A woman who inspired the world.

Josephine Baker's life inspired me greatly.  To think that any one person could have such courage in the face of a country that's against the very thought of you is just incredible.  Also, the fact that she started dancing when she was just 15, but was able to make it big in such a short time is awe inspiring.  She lead a tough life, being rejected from her home country numerous times, but in the end she opened a path for many more to follow, but this is not the only legacy that she left.  She was a fantastic performer, and rose the bar for all performers world wide.  Not only did she redefine vaudville, but her own image various times throughout her career.  However, with such an accomplished life, tragedy is bound to come around.  She was married to an array of different men but was never able to find lasting love.  Also, the video said that she adopted 12 children from around the world in order to give them what she never had as a child, and this would make sense due to the fact that she was just rejected from her country for the 2nd time.  However, this may not be the entire reason.  With a life full of heartbreak, couldn't it be that she was trying to find love in a different way?  Could it be that she adopted these children to make her feel love and be loved back.  Well I suppose this is just heresay because we could never know for sure, but I think there is something more to the story.  Well even though Josephine Baker suffered some pretty terrible tragidies in her life, her accomplishments overshadow those 100 to 1.  She was and should always be an inspiration to us all!

The appauling nature of Minstrel Shows

Minstrel Shows.  There are only so many words that can describe how appauled I was when I watched the video on youtube "Blacks and Vaudville."  So white people would apply burnt cork to their face to portray black people in the most racist of contexts, but they would also make black performers apply the cork so the audience would assume these black performers were white as well.  Not only did they do this, but they only allowed one black act per show in order to subjegate their race even further.  The white race not only made black people feel inferior, ignorant and stupid, they made them feel like they needed to hide from an audience, probably in order to protect their own love for the spotlight.  I was horrified to find out that some black performers felt like they even needed the burnt cork in order to perform well.  Its like the black people have been lied and subjegated for so long that they embraced the inferiority complex that had been forced upon them.  This was a dark time for whites, but even darker for blacks because they were looked down upon and forced to submit to a race of people who had no respect for them.  I feel ashamed that a race of people could ever be so cruel to people who didn't do anything to deserve such actions.

Our Neo-Baroque world

The Trans Siberian Orchestra performing "Beethoven's Last Night" live



I'm sure many of us, if not all of us have heard of the Trans Siberian Orchestra.  If you've ever seen them live then even better, because none of what I'm about to say will come as a surprise!  The Tran Siberian Orchestra is a rock group that performs mostly Christmas music and classical music.  Their concerts involve lavish performances, incredible light shows, as well as some pretty kick-ass pyrotechnics.  This is exactly why I think TSO is a perfect example of our presence in a Noe-Baroque world.  The eye catching performances put forth by this musical group personify perfectly the ideals that were prominent in the Baroque period.  Below this post's title is a link to an example of a Trans Siberian Orchestra concert.  Please comment and let me know what you think of them and their incredible light shows.  Every time I see them perform, I cannot help but stare in awe at what incredible opportunities technology has created for us!

Hello! This is an introduction!

Hello out there to anyone who may have chanced upon this blog. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jonathan and I am a newcomer to the blogging world so this is a completely new experience for me. With that being said, I guess I'll jump right in. I have been enrolled at the University of Tampa since the summer, when I attended the summer II semester. Currently I am a sophomore whose major area of study is Digital Arts. The reason why I chose this major is because I have been drawing cartoon characters for as long as I can remember, and hope to one day gain the knowledge required to become a comic book illustrator. The reason why I am taking Art and Technology this semester is because I believe it is important to have an understanding of what has come before in order to enhance what we do in the future. So learning about how technology has influenced art and design over time seems like a good place to start in order to gain that necessary knowledge. With all of that out of the way let me just say that I am looking forward to experiencing what this course has to offer. Well I guess that's it for my first blog post. Until next time!