Die Antwoord is a South African rap group that is my, honest to what ever deity you believe in, guilty pleasure. I have watched the music videos that they have produced and have oddly fallen in love with their music. It is for everyone. Whether you don't like it, it's for you to not like. Whether you like it, it's for you to like. Whether you laugh at it, it is for you to laugh at. So be it! The following interview (mostly in a language I can not understand but get some words here and there), the topics of "white trash" the style of "zef side" and "hipster" come up.

At first I found it really difficult to understand where the Die Antwoord guy was coming from at first with his curse words and attempt to speak his mind. I honestly thought he was an idiot. I had to re-watch the video again in order to understand that he's just doing what he loves and if it's what he loves then who should stop him or criticize him? It's not hurting anyone. There are critics about all sorts of music, but most commonly in pop culture the music industry will hold the hand of the artist to keep them from sounding idiotic or let their hand go to intentionally have them sound idiotic so that there will be a 'buzz'
Die Andwoord does not have that.

I guess my whole perception changed when at the very end of the interview, when they did not understand what "Conceptual Art" was, and no one cared to explain it in definition to them. However, "Ninja," as he calls himself, responds with a mind blowing statement. It changed my perception on the whole interview.

Yolandi: I just don't understand, we just make music. What did we do? I don't understand, no one explains the question to me... What do you mean? What is conceptual?

Interviewer: I am asking how you feel about, uh, the debate online, on the internet about -

Yolandi: Yeah...

Interviewer: Whether you guys are a piece of conceptual art.

Ninja: Do you consider yourself an intelligent person? This is a straight forward question it's not a trick question. Just say yes or no.

Interviewer: Yes.

Ninja: So what do you think?

Me: Next semester I can't take any art classes 'cause I need to get my-
Chris: YO G.E.D.?!?!?
Me: ...writing requirements
Chris: MHHHMM

Have you heard of the Guerrilla Girls? The Anonymous group of women that went around New York City putting up posters like:



Women artists that came together and stood up against the mens' art world that was formed by men for MEN...who were white. And people would put up their art in exhibits within museums and disregard the beautiful work done by women and people of color.
Fighting for womens' rights in the work place, the art world, and personal life.

I was invited to have dinner with Jane, who was an active member of the Guerrilla Girls.
She was incredible, a truely free spirit who cared what you thought about and had to say. She was open about almost anything and no question was too much.

She is truly inspirational and since her speech I have seen things in a completely different manner.



Thanks Jane!

The "Am I Ugly?" Scene.

Ok so youtube wont let me put up the embedd code so here's the link

Here!!!

Have you seen blatant racism in commercials? Or television? i.e. cartoons?
We all have. Especially in old cartoons and cultures where "racism" is still a selling point.

That being said, check out "Black Toothpaste."

A short animated advertisement film by Johnny Kelly demonstrates the need for a more sustainable food system to the song "The Scientist," originally preformed by Coldplay, however here it is covered by Willie Nelson.
A farmer naturally farming the land and animals. As the main figure, a plump bald man, develops his farm, with the camera panning to the right to exhibit the passing of time, and over time the farm turns into a large industry where the animals are placed in a factory and are given unnatural medicine causing unhealthy waste.
Seeing the wrong that has been done the farmer sets out to fix it all. Unrealistically the solution for his problems happen over night while that would most definitely not happen in the real world, however in an animated film it is more than acceptable. The film is sponsored by The Chipotle Cultivate Foundation a foundation that is dedicated to producing a sustainable healthy and equitable food future. Go ahead, click on the link, it's actually pretty cool!

If you had to make a short animated film about a growing problem what would you chose? Maybe I'll make a short stop-motion and post it later on.

This is absolutely incredible! Maybe I'm a little bias just because the song is my favorite one produced by The Weepies - "The World Spins Madly On."



The contemporary dance is captivating and the chemistry between the two figures is impeccable. A stunning and beautiful work of art.

Ryan Woodward works with Hollywood on large name story-boards, such as Spiderman, Where the Wild Things Are, Iron Man 2 and Cowboys and Aliens. Feeling the need to experiment and to push the boundaries of which were never able to be pushed in Hollywood previously Ryan set sail on a more personal project. "There's this inner beast of creativity that, for me personally, it will consume me to the point of being miserable if I don't let it out and do something with it," Woodward mentions in his his documentary for the making of "Thought of You." A powerful statement which, by most artists, can be agreed upon.



Ryan Woodward explains that the project included the following concepts:

1. The exploration of the drawing the human figure in a variety of creative approaches.  This stems from years of teaching creative gesture drawing.
2. 2d Animation.  This process of animation revisits the passion in my early career as a 2d animator. The illusion of life!
3. Contemporary dance.  Although I am not a dancer, I appreciate the talent and dedication that goes into a beautifully choreographed piece.  A graceful moving human form can communicate more emotion that any length of dialogue.
4. and finally, the exploration of experimental processes and concepts contributes to my own personal growth as an artist.  Having worked commercially for years, this project has allowed me to stretch beyond my former understanding of art.
   - source

What do you think about the short film? What about this film causes you to engage on an emotional level? What exactly captivates you?

If you are at your computer and can not, for any reason, get up and go to the microwave. Maybe the statistics at work are due today and you're stressed on time. I guess there is no time for lunch today, right? Wrong! If you've got your handy-dandy USB lunch box!



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Obviously you will be the envy of all the rest of your hungry co-workers or class mates. During crunch time you're having munch time and all while on the clock. It's incredible how not only does your computer help you social network on the mighty Facebook and search world-wide on the monumental Google or type up your Senior Thesis on Microsoft Word, your computer can now heat up your left overs for you in the library.

Developing technology is accommodating almost all of our needs within our arms reach at our desk, on our floors, on the couch, the concrete outside of someones house who has a password free wifi connection, or hey, maybe you're on the roof stargazing at nebula's while scrolling down the never ending photo's that other people have posted the previous night because you've been on just that long. Trust me, I am on a blog majority of the day and would most definitely rock out the USB Lunch Box.





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