foreign film

           As the film began, I had mixed feelings. Because I knew that it had won awards, I assumed that it would be well made and of quality. But, on the other hand, to be completely honest, I was not captivated from the very beginning. I am glad, however, that I stuck it out. I grew to appreciate the film as it went on. My connection with the main character and narrater grew stronger and this enabled me to enjoy the film more. 

        This film greatly differed from the typical American film in the overall feel of the film. The beautifully shot ocean scenes coupled with the narrator's specific point of view really spoke to the values and nature of the different culture. I loved being able to catch a glimpse into the Scandinavian culture.

KON TIKI

I felt like the underlying theme of this movie was that in the end we gained so much with the expedition and he was able to conquer and accomplish a huge milestone but he ended up losing the thing that should have been most important in his life. At the end of the film, I don't remember the quote exactly but in his wifes letter she said that this voyage for him was never about proving his scientific hypotheses right and that what brought them together drove them apart. He couldn't escape who he was and in the end to me she made it seem that he had lost more than he had gained. 

Ton Tiki

Normally I love watching foreign films (something my roommates are constantly making fun of me for).  I feel like you have to stay constantly engaged in a foreign film because you have to read the subtitles, pay attention to the different cultural social cues, ect.  Also I like that foreign films stray from the typical cookie cutter mold of American movies.  For those reasons I liked Ton Tiki.  But I will admit that I did not find the overall plot of the movie that interesting.  The main thing that separated this foreign film from any an American I felt were the cultural values that were shown.
I felt like the overall theme of the movie was the journey of chasing you dreams.  Behind the ship I placed a circle cut into two that symbolizes because they were constantly heading towards the sun.  Within in each half circle I put a map of the Polynesian islands and of South America to show the beginning and ending of the journey.

Kon-Tiki - Justyne Willets

This movie was really interesting.  I'll be honest, it was not my favorite film mainly because I don't like movies that are mostly at sea.  It's not the best reason but there you go.  It was a very inspiring film though and a good experience to watch it.

There were a few differences I noticed between the "typical American movie" and Kon-Tiki.  There was hardly any violence, expect for the stabbing of the shark.  There was hardly any swearing, if there was any at all.  I think the biggest difference that I noticed though was the focus on the cinematography and nature.  There was some very beautiful shots of the ocean, the stars, the moon, and so on.  This was a good movie and it was insightful to watch.

Kon-Tiki- Ariana Keith

I love a good foreign film. I started off watching the film and thought that I was going to love it. Somewhere in the middle I started hating the main character's stupidity so much that I thought I was going to come away from the movie hating it. I ended up enjoying the movie overall. I felt like it kept me engaged the entire time. I would say my favourite foreign films are French so I was a little iffy on this one. I felt this movie was built on tension and release. There were moments of tension where the entire audience was all bracing themselves for the worst and then we would all laugh afterwards at the funniest things said.
I don't see a ton of different aspects between American and this Norwegian film but I think one aspect would be that many American films end with the "American Dream." The film will end with, "Well, I've accomplished my dream, I've got the hot wife, I've got a family, and I'm going to be famous too!" This foreign film explored that even though Thor accomplished one of his dreams, he was not able to have it all. Another element would be sometimes American films like to take it to extremes. When Herman had his foot hanging over just as he was being pulled out of the shark filled waters, I feel like American films would have his foot chomped off. Surprisingly, Herman was not touched at all by the sharks.

Kon Tiki- Kirsten Hansen

I was a little weary of the Norwegian film Kon Tiki, to be very honest. It ended up being fantastic. I loved it. I loved the way it was filmed and I loved the casting of it. I thought it was an interesting way to show a not super interesting concept. Like really, it was about guys floating across the ocean for 100 days...But they made it good! 

It was different from American films because of the costuming I think. American films probably wouldn't have the actors running around in whitey tighties on a boat. Also, an American film would not probably show a shark being savagely tortured. We have different filters that foreign films don't have. 

All in all I thought it was a really great movie and I thought it was a really cool assignment.

Kon-Tiki – Blake Lewis

            

            I thought it was a super interesting film. International films are interesting because they typically tell a story of something North Americans haven’t heard much about. They typically open us to cultures that we haven’t interacted much with or don’t know much about. I love Scandinavian countries especially so I was really intrigued by this story of mostly Norwegian/Swedish guys.  

            I came out of the film feeling like I can “make my dreams come true”. So the waves that I made with the pictures from the film was to sort of create an “exploration” theme. Thor was faced with a lot of people telling him not to explore and prove his theory correct (I mean even his wife and kids…which…I don’t know which I’d choose given those two) but knew he wanted to complete his dreams.

International Film

This wasn't the first time I've watched foreign films, and I really liked this movie. I felt like it was focused on the main story but left room for the viewer to interpret the internal dialogue of the characters. Generally, it seems like american movies have to spell everything out via narrator or images, international cinema is better at letting people think for themselves. I felt the cuts were longer than american film too. One thing I felt was great creativity was the ability to use visuals to tell the story over dialogue and narration. I felt as much as a rush watching intense scenes in Kon Tiki as I would watching some action flick. Since film is a visual medium, it was perfect execution of using visuals to illustrate the scene.

Kon Tiki - Allie Sullivan

What was your experience like watching a foreign film?

I took the intro to film class here at BYU so I'm no stranger to foreign films. This film actually felt less strange or different to me than some of the other foreign films I've seen. I would say some foreign films move slow and are more thoughtful than American films but this film managed to be deep and meaningful while also providing action, suspense and adventure like we Americans are accustomed to.

What were some interesting aspects of the film that were different than the typical American movies you watch?

I don't watch horror films so the brief amount of gore in the film was an interesting and different experience for me.

One of the themes of the film seemed to be about chasing after and achieving a dream. In the process of achieving his dream of proving his theory correct, Thor lost his family. I think this notion of losing while winning isn't something we see a whole lot in American entertainment. Usually, the protagonist achieves success in everything in the end.

My Poster
Like I said, I thought one of the main themes was about chasing after a dream and I felt that the sun symbolized that theme because they needed to be headed toward the sun in order to be heading in the right direction. So, I decided to have the sun be the main focus of my poster.

I thought we had to turn in a hard copy, here is my poster!

The Kon-Tiki Adventure- Aaron Johnson

I really enjoyed my time watching a foreign film. I, like I feel many Americans do, went into it expecting the film quality of 1970's Hollywood. I know that it is an incorrect assumption, but I suppose it is just my cynical nature to assume the worst. So, obviously, I was pleasantly surprised. I was most impressed with the cinematography, and I thought the color was especially rich and beautiful for pretty much only being orange and blue.

I don't feel like my experience was much different than it is with a typical American film. I would say it had a stronger sense of the 'Feel-Goods' than I am used to in American films, but that might be more reflective on my choice in movies. I was not disappointed at all, and the familiarity I felt with the film may be a good thing because it has opened my mind to watching more foreign films in the future.

Kon-Tiki

 

 

 

         My dad is a director of Children's plays, so I had already seen a fair share of international films.  Something I like about them, and something that is represented heavily in Kon-Tiki is that their cinematography is not as quickly cut, it really gives you time to feel the full emotion.  Also, the direction is done in a way that more is left to interpretation, like when Thor hangs up the phone after having a deep conversation with his wife, and looks at his friend with an impish smile and then becomes serious.  It leaves you wondering, "Is he guiltily happy that his wife is worried?"  "Is he just excited for the journey?"  "Why did he change facial expressions?"

        Something else about foreign movies is that they are not always the full, happy, winner takes all endings we are used to.  Kon-Tiki very much is a bitter-sweet ending.  I went with a friend and I told her that I always find foreign movie endings to be kind of sad, and she said, "I feel like it was a good representation of Thor, he is not motivated by the same things as many of us, but his personality is needed to be a vessel to bring the others characters' happiness at the end of the film."  Regardless, I think this story is worth telling.       

Kon Tiki - Greg Taylor

When I quickly previewed the movie before really watching it I expected some low budget composition of Johnny Lingo and South Pacific! However, the film was full of good surprises. I thought the cinematography was beautiful. I could tell there was a real artist behind the camera. They took time to add detail to shots that could have easily been buried in the story.

A shot that stood out to me was of Thor's Eye in the beginning of the movie and later at the end. When I made the poster I wanted to capture his vision of advancing science, succeeding in his adventure, and bringing hope to his family.

Kon Tiki, yo!

TVERS OVER STILLCHAVET: ACROSS THE PACIFIC (according to google translate)

     This movie was good! I don't know why, but I was expecting this to be totally boring. I thought it would be old, black and white, with sub-titles. In reality, it was super intense and very well-done!
     I wouldn't even say that there were aspects about this that were different than an American-made film. Except for the Norwegian accents, duh.
     Fun fact, I watched this while I was at my parents house on Friday. Unfortunately, I don't get ANY internet access there except for in my bathroom, so I watched most of this movie sitting on my cold bathroom floor. Yay. Also, the scene where he stabbed the shark a thousand times and blood is spraying everywhere? I was horrified with that.

Kon Tiki- Tom Blackham

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. The story was incredibly rich and enjoyable. After watching it, I thought on it the rest of the evening. Going into the film, I didn't quite know what to expect. When I heard it was a Norwegian film the last thing I thought was that it would be a story in the South Pacific.

The cinematography was beautifully done and realistic. Some of the scenes reminded me a lot of Life of Pi, but despite the awe inspiring effects, I never felt like they distracted from the story of Thor's journey into the sun to prove the world wrong.

This film  was very powerful, and it convinced me of two things: 1)That you can't let the world tell you what isn't possible and 2) I will never sail across the pacific. The shark scenes were enough to induce a hydrophobia that I wasn't aware that I had.

It was quite different in many aspects to what a traditional American film would be like. I think the ending was very markedly different from what Hollywood traditionally markets to its viewers. I think that if it had been an American-produced film, the film would not have ended in the way that this one did. Perhaps they would have not put as much focus on wife's relationship, or--even worse-- they may have been completely unfaithful to the source material (i.e. a TRUE story), in order to ensure a satisfyingly "happy" ending.

Kon-Tiki - Lance McDowell

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Every time I go watch a foreign film I expect it to be older and the special effects not very good. But I was amazed by the quality and the cinematography. There was one scene where they're all lying down on the raft, looking up at the stars and then the camera pulls back and goes clear back into space. It was absolutely beautiful. I don't know why I expect American movies to be far superior, because I thought this movie was better than some of the big blockbusters of last year like Man of Steel. It just goes to show that Hollywood isn't the only hub of vision and creativity. I also enjoyed the fact that I had no idea what it was about. I hadn't seen any previews so I didn't have any expectations. Maybe that's why I am easily disappointed by American movies. You see all the good parts in the trailer and then the rest of the movie is lame.

I was amazed that nobody died. I thought for sure someone would get eaten, or at least seriously mauled, by a shark. If this was Hollywood, someone would have died for sure. Also, Thor's wife left him in the end. I think an American movie would have had them get back together at the end.

Lastly, there was hardly any sexual material and no F-bombs. And it was still a great movie! Isn't that something?

a trip to the golden state

By the time January rolls around, I am very ready for the tundra-like weather to be gone. I love when it snows around Christmas time, but firmly believe that after we ring in the new year, spring should come. With that said, every year around this time I always want to pick up and go somewhere warm. I distinctly remember saying to my mom when I was little, "let's just go to California for the weekend". Sadly, however, she would always bring me back to reality and remind me of our obligations by saying something along the lines of, "We can't, we have _______ to do this weekend." This year, when my over-the-winter feelings came, I decided I was going to roll with it. This past weekend, some friends and I picked up and went to Southern California. We made the trip arrangements on Thursday and were in SoCal by Saturday. I am a very spontaneous person, but I have never done something like this before and have always wanted to do so. Not only did I get the warmth that I desired, but I also got to feel like I finally fled the cold on a whim. It was very liberating, to say the least. Upon returning home, I realized that I can channel my spontinaity in healthy ways such as trying new things (like traveling to new lands), and that was an excellent realization for me.

From Piano & Paper to Social Media - Justyne Willets

I write music and I have for most of my life.  I don't consider myself particularly good at it but I have always wanted to share it.  However, I have been super scared to do it.  I've recorded myself singing covers of other songs and even some improvised piano accompaniment to other vocal pieces and share them on Facebook. However, I have never been able to share my own original work.

For my rut assignment, I finally recorded one of my original pieces with original words and accompaniment and posted it to Facebook.  This was so scary and for the first half hour after I had posted it, I was constantly checking to see what people thought of it.  There have only been a handful of people that have liked it and only one who has commented on it.  Despite what others think of my piece, this assignment helped me start to break through my fear of sharing the talents I have for fear of criticism.

Stick-Shift Road Rage

So I am a pretty good driver and when it comes to driving I have never had a fear of driving, even in crazy places like Chicago or up the mountains anywhere in the Mountain West. But the one thing that I have wanted to learn how to do in regards to driving is driving stick-shift. Yep I didn't know how and it isn't necessarily something I am afraid of doing but having your car stall in the middle of the street with a bunch of people behind you is not a good feeling at all. So since my girlfriend already knows how to (which was awesome) and her roommate had a stick car, I asked her to teach me.

The experience was a good one and I ended up learning a lot about myself when trying something new. I ended up learning how to drive manual after all but it was not easy. I only had about an hour with the car but in the hour that I had I learned that when I am trying something new sometimes if it is something that is somewhat difficult I can take the fun out of it by being frustrated. Then when I become frustrated I get too serious and then when I get to serious the learning experience becomes harder and I almost want to give up. Learning that about myself was the most valuable lesson I got out of this experience (besides learning how to drive stick) because now I know that whenever I try something new I need to remember to just enjoy the experience and even when things start to get hard I just have to keep going and going and try my best no matter what.

High Bouncy Boards

Standing on the edge of a diving board that is twenty feet in the air is quite intimidating for me. I didn't grow up doing extreme sports, backflips, hanging-looses or stuff like that so height scares me a little bit. It's not till recently that I've really desired to face some of that and be a little more spontaneous, because I think it's good for me. This time around I decided to do a high dive.

Now I've jumped off cliffs into water, but there's something about going head first that just freaks me out. I tried it once at some cliffs and half way down my body flipped out and I ended up with my back as the first body part to hit the water. I went to a pool this Saturday and tried first getting some good bounces and then going head first into the water off the normal diving board, but I couldn't do it. I finally asked a lifeguard if he had any suggestions, and he did. I followed his instructions and was able to dive multiple times from the high dive! 

People ask me how I did it and I just say, "you can too!" 

No, but it really felt great. And satisfying. 

On thin ice. And then, in hot water.

All in the same day. For whatever reason, I get in driving ruts. I always go to Macey's when I need to go grocery shopping. When I need guitar stuff, I go down to Great Salt Lake Guitar Company on Center Street. When I want to take pictures of stuff, I head up to Rock Canyon or Provo Canyon. When I want to go on a hike, I climb Y Mount (the summit, not the letter, you sissy), Squaw Peak, or Timp. I'm a creature of habit, it must be known.

So finally, with the three day weekend approaching, I decided to cross off two points on my Utah bucket list - frozen Utah Lake and the Meadow Hot Springs. I'd seen pictures and videos (like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OudYFji4VOI&feature=c4-overview&list=UUdGxAju6sVCPCykiIKzwFZQ) of mountains of ice on Utah Lake and thought it might be fun to see if I'd be lucky enough to see the same sort of thing. I went with a roommate, and there were, unfortunately, no icebergs. Still, it was my very first time walking on lake ice like that, having been given an ingrown fear of such things by countless children's movies and TV shows. I think I may have made it about 100 yards out from shore before I heard enough cracking noises to feel uncomfortable. I laugh at danger. Then I run.

Next up was the hot springs. Contact me if you want directions, but maybe these are best served by keeping them just a little under the radar. They're a decent drive south on I-15, but they're crystal clear, 30 feet deep, warm, and just beautiful. They don't even smell like rotten eggs. My brother told me about them, and I'd always wanted to go, but I'd just never gotten around to it. It must have been the long drive or something. Should you go, do yourself a favor and beg, borrow, or steal a decent snorkeling mask so you can explore a little underwater. It's deep enough that you really can't see the bottom from the surface - it's a weird sort of leap of faith into the black if you dive down there before your eyes adjust and you can make out the boulders and things at the bottom. Worth it.

Night Hiking and Hot Springs- Aaron Johnson

I had trouble coming up with something I was really afraid to do that didn't run into any legal boundaries. Had we done the assignment a week earlier, it would have worked great because I had finally asked out a girl I had been wanting to ask out for a whole year but was too scared to (my fears were founded, of course, she said no). So I settled for something I've always wanted to do but never thought it was really feasible or reasonable.
So I went to the Fifth Water Hot Springs. I've been there before, but during the summer when it is kinda stupid to hike to hot springs. I have always wanted to do the hike in the winter, but I never had because they close the road off and add an extra three miles to the hike both ways. With all the extra hiking time, and being so busy with school over the winter, I never took the time to do it.
So, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I got it done. To add a little more suspense and adventure, I also did it very late in the day. So the hike in was in daylight, and absolutely beautiful. The pools were also fantastic, they ranged from a crystal clear emerald to a soft turquoise color that you just don't see elsewhere, and it was great to just soak in them for a good hour and a half.
The hike out is where it got fun though. I started back out around sunset, and for a while I was treated to a gorgeous purple sky that glowed around the canyon walls, but about one mile in of the five mile hike all the sunlight was gone. It started getting really cold, really fast. The temperatures were fairly easy to ignore though, because the stars were so bright. There wasn't any moon visible, so for most of the hike the only thing I could see was the white snow on the trail and the stars dancing in the sky.
So that was my adventure. Like I said, it wasn't something I had been scared to do, but it was something I had always wanted to do despite the inconvenience. I'm very glad the assignment gave me the last push I needed to get it done, though, because it was great to get out somewhere that was so full of natural beauty.
It's very humbling to see how the random formations of nature can be so much more incredible than my finest endeavors to make art.

A Dip with the Dolphins

Friday morning I left the snow for the sunny land of Hawaii.  The second I got off the plane I turned to my Dad and asked if we could swim with dolphins this week, something that I have wanted to do since I was a little girl.  To my surprise my Dad said ok.  After further discussion (and a few Google searches later) we decided that we weren’t just going to do you typical swimming pool dolphin encounter.  So Monday morning my family and I got up before the sun and headed over to a boat dock where we and eight other people boarded a boat that looked like more of a gimpy life raft than an actual boat. 

Once aboard our vessel we got fitted with scuba equipment then headed out to sea.  We went further and further out until we saw them, dolphins bobbing up and down in the distance.  The boat got as close as it could and then the captain of our life raft said, “Ok jump out”.  So out we went into the unknown of the ocean.  I learned that dolphins eat at night so in the morning they are slower than usual because they are full and getting ready to go to sleep.  Even once they got to sleep they still keep half of their brain awake at all times.  Because of this they were swimming in circle like formations when we met up with them.  So I would be sitting in the middle of the ocean and then all of the sudden there would be thirty dolphins (at times probably more) bellow, to the left, and right of me.  Some would even jump out of the ocean and flip.  I would swim with them until then out swam me (they are freakin fast even when half asleep) and then I would wait a bit and back they were.  The dolphins would get two feet away from me.   It was awesome absolutely awesome.  A day that I will definitely never forget.

Stomp The Yard - Greg Taylor

Have you seen the movie stomp the yard?! It is a movie about a troubled gangster who in an effort to woo a special girl takes his fraternity to a highly coveted national step show competition. It is such a rush to see these dancers all in unison stomp their feet and clap their hands. They make beats that feed and energize each other as well as the audience. As a youngster this kind of dance intrigued me. It has always been a dream of mine to be in a crowded place...where people are going about their daily business...when myself and a group of friends break out in a step routine! The element of suprise, the camaraderie, and the music made with our bodies is the perfect blend that would bring such a rush.

This week I talked to a friend on the UVU Hip Hop team about a stepping piece she was doing with the team. I have dabbled before with some hip hop in my life, and talked her into letting me come to learn the routine. So I met up with about 12 other students and learned about one minutes worth of stomping. It was a whole lot of fun and quite the rush. We didn't get to go out to the streets to complete my dream yet but compiling the routine will take some time. That is in the plans!

Getting Over My Fear of Driving - Allie Sullivan

In my driver's ed class in high school my teacher showed us frightening and graphic videos that were meant to scare us into being safe drivers. But they scared me a little too much. You shouldn't be overconfident and reckless when you drive but you do need to be confident to be a safe driver. I feel that I lack that confidence and the only way to build it is to drive more.

I just got a car from my grandparents this month and before this weekend I had only driven it to the grocery store nearby. This weekend, I wanted to push myself to drive somewhere out of Provo I had never driven before so I drove myself to a family dinner in Salt Lake. I was especially nervous about driving on the freeway because I've seen how fast people drive on the freeways in Utah. This would be a perfect opportunity to get over that fear.

I took my cousin with me and he helped me navigate which made things a lot easier. The drive there and back went really well and by really well I mean nobody ended up hospitalized which was my worst fear.

And there was a pleasant bonus that I had not anticipated. Usually, my grandpa will come pick me and my cousin up and take us to family dinner and the two of them will discuss things about engineering the whole time and I just sit in the back being bored. But with just my cousin and I, we got to have a really nice conversation and get to know each other better. We talked a lot about our dating woes which was cathartic and we even made plans to someday do a group date together.

I was hoping that this experience would help me be a more confident driver and it certainly did but it also helped me build a friendship with my cousin. So I guess the take home lesson here is that sometimes there are more benefits to doing new things than just the most obvious ones and you never know what those benefits might be until you do it.

Always wanted to... -Lance McDowell

When I was younger I remember seeing Coke and Mentos videos on YouTube. I always wanted to try it but I never did. My family never drank Coke so it wasn't ever lying around for me to go try it. And my family never did the whole "blow things up" thing either. We watched our neighbors light fireworks across the street on Fourth of July.

I wanted my wife to buy Mentos in a separate line at the grocery store so the clerks wouldn't know what we were up to. She assured me it would be fine. Maybe I just felt exhilarated because I had never bought Coke before. Man, if my parents could see me now.

At any rate, I made a Coke explosion and it was AWESOME...for about three seconds and then it was over.

The drive

I have always wanted to just get in my car and drive until I just feel like stopping. I haven't really been able to ever do this and I've always been a little bit afraid of it, since cars and weather can fail a girl.
I had kind of a carpe diem moment of sorts Friday around 1 and I jumped in my car with a duffle bag and headed north. The only time I stopped before my final destination (the plus side of having a little car with good gas milage) was right across the border in Idaho when I got pulled over by a police man. Maybe I was going 95 and maybe he ticketed me. Also maybe I asked him if he enjoyed ruining a young girls dream drive...He didn't laugh. Oops.
Anyways, I drove all the way until I reached Boise (it was pretty dark) and I actually have a good family friend that lives there, so it worked out really well to stop there! I stayed with her for the weekend and then drove back to Provo Monday (no ticket experience on the way home).
This experience opened my eyes to an area of the country I have never been before, it opened my eyes to traffic traps and to just doing something, like a drive, just to do it! Also, now I'm really not afraid to face the open road on my own, so thats a plus!

Voice Lessons-Tom Blackham

Let me provide some background:
My family is super musical.
I started learning piano when I was in Kindergarten and almost forcibly continued to take piano lessons until my senior year in high school.
I was encouraged to participate in band in junior high and high school...which I did: playing the trumpet.
I took private lessons on the trumpet for three years.
I learned to play the Baritone for and participated in the BYU Marching Band for my first two football seasons in college.
Every single one of my six siblings learned how to play at least two different musical instruments.
My mother is the only member of my family that only plays one musical instrument, though she sings quite well.
Almost everyone in my family has participated in school, church, or community choirs of some kind.

Except, I am absolutely terrified of singing.

It's not just singing. I'm terrified of performances in general. But with the countless years of piano recitals and band performances I've learned to stifle that fear, at least when performing those instruments.

When it comes to my voice, however, I am SUPER self-conscious.

I've always been amazed and how beautiful my family's voices were, and I've always felt that my voice was sub-par. Thanks to my musical training on the piano, I could read music easily. Thanks to my instruction on the trumpet and baritone, I knew what a good tone was, but I could not replicate it in my voice.

I've always wanted to learn the tricks to increase my range and improve the quality of sound that came out of my throat. However, I've always been too self conscious to do it,

This weekend I had to swallow my pride a bit and asked my girlfriend, who has 7 years of professional vocal training under her belt as well as numerous vocal and musical theater performances, to teach me some basics. During the forty-five minutes that we had in the practice room, she drilled me in my tone quality as I attempted to sing. It took a lot for me to just open up and sing in front of her. It took a lot for me to actually try my best and open myself to criticism, instead of shielding myself behind the feigned tone-deafness that I used in the past to keep me from performing vocal solos.

In the end, she was very pleased with my progress, though I cannot honestly say that I feel more than marginally more comfortable with my singing voice than I did before. She enthusiastically encouraged me to continue letting her help me(which must mean that I didn't sing that bad) However, I felt like I conquered one of my greatest fears that day as I stood in front of her and sang. It doesn't sound like that big of deal,  but it was very difficult. At the end of the day, however, when I looked back on it, I was proud of jumping over that hurdle.

Million Dollar Save Me- Ariana Keith

Growing up in a house full of girls we never really wrestled and were not exactly the “rough and tough” family. So the past few years I have always wanted to do a kickboxing class. I’ve always been sort of afraid to go though because I didn’t want to be perceived as a wimp. So finally I decided to sign up for three classes with a friend and we went to these kickboxing classes in Draper. Now, I hit the gym a couple times a week so I wouldn’t say I’m out of shape- neither is my friend out of shape. As we hit the 15 minute mark into our first class I swear there was a look of pure hatred in my friend’s eyes as she said with venom in her voice, “I hate you.” It was a little scary at the time, and quite frankly I hated myself for going because all at once I wanted to vomit, faint, and crumble into a heap on the ground. It was probably one of the hardest workouts I’ve ever done. I felt super accomplished afterwards though and the hard core teacher even made everyone do a little applause for the new beginners(which was pretty much my friend and I). Now I have these awesome hot pink boxing gloves to keep and two more classes to endure. It’s looking like it might not be a lifelong hobby….but who knows how I’ll feel after the third class. Trying something new never felt so......good? Painful? 

Note: This was my eager beaver "before" picture. I don't think either of us had the strength in our arms to do an "after" photo. 

      Think gorgeous, like movie star pretty, that is the girl I have been dying to talk to but never got the guts to do it.  However, after the inspiration I have been getting from this class to try different things, get new experiences, and partially because of this assignment, I decided to go talk to her.  As I got closer to where she was my heart was pounding, thoughts were jumping into my head like, "Maybe I should wait a little longer."  "What is she going to think?," "This is so silly, I don't even know her, I just see her when I go to the gym."  But before I knew it I was right in front of her and she looked up at me.  I was nervous, but I knew if I didn't say anything I wouldn't forgive myself, and it would be terribly awkward because she is already looking at me.  But all I managed to say was, "Hey, you probably get this a lot, but you are gorgeous!"
      Yeah, it wasn't the coolest thing I've ever said, but at least it planted a seed.  She said, "Wow, that is so sweet!"  I don't know what that means about me, but I guess that could have been way worse.  I will probably just say hi to her from now on and let her make the next move.  Ladies, do you have any advice?  

3d Modeling

Well I've always found 3d printers fascinating. The idea that I can basically print whatever I can think up is pretty cool. The concept is awesome and I think there are tons of possibilities that can be explored with 3d printing.  I did some research to find out how I could print something on a 3d printer. Turns out BYU has one in the library at a pretty good price. Knowing that I have access to some good resources like that is sweet. I got excited and tried to design something to print.

I've had this dream to have a pez dispenser with my head on it, and a 3D printer is my chance to do it at a low cost.  I found some blueprints online of work in the past people have done. I am amazed with how many open source projects there are for 3d printers. I found a few models that i could modify to put my head on.  My only setback was scanning my head and being able to edit it. I found some cool software called 123d that takes tons of photos and renders a 3d object. My creative process got limited here because the processing took forever, thus I will continue this project in the future. Learning how to edit 3d objects is much more complicated than 2d images/surfaces. I will probably need to take some 3d classes to be able to effectively navigate and manipulate objects before i print anything. So what I thought would be a pretty quick and simple process (I can make a poster in an hour or so... why not a pez despenser?) ended up becoming a larger project. I feel like my creativity is growing and I will have to start to see things from more perspectives to be able to create some cool objects. I had fun in the process and want to keep learning such a new and interesting concept.

Ice Skating Au Natural

Do something you've always wanted to do? Well ok!
I had originally planned on writing this post about my first fly fishing experience, but this one is much cooler and the pictures turned out better anyway..
So my family and I went fly fishing on the Provo River. We took a detour on the way home at Deer Creek Reservoir. It was completely frozen over and smooth as glass. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to do a little ice skating. Without actual ice skates. It was fun, until the ice started cracking and we all ran off the ice screaming like little girls.
Our class readings talked about how amazing things can happen when you think like a child. Well, I certainly felt like a child doing this. I felt like a young George Bailey out on the ice, only my brother didn't fall through and I didn't have to suffer partial hearing loss from rescuing him. 

Rut Experiment 1

I love the landscapes exhibit. It was peaceful to sit down for 15 minutes or so and enjoy the movement and silence of the room. I found there was a lot of motion and energy in such a still setting. It brought power and awe to the cities portrayed in the art. I liked the medium a lot since it used digital art and glass. The words used to build the scenes were cool and brought me an interest in the art even more. What I loved even more was the projection on the walls and how the focus changed from place to place. Everything in the room added to the artwork and nothing was there by accident. It was creative because it captivated my attention and inspired me to do new things.

Landscapes of Belief: Kirsten

The exhibit Landscapes of Belief by Monica Bravo displayed exquisite creativity and innovation. The piece itself was rather simple, as it was a projector displaying images onto three glass panels. I think she came up with this idea from the text she complied together to form the images. The text came from "Invisible Cities" and she then used that text to form different cities from around the world. I think the silence and darkness of the room added to the feeling of forbiddenness and invisibility that she possibly was trying to achieve in her image. Her whole concept struck me as creative because of how she compiled everything together. The use of words, light, and silence made a unique art experience.

Monika Bravo exhibit- Lucy Myers

From the moment I stepped into the gallery, I knew it was going to be a unique experience. To me, the most creative part of the exhibit was just how Monika chose to synthesize the information in front of her, including the book Invisible cities as as well as her previously acquired knowledge surrounding the depicted cities, and then create something with this information. She presented the cities in a way that I had never really seen before. Instead of painting or drawing on a canvas, she chose a medium that really worked for what she was trying to convey. In Monika's artist statement, it states that her composition is "time-based". By conveying her thoughts and feelings about time through a projection onto three glass panels, she achieved creativity.

I have found our recent discussion of using and combining old ideas in order to make unique and creative new ones very fascinating. I think Monika used a similar thought process in order to achieve what she wanted to achieve in the pieces in this exhibit. She used information that had already been gathered, like the book Invisible Cities, as a foundation and maybe even an inspiration. With this knowledge, I believe, she was then able to come up with the ideas for this exhibit.

Katie Hopkins: Landscapes of Belief

Reading the artists bio I discovered Monika Bravo had been to each of the places that were shown in the piece.  I think she came up with the idea for this piece though the experiences of her travels along with reading the book Invisible Cities. 

To me the most creative part of the piece was the way the artist displayed the thoughts she was trying to communicate.  Walking into the museum I was expecting to go look at some painting in a room that had some pretty landscapes in it.  Never did it dawn on me that Monika Bravo was more than your run of the mill classical painter until I walked into the room. 

While looking at the piece I interpreted it as trying to communicate two things. Walking into the room the first thing that stood out to me was the light cast on the black walls of the room from the piece.  The piece was radiating light like how we as individuals have the ability to lighten the world we live in.  I loved the quote from Gandhi that’s on the piece description that reads, “Your beliefs become your thoughts, your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your values, your values become your destiny.” What is inside of us; our thoughts, feelings, beliefs create not only who we are as people but the way we perceive the world around us.

Secondly I noticed how the work of art was in constant motion.  At first this remind me of how cities are continually changing.  But after I sat there for a bit the motion of the cities became how our person faith is constantly moving.