Pixar Films

The Pixar films are almost universally accepted as masterpieces, as family films that address wonderful themes and create fascinating stories for bother children and their parents. Growing from the meek experiments praying the computer animators would find a person insane enough to invest in their work, into one of Disney’s few redeemable personalities, this branch company has released their 10th movie this summer. Hard to believe; I was a little girl when “Toy Story” was released, and already the company has expanded and grown as much as I did.

This is my own overview of the amazing Pixar films.

Toy Story

This 1995 film was the incredible premiere for a new type of animation at the time, and it was immediately adored, taking the box office at #1 its opening weekend. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen created an incredible team of best friend toys fighting to find their owner again - in an odd way, demonstrating the greatest level of love and dedication. Rotten Tomatoes reported this film as a near 100% rating, and I agree wholeheartedly for once with the usually negative site.




A Bug’s Life

Movie number 2 from Pixar, this 1998 film brought together an Aesop fable (The Ant and the Grasshopper) with elements from other movies that included Three Amigos” and “The Seven Samurai”. This movie was considered a refreshing success and earned a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This film is still an incredibly adorable one, with a beyond important lesson that very few nod too. I would personally bump its rating up a couple points.




Toy Story 2

One year later Pixar proved that not all sequels are doomed to failure, as this one was often revered as just as good if not better than its origins. The return of the dedicated toys topped Rotten Tomatoes charts as a 100% rated film that has claimed the #2 best rated movie spot – apparently the raters think it is just that good. I have to agree. The fact that Tim Allen and Tom Hanks are rumored to have cried at parts in the theater is a huge hint, too.





Monster’s, Inc.

2001 revealed the new millennium’s first Pixar film, which rated at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. Personally, I don’t know if I am inclined to agree. As adorable as this movie is, seeing the lives of monsters in the closest we all once believed in, somehow for me it lacked the usual punch. Ironically, the number one complaint about another film is the complete reverse for me. Read on to see which film took this Pixar film’s spot in my heart.




Finding Nemo

Hello – this was the creation of the man who would go on to create “Wall-E”. But let’s focus on this one. This film did such a good job that it was the number two grossing film of 2003, following only the third “Lord of the Rings” film. This film holds a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and frankly this film can make me laugh so much to this day that I an inclined to agree. But this is also a film I have seen so often I wouldn’t mind a break; apparently our science teachers all think this is an acceptable movie to watch for “scientific purposes” on the last two days of the school year.


The Incredibles
As sad as it is, I had my doubts when seeing this movie’s trailers. I’m not sure why now, seeing as it’s yet another Pixar success. This movie was almost a Warner Brother;s success, which is kind of frightening since they would never be able to match Pixar animation and sheer plot brilliance. This film has a 97% rating with those people at Rotten Tomatoes, which says something since superhero and comic based films are not always received in a welcome fashion. Welcome to the world of balancing family with a responsibility and a desire to better society.



Cars

Here it is, folks. This is the film that most people do not appreciate nearly as much as others (75%, Rotten Tomatoes?). I’m not sure why. Was it really too slow for everyone? Are we so encased in this swift society that a slow film with a really basic, old style plot is no longer welcome? I adored this film. I adored the animation. I adored the idea of the racecar finding himself lost in an almost ghost town, and I adored the characters for all of their quirky personalities. I love slow films, and this one is a way for me to bring my own life into focus. Sorry, critics. You’re just wrong. This Pixar film is easily one of my top five.


Ratatouille

At least now the critics and I are back on track. Following the 2006 release of the Pixar “disappointment” came the chance to make everyone want an adorable pet rat. Rotten Tomatoes and I can agree on a solid 96% rating. The only complaint is the fact that even if I stuff my face before watching, this film and its wonderful cooking makes me hungry. At least it only makes me crave bread, cheese, and grapes. That’s not such a bad meal, right?



Wall-E

Wow. Wow. And wow. From the ocean to outer space, the director of this film knows what he’s doing with his story telling and animation alike. This film gets huge kudos for addressing such serious themes as our filling dumps and blindly accepting the waves of technology, all in a way that inspires hope and a warm feeling at the sight of an adorable rusty robot. Rotten Tomatoes says 96% again; I say a 100% is in order. Easily the Pixar masterpiece that, as we can all agree, surpasses “Cars.”






Up

Pixar did it again. I had my doubts about this one, because I judge quite harshly from trailers alone. But after this opening (which I will not reveal) played out I knew it was going to be adorable and loved in my heart forever.

This is Pixar’s 10th film, and I can only hope that as Rotten Tomatoes reports a 98% rating, this company named Pixar never gives in and goes under. It’s one of the few sources of substance in this day and age.

Mono CD Review

http://www.pittnews.com/arts-entertainment/japanese-act-makes-spacey-epic-jams-1.1625258

Japanese act makes spacey, epic jams
Soft music proves its value with Japanese outfit Mono’s soon-to-be-released fifth CD, just in time to meet a 10-year anniversary deadline.

Mono’s Hymn to the Immortal Wind follows a pattern similar to Sigur Ros. The songs sound very calm, very hopeful and even romantic. Both bands fill records with epic songs that have a sweet, little beginning that leads up to the more dramatic climax and ending.

The differences between Mono and the Icelandic band Sigur Ros, though, are that Sigur Ros actually uses words — not English ones, though — and that Mono is a Japanese group. Different sides of the globe seem to breed different sounds.

Watch for the instrument variety alert: Japan’s instruments are based in the lute and banjo sections more often than not. Also, there seems to be a specific sound and beat that always brings cherry blossoms to mind in Japanese music.

Along with this traditional peaceful ring, Mono has the majesty of an orchestra. Piano, organ and the instruments with odd-on-your-tongue names like glockenspiel and tympani all show up under the band’s musically inclined belts.

Mono doesn’t sound like anything typically heard on the radio. Or like what teens will blast during parties. Rather, the CD encompasses the vision of a symphony visiting Heinz Hall.

Mono’s 10th anniversary album starts out pretty. “Ashes In The Snow” host’s tiny bell-like chimes that are graceful, soft and deserves the meek word, “pretty.”

Listeners who would rather create a story than be told one will find this appealing — the songs are all instrumental. They are lyric-free, an empty canvas ready to be filled.

Of course, there are title limitations. One of the more electrifying and drum-driven song hosts the title “Burial at Sea,” so there might not be much imagining unless it involves the Black Pearl. Other restrictively inspiring track names include “Follow the Map” and “The Battle to Heaven.”

Each poetic title belongs to a song Pittsburgh’s own symphony might be proud of. Emphasis on might — the Pittsburgh Symphony does not allow guitars quite yet.

The pretty tracks are also pretty long — an average of 11 minutes long. Do the lengthy songs wear out the listener, though? Not exactly. While 11 minutes is a long time to pay attention to anything, the band’s steady flow of repeated melodies and building musical intensities keep things interesting.

Of the seven songs featured, five are over 10 minutes long. So patience is not a virtue, it’s a necessity. Hardcore head-bang fans will find this to be a brand new experience and maybe not an appealing one — too slow, too beautiful. But Mono was never shooting for that type of listener.

Fans of Sigur Ros will feel the opposite.

Column 9 - Creation In Our World: Keeping It Alive

Column 9 - Creation In Our World: Keeping It Alive

Hello all e-zine readers! Miss me? It’s certainly nice to be back. It’s been a little while. I had to take a breather recently – because life has its priorities, and for a college student the biggest priority is…

No, not drinking! Not for me, anyway.

My biggest priority was to make it through one very difficult second semester with a GPA above 3.4 – otherwise I would lose my honor society status – and then to help run the grand event known as The Rescue; you may remember my discussing its approach two months ago.

But good news, all – my GPA remains exactly 3.5, what I left first semester with. The event was an incredible worldwide success that ended in front of Oprah’s studio live on her show, and after a bit of rest and recovery I have returned.

I wish I could say that for all of my projects. Following The Rescue I began the second draft of my memoir, a recollection of my teen activism during the last two years from one event to the next. Though I have hopes for its future, and want to see how far I can take it, keeping this story alive is difficult. Constantly doing my best to flesh out the details, before even getting to work on the prose, has been an annoyance.

The hardest aspect is probably balancing out my time with friends and house cleaning with my projects.

So I did some research, and I have a few ideas on “How to Keep Those Projects Alive” to share with you as I keep myself plowing forward.

1. “Put your character in an unfamiliar situation.” I guess this works the best for prose – if you have a highly developed character, you can experiment with how they would react somewhere new and uncomfortable – somewhere they dislike, or somewhere they love with someone they dislike, or any other new variable. This can probably work for poetry as well. And for other art forms, well, I can’t speak for them – but maybe you guys can experiment with this idea and see where it goes!

2. “Change your routine.” Try a new environment, try a new time, and see what comes to your mind and fingertips! Even try something miniscule – change the paper color or canvas material. Use a new pen or brush. Go from a lonely setting to a group setting. Basically, if it’s different, who knows? Try it!

3. “Start with a line of poetry.” I like this idea for everything. Use a favorite, very outstanding line of poetry (from a book or a song; because the Lord knows, and this is a separate rant entirely, that good music might as well be poetry), and let it inspire an entire work of art. But inspire doesn’t mean stick to it. It means begin and expand!

4. “Take breaks.” Maybe. If it’s all day project, yes, then do take breaks. Go for a walk, eat a little snack, drink something, sit back, and relax – and then get back to work before you lose the creative feeling. If this will be the only time you get to work on it, work until you can’t!

5. “Have a Comfortable Work Area.” I have nothing else to say!

6. “Take Time Off.” This statement is the only one that keeps me from feeling lazy, but breaks do help rejuvenate the mind and the thought process, so enjoy them. Do new things and bring those experiences back to your artwork.

Those are the top six things I found; and now, I must retire and return to a world of writing for work and for myself.

(Research mostly on How To. com and Resources for Writers. com. These ideas are not presented as my own, merely ideas found and shared.)

Astronauts Of Antiquity Revieww

http://www.pittnews.com/arts-entertainment/astronauts-of-antiquity-s-latest-isn-t-just-for-dummies-1.1713412

Astronauts of Antiquity’s latest isn’t just for dummies
With 13 solid tracks on the new album Rocket Science for Dummies, the optimistic Astronauts Of Antiquity have very good reason to feel uplifted.

The indie band combines the musical genres electronica and neo-soul, and its world-uniting musical sound reminisces with some jazzy and disco beats.

Best of all, for people looking for something beyond the everyday mainstream, the band’s odd music calls for some not-too-standard lyrics.

Not being able to predict the next line before it’s harmonized with a familiar chord is a nice switch from, well, plain-old predictable.

Spacey and beat-heavy, the beginning of the album hosts a proud sliding guitar that leads into lyrics, “I wake up in the morning to the sound of a distant train. / Wish I had a ticket to that place where I feel safe. / The phone is ringing off the hook before I can answer it. / So much to do all the time ...”

If listeners are human, there is a 99.9 percent chance that they have experienced some kind of day like this.

In the same song, vocalist India proclaims, “If I saw you anywhere, / I have nothing to feel. / If I saw you in everything, /I’d be grateful for all that you bring.”

Hear that? More than one person has one of those days.

Continuing on the band’s musical journey, the music to the track “Strangest Places” somehow rings of a jazzy beat through its outer space synchronic sensation.

Listeners might feel as if they are sitting at a warm, cozy dance club diner, as the vocalist calls out between soaring brass notes, “There are no closed cases / When it comes to help above.” A reminder to be open to the powers that be, perhaps?

Leaving jazz territory as the album continues, “Sup A Soul” tells everyone where they start off — “Stuck in a sardine can. / No room to move around. / I hear a melody breeze through the crack. / Two kids playing violins ...” From there the song kicks up its heels, preaching to listeners that they should free their minds and that they can find a beat to who they are — and can be a superman or superwoman.

The showcased beauty in the band’s lyrics is the ability to find soulful things to say without being dark and depressed.

They didn’t take the easy way out of their writing style by making listeners cry. Track title “Breakthrough” continues this happy trend, passionately proclaiming, “The universe is going to surprise you. / I got nothing but faith.”

Then, to soften the dancing demands the album usually demands, “Beautiful Fate” slows down. The next time life drives listeners into a corner, they ought to give this song a listen, with its chorus, “It’s a beautiful fate. / Taking yourself on a blind date. / Substitute your self-hate. / Everything else can wait. / It’s a beautiful fate. / Wake me up from all that’s fake. / Let yourself celebrate.”

Most impressive about this piece of work is vocalist India’s ability to make her voice fast and flirtatious to match the musical beats, yet manages to slow down enough to make her ballad feel sweet without completely losing the energetic spark that fuels every song this album has to offer.

It’s nice to hear namesake track “Rocket Science” demand among its reviving beat, “Is anybody home in there?” Are listeners awake and aware of their world as the music demands they sway and dance to the entire album — especially “Dance Until Dawn” — and listen up? Only they can answer that.

The Pittsburgh Three Rivers Arts Festival

http://www.tpnevolve.com/node/255

Culture, summer complement each other for Three Rivers Arts Festival

Three Rivers Arts Festival
June 5 - 14
www.artsfestival.net

Nothing kicks off s summer in Pittsburgh like a healthy dose of the arts.

The Three Rivers Arts Festival will soon bring vast numbers of artist vendor stalls to Downtown Pittsburgh, allowing art to dominate the city and bring in the summer season.

“The Three Rivers Arts Festival presents unique, diverse, high-quality programming in a multitude of genres, featuring nationally recognized talent and the cream of the local crop,” Lauren Bracey, public relations and marketing manager for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, said.

Pittsburgh’s traditional Three Rivers Arts Festival will welcome its 50th year this summer, and this distinctive year’s highlights include “more than 50 live music performances, 250 artists in the Artists Market, an expanded weekend children’s area, visual arts exhibitions in 12 Cultural District gallery spaces and daily film screenings, circus performances and theatrical readings,” Bracey said.

He added, “Watching a live concert on the grass in Point State Park, strolling through the artists’ booths and exhibitions, having a funnel cake — for many Pittsburghers, this is the only way to start summer.”

The festival also includes exhibitions such as woodwork, calligraphy, quilting, animation and glass, according to its Web site.

Vast and numerous, the stretch of the featured arts can be grasped with a Web search through its online programming. Whether searching by day, by artwork or by place, the chances to experience something new are readily available.

“New,” however, does not necessarily mean exotic.

“More than half of the musical acts we present are local,” Bracey said. “Many of the artists presented in our visual arts exhibitions are from the Pittsburgh region, and about 40 percent of artists in the Artists Market are from Pennsylvania.”

This offers college artists the opportunity to enter the scene.

“When the festival first began in the 1960s, university artists and student performing ensembles were regularly presented,” Bracey said. “Festival exhibitions regularly include the work of local university faculty members and students.”

The festival is not limited to Pennsylvania-based artists. It gives everyone — not just Pittsburgh residents — a chance to explore the arts.

“To break down traditional barriers to arts access, the overwhelming majority of festival programming is free,” Bracey said. “And to extend our reach into the community, we work with a host of community partners, from the Pennsylvania Resources Council, to Holy Family Institute, to the Children’s Museum.”

But this free access does not aid in funding the arts festival.

“I think it is safe to say that every arts organization has felt the effects of the economy’s decline this year,” Bracey said. “That said, we are presenting 100 distinct events and exhibitions featuring more than 500 artists, so we are making the best of everything that is available to us.”

The Three Rivers Arts Festival is a division of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion and development of Pittsburgh’s Cultural District.

“Three Rivers Arts Festival became a division of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust in January 2009,” Bracey said. “Previously, the festival was a special project of Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. The festival’s history and program — bringing people Downtown for arts experiences — was a great fit with the Trust’s ongoing work to animate and invigorate Downtown Pittsburgh through the arts.”

The Three Rivers Arts Festival has always held enormous economic importance to Downtown business — VisitPittsburgh.com, a city-based tourism Web site, estimates that the festival generates $23 million for businesses overall.

The changes to management promise to provide further improvements and even more vendors in the future, especially as the festival prepares to ask for feedback from the hundreds of thousands of projected visitors.

“We will be offering both on-site and online surveys to gather ideas about what they think the festival should be as we prepare for the next 50 years,” Bracey said.

For a detailed look at the festival’s concert line-up, head to www.artsfestival.net and get your art on.