Music Blog Entry:

Latin Music:
The artist that I would add to this list is Ricky Martin. He has been very well known over the latin community for decades and has in a way transformed the way that latin music is understood. Ricky Martin became popular in the era in which technology was starting to be widely used in music. Many of his songs, such as Todo Queda en Nada, have an electro element in them. I feel that he influenced many other latin singers to come, and in this way he transformed the latin music movement.

Electronic Music:
I think that RL Grime would be an excellent addition to the music movement. This artist has become very popular nowadays through her his songs such I Wanna Know. She plays at various music festivals over the country and utilizes technology in her songs to give them a 'head banging' beat. Part of what makes her songs so popular are the bass drops that she includes in many of her songs. It has a very techno sound to it and this is what attracts so many people to this type of music. This is why she would be such an excellent addition to this category of music.

Girl Power:
Madonna is an artists who transformed the way that women are seen in the music industry. She is a classic that almost everyone knows about and is considered a feminist in the minds of many. She would make a great addition to the girl power category because of the way that she included technology in her music. Many of her songs have a very melodic beat to them created through the usage of technology. Because of this and the way that she was an icon for women(and many men) all over, she would fit into this category perfectly.

Nineties:
I feel that whenever somebody thinks of nineties music, they think of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. While I personally am not the most devout fan, many people in the older generations seem to have a fascination with this band. This band utilized technology in their music to come up with creative beats that gave a 'party' feeling to its listeners. When they performed live, they always gave a great show by utilizing stage lighting and sound to enhance their own stage presence. Because of this, Red Hot Chili Peppers would fit perfectly into this category.

Dubstep:
Today's most well known dubstep artist would probably have to be Skrillex. This genre of music is created almost entirely through the usage of technology by using sound applications. Bass drops are a huge part of this kind of music and Skrillex makes sure to include many of these thought his songs. I chose this artists to add to this group because of how he captures the awe of his listeners through creative techno sounds that many other artists wouldn't be able to create. His music is so unique and I think this is what his fans really like about him. For this reason, Skrillex would make a great addition to the dubstep category.

https://youtu.be/hFwOxkzry2o

For my art video piece, I decided to create something about nature and the environment. In my Spanish class, we recently just finished learning about Spanish poetry and making our own poetry. I wrote this poem myself in Spanish and made a video about it. It has to do with how we need to start appreciating the beauty in what is around us in nature and how we need to do more to protect it. The environment is something that I am passionate about which is why I thought this would be a good topic. This project kind of reminded me about Laurie Anderson and how she had this one piece of work that was called language is a virus. It reminded me of how powerful words and language can be and I tried to make that a big topic in my video. The link to the video is above because the file was too large to fit here.

Performance Video

For my performance piece, I decided to reenact the elevator game. This phenomena originated in Southern Asia and it says that if you go into an elevator and then press a certain order of floors, then you will end up in an alternate universe identical to ours except you are alone and there is a red background. After pressing the specific order of floors, I ended up in the alternate universe at the end of the video. The file size was too large to post into this blog, so I had to put it up on Youtube. Click or copy/paste the link below to access the video.

https://youtu.be/z9CSiemGEMA

Xerox Project

For my project, I created a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. The body is the palm of my hand and its legs are my fingers. It then is depicted turning into a butterfly which is my hands as the wings, and fingers as the body. Below are pictures of the project.

Grid Art Project

For my grid art project, I remembered back to when I was a kid. I used make these designs made of beads and had so much fun doing so. For this reason, I decided to make some more to remind me of my childhood. I put beads on a pre-made peg board which created a picture. It is an excellent example of grid art because of how all the beads cause the art to appear pixelated. Below are the examples that I created.

George Lang

Technology Essay

The Microchip

The fascinating thing about technology is that it relies on previous technologies to drive the path of new ones. One of the most influential technological inventions of the 21st century has to be the microchip.  It was invented in 1959 and changed the way the world as we know it. Two engineers actually happened to have invented the microchip at about the same time. In order to come up with the idea of the microchip, these two engineers had to use their knowledge of past technologies to help them. Jack Kilby, one of the engineers who came up with the invention, had a lot of experience working with circuit boards and transistors. One could say that he was kind of a computer expert as well. Robert Noyce was the other engineer that played a pivotal role in the creation of the microchip. His background was with conductors and semiconductors. This was important because choosing a proper semiconductor is key to creating a well functioning microchip. In the beginning, Noyce and Kilby fought for the rights and patents to this creation. However, after many lawsuits and legal fights, the two decided to work together and use their combined knowledge to make a better microchip. 

The creation of the microchip was made possible because of various other types of technologies that had been created before it. Hearing aids, for example, were one of these technologies. Hearing aids helped lead to the microchip because of the different transistors that were used and put in place. These transistors were used in the same way in a microchip to function as a switch. These switches were able to stop a current or allow it to continue. It also happened to be a recent scientific finding that silicon made for an excellent semiconductor. A semiconductor was necessary for the creation of the microchip because it is what allows the currents to run within it. Without the silicon based semiconductor, there would be no microchip. 

We know that many different past technologies influenced the invention of the microchip, so it would be interesting to ponder on the possible new technologies that could be created because of it. These microchips already led to new technologies and improvements to other technologies in the years after its creation. For example, it led to the creation of the portable calculator. Without the microchip, this technology would not have been possible. It also drastically improved the functionality of the computer. With the use of the microchip, computers were able to act faster and retain more memory. On top of this, the microchip actually made the computer much cheaper and this eventually led to computers being affordable by most people. Microchips allowed for the wide spread of computers in everyday life. Chip technology is used in so many sorts of technologies that it became a trillion dollar industry. In the future, I still believe that it will lead to new inventions that we have not even heard about. Personally, I could see them being used in autonomous transportation vehicles. Technology never ceases to amaze me, so who knows, maybe it can lead to a teleportation device in the future. Technology adds to other technologies and engineers are constantly creating new and innovative ideas. The microchip definitely played one of the most pivotal roles in the creation of these new technologies. 

Flip Book - Elon Musk to Mar

 This flip book was created in a biography about Elon Musk. A very large topic in the book was his adventures with SpaceX. Musk has this big goal in life to bring people to Mars. He wants Mars to be habitable so that humans can live there once earth is no longer habitable. This flip book shows a rocket launching from Earth to Mars. Once the landing takes places, people start to appear on Mars and we begin to make it our new home which is one of Musk's main goals in life. This ensures the survival of the human race. Above is a video of the flip book while below are some of the still images.

Angel de Quinta's Stage Door Blog

Overall, this website had many fascinating different plays from Broadway. I viewed many different excerpts on this page and I would have to say that one of my favorites would have to be Fifty Percent. This is a song that was played on Broadway. I am familiar with this song because it is a very popular one that Barbara Streisand sings. Another excerpt from Quinta's site was Standing Ovation. I really liked this one because of the pictures and even some of the videos at the end. The videos really struck me because of how amazing the vocals are of the people singing the songs. It's truly a talent to be able to sing like that. Some of the best voices in the world is what makes Broadway the huge sensation that it is.

Pjotr Sapegin's Aria(Madam Butterfly) Response

This short video spoke volumes to the kinds of love that one can feel towards other people. The video was complimented by opera music in the background. The opera was in another language and gave the video a feeling of mourning yet love at the same time. Aria met a sailor on her lonely island, but eventually he left her, as all love, just as everything, is only temporary. Aria found a little creature from the sea that turned into her child but then her past love came back to take the child. Aria became heart broken and found that the only way cope was through death. However, puppets cannot die. This demonstrates how although most things seem to be temporary, the love a mother has for her child is eternal. In the end of the video, she was brought back to together by a butterfly. This goes to show how everybody goes through some sort of metamorphosis in their life. It could be for better or for worse, but eventually everything changes. Through the animations and the opera singing, this video spoke volumes as to what love is really like.

Pierre Huyghe's "Romance"

This short audio offered many different insights into the life of four artists and what creativity really is. I really admire the message of this video which in a way explained to the listener that creativity is better experienced than just narrated. There are so many different forms of art, and it is up to the viewer and the artist to make the most meaningful connection possible. You can simply look or listen to a media, or you can take it a step further to truly experience it.

Another aspect from this video that was emphasized by Huyghe was the importance of nature in art. Nature, in essence, is one of the purest forms of art. It captivates the viewer with its beauty. I think part of the reason that nature is so captivating is because of the fact that we still don't understand so much about it. Although we can continue trying to understand more and more of the world around us, we will never truly know everything. This is what makes nature such a captivating form of art.

Towards the end of the video, Huyghe depicted two doors that were constantly moving around and changing in terms of the perspective from which we see them. It was fascinating because it was up to the viewer to decide whether they were in or out of the doors. Everything depends on perspective. These doors are a great representation of how art is limitless and that it is up to the viewer to decide how they want or don't want to see it. Overall, this video by Pierre Huyghe did a great job explaining parts of his life through art and its many different forms.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams Drawing

This drawing was recreated by me and was originally from a cave drawing from the Cave of Forgotten Dreams. This movie portrayed some of the hopes and wishes of people way back at the beginning days of the human race. This cave is only open two weeks of the year to preserve the drawings and I am fortunate enough to have seen a glimpse of the inside because of this movie.

Raúl Cuero Interview

This interview offered me lots of insights into my own life. Cuero has lived a very fascinating life that all of us can learn from. There was one line that really stuck out to me in this interview that mentioned how creativity allows one to not be limited by what society thinks or feels about that person. True creativity makes it so what we think of ourselves is more important. Cuero also was put in a situation where he had to overcome various obstacles in his life. It was necessary to find creative solutions to overcome these obstacles. I can use this in my life because I know that complex problems do not have complex solutions. Being creative allows us to find creative solutions to our problems. This is vital to our ability to improve our own lives and the lives of others.