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.