Critical thinking HUP 102 assignment1 . Also Happy New Year . I know, I'm late. 1/13/14

Anthony Andujar jr

HUP102 Critical Thinking

Prof Joan Harmon

1/13/14

Revenge of the Right Brain 

Q1. The differences between the Industrial Age, Information Age and the Conceptual age are explained by Daniel H. Pink. 

  Industrial Age: an age where work was more hands on. That 'anyone' could do it sort of attitude and focusing on a 'farmers' / factory worker role.

  Information Age: an era where a lot of work was channeled through the left brain. Heavily reliant on logic , reasoning and crunched/coded numbers that defined the work that shaped society and jobs. It's very focused on being a analytic knowledge worker that can pinpoint selling markets and opportunities that are gained through information based on habits and numbers within society.

  Conceptual Age: is currently an age where society starts to make
More use of the right brains abilities. Where the left brain provides logic and factual information (it's like a skeleton if you will), the right brain provides high concepts that make it more approachable and channel depth that isn't a cold product with out purpose or reliability. (The skin on the skeleton). It's to think outside the box by looking inside the box with the materials provided and making something more out of the materials provided that no one even realized. It's an age where people can become creators and form a connection with others in a sincere human way.

Q2. The social forces that H.Pink thinks are transitioning society from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age are three things: Asia, Automation and Abundance.
 Pink thinks these three things are the reason for the transition between the ages. 1) Asia :provides more jobs and more financial gain due to the likeliness of providing costs that are a lot more cheaper and a lot more accessible to society than in the U.S.   People could find others in Asia who could provide the same services for a cheaper price, making it easier to make a good deal/buck compared to the costly services in the US.
      
    2) Automation : has changed the landscape of hands on work. What used to take a lot of money and time to hire lawyers and stockbrokers can now be taken care of more by the individual and a website that deals with financial information. It's changed the role of lawyers and stockbrokers alike by turning them in to advisers that allow for a more human element to be fulfilled. With websites that provide cheaper/affordable services, any individual could take it in their own hands instead of leaving it all to lawyers and brokers . This pushes lawyers and Brokers in those fields to become more face to face and human/accessible and understand their clientele instead of looking at them as a number.

   3)Abundance: over consumption of consumer goods is another factor. Owning things that do not serve much a purpose other than owning. Due to abundance, has caused an inflation where now, consumers try to find relateability  , purpose and function that allows for the consumer to feel as though they have gained an extension of themselves rather than having a product that only provides face value but no depth beyond its physical purposes.

Q3.   Thinking with both the Left and Right brains are very beneficial and important. Where the left brain is strongest is using logic, and fact which helps individuals steer clear from any sort of legal or financial dangers that one without that sort of knowledge would fall into. It provides a safe and secure way of channeling through information without crossing unwanted information/ attention. But what the left brain lacks is personality and relay ability, which the Right Brain provides. The Right brain provides a friendly way of thinking or a more soulful way of gaining the attention of other would be individuals providing deep relationship between clientele. Providing solutions that can't only be solved by numbers , but by catching the eye and channeling soulful connection and purpose that helps transition thought into action. 

Two steps ahead/caution of poem by Anthony Andujar jr 10/15/14

Two steps ahead/caution of poem by Anthony Andujar jr

Don't allow yourself to be stuck in illiteracy. Because that's how they get you, by going by their hearsay.

Keep learning with knowledge so that you can master that wordplay, and know all the words so that no one can take advantage by using that subliminal word slay.

Oh you didn't hear what they say?
Because you're too caught up by the double standards of what the media want you to play?
Mass hysteria set to destroy your entire mental state? And grill you like fish for them to sauté?

Knowledge is important. It is the ultimate sword against any unknown combatant that bears Ill will to your soul. They can't doop ya if you're  able to exact words by tenfold.

Kid, I say this to you Because they hide, laughing and dancing, bearing it all.
Slow jamming around you in hooves more hidden than what's behind a bathroom stall.

 They look safe, they look clean, but they got your mind and soul wrapped up by what they claim.

Devilish smiles of silver tongue charm,

if you don't learn then you will never know why they benefit from you at all.

you'll end up as a statistic, because you didn't look in the fine print,
Or get that lawyer to help you look over it.
They all got tricks, using fictional AK's, that's what most businesses do.
And if you don't learn now, they'll be two steps ahead of you, because you bonded your soul with consent.

Remember, at the end of the day there will always be a bigger fish than you, you and you.
Just recognize that there is a shark tank of a world ready to consume you, especially if you act by trying to abide by what's considered cool.

Form your own mind, don't jump on assumptions.

Wait professor? Wouldn't that be a double standard or something?

In the room poem by Anthony Andujar jr 10/15/14

In the room poem by Anthony Andujar jr

I'm in the room.
I observe as everyone is drinking their glasses: hahahaha
Getting high off their shrooms.
What a night shift, would not realize that we would all become carcass.
Let me explain.

It's a social gathering, pops of Chardonnay and champagne. Brandy has some people a little woozy in the brain. But unknown to us is an uninvited guest, who came to play.

Hahaha, he joins in on the laugh. Even shares a cake with a fine woman I might add.

Everyone laughs, good times for all . Until a loud bang sounds off in the bathroom hall.
A tray and plate with glass cups shatter in display. Leaving organic red paint in everyone's wake.

Hahaha, how could no one here the silent roar? They didn't see me as a lion, not even a wolf at all?
I blend in just like you he said.

Now I've lost all appetite for my soup he says.

Ted bundy, and money and all the killers before me, look at me now.

Before the cops enter  the scene, as he plans to shoot me in the spleen. He shouts to everyone :

I hope they remember me!

Another wannabe killed on the scene. Another wannabe for the authorities to clean.
Blackout.
screen turns to static with rainbows, then changes to a news report, goes blank and then
Green.

But why the fuck did he choose me?

Moonshine Sunshine poem by Anthony Andujar jr 10/15/14

Moonshine Sunshine poem by Anthony Andujar jr

The  moonshine to my sunshine,
Around us is where the stars form, dance and die.
Separate, yet around through out time, unknowing of each others presence until massive craters and explosive stars collide.
Within the collision is a consummation of two giant spheres.
Two individual souls. Representing every aspect of delivering life and Ultimate death.
Within this irony of collision, is a sense of unity.
Connection.
When passion collides, it is both beautiful and destructive.
Aware yet unpredictable.
As you can see, we function and flow like two rivers. It's taken Heaven, Olympus and Valhalla a while to circulate our course of union.
Despite ever continually cycle, I do not know when the moonshine will scatter, just as I do not know when the sunshine will die and explode.
But what I do know is this. Opposites attract, twist and connect.
An ever continuing cycle, of light and dark, life and death, clarity and confusion, love and loss. One thing is constant:
Tending to the moon and the stars. As long as the light pollution does not blind us from our care, as long as the sun and moon still exist , the moment between present and future can last as long as we want it.
Until then, moonshine, you will continue to shine bright from one corner of time as the sunshine glows in the other.
When all is said and done, and gone away, what will remain, is the love.
Because love does not grow with in a glance.
It grows with the proper care. Your cold moonlight glare to provide aquatic sensations to the plant. the rays of sunshine a warmth and comfort that provides this plant that we've crated to take care of. what both spheres contribute, is function, teamwork, synchronism and unity.

In this union, this relationship is significant. In order for the plant to survive, it needs to be tended by the Moonshine and sunshine. With that said, how can love ever grow if no one is tending to the seeded plant of love?
 It's not there yet. But gradually, as the plant grows. With the healthiest nutrients provided, it can survive any condition, as long as the moon and sun can provide.
With that said, The moonshine to my sunshine,
Around us is where the stars form, dance and die.
 Where we can treat life and thrive for it.
Separate, yet around through out time, unknowing of each others presence until massive craters and explosive stars collide.
Within this universe, within this plant between us, this earth, is where our lives of commitment reside.

Until the stars and life die, this is wherein this universe and galaxy, is where our trace of love, death, loss and life, reside. No matter what,  remember me. be it of good times and bad.
 When my light goes dim, and when your moonlight fades, remember where our union resides,
Within the universes library of faded memories, is where we will reside.

HUA 166 ART History Museum Report: Visiting the Met By Anthony Andujar Jr

Anthony Andujar Jr 

9/27/14 

Hua 166 Art History 

Prof Arianna Fernandez 

Lagcc 

  

                                                                    Museum Report 

  

 The museum of choice that this research paper based it's study on was The Metropolitan Museum of Art. As I walked the halls I explored the American section, Medieval Section and lastly the Renaissance section. The piece of art that was chosen for the paper is The Winged Child: Fountain Figure among a few other art pieces that was also documented. This bronze sculpted model was made by Donato Di Niccolo Di Betto Bardi who by modern standards is most recognized as the legendary renaissance artist named Donatello. 

  The Winged Child :Fountain Figure was crafted between (ca. 1386-1466) in Florence, Italy. In the description of the sculpture , it details that the winged child could possibly be Mercury who is the Roman version of the Greek god Hermes (The messenger/ speedster.) Although the winged child does appear to bear a great resemblance to the character, it has yet to be proven if the child is Mercury. The fountain figure was designed to be a public attraction sprouting water within a fountain as most fountain figures do. 

   Donatello is one of the most well known renaissance artists that stood out among the rest along side Raphael, Leonardo DaVinci and Michelangelo as one of the top tier artists of the Renaissance in the 1400's. Seeing a model or piece of Donatello's work was surprising to see. Of all of the top four kings of the renaissance, the Met only had a few pieces by Donatello but, from the visit there didn't seem to be other pieces that were from the top four aside from pieces made by other sculptors and artists of the renaissance. Despite the fact that Donatello was the only artist of the top four that had art available for viewing. 

   Another art piece that was in the exhibit was Louis C. Tiffany's Autumn Landscape leaded favrile glass piece.  The piece was crafted between 1923-1924 in New York. The piece has a beautiful colorful design like quality that would fit suitably in a cathedral.  The colorful flower pellets that are designed on to the glass has been suggested that it was contributed /crafted by the artist Northrop who was recognized for her works with land and floral like pieces. Although Northrop is suggested, it is still yet to be proven true. 

  There have been other pieces in Louis C. Tiffany's collection that showcase similar styles of design and texture. One piece produced by Tiffany is the Garden Landscape and Fountain piece. Tiffany crafted his Mosaic fountain piece in his very own Tiffany Studios (1902-33) located in New York. A lot of his mosaic pieces were inspired by Maxfield Parrish designs as well Byzantine works of the 1800's, which influenced his work and approach to using and manipulating transparent glass and colors. 

 In Louis C. Tiffany's works such as the Autumn Landscape and the Garden Landscape and Fountain pieces they share some similarities to each other. Both of the pieces have similar mosaic patterns that help make an object into something else or otherworldly. Another similarity that the crafted pieces both share is that they display a great amount of glowing color that attracts the eye and makes the viewer feel that they are in the presence of something holy. The only differences between the two pieces is that they were produced with different kinds of materials and color distributions that allow for a different kind of experience for the viewers. 

  Over all the artwork that Donatello and Louis C. Tiffany have crafted are different , they both share common use for decor purposes. Although Donatello's Winged Child: Fountain figure and Louis C. Tiffany's Grand Landscape Fountain mosaic are not the same in material, they do share a common purpose in being used for public/ private fountains. Donatello's winged child is a bronze figure for a fountain while Louis C. Tiffany's Grand Landscape, is a fountain made with Mosaic tiles and design. It's artwork that is displayed for private owners to have or for the public to see, which the artists have done an excellent job  at that.

Donatello's : Winged Child Fountain Figure

                          Louis C.Tiffany's Autumn Landscape .Photo Taken by Anthony Andujar Jr.

Note: When I saw this couple standing there in front of the glass piece, it was hard not to resist taking the photo.

Shout out to legendary Maryland rapper Substantial (Stanley Robinson) By Anthony Andujar jr

   My friend Radaie and I were chilling as we waited for a friend of ours (KG) one Friday afternoon. Radaie and I were discussing about music, rappers and producers that we know of that either had some great lyrical content, quality, unique beats and rhythms etc. Radaie had me listen to Kendrick Lemar's tracks from his early work with songs  like "Kiesha song" and then we spoke about Kanye West and how he approached hip hop by blending things that were unacceptable and making it acceptable examples: Graduation,  808 Heartbreak, merging backpack rap with certain qualities of other rap, introducing different genres to a larger audience in the way Thom Yorke , Massive Attack, and Damon Albarn have etc.) Radaie and I spoke about admiration for Tyler the Creator in terms of his instrumental production and his primal energy with wordplay that reminds people of Eminem back when he first came into being in the early 2000's.

 Midway in the conversation we spoke about how despite the thug /gangsta rap stereotype that sadly tends to plague Hip Hop alongside Trap music, a marginal group would tend to say that there are barely any rap lyricists/artists who speak about hard hitting stories and positivity. Radaie and I elaborated on tracks like "Kiesha Song" by Kendrick Lemar, "Culture of Fear " By  Thievery Corporation (feat Lift),  Lupe Fiasco,  and a few other rap artists that have lyrics that present societal conscience and themes about society and the willingness to rise above the struggles as well as molding their environment and not the other way around.

 We then spoke about Real Hip Hop Turn tabelists /beat makers such as Dj Shadow (Endtroduction album, the less you know the better, The Outsider)  , James Levelle (UNKLE :Psyence Fiction), Flying Lotus  and Nujabes. As soon as I spoke about Nujabes and his work with other rappers like Lupe Fiasco , Shing02 and Substantial, that's when it came to a point that had to be discussed. There are tons of great rappers out there that speak about positive , uplifting, truthful , conscience subject matter like Substantial.  Albums such as :

• To This Union A Sun Was Born (2001) , Sacrifice (2008),  Home is where the Art is (2012), Jack N' Jill : a Jill Scott dedicated album (2013) , Substantial Vs Samurai Champloo: Beats, Rhymes and Strife are examples of positive work and creative content that promotes positivity as well as well written lyrics.   Personally, he's been one of my fave rappers since the  7th grade (2008)  due to being introduced to his work with Nujabes from the Samurai Champloo Anime.  His work has always been influential to my I illustrative works and written works. 

The point is that there are a lot of great rappers that have great lyrical content , skill , and positive conscience in their music. But sadly people are sleeping on them because they are either too caught up on Mainstream /radio mainstays or channels that never give up and coming quality rap artists the kind of recognition or air play that thy deserve to have. It goes for all genres of music. There is nothing wrong with mainstays, but when people only know of then and barely know or acknowledge the artists that are out there , mainly being seen at either face value or not being known at all.  What in trying to say is,  Music isn't dead, and each genre is not dead, it's just that the real quality artists aren't given enough of an opportunity to get there air time to cement their work. If it's not that, it's possibly because of a kind of stigma , or that some people who think that they know hip hop when all they listen to is trap  are missing out.  Not to hate on Macklemore , but there have been rappers who've been around for years and have spoken about social content and usually got shunned by the mainstream because nobody wanted to hear about cerebral content and positivity.  

There are still lyricists out there. There is still a lot of great music out there. It's just a matter of whether or not people want to give them the time of day and make a change of pace. 

Here's a link to one of Substantial's Substantial  vs Samurai Champloo : Beats , Rhymes and Strife : I hope you enjoy. And to Substantial, Thanks for all of the work that you do for the youth and also for inspiring many others to pursue their education,  who love the arts in finding their voice and mindset in life and learning the transition of boyhood to men in progress . Thanks. Ant. A

http://substantial.bandcamp.com/album/substantial-vs-samurai-champloo-beats-rhymes-strife

Welcome back. Fall session of 2014 entry by Anthony Andujar jr

First , I want to say welcome back. It's been possibly almost three months since I've made a recent written post/entry. Long story short, I did a summer session taking two art classes (since I am a Fine Arts Major) that were taught by the cool Professor Julie A. Nagle. After completing the session and classes as well as having a new found appreciation for using charcoal (Burton if you see this, you now have me convinced. Haha.)

  In the weeks that I had left to enjoy my summer vocation I took interest in catching up reading some comics and looking up video game cutscenes movies /walkthroughs of games I may never get a chance to play or ever have the time to purchase. I took the time to watch games such as Outlast (along with the Downloadable content :Whistleblower) courtesy of watching Dashi Game's YouTube channel for the hilarious commentary to get me through the game's scares and interesting storyline.

  I also looked into old gems such as Edios and Crystal Dynamics Legacy Of Kain games series. I started from Soul Reaver 1 to then watch Soul Reaver 2 and Legacy of Kain: Defiance which had some very great story telling and interesting setting that focused on elements of Shakespearean tragedy, irony, fate, illusion of choice, dreams/ nightmares , gothic settings, vampires and revelation. Given that it was made in a very interesting time of the late 90's - early 2000's where there was this era of heavily dark and light story telling.  Pretty much as you can see, I've been very interested in a lot of mystery, noir, thriller based stories that have influenced my art style due to the use of charcoal and the balance of light and dark elements.

   For my English 102 class my professor assigned the story "Where are you going, where have you been?" By Joyce Carol Oats. I read the short story and I liked the subtle eerie atmosphere that seems to appear in a lot of things I like which goes like this as a premise in most mystery stories:

   things seem normal, but almost too normal to the point where things start to feel a little off. You don't know how or why, but you know it's this unsettling feeling that draws you to feel that way. Little by little as you search for the answers to the unsteady feeling, You realize that the seeds planted has been around you this whole time. It's just waiting for you to realize where it all began. And in that sense,  the dreary feeling of irony rears it's head and you realize the scary joke that loomed right in front of your face the whole time.

It's stories like that that do so well in making things feel all too familiar due to how close to reality that the tension of fear tends to extend with it's literary, psychological /physical reach. No matter how real or fictional a story is, the fact that the fear of the unknown goes beyond any words goes to show how well done and executed of a theme that is expressed throughout the world around us is. No matter how grand or minimal the fear,  the over whelming feeling grabs us and pulls us in. Whether the protagonist faces the fear all the way down to the very end is always an unsure case based on who is writing a story of almost any kind. With that said, that's what has been of interest to me as of late. The gripping narrative, subtle flashbacks, the need to see to everything all the way to the very end is something that I believe any reader, or writer can agree on. If you know how to manipulate the feelings of the audience, then yore doing something right.  That's something I seek more and more in story telling and in art. Not the fear aspect, just the general emotions and roller coasters that give readers the kind of fulfilled journeys that is worth revisiting from time to time. Nothing is better than finishing a story of any media and giving a large sigh of relief.  Nuff said.