Consequences: A series of short short stories.

I chose to do a series of short stories that all feature "until." Each one shows an activity and a consequence of that activity within one sentence. I decided to use crayon as my illustration means because I like the contrast between these fairly morbid stories and the usually child-like crayon. It adds an interesting twist to them that I couldn't put in the stories without that venue. My inspiration, as seen below, is the classic "Carol didn't wear her safety goggles. Now show doesn't need to." For some reason I love that contrast of something simple with an incredibly dramatic consequence, which is what I decided to tell my stories about. 

Short Stories

Music Mosaic

I have chosen Petrovich Mussorgsky's The Great Gate of Kiev as my musical portion of the music mosaic. Please excuse my potential slaughtering of MLA formatting, but Purdue lead me to believe classical pieces were italicized, not quotationed. So please blame them and take a listen here.
If this song does not play out as I walk into those pearly gates of heaven, I will be extraordinarily disappointed. On a more serious note, this epitomizes to me the journey of life. The joy and exaltation of the brass in the beginning and end bring tears to my eyes, as birth and death surely will. The internal section has many hints of the glory and musical clarity seen in the introduction, but there are also great moments of heaviness and dissonance, just as life in between birth and death are.
When Modest Mussorgsky wrote this piece, he was composing many little songs which he entitled Pictures at an Exhibition. Each piece within this group was composed to musically illustrate the work of artist and architect Viktor Hartmann. This particular song was based off this painting:

Because of this history and my own personal interpretation, I have decided to make my mosaic portion paintings of each stage of life.
Shazam.

Numbers indicate time progression. Who puts mosaics in order?

When we enter this earth, we are given an identity right off. A footprint unique to each person and a gender that helps us discover our true self. Then come the terrible two's: the constant crying and the struggle to understand a new setting and body. By the time kindergarten starts, the little spirit within has become accustomed to its new place in the world and is now off to make its mark in it, one piece of heartfelt art pieces at a time. 

Then come the murky prepubescent and teenage years. While the previous three paintings are pretty self explanatory (as life then is pretty self explanatory), the teenage painting is more abstract. The colors clash with each other, it isn't oriented the same as the others, and it contains a triangle which is the most uncomfortable shape for the eye. It also has a handprint cut off at the edges. During the teenage years, everything on your body becomes uncomfortable. "What should I do with my hands and why are they suddenly so big? Huh, I seem to remember going to bed three inches shorter." and etcetera etcetera. Everyone tries to discover their individuality, but seem to be cut off by the black cloud of sheep think. The desire to fit in the lines outweighs that of true self expression. Like the dissonant areas in the song, these times are often painful.

Then comes the period I myself am currently in: the college years. I chose my own face as a canvas because I believe this is a time of opportunity and uncertainty. The final picture isn't clear, or the color combination. Technology runs rampant and socializing is of highest importance, which is why my picture is on an iPad with a Facebook popup on top. The future is chaotic and uncertain, and this is only the beginning, which leads us to our next phase: Adulthood.

Adulthood is shown with a centered heart and paint splatters surrounding. At the center of your life in adulthood is often family and love, though chaos reigns supreme. There are some mundane aspects, like a white background or daily work routine, but it's also filled with color and joy. 

Next comes old age, the fall of life. Covered with leaf stamps, this painting has much more texture than the others, as the elderly have much more character and wisdom than those younger than them. The colors aren't as vivid, but there are definitely still some areas of flair.

Finally is the cloud painting. Death is a great unknown, but there is a wonderful peace to be found in it. Like the grand entrance of The Great Gate of Kiev, the ascent into heaven will be nothing short of glorious, and hopefully met with thunderous, unison brass. 

Shout out to my fellow struggling classmates!

My page views always go up delightfully on due dates. I see you. Look no further, I have everything and nothing you need.

Thinking&Writing: A Reflection on Zero Dark Thirty.

On May 2nd, 2011, ten years after the attacks of the World Trade Centers in New York City, Osama bin Laden was shot and killed by a US Navy Seal team. Ten years of a seemingly fruitless manhunt lead by the CIA finally concluded with the surprising discovery of a compound in Abbottabad that was both the living place and deathbed of one of the most despised men in history. Though America and much of the world celebrated, they soon discovered killing this man did not solve all their problems. In the movie Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow uses cinematic elements to tell the story of one woman’s search for bin Laden that represents not only her journey, but that of the country as a whole. 

Zero Dark Thirty follows the journey of young CIA officer Maya who is assigned to the case straight out of college. Originally, Bigelow paired with Mark Boal to write the script of the unsuccessful search for UBL, or bin Laden, but in the midst of preparation, it was revealed UBL had been captured and killed. Frantically, Boal began rewriting the script completely in order to factor in this new circumstance that completely altered the plot of their previously designed movie. Similarly, many in America had written off ever finding UBL. Those who personally lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks struggled to accept those deaths may go unavenged, but upon discovery of the news, struggled to rewrite the way they interpreted their history. For many, it allowed them to finally put away the previously open-ended era, as Boal was able to seal off an open-ended film.

However, in the conclusion of the film, Maya boards a private aircraft plane sent for her specifically and is asked by the captain where she would like to go. Maya, fresh from her decade long anticipated success, sits in silence, while one tear falls. Bigelow frames her in medium and close up shots, not shying away from the raw emotion as is her typical style. For audience members who expect rejoicing from the woman who worked so tirelessly and with such complete conviction, this ending is somewhat unsettling. Many leave unsatisfied even though the main goal was obtained. In conjunction to this, America soon found itself in a dilemma after the death of UBL- what next? By creating this uneasy tension of an unfinished story, Bigelow reflected the national feeling of uncertainty after focusing on one goal for so long. Her close up shots furthermore represent the close scrutiny of international eyes, waiting and watching to see what the great America’s next move would be. 

Another interesting choice Bigelow made was the decision to have a woman play the main character and driving force behind the operation. While many women did work on this project, and there is one specifically similar to Maya in that her entire career was focused on this single goal, there is no conclusive evidence that a single person was behind the end goal at all. While this is a commercially made film created in the intention to make money and therefore had to be dramatized, Bigelow could have easily cast a huge list of A-list actors to collaborate to achieve the profit she needed, but instead chose the recently rising Jessica Chastain to play the single lead role. Her fellow cast mates are all of various accord, though no huge names dominate the feature. In doing this, Bigelow not only pushes forward her belief in the strength of females as the first female to ever win the Best Director category Oscar, but also the image of women picking up the pieces post 9/11. Though many women died that day, the men to women ratio was 3:1. This left many women to rebuild the lives they lost, and so it makes sense to have a woman avenge those deaths in a way. 

In a relatively short amount of time, Kathryn Bigelow surged to the top of the directing lists with her daring style in genres appealing to predominantly males. Her cinematic style creates a rawness so few scripted films are able to achieve. Though Zero Dark Thirty stirred quite a load of controversy upon its’ release through the exploration of torture methods not necessarily used in the factual investigation that occurred in real life, it called attention to the film as a whole and brought more people forward to ponder the actions of America in a world without bin Laden as a scapegoat. Like everyone felt after leaving the theatre, what next?