Animated American Family Rough Draft

Mariela Quintuna

Reviewing the Arts

02 December 2010

Rough Draft

American Comedy TV Shows

            The American Comedy TV shows, Family Guy, The Simpsons and King of the Hill have been the viewers best comedy show that is mostly watched by the fans all over the world.  However, the jokes that are in Family Guy and The Simpsons are about the things that we are going through today in the world.  All of the shows are about families and something always goes wrong that gets them into random situations.  The characters of the show are some of a dysfunctional family that makes the show extra funny.  For instance, in Family Guy, Peter Griffen is the head of the family and this lazy fat obnoxious man gets in to situations where he gets into trouble by being drunk or getting into fights with people in the street or just by his stupidity.  In the Simpsons, Homer is also a fat drunk who dedicates his time at Moe's bar and eating donuts.  In King of the Hill, Hank is a traditional Texan man who works in Propane Company and also drinks.  However, Hank is the kind of man that likes to do the right thing and seems somewhat responsible.

            To begin with, The Simpsons show is animated American families TV comedy show created by Matt Groening for the FOX Broadcasting Company.  He created this dysfunctional family by using the names of his own family members.  The setting for The Simpsons is created in a fictional Springfield and makes fun of the American culture, society religion, and many aspects of the human condition.  It is about a traditional family that consists of two parents, three kids and a dog and a cat.  The dog-named Santa's Little Helper is a skinny brown dog that is best friend of Bart.  And the cat named Snowball III is Lisa's pet that is her third cat since her previous cats had died in random accidents. 

            The Simpsons make fun of the American culture by being the opposite of an American family.  It means that in a traditional American family, they are happy and well-mannered, while The Simpsons are created as a dysfunctional wacky family who in the first season, they went into shock therapy with Dr. Marvin Monroe and at the end their whole problems resolve and later in the episodes they are still at it with each other, especially Homer and Bart when Homer chokes Bart when he says something smart or gets into trouble.  Marge Simpson is the heart, soul and glue that keep this family together.  Lisa is the smart one in the family who is obsessed with getting good grades in a test.  Almost all the episodes are about Lisa Simpson getting good grades, winning essay contests, entering in a spelling bee competition, being given the chance to go up a higher grade due to her high intelligence, winning science fairs and so much more.  Aren't we all tired of hearing that Lisa is so smart and that there is not a lot of comedy when watching those kinds of episodes?  Now, Bart is the mischievous skate boring kid whose best friend is a non-cool kid Millhouse who is his accomplice of Bart's adventures of getting into trouble.  Bart is so rebellious toward society. 

            The Simpsons poke fun of the whole police system and crooked politicians.  Here in this country we deal with crooked politicians, just ask former governor Rod Blagoaveich who was convicted guilty on two accounts, when there was about14 or 24.  He would tell you how it is to be a terrible governor and get away with it.  And this is what Mayor Quimby in The Simpsons show represents.  He sleeps with hookers, uses the citizens money for his pleasure vacations.  The police system in The Simpsons show is funny because the character Chief Wiggum is a fat, lazy, no-good cop that messes up any crime scene or stake out.  He is always eating donuts and not just any donuts, but it has to be jelly donuts.         

            The Simpsons use the topic of religion as humor because Ned Flanders is basically the only one who is a “real Christian” in the show and he enjoys praying and going to church.  Homer is the one that makes fun of him because he’s such a good boy and to Homer that is funny.  In the other hand, Reverend Lovejoy is bored of what he does and hates it when Ned always calls him for help.

            The next animated comedy is “Family Guy.”  The show is about an all American animated family that consists of a mother, father, three kids and a dog.  It is the traditional family figure.  The creator for this show is Seth MacFarlane and the characters of this show are similar to The Simpsons show.  The Griffen family, who live in Quahog, Rhode Island and lives on Spooner Street. 

            Peter Griffen is kind of the main character because he is a lazy-fat obnoxious man who works in a toy factory.  He is an idiotic drunk who spends most of his time with his friends, Quagmire, Joe and Cleveland at their local bar, “The Drunken Clam” that is run by Horace.  They bring more humor to the show because Cleveland is classified as the angry black man whose wife Loretta cheats on him with Quagmire who works as a pilot and is a sex addict and the somewhat normal one in the group is the handicapped police officer Joe Swanson. 

            Family Guy is the best show of any animated comedy because they use topics that we could relate to or know about and they go into depth about it.  The show laughs about the broadcasting company FOX because of their prior show cancellation.  On their first episode “North by North Quahog” Peter tells the family that their show had to be cancelled because FOX had to make room in the schedule for other TV shows such as Dark Angel, Titus, Undeclared, Action, The ‘80s Show, Wanda at Large, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, The Tick, American Embassy and much more.  Lois, the mother and wife in the family who has a gambling problem asks whether there is any hope, to which Peter replies that if all these shows are cancelled they might have a chance; the shows were indeed canceled during Family Guy’s hiatus.

            Lastly, the Texan family of the show “King of the Hill” is about a family who tries to live a modern life.  This animated show is like another creation that is much similar to the creation of Beavis and Butt-head.  In the show, Hank Hill is a hardworking beer drinking man who works in a propane company as a salesman and loves his job.  His wife Peggy is an opinioned lady while their son Bobby is a disappointment.  They also have a niece Luann who is living with them. 

            Hank Hill has a friend who is similar to Peter Griffen and Homer Simpson.  They all are their drinking buddies and just enjoy their time talking about things that happen around the town.  They have a Philippine or Cambodian neighbors who think that they are much more superior than the Hill family.  Hank Hill is always irritated by them and doesn’t do anything.  This show is not funny, it is really dull. 

            Over all, two of these shows talk about the same issues and have the same jokes, but not “King of the Hill,” that is the show that is the worst and I don’t know how why some people think that this show is funny.  Is it because they are from Texas? We don’t really know.  However, the best comedy show would definitely come out of Family Guy because they have jokes that we can relate to and know about.  Although The Simpsons are somewhat funny, but sometimes it doesn’t make sense, so you just want to change the channel to the Family Guy show.  So it looks like Family Guy would win the award for the funniest TV show.

           

Family Guy

Mariela Quintuna       

Reviewing the Arts

20 November 2010

TV Show Review

Family Guy (Season 6, Espisodes 4 & 5: “Stewie Kills Lois,” FOX)

            Like any hysterical animated family animated comedy, “Family Guy” is the most hilarious TV shows compared to “The Simpsons” and “South Park.” Creator Seth MacFarlane created the main characters in the hilarious TV comedy which are the Griffen Family.  Dad, Peter Griffen (voice by Seth MacFarlane) who is an obnoxious man who works in a toy factory and also is a drunk. Mom, Lois (voice by Alex Borstein) is a stay-at-home mom who has a drug addiction and a gambling problem.  Daughter Meg, is a 17 year-old (voice by Lacey Chabert) where a pink shirt and blue jeans and wears a pink beanie under other headgear.  She is the oldest from the other two siblings.  Son, Chris (voice by Seth Green) is a 15 year-old middle child who is terrified by an evil monkey that hides in his closet.  And baby Stewie (voice by Seth MacFarlane) is a one year-old infant who as a mind of a serial killer who is also obsessed with world domination and has always planned to kill Lois.  Dog, Brian, (voice by Seth MacFarlane) is the family’s pet, but is considered to be a family member who primarily works as a writer in various styles such as essays, novels, scripts, and newspaper articles.

            The episode, “Stewie Kills Lois,” began on a restaurant on Lois’s birthday when the family gives Lois her birthday gifts and Brian’s gift to her is two tickets for a cruise.  His plan was to go with her, but Lois ends up going with Peter.  At the dock where the Lois and Peter leave for the cruise, Stewie comes in and thinks that he is also coming with them, but ends up staying home.  Stewie gets mad and begins to plan his revenge for Lois.  This one-year-old baby makes this show hilarious because he comes up with these ideas to kill Lois, but backfires.  In the episode, he thinks he succeeded when he finds a way to get on the cruise and finds his mom.  He takes out a machine gun and shoots Lois until she fell overboard.  He jumps up and down and runs with joy.  At this point the episode ends and continues the following week in episode 5. 

            In episode 5, the show mostly takes place in the courtroom when the police suspect Peter as the murderer.  There is a scene where is a bit funny it is when the police finds evidence that Peter might have done it, (but in reality it is Stewie’s writing, but was mislead by Peter’s poor writing) and the judge finds Peter Griffen guilty.  Everyone out loud says “Oh no!” and repeats it two times until the Kool-Aid guy comes in breaking the wall and says “Oh Yes!”  It’s funny because he came out of nowhere and he felt awkward and just left from the wall he tore down.  Later has world domination and controls everything.  At the end of the episode, Stewie ends a simulation of killing Lois and taking over the world.  It kind of made it seem like it was not a good episode because it had a sense that Stewie finally was going to kill Lois, but it was all like a dream. 

            Family guy is a great show and hilarious, but this episode was not a success.  Creator Seth MacFarlane should have thought of this episode a bit deeper so it wouldn’t have a stupid ending. 

Jim Hodges "The end where you are"

Mariela Quintuna
Reviewing the Arts
18 November 2010
Visual Art Review

Jim Hodges at Museum of Contemporary Arts, 220 E. Chicago Ave.

Jim Hodges was born in 1957 in Spokane Washington. He is a New York base installation artist. He received his Bachelor Fine Arts degree in Fort Wright College in 1980 and his Masters of Fine Arts degree from the Pratt Institute in 1986. His piece “Don’t Be Afraid” was installed on the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C. in 2005. Another of his pieces “The end from where you are, 1998” is one of the collections from the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Chicago. The MCA has displayed his work with a new title, “Lost & Found.”
From the collection, the one piece that looked awesome was “The end from where you are.” This piece is different from other art work that comes out of the Art Institute because instead of looking at boring paint or sketches, this artist chose to sculpt his piece by using everyday materials and found objects that comprises his work. The materials and objects that he uses ranges from beads to aluminum cans, from wool to popcorn, from trash to mirrors and all of this has been transformed into works of art that captures the viewers eye. The diversity in the piece shows that by him using these materials, it says that the artist has a connection with nature and that is why it is a potential contemporary piece.
When looking at this piece, you can see all the aluminum that he used and it somewhat looks like a shower curtain that has the designs of flower patterns all around. However, this “curtain” isn’t like having a big cloth and has drawing of flowers, rather it is all different materials such as aluminum that is possibly stretch out like a string to be attached to other materials and continue that process and flower pattern until it is finished. What is interesting about this piece is that you don’t know where the end is. It could of ended on the edges, on the top or bottom. Hence the name of the piece “The end from where you are.” It could be from whatever angle you are looking from or how you stare at it. It could be observed from looking up or down or side to side.
This art work would be considered as the best art you can see and observe because it is not your traditionally art work where all you see is water paint, oil paint or just a simple sketch. This is the kind of art work that the viewers could relate to and with the artist as well. Hodges deserves his art to be appreciated because it is a different kind of art compared to other artists or sculptures. This display is currently at the MCA and it would be there until February 2011.

Aventura-review2

Mariela Quintuna
Reviewing for the Arts
02 November 2010

Aventura, “The Last” (Premium Latin Music/Sony BMG 2009)

Bachata which means party is a popular guitar music from the Dominican Republic. A typical bachata group consists of a lead guitar, rhythm guitar, electric bass guitar, bongos and guira. Guira is a percussion instrument from Dominican Republic. Bachata, or Musica de Amargue/Music Bitterness, began in the Dominican Republic by the first bachata artist José Manuel Calderon. He recorded the first bachata singles (“Borracho de amor” and “Que será de mi (Condena)”) released on in 1961. The subjects are centered on romance, heartbreak, and loss. Bachata is a form of music and dance that originated in the countryside and rural marginal neighborhoods of the Dominican Republic. Its subjects are usually romantic; especially prevalent are tales of heartbreak. The music is in 4/4 timing and is influenced by rumba and Son, while remaining of distinctive sound. It is a four step in the primary dance and a pop or tap on the last beat.

The Dominican boy band Aventura have had a successful career by their music that is popular around the Latin America and even in The Bronx, New York. It was formed in 1994. They were determined to break Dominican bachata music out from its traditional base and fuse it with the other sounds they heard every day, such as hip-hop and R&B. The group comprises lead singer and featured composer Anthony "Romeo" Santos, guitarist and producer Lenny Santos, bassist Max Santos, and singer and composer Henry Santos Jeter. Aventura has sold over 1 million albums, and are also known for their hit singles "Obsesión", "La Boda", "Ella y Yo", "Un Beso", "Mi Corazoncito", "El Perdedor", "Por Un Segundo", "All Up 2 You", and "Su Veneno". Their sound is filled with a copious amount of instruments that is simply added to and then has a beautiful finished product of each song. They use both English and Spanish in their lyrics.

In 1999, they released their first studio album Generation Next, which featured the hit single "Cuando Volverás". The song introduced the group's style of singing in both English and Spanish. Although it would receive little promotion initially, the album would become big once their follow-up was released. In 2002, We Broke the Rules was released, featuring their hit single "Obsesión", which reached the top spot of various charts internationally. In March of 2003, the New York radio stations started promoting their third album, Love and Hate, which had a successful hit single, “Hermanita.” This album was later then released in November.

In April 2005, their fourth album God’s Project was released and their hit single, “La Boda.” Their album was praised through 2005-2006, with other singles such as “Ella y Yo,” and “Un Beso.” On October 19, 2006, the single “Los Infieles” was featured in their next album K.O.B. (Kings of Bachata) Live. Another hit single from their album K.O.B was “Mi Corazoncito” which was number one on the charts in the Hit Latin Tracks.

In January 2009 was when the promotion of their next album The Last started. Their single “Por Un Segundo” reached number one on the charts. On June 5, 2009 they released their other single “All Up 2 You” which features Wisin y Yandel and Akon. The Last was released on June 9, 2009.

The collaborations on the album The Last were awesome because they had Ludacris and Wyclef Jean and they are well-known artists that have a great sound. It is different because sometimes they have artists from their own kind of music, so by having a rap artists such as Ludacris and Wyclef Jean it made a huge difference in the sound and their song that they all sung together “Spanish Fly” has a melody that just makes you want to get up and dance.

Arturo Sandoval is a legendary salsa artists and his contribution to Aventura’s album was his musical instrument, the trumpet. And of course the best collaboration that they could ever have is Wisin y Yandel and Akon when they were featured in the song “All Up 2 You.” This was a great collaboration because Wisin y Yandel are reggaeton artists and Akon is a R&B artist. Reggaeton is also another popular genre that is popular. This song was a big hit in the clubs. The collaborations that Aventura has are the best thing that they can do because it adds a different sound to their music and by having rap artists or a instrumental sound such as Arturo Sandoval, makes their music be more popular to their fans and it has a beautiful finish in each song.

The previous album K.O.B was probably dull compared to this new album The Last because in the album K.O.B it mostly has sad songs and about loss. It seemed like all of them were depressing songs. Compared to this current album, The Last showed that it had romance, loss, and party music. K.O.B was mostly bachata, but in The Last, it has other genres such as reggaeton, salsa, rap, R&B and some merengue. The Last would be considered to be the best album that Aventura has ever produced.

The Last was a sensational and spectacular album that makes the other albums seem like they were not as out going albums. It seemed like they gave it all they had because this could be the last album that they would record together. In the first track “Intro-The Last” Anthony “Romeo” Santos introduces the past albums and there is a slow melody in the background. It has many sound effects and Romeo talks about their careers and with who would be the one to leave the group. It is then followed by him welcoming us into their album. The Last has songs that are about romance and cheating.

The best track in the album could be the last one which is called “Gracias.” They thank the fans for all the love and support they gave them throughout their whole careers. This Aventura album has been a great success. Aventura fans hope that they won’t break up and continue giving them the bachata music that we love to listen and dance to.

Almost Famous

Mariela Quintuna
Reviewing the Arts
10/28/10
Movie Review

Almost Famous (Directed by: Cameron Crowe)

The film “Almost Famous” the autobiography of Cameron Crowe as how he came to be a rock writer in his early career as a teenage music journalist. Mr. Crowe devotes his time to this film to show the love he has for rock ‘n’ roll. In the film we follow the adventures of William Miller (Patrick Fugit) a 15 year-old teen from San Diego whose fairy tale of begins to be a nerdy schoolboy and then arises to be a reporter for the Rolling Stones which is how Mr. Crowe’s career started.
William Miller is seduced by the rock n’ roll band members of Stillwater as he travels on the road with them. This movie was very funny and filled with great music. In the beginning of the movie, Elaine Miller (Frances McDormand) plays the role of William’s mother who is overprotective and didn’t approve that his son and daughter Anita (Zooey Deschanel) to listen or think about rock n’ roll music, have sex, and do drugs. She left her brother William all her rock n’ roll records. It was then when William Miller was introduced to the world of rock music in the 1970s.
William miller was a young journalist and it was hard for his mother to let him go. But young William Miller, much as he tries to avoid the craziness that surrounds him, he is, however, too responsible to permit himself a full swallow. (''Don't take drugs!'' his mother shouts into the phone as he has a hard time to hear her through the commotion of hotel lobbies and dressing rooms. As far as we know, he obeys her.)
This movie is great because it shows how life back in the rock ‘n’ roll years. It showed how much influence Mr. Crowe got from it. This is not like any other ordinary film that is about being a rock star, but the truth about Rock ‘n’ Roll and how much love there is for the music.
William Miller meets his idol Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) becomes somewhat like a mentor to William because he inspired him to be a rock writer and William called all the time to ask for advice when the editor of Rolling Stones wanted to know how the story was going when there were times that William doesn’t get a chance to write because he was experiencing himself the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. He was being around all these groupies and the band members always liked to party. Throughout the road trip, William Miller tries to get a one-on-one interview with the bands lead singer Jason Lee (Jeff Bebe).
The movie had all these scenes about drugs and sex, when arriving in the hotel all the groupies would get promiscuous and Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) hooks up with the lead singer. It showed that in the life as a rock and roll artist, there could be drugs, such as the scene at almost the very end, when the band and William are at New York; William tries to find Penny Lane when she ran off because she saw Jason Lee with his girlfriend. When William arrived to her suite, he found her drinking and she then finally fainted due to her drinking pills and mixed it with alcohol.
This is a great work by Cameron Crowe and is an overpowering movie that makes you want to listen to that kind of music and be cool.

Music Review- Aventura- The Last

Mariela Quintuna       

Reviewing for the Arts

24 October 2010

Music Review

Artist: Aventura

Album: The Last

Released Date: 6/9/2009

Genre: Bachata

          

Mariela Quintuna       

Reviewing for the Arts

24 October 2010

Music Review

Artist: Aventura

Album: The Last

Released Date: 6/9/2009

Genre: Bachata

            The Latin Dominican boy band Aventura, also known as Kings of Bachata are back and once again has achieved their success from their new bachata release The Last in June 2009.  Their music has always been about having smooth hip-hop flavored slow jams, such as one of their songs in the album called “Spanish Fly” that has the collaboration of Ludacris and Wyclef Jean.  And there are additional artists that worked with Aventura in the album, such as Akon and Wisin y Yandel from the song “All Up 2 You.”  These songs are sung in Spanish and in Spanglish.  This is the way that makes their songs sound so energetic and powerful.  This album is great and recommended to those who love listening to bachata and reggaeton because it has a little of both as well as some other tropical genres.  This album is another great project of Aventura because it has much collaboration of different artists from different genres.  You have rap artists, reggaeton artists, and the legendary salsa artist Arturo Sandoval that is featured in the song “Soy Hombre” (I am a Man.)  The concept for the album being called “The Last” came from the group trying to go their separate ways and pursuing different careers as solo artists.  The first track “Intro-The Last” is about their careers, their previous albums and if you’re an Aventura fan you know what albums they are talking about.  “Love & Hate” , “God’s Project”, “K.O.B”, and “The Last”.     

            You can say that these guys are bachata artists that have tropical ballads of love songs, but these guys also had songs that are mixed with hip-hop and a little bit of reggaeton that are played a lot in the clubs for those bachata and reggaeton fanatics.  In the album the group members Romeo, Lenny, Max and Henry sing their heart out and give it their best to satisfy their fans.

            This album has slow bachata songs that takes your mind away and makes you want to sway or dance to the music.  The guitar-based Dominican folkloric music sometimes called the “Dominican blues”) with R & B, hip hop and other American pop and urban styles. The songs “Por Un Segundo” and “El Desprecio” are somewhat familiar songs from their previous album K.O.B “Los Infieles” and “Mi Corazoncito”.  In this album, you would fall in love with the vocals of the band members and with the album.  However, as you go down in the tracks of their album you will notice that they will have some genre of Salsa, such as the song “La Curita” and some Merengue, such as “Gracias”. 

            The songs “Su Veneno” and “Dile El Amor” have a popularity in the iTunes store where you can either buy the album or the song.  But the popularity meter measure these two songs as the best ones that are heard from iTune and bachata lovers.  The song “El Malo” is number seven in the Latin Songs, in Billboard.com.  Aventura needs the support of their fans to make their song number one in the chart.  

This album is considered to be filled with diversity and that is what Aventura fans would expect.     

    

Border Crossing

Border Crossing

Luis Jimenez- Working Class Heroes: Images from the Popular Culture

Reviewed by: Mariela Quintuna

This exhibit of the Border Crossing by Luis Jimenez and it is from the Mexican Fine Arts Museum and was created in 1989 from fiberglass. It is also displayed at other parts of the country such as Washington, D.C., New York and foreign countries such as Tokyo, France, and Belgium.  This is a great art work because Jimenez captured the emotions on these two persons of how tiring their journey is and that he made this art to teach people about people from Mexico migrating to the United States is really hard, but once reached the United States, it has a happy ending. 

           Jimenez is a proud Mexican artist and his collection shows the lives of Mexicans- from going to a party to crossing the border for a better life.  This exhibit shows how they migrated here in the United States to reach their destination.  The image shows a strong, tall, poor man carrying a woman on his shoulder when they are in the desert.  The woman is carrying an infant on her arms to protect her from the things around them.  They are sitting in some kind of rock and the man is not wearing any shoes.  From looking at this image, it looks like they have been traveling for a long time.

             They both look exhausted and it seems that the sun is making it hard because they probably are dehydrated.  The woman is covered by a red blanket as if she was cold.  She is also wearing a blue striped skirt and has a look on her face of a life that has been through a lot and cannot wait to reach her destination.  Jimenez applied emotion on the two persons to show the struggle and hope in their eyes.  The man holding this woman and is dressed in a poor way and you can tell by the rope that is tied around his blue jeans that is used as a belt.

 Although they look tired and exhausted, the clear blue skies probably gives them the strength to keep on going  They are in the desert and as you can imagine all you can do in a desert is just keep walking until there is something to eat or drink. 

            This art is related to what is happening now and that is the immigration issues we are having today.  This work of art is showing hope for the rest of the people in Mexico that if there is hope for one person, then there is hope for everybody.  This painting shows the real feelings and emotions of someone coming to a new world with nothing.    It show that they been walking for probably one week and that is the same way that everybody else migrates here.

This painting that Jimenez made is impressive because he really got the emotions on their face.  However, he took this concept from his personal history and the political issues that are and probably still are happening around the world.  It can be an inspiration not only for Mexicans but to other people in the world that have that dream to come to the land of opportunities.  This is what Jimenez is trying to make us understand, that coming into a new world is difficult but there are many dreams that could be accomplished here in the United States.