HGrubbs Honors 255

Of all the work I've seen, I think fashion designer Elie Saab makes some of the most stunning pieces. Saab is a Lebanese designer whose work most often consists of lace, crystals, pearls, feathers, and various embroideries. His design style is quite vast, but I really gravitate toward his feminine/romantic pieces. Although he launched his label in Beirut in 1982, he gained much of his substantial recognition within the 2000s, and has since dressed anyone and everyone from Kate Middleton to Beyonce. He has made great strides and advances for Lebanese and Middle Eastern designers, and has expanded his horizons into fragrance and interior design as well. Attached are some of my very favorite pieces from him!

     I think of all the movies we've watched so far, Interstellar was by far one of my absolute favorites. A lot stood out to me about the ending. First off, the scene where we realize that Cooper was his daughter's "ghost", and that the message did actually say "stay", gave me goosebumps. I don't quite understand how Cooper got from that dimension to Cooper's Station, but nonetheless I loved that the station was named after Murphy. As heartbreaking as it was for Cooper to return only when his daughter was dying, I value the reality behind it. Had it been a perfect happily ever after, the journey would not have held as much value. And I absolutely loved that Murphy sent Cooper out to Brand's/Edmund's planet! I think that was a really beautiful end, even if it was quite a cliffhanger. 

  One of Star Trek ’s greatest and most notable influences on the modern world is in the realm of diversity. Not only did the film series include various powerful models, but many of them were also non-white, fundamentally shifting the narrative of people of color, especially women, and their roles in society. The films implemented several minute examples of striving for diversity, such as humans vs Vulcans/Romulans/Klingons/etc. (and the impacts of clashing between groups based on differences). In fact, Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek , was quoted saying, “The whole show was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but to take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms…”, and clearly, differences in appearance and orientation as well. [This was the basis of what would have been on my slides in the presentation that I unfortunately had to miss.]

Futuristic society  “What's going on with all that noise in your head?” “Must be a loose wire” Ghost in the shell intro - building a human, building a robot - becomes a “real” girl  Dipping and re emerging from water - amniotic fluid  Unconscious, just being built to - waking in the dark, opening the blinds  Sad looks Doing a sort of “surgery” on these women, searching their brains  “Breaches her barrier program and reaches her ghost” ?  “I hear it in my ghost”  “Overspecialize and you breed in weakness, a slow death”  Plugs herself into her seat, can see everything on route Seeing her shadow, but not her All the info someone accumulates in a lifetime is just a drop in the bucket  A cyborg who goes floating in her free time  “When i float back to the surface i feel like i'm becoming someone else” “Not long ago this was science fiction” 32min mark - use this monologue Cyborg commits suicide? Stands in the middle of the road and allows her...

  Futuristic space Massive metal claw spike thing emerges Green man face tat man requests them to board their ship to request cease fire  “Your refusal would be unwise” Captain Kirk, ranking society People stop until people of power have passed USS Kelvin Captain Nero  George’s (Captain Kirk) wife pregnant, goes into labor  Gets to hear his son’s cry and name him before colliding  George dies Kid driving a super fast car, guy calls threatening him “even though your mom is off planet” Flying motorcycle policeman Car goes off cliff  James Tiberius Kirk - George’s son Spock - neither human nor vulcan - half bred with human mom  “Marrying your mother was logical” Deciding to complete vulcan process, to become fully vulcan and to become void of emotion They called his mother a disadvantage and he declines them “Live long and prosper” Kirk flirts with Uhura  Big gremlin man between them and listening in Star trek space people beat up Jim “Do you feel li...

     Our group decided to create a physical play on Roy's final words, "...All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die...". We first brainstormed and decided to form a literal cloud of rain, but the raindrops are his tears containing his memories being lost. I chose to include actual moments and people from the movie, such as Pris, Deckard, and Tyrell, along with the moments where he saved Deckard, when he killed Tyrell, and when he was on the run from the police. I also chose to include images of his famous recap prior to his death, "...I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate...". Aside from these specific images, I also included images of of "themes" that I think plagued his mind. The concepts of lost time, AI, data, death, sonship, space, running, fire and ice, and pain were all played upon with various ima...

     Following the class showing of Blade Runner , I was intrigued reading into the works of Philip K. Dick. Dick spent over 20 years publishing novels in the realm of science fiction. A fair part of his work was influenced by drug use and extraordinary religious experiences, but that’s a story for a different time. Most notably, Dick published the novel, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? , which inspired the famous film, Blade Runner . Not only was this film monumental in dystopian fiction, but Dick had a lasting impact in a variety of ways across science fiction as a whole. Even recently, Dick’s writings have served as the basis for several popular films and series such as, The Adjustment Bureau, Minority Report, and The Man in the High Castle . I can’t wait to see how accurate or inaccurate Dick’s visions turn out to be regarding the future of society.