Seeing how I am writing this blog shortly after my art show opening. I found it fit to write about art and the influence it can have on people’s lives. As an artist I truly believe that art is a form of expression, a way for someone to convey a message, a feeling, or a thought. To me art is more then just a painting, a sculpture, or a drawing. Art is a feeling, an emotion, and a way for an individual to bring their thoughts to life.

As an artist I have the opportunity to meet all kinds of artist in various fields, and have noticed that art comes in many forms. While having the privilege to see different forms of art, I have learned to appreciate the process involved in each creation. I have come to the realization that art is very much like an opinion. While someone may or may not consider something to be a form of art, it is simply their opinion. There is no right or wrong answer.

As we enter into the last week of senior art exhibitions at Manhattanville, I urge to go see the art up in the student center. There will be the opening reception this Thursday April 24th from 6-9pm.

Walk around and really take in what you are seeing. Ask yourself what is this artist trying to convey? Are they trying to convey anything? What emotions were they feeling? Simply take what you can from the experience.

If you end up not enjoying the art, at least you can enjoy some delicious appetizers, with a nice cup of wine!

Check out some art work by some of my favorite artist!

Keith Haring

Jackson Pollack

AIDS Awareness

As May approaches I am getting ready to participate in the 2008 AIDS Walk New York. For the last two years I have been a volunteer as an employee of Starbuck’s. This year I decided to make a bigger commitment by taking part in the walk, and helping to raise as much money as possible.

While many people are more aware of AIDS today, and know of ways to help prevent it. AIDS still seems to affect thousands and even millions of people. Many people do not seem to realize the impact AIDS is having on both a global scale, and right here in the United States. AIDS also known as the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, continues to affect millions of people.

A lot of people seem to have the misconception that AIDS is something they don’t have to worry about. I hope that by giving you some facts, you will keep yourself safe, as well as your partner. Help make people more aware!

There are many ways in which you can help raise money for those fighting AIDS. Some easy ways to help are by buying clothing that has been designed to help fight against AIDS. Just recently H&M and Designers Against AIDS have launched the "Fashion Against AIDS" collection. The clothing has been designed by well-known musicians, in attempts to help raise money and awareness. So next time you are out shopping, buy a piece a piece of clothing that will make a difference.

Here are some statistics about AIDS

Global

33.2 million people now live with HIV or AIDS.

In 2007, approximately 2.5 million people were infected with HIV.

Every day, over 6800 people become infected with HIV - almost five people per minute.

5700 people die from AIDS every day.

One child dies every minute.

15 million children around the world have been orphaned by AIDS, losing one or both parents to the disease.

Every fifteen seconds, another person age 15-24 becomes infected with HIV/AIDS.

US

Roughly one million people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States.

Since the start of the AIDS epidemic, 1.5 million Americans have been infected with HIV and more than 524,000 have died of AIDS.

At least 40,000 people are infected each year.

African Americans account for 48% of new HIV infections.

AIDS is the leading cause of death for African American women aged 25 to 34 and HIV rates among Hispanic women are increasing.

The number of women living with HIV has tripled in the last two decades.

At least half of all new infections are among people under the age of 25.

Washington, DC has the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in the United States - one in 20 people are living with HIV or AIDS.

The New Building

Lets talk about something that seems to be in almost everyone’s conversation; that’s right the new building. For most of us we don’t even bother to call it the Student center; but instead prefer to call it the new building.

When I first heard about the new building I was excited, this of course was a long time ago and I thought that it would be done a lot sooner then it was. As a senior I have little excitement as I realize that it will be of little use to me. However when I finally got a chance to get inside, I was amazed by the architecture. As I began to look around I noticed that while there seems to be many disappointments, there are some great additions s well.

For me as an art major the biggest disappointment was the art space that was made available for students. The room is about the size of a single in founders. What upset even more, was that the beautiful new art gallery is not allowed to be used by students. The new art gallery is only to be used by professors and outside artist.

As upset as I am about the gallery, I realized that there were some good additions to the new building. The new Mac labs are absolutely amazing. The computers are fast, and the room is open 24 hours and seven days a week. The new gym seems to be a great hit, the new dance studio also seems to be getting a lot of use.

At the end of the day there are those who will be disappointed and others who are glad to have a new place to work, dance, chill, and burn some calories.

It's all laughs here!

This past weekend I got the chance to see Owen Wilson’s new movie Drillbit Taylor. For those of you who are fans of the movie Superbad and Knocked Up, you absolutely must see this movie.

The movie is about three high school kids who are beaten and constantly abused by bullies. The three kids are played by Wade (Nate Hartley) who is extremely skinny, Ryan (Troy Gentile) is a fat and kid, with a big mouth, and finally we have Emmit (Alex Frost) who they refer to as the hobbit.

When the three boys finally get fed up with being bullied by asshole upperclassmen, they decide to put their money together to hire a bodyguard. After posting an ad on the Internet, and interviewing numerous candidates, they hire the only person they can afford, Drillbit Taylor (Owen Wilson). Owen Wilson plays a homeless guy living on the beach, who is just looking to make enough money to fly to Canada. The kids buy into his con, as he they start realize that he is unqualified for the job.

It won’t come as a surprise that the three boys will have to learn how to defend themselves, however the movie is filled with plenty of surprises.

While many people will go to see the movie because it stars Owen Wilson, the true stars of the movie are Wade and Ryan played by Nate Hartley and Troy Gentile. The two are just as funny, if not funnier then Seth and Ryan of Superbad. So if your looking for a great comedy go grab some tickets to see Drillbit Taylor and you will surely get your moneys worth.

Other Review

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/drillbit_taylor/

Movie Trailer

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/drillbittaylor/

Not just another story on Global Warming

When it comes to the topic of global warming there is no way that one can truly explain all the causes and affects. Overtime the issue has received plenty of attention; but yet has made little progress. I’m not going to write about how I feel about global warming; but rather give you some facts and let you decide how to feel.

Recently I was watching a special on the National Geographic channel called six degrees; the episode explains how our climate will change dramatically in the next fifty years due to our extravagant lifestyles. This change has been the result of emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from human activities. Some of these activities include fossil fuel combustion, industrial processes, and changes in land use, such as deforestation.

As a result we face some extreme changes in our climate; these changes will not only affect the way we live, but can be severely dangerous to our existence. With the increase in temperature the sea level will rise and gradually flood coastal areas and increase beach erosion. There will be changes in precipitation patterns, as well as increased risk of droughts and floods. There will be threats to our biodiversity, and more importantly changes to our health.

For many people global warming is just something they hear so much about that they just ignore the subject all together. However we must face the issue now in order to help better our lives as well as generations to come.

There are many different ways in which we can do this, click here to see you can help prevent further global warming.

What Now?

While thinking about a topic to write about, I started to space off and think about how much time I have until graduation. I then realized that there are probably hundreds of other seniors who are worried about the same thing. It’s hard to concentrate on school work, when you have hundreds of other things on your mind. What happens when I graduate? Will I be able to find a good job? Will I live with my parents for the rest of my life?

Unlike most students I have already been on my own for the last year and a half. I have my own apartment and already pay my own bills. But yet I still feel as if I haven’t fully been thrown into the real world. This is probably because I still feel like I have so much to learn. The thought of messing up in life scares me, but I am sure that its normal to be scared.

I started to freak out when I realized that I have two months to find a job that will start my career. I know a lot of people talk about finding a job that pays well; however in today’s generation money has become the determining factor in deciding what job to take.

Ideally I would like to be a graphic designer for an art magazine. One magazine that has inspired me is Beautiful Decay. It has a very unique raw style to it; as it keeps its readers up to date on new artist.

Give me some feedback! Let me know what you are thinking about.

T.V. has Changed

      

Television sure has changed! I remember as a child growing up there was no such thing as sex scenes, there was rarely even foul language. The coolest show I watched was Saved by the bell, where being bad was saying the dog ate your homework. A time when things seemed to be more simple in terms of what parents had to worry about their kids watching. Today parents have to worry about setting parental controls.

As an adult now, I can honestly say that there has been such a dramatic change. All you see today on television is reality shows. Not to be honest I would be lying if I said I didn't find some of these shows quite entertaining. But I can't help but wonder how over a decade we have turned into a society that would rather watch people eat bugs, then sit and watch America's funniest home videos.

It seems to me that the role of the media has changed dramatically. What was once not appropriate for television, is no longer offensive to people today. And while I will agree that everything changes with time, and it is great to see that people are more open minded. I can't help but wonder how we have become so easily amused by shows, that we no longer care how degrading some of them are.

Check out some more blogs on this topic!