Madama Butterfly

Now as a guy who typically can't sit through or enjoy a play, I actually found Madama Butterfly to be quite interesting.  The storyline of a soldier falling in love overseas with a women to then leave is not very uncommon and I noticed a similarity to that of the HBO series The Pacific.  In which one soldier falls in love with a women while he is off on duty but has to leave her and continue on with the war.  He ends up getting married to a women back in the states and never returns to his love abroad.  The classic love story with the usual loss in the end appealed to me because it captured well the feelings of remorse and regret.  I felt the the play was well written and carried out well by those acting in it.  I mention the connection to today's media because it shows, whether intentional or not, because it shows that almost everything in today's society can be traced even if slightly to something that has been made before.  This shows the importance of studying and understanding past productions like Madama Butterfly for more than just some old play but maybe a piece of many works in today's world.     

Time Changes All

Looking back over the past one hundred years or so it is crazy how drastic our opinions and views of certain topics have changed.  For example, look at how we view women and what we deem as appropriate or not.  Back in the early nineteen hundreds when burlesque shows and women like Josephine Baker first came out many people we aghast! Women going on stage to show off there bodies in which many women were still well covered was unheard of and down right unladylike.  Now flash forward to the twenty first century where you cant go more than a mile in a big city without seeing some sort of strip club or peep show.  Now many argue that this is still not acceptable of women in our society, however it is still done and has grown to far worse exhibits.  Could you imagine a women from the early nineteen hundreds walking into a strip club today?  Yet today we have accepted this is something that is in society and many choose to either embrace it or simply pay it no mind.     

Stage Door

Besides the whole website coming up in Spanish, it did contain some interesting video clips from Broadway.  Some of the best were classics like fiddler on the roof and Miss Saigon.  The best category on the website would have to be the Christmas section containing various artists preforming holiday songs.  I mean who doesn't love Micheal Bublé singing Christmas music?  I did find this website to be beneficial in learning more about certain plays and other Broadway performances.  From the video it appears Les Misérables contained the best scenery on the website.  Also the performance by Julie Andrews will always be one of the best on Broadway.        

Makerbot

3D printing is nothing new to the world.  It has been around since 1984, however 3D printing in your home is something quite new.  The invention of Makerbot now allows consumers to bring a 3D printer into their home starting around one thousand dollars.  Although the technology in these systems is up to speed with industrial sized ones that can print  house it allows for a new level of fun.  They offer an online store where blueprints for various objects can be purchased and then replicated using certain types of plastic thread or sometimes even metal.  This is leading into many gray areas as some people are producing blueprints for 3D printed guns, causing concern around the nation as stricter gun laws are taking form. 

Raul Cuero

Raul came from a very poor town in Columbia which greatly influenced his success.  His parents had never learned to read or write and he vowed to never be like them so he knew he would have to focus on school in order to succeed and leave his poverty stricken town.  One of Raul's important ideas is that people expect others to behave in a certain way, in order to be creative one must look away from the norm and come up with new concepts and ideas.  In order to be creative one must be a good observer,  in order to do this you have to look around every once and a while and go outside in order to make observation about nature and how we exist.  In my work I believe that having conversations and observing the world around me will help boost creativity.  Also along the lines of what Raul finds important is being committed to my work or as he puts it, "do everything with intensity".  He believes that being creative means you cant be afraid of failing or having ideas shot down because other wise you will never leave the norm that is needed to really be creative.     

Art used to be magnificent, but boring as well.  If you asked someone long ago what art was you would get the typical paintings on canvas or maybe a marble statue.  However, in today's society we tend to accept almost anything to be art in its own way.  Many artists have created abstract styles where they take a bunch of nothings and make it a something.  Also the use of computers and other electronic devises are visible all around the art community.  Juan Carlos Delgado is one artist whose work is very different from the old paintbrush.  He uses technology to create pictures that look as if they could be grasped or come right off the page.  This style could be characterized as multimedia because it uses new technologies to create a work of art.   

Introduction
I believe that this course will be the most hands on, in terms of projects, that I take at this university.  It may not be the most relevant to my major (Economics), but it will still be very important in my development as a student.  Working on projects that may be outside of your expertise is what strengthens ones skills going into the work force.  This course will help me with skills involving technology and my knowledge of modern media and how it shapes the world we live in.