Tuesday, 11 May 2010
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Dutch Baroque-Vermeer
I am taking an art history class and I was looking over some of my old assignments, including a powerpoint presentation I created talking about various works of art. My favorite artist is Johannes Vermeer, who was a Dutch painter during the Baroque period (17th century). I wanted to share some of his works and my commentary on them.
It is also worthwhile to note that there is a book called "Girl With A Pearl Earring" that gives the reader an even greater appreciation for the art and for the culture. Before reading the book I had only seen a few of Vermeer's works. The place where Vermeer lived and descriptions of his family and servants are so amazing in the book that once I saw more of his paintings, I was astonished at how perfectly my mental images of how places and people looked matched with his actual paintings. Vermeer painted most of his paintings in the same room-in a study on the second floor of his house. He positioned most of his subjects by a window near a corner in the room and often used the same props (such as a map, pearls, table, and other small props). There is also a movie based on the book by the same name.
Here is my discussion of one of Vermeer's work called The Geographer
Date: ca. 1668
Period: Baroque (Dutch)
Location: Frankfurt, Netherlands
Artist: Vermeer
Material/Method: oil on canvas
Art Historical Significance: The painting shows the importance of the genre scene and the detailed portrait in Dutch Baroque painting. The subject is shown at work on an everyday task (he is a geographer) in a typical Dutch house. This depiction of everyday life was common during the Dutch Baroque because the people who were commissioning portraits there were wealthy merchants and businessmen; not religious leaders or rulers. Also because of this, Dutch Baroque painting was largely secular- preferring to highlight the prosperous trading and middle class system of the Dutch Republic.
Here are some of Vermeer's other works:
GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING
THE ART OF PAINTING"The Art of Painting" features Vermeer himself painting in his usual study.
Thursday, 12 November 2009
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Cupcakes, Finger Puppets, and Mini Stonehenge
I was just thinking about all of the things that happened today and I realized how much I love my friends and my life. Today was a pretty typical day for me, which is what makes it so amazing. Me and my friends keep doing wierd, fun things and I was striken today with how much I love it all. Let me explain by telling a few things that happened today.
At lunch I had brought a Make Your Own Stonehenge kit ($1 at Barnes and Noble, it is about the size of a CD and has pre-made stonehenge rocks that you put in their corresponding places on a grass mat). Me and my friends Steph and Courtney recreated the wonders of stonehenge at our lunch table. Then it was discovered that Steph had four finger puppets (sheep, horse, pig, and chicken). We then proceeded to terrorize stonehenge with flying, giant farm animals...with sound effects of course.
Later at lunch we started singing the Mysterious Ticking Noise off of PotterPuppetPals.com and we managed to get to Harry Potter before we all broke down laughing. It is our goal to train up with this song until we can do it justice in a public place. For the record, Dumbledore is the funnest and I have a ridiculously fun time saying "Dumbledore!" as enthusiastically as I can while flailing my arms around.
Me and my friends Courtney and Tabbi watched more PotterPuppetPals during our next class and were laughing so hard I could hardly breathe. We particularly like the Wizard Curse episode (GO WATCH IT!). I'm sure somebody thought we were having fits from all of our doubling over and helium-leak cackling. We usually spend our 6th period class like this. We often read mylifeisaverage.com. Another time Courtney typed in "flesh eating bacteria" into google just to be random. We then went on an informative journey to an awesome website that sells not only flesh eating bacteria plush dolls, but also sells swine flue, sperm, and black death plushes. Guess who is going to get a deadly disease plush doll for their birthday!?!
At History MACC practice this afternoon my friend Steph was there with her finger puppets. Instead of knocking our knuckles on the desk to buzz in with an answer like we usually do, we were all given a finger puppet and had to buzz in by making the noise of that animal. Halfway through we decided that the pig one looked like a naked mole rat and our guy friend should say "NAKED!" when he wanted to answer. I made very loud, enthusiastic chicken noises, to the great enjoyment of our MACC coach. We split into two teams and had to come up with names. Hufflepuff raged a fierce battle with Griffindor. Our assistant principle walked in at one point with cupcakes with an obscene amount of blue icing on top to celebrate his birthday. They were delicious and for the remainder of practice we competed with blue stained teeth (I later went into Wachovia to open a checking account, unable to fully get the blue off my mouth). When I don't know the answer to a question like "Who did ___ in China (or wherever)" I answer with a racist, stereotypical name because very rarely they will be correct. My MACC coach thought it was hilarious that I would anwer with Pedro, Ching Chong, and Jaques. My MACC coach complains about Courtney often in a joking, fond kind of way. He told us all to stay away from her because he learned that she worked the voting polls dressed as a strip of bacon.
One day in my 6th period class me and my best friend were in the library. It was a senior wear black day during spirit week. I wore a black cape to school and decided to have as much fun with it as I could. While my friend watched, I ran frantically into the book shelves, cape flying out behind me and started hiding behind the shelves. To her histarical laughing I ran and jumped as high as I could, pulling my knees up as high as I could, and launched myself back towards her with my cape gloriously flapping in the wind behind me. She then had to try it on and I cackled as she snuck from shelf to shelf, trying to be inconspituous.
Another day in that class, yes we're pretty unproductive, my friend stalked another of our friends who was sitting on the couch at another part of the library. She crept behind the bookshelves and went down to a crawl to get behind the couch. He continued to peacefully be absorbed in reading his book as she dissapeared from view, only to see her head emerge slowly right behind him on the couch a few seconds later. She then scared him badly by attacking him and screaming at him.
There are so many great things that we do every day and I am so glad God blessed me with their friendship. In addition to all the fun, sidesplitting fun, we are there for each other in serious times. We listen to each other's problems and have heard each other cry. I know my best friend would give her life to save those she loves, including me, and I don't know how I can thank her for that. How can I thank her for every day she has made me laugh until I cry, for all the times she's listened to me, to all the times she's trusted me and confided in me, for caring for me despite my weaknesses and allowing me to see hers, for helping me when I have been in trouble, and so many other things? I guess all I can do right now is try to do all of that for her, which is not a hard thing when you really love someone. Thank you Courtney.
Friday, 30 October 2009
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TV Commercials
Okay, so I was reading a post about Olive Garden commercials and how stupid they were. That inspired me to write about the commercials that drive me nuts, so here goes.
First on the list is a sneaky commercial that lulls you into a false sense of security before hitting you with the true product behind the advertisement. I was watching TV one day and I see a cartoon of a woman sitting on a couch and on a picnic blanket, feeling them both. The commercial said, "Don't you wish everything in life was soft?" and I assumed I was in for a fabric softener commercial. What was the real product? Stool softener. Thank you random commercial. The next time I want to deposit a couch or a blanket into my toilet, I will buy your product.
Now I get to rant about politics a bit. So Deeds and McDonald are running against each other in Virginia for governor. I have no clue where the candidates stand on any of the issues. I haven't the foggiest about what they want to do for Virginia if they get elected. All that their attack ads have been trying to convince us of is that the other is a liar, will hurt Virginia jobs, and is unfit to govern. If that's the case, then I vote we should get Steven Colbert up here and get him elected. Virginia would probably be a much cooler place. The candidates might be great people for all I know, but that's the point, I DON'T know because all they seem to show are attack ads.
There is another genre of commercial that airs, without fail, while someone in my household is eating. I call them the "feminine itch and odor" commercials. You've probably seen these. They are usually about vagisil cream or something equally gross. How they managed to get the actresses to say "feminine itch and odor" without laughing or throwing up is beyond me. I can't rag on these commercials too much however, because they come on mainly while my mom's boyfriend is in the room eating something and it's fun to watch his reactions.
Another series of commercials that bug me aren't from any brand or company in particular. They are ads that show one brand or business, then when you finally think it's over and your show will come back on, nope, lo and behold, it's another commercial from the SAME PEOPLE. Really, what kind of nightmarish encore is this!?! I really don't want to know about the Jr. Bacon Cheese Whopper two times in a row. One is quite sufficient, thank you very much. The clincher about these is that it is usually not a fun commercial, its generally a long-winded one about something I'm too young to care about (like car insurance...ehem Allstate). It's like being sucked into a time machine, except you don't get to meet Abraham Lincoln or look at flying ships. Instead, you get the pleasure of hearing about the Sonic Blizzard AGAIN (which are delicious, but that's beside the point).
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