3D

Lately 3D movies have regained popularity. Greatly propelled by the massive popularity of Avatar, the movie industry has a slew of movies set to be released in the format, and will even be re-releasing older movies in 3D. Though I enjoy 3D, I have yet to find a movie that does not cause great nausea and a throbbing headache. This may be because I wear glasses and must wear the 3D glasses over them, but because of my problems watching 3D, I am wary about watching movies in 3D. To be fair, I have yet to see Avatar in either 2D or 3D, and Cameron may have found a way of using 3D that does not cause me nausea.
Another reason, according to many, that 3D movies cause nausea etc. is that the movies force the audience to focus on a particular portion of the screen. Objects other than the focus of the shot often seem blurry. It seems as if everything in a shot cannot be in focus at once, as is possible in 2D. Although these two issues may have been corrected in newer 3D movies such as Avatar, I am not sure, and am hesitant to waste money to attend a movie and find out. I would not possibly be able to stay through more than forty-five minutes of a 3D movie if I experienced the same problems I experienced in prior short IMAX 3D movies.

I know the movie industry needs 3D in order to insure that people continue to attend movies, as without some element that people with cannot experience at home, movie theatre attendance will falter, as people continue to have better and better home theatre systems. Soon, however even 3D will be available in high quality in the home with the release of 3D televisions. I believe that 3D could be to the first half of the 21^st century, what color TV was to the mid 20^th century. This could happen if the 3D is unobtrusive and allows users to do other things while watching 3D TV, and of course, if the technology is improved to be less painful on the eyes.

I would love to be able to experience 3D without pain, and in high quality in movie theatres, but I am not sure if even then I would want to watch it each day on TV. The future is hard to predict, and I am sure some detractors bashed sound and color when they were introduced. The 3D format's future will ultimately be in the hands of the consumer.

Snow Day

Today is yet another snow day as earlier this morning the snow began piling up on the ground. The local weathermen predicted that the snow would quickly turn to rain, but that did not happen, as the temperature stayed at around 30 degrees Fahrenheit. As usual, however, UTC was late to predict that the snow would prove troublesome to many until most students were already in their classes. I ended up going to one class, and even patiently stayed to finish the class after school had officially closed for the day, as I was already there, and the professor was adamant about delivering all the information he had prepared for the day. The snow has mostly vanished, leaving only a few remnants behind, but I will gladly take the snow day!

Spring Semester Begins

Since my last post pertaining to the jazz concert at Rock City Gardens many things have occurred among them: Christmas, New Years, and the beginning of Spring semester in college. During Christmas break I obtained a Wii and an iPhone 3G, so future posts will most likely include these two great devices which by now I have explored thoroughly.
Though the Wii does not have the same graphical power of the XBox 360 or Playstation 3, it makes up for this in its intuitive control of games via its motion sensing controller: the wii remote. The ease of using the controller also has an added benifit, people who would usually avoid video games, such as older people or those who lament the many buttons on most system controllers, find the wii great fun. I have seen this first-hand as my grandmother loves to bowl, and even play Mario Kart, though she would never play most XBox 360 games.
The iPhone 3G has been a great phone so far. I have never had a phone that provided such eas of navigation. The app store has hundreds of thousands of apps, many free, that enhance the phone ten fold in my opinion.
With both the iPhone and Wii I have been tempted to use homebrew and jailbreak each respectively, but have not. Though the added functionality would greatly expand the value of both devices to me, the risk is something I am unwilling to take.
In the field of music, I have now begun working on Artie Shaw's Clarinet Concerto. This piece is a great work, and I have wanteed to perform it since I was in High School. I have now reached a point where I am confident, that with enough practice I will be able to give this piece justice.
This semester I have continued my study of Japan, by taking a class dealing with Premodern Japan. I will be finishing up the duo of History of Music classes this semester, thankfully, but not before delving into many, many scores. To attempt to partially fill my gap in knowledge of the Latin American world, I am taking a class pertaining to the post-colonial era of these states. Another interesting class I am taking this semester is Musics of the World. In this class we learn of many different music cultures, and even get to play their instruments at times, in workshops.
The semester is getting off to a decent start.

Jazz Performance at Rock City

The Jazz performance at Rock City went wonderfully last night. Though there were a few technical problems, the performance seemed great. At times, jazz band has been a drag, as the first months are usually devoid of any performances. After performing the music for the audience however, the reason I enjoy playing jazz, and other types of music became clear again. Entertaining an audience is the reason I play music, and is a thing I get to do often, but for few people (besides in Marching Band) . During this performance, I did two improvisatory solos, both were much better live than in rehearsal, ( or on the jazz concert two days before, as I was preoccupied with microphone placement). The rush of performing for so many people pushed me to try to deliver a great musical experience. Though I knew the chordal structure that my solos were to follow, when the time to actually improvise began, I chose to follow my instincts and attempted to play what I felt the need to play, which led to improvisations that I am very happy to have played.
The band actually seemed to do a bit better on some of the pieces during this performance than it did during the previous concert. I believe, that we were less nervous, as we had performed the entire thing for many people two nights before. Having performed the entire set prior to the Rock City performance enabled us to relax more, and to have more fun. The final jazz performance of the semester was a great success, and I look forward to what the jazz band can accomplish next semester.

The Semester's Apex Approaches/Japan

This Fall semester has gone by very quickly, it seems that just yesterday I was learning the "All Blues" drill in marching band, and learning about Tokugawa Era Japan and learning that unfortunately Music History involves music theory, and the writing of a theory driven paper. In reality the marching season is over (most likely my last) and I have written my Music History and Modern Japan papers, and will be working on my History of Tennessee papers and begin studying for finals. I will also be performing my Jazz concerts, and clarinet semester end jury and studio recital.
On less scholastic events: though I have been studying Japan intensively this semester in my History of Modern Japan class, my interest in the country and its culture has not waned. I have recently acquired Essential Kanji by P.G O'Neill. This book is very interesting, as it presents the kanji in an orderly way, giving masterfully drawn representations of the characters, ( I would consider the characters works of art), readings and more information on each kanji. I may attempt to learn some of the kanji, but even if I do not, the book is still a great reference. I also acquired an Anime Encyclopedia during the weekend so I can easily look up anime series and movies.
This may be one of the last posts of the semester, as I will have little time do anything but study for the next few weeks. Hopefully when I post again, it will be with an unburdened mind, knowing that I have done great in all of my finals.