POST 8 TIM BURTON

Tim Burton was __born______in 1958, in the city of Burbank, ___California_________.
He remains without question one of the _____most___ original film ___maker_____ working in ________cinema____ today.

 Indeed, his talent and originality have kept him at the ________ of the profession where he occupies a very special place, somewhere ____between_______ the mainstream and the avant-garde, in that region of cinema occupied by artists ______ worldview is _______ unconventional that it attains popular appeal.

In 1989, Tim Burton directed the hugely ______famous known____ Batman which, although his _______ personal film, was one of the most __famous__________ movies of all time and gave him unprecedented ___________ in Hollywood, considering the originality and adventurousness of his ____________ films (for ____example_____ Beetlejuice in 1988).

Edward Scissorhands (1990), another hit, saw him at the peak of his ________ powers and established a fruitful working ________in collaboration_____ with __the actor_________ Johnny Depp who played in his 2005 film _____________of Roald Dahl’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and who became one of his most esteemed __partnership________since their first film together.

In 1992, Batman Returns was a __more_____ darker film than the original, a reflection of how much ____________ freedom Tim Burton had won (___producers____ Warner Bros were reputedly unhappy with the final result).
And even _______if__ Ed Wood (1994), his loving ___________ to the life and work of the legendary ‘Worst Director of All Time’ Edward D. Wood, Jr., was a box-office disaster, it got some of the best _____critics______ of Burton’s career.

In fact, Tim Burton is ___known_____  both for his dark, quirky-themed ____films_______like Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, or Dark Shadows (2012) and for ____________  such as Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Batman, Planet of the Apes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland (2010), one of his most  __famous______ films, which became the fifth highest-grossing film of all ___times____.

Burton has ______created_____ 18 feature films as of 2014, and has _________ 12 as of 2012  (among which the very nice ____________ tale called The  Nightmare Before ____christmas___________ in 1993).

All in all, Tim Burton’s films consistently challenge the spectator’s ___________, push forward the ____________ of filmmaking and bring to life previously unthinkable _____character_______ (like Edward Scissorhands).

Taken as a whole, his work ____________ on the confrontation ____________ the fantastic and the _____________, and the consequences of these two worlds intermingling.

Big Fish, Burton’s 2003 effort, is no different. And ______, somehow, it is not really the
_________.
On the surface, it would appear to have all the ___________ of a classic Burton film: a magic screenplay, fairy-tale characters, flights of imagination, forces of nature ( _as____ well __as_____ the supernatural), far-fetched situations and vastly imaginative visual style and imagery. The movie is, in fact, ________ packed with fanciful episodes that it begins to feel ____like_______ a loose adaptation of The Odyssey, told from the mouth of an aging character named Ed Bloom, a story-__________ and dreamer who sees the world with beautiful eyes.

Post ´/- The song

LYRICS:

The mayor hides the crime rate
council woman hesitates 
Public gets irate but forget the vote date 
Weatherman complaining, predicted sun, it's raining 
Everyone's protesting, boyfriend keeps suggesting 
you're not like all of the rest. 

Garbage ain't collected, women ain't protected 
Politicians using people, they've been abusing
The mafia's getting bigger, like pollution in the river
And you tell me that this is where it's at.

Woke up this moming with an ache in my head
Splashed on my clothes as I spilled out of bed 
Opened the window to listen to the news 
But all I heard was the Establishment's Blues.

Gun sales are soaring, housewives find life boring 
Divorce the only answer smoking causes cancer
This system's gonna fall soon, to an angry young tune 
And that's a concrete cold fact.

The pope digs population, freedom from taxation 
Teeny Bops are up tight, drinking at a stoplight
Miniskirt is flirting I can't stop so I'm hurting
Spinster sells her hopeless chest.

Adultery plays the kitchen, bigot cops non-fiction
The little man gets shafted, sons and monies drafted
Living by a time piece, new war in the far east.
Can you pass the Rorschach test?




Today I chose to present the song "Establishment blues" by Sixto Rodriguez, 
because I feel like the lyrics denounce very clearly the corruption and social inequalities that our society is facing. 
First of all, Sixto Rodriguez is an american folk musician from Detroit, Michigan. Even though his origins are mexican he has the american nationality. His music was completely unknown in America for years he published two albums during his life. the first one named cold fact was releaved in 1970 but was a complete slop. Indeed the disk was only sold less than a hundred copies. However the album managed t to arrived in south africa which was at the time an isoleted suffering from a severe dictatorship, the apartheid. 5 years later his album knows a great success in Africa and was solded to more than 50.000 copies.

 As a matter of fact South Africans who were victims of the apartheid which was a racist or ethnic separation discovered the right of freedom of expression.

Indeed, Thanks to this album that deals with several topics such as freedom and human rights,  A conflict started. People started to believe that it was normal to have a free opinion and be against their own society. A documentary about the life of the author is even create: Searching for Sugar Man. This man sold more album than Elvis Presley in Africa. Sixto Rodriguez were obviously censored by the regime for his words very liberator, revolutionary, committed and caused a movement of mass to the African who finds the courage to revolt in the music itself.Nevertheless pirate radios find the way to continue to broadcast its songs. The one that I have chosen : blues established.  can  be considered as the hymn for the opposition to this apartheid. Nevertheless, the life of the artist remains unknown for the African which realize after a while that they have none information about him.. This is when the rumors begin some people say that he died however several people start making some research about him and try to contact him. The most touching for me is the fact that the author was not aware of his success and that it is several years later that he learns that his songs are contributed to liberate South africa. He will then travel several times to Africa, where he will know a hit, at this moment he started to be famous all around the world.

So i chose Establishement blues because the lyrics denonces a corrupted society, social inequalities and that this song is sort a way for the africans to revolt against injustice all around us even nowadays. As the first sentence said : « the mayor hides the crime rate »which proves that no one says anything, and everything is hidden. « Public gets irate goal forget the voting day » Saying that people complain but do not react, they doesn’t do anything to change things. Everyone protests, made suggestion but do not act. women are not protected, thus showing thepart of social inequalities between women and men. "Politicians using people, They've been Abusing, The mafia's getting bigger, like pollution in the river "The politicians lies, and use week people  while  others enrich, the pollution also is not a preocupation for these politicians  who think only in money. In the following verse, Rodriguez uses this verse to talk a little about his case since emploit the pronoun "I", nevertheless it is not his battle is also one of a billion other people. The fight for freedom. Then the next ennonce more social problems such as the fact that the only solution is to get a divorce, or that smoking causes cancer, so that weapons are sold. The man has become selfish, he lost the sense of values, the weapons are more important than the love he 
no longer tries to build there to fight. He quickly abandoned. Nevertheless the sentence: "This system's gonna fall soon, to an angry young tune" which is an afirmation, invite the young to rebel,to fight in other to destrocked the regime, to transform this anger in an action. the second who deals with the prostitution, the abuse of alcoohol which are unfortunately  recurring themes in our society, these themes will be the consequence of all these inequalities, the lack of hope from the people, who no longer believes in anything. And the last deals with the war (far east) or the Rorschach test Who is a Psychological test. Some Psychologists use this test to examine a person's personality and emotional fonctionnement Characteristics. It is always a recurrent subject of several critical that we see.

So I really liked this song apart from the fact that the musicality immediately pleased but also for the message it sends. This is a song that succeeded to reunite several themes, which is very general and not only fixed on a subject and to me it gives a lot of hope. The evidence is that the South Africans were inspired to protest. On the other hand it is not only the words that give strength to the people but also the message that anyone can interpret that is that we all have the right to be free, are equal and change in this world begins with the youth that must fight to change things as did those before This song can be related with the notion locations and form of power because it proves the power of music in the world, which can really help people, give them hope and somehow contribute to change. Music is a very powerful form of power.

POST 6- Art Exhibition Review

The art exhibition "Pop art myths" is at the museum Thyssen Bornemisza from June 10 to September 14,2014 in Madrid located in the Paseo del Prado.

The webside is : http://www.museothyssen.org/
Numerous pop artists worked in this project like Lichtenstein,Warhol... (the most famous American).
The artists were also Italian: Mimmo Rotella, Spanish: Juan Genovés,French: alain Jacquet etc...
The show is now over.

Marilyn Monroe in Black and White (Twenty‐Five Marilyns)

Andy Warhol

Immediately we are immersed in the exhibition, because of the bright colours, the size of the paintings and the originality of the works. One of the characteristics of Pop Art is that every object could become art. As we can see the "brillo soap pads"  used for cleaning dishes and which can now become a piece of art. There are many comic books, or photographs of the famous Marylin Monroe. It is a really innovative movement. Some of the works arouse curiosity because of their originality and can sometimes make us laugh. The figure of Mickey is very recurrent like the numerous collages etc... And tha'ts what is worth seeing for me the fact that the artist can transform a simple picture or simple objet into a very colourful painting.Were the abstract is something gorgeous. To me, the works are very enigmatic it is true to say that some of them are very simple but it have nothing to do with the originality of the myths which is for me one of the most beautiful movement, in a esthetically way.The only thing that I could reproach to the exhibition is that the artist are only men except one woman it could be interesting to see how a woman would represent for example the "urban eroticism". And that i would like to see more photographies. Pop art is the reflection of the consumer society.

As a 12 grade High school student in Art and Litterature i am very interested in art, painting and all that is artistic. By definition Pop Art is an art movement that emerged in the mid-1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United states. Pop art presented a challenge to traditions of fine art by including imagery from popular culture  such as advertising, news, etc. In pop art, material is sometimes visually removed from its known context. So it was time for a very different movement and so therefore very original. What i've found very interesting in this movement and exhibition is that the works are very simple and so they could be understood and seen by all the consumer society. I am not an expert in Pop art but I think that all the artist's had the same intention: to created something new, original and different from the others movements. Is a way for them to escape from the " Traditional artist" and this is why the objet or the painting is a reflection of the artist point of view. When I saw the exbition I had the impression of being in a dream. All these colours made me even imagine the world in a different way for a while. In addition, all techniques are used: painting, photography, collage etc... this is a unique characteristic of the pop art movement and what I loved the most. All these works have a certain way a mechanical hand, which reflects the industry of the consumerism. For me the works are worked more on their form than their meaning, which gives them an abstract side which i've found very original. However, an object can have multiple meanings depending on the viewer.  For example, Lichtenstein is inspired by comic strips sentimental it made me laugh, and particularly remembered the expectations of a pathetic society of consumerism. 

Roy LICHTENSTEIN

Forget it, forget me. 1962

The work that have caught my attention is : 

                                         

                                                                      Joe Tilson

                                                            Mantra Pool, 1975

                                                                            Milan

Joe Tilson is an English pop art painter, sculptor and printmaker.What i've found original in this work is that with one word " Pool" which can have many meanings, you can make a simply but very original, inovative piece of art. This work proves that Pop art can be very abstract but very beautiful too. Without the gradation in colour the work would not be the same and if all the work will be in color too. From yellow to green through black, red, blue... I think that this work is the most simple work in all this exhibition. However, it's the first painting that had caught my attention. What i've found the most striking is the world repeated " POOL" and the fact that there are five columns and only one is colored. What caught my attention first is obviously the colors. This work is very simple and has nothing special but this is what I prefer because it is through the abstract that each can have its own interpretation. I think this painting has no meaning and that everything is based on its aesthetic.This is why I liked it and found it original. We usually think that art is always associated with a precise critical meaning. But is not, the artist just wanted to create something innovative and operated his imagination. This is what I find absolutely fabulous with this work is that for some people, it is quite trivial and too abstract. For me it is the one that most caught my attention because it is abstract and aesthetically I loved the way it is present. I do not know if it has a history and a particular meaning but I do not think so. To conclude, there is not much to say about this picture. For me it can be referred to as one of the most original works of the exhibition.

The show is now over but there are many exhibitions of Pop art all around the world like in Paris, London, Italia and many more...

Worksheet

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z9qzya6L2JMwTRwR2CuXA5qyGO8lk2XyArLevE5maYc/edit?usp=sharing

POST 5 - A R.E.M. song and video

Reviews:

                                                                                                                                                                From NOW Magazine

"Collapse is a genuine return to form for the band, blowing away anything else they've done for more than a decade."

From the New York times: 

"Where the spirit-void blankness of R.E.M. once felt intuitive and intentional, it now feels accidental. Most of this record's musical temperament seems reheated or purchased"

R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention because of Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's unclear vocals. R.E.M. released its first single, "Radio Free Europe", in 1981 on the independent record label Hib-Tone. n 1983, the group released its critically acclaimed debut album,Murmur, and built its reputation over the next few years through subsequent releases, constant touring, and the support of college radio. The group signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1988, and began to espouse political and environmental concerns while playing large arenas worldwide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.E.M.

My review:

I really like the group: REM. My favorite song is "Loosing my religion". I didn't know this song before but I found it very touching. The lyrics are full of sense, of hope. The tittle "every day is yours to win" says a lot about the meaning of the song. It says that every day is new and ours. It is true to say that everyone wants to make the most of their life, what would be the point of living if we don't at least try to do something remarkable? The melody makes also the music more pleasant.There are many repetitions but i think that it have something to do with the lyrics: the fact that life can be very repetitive and boring sometimes...
I am really curious to discover the real meaning of the video because we can see people doing weird things. It can symbolize the banality of life. Many "anonymous heroes" which "hide" themselfs behind camera. People which are not recognize in our society like heroes. In my opinion this video shows that we can all be heroes,it doesn't matters who we are. "Choose what you like and do the best you can". It is very original, very beautiful... 

Notions:

To me it can releate with the notion mythes and heros because of the lyrics. The idea that we are all heroes. The notion of progress because of the technical progress (the camera). Spaces and exchanges because all this people are from all around the world So, people are sharing their personal experiences. And form of power because music is a very important form of power , and it can do many things for us.  

POST 4: iRack Video on MADtv

POST 4: CLASSWORK

 Add the following video to your blog in a new post and view it

(search for 'MADtv - iRack including blooper' on You Tube)

MADtv: 'iRack'

 

#POST 3: INDIVIDUAL WORK ON 'THE IDEA OF PROGRESS' VIEWED THROUGH HIGH TECH PRODUCTS

First of all, I have chosen a video which shows the positive and the negative impact of
technologies in our lives. I am going to concentrate only on the positive ones (just the first minute).

I think that it is important to give a definition of the idea of progress because the video is based on it. It defends the theory that advances in the sectors of technology, science and social organization can produce an improvement in the human condition. People can become happier in terms of quality of life (social progress), through economic development (modernization), and the application of science and technology (scientific progress). 
In fact, we can see all this improvement in the video. 

We discussed in class all the negative points of high technology, but technologies have a very important impact on the world and can produce radical changes in our daily life, our way of living, communicating or seeing the world. There have been so much progress during the 21st century.

Social progress: democracy in several countries (certainly not enough), freedom to think, express freely our opinions, human and women's rights have evolve and this has reduced the differences between women and men, not in all countries but in many of them Homosexual marriage has been accepted in many countries and by many societies.
Each person has the right to believe in what they want. The world is facing globalization and constant development, the principal  barriers of borders have disappeared, from now on we can find people of different nationalities in almost all countries, people can travel
everywhere all around the world People mingle, countries have developed and with them technology. We can see in the video that travelling has become very easy, which contributes to our comfort. All these means of transportation to move in a country, city (train, subway) or to be able to travel at the other end of the world very fast (plane). All these progress favour the variety, mixture of the cultures, Languages are not any more a barrier in communication because more and more people know more than one language, often three... We are more and more educated. Education is more and more accessible to everybody. Furthermore, the video shows that new technologies are a means of learning that can be very effective.

We also see in the video a girl who plays with a windmill, which can make us think about renewable energies which are a very impressive technical progress. All these energies, who are going to save our lives and will allow the world to continue to live normally after the end of our fossil fuels. It helps to slow down climate changes. It also shows one of the most important progress according to me: the medical one. Indeed, we have discovered numerous vaccines, many cures to diseases which seemed incurable , the expectancy of life has never been so high. Medicines saved numerous 
people and continue to do it every day. Nothing more important than the health for the human being... 

In this video, we can see that the little boy has an "electric" leg that allows him to do activities like other boys who are the same age. He can practice really simple activities like running, practicing sport, walking and it would be very hard for this boy if he did not have this leg. Thanks to the technologies, he will have a common life like
all other boys. Except the fact that he does not have a real leg. Technology has the "power" to help needy people, because we can also see a man who lost his view. Thanks to medicine he is able to differenciate colors. The discovery of the world, with the help of all this progress, we can travel in our universe, that can improve our competence as far as concerned life and for our future. It is just fantastic! We discovered other planets, from the ignorant man in his planet to a generation of discovery. Now we can travel to space, universe... Man is also able to know how the moon will be in a few years or the weather for the next five days...

Communication became international. Everybody can speak with all the people in the world. Have the possibilities to see each other, speak all these things can be done even if we are in another part of the world. Social networks allow to keep in touch, share, maintain relations and this despite the distance. We can share videos, photos and opinions. We can express ourselves and inquire about everything that happened. With all these technological devices we do not need newspapers any more, we can receive all the news live thanks to smartphone. The advantage is that we are always connected with the whole world. The
exchange of information is really active, more and more technology makes us an easier life and allows us to communicate in every situation.

In conclusion, all the innovations and ideas of progress make a better society, more developed, and always active. Our life style is changing and we can become more productive by using technologies devices.

#POST 2 : WHEN TECHNOLOGY IS TOO MUCH OR... MISSING

Description

This video is structured around two main narrative voices and a character illustrating what the voice-over says while a singer often merely repeats or comments on what's just been said (as in a Greek chorus).

The setting is a Christian home and church, so this particular context is very meaningful.

We can notice on various occasions that the main character is addicted to high-technology products, mostly smartphones.

He is shown as a family man unable to communicate with his wife, except through texting

He is also shown as a church-goer incapable of attending worship without all his phones vibrating all the time, making him look like he's full of the holy spirit.

Finally, he is depicted as a computer geek whose life has become extremely complicated instead of having been simplified.

Interpretation

Basically, this video means that high technology has become a religion for many people, even Christians who are not supposed to be materialistic. It is a humorous way specially with the voice over or for example when the man write to several people on different phones to exaggerate and to show the abuse of technology which is used on excess. 

Then, in a Christian lifestyle, quite a few church-goers and believers tend to focus more on materialistic issues rather than spiritual ones.

We can add that technology reigns supreme for many people who revere it as a God enlightening his followers. We have lost human contact because the guy prefer texting his wife than talking to her face to face. There is no longer communication that is not virtual, we do too many things at the same time, we live in a virtual world. This document shows and talks about the idea of progress. We are part of a generation that lives with the new technologies and it can be a bad things if they are used wrongly, they create addictions and dissociate men from their families,friends...

The question is, is this a real progress for humankind ?

Description

Two people are stuck on an escalator in a place that seems literally empty/deserted probably in a mall. The man looks upset/annoyed. He might be an office worker walking to his job. The woman claims that she is already late, so for her, this is the last straw. At one point, she's about to cry and asks for a phone, then she screams for help. In short, they both look helpless, clueless, powerless and even hopeless.

Interpretation

 We can relate this situation to a fairly common one in real life : getting stuck in an elevator. The difference however, is  that in this situation, people have the right to panic/freak out/feel panicky whereas on an escalator, there is no reason whatsoever to be scared.

This video points out the increasing dependence of human beings on technology. If it goes missing, it is as if a crutch had been taken away from them, so these two people cannot even walk up the stairs, which would be the normal thing to do. We could think that technological progress makes humans lazy or at least less prone to take initiative and think by themselves, less inclined to make efforts.

Post #1: A Cartoon

This document is a cartoon by Chapatte published in the international Herald Tribune. There's no date on it, but it seems to be modern because of the Cannes logo. Indeed, this cartoon is about the idea of progress: it shows a current issue and describes an incident that affects the modern society : the piracy (In that case for movies). 

What catches the attention is the Cannes logo in the top left hand corner and the red carpet in the middle. Then we see 3 characters in the foreground : two celebrities and a fan who seems to be a fanatic geek because of his t-shirt,he's the only one who talks. One of the famous actress is posing, the other one(obviously a film director) looks angry and is signing an autograph to the fan. In the background we can notice more fans, photographers, and two celebrities walking up the stairs. The cartoon is made up of a caricature, and includes a logo of Cannes and a balloon where the geek says that he loves all the movies from the film director and that he pirated them all. It is very ironic because piracy is an illegal thing. 

The journalist means that nowadays everything is pirated it is not only a bad thing for the movie industry but it's also ilegal, Nevertheless everyone is concerned about this topic : from old to young people.He aims to make us react and criticize this generation. He wants to make people concerned about illegal downloads .The message put across by the author is that people should pay to have the right to watch a movie, or listen to a song. He's trying to make people sensitive to this cause. Several associations are trying to fight against piracy .In our generation where we have access to everything, this very simple practice has become practically a normal thing. Nowadays not many people buy movies or CD music legally.

I personally think that it's well designed and can make us react but it can also be taken more in a funny way than seriously.From my point of view it's more complicated to make people change their minds, their habits. Especially because there are many people that download illegally.It's naturally a problem, a current issue. In my opinion it's more about education. For example, If a young teenager sees his parents downloading films, music or whatever he will find this normal and do it himself. Nowadays I think the topic is so common that it is not strong enough to convince totally the readers. But i agree with the author, piracy should not  be allowed, even if it facilitate things a lot.

This topic is obviously related to the idea of progress: because piracy has to do with the evolution of society, modernization. It's a current issue because of the new technologies. I don't think things are developing in a more positive way. They are considered from the same point of view in Spain. Nevertheless people are still pirating...