Robo-Boogie

Did you know that a few years ago Toyota created a bunch of robots who can play musical instruments? Crazy. I showed the videos to my boyfriend, and he called them "humans in a robot costume." And that's truly what they look like.



Toyota developed the robots to be used as "personal assistants" for the eldery and people with physical handicaps and disabilities. There are a few models, some who walk on two feet, some who roll around on wheels (very Judy Jetson!) and some are even mountable for transportation purposes. The robots were programmed with the classical music function in order to show the dexterity and precision of the machine's hands. While this makes the robot's musical talents a mere hobby, it sure is a nice touch!

Group Projects

Our Tech Resources class is coming to a close. To go out with a bang, we've been assigned group projects and have been tasked with finding the connections between performing arts and literacy. I have to admit, I felt overwhelmed by the broadness of the subject at first, but it has been a great learning process, and I really enjoy working with my teammates Susan and Michi. They are both great at HTML coding, and have been a huge help to me in dealing with my wacky tables and broken links - they definitely have some good pointers!

We started off the project by brainstorming themes and ideas. We came up with three - putting Aesop's fables to music and dance, music and dance in the 1960's, and learning foreign languages through music (actually, I added that last one after class when I was grasping at straws.) We went with the first theme, as it seemed that we could not only easily tie the subject into our Tech class learnings, but we could split the work load in a relatively even way. Kudos to Susan for volunteering to host the site on her public page - that means she is stuck with more coding than the rest of us,so Michi and I have tried to include the coding preset into our content when we share our work. A lot of our communication and idea sharing has been done over email.

To begin work on the Aesop project, we each chose a fable and created a page which includes an audio recording of the story, jpegs and sound clips to match the action, and a choreographed video. To make the pages, we drew upon our knowledge of embedding pictures and music, HTML tables, fonts, colors, hyperlinks, and more. Personally, I relied heavily on Wire Tap Pro and Resizr.com for this project - both great tools.

Working in groups has created the huge benefit of sharing resources and knowledge that we haven't covered in class. For example, Susan taught me about Taco, a completely free web design program which functions very much like Dreamweaver, but without the awkward set up process. In turn, I shared with Susan and Michi the link to Resizr.com, a fantastic free photoediting tool that does many of the same tasks as Photoshop, without the downloads and prompts to turn your trial Adobe program into a paid subscription. Also, today I showed the team how to make a quick recording in Garageband, an awesome tool for Mac users who want to create music and audio tracks.

It's really coming together, and I look forward to sharing our project in class tomorrow.

Lady Gaga Goes Gaga...for Stage Production,That Is!

A few days ago, I was incredibly lucky to snag amazing 4th row tickets to see Lady Gaga perform at Madison Square Garden. I have to admit that while I enjoy some of her songs, I have never been a huge fan of her work. However, I have heard from friends how amazing her shows are, so I couldn't wait to take my seat and see what all the hype was about. I had no idea what a crazy night I was in for!



While Lady Gaga's music and singing were great, it was the stage production and technology that took the show to another level...quite literally. Gaga and her backup dancers spent at least half of the show teeter-tottering on mechanical platforms that elevated them to great heights above the stage. The platforms were electronic, so that Gaga didn't have to bother with stairs. She simply took her place, a stage hand in back pressed a button, and the platform dislodged itself from the stage floor, climbing to new heights as if by magic.



The show also relied heavily on the use of video images to allow Gaga time to change into a number of crazy, over-the-top costumes. While she was changing, huge images of her posing for the camera were pojected onto large, half circular screens, pumped with purple and green backlighting, and blurred by copious amounts of haze from hidden smoke machines. There was even a moment where Gaga herself posed and danced behind one of the screens, so that her huge shadowed image was all the audience could see. It was a really fun sequence.



The height of the show took place when Lady Gaga fought what she referred to as "the Fame Monster." A curtain parted to reveal a huge, 20-foot tall monster-fish, complete with jagged teeth and electric yellow eyes. Mechanically built, the monster actually glowed, moved, and chased Lady Gaga around the stage, albeit very slowly. It was an incredible way to end the show, and a testament to the ways that an understanding of technology and mechanics can enhance the performing arts. I have to say though, Lady Gaga is probably the only star who can pull off such a crazy performance.





If you have the chance to see Gaga on tour, be sure to check it out...you are in for a totally unique experience!

Ok Go Says Ok to Stop Motion Animation

I can remember the first time I saw Rufus Wainwright perform. I was sitting in a theatre in Northampton, Massachussetts, with my sister, anxiously waiting for him to take the stage. However, a band we had never heard of, Ok Go, was slated to take the stage first as the evening's opening act. We had no idea what to expect.

When the curtains parted, four scruffy dudes took their places on the stage, flanked by guitars, synth keyboards, drums and basses. Within the first few chords of their opening song, my sister and I knew we were in for a treat. The band attacked their instruments with vigor, ripping into strings and keys, bopping to the beat, and singing with their heads thrown back, clearly having the time of their lives. Their energy and enthusiasm seeped out into the audience, and within minutes everyone in the auditorium was on their feet, dancing along to the music. When Ok Go got to their last song, they outdid themselves by putting down their instruments, lining up on the front of the stage, and dancing an extremely complicated and intricately choreographed number that had the audience roaring with delight and laugher. Here was a band that was not only extremely talented musically, but able to have a great time while performing and not take themselves too seriously.

Flash forward to Summer 2010 and Ok Go has had a number of solid and successful records under their belt. One of the reigning bands in the Indie scene, they have made a huge name for themselves by releasing amazing viral music videos that people can't stop talking about. One of these videos, a four and a half minute masterpiece for the song "End Love" makes use of incredible technology and stop-motion animation.

To make the video, Ok Go choreographed an intricate dance number (in outrageous outfits of course) and had a videographer record them dancing in an urban setting. I wasn't able to find the details on the making of the video itself, so I researched stop-motion animation, and found a simple explanation on answerbag.com. Conventional film is made up of a series of pictures that, when strung together rather quickly, become a fluid, seemingly continuous motion. The gaps between the different pictures are so fast that our brain cannot interpret them - about 24 frames per second.

Stop-motion animation, however, has a slower rate of frames per second. The gaps between the images are bigger, so our brain can clearly see when images change from one to the next, making for a more jilted stream of motion. Stop-motion in film can be created a number of ways. Two common options are photographing a scene, moving the images just slightly, then photographing them again until an action sequence has taken place; or filming a scene as you normally would but dropping frames here and there in post-production. I suspect that Ok Go must've used the second option, as this long video would have taken forever to film the first way!

And now, without further ado, the video for Ok Go's "End Love." Enjoy!



If you'd like to see some of Ok Go's other awesome music videos, follow the links below.

Here it Goes Again
This too Shall Pass
Do What You Want

What's a Netbook Anyway?

Computers and I never really had an easy relationship. As a kid, my family didn't have a direct need for a computer. My sisters and I meticulously hand-wrote our school papers in blue or black pen, and for the big projects, used an electronic typewriter inherited from my cousin Jeremy.

It wasn't until high school that we purchased a Dell desktop for school and work. (Ahem, not to mention three teenage girls desperate for access to AOL Instant Messenger.) When it came time to go to college, I stuck with what was familiar, and again chose a Dell desktop package, complete with printer, flat screen monitor, and speakers. And as some of you may know, I discovered the world of Macs when I graduated from college.

For years, a desktop was all that I needed. I used iTunes to play and store music, iPhoto to organize photo albums, internet to connect with friends, Garageband to work on music projects, and Myspace to publish them. A simple Excel spreadsheet helped me track my budget, and Word helped me write any correspondence that was needed for work. It was the perfect situation.

So you can imagine how I surprised myself when I went to BestBuy in search of a laptop this past weekend. As a new graduate student at NYU, and with only a week of classes under my belt, I could already recognize the need to be increasingly mobile and flexible with computing. As it stood, I could only do my homework in one place, my desk at home, which meant doing work late at night, and at a small wooden desk. The thought of being able to do work in the library, at a cozy café, or even the park by my house was looking more and more inviting.

I walked into Bestbuy with a list of three laptops which I had researched, paying close attention to customer reviews and affordability:

-Toshiba Satellite Laptop with Intel Celeron Processor
-Compaq Presario Laptop with Intel Celeron Processor
-HP Intel Atom Processor N455 Laptop

My list of needs was short – I needed a machine for Word documents, Power Point, Excel, and internet. My real computer was my Mac desktop at home, so the main function of the new laptop was simply to improve mobility. I checked out the three models above and decided to go with the Compaq. With 3 hours and 45 minutes of battery life, and 2 gigabytes of memory, it was also the most affordable of the three. That’s when Will sauntered up.

“Can I help you with something today?” he asked. I told him why I was on the market for a laptop, and he raised his eyebrows when he realized what I was looking for.

“Sounds like you really just need a second computer to travel around with. Have you thought about getting a netbook?”



A whatbook? I was practically still figuring out what a laptop could do, let alone a netbook.

Turns out laptops and netbooks are almost the same thing, except the netbook is smaller and more manageable in terms of staying mobile. Weighing in at a miniscule three pounds, a netbook can have an 8 or 10 inch screen, and usually lacks a CD/DVD drive and number pad usually found on its bigger laptop cousins. Those items aside, all of the functions are the same, and the netbooks smaller size means MUCH longer battery life; some were marketed at close to 10 hours.

After snooping around the netbook section of the store, I found a model that seemed perfect for me – the HP Mini 210-1092DX. At 2.99 pounds, this little machine boasts a 10.1 inch screen, 9 hours and 45 minutes of battery life, and 1 gigabyte of memory. While that may not be a great deal of storage, it will do the trick for the few papers and emails that I will save on it at one time.



After making the purchase and playing around on the HP mini for a few days, and as I sit typing away from my comfy couch, I can honestly say that I am happy with my choice.

Starting a Garage Band

When I graduated from college and moved to New York City, my family surprised me by chipping in and giving me a new Mac computer as a commencement gift. After much shrieking, jumping up and down and, of course, a few tears of happiness, my sister and I headed off to the Apple store in Soho and picked up my what was to quickly become my new favorite toy.


As soon as I got home, I unpacked my new desktop and searched in vain for the tangle of wires, plugs, and hook-ups that I knew so well from my time with a Dell. Realizing that Macs require nothing but a plug, keyboard, and mouse, I found myself up and running in no time. I spent the next few days discovering the different applications and programs that are inherently offered on Macs, and it wasn't long before I fell in love with Garage Band.

Garage Band is not what you might think - this is no group of angsting teens convening in their parent's garage to wail away on out-of-tune guitars and rickety drum sets. Garage Band is a top-notch, user-friendly music recording program available on Mac computers. Once learned, it can be a musician's best friend. I've been playing music and singing ever since I was a kid, and in fact throughout High School and College, I often composed songs for fun. I never had any way of recording these ideas, and until High School, lacked the music theory knowledge to write my songs on staff paper. All of this changed when I learned how to use Garage Band. I can now easily hook my keyboard up to my computer, and record songs, ideas and harmonies at will. It's a great way to keep stock of all your musical ideas - both the good and the bad!

The latest versions of Garage Band include sample songs for different genres of music, ways to approach songwriting through samples, loops, and various instruments, and lessons for both piano and guitar. You can even find lessons on how to play your favorite pop songs, with tutorials from the artists themselves! Other normal features of the program include direct instrument input, options for lots of different tracks, easy editing and playback, and ways to influence, vary, or even distort your original tracks.

Garage Band has revolutionized the public music scene, allowing novices and professionals alike to record their original works right from their own homes. Some bands have even used the program to record and produce albums to some public success. For example, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's self-titled premiere album was entirely recorded and mixed using Garage Band. Couple that initiative with self-marketing tools like Facebook and MySpace, and you've got a great platform for getting your music out to the public, at extremely low cost. The quality of Garage Band's music, while high, may not rival the sounds coming out of professional studios, but it's a great tool for the Average Joe, and I would recommend it to anyone.