The Salvador Dali Theatre and Museum - Figueres

When I went to Barcelona this Summer I visited the museum of the artist Salvador Dalí in his home town of Figueres, Catalonia. The museum opened in 1974 and houses the largest and most diverse collection of Salvador Dalí's works, including many from the artist's own collection. Aswell as Dalí paintings from all decades of his career, there are Dalí sculptures, 3D collages, mechanical devices and other curiosoities from Dali's imagination. My favourite part and perhaps the most unusual part of teh museum was a living-room with custom furniture that looks like the face of Mae West when viewed from a certain point on some stairs above the room. I'd certainly never seen anything like it.

What I loved about the museum is that it isn't just a building housing the artists work, but is a work of surrealist art in itself. The building is very striking, with a roof bordered by giant eggs and pink walls covered in gold blobs. Walking around the museum, there are are interesting things to look at everywhere, not just the paintings on the walls. There are holographs, potical games and strereoscopic paintings- double paintings which , when viewed through a mrror, becoem 3D images.

I've always been liked Dali's work for it's surrealism. His work is like something from a dream, when you can't quite get your head around what you saw in your dream or why your brain created these images. His work isn't just abstract for the sake of being abstract but combines thing syou wouldn't mormally see together into wierd imaginative compositions.  Thework in the museum is fun, playful and interactive and it makes you look at things differently. Definatley the most interesting art gallery/museum I've ever been to and worth the trip out of Barcelona.

What You See Might Not Be Real

I saw this scupture on a news website and only being able to see the cloud part of the sculpture, I thought it was a real cloud of smoke. It amazed me to see, when i viewed the full image, that it was part of a sculpture because it looks so real! 

The sculpture is by artist Chen Wenling and is on display in a Beijing  Gallery. It is called What You See Might Not Be Real- a very fitting title as i thought part of it was real- and it is about the global financial crisis. The bull is supposed to represent Wall Street and the man pinned against the wall is supposed to be jailed financier Bernard Madoff. I don't know much about Bernard Madoff but from what I enterpret, the bull is representing Wall Street's anger at Bernard Madoff and the revenge 'it' would like to get on him. I think the sculpture is amazing- it's like a cartoon from a newspaper but with so much animation and life to it. You can get a real sense on the power in the bull. It's quite scary! 

Family Fridge

I watched 'Dragon's Den Online' the other night and one entreprenaur was trying to get an investment for his website: Family Fridge. I was interested to check out the website as it sounded just like another social media website, very similar to facebook, but attempting to be different to attract different people. I struggled to see why anyone would bother to sign up to this website when most peopl are already on facebook.

 After visiting the website and viewing a tutorial. I'm not sure if there is much that is uniquely different about it. Most features that it offers are already available on facebook like photo sharing and advertising events to friends. It also has a 'notebook' which seems to be just a different name to what is known as your 'wall' on facebook but is shared by family members- so a bit more like updating your status on facebook- all of your freinds or family members. There are a couple of features that Family Fridge offers that facebook doesn't. There is a calender where you can add appointments like dentist and doctors appointments to remind family members- a useful tool for mums trying to organise the family, and there's also a 'Gift List' feature where users can make a list of gift's they would like for birthdays and christmas.  This is quite a good idea for teeneagers and those who are hard to buy for. According to the founder of Family Fridge is possibly going to be sponsored by an online store which makes for a good advertising opportunity.  

I think Family Fridge is a nice idea. Although similar to facebook it is aimed at just families so families can organise things amongst themsleves and share photos without having to advertise it to the world on facebook. They can also remind eachother of events which aren't exciting enough to want to post on facebook, like a dentist appointment. I think it will appeal to parents who use the web alot but it may be hard for them to get their kids to sign up to it. Who wants to visit a website to get constant reminders off their parents?  I think it depends on the family relationship, whether it will be useful to them but as social media becomes more and more prominant in our lives I think it could catch on, especially if it becomes available on the iphone. And it takes away the need for bits of paper and post it notes being stuck to the fridge- hence the name - Family Fridge.

Atonement

Joined by Love. Seperated by Fear. Redeemed by Hope.

Last night I watched Atonement, a 2007 adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian McEwan. It was a really touching and beautiful film and really made me sad to think about being in the same situation as the main characters in the film. The film is about a young couple, Cecilia and Robbie, who shortly after finding love together are seperated by the silly lies of a young and immature child- the younger sister of Cecilia, Briony Tallis. Briony is a budding writer with an active imagination and a crush on her sister's lover Robbie. She claims to have seen him do something she isn't sure she saw to get him taken away so that not only she can't have him, but neither can her sister. Although the main characters are portrayed as Robbie and Cecilia, the film is very much about the effects that Briony's foolish lies have on their lives until the day they die. I think the young actress Saoirse Ronan, who plays Briony is a briliant actress and the real star of the film. 

The film is brilliantly directed and has an award winning score which I noticed involved the sound of a typewriter throughout the film. This was very relevant at the beginning when we see both Briony and Robbie use typwriters, but is used throughout the film, often I think, to emphasise the passing of time- like the ticking of a clock. It's also used to build tension with the clicks speeding up and down as tension builds and fades.

I also noticed the colour of costumes in the fim seemed to be quite significant. Briony, who is porrtrayed as a rather nasty child, is always dressed in white. I think this gives her a look of innocence which seems to be a misjudgement of her character by her parents and peers. Towards the end of the film though, you begin to realise that she was just as innocent as any child, but was naive to what long term effects her lies can have on people. In the end her lies have a big affect on her life too.

I think one of the most striking and memorable images from the film is that of Kiera Knightley in a vivid green dress. It made me think about the colour and what mood it creates. Green is supposed to be calm and soothing and represent good luck. But it also represents jealousy, which Briony feels towards Cecilia. This could be the reason the stylist chose this colour, but I think in the context the colour became very sexy and had the same striking effect that a red dress would usually be used for in a film. I found it quite interesting how the colour of the dress seemed to make the scene so much more impactful and memorable.

Antoni Gaudi Architechture- Barcelona

I went to Barcelona over the Summer and found a city full of beautiful, varied architecture and art. The work of Antoni Gaudi can be seen all over the city and his architectural style is admired all over the world for it’s unique and distinctive style. 

I visited Park Guell – a park full of amazing buildings, sculptures, and tile work designed by Gaudi, including his old home, which is hgh above the city with fantastic views.

Antoni Gaudi's past home as Park Guell

Gaudi's work was greatly influenced by natural forms and this is reflected in the curvy shaped stonework, organic-like forms and twisted iron sculptures and also his use of colour- with mosaic tiling. The vibrant colours he uses add another dimension to his architecture which is often overlooked by other architects.

There are also buildings all over the city designed by Gaudi which have his unique style and features. They're really interesting to look at and covered in details. I love how Gauidi goes against architectural trends and rules that have been followed for hundreds of years with his designs being assymetrical in many places. This building looks almost like it's covered in sea urchins and shells and like it's been worn away by the sea in places. It also reminds me of the house in Hansel and Grettle- it looks like it could be made of sweets and biscuits.

Jame's May's Lego House Nobody Wants

I think it's such a shame that this amazing house, made entirely from Lego, is going to be hacked to pieces with chainsaws if nobody wants to give the home a new home.  Around 1,000 volunteers built the 20ft house for James May's new BBC TV Show 'Jame's May's Toy Stories, but the land on which it is built is now needed back by the owner's. The house is free for anyone who wants to pay for it to be moved to their own land but, being made form around 3.3 million plastic lego bricks it probably weighs a few tonnes! 

The house is big enough for fully grown adults to live in comfortably...except everything is made from lego.

The house comes with a fully fitted kitchen and utensils, although using them might be a challenge and also a bathroom with working taps and basin. The house looks like it would be a delight to visit and have a look around and it seems such a waste for it to be knocked down - especially a waste of plastic that will end up in land fill. It must also be a great architechtural achievement- the first bulding made entirely from plastic blocks that require no adhesives, and it looks great too. Much more interesting than clay bricks. I hope someone can give the home a new home and enjoy it.

What the F**k is Social Media!?

I found this slideshow presentation really interesting about social media. Some of the staisitics are really surprising and makes you realise how big social media is these days. I think the future of advertising is going to evolve around social media a lot and be very different to the last century where advertising was mostly print, radio and TV. Social media is very persuasive and feels more trustworthy than a traditional advertisment- it has potential to be a very powerful way to advertise.

What The F**K is Social Media?

View more documents from Marta Kagan.

Colourful Portraits

I love these colourful portraits by Francoise Nielly, they're so good I could almost eat them. The colours are so bright and look so juicy they're kind of mouthwatering. I love how she uses colour to portray light tone and shadow and get's it so right, they almost look 3D. I wish I could paint something that looks so messy yet so perfect- something I've alyways tried to do but failed at, with my results either looking too neat or a total mess. It's interesting how she has painted the eyes with more detail than the rest of the portraits so they stand out and stare at you. 

(500) Days of Summer

I went to see (500) days of Summer last week. I was kind of reluctant to go and see it as there was another film I wanted to see on at he cinema and this just looked like another romantic comedy, of which I've watched a lot of recently and none of them have been that great- mostly because they tend to have a little comedy but very little romance. This one was different though. For one thing the characters really had chemistry between them which often lacks in romantci comedies. At first I wasn't keen on the female character, Summer, but then you are shown what the male character, Tom, sees in her and you really want them to get together. I really liked how the film wasn't in chronological order but skipped from different days of the 500 'days of Summer' and this really showed the contrast in how Summer made Tom feel so happy at some points and so low at others. The scenes would skip from when Tom had just broken up with Summer and then back to when he was blissfully happy and vice versa. I also liked the use of animation in the film. There's a scene that combines live action with animation for a scene in Tom's imagination where he's feeling so happy he can see a little blue bird flying around him. There's other interesting scenes using photo slide shows and the live action turning into a sketchy animation too. It all helps to tell the story really well and keep your interest. I thought it was the best, most unique and unpredictable romantic comedy I've seen in a long time and whenever I hear songs from it they make me smile (it had a good soundtrack too). Highly recommended, to girls especially.

Derren Brown- The Events Trailer

A few weeks ago I saw the first advert for Derren Brown's new series on CHANNEL 4. It instantly grabbed my attention just from the mirrored the text on the screen saying the name of the show. It intrigued me to keep watching and it turned out the whole advert was backwards. I thought it was a really clever teaser campaign as it makes you wonder what the advert is about/why it is backwards and you know there will probably be an advert to follow which explains it- which there was: the advert played forwards. I saw another follow up advert today in which Derren Brown claims he is going to predict the lottery live as one of 'The Events'- I didn't think that was such a clever advert- if he could really predict the lottery numbers wouldn't he have won the lottery by now? Hmm.