Ari Felsen ART211 blog

The history of batteries really shocked me when I learned how long they have been around for. I had always believed that electricity hasn't even been invented or properly used by humans until the late 1800's when Thomas Edison began experimenting with it. However, scientists have discovered that the presence of batteries dates back long before then. In 1936, workers discovered an ancient battery in the ground while building a railroad near Baghdad, Iraq. The battery, known as a Parthian battery, is the earliest known battery known to man. The battery consisted of just a clay container, with an iron rod wrapped in a copper cylinder inside, and filled with an electrolyte solution (vinegar). The prehistoric device merely produced approximately 1.1 to 2.0 volts of electricity, but that is still very impressive considering that they are estimated to be over 4,300 years old. In the mid 1700's , humans began experimenting with electricity again, as scientist Ewald Georg von...

The blog, Stage Door , by Angel de Quinta features a plethora of excerpts from various different broadway shows or musical performances. The blog mostly consists of several clips of songs and live performances, and then de Quinta gives some background information and his analysis of all of the sets of videos on the blog. Most of the videos featured on the blog are musical numbers from different broadway shows over a few decades. However, de Quinta often included a couple different variations of the same song on the blog. For example, de Quinta included the song, Fifty Percent into the blog with four different performances of the same song. It is an older song, being performed back in the 70's and 80's, but the fact that artists are still recreating this performance indicates that it is a timeless classic. I found this very interesting because it shows you a direct comparison between the different versions, which ultimately acts as evidence to witness the ways in which the per...

            Operas are shows featuring a story and set to music for singers and instrumentalists to perform as supplementation to the dramatic plot. Although not nearly as prominent as they once were, there are still operas being performed all over the world. A long time ago, before modern pastimes, operas were the prime choice of entertainment among people of earlier centuries. The famous opera, Otello, based off the tragic play by William Shakespeare, was developed and composed by famous Italian composer, Giuseppe Verdi. It took Verdi several years of on-again, off-again writing, but eventually completed the composition on November 1 st 1886 and was then first performed in February 1887.             Watching this opera was the first time that I had ever actually watched an entire opera. My whole life I always thought of operas as merely an old-fashioned genre of Broadway, and could not understan...

The animated short film, Madama Butterfly, created by Pjotr Sapegin and inspired by Puccini's famous opera, Madame Butterfly, was very powerful. I found it to be powerful in a plethora of different ways. Most foremost, the method in which the video was created. Pjotr Sapegin filmed this "animation" through stop-motion, a cinematographic technique in which the camera is repeatedly stopped and started, giving the animated figures the impression of movement. Stop-motion is an extremely difficult and tedious method of filming; however, if done patiently and correctly, the time and effort is worth it as it adds a tremendous effect with the visually appealing and stimulating visuals. The method of filming was supplemental to the great effect of this video; however, there was still much more. The music playing throughout the video was the original opera by Puccini. The opera itself tells a story, without the video's aide. The lyrics of the opera obviously have meaning, many...