Terrible Situations

 

Jimmy finally made it to the bomb after fighting dozens of henchmen. He was ready to save the day. He then said to himself. “Crud.  Which wire do I cut?”

 

I’m ready to get my drivers license said the student driver. “Wait, I thought I was the student, I don’t have my license either” said the teacher.

“Tony Bridgewater has to make this free throw to win the national championship” the announcer boomed, “Too bad he is a freshman and hasn’t played a minute all season”

“Whoa wait a second,” said the newest angel, “I am not supposed to be a guardian angel, I was promised to be the angel of death”

Model needed for tattoo practice.  Models will be compensated for their time

In my short stories I wanted to put the reader in situations where they would not want to be.  There are so many instances in everyone’s life when they encounter ‘opportunities’ that will harm them more than help them.  When those moments do happen we should be able to look at them and laugh at ourselves.  Sometimes art takes itself too seriously.  While there is a time and place for serious pieces I also believe that art should make people smile.  If art is able to evoke strong emotions of sadness, anger, and fear art should also be able to make people laugh, smile, and enjoy life. 

            One piece in class that really influenced me was the video ‘Laughing’ from our class blog.  The entire video just had people of all ages laughing.  After watching that video I realized I hadn’t laughed that hard in a long time.  I wanted to be able to create something that might be able to do the same thing.  I don’t think that these short stories will make people laugh uncontrollably, but I hope it puts a smile on a few people’s faces.

            Another piece that influenced me was the “Holiday Inn Express” commercials.  In this set of commercials people are doing amazingly difficult things and when someone asks them of their qualifications they don’t have any other than staying at a Holiday Inn Express.  In the ads there is very little dialog and a lot of the setting is implied, but it is relatable to the audience.  I wanted that same feel of the reader being able to create his or her own setting.

            This idea started when I thought how tattoo artist first start their career and how no one would want to be a tattoo artist’s first customer.  I started thinking about how I would find my first customer if I was a tattoo artist.  The idea of a Craig’s List ad was one of the first things that came to mind because Craig’s List can have some of the most ridiculous ads a person has ever seen.  Another piece of art that affected me was the film “Safety Not Guaranteed” which is about an ad of someone who was looking for a time traveling partner and it is a serious ad.  People place ads in classifieds all the time and anyone of them can be answered as long as there is one person who sees it who thinks it is a good idea.

Music Mosaic

Link to the song: Click Here

I chose Daniel Waples Hang Drum solo for my music mosaic piece.  The music in the song is very bright and colorful as this inverted steel drum is played with a person's hands.  The song also never slows down or takes its time.  It is sprints through the whole piece and because of that I chose to photograph paths that are taken every day rather by people or nature.  I also chose to saturate the color of all of the photographs very heavily due to the brightness of the instruments used in the solo.
One film that influenced me in this piece was O Brother Where Art Thou.  In O Brother Where Art Thou it was shot during the spring and the grass was a very vibrant green.  They wanted the film to be set in the Midwest during the dust bowl.  To do this they edited all of the footage afterwards to de-saturate the grass and other foliage.  I wanted to the opposite affect on my photos so I enhanced the colors to give a brighter and happier tone to all of the pictures. 
Some of the paths that I have used in my mosaic are not paths that humans normally take.  People don’t want to walk through a river or in a gutter.  I chose to use these paths because of the basicness of the song.  The song is recorded in an underground concrete tunnel and has a very open sound.  The hang drum that he plays has no electric amplification either.  All of the sounds in his song are natural but the instrument itself is different and unique.  I wanted to be able to capture this idea of humanity living with nature instead of man trying to battle nature.  None of the pictures have people within the frame.  I wanted the viewer to feel isolated while looking at these pictures and for the viewer to focus more on the form, color, and composition without any distractions. 
The pictures do not look completely natural due to the over processing of the pictures.  I wanted to do this to make the viewer look over the picture again to figure out why it doesn’t look natural just like the song has nothing incredibly different but you want to continue to listen to it because there is just something different about the song. 

Jimmy Valvano’s ESPYS Speech

           In 1993 ESPN decided to hold an award ceremony to recognize the greatest athletes in the world, much like what the Oscars are for film.  While there were awards for the athletes the greatest speech of that night came from the former NC State men’s basketball head coach ‘Jimmy V’ who was diagnosed with cancer 8 months prior.  Jimmy V was awarded the “Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award” for his courage in facing cancer.  His speech has raised millions of dollars for cancer research and has inspired a countless number of people.  That one speech has forever changed how sports and service are connected.
 

            Jimmy V was one of the most outgoing coaches of all time.  He would joke around with the announcers of the game before it started and was always willing to do an interview for any broadcast.  The pinnacle of his career was in 1983 when his NC State team won the national championship as a large underdog.  He never turned down the spot light.

            When he was diagnosed with cancer he still kept up that glowing attitude.  In his speech at the ESPYS he didn’t use the time to talk about himself though, he wanted to create a better world.  He announced the start of “The V Foundation for Cancer Research” that night.  This foundation raises millions of dollars every year by having a college men’s basketball week called Jimmy V week on ESPN in which they ask for donations.  Every year ESPN will air Jimmy V’s plea to the world to help end cancer by donating to this foundation.  It is one of the only continuous charity programs that are aired on ESPN, which is the largest provider of sports in the United States.

            “Don’t give up…Don’t ever give up” this is the motto that Jimmy V coined that night.  If that phrase is repeated to any long term fan of college basketball they will immediately think of Jimmy V.  He also said “Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever.”  That phrase is something that reaches out to all people.  People are afraid of death, rather it be their own death or the death of a loved one.  To know that someone who is staring down death refuses to give up to a terrible disease is incredibly heart warming.  This is not something that just die hard sports fans can relate to, instead it is a message that is comforting to everyone.

            At one point in the speech a light started flashing at Jimmy V telling him he had 30 seconds left in which he responded, “They got that screen up there flashing 30 seconds, like I care about that screen. I got tumors all over my body and I'm worried about some guy in the back going 30 seconds.”  He showed that even during this serious moment in his life that he could still laugh, and better yet that he could laugh at himself.  There are not a lot of cancer patients that would joke around about having tumors all over their body, but Jimmy V didn’t want to be like everyone else.  He wanted to give hope to all of those other people who were and are affected by this terrible disease.

            Eight weeks after this amazing speech Jimmy V passed away in North Carolina.  It was a sad moment for the entire sporting world.  One of the happiest men to ever coach had passed away.  He made sports fun again for lots of players and fans, but now they would never hear his smile inducing laugh again.  So people started listening to that speech over and over again.  It was the last piece of Jimmy V that existed.  Jimmy V changed the way basketball was played, he created the idea that an underdog could win against the big guys, but his biggest legacy was his speech eight weeks before he passed away.  He has inspired multiple generations both inside and outside of sports.  He has given people a piece of hope that not everything is going to be terrible.  Most of all he created something that cancer can not take away and that is the Jimmy V foundation, a foundation that continually provides hope for cancer patients.  Jimmy V lived like he was bigger than life and even after he passed away he still has an enormous impact on the lives of millions.