Ride of the Valkeries

Out of curiosity (and the link being on our Art 211 blog page), I decided to take a look at the Ride of the Valkyries excerpt that the famous song is often used from. Needless to say, I was entertained. I have always known that this song was from an opera but I never knew it was form such a tragedy themed showing. Countless times have I heard this song in movies and video games and shows and have always wondered at it's origins. The music has always been incredibly powerful for me and whenever it started playing, I knew something awesome was about to happen.

It' always interesting when something from our modern age of technology adapts a piece of music or part of an older piece of media, like this opera, for use in modern entertainment because we, as viewers, never know how well or poorly it's going to be used. In all the times I've heard the instrumental version of this song, it's always been a wonderful usage and I hope it continues to be.

Carmen Habanera

Recently, I watched the video of the opera song "Carmen Habanera" as per suggested by the Art 211 blog page. Normally, I'm no fan of opera, having only seen the Phantom of the Opera, but I found this very interesting. This was especially given this song in this opera are often made fun of or spoofed in old cartoons like Bugs Bunny and the sort that I used to watch when I was younger. It was really great for me to finally understand where this song originated from. But not only was it entertaining to learn it's origins, it was also wonderful to actually understand the point behind it's lyrics.

I'll be honest, I didn't really know what was going on the whole time that I watched it but I still found it very engrossing.

For me, I've always been interested in music and learning the meaning behind songs. Opera has always had very interesting lyrics to it and always has a very deep and profound meaning. Normally, one would have to pay an extreme amount of money to go see something like this, but the ease of the internet makes it so that I can watch or listen to such powerful music like this without too much hassle. Technology also allows for people who wish to remake or redo these famous operas for a new age can add more dazzling effects to them to immerse the audience further. A lot of people say that opera is a dying art but in fact, I think it's making a comeback with a new generation.

Art and Music

I spent a great deal of time taking a look through the links that were posted on our class blog page and none of them really stood out to me at all. Some of the links weren't that exciting or really all that great in my opinion. Then I came across one that we viewed in class and the memory was forever stuck in my mind. It was Die Antwood's music video for their song "Rich Bitch." It was way beyond what music I normally listen to and the themes and morals behind it weren't something I could really find myself interested in. But it still stuck out to me regardless. At first, I didn't really care for them or heir music, but then I began to start viewing them in a different light.

Art.

Art was the reason they were doing what they were doing. They weren't trying to make a quick buck off poor lyrics or trying to over-glamorize themselves like some modern day artists. They were only making art, and being artists, they were making art the way they thought art should be made. It really made me take a step back and made me start appreciating more types of artists like this.

Art and Technology

I was recently posed with the question of what is the meaning of art and technology. At first, I thought that was a pretty simple question and one that I thought I could answer pretty easily without much thought put into it. However, the more I thought about it, the more it quickly became a question that had no simple answer that could just be written down. Instead, art and technology are slowly becoming interchangeable words in their own respects. In today's modern age, it's rather hard to find new art that wasn't created with the assistance of technology. This could be anything from using Photoshop to enhance a photograph or using the internet to order oil paints. Just as technology has become a part of our everyday lives, technology has now integrated itself into art, making some aspects of it easier and other areas more complex especially in the methods that are needed to do something. And it's not just using technology to help create art, art is being made from the use of the technology itself. Radar and sonar make images on a paper comprised of lines. This, if the artist who makes it says it is, is art. Because of technology, art is now appearing in more places than it ever was before and it makes it even easier for artists to share their works with others across the world. Need people in china to see your painting but you're in Germany? Internet is there to help you. It's amazing to see that something that was once avoided in the art world is now being readily embraced as the new standard and it will be exciting to see where it goes from there.