Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Master Comedian, King of Wit

Julius Henry Marx, or best known by his stage name Groucho Marx, is considered by many one of the best comedians of all time. If you have not heard of him before you probably have seen the famous Groucho Glasses:

Originally starting out as a singing vaudevillian actor along with his brothers, they soon were to ditch their musical stylings for comedic skits. He is best know during this time for his quick talking wise guy character. The look of big framed glasses, with the thick black mustache and eyebrows also originated from his vaudevillian acts where he would apply greasepaint. 

After evolving from vaudeville acts to Hollywood  making movies with his family. His films were mostly well received and some are considered the most creative products of Hollywood during his time. He was also known for being a radio talk show host, where one of his quiz game shows then became live broad-casted on television.  The quiz game highlighted Groucho's form of comedy where it focused on his quick wit and wise cracking. He remained on air for 12 years, during which he won an Emmy. 
His style has influence modern many aspects of modern media. Where many comedians carry on his tradition of quick wit banter (John Stewuart, Stephen Colbert). I believe that comedy requires a big source of imagination, where a comedian needs to apply a constant ability to abstract the nature of a situation and distort in a manner that creates some form of perversion that it is funny. This level of imagination, also needs to continually be happening in short bursts that require a huge level of ingenuity and mental concentration. This level of imagination, also needs to continually be happening in short bursts that require a huge level of ingenuity and mental concentration. This use of imagination to extract the abstract elements of a situation is reminiscent of Einstein’s way of thinking. Einstein is someone who was able to imagine some of the greatest theories of physics through his thought experiments in which he would visualize and distort his environment.
Here are some of his skits:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPHjJnFqs-s

sources:http://www.biography.com/people/groucho-marx-594094#solo-careerhttp://www.marx-brothers.org/biography/groucho.htm




Kanye West: Social Activist


Whether you personally view Kanye as a creative genius or ranting lunatic, he is doing something different. He has sold more than 32 million albums and 100 million digital downloads. He has won 21 Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists of all time. Kanye is more than an egotistical maniac and more than a rapper from Chicago, he is a social activist.


Kanye began exhibiting signs of talent at the age of 5 in the form of poetry. His passion for music and art became apparent in third grade and continued to grow. At the age of 20, he dropped out of college as the environment was not conducive to his musical dreams. His mother would later look back on this moment and comment, “It was drummed into my head that college is the ticket to a good life… but some career goals don’t require college. For Kanye to make an album called College Dropout it was more about having the guts to embrace who you are, rather than following the path society has carved out for you.” Skipping forward a few years in October 2002, Kanye was involved in a nearly fatal car crash after falling asleep at the wheel. This near death experience is what Kanye himself credits as the momentum that sparked the beginnings of his first album College Dropout and the Kanye we know today.




College Dropout went against the gangster rap stereotype of hip hop of the time and exposed themes of family, religion, college, race relations, criticizing rappers for being poor role models, and self indulgent materialism. One of my favorite components to this album are the skits throughout. These have the purpose of setting the stage for the lyrical discussion of the above mentioned socially fueled topics. Two of the most socially charged songs on the album are “We Don’t Care” and “Jesus Walks”. “We Don’t Care” is an ironic approach to shedding light on the influence the thug or gangster life has on youth and how detrimental this is to underprivileged areas. Lyrics such as,

Sittin' in the hood like community colleges
This dope money here is Lil' Trey's scholarship
'Cause ain't no to tuition for havin' no ambition
And ain't no loans for sittin' your ass at home
We forced to sell crack rap and get a job
You gotta do somethin' man your ass is grown” 

which further touch on race relations as they relate to higher education and therefore opportunities for poor African Americans. “Jesus Walks” was revolutionary by mentioning a religious undertone in a rap/hip hop song while incorporating gospel singing. Kanye discusses the inherent value of all, following up with the repeated lyrics “Jesus walks for them”. The music video furthers the focus on race relations with slavery related imagery in the chain gang. 


This fall, Kanye had a very public mental breakdown. This reminded me of "Secrets of the Creative Brain" authored by Nancy Andreasen and the link between mental illness or  borderline madness and creativity. Many creatives have ended their own lives (Virginia Wolf, Earnest Hemingway, etc.) and Kanye has publicly spoken on his suicidal thoughts before. Andreasen concluded that creatives did have a higher rate of hereditary mental illness including bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, panic disorder, and alcoholism. Unfortunately, Kanye too has shown signs of mental illness and I personally have a hope that he addresses this in his next album and brings to light the struggles of this. He has empowered many in the past through his music and I hope he can continue to do so in this new outlet. 

However controversial, Kanye uses himself and his platform to begin the conversation surrounding pressing issues in a creative way, through music. This is common in some aspects, but was not brought to his genre in such a way that reached mass audiences until College Dropout. Many outside of the groups he is referring to would not have been exposed to many issues without his music. Having a more meaningful and socially impactful message than drugs, women, and violence is what has set Kanye apart from others in his genre and what will continue to propel his success. 


Sources: 
Andreasen, Nancy. "Secrets of the Creative Brain." The Atlantic Monthly Group (2014): n. pag. July 2014. Web. 27 Feb. 2017. 
https://books.google.com/books?id=J9kDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA93#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2005/09/kany-s30.html
http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/kanye-west-the-college-dropout
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/music/reviews/2004-02-09-listen-up_x.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYF7H_fpc-g
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1096499-3,00.html



Has He Lost His Marbles?

How many uses do you have for a marble? 2? Maybe 5 if you are lucky? I bet you would never think that a marble could make a  4 minute long song. Martin "MacGyver"Molin did just that. 

Molin is a Swedish electronica musician who was previously part of a band called Detektivbyrån, who won 2 Grammis awards (the Swedish equivalent of an American Grammy) as well as many other awards for their accomplishments. However, when the band broke up in 2010, Molin started working on a new project: a musical machine.

He wanted to challenge himself by trying to find a new way to mix technology with music. He states in an interview with Wired that he stumbled across the marble machine subculture and wanted to put a new spin on it. When he first had the idea, he thought," Marble machines always make music, but [he] was thinking maybe . . . that it doesn't make chaos, but is actually controllable in the sounds it make." After 14 months and 2,000 marbles later, he finally finished it: the Wintergatan Marble Machine. 

Source: YouTube

The video gained attraction and has over 38 million views. The machine has 6 different instrument: the vibraphone, bass guitar, cymbals, kick drum, high hat, and a snare drum. All it needs in order to play all of those instruments is one person turning the wheel. The song that the machine plays was originally composed on the piano and then Molin pieced each part of his machine to fit that tune. 

  Source: YouTube


All the parts of the machine were crafted by hand. He drew up the plans and cut every single part  for the machine. He drew out each part of the machine and then made each piece by wood.  It was a very tedious process and it was a "trial, error and failure method", Molin describes. He is currently on tour with the Wintergatan Marble Machine as well as his other new musical contraption; the music box. He knows that this machine is not perfect at the moment and he knows that he eventually has to fix it, but right now "all [he] wants to do is make music".

Molin's experience in creating the Wintergatan Marble Machine reminded me of Guildford's Alternative Uses Task. Instead of "how many uses can you think of for a brick?" it is now "how many uses can you think of for a marble?" (or in his case, 2,000 marbles). He exhibits divergent thinking, which is essential for creativity. Being a Pro-C creative helped his creative process as well. He was an  established electronic musician before he created the machine and he used this past knowledge in order to know which instruments needed to be added  and how to arrange the music for the machine. 
It is only with the help of his past experience that he was able to create such an extraordinary and unique musical instrument.  
References:
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/marble-machine-video
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wintergatan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detektivbyr%C3%A5n

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Guq7vZb_E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uog48viZUbM

A Mesmerizing Moment

It's a bit curious when a band is known for videography, rather than their music, but American rock band OK Go had done just that. From filming in zero gravity to performing complex routines on treadmills, their music videos have always had a special, creative element thrown into production. 

Their latest project, The One Moment, is no exception. The first three-quarters of the video are shot in 4.2 seconds in real time; with an added 16 seconds of real-time lip-synching and a final scene of 3 seconds, the video totals out to 23.2 seconds shot in real time. The video was then slowed down, toggling at different speeds, to sync with the 4.5 minute song. It's no wonder Rolling Stone called this music video a "marvel" (an understatement, in my opinion). 




"The song is a celebration of... those moments in life when we are most alive. Humans are not equipped to understand our own temporariness," front man and video director Damian Kulash, Jr. said about the song. "For the video, we tried to represent this idea literally — we shot it in a single moment. We constructed a moment of total chaos and confusion, and then unraveled that moment, discovering the beauty, wonder, and structure within." 

With a total of 318 events happening within the filmed 23.2 seconds of the video, the final product involved hours of planning, patience, and hard work. For Kulash, this meant a spreadsheet of 25 columns and 400 rows to synchronize the timing of the song with every single salt explosion and exploding guitar: 




OK Go's project relates to Czikszentmihalyi's idea of dichotomies (1997). The bright colors and fast pace represent a playfulness, yet, as seen with this spreadsheet, it took a great amount of discipline to pull off. OK Go's reputation for imaginative videos is backed up with the reality of creating a spreadsheet like the one above to make sure the product comes out well-timed with each event and each beat of the song. And finally, the band plays music in line with classic alternative rock music, yet rebels against with traditional music videos with their creative concepts. 



OK Go is masterful at keeping everyone on their toes, so I'm excited to see what their next music video concept will be. 

Sources:

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. New York: Harper/Collins. - Chapter 3

http://okgo.net/2016/11/23/background-notes-and-full-credits-for-the-one-moment-video/