I'm trying to create a layout for this blog that is interesting but professional. I have no desire to make this look like an emotional portal from an angst ridden angry-at-the-world 12 year old, so wish me luck. It might go through some unattractive/odd phases, so bear with me.
Also...I've decided I need a Juxtap'art T-Shirt. We're going to make them for oodles of folks, make sure that they are full of beauty and pizazz, and then sell them as a potential fund raiser. If you happen to have an awesome design, let me know.
That's pretty much all for now, folks. Rozelle Art Party this Saturday--should be freaking sweet! Macbeth is this weekend!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Ode to Teen Angst Part 2: Another Mental Art vs. Faux Art vs. Shock Factor Conflict
Allison Klion was a high school friend I doubt I could ever forget. She is one of the most passionate people I know, she is one of the best writers I know, and she is--without a doubt--the most curious, inquisitive, and observational people I know. She sees the world through a lens most people couldn't fathom and she has the additional capability of describing what she sees eloquently. She's a photographer. She's a music enthusiast. She loves poetry.
Though my talents were polar opposites from Allison's, we (disgustingly enough) prided ourselves on NOT publicizing our "artsiness." On the contrary, Allison and I had regular battles with ourselves and our friends surrounding us regarding INFIABSIA.
INFIABSA was, at one point or another, a book and a movie script, a song, a play, and brilliantly enough, there was INFIABSIA: the musical.
We also regularly designed T-shirts with the acronym on it. At this point, you may wonder what, precisely, it is.
I Negate the Fact that I'm Artsy By Saying I'm Artsy.
You see, there were factions of the artsy crowd at The Hockaday School.
There were the 1) "artsy" medically experimental (AKA I actually heard a conversation between two girls that went as follows "Dude, I have my dad's prescription pad--this weekend's going to be freaking awesome") who read Ginsberg and Kerouac, skipped class, wore band T-shirts, and bemoaned their identity-crisis-driven-woes 24/7 (The worst bit was their need to publicize this constantly... because honestly, isn't everyone searching for themselves in high school?)
2) socially concerned "artsy" folk: those who used "artsiness" as an excuse to be anti social. These were usually the types sporting forty pounds of eyeliner, purple hair dye, and growled a lot. No joke. It's a sign of angst.
3) the performers: artsy by activity. you knew who these kids were. They didn't all hang out together, but they're generally type A musical theatre addicts. Usually surrounded by a small army of flamboyant men.
4) the artists: generally more reserved, produced amazing work, generally had an association with vibrato, and the good ones never flaunted their artsiness.
You may gather that there were quite a number of people who fell into one of these four categories. While this was highly beneficial for our arts magazine, Vibrato (which everyone should check out...It's won nearly every award possible. I can't take any credit for it, sadly. I never did anything for it, but it's beautiful!)
Anyway...Naturally, each group secretly believed themselves to be mentally/socially superior to the others. Allison and I snobbishly decided that the top two categories were entirely silly, and we therefore said "INFIABSIA" everytime there was a sighting of faux-artsiness.
This was pure silliness on my part, but at the same time, my sentiments about INFIABSIA and proudly wearing artsiness on your sleeve still bothers me. How can you balance reservations about shock factor and intentionally artistic art (do you know what I mean?) and genuine creativity? They can overlap, can't they?
My point is, I'm confused once again. I'm trying to plan Juxtap'art and while gesamtkunstwerk is brilliant, it's also messing with my head. I don't know that total art is actually a cohesive idea. I mentioned before that I've had some really varied ideas coming at me from all directions. I don't want something cheesey and lame and by the book, but I also don't want something so ridiculous and "shocking" and in your face "HEY THIS IS ART!" that I no longer like it. I need something edgy, but classy. Something with a sense of nostalgia, but that sense of something urban and hip (Not really for me, but to satisfy that NEED on this campus.) I can't just make my dream arts fest. My dream arts fest is something few people on this campus would enjoy, and that's not what this is about. I need to create something that will make me happy--something that excites me--but also something that will get others hyped up about it. Something that will satisfy the "cheese" desire in the musical theatre kids, the "by-the-book" desire in the general populous, the "hip, urban" feel for the arts majors, the "edginess" and "shock factor" for the theatre kids. At the same time, I don't want it to be incoherent. HELP!
I know it will all work out and that it will hopefully be a success, but I'm still grappling with general ideas at this point. Anyway, I still need to work on music theory homework (oops) so I better run. Feel free to comment with words of wisdom, encouragement, or hope!
Though my talents were polar opposites from Allison's, we (disgustingly enough) prided ourselves on NOT publicizing our "artsiness." On the contrary, Allison and I had regular battles with ourselves and our friends surrounding us regarding INFIABSIA.
INFIABSA was, at one point or another, a book and a movie script, a song, a play, and brilliantly enough, there was INFIABSIA: the musical.
We also regularly designed T-shirts with the acronym on it. At this point, you may wonder what, precisely, it is.
I Negate the Fact that I'm Artsy By Saying I'm Artsy.
You see, there were factions of the artsy crowd at The Hockaday School.
There were the 1) "artsy" medically experimental (AKA I actually heard a conversation between two girls that went as follows "Dude, I have my dad's prescription pad--this weekend's going to be freaking awesome") who read Ginsberg and Kerouac, skipped class, wore band T-shirts, and bemoaned their identity-crisis-driven-woes 24/7 (The worst bit was their need to publicize this constantly... because honestly, isn't everyone searching for themselves in high school?)
2) socially concerned "artsy" folk: those who used "artsiness" as an excuse to be anti social. These were usually the types sporting forty pounds of eyeliner, purple hair dye, and growled a lot. No joke. It's a sign of angst.
3) the performers: artsy by activity. you knew who these kids were. They didn't all hang out together, but they're generally type A musical theatre addicts. Usually surrounded by a small army of flamboyant men.
4) the artists: generally more reserved, produced amazing work, generally had an association with vibrato, and the good ones never flaunted their artsiness.
You may gather that there were quite a number of people who fell into one of these four categories. While this was highly beneficial for our arts magazine, Vibrato (which everyone should check out...It's won nearly every award possible. I can't take any credit for it, sadly. I never did anything for it, but it's beautiful!)
Anyway...Naturally, each group secretly believed themselves to be mentally/socially superior to the others. Allison and I snobbishly decided that the top two categories were entirely silly, and we therefore said "INFIABSIA" everytime there was a sighting of faux-artsiness.
This was pure silliness on my part, but at the same time, my sentiments about INFIABSIA and proudly wearing artsiness on your sleeve still bothers me. How can you balance reservations about shock factor and intentionally artistic art (do you know what I mean?) and genuine creativity? They can overlap, can't they?
My point is, I'm confused once again. I'm trying to plan Juxtap'art and while gesamtkunstwerk is brilliant, it's also messing with my head. I don't know that total art is actually a cohesive idea. I mentioned before that I've had some really varied ideas coming at me from all directions. I don't want something cheesey and lame and by the book, but I also don't want something so ridiculous and "shocking" and in your face "HEY THIS IS ART!" that I no longer like it. I need something edgy, but classy. Something with a sense of nostalgia, but that sense of something urban and hip (Not really for me, but to satisfy that NEED on this campus.) I can't just make my dream arts fest. My dream arts fest is something few people on this campus would enjoy, and that's not what this is about. I need to create something that will make me happy--something that excites me--but also something that will get others hyped up about it. Something that will satisfy the "cheese" desire in the musical theatre kids, the "by-the-book" desire in the general populous, the "hip, urban" feel for the arts majors, the "edginess" and "shock factor" for the theatre kids. At the same time, I don't want it to be incoherent. HELP!
I know it will all work out and that it will hopefully be a success, but I'm still grappling with general ideas at this point. Anyway, I still need to work on music theory homework (oops) so I better run. Feel free to comment with words of wisdom, encouragement, or hope!
Spoiled
Great weekend. I can post more later, BUT I'm currently freaking out about the possibilty of Lucky Dragons COMING TO JUXTAP'ART[Y] in April!!! I emailed Luke Fischbeck (Harvard alum, lives in LA, started this music group) this afternoon and got a pretty promising response...We'll see how this goes, guys. I have a post about the group at the Juxtap'art Blog. PLEASE post any ideas you have/comments/questions/suggestions. More later!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
A Lovely Weekend
Hello friends. This weekend has been rather fun. Friday was pretty relaxing. Saturday morning John Weeden and I worked on another "Weeden Arts Radio" (we really need to change the title...ideas, anyone?) this morning. It was entertaining even though I was a huge slacker and came mostly unprepared/uninspired. Listen to the sadness here (wow, that's not very enticing...)
- Weeden Arts Radio
It's pretty fuzzy, but if you need some entertainment in your life, you can hear John yodel about 10 minutes in. He's trying to be a disney princess.
Basically,
+
=
(By the way, he says "fie" a lot--incorrectly. I looked it up.)
I went to the symphony tonight to see Bruckner Symphony 7 and a Mozart Concerto. The Mozart Concerto was played by an adorable old Irish man. I actually wasn't totally impressed by the piece or the performance, but it was pleasant enough. I sort of felt similarly about the Bruckner piece. Certain bits were really lovely, but I don't know how well I agreed with the conductor's movement or interpretation of the piece. Also, there were many pieces that were too-recognizable/forgettable in the symphony. Not my favorite, but enjoyable enough.
All the music kids then strolled over to Cheesecake Corner to indulge in way too many sugary delectable things. For some reason, Cheesecake caused me to desire swing dancing. I can't really explain it. Anyway, apparently there's a pretty huge swing scene in Memphis. Sadly, all the dance parties usually happen on Friday early. The only one we found open late was 21 and over--lame! Make swing dancing accessible, guys! Anyway, I think I'm going to try to take a lesson sometime this week and then definitely go to the dance party Friday. I'll let you all know how it goes. (I'm also going to try a number of places out...)
That's pretty much the update for now.
(Oh, and one last thing, I have an unhealthy obsession with Ratatouille. It's the magic combination of flawless animation, brilliant plot, incredible editing, pure genius, endless creativity, an incredible score, food, and France...I think...)
- Weeden Arts Radio
It's pretty fuzzy, but if you need some entertainment in your life, you can hear John yodel about 10 minutes in. He's trying to be a disney princess.
Basically,
+
=
(By the way, he says "fie" a lot--incorrectly. I looked it up.)
I went to the symphony tonight to see Bruckner Symphony 7 and a Mozart Concerto. The Mozart Concerto was played by an adorable old Irish man. I actually wasn't totally impressed by the piece or the performance, but it was pleasant enough. I sort of felt similarly about the Bruckner piece. Certain bits were really lovely, but I don't know how well I agreed with the conductor's movement or interpretation of the piece. Also, there were many pieces that were too-recognizable/forgettable in the symphony. Not my favorite, but enjoyable enough.
All the music kids then strolled over to Cheesecake Corner to indulge in way too many sugary delectable things. For some reason, Cheesecake caused me to desire swing dancing. I can't really explain it. Anyway, apparently there's a pretty huge swing scene in Memphis. Sadly, all the dance parties usually happen on Friday early. The only one we found open late was 21 and over--lame! Make swing dancing accessible, guys! Anyway, I think I'm going to try to take a lesson sometime this week and then definitely go to the dance party Friday. I'll let you all know how it goes. (I'm also going to try a number of places out...)
That's pretty much the update for now.
(Oh, and one last thing, I have an unhealthy obsession with Ratatouille. It's the magic combination of flawless animation, brilliant plot, incredible editing, pure genius, endless creativity, an incredible score, food, and France...I think...)
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Schadenfreude
Schadenfreude has been running through my head all day. Does this make me a bad person?
Quick update:
1. Video stuff becoming more and more fun. Still really simple stuff that doesn't really mean anything, but I love it.
2. I have a monstrous desire to get out of Memphis for the weekend. If I had a car I'd either go to Indiana to visit my great aunt/uncle in their Walden-esque house in Fort Wayne or I'd trek back to Dallas. Too bad I need transportation for both of these things...
3. Tangent off of the previous comment: I realized that I have to travel. Whatever my job is in the future, I need to either make enough money and have enough vacations that I can travel on breaks or whoever I'm working for needs to send me places. It's essential to my being.
4. I want to make t-shirts. Not only do I want to make t-shirts, but I want to design clothes. I have no idea what makes me think I would be any good at this, but I would love an art-based fashion company. I'm dead serious. I want a halter top, 1940s cut a-line sun dress with layers of semi-sheer off white material with Monet or something splashed around on the skirt. I also want jeans with back and front pockets (and seams!) with contemporary art on them. How freaking cool would that be?
5. Need to direct The Last Five Years/Songs for a New World pronto. Let's hope this can happen...
6. Toying with the idea of opening up a domain website and putting up any artsy videos I make up there...I'd also love to eventually create an arts-community forum for anyone to partake in...If it got big enough it could even have events in different cities...I don't know.
Anywho, that's the briefing for the evening. Talk to you cats later.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
I Got Soul but I'm Not a Soldier
Thank God for my ipod! Goodness knows I would be a mess of a human being without a walking soundtrack to my life. It has been the most wonderful addition to my new year. Here's what's new.
1) The MacBook Air computer is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Too bad it's not that effective. I'll wait for the second or third model to come out, then hopefully I can switch to the beautiful world of apple computers...Until then, I'm stuck with the ancient, revolting, dysfunctional Toshiba.
2) Still madly in love with the camera. What I've filmed so far:
- my shoes dancing around
- John Weeden unintentionally dancing during our CODA meeting. Yes, I will be creating a music video and I will absolutely be posting it here. Please look forward to it.
- Lauren Kennedy doling out words of wisdom regarding art.
- Random dancing about.
- My poor roommates, who I smothered in black eyeshadow in a sad attempt to create Tim Burton-esque characters. It was a miserable failure. They basically just looked like race confused insomniacs. Not attractive.
3) This week has been insanely busy/drama packed. Thus, I indulged myself in Sleepless in Seattle. Do not laugh at me. You can poke fun all you want, but it's a lovely movie. The hero of my life wrote it: Nora Ephron. I'm sure I've talked about her before on here because I'm madly obsessed/want to create a shrine for her, but you all really need to read "Crazy Salad" and "I Feel Bad About My Neck" Then, watch "When Harry Met Sally," "Sleepless in Seattle," and "You've Got Mail." Seriously, she's brilliant. Not all fluff, I swear. She was an intern for JFK, for crying out loud. If that means anything. Apparently, she was the only intern he didn't hit on. That's gotta hurt.
4) I've lost my camera battery charger, thus I have an absence of photos. When I get a car and then consequently get a job then subsequently get money, I'll buy myself a new one. Then I'll post beautiful pictures here.
5) I think I've lost the ability to dance. Seriously. I tried to do some of the dances from my company last year, and it was a miserable failure. Something needs to change here.
6) I am a COD-ette failure. Somebody PLEASE hit me over the head with a brilliant CAP idea! Seriously, folks, I'm braindead. I have about ten supremely mediocre ideas and nothing geniunely good or necessary. If anyone can give me a problem in the arts world--an absence of something they really deem necessary, comment or email me at genke@rhodes.edu. You'd be my hero for life.
7) Juxtap'art planning has officially begun. I already have two meetings next week, a host of scheduling issues, and some really random ideas coming at me at all directions. I can give you an idea of the incoherence occurring. Here's the ideas floating out there in the abyss:
My current ideas, centered around a magical backyard on steroids:
1. Hammocks tied to all possible trees
2. a wall of mirrors
3. Fog machine producing colored smoke all around the ground
4. Lights coming up from the ground onto the trees around the sides
5. Hubcap sculptures
6. Flourescent Lights stuck together as the two main lights on each side of the stage
7. Potentially projecting images onto smoke
8. Screens and projections in front of the stage and each side of the gardens--with videos/pictures on all three. Sometimes the videos would coordinate--like someone running through them all
9. Everytime an event happens, the screen in front goes "5-4-3-2-1" and then bam, something happens
10. Having music playing at all times, not necessarily live. Maybe just mix of student composed/other music. Question is, what kind? Do we want a laid back bluesgrassy feel? Or do we want like art gallery elevator/techno music? Foreign music? Does it change as the evening progresses?
11. Sculpture of TV screens
12. Something involving glitter
13. Something involving umbrellas--like an umbrella tree, or something?
14. Silver balloons in odd shapes all floating around the top
15. Chinese lanterns
This is going to involve a lot of electricity. Al Gore's coming after me.
Other kids ideas:
1. Belly dancing
2. Karaoke
3. Middle Eastern jewelry display
4. Paper mache human figures wandering around
5. Finger Painting
6. Smore Making
7. Graffiti Painting
Anyone have any ideas on how to make this all work together?
Okay, kids. That's the update for now. Have a lovely day.
(Yeah, yeah. My Title is a music lyric. I'm arranging it for a cappella, okay? Don't judge.)
1) The MacBook Air computer is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Too bad it's not that effective. I'll wait for the second or third model to come out, then hopefully I can switch to the beautiful world of apple computers...Until then, I'm stuck with the ancient, revolting, dysfunctional Toshiba.
2) Still madly in love with the camera. What I've filmed so far:
- my shoes dancing around
- John Weeden unintentionally dancing during our CODA meeting. Yes, I will be creating a music video and I will absolutely be posting it here. Please look forward to it.
- Lauren Kennedy doling out words of wisdom regarding art.
- Random dancing about.
- My poor roommates, who I smothered in black eyeshadow in a sad attempt to create Tim Burton-esque characters. It was a miserable failure. They basically just looked like race confused insomniacs. Not attractive.
3) This week has been insanely busy/drama packed. Thus, I indulged myself in Sleepless in Seattle. Do not laugh at me. You can poke fun all you want, but it's a lovely movie. The hero of my life wrote it: Nora Ephron. I'm sure I've talked about her before on here because I'm madly obsessed/want to create a shrine for her, but you all really need to read "Crazy Salad" and "I Feel Bad About My Neck" Then, watch "When Harry Met Sally," "Sleepless in Seattle," and "You've Got Mail." Seriously, she's brilliant. Not all fluff, I swear. She was an intern for JFK, for crying out loud. If that means anything. Apparently, she was the only intern he didn't hit on. That's gotta hurt.
4) I've lost my camera battery charger, thus I have an absence of photos. When I get a car and then consequently get a job then subsequently get money, I'll buy myself a new one. Then I'll post beautiful pictures here.
5) I think I've lost the ability to dance. Seriously. I tried to do some of the dances from my company last year, and it was a miserable failure. Something needs to change here.
6) I am a COD-ette failure. Somebody PLEASE hit me over the head with a brilliant CAP idea! Seriously, folks, I'm braindead. I have about ten supremely mediocre ideas and nothing geniunely good or necessary. If anyone can give me a problem in the arts world--an absence of something they really deem necessary, comment or email me at genke@rhodes.edu. You'd be my hero for life.
7) Juxtap'art planning has officially begun. I already have two meetings next week, a host of scheduling issues, and some really random ideas coming at me at all directions. I can give you an idea of the incoherence occurring. Here's the ideas floating out there in the abyss:
My current ideas, centered around a magical backyard on steroids:
1. Hammocks tied to all possible trees
2. a wall of mirrors
3. Fog machine producing colored smoke all around the ground
4. Lights coming up from the ground onto the trees around the sides
5. Hubcap sculptures
6. Flourescent Lights stuck together as the two main lights on each side of the stage
7. Potentially projecting images onto smoke
8. Screens and projections in front of the stage and each side of the gardens--with videos/pictures on all three. Sometimes the videos would coordinate--like someone running through them all
9. Everytime an event happens, the screen in front goes "5-4-3-2-1" and then bam, something happens
10. Having music playing at all times, not necessarily live. Maybe just mix of student composed/other music. Question is, what kind? Do we want a laid back bluesgrassy feel? Or do we want like art gallery elevator/techno music? Foreign music? Does it change as the evening progresses?
11. Sculpture of TV screens
12. Something involving glitter
13. Something involving umbrellas--like an umbrella tree, or something?
14. Silver balloons in odd shapes all floating around the top
15. Chinese lanterns
This is going to involve a lot of electricity. Al Gore's coming after me.
Other kids ideas:
1. Belly dancing
2. Karaoke
3. Middle Eastern jewelry display
4. Paper mache human figures wandering around
5. Finger Painting
6. Smore Making
7. Graffiti Painting
Anyone have any ideas on how to make this all work together?
Okay, kids. That's the update for now. Have a lovely day.
(Yeah, yeah. My Title is a music lyric. I'm arranging it for a cappella, okay? Don't judge.)
Monday, January 14, 2008
Way too much fun...
I am having WAY too much fun with the video camera I checked out from the library. I am documenting the most pointless things, but I LOVE IT. Oh well. What can you do? I'll post videos up here if I ever figure out how to load my footage to a computer and edit it...
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