thejoshuaschmidt-blog

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I went to the Hirshhorn Museum and saw their exhibit on branding.  Every piece in the exhibit was very thought-provoking and interesting.  The idea of the artist as a brand is normal to me but it was interesting to see the origins of that.  My favorite pieces were “I shop therefore I am” and “[Reagan] He Kills Me”.  They both are very strong comments on consumerism and the impact of government on our lives (respectively)

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I led a coffee and crafts where we wrote mini stories based as though we were in the photos above.  The landscapes were all very different and everyone's insights and ideas were very different.  For some reason, everyone’s stories involved some form of violence or maiming of the main characters.  The story I wrote was about a boy’s journey through the streets of a fictional place similar to NYC to get to the actual Guggenheim in NYC.  The activity was very nice and it seemed like everyone enjoyed the much-needed break from midterms studying.  

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I went to WMUC’s Third Rail with some radio hosts and some other friends to see the live music.  We saw two bands play, Little Bird and another one that I don’t remember the name of.  Little Bird was very indie folk and the other one was some sort of punk rock.  I enjoyed Little Bird and their songs more than the other one, they also had one of their members using a voice modulator that made their voice sound like a robot.

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golden girl, @nyakiocpsarts

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@nyakiocpsarts

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Blade Runner, the old movie and the new one

For my mom’s birthday we watched the old Blade Runner and then went to a theater to see the new one.  I had never seen either movie before but I enjoyed them both very much.  The old movie was very film noir even though it was in a futuristic world.  In both movies there really never seemed to be daylight.  The old one was slightly more jarring in the fighting because the rouge robots seemed to be crazier.  I think watching both movies around the same time enhanced the experience of the new movie.  

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Chicago, the musical theater performance featuring my best friend Mariah

I went to see my friend Mariah perform in the assemble in Georgetown Law School’s Chicago with my mom. The famous musical is about women in Chicago who are in jail for killing their husbands. The show was very fun and I enjoyed watching my friend perform as a reporter and dance with others on stage. The performance was very well done and the portrayal of the women who had killed their husbands touched on issues of domestic abuse and sexism.  I felt invested in the story and was excited to see what would happen next (even though I’ve seen Chicago before) and I enjoyed seeing my best friend perform as well.

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I went to the National Gallery of Art for investigate the differences in how the buildings were constructed and how the rooms that held the art were laid out.  The original assignment was for architecture but while I was there I noted a lot of things that I hadn’t noticed before.  I really enjoyed going to the museum not just because I like museums but because it felt like I was seeing the museum for the first time again.  The most interesting thing that I learned was that one of the Alexander Calder exhibit rooms was made specifically for the pieces in it.  The walls were shaped to hold some of his mobiles in the specific way that would best show off the shadows and movement of his works.

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I was a guest on a WMUC Radio program called The Butter Cream Gang.  Before the show they explained how the show normally goes and to just relax and speak as though you are having a conversation.  It was very fun and we just talked about college life and then played some music.  The radio station itself is decorated with past and present show names and posters.  I had a lot of fun participating as a guest on their show and I think it helped me to grow my confidence as a speaker.

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King Krule Concert at the Black Cat

I went to see King Krule with my friend Nyakio. We had listened to his music in the weeks before so that I would be able to better appreciate the show.  The show was pretty great, the type of music is indie rock. He was a great performer in person and the vibe of the performance was very upbeat. I felt like I was a part of a community while I was in the crowd, partly because I knew everyone was into the music as much as I was and partly because during the show the people around us “geeked” about the show with us.

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I took a trip to NYC and visited MoMa while I was there. They had a lot of famous artworks that I enjoyed.  One of their contemporary art exhibits was about art in furniture and architecture.  It featured a 15-minute long film on the construction of a building that was created with the surrounding environment in mind.  It was very well done and showed a lot of interesting aspects of the living space.  My favorite part of the short film was the beginning animation because it is a very clear establishment of the subject of the entire film.

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I went to Artomatic 2017 in Crystal City, VA a few times.  They showcase lots of local artists from DC and the surrounding area.   The art ranges from photography and painting to sculptures and films.  I have gone almost every year it has been held since 2007.  I love seeing the art that local groups and artists have done.  This year was especially interesting because there was a lot of art commenting on the Trump presidency.  

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This Concert in Close Quarters with Ahamefule and Industrial Revelation was really wonderful.  We got to see a preview of their show Now I’m Fine and we learned a little about their composing process.   They are really wonderful musicians and I felt their energy grow as they performed more.  The way they work with each other was really amazing.

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I went to see Ahamefule and his group perform Now I’m Fine at the Clarice after I went to the concert in close quarters.  The performance was amazing.  Aham is an amazing comedian and he made light of a lot of difficult things.  The show was about his life and how he made things ok when they weren’t.  There was a point when he was talking about a medical issue he had in his past that really struck me because of my own past medical issues.  The show was very well done and caused me to feel sad and laugh quite a bit.

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I went to see E.T. with a live orchestra at the Kennedy Center in DC with my dad.  The NSO played wonderfully and I hadn’t seen E.T. in a very long time.  It is certainly a classic film.  The movie causes you to care about the people in it and get scared when bad things happen.  It made feel very nostalgic for childhood and I hadn’t seen it in such a long time I forgot how it ended.

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Alpha Kappa Psi and Alpha Phi Omega hosted their second annual Bright Beginnings Dance show in Hoff Theater in STAMP.  It was a fundraiser for a non-profit that helps homeless kids and families in DC.  The show started and ended with the Hip-Hop Orchestra. Eight dance groups performed.  My favorites were the Celtic Grace Dance group and the Riddim Ryderz.  Both of their performances were very fun and made me smile.  They looked like they were having so much fun I felt like I could go up and dance with them (even though I would probably mess up the show).

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I went to see the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra play Shostakovich 10 with a friend from high school.  It was so beautiful.  They performed 3 pieces in total.  First was a piece by Bernstein that was very jazzy and fun. Second was Brahms and that was also quite fun and some of it reminded me of the piece before it. After the intermission was the Shostakovich and it had a lot of different feelings in it.  Some of the time it was slow and calm, some was very fast and sounded like a hunt or chase and then near the end it sounded like a sunset. I love classical music and this piece was quite beautifully performed by the UMSO.