Another Marina Abramovic Post

I know, I know. I've pretty much only been posting about Marina Ambramovic, but you just need to know about some pieces that are amazing and completely blew me away.

Lips Of Thomas:

I recommend you watch the whole video of her Seven Easy Pieces performance, but Lips Of Thomas is my favorite and it's one of her own. It starts at 0:55:03. She's nude throughout the whole thing, so NSFW.

This piece has a lot of political as well as christian themes. Marina is from Yugoslavia, a country that unfortunately has seen a lot of war. That context gives it a lot more meaning and adds another layer. Although I initially thought that the piece had a lot to do with pain and pleasure as well as sin and repentance/paying for sins. It seems almost as if she is punishing herself for drinking the wine and eating the honey, towards the end of the performance she seems less eager to eat the honey and even reluctant. To me, the more she punished herself the more it seem like the roles of pain and pleasure reversed themselves.

Balkan Baroque:

Unfortunately there isn't much footage of this piece, but here is a little footage as well as some pictures and an explanation from Marina. 

   

(skip to 3:02 for start of performance)

                       

This piece is also political in nature, and Marina describing how she felt helpless when the war in Bosnia started is really compelling. I think this piece is largely about confrontation of the subject, as Marina explains "You can't wash the blood from your hands [just] as you can't wash the shame from the war."

The Artist is Present:

For three months she sat and simply stared at museum goers in silence.  You can find a lot of pictures of people crying, which is understandable, that wordless connection I think is really powerful and moving for a lot of people. In this clip you can see a few people come and go before Ulay (a performance artist and former lover and collaborator of Marina's) shows up after quite a few years of separation. The result is really touching.

How can I explain this piece? It's so beautiful and the idea behind it is simple, and I really like that about it. I really think this piece is genius, and it has this really spiritual idea behind it. It's simply human connection as art. I can't get over how wonderful that idea is. I recommend watching the documentary about it, the documentary itself is beautiful and shows how the idea was formulated and gives an insight into some of Marina's methodology.

Kimya Dawson: Why is she so great?

I can't completely explain why she's so awesome, but just know that she is the most punk rock. I discovered her in middle school when I asked one of my friends if they knew any good female songwriters and they mentioned her. Pretty soon afterwards I was at a record store and bought a CD copy of Remember That I Love You. I can't tell you how much I needed that album at the time. My dad was ill with cancer and I was having a hard time dealing with it and accepting that he was going to go soon,  and the songs My Mom and Caving In were completely accurate to what I was feeling.

My mom's sick she's in a hospital bed
I've got a word for all you ghosts in her head
and all you skeletons in her closet
leave her alone
leave her alone
leave her alone, please
because my mom needs you gone
my mom needs you gone
as long as she is haunted she'll never get strong
my mom needs you gone

The album Thunder Thighs is also super amazing, my favorite tracks on it are Driving Driving Driving and Walk Like Thunder. Driving Driving Driving's lyrics are really powerful, just listen, man:

 

I've always felt like Kimya Dawson has a talent for making her music really accessible and it has this quality that makes me feel like a normal human being. It's really simple and I think that's a big reason why I like it, and why a lot of people feel they can relate to it so easily.  

Mini Post: OH MY GOD!

AAAAHH!

Mini Post: 14-year-old guitarist badass

Just watch.

New Theme: Artists and Art

Recently I've been trying to have more of a work ethic when it comes to making art, so I've been looking to Marina Abramovic, who might just be the most disciplined artist in the world.

I basically just want to be as determined and passionate about art as she is. If I could just attend one lecture or workshop at the Marina Abramovic Institute it would be amazing. Can the universe just be nice to me and please let that happen? I mean look at how awesome this is, the institute's going to be amazing:

Anyway, this theme's going to be about what I seek out in art and artists that inspire me. Expect a lot of pretentious posts, and maybe some playlists? We'll see.

Mini Post: Swordzz

Okay, one more post relating to adventures.
Whyy is this sword so cooool?

I just want to be a lady knight. 

Spooky Adventure Song

I was feeling inspired by Demon's Crest, so I made a song that could be in a spooky video game. Right now it's all midi instruments. Eventually I want to incorporate an actual bass and drums.

Listen and download here

p.s. This will probably be my last post on adventures, and I'll be moving into another theme. ☆

Urban Exploring

Okay. Okay. Urban exploring is usually when you explore abandoned urban structures. But they don't always have to be abandoned, construction sites are a popular place to urban explore (but it's best to go when no one's around, like at night, otherwise the construction workers might get mad at you). So basically urban exploring is like super fun adventure, and you might find some cool keepsakes/artifacts to take home.

My favorite is exploring abandoned houses, because they're usually super creepy, and maybe haunted. You always have to ask yourself "Why is this house abandoned? Is it condemned because of structural damage during some natural disaster? Did ghosts eat the inhabitants?" It's a MYSTERY.

As always though it's good to be careful, some houses are maybe too abandoned for their own good, and they could just collapse on you at any moment. For example, don't go into buildings that look like this:

It's a good idea to go with a buddy anytime your urban exploring, because you might start thinking about ghosts and freak yourself out. Plus, you know, the buddy system's a good system.

Empty irrigation canals are fun to use as shortcuts, especially if you live in a cute town with orchards/farmland (talking about you, Orem).

I've never personally done this, but some friends of mine have explored storm drain systems during the time of year when they're typically dry. I'm actually really eager to do this, because it sounds exciting and I want to be a ninja turtle.

Look how cute that is. That guy is so ready for an adventure with his backpack. ♥ 

Electronic Adventures

Reminiscing about my favorite games as a kid:

Legend Of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Pokemon Yellow and Pokemon Saphire are my fav. Pokemon games:

Demon's Crest:

p.s. It's apparently a pretty rare SNES game. A cartridge on ebay is fairly pricey.

Sword Of Mana: 

Final Fantasy II (IV) :

Mini Post: Fionna Sword

I found this handmade "crystal sword" on etsy and I really want it.

Adventures!!! (First Post)

This is going to be a personal blog, mostly to give me something to do. I'll post a lot of art and music and playlists, and maybe some dramatic fun stuff!

Right now I've been thinking a lot about the theme of adventuring and fantasy settings. Probably because I've been playing a lot of Skyrim... (look at this cool sword I won in a quest!)

Anyways... I made a sweet playlist for adventuring. So whether your traversing a treacherous mountain in the pursuit of defeating your demons, or just searching for some rad gear, put in some head phones and get pumped!

★Bonus points if you can get through all of the 8 bit version of Moonlight Sonata