Here's a link to one of my web pages

Art Event Three

The Mandrake. Well, it was bizarre, and I must confess that I really did not like it. It was sort of all over the place as far as the plot line is concerned, and it did not paint a flattering picture of women. The main character allowed herself to be manipulated (and with very little struggle in the process). The leading man (whose name I have forgotten because it has been so long) decided one day that he wanted to sleep with a married woman, so he comes up with this ridiculously complicated plan that would never actually work (it had something to do with telling the girl that in order to get pregnant she must drink a deadly potion, sleep with another man and allow him to die, then sleep with her husband who will impregnate her at that point). However, shockingly, it does work. The girl completely allows it to happen. Other than that, the costumes were strange (the old man's phallic codpiece O.O), and the little demons were unnerving (the one that kept laughing very strangely). I did like the nymphs and their musical numbers though (mostly because the music was good, and the nymphs were graceful; they played their parts well). The set was amazing as well; it was well done, brightly-colored, and whimsical. It reminded me of a scene from the video game Kingdom Hearts, and I really wanted to play around in it; so, it matched the mood of the play, I suppose.

My Collage

My New Website!

Here's a link to my new website which was made in class today

5 Possible Websites for Project

National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org/
American Eagle: http://www.ae.com/web/index.jsp
The Metropolitan Opera: http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/
Harvard University: http://www.harvard.edu/
Hard Rock Cafe: http://www.hardrock.com/

I can't get it to work!

I've been trying all morning and all last night to get the homework assignment to work, but I can't! In any case, I think I get the gist of what it does regardless. This piece primarily uses the internet as its medium; it could've been done in other ways, but they would have been exponentially less effective. For exmaple he could have chosen a store and replaced all the prices with "oil prices." This would not have been as pervasive, and it also would not have involved the consumer at all. With this version, the consumer has to actually download the software out of curiosity. Without the internet, the audience may not have known what they were looking at or why; they may not have had any real interest in it. Finally, the internet is available to almost everyone in almost every country, so that makes his project that much more available. This ties in with the internet article because it reflects the internationality of the internet (the fact that anyone can access this piece for little or no cost). It also reminds me of the first internet users, who turned it into "an electronic mailbox" essentially, and this piece seems to embody that in a way. It's downloads are sent out in little packages to anyone who is curious; it's like a more modern version of the mailable art we just finished.

Art Event Two

For my second art event, I attended Fereshteh's lecture on her work. My two favorite pieces shown here were Saddam's Birthday and Dance Dance Revolutionary. I liked these two works in general because they seemed very light-hearted while carrying with them two very serious subject matters. Both projects seemed to involve passers-by on an entertaining as well as intellectually stimulating level, and I liked that. Saddam's Birthday seemed to be a statement on the effects of terrorism on American public opinion and attitudes towards the Middle East and politics in general. The fact that it was supposedly Saddam's "66th" birthday was the initial indication that we were looking for some sort of ironic statement on the demonization of the Middle East. I was amused (in an ironic sort of way) that there were these tourist-type people taking photos of themselves in front of strongly American institutions while wearing masks made to resemble America's supposed arch nemesis. The best part was when they got a talking to from the authorities; that just proved the point that American authorities are vindictive and self-righteous in the worst way. We have no sense of humor when it comes to international relations, especially with Middle Eastern countries. For that matter, we don't have much of a sense of humor when it comes to the realistic depiction of anyone who doesn't share America's ideals; they must all be demonized, apparently. As for the Dance Dance Revolutionary project, I liked all of it because I play DDR religiously, and I thought it was a wonderful idea to involve the audience so directly with the subject matter.