One Take

As a YouTube consumer, I tend to find YouTube producers fascinating. One of my favorites was introduced to me by my roommate Katrina, and I have talked about him frequently on this blog  - KurtHugoSchnieder.

Recently he posted a Bruno Mars Medley (which is great) and then revealed that it was a one take video. Now, I don't know much about film, so my friend Brandon may come scold me about this later, but I had never heard of the concept of one take until the infamous Old Spice guy. Now I feel like it's everywhere.

Artist friends, chime in - how do you make sure you're cutting edge, and not just cheap imitation? What defines "cutting edge" art? I think mostly of Jackson Polluck here - the cigarette butt in paint art that he created isn't particularly nice to look at, but it was new and different.

What about the idea that there's "nothing new under the sun"? How does that apply to art?

For Karen, my dance teacher

I wrote this poem for my dance teacher at the end of our class this summer. It's structured where I alternate her quotes and my returning thoughts.

"Pick up your bones!"
in her ominous tones.
"Stay in dance position"
for smooth transition.
"arm goes up, lady goes under"
my dance teacher is quite a wonder.

"I teach you to dance, I don't teach you the move"
When I dance, I hope she will approve.
"a man has a corner, a lady has a center"
dancing is a magical world she's helped me enter.
"point your toes, or he'll step on your feet"
In her class I've learned to keep to the beat.

"Don't forget to practice! Go and make dancing."
I will try to practice before the fall. Thank you for teaching!

I hope you all enjoyed that! I seem to have poetry in the mind recently so expect a few more before the summer ends. :)

Summer Poem

Hot, humid, and sunny, fans all around.

bugs and lawnmower grass litter the ground.

Counting down the weeks of a summer internship,

Planning some crazy one day or weekend trips.

Summer reading and berry picking.

Letters to camp and T-shirts turned damp.
Popsicle sticks and TV chick flicks.
Long days and outdoor plays.

Little sisters want to be playing with me.

My little brother climbs up a tree.

summer Bible study dinners full of fun.

Dancing because it's way to hot to run.

One day, I'll be grown up enough that summer doesn't change life.

Until then, enjoy my summer projects and poetry. :)

Retelling Sleeping Beauty

It's a very popular thing recently to re-imagine old fairy tales. My sisters read these recreated tales all of the time. A few days ago I was thinking about a way to recreate a fairy tale, and this is the beginning I came up with:

Once upon a time in a kingdom far far away there lived a woman named Mary. She was a very good cook, and everyday she drove into the place to help cook for the king, the queen, and their daughter. She had never met the royal family - she simply rolled out pie crusts, peeled potatoes, and did other chores that no one else felt like doing. It wasn't great work, but she had been doing it for many years, since before the princess was born. Mary had a daughter, Elise, who was preparing for her wedding, and a son, Eddie, who was quite young and still got into mischief. Everyday she left Eddie in Elise's care while she worked at the palace. Mary knew that there was something odd about the princess - a story that involved a fairy, and pricking her finger - but she didn't have time for that magic nonsense, so she didn't pay much attention. She  was too busy working to make Elise's wedding dress, to find a good school where Eddie could be educated, and to keep her little garden in tip-top order. One day, as she was stirring a large pot of applesauce, Mary felt her eyes grow heavy, and noticed every other servant in the castle seemed to also be nodding off to sleep. Slightly alarmed, she managed to dump her pot of applesauce on the low fire to put it out before she and the rest of the kitchen staff fell into a stupor.

Well, as you can imagine, my poor Mary is from the story of Sleeping Beauty. As I was imagining a re-telling, I contemplated those people in the palace who were NOT a member of the royal family. Mary has two children who are outside the castle gates, children who will be long gone when she wakes up in 100 years. If I were to flesh this out into a longer, better story, I would have Mary go on a quest to discover the histories of her missing children. I have a hard time imagining how it would feel, to wake up not knowing where or who you were anymore, because the time was so different, but I feel like it would be quite startling. My Mary is a particularly practical person - notice how she put out the fire before she fell asleep - very wise, because otherwise what's to prevent them all from burning down? I sort of wonder if rats and other animals overran the castle while all the humans slept. That might be another interesting angle to take on the Sleeping Beauty tale. Anyways, I'm open as to suggestions on what to do with Mary - I'm considering (again) trying my hand at a NaNoWriMo novel with this story as the basic plot line. I'd have to flesh out the introduction so that you feel connected to her son and daughter more, but I think it would be a fun story. I'm also considering putting her into a steam-punk future. That would be super interesting. Let me know what works!