Style Wars

The movie seems really outdated and I can't help but wonder if this is still true today. I found it hilarious when the detective said "this is not art it's the application of medium to a surface". Funny, I thought that was what art was exactly? The way it is narrated kind of made it hard for me to take it seriously because it seems like the people who made this are really out of touch with the actual scene. Also the portrayal of some of the people made it a little harder to take it seriously as well. I think the perspective of actual graffiti artists is interesting. How they want to look and see what they've done later or to liven up the metal and concrete that is all over the city. Interesting how the government is quick to punish graffiti artists or just blame the parents for not doing anything about it when clearly the mother they interview is so against her son doing it but can't stop him. I also found it interesting they people peg minorities as doing all of the graffiti when whites do a lot of writing as well. It's a little frightening that much younger people were doing graffiti along with some of the older kids. They were actually putting kids in jail/juvenile detention centers which, if a younger kid got in, would probably ruin their lives in terms of education or other aspects of their future. The steps they took to stop graffiti is kind of laughable. The reason they want to do this is only to "clean up" the image of the city. It doesn't seem as if people against the graffiti has bothered to understand it. I found the contrasting viewpoints of graffiti on canvas interesting. I agreed when the woman spoke about the character being taken away from it because it seemed a symbol of the city but then again it is good for it to be recognized as an art form and for kids to actually feel that their graffiti is actually worth something,that doing something you love that you once told was worthless in terms of society is actually worth something in the art world. There is clearly a lack of respect and a sense of superiority on behalf of the officials that are against graffiti artists, one man said "I found them surprisingly articulate". Clearly, he has some sort of stereotype that he casts onto these people and looks down on them as common criminals that I certainly do not approve of. Lumping graffiti artists into a negative stereotype has done nothing to help. Also, the guy who destroyed other people's graffiti art is like the kid in elementary who scribbles on your beautiful drawing on your family just because you wouldn't let him use the green crayon-to me at least. What he's doing doesn't seem to have a point other than to piss other people off.

This American Life- Father's Day '99

I thought it was nice how far the father went to get his son's teddy bear. The fact that no parent thought he was insane to go that far to retrieve his son's teddy bear is also touching because one would think of replacing it but I guess that's because the person is not yet a parent? I was also shocked that the hotel staff was nice enough to help! Usually you would not expect that much effort to come from complete strangers. The music gets really annoying at the end though.

The second act, in the beginning, makes me a bit depressed because the affects of Alzheimer's on the old man is clear, and sad, because he just cannot remember things that can come so quickly to some of us like the year we were born. It's really sad that their father can't even remember things from the past and even seems to be pretending that he actually does remember them. Things of the smallest significance, his father could not even remember. It's heartbreaking that he cannot even remember the name of his youngest son or what his sons even do. It's all generally depressing.

The girl, Sarah, creeps me out in the beginning with her one word answers. Also, creeps me out that she believes in the Borrowers. A lot. I may have been waiting for my letter from Hogwarts before age 11, so I can somewhat understand. However, I saw the movie when I was younger and I seriously never believed they were real. Ever. This kind of relates to things like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy only a bit weirder. The fact that she was six at the time makes sense that she believed in them but then she still believes in them at age 11 and that is really weird. I don't think the dad did anything wrong because parents do that sort of thing with other mythical beings like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, etc. It can upset the kid but I think it's important to in some way push the imagination in some way that does not completely break the heart of the kid. I guess it just has to do with the person. Interesting that this portion didn't have music to add some sort of effect.

Dinah's Art Work on the Wall

The large artwork is interesting. There seems to be a lot of motion in the painting because of the splatter technique. The different textures of the works are also fascinating. The strange texture of a white section that looks like matted hair draws me in closer to the piece. The painting that looks like an eye has a shiny affect to it in the middle that makes it actually look moist(though I am not sure it is meant to be an eye). I can see that there are different materials that have been combined with paint that have been used in order to create the strange and unsettling textures. Both are unsettling in subject(though they are somewhat abstract I still am able to feel uneasy looking at them) but some of the muted colors used tells me otherwise. The contrast between the two makes the work interesting and makes me unsure of whether I should be frightened or calm. Perhaps that is the desired affect? My favorite thing about the pieces is that it makes you look closer and causes you to think about what it is that you are actually looking at. Before this assignment I had already been drawn to these painting because they were unlike anything I've seen with the varying textures.