Comment of the Week

Here are this week's contenders:


Comment #1: a new comment on your post "Japanese ballet dancers embracing Pittsburgh":

"Japanese ballet students work like demons. They are completely dedicated. It's part of their heritage, their backgrounds, their schooling. They're driven. They don't do anything else. They want to be dancers."
There are some parts of this article that made me cringe. That quote was one of them. I wonder how it would have been written from the point of view of a Japanese dancer and not someone from the outside looking in. Commitment to something that you want to have as a career or that you are passionate about is called dedication. That is what these ballet dancers are, they are dedicated. Especially when you are doing it in the hopes of being able to provide for your family. It isn't that they don't do anything else. Yes they are a few children who may be like that, due to parenting styles, however it is not that way for many.

Ballet like theatre, music or any other art form really is a risk and done for either the love of it or the off chance possibility of actually being able to make a good living from it. Also like any other art forms some people make money from it and some people struggle and have to take low paying jobs just to get by. This also isn't just a scenario that occurs in Japan, it is worldwide. Most of the dancers are also in the US with the aim of being signed to a well known dance company. 

Comment #2: a new comment on your post "Senator wants to bring copyright law to the runway...":

I'm on the same boat- I completely agree. At first I was kind of happy to hear that preserving and protecting a designer's fashion intent might be happening, but the more I read, the more I realized that fashion isn't exactly the same s I once considered. We are all humans and most of us prefer to wear clothes. We generally are of similar sizes, generally wearing similar articles of clothing. Its convenient that way. There is only so much knit-picking you can do, if clothes became copyrighted there are only SO many ways to cover up the human body without being illogical. It just wouldn't work, it would create more hassle than help. I understand the integrity part of not wanting to have designs copied, but sometimes theres just no way about getting around it- its al about fads, culture, time era, all of which include lots of people. It ties us together. In an ideal world, it would be cool if every single costume/ garment/ design had a crazy shape, color and texture, all completely unrelated to each other- but what would that say about the context of our world, of our time? Not much. It would be crazy and interesting in the short term, but mean little in the unity of a generation. We are all humans, and sometimes we like being dressed in great, simple, flattering ways, that might in fact be similar. I think that copyright should not be held over any designer, BUT I so believe that it is important to credit the true innovators, and thinkers of fashion, whether or not their ideas were inspired by history, the future- anything. We need to make note of the original designers, we cannot, however, do this by holding copyright over the heads of others. 

Comment #3: a new comment on your post "College Kids Want To Make A Lot Of Money":

As Amy Tennery said at the end of the article there is a "staggering lack of financial literacy among our nation’s bright new workers is not encouraging." I agree that many of the college student currently coming out of both undergraduate and graduate programs believe the propaganda from the departments in their schools that there will be jobs available for them in their field. It is extremely naive of people to think that they will have a higher paying jobs than their parents after the 2008 financial collapse. The world markets will be feeling that for at least another five years. Also with the dramatic drop of American supremacy in education and competitiveness in the global technology market I am surprised that people aren't bracing themselves to be living in European sized houses and dealing with their rampant school debt until they are retired. College is amazingly over emphasized and some people need to just go straight into the workforce but our current culture says that everyone should go to college but all that has gotten us is an amazingly over-educated group of Starbucks baristas. Colleges need to start bringing their standards for admission up and companies need to make themselves more globally competitive in order for the wages to increase. Basic economics would tell us that we as a society need to innovate and educate our way out of this rut that we have been in for the past two decades. We need to make our way back into the manufacturing business to increase wages throughout the gambit. Technology and technology production are the answer to get us back into the top wage earner spot. We also need to make an honest living and not create bubbles like so many hedge funds and money markets have done in recent years. We need accountability and sustainability before our wages can increase. 

Comment #4: a new comment on your post "Behind-the-Scenes Jurassic Park Video Gives Us a L...":

This is by far one of the most intriquing articles I have seen on this blog. I am always interested to learn new things about movies I have loved from a young age and the fact that these raptors were in fact elaborate costumes is quite a spectacular feat. I am extremely impressed by the engineering ingenuity used to create them. The amount of engineering and mechanic creation that went into the simple action of arm motion on the raptor is astounding in itself, let alone the rest of the body. And as always the difference between their initial mock up and the final product is astounding. I would really love to go back and re-watch Jurassic Park and see if I can notice any characteristics of the puppetier in the movie. 

Comment #5: a new comment on your post "Diversity Must Not Compromise Artistic Vision, Acc...":

I remember we had this chat on the Greenpage back when Next to Normal came through town and those who saw Alice Ripley's Asian understudy and wondered why she would be cast against fully Caucasian children. It's a delicate balance - when characters need a "look" to satisfy the director's vision for the show, then I believe along with the panel that you have to support the director. I agree with Kelly that many plays of the past are not written with racially diverse characters in them, but disagree with present whitewashing - there's a fair amount of diversity in modern plays, and older plays can always be adapted and presented differently than their original production - remember, following the director's vision for the production.

Also remember that nary a Caucasian performer is going to be cast in Motown: The Musical. All the casting breakdowns call for black performers. It's how it is. 

Put your vote for comment of the week in the comments on this post.