The Arts in New York City » Blurbs

SING!

katherinepark90 — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 03:36:26 +0000

So, my sister recently decided to join her school’s Sing. I still don’t know what the meaning of this “Sing” stands for, however I’ve heard about it for about 5 years now. Finally I’ve decided, “what the heck, why not go watch it?” From what I gathered, two grades verse the other two grades in song and dance filled show. Two hours in high school watching an amateur show, “Oh the joy!” To my surprise, the sophomores and seniors were quite good. The singing wasn’t unpleasant, the dancing wasn’t too simple and boring, and the dialogue wasn’t “corny” or “awkward” as I had expected. I actually found myself laughing. They made a few mistakes here and there, but it was far less amount of mistakes than the freshmen and juniors. Which brings me to the freshmen and junior performers. They were not that terrible. To be fair, they are only in high school. We can’t all expect all the performers to be “Julliard status.” Their performance just wasn’t as entertaining or fun to watch. At one point it pained me to watch the dancing. So many mistakes and awkward movements. If it hadn’t been for the senior and sophomores i would have thought that night was waste of 10 bucks.

Twilight, The Movie

taeminkim — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 10:29:27 +0000

“Joe, have you seen Twilight?”

“Nah, why?”

“You HAVE to see it. It’s Amazing!!!”

“All right, I’ll see.”

So there is one lesson I learned from this conversation, or from life–Never listen to Alyssa, when it comes to movies (Sorry Alyssa). Having watched the preview “Twilight”, it seemed like such an amazing movie with an actor that had an amazing jaw, and with vampires having supernatural abilities. So, because of Alyssa’s recommendation, I decided to go watch this movie with my brother and a friend. After watching the movie, I was speechless. And no, not because this was the best movie ever, but because this was the WORST movie ever. There was a fighting scene which lasted maybe ten minutes tops and the rest was about romance. Sure, maybe it was just me that didn’t like the movie because im not into romance that much, but come on, if you have to spend ten minutes on a scene with the two protagonists slow-dancing, then that is definitely a problem. Fine, maybe I am exaggerating a little bit, but there was much time wasted on scenes unneeded. Getting to the special effects… We might as well go back to the year 2000, or even further back. This movie had worse effects than “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.” If you look carefully at how the vampire climbs the tree, you would just want to leave the movie theater. Also, when the vampire reveals to the girl that he is a vampire and that he isn’t able to go to school when the sun is out, I was expecting for him to turn into some kind of vampire looking person or a monster when the sun had shone on him. However, he glowed. Yes, he glowed. What kind of a vampire glows?! Maybe I am getting a little angry while writing this review, but I guess I’m just trying to show my anger and I just want to let everyone know that he or she is NOT missing out if he or she didn’t watch it. Don’t watch this movie, unless you like to watch two people fall in love wasting time looking at each other or dancing with each other.

Muse=God

coreytrippiedi — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 08:18:19 +0000

In the 1960’s, the Beatles infiltrated American airwaves and revolutionized the genre of Rock and Roll. Nearly 50 years later, another band from England has taken America by storm. Although Muse is not currently a household name, there’s no doubt in this writer’s mind that it soon will be. Black Holes and Revelations, the band’s latest album, is its best yet–a superb perpetuation of an innovative style that eludes the mundane, obliterates the perfunctory, and transcends the genre. The album’s first song, ironically entitled “Take a Bow,” embodies the band’s essence—it is a song that personifies the nebulous style that one has come to associate with Muse, a powerful mixture of rock, pop and techno. With Matthew Bellamy on vocals, lead guitar and piano, Chris Wolstenholme on bass, and Dominic Howard on drums, the trio blends flawlessly in nearly every song. In “Invincible,” one of the album’s more somber pieces, the steady military-esque drumbeat dances delicately with Bellamy’s vocals. The album is essentially a roller coaster ride of emotional peaks and troughs. The tranquility of “Soldier’s Poem” is juxtaposed masterfully with the raw, enveloping power of “Map of the Problematique.” Other songs, such as “Starlight” and “Hoodoo” demonstrate the unparalleled power of Bellamy’s vocals. “Knights of Cydonia” places a bow atop this masterpiece of an album. Most rock bands in the modern era have become overly dependent on excessively heavy guitar riffs and mundane drumbeats. “Black Holes and Revelations” shatters the mold. Some might call it Alternative Rock, but it’s difficult to categorize perfection.

MAD ART

alyssaip — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:57:07 +0000

With fluorescent white walls outside, and contemporary art-deco furnishings inside, the Museum of Art and Design just exudes modern art. MAD is currently housing a two-floor exhibit entitled “Second Lives-Remixing the Ordinary”, a collection of works by over 50 international artists, who created pieces of art from normal everyday objects. My favorite piece in the exhibit was Paul Villiski’s “My Back Pages”, which consisted of butterfly-shapes cut out from vintage vinyl records, and which were then tacked to the wall—the piece was aesthetically beautiful, and the artist definitely accomplished his intent to make physical the beauty of music. Other notable pieces included Susie MacMurray’s “A Mixture of Frailties”, a dress composed entirely of latex washing gloves, and Teresa’s Agnew’s “Portrait of a Textile Worker”, a life-sized quilt depicting a worker at a sewing machine composed entirely of clothing labels. The pieces in the MAD collection were varied and awesome, and each had a message to tell the world. The two hours I put in at the collection was definitely less than the amount of time the exhibit deserves, so I will make sure to reserve an entire day for the next visit I make to the museum.

Holiday Spirit

jennieliu — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:52:45 +0000

I’ve never had the chance to really observe and admire the Macy’s Herald Square window displays either because I was in a rush or just because I didn’t want to go out of my way. However, last Sunday, I happened to be near the area when they unveiled the new 2008 window displays. As part of a 146 year tradition, Macy’s revealed their new holiday displays which attract more than 7000 “consumers” per hour and possibly help bring in more business. We’ve all seen negatives the global economy has suffered this year yet its delightful to know that this holiday tradition lives as successful as it is unchanging. On November 23rd, Macy’s held off the entire storefront street to host the grand “unveiling” of the windows, an event that attracted a rather large crowd. Complete with a mini light show, Santa Claus(whats the holidays without Santa) and a replica of a Central Park features, the little pre-party outside of Macy’s was more than one could’ve expected. They even “invited” Kermit the Frog to sing a few Christmas songs to round out the holiday spirit. In the end, I was just glad that I happened to be in the right place at the right time to have been able to experience and witness this event at least once in my life.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Walter Zielkowski — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:45:48 +0000

There are two museums that people assume every native New Yorker has visited at some point in his or her life: the Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As a resident of New York for 18 years, Friday marked my first visit to the Met; and the experience was one that I would not soon forget. It took the better part of my day, but the time I spent there was still not enough to explore even a fraction of what the Museum had to offer. Yet ironically, after having explored as little as I did, it would still be impossible to fit a simple list of just the names of all the exhibits I saw into a mere paragraph. The art came from many broad categories and featured art about different topics and countries from around the world. There were pieces from such topics as religion, culture and landscape and such places as Africa, Asia, Babylon, Italy and America⎯to name a few. The “New York, N.⎯Why?” exhibit really stood out amongst the rest. The photographs in this exhibit felt warm and took me to the era that the pictures were taken in. From my visit to the Met I can assure you of at least one thing; it has such a colossal amount of artwork in its collections that any visitor to the museum is sure to find at least one of the exhibits to be to his or her liking.

MAD – BEST MUSEUM EVER!

joycet — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:16:16 +0000

The newly renovated Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) blew my mind away. This is definitely by far my favorite museum in New York City. Its current exhibit, Second Lives–remixing the ordinary, is full of art pieces that are nowhere near ordinary. The exhibit occupies two of its upper floors and both floors amaze me with very creative and innovative designs. Some of the most notable pieces include “Spoons” by Jill Townsky and “My Back Pages” by Paul Vilinski. All of these artworks contain deep meanings that the artists intended to portray to the viewers through their creations. For example, “Spoons” are made of plastic spoons and rubber bands that are assembled together to create a massive pyramid. Although impressive, it flaws in its instability because the elasticity of the rubber bands diminishes over time, which will cause the whole structure to eventually collapse even if only one rubber band snap. The artist wanted to portray the message of “the actual ‘moment’ of the process can never exist retrospectively; it leaves only a ‘trace’ of its action” through this fascinating piece of art. My favorite piece in the museum is “My Back Pages” which is displayed over an entire wall. It consists of vintage vinyl records, record player, wire, and recover covers. The vinyl records and record covers are cut into shapes of butterflies and are displayed as if they were flying out of the record player. This is not only a beautiful piece of artwork but it also “releases the meaning of album, collection, and songs into the world.”

The museum left me such a good impression not only because of its captivating art pieces but because of the brief description of each artwork. Although it undoubtedly limits our imagination by telling us the artworks’ intended meanings, nevertheless, it allows me to feel closer to the artwork and understand it in at deeper level. The museum successfully imprinted the objective of the exhibit in my mind and for this reason, I will most gladly visit it again for another pleasurable experience.

Art is where it finds you

cbao — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:48:51 +0000

One of the best kept secrets of Baruch are the art galleries that the school has. I had recently gone to the “Recasting the Figure in Photography” show at the Sidney Mishkin Gallery. Though the room itself was unadorned, the photos on display provided great insight into the art of photography and its evolution as an art-form. From the black and white “Alabama Cotton Tenant Farmer Wife” that exemplified the troubles of the Great Depression to a modern photograph of a furry monster hiding behind tall sharp stalks of grass. One particularly memorable photograph was one of a child soldier who had been abducted into the army. The soldier was a young girl whose chest had been branded “RUF” standing for Revolutionary United Front; she was essentially a sex slave to the generals of this army. The exhibit was definitely worth investing an afternoon to, and I consider it an experience in terms of exposure to the evolution of photography and also connecting at a human level.

The Sidney Mishkin Gallery is located at 135 East 22 Street and currently features “Independent Visions/Feminist Perspectives” and I would recommend everyone just take some time out and check the gallery out (It’s literally about 2 minutes away from the VC building!).

How YouTube Live Died.

allisonlouie — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:14:34 +0000

Okay, so maybe November 22nd’s YouTube Live premiere isn’t exactly an in-person event — but I sure was looking forward to it like it was. YouTube Live brought together famous musical acts (Katy Perry, Joe Satriani), a few amateur musicians who gained near-celebrity status on the popular video community (S.Korean guitarist Funtwo), popular comedy segments (including the loved-hated Charlie the Unicorn), and tons of other random famous bits (Will It Blend, Chad Vader) — all in just a lackluster 90 minutes. While Katy Perry gave a fantastic opening to the event, it quickly turned into a mind-numbing assault of “the best of YouTube”. Without any specific focus, the event turned into a mish-mosh of mediocre randomness, and about halfway I was tempted to just log on to Good Ol’ Regular YouTube to find videos that I actually like. The only thing that kept me going was the lure of “YouTube + Live + International = A Chance to See International [YouTube] Celebrities Live!!” — which never happened, either, because there was only a San Francisco (read: American) and a Tokyo event (which lied; it wasn’t even live, despite the title, “Youtube Live“) Overall, the YouTube managed to turn an amazing idea into another boring ol’ American internet TV experience, when with a little more money, a little more direction, and a little more actual international live performances could have made the experience so much more worth it.

Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night

sophling — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 08:22:07 +0000

The “Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art draws viewers into a world of bight, yellow stars set against dark, blue skies. Van Gogh’s goal was to portray the bright light effects with different color combinations. He does this very effectively in his paintings of nature and outdoor night scenes. His artwork successfully conveys such strong feelings of tranquility. One painting portrays ambiguous structures that may represent buildings in the background with lights illuminating a calm sea, while another piece contains colorful swirls to represent the clouds and stars. It appears that Van Gogh experiments more with color variety to portray details of the evening sky and night scenes rather than focus on the greater details of earthly life, such as the houses and buildings. The fact that he does not paint all objects in sharp details adds to the effect of peace and reality during the nighttime. Not everything can be seen clearly during the night; the houses and buildings may look like nothing but specks compared to the bright glares of the stars and lights.