Pablo Picasso

I’m a big fan of Picasso’s work, his style has always interested me. Guernica, pictured above is a navy blue, black and white painting by Picasso dipicting the bombing of Guernica by the Germans, Spanish and Italian warplanes. It shows war and suffering amidst individuals.

People have tried to decipher deeper meanings to this painting, however, Picasso stated: “I make the painting for the painting. I paint the objects for what they are” suggesting there is no deeper meaning. However, there are 2 hidden images formed in the image. The human skull that overlays the horses body and a bull that appears to be tackling the horse from underneath.

This has led people to try and interpret the painting further with such results as the broken sword at the bottom of the painting symbolizing the defeat of the people at the hand of the tormentors.

I decided to include one of the 'Weeping' series by Picasso as well, just because i like it...

Bloomsbury Chocolate

Ok, so i’ve included a lot of images for this entry, but thats only because i think its a very clever gimmick that bloomsberg have managed to achieve with the packaging of this chocolate. I always see it in supermarkets and always manages to create a smirk on my face, but this has never enticed me to buy it, i still always buy the better known brands such as Cadbury & Galaxy. However, after about a year of looking at it in shops, i decided to buy a bar the other day (of the ‘Emergency Chocolate’) and i was not very impressed. The box gave me high hopes for what would be inside, unfortunately, it was not what i hoping for. Its very sweet and creamy, but not actually very chocolaty. Its not a melt in the mouth chocolate, but overall, not a terrible chocolate. I can’t imagine people buying it for the actual chocolate, mainly for the gimmick of having it or giving it as a present.

“For immediate relief of: Chocolate Cravings, Lovesickness, Exam Pressure, Mild Anxiety, and Extreme Hunger.”

I really the packaging, and obviously a lot of thought has gone into it, but they need to improve the chocolate!

Foo Fighters - Everlong

Foo Fighters - Everlong (Official Music Video) - More amazing video clips are a click away

I think this is a fantastic music video. It is expressionistic and ironic as it is partially a parody of the cult horror film Evil Dead. The video is based around 2 characters, a man and a wife having bad dreams. In the males dream, he is at a party where there are 2 men harrassing his wife. The anger he shows for these 2 men causes his hand to swell up to a giant size (the ‘Handor’) and uses it against the harassers. Dave Grohl has admitted this idea was part of a nightmare he used to have a child where his hand grew to enormous proportions. Which i feel is a really clever idea, as this song is about pain, love and excitement which he must feels has a link to his childhood and how he felt when having these dreams. I think having strong powerful dreams can influence who you are and your behavior, and that is why i like this video so much.

District 9

I saw this film the other day at the cinema and i was quite impressed. It got a bit ridiculous towards the end and it seemed a bit like ‘Transformers meets Alien’ or something. However, i think this film portrays quite a strong message. The fact that it is set in Johannesburg and not New York or London or somewhere is a big statement. The film is basically based around discrimination towards the aliens who are all living in slums with terrible conditions. However, i think Neill Blomkamp is trying to get a message across to the people of South Africa to try and stop discrimination between the different races of people. A strong statement in my eyes, whether its supposed to be that, i don’t know?

Derren Brown

Derren Brown, I’ve been watching a few of his programs recently and as far as i can tell, its all complete rubbish. The way in which he says he ‘predicted’ the lottery was ridiculous - free writing? No Derren. Made me think that his explanation at the end of the show telling us how he could have rigged it seems more believable.

The next show, getting people to stick to their seats wasn’t believable either. I was watching intently throughout the show, however, not only was i not stuck in the slightest, but i dont know anyone else that got stuck either??? I’m not very impressed so far Derren.

Before his next show (trying to project an image into all of our heads) i went to see ‘HypnoDog’ at the union. I didn’t go to this with a very open mind after watching all these Derren Brown things and not really believing it was possible to make them do what you want without them realising. However, by the end of this quite impressive show, i was a lot more open minded. Not only would these people not have done most of the stuff he told them to do without the influence of hypnotism, but it was also a lot more impressive than everything i had seen by Derren Brown so far.

Anyway, it was the day after HypnoDog that the next Derren Brown show was on, so i decided to be a lot more open minded about it and see if this helped. It was actually quite a disappointing show where the projection of the image into our minds only lasted about 2 minutes. Even so, i tried to keep an open mind and started drawing when we were told to. However, by the end of the show it turned out that what i had drawn wasnt really anything like what was supposed to be projected. I drew the pyramids, where the image was supposed to be concentric circles/stone henge.

Another failure by Derren Brown in my eyes, i’ll have to see how next week compares.

Wassily Kandinsky at the Tate Modern

I was just watching tv and something about the Tate Modern came on (I think it may have been part of This Morning). It showed a load of pieces of art from inside the gallery. The one that most stood out to me was ‘Cassacks’ by Kandinsky. The program said how Kandinsky’s art was influenced by the music he listened to when painting which, i feel could be a fantastic influence over people. Mainly because i always listen to music when i work, and often try to get ideas by listening carefully to the music/lyrics.

Kandinsky believed abstract paintings could convey spiritual and emotional values through the arrangement of colours/lines. However, the program also mentioned how this isn't a true abstract painting as there are actual distinguishable things painted in it, such as the rainbow in the centre of the picture and the castle on top hill on the right. It is essentially just a painting of a landscape with russian cossacks fighting each other and guarding the castle. The program went on to mention how these were representational elements which could be considered as points at which the images could be registered rather than the true content of the painting.

New Nano

I was wondering when Apple would finally give the iPod a camera capability. The iPhone could do it, so it was only a matter of time. I havent personally used one yet, but its a fantastic idea. The Nano is small enough to take anywhere, and now its possible to capture those precious memories when you've forgotten your camera.