Dance Sport YAY!!!!! 8th cultural event

I went to Dance Sport on Saturday and watched a few groups compete. They were very good. This was on ballroom dance. The first groups did the Cha-Cha, others did the Rumba, and some did the Samba. To be honest I was quite bored to watch the Social Dance 180 compete, because they were beginners. I enjoyed watching the Samba. They were very good. I think they were a level 300 group. It looked like fun.
I've taken three dance classes, 180, 280 and Social Country Dance. I think by far country dance was my favorite class. Doing the Foxtrot in the other classes was awkward, but I thought the Waltz was interesting. We learned about the Viennese Waltz, and that was fun.
I have not taken a dance class for about a couple years. I wanted to take more, but I got married. I do not know why or how I got into a little dance. I always thought dancing is for wussies. So I manned it up by going shooting, hunting, fishing, 4x4ing, and working in construction. I enjoyed myself though, but the dance stage of my life is over.

In Class 7

Class has been very interesting to me lately. I must admit a few things did not catch my interest quite as architecture, cinema, and music. I absolutely love architecture, but for this week, we have talked about music and cinema. I am amazed how some of these virtuosos came up with their compilations from their head. I like to play classical music on the piano, and I can appreciate how these wonderful composers came up with such beautiful and complicated music. I am more familiar with Mozart and Beethoven. Mozart's music is very intense on the piano and it takes much practice to get down. Finger placement is key to play his music perfectly, if it can be played perfectly. I used to be able to play Rondo Alla Turca or Turkish March. My mission in Bulgaria made me forget how to play his music, and it is very hard to get back to where I was especially with college always biting me in the back. Seriously a four credit math class should not have twenty hours of homework a week!!!! When I can afford a piano, I want to acquire one.
We started discussing cinema towards the middle-end of class on Monday. I think it's funny how people back then were fascinated with their five minute clips, and how they gathered at the local movie theater to watch. I could imagine seeing a movie picture for the first time would be fascinating. Nowadays it seems as if we do not make many breakthroughs with technology. Man landing on the moon now, or even Mars, big deal. Ipods and mp3 players were not as much as a breakthrough as much as moving pictures to people in the late 1800's and early 1900's. I wonder what we will invent today that will make us be in awe. I definitely agree that closeup shots are very important for movies. They make me feel as if I am there instead of just observing what is going on. I wonder what movies would be like today if it weren't for that one gentleman (what's his name again?) who introduced to the public closeup.

Readings 7

I did not read too much this week. However, I read part of Jasie's two papers that she put up on blackboard. They seemed too much out of my reach, but they were interesting indeed. I did not know that Jasie is focusing on zombies. I did not realize anyone could focus on them, but I guess throughout history and cultures the concept of zombies is interesting and important to many.

Cinderella at the Valley Center Playhouse in Lindon

My wife and I went to Lindon to go see a play at the Valley Center Playhouse. It was hard to find, because it was located in a neighborhood. I did not see any signs or anything. We hesitantly walked in, and there were people in there already. The stage was set up as an arena. There must not have been more than 60 people there. The whole time Rachel and I were wondering what or why they were doing this play. There were all ages there.
Anyways, we all know the story of Cinderella. That is what the play was about. The girl who played Cinderella is a very beautiful singer, and I actually enjoyed everyone's acting. The older lady who was supposed to be the evil step mother was very emotional and did a great job. The two step sisters were very annoying, and I could sense a little how Cinderella would have felt.
Also in real life Cinderella and the Prince actors were engaged and are getting married at the end of the summer. The actors even interacted with the crowd, especially the little girls. They had them try on the slipper, and it was pretty cute.
If anybody understands why people put on these kinds of plays in random places, let me know. Thanks.

Readings 6 (A little research on realism theatre)

Out of that list on the Power Point presentation, I decided to do a little research on theatre in the realism era. I looked it up on the internet, and found out that this type of theatre started in Russia, but gained much popularity throughout Europe. This type of theatre has great influence on modern drama today. Realism has plots that deal with everyday normal behavior for the middle and lower classes. The climax reveals secrets that are unkown to the audience, thus everybody understands at this point. Heroes were no longer represented by only the upper class. Any average Joe can be a hero. Certain new theatrical ideas, politcs, and social attributes complimented theatre in the Realism era. It still dominates today.

In class 6

I must say that I enjoyed class this week. I liked how Jasie introduced us to grooveshark.com, and that she could show us a piece of music from each time period. There was more interaction with that in class discussion about music in general. I liked how we went over how music is important and why or how it affects us. Music is very amazing to me. I took a physics class last semester and one of the subjects that we learned had to do with acoustics, and how sound is created. Each note has a certain frequency and they are all related mathematically. Also when the source of sound is moving or when the obsverver is moving there is a doppler effect. The doppler effect changes the frequency of the sound. In this class we are learning how music affects our brains or our emotions. I personally love music. I play the piano, and when I had extra time in the past, I liked to learn new pieces. I love playing mozart. He definitely was a genius. Seriously, how do people come up with this kind of stuff? How do all the notes flow perfectly to make us feel the way we do? It is all amazing.
Throughout my life, I have noticed that when I listen to certain songs I remember the first time or around the first time that I've listened to them. For example, when I am listening to The Beautiful Mistake it reminds me of my senior year of high school, and how I would drive every other week from Las Vegas to go snowboarding up in Brian Head near Cedar City. Also other songs remind me of other things. I wonder what I am listening to now that will make me remember now later. Now, that is interesting.

Bang the Drum Slowly (Orem Public Library)

I went to the Orem public library and watched this movie that was filmed in 1973. I have not even heard of it in my whole entire short life before. I guess I am way young, because apparently many older people know about this film.
During this time period films were definitely slower and less action I presume. I was waiting for comedy, but it never came. When the movie came to an end, I realized that I liked it. It had a good story. It is mainly about two professional baseball players who are best friends. One of them had an illness that took his life a year later. The player who was not sick took care of his best friend and made sure where his sick friend went, he went too.
If it were not for the requirement in this class to go to a film screening, I probably would have never seen this movie in my life. I am thankful that I was able to see a different genre in movies. I assume that in class next week we will discuss cinema, and hopefully that will help me understand better.