renoir in the coloring style, as well as in some of the character design (I especially noticed it in the design of a woman with her child. She turned around and it looked like she had literally stepped out of a Renoir painting).
Classes like this are so enjoyable!

IMPORTANT<<<>>>> HELP

Today durring class there was one thing that professor leeper said that really got to me in a good and a bad way. If someone is called to Hollywood good for him or her. But you cant change. Well is it possible to not change but to shine some light in the dark depths of hollywood professor Leeper is it possible to shine the light of Grace and Mercy and show them that life is more then the money.

In my last year at church I told my pastor I wanted to work in hollywood or around it and help shine the light of grace. But now it seems its like now in the drain draining into San Franciso harbor. I know its a different city. Its far away draining away. I just felt a little upset but I just need to work hard and keep on pushing.

I did like the anology of that like boys shoot guns and such. I do understand that he is trying to teach us and show us how to be mature of filming and understand what we "shoot".


Over all that was a great class discussion. I was going to ask this but I did not know if I should have or not.

Where are you... Adam and eve pretty cool

Today was pretty interesting. In the first film we watched, I liked the animation and the colors and the story. The story of the biblical story and then go off of that trail and go on a different rout.

My favorite part is that when the god creator person chose "adam and eve" the option to try different area. One being in the ocean and swimming with the fishes. Next being a monkey playing in the woods. And lastly being a bird, but when they built a giant nest. They fell and cried. Then the creator turned them into humans again. I think this is a pretty cool twist of a common story that we are all use to. Even though its not christian its a great story and he pulled things from probably knowing and seeing the christian story.

Life is before Life

This will be my last adding on what i blogged the other night.

Abortion was a crude and inhuman thing to talk about and a crazy thing to do. Its now a pretty talkitive topic in life. With all of the pro life or life people talk. Personally my belief is that life is given when God makes that man or woman in the womb. I think its crap how people think life is called at like 6 months or so. Or like when people say when there is a fetus at like month 2 or 4. If someone is pregent you should not harm your creation that will come to life that you made. You should praise it. If you think you cant handle a child. well you just did a dumb thing. You should have talked to your partner. You two should be in the same boat.

The dark in this is that people are willing to kill a baby who does not even have a chance at all in the world to come and to learn about God. All people have a calling. Its up to you to figure out and learn what that is.

The light in this is when the baby is born and people are glad that you did not get an abortion.

 

The Best 42 Minutes You'll Ever Spend on YouTube

I first watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog about a year ago, when my friend told me she had found a short film that would blow my mind. Indeed it did. The premise for Dr. Horrible's is simple: It's the story of a not too evil super villain, Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris), who is desperate to be accepted into the Evil League of Evil, led by the notorious Bad Horse. However, his plans to implement evil on the city are usually foiled by the "hero" Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion). Horrible's goal to be accepted into the League is thrown for a loop when he meets a saintly and charitable girl at the laundry mat, Penny (Felicia Day). His life is even more messed up when Penny begins dating Captain Hammer after he "saves" her from one of Horrible's evil plans.

It's not a "difficult" movie to understand. There are no hidden meanings or symbolism. The film doesn't ever take itself too seriously, and the writers understood that first and foremost this was a comedy. However, that doesn't mean it can't pack a punch. The genius of this film is that on one level, it's a fantastic comedy musical, but on a different level, it's a tragic story of lost love and sacrifices.

The actors are also perfect in their roles. The on screen chemistry between Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day, and Nathan Fillion is what makes the movie so real. Even though the premise is ludicrous, the actors make the story seem almost plausible. There are also an assortment of background characters that deliver some of the best one liners I have ever heard in a film.

If you have 42 minutes to spare, give this film a shot. It's one of my favorites, and the only bad thing I have to say about it is that it's only 42 minutes long. The writing is superb, the music is catchy, and the performances are beyond memorable. It's one of the best short films I have ever seen.

NOTE: It doesn't technically have a rating, but I would say it's rated PG-13 for some language and sexual innuendos. Nothing obscene.

Meaning Behind a Title

When we watch films, do we understand that in some cases are they meant to simply entertain us or is the filmmaker trying to present us with a meaning behind the title? This really made me think when it comes to the films we've been watching in class because most of them present a meaning that the filmmaker is trying to present. It is pure art. Now think about the movies we watch outside of class. For me, I feel like almost all of them are for entertainment purposes. Nothing against them, I love entertainment movies to the max. I just think we need to get even more of a perspective on the films that are trying to present a message. Films with morals reflect on your own life. They make you think. Co Hoedeman presents this meaningful images with his films. Like in Ludvic, he brings the audience's attention by relating something that could happen in their lives. If we had a grandmother who passed away we might connect even more. A real connection of love. Now in Tchou Tchou, this film might bring back memories of playing with blocks and then he presents it with almost an Adam and Eve central idea. From only those two living in this area of blocks and then being harmed by a serpent. Basically to sum it up... I love when the filmmaker is to present a meaning behind their film. 

Protecting its people

Attending the political lecture was fairly interesting.
Obviously part of why our Government is here is to protect its people. We established that in the very beginning  Government is meant to protect and not oppress it's people. As V for Vendetta says, "A government should be afraid of it's people, not people should be afraid of their government"
The government also helps stabilize businesses, which are made to make profits. Despite this, it is the government that has gotten us into recession. Through outrageous spending on a variety of things we have a huge debt that we really don't know how to fix.
I mean, it's not to play the blame game or anything, because the government is suppose to sustain landmarks, and help the poor. that's where a lot of their finances go, which is very acceptable to our system of government.
However, it does become a little disturbing to see the money that is poured into things that much of the american public does not approve of.
Mostly I feel as though the government maybe needs to take more active steps in informing the american public of just where this money is going. The government seems to think in a lot of cases that if people knew, they wouldn't follow their ideas. If that is the case though, then it is time we created a new government. Only a weak leader keeps their ideas to themselves in fear of rejection.
Dunno. Just some thoughts on the matter.

Christians seeing politics

How can you vote for one party without siding with some non Christian beliefs. We all know that in politics there are two parties that are always head to head, the republican and democratic parties. Both of these sides have beliefs that I completely agree with, and beliefs that I don't. Some issues that come up are legalizing gay marriage, abortion laws, well fare, and obviously a lot of money issues. Im sure there are Christian morals that have a say in all of these topics. To start out democrats tend to side more with legalizing gay marriage and giving women more choice when it comes to aborting an unborn baby, which are both definitely against Christian morals. Then theres republicans that tend to think that well fare needs to be reduced and we need to give less to those who don't work or live strictly on government money. I don't think this follows Christian morals either because we should try to give to those less fortunate than ourselves, and although we could all use the money it seems to be just a bit selfish. One of the speakers at the lecture spoke about God's government and how it should punish evil and praise good, which is how as Christians should look at the election. Instead of sticking with one side just because you've already labeled yourself as a republican or democrats is crazy. We should figure out which candidate is in it more for the good and less for the greed. 

Tchou Tchou

I though this film Tchou Tchou was very interesting i would like to see it being made but its fascinating how he made a ball and kids bounce with just clear blocks! i love this for a couple reasons 1: it brings you back to childhood when everything was innocent nowadays its call of duty and skyrim! but 15 years ago this was the best toy ever! i really felt at ease when i saw the beginning with a little boy and girl made of blocks but then came the dragon 2: i really think this was sort of like the "its a wonderful life" story where there a man and a woman (or boy and girl in this case) living together in this blocky forest with the dragon or the (serpent) and then in the end the serpent is a train (try finding a bible verse for that lol) all that was based on genesis and adam and eve but anyway i love the work and how hard must it have been to move that serpent! this is a remarkable piece and its amazing no CGI or ANYTHING

The Sand Castle

I thought the movie "The Sand Castle" was super cool i have never seen a film where clay objects create other clay objects its really a beautiful piece and this work isn't easy! i don't know how to put this at the end of this film is the life of this creator go over and over? or once this sandstorm hits hes gone forever? i don't know i all most want to say something really profound to say that maybe this "creator" in the film is God or something but i have nothing to base it on i also love the comedy where the "creator" maked the 3 footed uh..... lizard? lol and in the end one everything is done they celebrate that's what a love in the story i heard a quote once that went some like "true happiness happens after completing a hard days work" that's not exact but if you think about that's so true you get so much happiness after you build your first car or after you works non stop hours cleaning your room and once its done or if you study hours on a test and when your teacher gives you that A that's happiness right there!!!

Inspiration!

 

I was really inspired by Co Hoedeman's films that I saw in class today. The way that he creates such pure children's films with a morals involved in them, is exactly what I want to do. I loved that his films were so simple and he did not use a lot of expensive technology in making his films. My favorite film that we watched today had to be Ludvic: "Dancing With Grandma". I just loved everything about that film, it was absolutely beautiful.

In the reading tonight, I liked that I was able to find out some interesting facts about Walt Disney's earlier films. I did not know, that Snow White was Disney's first colored film, but I did know that it was his first full length animated film. I thought it was really weird to find out, that when Snow White first came out, children were genuinely frightened by the witch transformation scene. But, like it said in the article, I guess that growing up when that film came out, as opposed to now, is extremely different in the types of media that children are shown and grow accustom to. Children of today's generation have more of a resistance to fear than children did in the 1930's.

A Buried Castle and a Buried Civilization

Sandcastle was a very interesting film, and one I quite enjoyed. In fact, outside of the ‘Gospel is Tragedy’ class and its particularly dark films, Professor Leeper has continued to show us films that I enjoy. But Sandcastle was really something else. One man created a film using nothing but sand and a camera, and he created an incredibly memorable experience out of something that seems to simple in concept. But what do I see the film representing, aside from Professor Leeper’s views on its religious themes?

This.

Okay, maybe not to that extreme, but still. While I didn’t connect the idea for a while (almost eight hours after class, in fact), I realized that Sandcastle could be a picture of the rise and fall of a civilization. From little more than nothing the founders rise and begin laying the groundwork of a society, in the form of the Creator character. Then, as the population expands in the form of the Creatures, a city is constructed (the castle), and a true civilization is born as prosperity comes to the developing area. This finally culminates in the epitome of that civilization (the party) before eventually it all comes to an end. I don’t see this as a particularly terrible end, however; out of countless failed civilizations we have seen just as many more emerge from the ashes to flourish and grow in place of their predecessors. We never know the true fate of the Creator and his Creatures, but in my mind they will simply have to dig their way out of their buried castle and start anew.

Like I said in class, it is the class cycle of seasons. The spring brings the foundation of civilization, summer displays its glorious high, autumn brings its inevitable downfall, and winter is the possibility of a new beginning even after ruin. It is similar to any collapse of a civilization or nearly any post-apocalyptic movie you can name; it may be a long time before society rekindles, but it will come.

The Joy and Magic of Motion

...its midterms week, guys. Gimme a break. I couldn't think of a comic idea and I have little to no time to work meaningfully on something like that...so I gave you this instead. A simple sketch that sums up how I felt during today's class.
Mesmerized.
Stop-motion animation is something I've only just recently started to appreciate...or even like for that matter. As a child, stop-motion either had to do with Halloween or Christmas specials, because that was the only type of stop motion I ever had contact with (even though I wasn't allowed to watch Nightmare Before Christmas. Still haven't seen it yet). The motions were often creaky and unlifelike, and sometimes they were a little scary (Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and The Little Drummer Boy sometimes had facial expressions that creeped me out!). I was thankfully introduced to Wallace and Gromit, and by extension Nick Park and Aardman, by the time I was in elementary school, but I sort of seperated stop-motion in my head at that point: There was nice, soft-looking Wallace and Gromit...and then there was scary, creaky Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, etc. Stop motion didn't appeal to me...it was weird looking and I never let myself actually try it.
And then I saw Coraline.
Someone had been raving about it online, and I had read the book, so I was like 'meh. Why not?' It blew. My. Mind. I recently rewatched it in preparation for ParaNorman (which I still haven't seen!! Gah!) and even got my mom, who was far more adverse to stop-motion than I was, to watch it, and even SHE liked it. Since then I've begun to open up a bit more to the artform, which is only aptly timed since stop-motion is suddenly popular again and movies are coming out in full force.
I really liked Co Hoedeman's works...probably better than any stop-motion I had ever seen. His stories were simple, endearing, engaging. His dragon creeped me out...the way it moved, the music that accompanied it, the stark contrast between it and the children...it was enough to send chills down my spine. But I think what I enjoyed the most was his ingenuity when it came to his craft. How he was able to think up how to do these animations, using the sand, the clear cubes...even having himself in one of his films! It was crazy! He is definitely, without a doubt, brilliant. And he must be uber patient. I can't even imagine working so meticulously...and with so many frames...knowing knocking something out of place could mess up the whole thing.

Someone give that woman a shovel...

I would consider myself a moderate, just to give you a bit of where i'm coming from. I'm not sold by the right wing narrow agenda but i'm also not open to the "let everyone do what they want" mentallity of the left. Well tonight I was pretty unimpressed by both sides as I watched the debate between the two speakers. I shall start with the lady because ladies first of course, so the woman speaker tonight made me feel like I was in 1984 and was basically being forced to accept her point of view otherwise I am inhuman. I do admit that some of her points held some valid weight in the disscusion but it was burried beneath so much political B.S. that it turned me off to listening to anything she really said. Now onto the man speaking(or lack their of), I actually did enjoy some of the comments that the gentlemen on the right said but my enjoyment was not because of the sophistication of the comments but mainly because the way they were presented. As I watched him listen to the woman speaking I started to see him make faces when he disagreed and he would rudely interrupt her as she was trying to speak. I think the lady was almost intolerable with the amount of tangents she went off on when answering questions but still their is no excuse for acting rudely. The thing that I didn't like about the man as well was that he was the typical republican conservative who would shut off the moment someone disagreed with him. At one point while the woman was talking he actually pointed to his bible and I believe he said something to this accord "This is my guideline". I think that the woman speaking may have been a bit overbearing in her views but she still had enough respect to hear out her opponents rebuttles. I now have no wonder why Christian Republicans are demonized so much by the left. I think the "right" has a lot of good points to make and I might even fall to that side of the spectrum on a lot of issues, but how they conduct themselves is childish and it will only work in a theocracy.The bottom line is that pointing to a bible and yelling Jesus a few times is not going to win a debate.

Same sex marriage extra...

this is something else i typed to add on to the debate

In a realm where are thinks are true and pure. Where people walk hand in hand. People joyfully cheering for there sons and or daughters big day. Crying over the wife's veil. At there fancy ball reception you see the husband and wife standing next to each other and looking into each others eyes. The sense of completion. The feeling of joyfulness and rejoicing. The wonderful kiss on the lips as the couple dance to there slow song. Everyone is looking for that day in there lives to see them self standing with their bride or groom up with the pastor. At that point of life you have looked for this day to come to put the wedding bands on her finger. That day is always trickling in peoples heads. That perfect someone, that one who they love for ever and will ever be that way. Then after that huge day the new prince and princess becomes the king and queen and go on a wonderful fairytale of there own. Somewhere thats far, far, far, away from where they lived.

In modern day USA on this very same day. There is a "husband" and "wife". There family's might have different views on them and what they did. The family might not go along with this. Its kinda like a family sided romeo and juliet. But its for the same man getting another man or a women getting another women. They are venturing in this world together. Hate is always a fear to their eyes and their minds. They try to fight and nothing happens. They go to lawyers and laws nailing them every moment. They never get to get the rings. Those fairytales never end up happy.

Its not true the connections to the Bible to realism. They don't believe in that. for example " "Gay marriage" is opposed to divine order built into creation and to the Gospel: for "gay marriage," by its very nature, cannot be an image of Christ's spousal love for the church." (freerepublice.com)

In the bible sodomy is a synonym for homosexuality. God spoke plainly about this matter when he said "There shall be no whore of the daughter of israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.(bible.org) The bible is one wall of truth in this hard topic fairy tale. It's one good true book that was written. Homosexuality is an illicit lust forbidden by God. In the bible in Genesis 2:22-25 it states that God made women out of man. He told adam to go to sleep. God caused Adam into a deep sleep. Woman was taken out of man.

In reality people don't see this as a true statement. People don't see that its a sin. People see it as part of a new culture taboo in society. We christians well hope to say christians. Because some of the modern christians are falling short of christ and falling into being gay and loving there body as much as the next man does and vice versa. Which is not even right to do. Because you have to do all things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Text from C.S Lewis "My own view is that the Churches should frankly recognise that the majority of the British people are not Christians and, therefore, cannot be expected to live Christian lives. There ought to be two distinct kinds of marriage: one governed by the State with rules enforced on all citizens, the other governed by the Church with rules enforced by her on her own members. The distinction ought to be quite sharp, so that a man knows which couples are married in a Christian sense and which are not." (curlewriver)

In his quote above the part of saying "two distinct kinds…" It is obvious that the one type that is governed by state with rules is merely related to same sex marriage because there is nothing in the church that could help them. The second part of his quote is that of a normal marriage. The way its is suppose to be. A marriage that is from the church for the church of the Lord. This is the way it is suppose to be in the world.

In conclusion the whole same sex marriage deal is crazy. The bible says it is wrong. Why do people think different? Because people don't understand the faith and the truth about the Word of the Lord and my savior Jesus Christ. He is the truth, the light, the way. Though we should love one another just as he did. God thinks the sin is bad but does not hate those people. The people are making the wrong choice. God just hates seeing that sin in the modern world.

Heated Debate... Just what i needed

VS.

Choose your side?

To be honest it wont matter in the long run.

where to start. Man this was a great heated debate. They were all over the spectrum of debates. Politics and Christ? can they really be hand in hand. Well they could. Long time ago politicians would argue during the day and then go to bars with both parties. But now they cant see that they are both humans with the same rights. People just put down other people. They dont see that the person could just be having a down day, something bad in there life could have happened. You dont know. Only God knows whats going on.

Should the government control business and wealth. I think not. The Government is here to help and protect. Business should be the ones making us and making them wealth. The government helping wealth is and might just bring them back into debt. Thats what people need to understand. 

here is a link that Lisa mentioned

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-sharon-harper/a-call-to-transform-politics_b_1857906.html

As they were fighting I was very intrigued on what they were saying and seeing where I stand and see if I was in a good position to be in.

 

That touchy topic of all people

Marriage has changed. People have changed. All of this have changed over years and years. They had to go and force courts to let one marry the same sex. One had to hide it from there family cause it was not right. The military had to hide it and then shun them. Then accept them. The president made a touchy choice on my ideas of all of this. Wont say what side but you can guess. In the bible says that man and woman should grow more spiritual together. Well along those lines. They just roughly touched on this topic.

I think its wrong. I wont rant cause they are my personal views and i dont want to affend anyone. if you want to know as me or message me on facebook.

Poverty

Yes this is another touchy subject. but they touched upon this. Poverty is a double edge sword i kinda see now. It can wreck families and poverty can and will show if you had a bad family. The government tries to come in and help and i think thats good. But you really should try to let the non profit or profit people try to help more then spending the US bills and government time to help.

ITS TIME

…..

FOR

…..

A touchy topic

….

YUP

that one

ABORTION

People are pretty dumb to think this is completely all right. But yet they brought up a good needle to pick which is that. Most of them happen in poverish areas or troubled families so understood. I wont dive any more cause like really please think. life is when God choice of kid is before the womb. 

The Under Appreciated Art: Stop Motion Animation

Co Hoedeman's stop motion film, The Sand Castle.
This was by far my favorite film of today's class.

Every time I watch a stop motion film I am in awe. Honestly, my brain cannot handle the amount of dedication, creativity, and attentiveness that goes into to making such a film.

I've only dappled in stop motion once, and I discovered that I do not have the patience nor the carefulness to make anything past 10 seconds long. Even 10 seconds of stop motion filming had me ready to pull out my hair and destroy the whole project. I never attempted another stop motion, because I just don't have the patience to deal with going frame by frame, or the ability to not knock things over and get upset. I'm just too clumsy.

However, I think stop motion is a beautiful art form. I hold stop motion artists and filmmakers on such a high pedestal in my mind because I know that they must be truly passionate about their art to dedicate years upon years to make movies using that medium. The attention to detail, and the creative thinking that goes along with making these films is nothing short of awe inspiring.

Henry Selick and Tim Burton on the set of The Nightmare
Before Christmas. Burton, contrary to popular belief, produced
the stop motion animation, and wrote the script. He did not direct.

It's unfortunate though. I think many stop motion artists are under appreciated. The only popular or mainstream stop motion artists who come to my mind are Tim Burton (Corpse Bride, Vincent), Nick Park (Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-rabbit), and Henry Selick (Coraline, The Nightmare Before Christmas). Even out of those three, we can't argue that Tim Burton is the most recognizable, and even gets credit for most of Selick's work (If I had a dollar for everytime someone thinks Tim Burton directed and created Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas...) And, furthermore, even those who see those stop motion films that have made it mainstream, don't truly understand the art behind it. A lot of people don't even know what stop motion is, and believe that everything is "CG" and not a unique and amazing form of animation.

I guess not everything can be popular, and in a world that seems to be interested in only high budget explosions and amazing computer generated special effects, stop motion films are barely contenders on the radar. It's sad that only every couple of years does a beautiful stop motion film come out and attract throngs of people. In my mind, every filmmaker who dedicates himself to his art like that should be basking in the appreciation of his work. It's sad that most simply just drift back into the dark corners of the industry, never to be seen the popular audience's eyes.

But the silver lining is that most of these director's don't care. They love what they do, and they do it. If it hits mainstream, fine, if it doesn't, fine. I have never heard of Co Hoedeman before today, and that breaks my heart because his films were amazing, but I could see that he loves his work. He loves what he does, famous or not. I think that is the most admirable, most inspiring thing a person can do: pursue what really makes them happy and share it with the world.

- R.

The block garden of Eden

I have always been fascinated with stop motion animation. Although i do not think i am cut out for this type of film making the amount of time and detail that has to go into just a single second of film is mind blowing. So props to you prof. Leeper. The films we watched in class today, the sand castle one and the block playground were great art. The film can meet you on a pure entertainment and visually pleasing level while at the same time sending strong spiritual connection. This combination of virtues within this art is so powerful. The way i see it is the childlike atmosphere of these films make you relax when you watch them and your not really looking to analyze and pick apart all the little details of it to see what it means. This mental relaxation allows the messages and story of the art to seep into your brain and make connections with out the usual way through analysis. At least thats the way i see it, i hope my thinking makes some grain of sense.

SandCastle

• I really enjoyed this film that we watched today mainly for two reasons. The first being the relation it has to creation that Leeper pointed out. Second, I know how hard stop-motion animation is ( I tried my hand at it a few years back) and this film looked really challenging to make. There were so many amazing effects and I think my favorite one was that one creature that blew air. It made patterns on the ground, and in that split second, I forgot that it was stop motion and believed it was real. They made that effect LOOK SO GOOD, and it blows my mind just thinking of how much effort the artist behind this had put into this. Does this mean that we generally appreciate things that have more effort put into them, or am I just really excited? Probably the latter, because a lot of effort put into something doesn't necessarily mean it is better than something else executed superiorly ( I think that sounds right ). You could argue that the other film we watched about the block children was better, but personally I prefer The Sand Castle. My friend TJ did the math and told me that this film took 19,000 frames to shoot. 19,000!!! The other film about the block children took somewhere around 24,000, but even still I think it was harder to work with Sandcastle...because the only thing in that movie is sand... lots and lots of sand. Besides that point, this film shows the creation story well, but I also think it showed the cycle of seasons even better. I don't remember who said this quote, but I agree with him, he said " Spring was the beginning of new life, followed by summer of hard work, Fall of prosperity and then the Winter of tragedy." Whoever you are mystery person, you literally took the words right out of my mouth, and I think the imagery behind this is pure genius. The idea behind the Creator being God is also something I agree with. The relationship between the pig and the snake character can be related to the general hostility of certain people in the world. The drunk character could just represent pure childish happiness. Overall this film had a lot to show and I absolutely loved the animation style.

That's Magic

Listening to Leeper talk about the love that Creator has for Creation today made me think of this video I stumbled across maybe a year ago. It is by WhiteStone, which is a company that has produced several extremely impressive short films, including The Candy Shop, and Heartless. I think one of my favorites by them is called That's Magic.
http://whitestonemp.com/film/thats-magic/
The story of That's Magic is basically about a creator that has lost all love and joy for what he creates. His loss of love for his art has made him bitter and apathetic, uninterested in anything around him. Little does he realize that there is in fact, magic all around him. Magic that goes beyond his craft.
As C.S.Lewis would have said, a "deep magic" that runs through human kind that goes beyond what we know and can comprehend.
I just thought it was interesting to see, because there is a magic to someone that has this deep love for their craft and their character. Not only that, but there is something magical about human kind creating. We were created to create. I feel like this film really resonates within us, because it looks at the heart of why we do what we do, and it says there is something more to it. Our deep need and desire to create comes from the knowledge that we also were created.

Masters of Animation

I found the reading, Masters of Animation very interesting, especially the part about Frederic Back. I am film major so I have not taken a look at animation nearly as much as film. I think it shows his passion towards animation because the text talks about how he normally had a laid back personality, but when he talks about animation he becomes a very lively person. The man seemed very interesting, he taught at a furniture design school, and later at Fine arts school. He eventually learned the art of making stained glass.

            Later in his career, he worked at the CBC animation studio where he found his real passion—animation. He won an Oscar and a few other international awards. The text tells us that his films have showed the human sympathy. His Oscar and all of his awards are great, but I think what really shows how great his films are, is how much children enjoyed them. The text tells us his films were of “good-humored entertainment, which appeal strongly to children.”

An example of some of his work.