Last Blog! Woohoo!

 I thoroughly enjoyed Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits.  I loved the style of magical realism, and it reminded me of how children perceive the world and their surroundings.  When I was little, I believed anything a family member would tell me, so if I were in Alba’s shoes, of course, I would think my grandmother is clairvoyant and the three legged table can shake without any outside force.  My favorite character in the book was Alba because the reader was able to follow her from birth to adulthood.  Alba was not only interested in her grandmother’s magic and ability to tell the future, but she was also the only woman in the family that was some-what involved with politics and her stance on the government.  Alba is a strong and determined girl, like her grandfather, and she is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in.  I think this is why I liked her so much because while most of the citizens of Chili were hiding safely behind the curtains of their house, Alba rescued people that the government was trying to kill.  She risked her life and deceived her grandfather in order to do what she thought was morally right.

Another aspect of the book that I really enjoyed was the foreshadowing that Allende uses.  She begins foreshadowing events from the first chapter onward that are brought back up later in the story.  One of the most disturbing and sad events of foreshadowing occurred on Clara’s wedding day, when her massive dog, Barrabas, died.  He died with a huge butcher’s knife in his back, but it was never explained how this accident or murder actually happened.  He stumbled to Clara, who was dressed in her wedding gown, and died in her arms.  I think the death of Barrabas signified the loveless marriage that Clara had just begun.  She lost her best friend on her wedding day, and to me, that sounds like bad luck.  I think Allende used Barrabas’ death to foreshadow what was to come in the marriage of Esteban and Clara, which was mostly composed of violence and silence.

Put your raincoat on, you’re about to get BLUE!

As our humanities book describes, total art took the art making process and made it public.  The actual work of art is less important than the process used to create the work of art.  A well known example of total art can be seen in Yves Klein’s “Anthropometry”.  This total art consists of naked women using each other as painting utensils and sliding over a canvas of some sort (kind of like a weird, awkward slip and slide if you ask me).  “Anthropometry” reminded me of a modern day, more family oriented type of performance art or total art.  I’m sure many of you have even experienced this total art!  I’ll give you a hint:  There’re blue, mute, and love playing with paint!  I’m talking about the Blue Man Group!

For those of you who have never seen this strange depiction of total art, the Blue Man Group is a group of men, usually three to four, who have painted blue bodies and wear all black clothes.  They are portrayed as being from another planet, for they are unfamiliar with technology and such from our world.  They have childlike fascinations for music and color, and they bang on drums while splattering multicolored paint!  The whole performance gets the audience involved.  At one point, we had to dance along to the music while huge balloon balls were being tossed in the air!

After reading the humanities section on total art and reminiscing on the Blue Man Group, I realized I really enjoy performance art a lot better than looking at paintings in a museum for example.  Total art gets my attention, and I love how some pieces even include the audience in on the art making process!  The Blue Man Group actually had some random volunteers from the audience help them make fun pieces of art, such as painting the volunteer’s body blue and slamming them against a canvas!  Just watching the art making process filled me with emotion:  excitement, concern, confusion, and joy!  If I were to look at the finished product, such as a spatter painting made by one of the blue men, I would not have these various emotional responses unless I attended the event while he made the work of art!  To me, total art is more valuable than looking at a painting.  While most of us cannot afford a million plus dollar painting, we can keep the experience and memory of a performance/total art with us as long as we live for a fraction of the price!

Here's a link to the official blue man group site if you wanna check it out for yourself!

http://www.blueman.com/experience/music-and-video

I would rather eat a locust...

I may have fallen asleep multiple times while trying to read Nathanael West’s, The Day of the Locus.  Personally, I think the novel is utterly dry and complex with violence scattered throughout the story line.  Actually, was there even a story line?  I asked myself what the point of the book was after reading it, and I came to the conclusion that unlike other writers at the time, West incorporated failed dreams and realistic views into his novels.  He portrays a disgusting, brutal outlook on life in California, more specifically Los Angeles.  Almost all of the characters in the novel were unsuccessful in achieving their dreams, which made the story entirely depressing.  The violence depicted in the novel was also disturbing, but at the same time, it really didn’t catch my attention enough to become engrossed in the book.  Maybe today’s society has increased my ability to withstand the shock and violence described in movies, books, and songs.  Thus, this book wasn’t shocking enough for me.  When I picture Los Angeles I do think about the homeless people crowding the streets, those who West describe as those waiting to die there, and the crime that occurs in the city.  Even the mob scene that occurs at the end of the story doesn’t surprise me at all.  A big move star came into town; of course people get wild and senseless right?  It seems expected.  In the early twentieth century, I can understand how this book would raise some brows.  The reoccurring themes of violence, prostitution, and sexual innuendos were probably a little concerning at the time. 



What's the odds of becoming a famous actor/actress in Hollywood?



Los Angeles maybe the city of failed dreams for some...



Big city... Big opportunities right?



 



 

West describes the violence in such a way that it appears to stem from the characters’ boredom and resentment of Los Angeles.  The characters go to the city because they believe they will find success, but when they fail at achieving their dreams, they become aggressive and inhuman.  This may explain why the mob was easy to aggravate.  Also, the violence revolves around Faye Greener in the majority of the story. 

Faye is like an unattainable, fake robot that the male characters are madly attracted to.  This is cause for tension because there is a competition between the men, and the tension escalates at the party at Homer’s house and ends in a large fight.  Multiple times throughout the novel Tom imagines raping Faye.  I think these acts of violence represent the characters’ resentment toward Faye because they are not successful in winning her over.  The men’s’ failed attempts to get Faye’s attention and affection may symbolize their overall failure at life in Los Angeles.  I couldn’t bring myself to sympathize with the victims of the acts of violence, especially Faye Greener.  Faye Greener was said to be fake in her actions and words and seemed to put on a nonstop facade for her audiences.  I couldn’t even stand to read about this girl because she seemed so robotic and untrustworthy; thus I was unsympathetic to the wrongdoings that were done to her.  Like Tom Hackett’s view, I think Faye seemed to bring misfortune upon herself.

On an end note, I definitely don’t want to visit Los Angeles or read another Nathanael West book.