Fireside

Fireside Reflection Statement:
This was definitely one of my favorite things we have done all semester. I gained so much from it that I don't even know where to begin. I was blown away with the amazing stories that were told and all of the hardships that everyone has overcome. It made me feel like my trials that I've gone through were very minuscule to what everyone else has overcome. Their stories were very inspirational to me and I have learned a lot from their examples.

My favorite part of the night was Scott's turn. I loved his telling of the story of being a member of a different faith at BYU. He said he appreciated many people's attempt to share their beliefs with him and he knows their intentions were charitable, but many times it saddens him that so many people are eager to change him. I had never thought of it that way but now I will never forget that perspective and so I am really grateful for Scott sharing this experience at the fireside.

The story I told was one I have told many times but it actually has been a while since I told it last. It was very good to reflect on that personal story again and remember how much of a difference it made in my life. From this fireside I have learned that it is very important to reflect on past experiences every so often so that we can learn from our past experiences and make sure we don't make the same mistakes over again when we should have learned from our past.

Concerned Citizen

Artist Statement:

Initially, when we began this assignment, we wanted to highlight the work that Josh W. and his roommate were doing to help a Hispanic family in the area.  Each week, they go and visit this family, specifically to help the kids out with their homework.  In doing so, they've gotten to know this family and the struggles they undergo as a hispanic family in a predominantly English speaking place.  However, as we talked about this, we realized that the family themselves had the more interesting story.  Here is a small family, living in a to them foreign land, learning a new language, and trying to fit in with their new community.  So we asked them if it would be alright if we came over and asked them some questions about their life.  We know that they are undergoing some current struggles, and thought that it would be good to highlight this subset of the community of which many are unaware.  

They were very welcoming, and the kids enjoyed having some extra motivation to goof around.  When we asked Manuel, the father, about his experiences in coming to the United States, about leaving his family, and other struggles he has had, we ended up getting a lot less "drama" than we expected, or perhaps hoped for.  Though he had had some difficulties, his journey, as well as that of his family, had been relatively smooth.  Manuel is an exemplary person and a hard worker.  In fact, he some advice to those who wish to enter the United States, or those who are struggling to fit in.  One of his biggest tips was to work hard, and follow the law.  He even stated that the law was there for everyone's own good.  

This was a good experience for us.  Instead of highlighting or finding some problem within society, we were able to uncover these hidden gems, a wonderful family that flourishes despite some difficulties.  There are several things going on that they didn't discuss in the video that we know are difficult trials for them, yet it seems that they have maintained a positive attitude, another great help for getting through difficulties.  

These sort of exercises are great for expanding our awareness.  It's a responsibility we have as adults and members of our community to be aware of these things, and learning more about communities, or subsets within our own community that we're unfamiliar with, help us to be better citizens ourselves, and increase our understanding of others.

Protest Poster

Artist Statement:

                I'll be honest, before this project the most research I had done on the election was watching the hilarious "Bad Lip-Reading" of the debate on Youtube. So it was a good thing that I was given this assignment so I would have to do more research on the matter. As I did I saw that the number one issue seemed to be how to fix our decaying economy and inside that how to create more jobs for everyone in the US. I saw that it was addressed by both candidates very heavily and they both agreed that something needed to be done but no solid or specific plan of action was presented to us. 

                My own understanding of the Issue has grown because through my research I learned of a few of the not so solid plans that were given as possibilities to create new jobs. Romney wants to lower the wages and benefits of government workers and he says that by doing so we can save 47 billion dollars. Then by doing this the money saved can be used to create new jobs. However one problem with this is that the Electoral College is going to basically be accepting a pay cut if they vote for Romney. Obama wants to search for oil and other energy resources here in America and that will create lots of jobs. I guess it will, but are they really going to find anything? I feel like if there was it would have been found by now.

                 I chose to represent this issue in this way because it addresses the problem in a simple and easy to understand way and it delivers all that I wanted to share. The main thing I wanted to share is that this question isn't a Yes or No question and somehow Romney and Obama missed that part. As I shared this on Facebook I didn't get too much feedback, just some likes. The reason I think I didn't get much feedback is because I was attacking both the democrats and the republicans and so no one felt strongly to stand up because both are in the wrong on this one. 

Webspinna

This is what it was supposed to sound like...

Artist Statement:
           I really enjoyed the web searching I did for this project because I found sites that not only worked for this project but they were sites that I plan on using in the future for various kinds of projects. I first searched for flash player interactive instruments where I could play the notes of an instrument with the mouse or keyboard. I was able to find a good amount of them however most of the instruments were difficult to play a melody on. The one interactive instrument that I ended up using was a drum set. The next sound bytes I searched for was repeating loops. I was happy to find a website called "http://looplabs.com"looplabs.com. Here you can choose between genres of music and then there is hundred of different riff loops of many different types of music. It then lets you drag your selection of riffs/loops into a timeline and you can decide when the different instruments come in and out. Next I searched for some ambient sounds that I could use. Of the various ambient sounds, the one I used at the beginning and end of my portion was an assemblage of sounds that were heaven-like. The last sounds I found to finish the piece were some quotes from Steve Jobs' keynote presentation of the first iPhone.

           I was really disappointed with my performance because it did not go anywhere near to what I had planned. All the links worked but for some odd reason the looplabs site didn't have the loops that I found when I practiced it on my home computer. The heaven sounds and the Steve Jobs keynote were about the only parts I could get to work and I didn't wan't to go over my time limit so I sadly had to give up my attempts to get it all to work and let the show go on to the next person. It was definitely a bummer to not be able to show everyone what I really wanted to, but it was a good lesson to be learned on the difficulties of performing live.

           I really enjoyed the whole night with all of the sounds and food. The party was centered on pleasing two of senses, tasting and hearing, and I feel that both of those senses left very happy. This experience was different from recording a song in a studio for a couple reasons. First it was live so there were no different takes or cuts. Also you would have no idea what the student before you was going to leave playing so there was a chance that your song wasn't going to transition well with it. This project was different from most of the narrative driven media that were accustomed to because the story is up for your own interpretation. As we listened to the music I think we all naturally as filmmakers pictured what footage we would shoot for each part of these songs, but all of us are picturing maybe completely different things with different meanings. That's what great about it all. 

Webspinna Potentials

Here are a few links that I'm probably going to use in my webspinna:

http://www.ampgames.com/game/4/Punk-O-Matic.html
http://www.virtualmusicalinstruments.com/
http://soundation.com/
http://www.mediacollege.com/downloads/sound-effects/

http://religion.ambient-mixer.com/heaven

http://www.looplabs.com/
http://remixer.clubcreate.com/v2/musiclab/launch.html

Funk>Lagrove + LoveLow + Nighters + Logrove x2
HipHop>D88bigdrum1

http://remixer.clubcreate.com/v2/dubstep/launch.html

Set to 83 bpm
Bass>01XTADubBass
Drums>01XTADrums+DSDrums5
04XTADubBass
05XTADubBass


http://www.virtualmusicalinstruments.com/drums

http://soundation.com/studio
http://www.mediacollege.com/downloads/sound-effects/
http://www.ampgames.com/game/4/Punk-O-Matic.html

http://www.findsounds.com/ISAPI/search.dll
search crazy + Laugh

http://ambient-music.ambient-mixer.com/distant-world

Medium Specificity

Artists Statement:

For this creative assignment we were to choose a medium such as film, photography, music, literature etc., and then discover something that is unique to that medium only. I chose the medium of film and the unique attribute that I chose to demonstrate was motion. Photography can show some motion as well with blur and other effects but I believe that solely film can display motion at its best given that it is multiple frames, not just one.

To demonstrate, and kind of exaggerate, film's unique ability to show motion I filmed the above video of myself. The first "Josh" that enters the frame from the right moves in extreme slow motion while the various other "Josh'es" that enter frame move at a higher speed than normal and interact with the "slow motion Josh." I also reversed the motion because that is also something very unique to the medium.

One of the reasons I chose to explore the medium of film is because I love it's ability to create impossible worlds such as this one, where I can have 3 clones if I want. I felt that having the multiple Josh'es moving at different speeds would display a contrast of the range of motion offered in the medium of film. This project celebrates the medium of film because it shows the limitless options film offers from displaying a reality to creating a new reality that no one could experience in any other way.

Social Media Adaptation: The Great Gatsby

For access to our Google+ account enter username: nickcarrawaycrv@gmail.com password: gatsby12

 

Artist Statement:
After exploring through a few different mediums of social media we decided that Google+ would be a perfect platform for “The Great Gatsby” to be adapted to. Google+ offers many features such as “Circles” for groups of friends and also “Hangouts” for gatherings. What also played into our decision to use Google+ was that when it was first released it was a “by invite only” application. In other words it was very exclusive which fits well with the exclusiveness found inside the book. Google+ also allowed us to tell the story simultaneously from multiple perspectives.

Here is the main process of what we did to adapt the story to the new medium. First we created new Gmail accounts for each of the characters and then made them each a personalized google+ account as well. Since Nick Carraway was the narrator of the book we made sure that all the posts were public to him, but private to the characters that wouldn’t have known the content. We went through all the major events of the book in chronological order through events, dialogue threads, and hangouts.

The Google+ format has a variety of different posting types, which added a variety to the story that even other social networks would not afford. For example, the distinction between hangouts and events allowed us to show a difference in larger setpieces like Gatsby’s parties and smaller moments, like phone calls and private gatherings. These features also gave us the ability to detail who could see individual posts, and the private or public nature of certain moments is integral to the way this story is told. If every moment had been made public, critical moments in the plot would no longer make any sense, which is the true challenge of adapting to a social network.

The last great challenge we had to pull off was the collaborative aspect of this project. Even alone, this project would have been daunting, with management of multiple social media accounts being necessary. In execution, we had to plan an outline of our version of this story in great detail before we even began posting. The timing of the posts had to match exactly, or else the entire project would be out of chronological order. We were forced to be constantly relaying information to one another, which made for a collaborative process that was not only instructive, but vital to our success.

Textual Poaching

Artist's Statement:
For this assignment I recorded a quick rough-cut instrumental version of the song "Come Thou Fount," which is one of my favorite songs. It is a song that is performed very often as a musical number during church services. However the version I recorded is one that would never be played during a worship service. The reason is because I added distortion, speed and loud drums. To be short I made it into a rock n'roll song.

Who decides what tone of music is spiritual? Why is rock music not considered spiritual? I believe it is because of the actions of those who invented the "rock" genre of music. They were often found partying, doing drugs, and in short, causing trouble. But what if this wasn't the case? What if the founders of rock instead were sophisticated, religious gentlemen? What if they had used their free time to serve others instead of get wasted? I believe that if this had been the story, then rock music would not carry all the negative connotations it carries today. I venture to say that the music would be considered spiritual and would be performed in more church services.

After getting feedback from some friends a important point was brought up about why rock music became known and unspiritual. This reason being the lyrics. The majority of lyrics inside rock songs are definitely not uplifting. But yet again I simply want to ask what if. What if the founders of rock wrote about uplifting lessons? Would then, their songs be considered spiritual or is it still the distortion, tempo, and beat that drives the spirit away? I believe that this decision isn't one that should be decided for us, but we must venture to make our own stance.
-Josh Weathers

Historical Story Script

Artists Statement:

The tale of Mario is essential both through a historical and a storytelling perspective. Historically speaking, Super Mario Bros. started the modern era of video games by popularizing the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), a console available at home rather than at an arcade. In fact, the NES was so popular it has gained the credit for revitalizing the US Video game industry from the video game crash of 1983, a recession in which the revenue for video games dropped from $3.2 billion in 1983 to $100 million by 1985. Building further on this point, our screenplay used montages of Mario traveling throughout the world as a metaphor for Nintendo expanding throughout the world due to the success of Super Mario Bros. Viewing at the world today, it is possible to see the popularity of video games, and how its influences has spanned across many countries, which, in a sense, has allowed for a unification of media interests throughout the world. We depicted this in our screenplay with the clash of two languages, Japanese and English. Now, with the cultures more closely intertwined through the media has encouraged the use and collaboration through both languages.

From a storytelling perspective, Mario is significant because it once again shows how stories can be retold, and still be successful. Although Mario does not compare to the skillful levels of the Shakespeare or Homer, Mario utilizes a similar method in which a writer retells and recycles a story, and it works. Mario always saves Princess Peach, the damsel in distress. Society tends to like that. In a similar way, we also decided to use the damsel in distress plot. However, we can view our work as a modernist and feminist critique of the concept of damsel in distress. We originally unintentionally included Peach as the only female character in our screenplay. Once we realized what we had done, we decided to keep it that way because it shows how we, as male writers and members of a patriarchal society, tend neglect female empowerment in the media. As the aforementioned paragraph stated, media occupies a large role in influencing society today. Thus, society identifies gender roles through with the damsel in distress plotline found in popular mediums such as video games.

After sharing our script with others we were able to receive some feedback and ideas on how to improve it. We added a scene to make it more clear on how and why Peach was kidnapped by Bowser’s spies. We also added more struggle to Mario’s journey chasing Bowser which heightened the stakes. By adding more conflict to the story we hope that the audience will feel more involved and want to know what will happen next. Other feedback that we received was to not to explain so much of the little details and symbolisms that it doesn’t leave room for the director to do the interpreting for the film, which is an important part of filmmaking.

To research for the writing of this historical film we had the diverting task of researching about Nintendo and Super Mario Bros. This included, but was not limited to, playing the game for a little while. Seeing the levels inside the game gave us ideas on how we could find similar landscapes in our real live world. We thought of how we could symbolize the enemies of the game to real life obstacles. We also did our best to study the dialogue that each of the characters uses in the game and then incorporate it into our script. The final level of the game is a lava level in which Mario battles Bowser. Coincidently the same year Super Mario Bro’s was released(1985) there was a volcano eruption in Columbia that tragically killed many people. We decided to stage the final battle scene between Mario and Bowser right in the middle of this historical event.

This screenplay, when combined with the artists’ statement, acts as a self-reflection, critique, and awareness of our familiarity with the damsel in distress plotline. Thus, our screenplay acts as an examination of history and its impacts on society, which constructs our perception, not only on a historical event, but also on our perception of ideology, and how it affects our values and cultures. We had a lot of fun writing this script because we felt nostalgic to the story and we both would love to see it be made into a film one day.

Genealogical Artifact

A guitar is probably the farthest thing from unique inside a college apartment, especially here at BYU. It seems like everyone plays the guitar or if they don't play they have one anyway for looks or something. However, my guitar is unique and special to me as I'm sure other guitars are unique and special to their owners. 

Takemine G Series Acoustic/Electric might be the technical name for my guitar, but for me her name is Betsy. If my apartment was burning down and I could only grab one thing, it would probably be Betsy and not because she cost a pretty penny but because now she is has more sentimental value than any other physical object in my possession. 

Betsy has always been reliable to me. She does what I tell her to and she doesn't put up a fight. She's ready to make beautiful music at anytime in the day. She waited two years for me during my mission. She stayed up late with me night after night. She helped me get through the tough times and also helped me celebrate during the good times. She doesn't get jealous when I decide to play the drums instead and she is always down for a good time with the harmonica. Some of my favorite and most cherished memories with my friends were jamming with them creating all types of music. None of those memories would be mine today if it wasn't for my guitar. 

I began to play the guitar at age 13 because I wanted to be cool like my older brother and rock out with a band. Learning the guitar didn't come easy to me but for some reason I didn't think twice about dedicating a lot of time to practicing. I've lost a lot of sleep because there were many times when for some reason I could only make progress on songs really late at night. After midnight seems to be an inspirational time for me because that's when I've written or made up the majority of my songs.

   

My parents gave Betsy to me for christmas when I was 16 and I can honestly say she is one of the best gifts I've ever received. Besides my mission I've taken her with me almost everywhere, Mexico, California, and now Provo. I plan to keep her forever no matter how bad she starts to sound. To me she will always sound amazing. I hope to one day teach my children to play guitar and to buy them their own guitar that they can cherish and take care of. 

For most guys at BYU playing the guitar is their mating call. They purposefully play outside their apartment or in areas of high foot traffic in hopes that some innocent young woman will be lured into their song. This disgusts me and because of that I have made it a point to avoid the appearance of something so pathetic. I love to play in my room where I don't have to care about how I sound. This way I can experiment and create new songs. 

In short my guitar has done a lot of good for me. It has brought me closer to my brother, my friends, and when played appropriately it can bring me closer to my Heavenly Father. 

Artist's Statement:

It didn't take me long to know what I wanted to write about for this assignment. It was pretty clear because my guitar is something I always take care of and always keep with me. In preparation for writing this blog I of coarse decided to play my guitar for a while. It was good to set aside time to play because lately I have been so busy with work and school that I haven't had any time at all to do so. It felt great to play and know that I wasn't wasting time putting off my homework because in this case playing the guitar could be considered part of my assignment. 

My guitar has always been an escape for me. I always feel rejuvenated after playing, like I'm ready to go conquer the world. This assignment helped me realize that my guitar can do so many things for me. It can calm me down, pump me up, cheer me up, and create great memories with families and friends. I always knew that I cherished my guitar a lot and that it was special to me, but this assignment has definitely made me be more appreciative of my guitar and also of my parents for giving it to me for Christmas. I owe them even more thanks for dealing with the loudness and telling me I sounded good when I most likely didn't. Their support has kept me going and I never plan to stop playing my guitar.                                                                                                                                                                  

Process Piece—Artists’ (Plural) Statement

Click here to listen to the RAMWICH JAM

For our process piece, we chose to record ourselves making what Josh refers to as a “Ramwich”— a beast of a sandwich made of Ramen noodles, eggs, lunch meat, refried beans, barbecue sauce, and mayonnaise (all on toast). The recording process went remarkably well. There were no hiccups, and we even found some sounds in our audio that we didn’t even realize happened.

Once we compiled all the sound, we realized that a traditional “This American Life”-like audio documentary wouldn’t cut it. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but we thought we could take it a step further. We decided we’d do this by turning our sounds into a song, a symphony of sandwich making (if you will). 

Like the actual recording process, our editing went really smoothly and our sound bites meshed together in a way we couldn’t have expected going in. This process was a testament to the idea that sound is a dynamic thing that, even when the seemingly-banal sounds of a sandwich being made, can create something bizarrely beautiful. Looking back, our inspiration was the clip from Lee’s Eat Drink Man Woman, and our piece really is a manifestation of many of that scene’s ideas about the importance of sound. 

This all builds towards the idea that as much as making a sandwich is a process with many steps, the composition and creation of a song is a process in itself. We ended up discovering the nuances and surprises in both of these processes, which sort of make this assignment doubly exciting.

Even though our piece does not follow a documentary style, or even a linear structure, it takes sound and puts it into a context that, at least we think, visualizes a time and place in a pretty wonderful way. This is all neglecting the obvious, though—we got to make delicious sandwiches.

Thick Description: A New Home

Having grown up in Arizona and being somewhat new to living in Utah, I was at first uncertain of what places have a special meaning to me. I haven't been at BYU long enough to have any special spots on campus that have good memories tied to them. I definitely wouldn't want to spend anymore time in the testing center than I have to.  I like my apartment and enjoy my time there, but it wouldn't be an ideal place for me to go if I just wanted to sit and ponder as it's a bit chaotic. My parents and my little sister moved from Arizona to Highland, Utah about 7 months ago, while I've been here at BYU. When I first heard the description for this project I thought that my parents new home couldn't qualify for a special place for me because I have only been there a number of times and I don't really even have my own room there. But then again I thought about how I feel when I am there. The house doesn't contain special memories of things that happened or things that I went through, but there are some feelings that I have while I'm in this new home that make me feel like I'm back in the home I was raised in.
As I enter this new home I feel like I travel through a vail when I walk through the doorway. Instantly I feel that the stress and troubles of the world are left behind. My shoulders feel physically lighter knowing that my responsibilities are fewer during my visit home. A higher form of relaxation can be achieved here not only because my bed or couch is more comfortable than the ratty old ones in my apartment, but also because I am surrounded by the comfort of those that love me unconditionally. The quietness here seems more real. By that I mean that the quietness is natural and not forced like what it would be like in my apartment having to close multiple doors to achieve a decent amount of forced quietness. The sound of the air conditioning is like a distant ambience that helps your mind meditate and puts you into a deep sleep.
The food tastes better here not only because my mom is a better cook than I'll ever be, but also because I can share the food with people I love. The laughter that takes place at the dinner table seems to transport the laughs we had at our dinner table in Arizona. Even though my older brothers aren't around I can picture us having a good time together here. The ability to picture all of us together brings me comfort and makes me want to be here. Though the visual attributes of the home are foreign to me, the feelings I have during my stay are very familiar to me and it causes me, whenever I have to leave, to desire to return.

Music Mosaic

Cinnamons
Above is the link to the song that inspired these pictures.

The song that inspired these pictures is actually my own. I performed and recorded each of the instruments separately and then put them together. It is titled "Cinnamons" because at the time of recording the song I found it humorous to call two similar things "cinnamons" instead of the correct term: synonyms. I also felt that the quirkiness of the joke was fitting for the sound of the song. I purposefully chose to record a slightly out of tune guitar, an out of tune piano, and an old beat up drum-set.
As I listen to the song I try to forget that its my own and to listen to it as if it were someone else's and then try to picture what could have been the inspirations they had behind it. The combination of slightly out tune instruments creates a song that makes me feel like I don't need to care about everything being perfect, what's most important is to have a good time and to do what I love.

I felt that the song was recorded just for fun after eating chinese take out. I felt that if a string was missing from his guitar he wouldn't have cared enough to put another one on, but just record it with 5 strings instead and then act like he did it on purpose. I felt that he would turn on a lava-lamp to show that his piano is probably from the era when lava-lamps were groovy. I felt that he would have found a way to be eating while playing the song. I felt that it had just finished raining outside. I felt that he would have put up something unique on a wall and act like it contained a deeper meaning than what's seen at first glance. I felt that his sense of humor was that of irony. Lastly, I felt that as the song came to a less acoustic more distorted end, he probably would have moved on to play N64 with his roommates and then watch the sunset with someone he cares for.

Hello

Hey this is my blog for TMA 112!