Round Robin

Part 1: Alec, a werewolf-hunting vampire, gives in to his natural instincts and drinks werewolf blood.  He becomes the first werewolf/vampire hybrid.

Part 2 Cameron: Alec met George for lunch. He sat at the table but forgot to wipe off the blood from his mouth. 

Part 3 Jared: The blood tips off the waiter to Alec's true identity and he poisons Alec's food to keep is holy responsibility. 

Part 4 Julia: Alec took a bite of the fateful food and slowly chewed it, not knowing it was poisoned.

Part 5 Christopher: The taste - something wrong with the taste. He spit it out, but his senses were already blurring. He tumbled, trying to cry out, then landed on his cold, linoleum grave.

Artist Statement

We’ve all played the game “telephone.” A simple saying gets passed from person to person, and by the end, it’s become something entirely different. This week’s project was similar to the telephone game. We started with a twenty-word story, and sent it to one person at a time. Their job was to create the second part of the story and send just their section of the story to the next person. What resulted was a collaborative effort of creation that involved the evolution of an idea. While things didn’t always flow or connect directly – as would be expected with this process – it was fascinating to experience how different ideas flowed out of others. (Julia)

The article by DJ Spooky focuses on this age of great collaboration.  Some collaboration is subconscious.  We process so much information day to day from people all over the world – I myself have Facebook friends from Hong Kong, Burma, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Chili, Brazil, and quite a few Polynesian Islands.  This isn’t uncommon either.  After only five minutes or so on Facebook, I’ve seen hundreds of ads, articles, pictures, quotes, conversations, and more, and that’s just from one source.  Then, of course, DJ Spooky talks about the conscious collaborations.  I think of Paul Simon’s “Graceland.”  This song, from the album with the same name, is a perfect example of the ideas of collaboration, particularly with world music.  Paul started with what he thought was a good Sun Records groove.  He played it for his South African collaborators.  They came up with riffs that they felt mimicked Paul’s style, and Paul did the same with their sounds.  The product then was a song that wasn’t Sun Records, wasn’t Paul Simon, and wasn’t South African; it was a new view and a new sound in the spirit of imitation and replication but in each one’s own natural style.

            What I learned from the product of this project, which supports my already ample love for collaboration, is that each mind is its own little Plinko machine.  Did you ever watch The Price is Right?  In Plinko, contestants dropped little tablets down a scattering of pegs.  The tablets bounced and danced down, hitting all the pegs, never ending in a predictable place.  I’ve got my own Plinko machine in my head, full of potential subconscious collaborations, and so does everyone else, but each person’s information is arranged in its own way with its own connections.  One little spark of a story, 30 words or less, is enough to set everyone’s Plinko mind into a race of associations.  I never would have suspected that a story about an old man getting on a bus would turn to a murderous father mistakenly ransoming and torturing his own daughter.  Though I prefer the direction in which I intended my story to go, it’s infinitely fascinating to me that these associations were made.  Wild and deliberate choices were constructed with prompts of only 30 words.  It’s great to think of the value of each mind.  We, perhaps, only unlock our strongest potentials when we swap chips (ideas) and drop them through each other’s Plinko minds.  Amazing. (Christopher)

This project was similar to what was described in the reading written by DJ Spooky Totems Without Taboos: The Exquisite Corpse.  In the text, DJ Spooky says “Cut and paste the results, and it could easily be Pac Man, Quake, or Halo 2” (xi).  While sending our different stories around, they evolved or changed into something different.  For all we had known, our stories could have become the opposite of what they began as.  The text also stated that the most important part of the exercise was to have fun.  The project was definitely interesting and it was exciting to see the next part of the story.  However, it became a little confusing as we tried to get the right story out to the right person, which admittedly took a toll on the fun aspect of the project. (Josh)

            The collaboration that took place with this project reflects what many other artists accomplish with other artists on projects in the real world. Recently, a collaborative mural project has begun near downtown St. Louis off of Washington Ave. The funding has been raised by donations. Painters, muralists, and other artists will join together in creating a large mural on the side of a building in downtown St. Louis. The people believe that it will be a catalyst for more people to collaborate and create new works of art. As we read each other’s stories, we had the opportunity to collaborate and build on to that story. We could choose if we wanted the same character or same setting. In creating this mural downtown, the artists will have the same opportunity to see what they want to keep in their addition of their painting on the wall. The mural project is called Lab 1500 Mural. (Cameron)                                                                

            The Round Robin process created a few distinct experiences within the group. First, the process forced each member of the group to forget where they intended the story to go or how it might end. The stories were granted freedom to develop as they please. The process gave the stories their own lives. Second, the power to develop someone else’s story engendered interest in how the stories advanced. We felt invested in each other’s stories. Did the college students win the game show money to pay off their student loans? What would happen to the poisoned steak and meatballs? What would the kidnapper do when he finds out the girl he’s holding hostage is his daughter?  In the end, the singular creator is gone, community is the parent of each unique story. (Jared)

Group members:

Jared Bell

Julia Berensen

Cameron Babcock

Christopher Bowles

Josh Allen

Music Mosaic - "A Child's Nightmare"

Artist Statement

         This project, entitled A Child’s Nightmare, is based off of the 5^th Movement of Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.  The idea behind the project was to take things that are normal and/or beautiful and turn them into something horrifying.  This particular piece of music is a beautiful classical piece, but, to me, it also has a very dark horror-like aspect to it.  Children often find fear in things without reason, which is represented by the style of the drawings over the pictures.  The simple drawings are similar to how a child would draw, and drawing is a very expressive form of communication for a child.  Whether they are feeling happy, sad, scared, or excited, children can show it on a piece of paper by using a crayon, marker, or paintbrush.

         The colors used in the pictures also play a role.  The photographs themselves are colorful and cheery.  The black, reds, and yellows used in the drawings over the pictures bring a dark and fearful aspect to each photo.  Personally, when I was a very young child, I would always associate villains with the colors black, purple, and red because they were often portrayed dressed in these colors.  Take Disney’s Sleeping Beauty for example.  Maleficent is robed in black and purple, which gives her a chilling presence whenever she enters a room.  The colors used to represent her essentially represent evil and are used to instill fear.  This childlike view of dark colors representing villainy is shown through the colors used in the pictures.

         In the text written by Annie Dillard, she also approaches darkness as something frightening but also fascinatingly beautiful.  She states, “And out of that violet, a sudden enormous black body arced over the water…I saw only one ebony fling, a headlong dive to darkness; then the waters closed, and the lights went out…Darkness appalls and light dazzles” (Dillard, 100-102).  In her description of the water, Dillard was completely captivated by the beauty of it.  Later, however, she states that darkness is appalling.  It is interesting that we, as human beings, are captivated by something dark and frightening to the point where it is impossible to look away.  Of course, once it’s over and we can finally pry our eyes away, a lingering and growing sense of fear encompasses us.  Children are especially good examples of this.  They sit enraptured during a scary part of a film or keep glancing at a frightening image.  The nightmares usually come after the initial exposure, leaving permanent burn marks on the backs of the eyelids that haunt and torment, just the like the music in this piece.      

Thinking and Writing Assignment: Paramore’s “Now” Music Video as an Expression of Compassion Conquering all Evil

Joshua Allen

1/12/15

TMA 112

Benjamin Thevenin

Paramore’s “Now” Music Video as an Expression of Compassion Conquering all Evil

            Upon first listen, Paramore’s song “Now” gives off an arrogant and bratty tone inducive to violent behavior to get what one wants.  The lyrics, “there’s a time and a place to die, but this ain’t (sic) it,” and “if there’s a future we want it now,” (Williams, York) present some interesting ideas to the listener, such as one deserves or even has the right to certain things.  The music video adds a whole new vision to the song.  Instead of an arrogant and survivalist view of death, the desperate struggle to live long enough to do good in the world is what the artists wish to express.  The music video for “Now” is essentially trying to communicate the importance of showing compassion to all people because compassion trumps all other emotions, including hate and anger.  Adherence to this communication would make our world a more peaceful place.

            In the video, lead singer Hayley Williams is seen crossing a battlefield towards an enemy soldier who appears to have some kind of authority over his army.  Blood is represented by bright colored powder, which explodes around Williams as she is struck and captured by an enemy soldier near the end of the video before reaching her target.  As she looks around and sees fellow band members Taylor York and Jeremy Davis captured by the enemy, the lieutenant of the opposing army moves forward to strike her.  Williams makes one final attempt at reaching him, and instead of attacking him, she hugs him.  The battle ends and both sides rejoice together as the lieutenant returns the gesture.  This is a clear depiction of love stopping a war, or more figuratively, erasing hate.  “Now” is not the first song or music video that Paramore has created that has expressed the importance of love; for example, “The Only Exception,” “Hate To See Your Heart Break,” and “Brighter” all express the effect that compassion can have on negative situations.  All three of these songs paint a picture of a tormented soul who, no matter his or her problems, finds peace through compassion.  If we as human beings reached out in love to others (as Williams did) instead of judging or hating them for who they are, we would all be able to find joy together despite our differences like the two armies in the video. 

            Many viewers of this video have made the connection that compassion is what puts an end to evil.  One Youtube user, Sam Williams, wrote “When she hugs him, for me it's a (sic) example of love and kindness. That maybe if we would just accept people how they are, without judging or killing over religion, government…MAYBE peace could be real.”  Many other users commented saying that the video made them smile or that it was really touching.  Clearly, many people think that emulating Hayley Williams’ actions in the video would make the world a better place for us to live.

            In today’s culture and society, there seems to be a constant battle to gain the upper hand in moral and political issues.  The fight against discrimination based on race, sexual orientation, religion, etc. is, in a way, its own war.  The legal battle over gay marriage is particularly controversial and difficult today.  Many activists condemn religious people for their “hatred” towards homosexuals while many religious people do, in fact, show hatred towards homosexuals.  In the “Now” music video, it is not expressly stated who is good and who is bad.  It is not even clear what the fighting is about.  If our society, including both sides of this moral war, learned to accept the others as human beings, there would be no need for contention.  Neither party is innocent of hatred, but it is possible to show compassion for someone who does not agree with you.  The simple solution to the problems concerning the battle of gay marriage is clear in this music video: hug the opponent.  Showing love and acceptance despite disagreements would end all negative feelings.  It is not necessary for either side of the debate to compromise their beliefs.  We just need to show kindness and compassion towards those who oppose us.

            Of course, there are certain elements in the video and in life in general that oppose this idea.  In the video, Hayley Williams releases a gas to slow down the opposing army.  Therefore, it could be argued that her actions were not necessarily without some form of violence.  However, the gas was not fatal, and many of Williams’ opponents put on masks to withstand the gas.  Sometimes love is tough.  Williams cared about the whole army, not just the lieutenant.  She needed to slow down her opponents because the only way she could stop the fighting was through the leader.  Also, in regards to the aforementioned argument on gay marriage, one might ask: would showing love to the opposing side really rid us of all animosity?  Perhaps not.  But it’s a start.  The goal cannot be reached if there is never a first step.  It requires bravery to show compassion to the enemy, but if Hayley Williams’ example is followed, we will soon discover that the real enemy is not a person, but hatred itself, and that showing compassion for another person will rid us of hatred. 

Works Cited

Williams, Hayley, and Taylor York. Now. Paramore. Fueled by Ramen Records/Atlantic, 2013. CD.

Williams, Sam. Review. n.d.: n. pag. Youtube. Web.                                   <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G133kjKy91U>.