Birth and Life of Opera

Opera first started in Florence, Italy where artists toyed with drama, music, poetry, with a mix of entertainment in order to to create a new form of performance known as drama. The first opera trials  were not popular at first among Europe. However, as time went on and opera was implemented more into society, the more popularity came with it.
There are many forms of opera such as comical or tragedies. Many operas tell stories that people can relate to such as love stories. This is what draws such an attraction to opera. It was eye-opening to learn about the start of opera and how it has advanced through the years. Opera still plays as a large form of entertainment for people in modern day.

Music "Movements"

Post modern music is the adaption to music with society going more modern. Post modern music does not describe a type of music in general, but an actual era. One of the most famous groups that came from this era is U2. Who have recently became the world’s highest paid musicians. This was an Irish Rock band, who really spread the popularity of rock across the world.

Another era of music was the house influencers.  One of the largest groups to come out of this musical era was daft punk. Daft Punk first started their group in Paris in the early 90’s. They pushed French EDM sound of music, making EDM one of the most popular genres of music in current day.

In the 70’s, disco was an extremely popular form of music. Unfortunately, this is one of the genres that have seemed to die down with modern times. One of the most influencial artists to come out of this musical era was Van Mccoy. Van was very musically talented being a songwriter, singer, and conductor in the music industry. Unfortunately, Van Mccoy died shortly after the widespread popularity of his music.

The producer/DJ culture has came more into effect with the widespread popularity of EDM. One of the most popular artists to come out of this culture has been Avicii. Avicii was a good example of all that adds up to this culture of music. He was a DJ, producer, and remixer.  He really shaped EDM remixes and was the reason for the widespread form of this music in recent years. Unfortunately, he passed away due to a drug overdose.

The ninetees was a decade filled with a variety of different genres. One of the largest and most influencial groups to come out of this decade was radiohead. This is an English rock band that gained heavy popularity in the ninetees due to their unique and different rock sound. They changed the sound of modern rock as an influencer.

Final Project

For my final project, I decided I would take videos of the city of Tampa and clip them together. I feel like this best fit my final project, getting to show off the beautiful city we all live in. It was an awesome learning to take clips and turn it into an edited video.

What if the world is a simulation?

My first look upon the question, "what if the world is a simulation?" made me want to do more research. I did a Google search and read some information on the possibility of the world being a simulations. My findings were very interesting with philosophers, doctors, writers, and technologists saying it is very possible. The belief that technology is actually so advanced that all of us are people in a simulation. I read that people believe that "God" is the supercomputer that is running this simulation for all of us. This is something I find very interesting. To think about the possibility of the world being a simulation is very real, but I do not believe this is the case. I believe that all of us are here on this Earth and there is creatures that may be similar to us on other planets. There is no way for us to be the only thing that exists. I feel as if technology would already be so much further advanced if, truly, we were in a simulation.

Can you create art with technology?

Can you create art with technology? When first reading this question, I instantly thought of the simulations of water that were played in class. These simulations were considered art due to the beautiful flow of water with different colors. It was something that really grabbed your attention and I feel as if this is a great example of creating art with technology. So, yes you can create art with technology. However, there are other ways of creating art with technology and will continue to get better with the development of better technology. Clearly, you can create art with technology. Hence the coarse name art and technology. We have been been seeing examples of how we can create art with technology in the videos and projects we have been receiving in class.

Technology

Currently, we live in a generation so focused on and filled with technology. Hence the reason why this decade is known as “the age of technology.” One of the most important pieces of technology we use in our everyday society is our cellphones. Everywhere you look in our everyday lives people are so consumed in their phones, they play such an important role in our lives.

Cell phones were first created in the 1970’s, but this was just a plain phone in which you could call someone on the go. This eventually over time became more advanced and in 1992, the first smart phone was created. But, it was almost nothing like it is today. Still, you could only call on the phone and not much else. The first IPhone came out in 2007, changing the technology for smartphones completely. This was a design created by Steve Jobs, one of the most influential people that this decade has ever seen for technology. Unfortunately, Steve Jobs passed away in 2011, but his work was continued by his company. Today, Iphones are everywhere we look. This is a device that is so important across the world and has influenced other types of technology. The Iphone makes it so we have a computer in our pocket. We have information for everything and anything right in our pocket. We get to make phone calls, receive and send texts, get weather, news, and access to the internet. It is absolutely groundbreaking technology for our time.

It is hard to guess what comes next for technology. Everything is advancing so fast in our society due to us being so focused on advancing technology. What I see coming next is holograms from phones. This would be something in which you could have a conversation in person without being with the person. This would be something similar to facetime except a full body and more realistic experience. It is hard to say how this technology will be created. But, I definitely see it coming down the line and most likely sooner rather than later. This would be also very groundbreaking in our modern day society.

Performance Art

Here is a skit of something that would happen as bullying at UT. It is important to stick up for one another.

grid art

For the grid art project, I decided to make a heart. In class I found it was very entertaining to do something hands on.

Flipbook Project

My book is about a ball that goes on an adventure. He rolls off into the ocean and meets some friends and eventually finds his way back home. Unfortunately, his house is finally knocked down by a tornado.

Opera prior to 1920

When choosing an opera for this weeks assignment I went on the internet to find an opera that would strike my attention. Over time, I found the opera L’Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi. This caught my attention due to it dealing with Greek mythology, a topic that has always caught my interest. The opera is based on the Greek hero named Orpheus. His wife, Eurydice, had the tragic death of being bitten by a snake. The Opera follows the story of the hero trying to bring back his loved one from the underworld. We soon learn that the underworld is a very dark place with horrors ran by the powerful Greek God, Hades.

The Opera starts with the marriage between Orpheus and Eurydice. The marriage is announced and everyone starts singing and joyfully dancing. The marrying couple then sings a loving song for each other. It seems like all is going well and good at this point of the opera. Fast foward from the wedding and Orpheus receives horrible news from a messenger. She had died from a fatal snake bite.

The Opera runs on to show how Orpheus will risk everything and enter the underworld in order to get his love back. This shows the theme of the opera, love. I really enjoyed watching this opera because of the story also the colors and outfits. It is so different from anything we have today and really catches your attention when watching.

Angel de Quinta Blog

In Angel de Quinta’s Stage Door blog, he brings together all sorts sorts of broadway shows in a unique way. I really enjoyed the way Angel really described things out the way he does in his blog. He uses very descriptive words in order to make the reader feel like they are there with him. This is something I found very intruiging because he grabs the reader’s attention in this way. This is a Christmas blog and talks about the role models for Christmas broadway. He has the song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Michael Buble. This is a Christmas song that I love to hear during the holidays because it is just a classic.

Madama Butterfly

After watching Madama Butterfly, I was quite intrigued behind the whole story. I had never watched an opera that played out a story. How I interpreted the Opera, a man has a relationship and they go on to get married. Shortly after they get married, "Madama Butterfly" gets pregnant with the man's child. During this time the man is off with another woman. When he returns he finds that his wife had the child. Although, at this time he is already in love with this other woman unfortunately. When the wife introduces him to the child, he takes it. You are left with the suspense wondering if he will come back with the child. But, he just runs off with the child and never looks back. This drives "Madama Butterfly" to commit suicide because she believes she has nothing more to live for now that both her husband and child is gone. More prominently due to her child because a mother has such a strong bond with their children. When she kills herself, she is with the butterfly in the afterlife. The opera displays the theme of love. We see this in both her love for her husband and child. We also see how love can drive someone crazy, even to the means of death.

Raul Cuero Interview

Raul Cuero grew up in a very small village in Colombia in extreme poverty. Both his parents did not know know to read nor write; this drove him to want to learn and do better than they did. In Colombia, Raul started playing basketball at a very high level on their national team. This gift of basketball made it possible for Raul to get a scholarship and study in The United States. Today, he absolutely crushed his goals as a young child to learn how to read and write. He is currently a microbiologist with nine scientific inventions.
In Raul Cuero's interview with Patricia Gras, Raul says that creativity can only come from conversing to one another. He says that the younger generation has no real creativity because we all use technology instead of conversing. I completely disagree with this statement. Why? So much has changed in the past couple of years with technology. This is the age of technology and our generation focuses so much on advancing technology. This is still considered creativity. It is just focusing our mind on something different and fitting for the time and place we are at in this country.
Something I do agree with in the interview is when Raul talks about doing things with intensity. He mentions how you have to be fully committed to something and give it your all without the thought of failure. Clearly, Raul stuck by this his whole entire life and has played a key part of him being so successful in his career. I agree completely with what Raul says about intensity. If you aspire to do something, you have to give your all. Doing things with intensity help you achieve goals and you should give everything you do in life your all.

Introduction

Hi, I'm John Mahoney. I was born and raised in Salem, Massachusetts. I grew up playing soccer and continued to play up until I left for the University of Tampa. I went to Bishop Fenwick for high school located in Peabody, Massachusetts. I enjoyed high school because of the close friends I made which I now consider family. However, I could not wait until I was out and left for college. I choose The University of Tampa due to the gorgeous weather and campus. I choose to take art and technology because the art classes I took in high school were some of my most enjoyable classes and it catches my interest.