Author: Hannah Levine

Rediscovering Music Videos

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Remember back in the days of nostalgic MTV and VH1 when you could turn on the television and spend hours watching countless music videos? It’s been a long time since those channels expanded their repertoire from solely music to teenage moms and original shows. Recently, though, after delving deep into the documentary and music video world of Justin Bieber in my Digital Media Theory class, I rediscovered the joys of music videos. They’re so much more than little nothing videos you used to put on when you couldn’t find the song you wanted to listen to! Each music video has its own taste, style, and message.

Binge watching a bunch of music videos this afternoon for this post; I realized that a lot of music videos are like little movies. They have to tell an entire story in less than four minutes in a creative and entertaining way. And, they have to sell the artist, the song, the album, and the story! That’s got to be hard, but somehow, the creative minds of our world make it work. And really well might I add.

Every music video has to make hundreds of little choices in order to get to the vision the artist wants. Does the artist want to show off his or her musical talents as if he or she is playing or singing live, or would they rather show themselves dancing or going through the motions of a seemingly average or ridiculously extraordinary day? Do they want to be alone or with friends, family, other artists? What is the real message of the song, and how do they want that message to be portrayed? Should the video be shot in color, black and white, sepia? So many choices!

There are so many worthwhile music videos that it was hard for me to choose which ones to highlight, but let’s take a look at a couple of popular videos that I really like.

First, let’s all take a moment to bask in the beauty that is 1998-99 Semisonic and check out “Closing Time”.

Great video right? The split screen makes it so not only do we get to see the story, but we also get a little inside look at the band playing, too. By the end of the song, we really do feel bad for our favorite band member that he doesn’t get to connect with his love interest, just as we would after watching a 90 minutes rom-com. Don’t you just want to give Mr. Glasses a pat on the back?

Okay, moving on. Now let’s take a look at Canada’s real-life Robin Sparkles  in Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe”.

I distinctly remember when my grandma told me to Google this video because, as she put it, “the ending is just so cute!” Here, we do get to see Carly singing along, but the story is almost more important to the video than Carly’s vocals. If not for Carly’s crush and the surprise ending, this music video would be a lot less interesting, but because we have all of that included, watching the music video is really fun to watch.

Of course there are thousands of music videos and these two definitely do not encompass all that goes on in the music video industry, but I hope they did get you a little more excited about the joys of these videos. Who knows, maybe your favorite song has the best video of all time and I’ve never seen it? If you think that might be the case, post your favorite music video in the comments so I can spend more of my time sitting in front of my computer jamming out to little music video movies. I’d love to broaden my music video horizons!

An Ode to Dance

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Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw dances in her closet.

This semester, my last semester, I decided to take all of the classes I always wanted to take before graduating. Therefore, every Monday and Wednesday I wake up, put my hair in a bun, and head to dance class. At first, I thought dance would just be a fun way to exercise and move around twice a week, but after my first class I knew it would be much more than that.

My instructor starts off every class with all of us sitting in a circle. Then, he has us introduce ourselves to someone new. We don’t go around and say our names with a fruit that starts with the same letter or anything like that, but we smile and wave and awkwardly shake hands. It might sound strange, but it feels kind of nice to be explicitly told to interact with the people you’ll be seeing the rest of the semester. I’ve had far too many classes where that just doesn’t happen and it’s kind of sad to go through life interacting with people whose names you don’t even know.

Then, my instructor has us stand up and feel the weight in our feet, center ourselves, and wake up our bodies. He doesn’t stop there, though. While we stand, eyes shut tight so no one feels like they’re being judged; he helps us discover different things about ourselves. Yesterday, he asked us to think about something that is stressing us out, and then he walked us through a scenario where we let go of that stress and fill ourselves up with a positive green light. It’s a great way to start the morning and it really did make me feel a little better about what was stressing me out.

After that, we warm up. That means there’s a lot of movement and a lot of finding your way through a mess of sweaty students. My instructor always makes sure to add some improv to the routine because it makes people feel strange and uncomfortable and free and expressive. And here’s the best part: you can’t really be bad at improv! As long as you try and you go through the steps confidently, you’re doing it right. Sure, you might not know what you’re doing as you move one foot in front of the next and you might be nervous you’ll bump into someone or look silly, but guess what? That’s what life is like—one big improvisational dance move!

This class has helped me realize that there’s something so intrinsic about dance. We’re born with the need to move. When you put on music, even little babies start to tap their feet and sway their hips. It’s what we do when we win a game or get a good grade. It’s how we celebrate marriages and birthdays. Dance is what we do when we think no one is watching, or sometimes, when we think someone is. It’s beautiful and fun and exciting and expressive. So, while I took dance as a fun way to get moving, I’m starting to think it’ll be one of the most important classes I take before graduating. It will teach me to be confident, even when I don’t know what I’m doing. And, it’ll teach me to have fun. Because who wants to kick-ball-change with a frown on their face? “Not I,” said the duck!

Alternate Endings

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A clip from the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice showing Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy staring at each other at a dance.

Last night, I turned on the quintessential go-to Jane Austen adaptation, Pride and Prejudice, while I made dinner. I was looking for something mindless and British to watch while I cooked and it was recently added to Netflix for all of you romantics out there to fawn over, so I thought it would be the perfect choice. It wasn’t until I got a message from my friend exclaiming, “YouTube the last two minutes!” that I realized there even was two different endings, one for the UK and the rest of the world, and one for the dreamy, Darcy-obsessed Americans across the pond. (Side note: Darcy isn’t the be-all and end-all Austen man. There are others who are much more interesting! I promise.)

In the UK’s ending, after Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett realize they do actually like each other, despite all of the various reasons they should not, Mr. Bennett grants his permission for Lizzie to marry Darcy and the story ends. It’s all happy and good and the credits roll and no one has anything to say about it. In the US version, though, there is one last scene at Darcy’s home, Pemberley. In this scene, in order to satisfy American audiences, we see a romantic and intimate scene between Elizabeth and Darcy, and we see the only kiss in the film. Americans were happier as they thought it was more realistic that two lovers might actually kiss on screen, but the British found it to be downright silly. If you’ve ever read Pride and Prejudice, you know there was no kissing in the book. It didn’t fit with Jane Austen or the time she wrote in. So, while the UK ending might seem unfinished to us Americans, the US ending doesn’t feel right to the British, or to many of the people who have read the book.

So then what do you do when there are two endings, or as in the movie Clue, three? Do you watch one at random? Choose your favorite? Watch them all? What about when you were a kid choosing your own adventure in those awesome books with the multiple endings? Did you choose as you went like you were supposed to, or did you cheat and read a few alternate ways to go and then decide? Should the creators of Pride and Prejudice have given in to American needs for romance, or leave the movie as they had envisioned it when they first made and showed it in the UK? Should all endings be happy, romantic, and lovely, or is it okay to have something be sad, upsetting, or alternatively realistic?

There’s something about humans that makes us always want to get the best possible ending, but I don’t think we necessarily know what that ending looks like. It’s why college students change their majors over and over in the hope of having the perfect fit. It’s why I add more classes than I need to each semester so I can test them all out just in case I’d be missing out on something. It’s why when someone asks you what you want to do when you grow up the answer changes from astronaut, to veterinarian, to artist, to doctor, to actuarial scientist, and so on. It’s why I’m sitting here in front of my computer unsure how to end this post because I want it to be perfect so it doesn’t let anyone down. But, I don’t know what will let you down, dear reader. I have no idea. So instead of ending this in a finite way with some grand realization about how things should end in books and movies and life, I’d just like to bring up Jane Austen again. What a lady. She wrote six full books and influenced countless writers after her. And isn’t that the best ending after all—a lasting impression from the people who love you?

Happy New Year!

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A gif of the New York Times Square ball dropping on New Years from 2015.

December 31st is one of my favorite days of the year. The air is cold and crisp and it smells like winter. Christmas lights are still strung happily around bare branches of trees that look like they’ve been flipped upside down to show their roots. There’s a flutter in the air as everyone rushes about to get ready for the new year, making resolutions, setting out horderves, letting champagne chill in big buckets of ice. It’s one of the few times in our lives that we celebrate the day changing from 11:59PM to 12:00AM with kisses and cheering and song singing. And then it’s a whole new year. New possibilities. New opportunities. It’s just new all around.

A new year brings new fun and exciting resolutions that help us become the best people we want to be. I don’t actually like to make resolutions most years, though. When you make resolutions, missing a day of exercise or eating a French fry, or messing up whatever else you resolved to do, can stop your entire year from moving forward in a positive way. Instead, I like to use January 1st as the beginning of a new don’t-break-the-chain goal.

For example, say I wanted to write for at least one hour every day. Instead of resolving to write that long every day, I would create a chain. In the past when I was into cutting out paper strips and taping, I would create actual chains, but now I just use my phone or a calendar. Ah adulthood. So, by making a chain, I can mark every day that I write one hour without feeling really awful and discouraged for missing a day.

Then comes my favorite part of a chain goal. For each landmark I pass without breaking the chain, I reward myself with little prizes! If I don’t break the chain for a week, maybe I could go see a movie. If I don’t break the chain for a month, I could buy that coloring book I’ve been eyeing at the bookstore. If I don’t break the chain for two months, that’s a whole new outfit! It makes resolutions a lot more fun and much easier to continue, because if you break the chain, you just start it again.

So this December 31st, I hope you all have a wonderful day. I hope you celebrate with family and friends and eat and drink and be merry. And, if you’ve decided to change something this year, whether it’s a resolution, a don’t-break-the-chain goal, or something else entirely, I hope all of your goals make you feel like the wonderful people I know you are in 2016. Happy New Year!

White Canvas, White Winter (A Poem)

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Falling snowflakes grow into different shapes as they fall.

There’s something so beautiful about a pure white canvas

Ready to be filled

There are thousands of secrets hidden inside

Ready to be pulled.

Artists, like miners, use the brush as their tool

And uncover diamonds in every stroke

They pull out the secrets when they paint, draw, collage

And the world’s eyes open, every lady, every bloke.

They use big bowls

And dip their hands in deep

Paint the world with their fingers

So bright and beautiful as if you’re asleep.

And in the winter comes Earth’s own little canvas

A fresh coat of snow, glittering down

With each little blanket comes billions of chances

For artists to come

Work their magic

Rid the blackness.

So this winter don’t fret, don’t even worry

There may not be snow

It’s just not in a hurry

It’s coming just later so artists beware

Soon you’ll have canvases up to your curly nose hair

So happy Christmas Eve

And merry Christmas Day

I’m sorry it’s not a white one

But don’t fear.

It’s okay.

Jolly Old Nick will head down the chimney

And leave little art gifts

Full of colorful whimsy

And maybe you’ll get the best gift of all

Something new, something white, something beautiful and tall

Open up your canvas, brand new and white

Go mine some diamonds

Fill the world with delight.

 

Happy Christmas to everyone celebrating!

Musings of a College Student Home for the Holidays

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To all of my friends and family, have you ever noticed how the people we are together are so different from the people we are when we’re apart? Life feels so unusual and yet so the same whenever I leave school and go back home, or leave home and go back to school. I know coming back to the people I know and love and care about is great, but sometimes I wonder how I can be a different person at home from the person I am at school, but both people can still be me. It’s not that I’m any less happy at one place or the other; I’m just different. Being at school makes me want to write and read and hang out with friends in trendy coffee shops while we plan our escape to Alaska. Being at home makes me want to paint and explore and lay around in bed with my dog and the small cluster of high school friends who I can still call mine while we plan our escape to Alaska.

Hey, on a side note, does anyone want to go to Alaska? No reason just wondering.

Okay, back to my profound musings on the strange internal and external changes that come about when you change the people you’re with and the location you’re with them. I’ve been thinking about all of these things, and I know I can’t be the only one. Do you ever get lonely surrounded by friends because you realize those aren’t the friends you’re used to being with? It’s not a sad kind of lonely, just an outsider kind of lonely. Sometimes that happens to me after a long break like this. I come back to school and I’m bouncing with joy to see everyone, but it’s just slightly off. I used to think it was just a product of the changing scenery, but now I think it’s a product of the changing scenery and getting older.

Getting older is what people say when they’ve gotten older, which is kind of funny. When we were younger we’d hear about people getting older all the time, but it didn’t really mean anything. They’d tell us we’d have the best times ahead of us, our whole futures, until one day those best times, those futures, would become pasts, memories, photographs in dusty frames. That thought used to make me sad, but not anymore. You see, you don’t have to be so happy you could do somersaults all the time. Everyone gets sad sometimes and I think it’s good to acknowledge that, especially when you’re stuck in the newfound-college-break-boredom of our parents’ houses. We can take this time for break to recuperate, spend time with our home friends and family, but in the end, we’re still going back. And after that, we’ll be going someplace else. And that’s all a part of life. And we’re all so lucky to have these opportunities to become different people when we go different places, but to always remain ourselves.

So because I know how very special it is to have people who help me be all the different forms of me, I want to say a few things.

To the students still finishing up the semester, I wish you good luck and happy post-exam frolicking. I’m sure you’ll kill it.

To my professors this semester, thank you. It really and truly was an excellent term and that’s largely because of you.

To my school friends, whether I met you in Ann Arbor, Oxford, or Chamonix, thank you. That other humongous part of having an excellent term was all due to you. You make going to school fun and educational for wholly different reasons than the ones I attribute to my professors.

To my home friends, thank you. You always make coming home rewarding and strange, but fun all the same. I know I can always count on you to visit me in Ann Arbor when I really need you, or to at least send a hilarious gif to pick my spirits up.

To my family, you’re weird and fantastic and you should know that I love you for making me weird and fantastic, too.

To everyone else reading, maybe one day we’ll meet and you can help me become a different me, too. If not, you’ve helped someone else become different forms of themselves, and I know they are grateful to have known you.