Frankenstein + Jersey Shore

So I've been thinking about Frankenstein lately.  Or rather, Frankenstein's creation - a monstrous being he created in the search for the secret to life.

 And then I started thinking about Jersey Shore.  (Work with me here).

I don't even watch this show but I've heard about it so much that I know that this guy's nickname is "The Situation."

As we are finding Corpus - one of the three dance plays that makes up For the Love Of..., I have been returning to these two cultural landmarks. 

I'm intruiged by our colletive obsession with the body and with being attractive.  Victor Frankenstein made his monster out of old body parts.  It was only once they were fully assembled and came to life that he was horrified by his creation.  It occurs to me that The Situation is in some way one of those monsters.  He is endowed with physical attributes that our culture typically finds attractive:

1.  Thick hair
2. Tanned or golden skin
3. A muscular, toned body
4. Confidence


However, once combined, they become horrifying (or at least that's my opinion).


Your thoughts?

Photoshop! and how it affects our view on the body

I love the multimedia pieces that the NYTimes does and so happened upon this piece the other week.. A piece on photoshop and the idea that there should be some recognition that most (all?) photographs in magazines and ads and such have been worked on:

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/03/09/opinion/1194838469575/op-ed-sex-lies-and-photoshop.html?nl=&emc=urb3

I thought it was a great compliment to what we had been talking about at the Corpus rehearsal the other night..

I also liked this piece because, while this is a topic I'm familiar with, I was surprised at some of the information it provided and also really appreciated hearing what the re-touchers themselves had to say (both about their job and the role of retouching is society). ... I also liked the idea that if we can be able to see these photographs as art instead of depicting true life we might be able to change our perspective on beauty (and change our self esteem??) ... maybe?? :) ...

Visuals

I love the website etsy - it's an online store for artists and crafty types and I've found many a beautiful object there (and have a long, long "need/want" list).

So, I was procrastinating at work and decided on a whim to do a search for the word "corpus."

This is the first thing I found:

It's made by an artist named Tom J. Byrne.  You can find the print at his etsy shop.

I like that it's at once a simple, natural pose (torso & legs), yet his arms seem to be in a torqued position.  Simultaneous action and repose.

Your thoughts?  Leave them in the comments box!