Once (2006)

“Once” is a great film that I recommend to all the music lovers. The journey of “Guy” and “Girl” takes the viewers’ feelings up and down. It is a sad movie in which the two main characters are so right for one another, but other circumstances don’t allow them to be together. But that is the reality of life. The beautiful soundtrack “Falling Slowly” is what makes this film so great. When composing a meaningful song with a meaningful message, you can hear the performers have a stronger connection with the song, and therefore with their audience. What I have noticed about the films that I’ve watched for this course is that the artists seek for connections with others through their art. In this case, the Guy (guitar player) and the Girl (piano player) unify their talents to make a song (Falling Slowly) much better than if they had attempted to perform it by themselves. It connected with the audience.

Rize (2005)

Rize is a very interesting film about African-American roots of krumping. Krumping is defined by the Urban Dictionary as “A positive outlet for anger, a way of spiritual dancing and praise, a popular and fast growing style of hip-hop dance.” It originated in the African-American community of South Central Los Angeles, California. It is free, expressive, and highly energetic. Krumping is also known as “Clown dance” or “clowning” because the dance’s roots were originated by Thomas Johnson aka Tommy the Clown. The dance involves elaborate face painting and freestyle dance moves usually performed in competition with other crews.

 The social content of this film is very powerful. I am not African-American and I have never lived in a place like So Central Los Angeles. It is difficult for me to relate and understand the kind of struggles that the people like the ones in this film go trough. All I can do is try to understand and imagine the anger and frustration that society, poverty, drugs, gangs, injustice, brings to them. People like “Dragon”, Miss Prissy, Tommy, and Larry are just a few examples of people in a community that fight against the “norms” to be better and to better their communities.

One of the scenes that stroked me the most was the one where a large group of African-American people (kids, young, and adults) was dancing on the street next to a fence. I could see how liberating the dancing was to them. Some ended with tears in their eyes, as a sign of liberation. Great stories. Unknown heroes.

MOPA exhibition- Art Event #3

Visiting MOPA, the Museum of Photographic Arts, on October 19^th was a great experience. I’ve never been to a photograph museum before. I was privileged to listen to one of the artist of the “Staking Claim: A California Invitational” exhibition. Christina Seely talked about her photographs in the exhibition, the process of taking them, the techniques that she used, and personal short stories “behind the scenes”. The structure of her pieces was in relation to time, relation to photography and climate change. Then she talked about some structural terms and her connections to nature before, during and after the photographs were taken. 

Sixteen artists, residents of California, showcased their fabulous work. Some of my favorite photographs were taken by Doug Rickard. He is a clever man who made art out of the Google Maps street views. It’s incredible how an internet tool, such as Google Maps, with the purpose of having a street view of almost any place in the map, was taken to a whole new level and was expressed as art. Some images were very powerful; those photographs have a story of the people, place and time.

Who:  Matthew Brandt, Susan Burnstine, Eric William Carroll, John Chiara, Chris Engman, Robbert Flick, Todd Hido, Siri Kaur, Mona Kuhn, Matt Lipps, David Maisel, Klea McKenna, Doug Rickard, Mark Ruwedel, Paul Schiek, Christina Seely.

Where: MOPA is located in beautiful Balboa Park in the Casa de Balboa building, along with the Model Railroad Museum and the San Diego History Center. Casa de Balboa is the building next to the Prado Restaurant. 1649 El Prado San Diego, CA 92101

When: Oct. 8, 2013 – Jan 26, 2014. I attended the event on October 19^th.

Visit: www.mopa.org