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The Zoom call with Rich Stremme was very interesting. We were able to hear about the history of tattooing, its origins, and its role in American society. What I loved about this call was being able to hear about Rich’s journey through the industry and hearing him talk about something he is passionate about. I think people who get tattoos is a way for them to fully express themselves. I liked to hear about his experiences as well as his advice for people who plan to get tattoos. I appreciate the time and effort he dedicated to teach us about something new. I’m not gonna lie, this call influenced me to get a tattoo in the future!

On November 8th, our class traveled to the city to see La Bohème at the MET Opera. I didn’t know what to expect as I only read a few chapters from Henri Murger’s book. It was difficult to understand the opera as it was sung in Italian, but I was able to pick up on the characters and certain plot points.

A few days later, I watched the movie, Rent. I enjoyed Rent a lot more than La Bohème because it was easier to understand. In Rent, I really liked the film the character Mark created because it captured the life of the artists and the poverty in New York City. It was slightly emotional when Mark showed the film as he reunited with his artist friends after they resuscitated their friend Mimi, who was unconscious. Additionally, I liked the music in Rent, especially “Seasons of Love.”

While I was watching Rent, I noticed it was inspired by La Bohème. For example, both take place in major cities. La Bohème is set in Paris and Rent is set in New York City. Additionally, both La Bohème and Rent depict the state of poverty, the lives of artists, and themes of love. 

The character names were similar for the most part. Mimì from La Bohème was Mimi in Rent. Her love interest was Rodolfo, a poet in La Bohème, who is Roger, a songwriter in Rent. They met in a similar way, as she asked them both to light her candle.

Both La Bohème and Rent depict illness, but there were noticeable differences in who died. In La Bohème, Mimì died, but in Rent, Angel died. Another notable difference is that Rent highlights the fight against HIV and AIDS, as both Mimi and Roger have HIV.

While I did not enjoy La Bohème as much as Rent, it was still a worthwhile experience to see an opera. I find it unlikely that I would go to an opera in the future, so now I can say I have seen an opera before.

I actually really liked La Boheme. I loved the drama and theatrics of it, and especially Mimi’s voice. Rent was also good, I saw a lot of similarities. But overall I think I preferred the opera. I liked how they kept the core ideas the same but adjusted the rest of the plot to fit with the times. In both the opera and the movie, the main cast are artists just trying to get by. In the opera, the “main” illness is tuberculosis while in the movie, it’s AIDS. So, they changed it to make it more relevant to the time it was set in. It also conveyed the message that a disease doesn’t belong to or come from a single group of people, since tuberculosis was also stigmatized. I appreciated how in the movie, the characters either had the same names as in the opera or ones that started with the same letter. It made it a lot easier to remember who was supposed to emulate who so I could actively compare.

I liked the opera more because it just felt like more of an experience. The sets were so well done and from where we were sitting, it felt like I was watching a mini show which actually added to it all for me. Even though I couldn’t understand the words directly, the translations on the screens were good enough that I could like hear them in English in my head in the ways they were being sung. Very cool!

On Friday November 7th, we had a zoom call with Rich Stremme. I found this call really interesting. We learned a lot about the history of tattooing and Rich’s experience in the industry. I liked hearing about his experience working the in Underground and the connections he has in the industry. I also really like hearing about the different things he had tattooed on people and the stories about why the certain tattoos were refused.

After watching both the opera and the movie, I can say that I enjoyed the movie better. This is partially due to the fact that the opera was a little hard to understand. It was honestly hard to follow, especially because it was in Italian. However, the scenery was incredible. I really enjoyed watching the movie Rent. I liked that it was, in a way, more relatable because it took place in NYC in the 80s. I was grateful that the movie was in English and that I could actually understand what the characters were saying. Overall, I liked the movie better than the opera.

I definitely saw some similarities between the movie and the opera. For starters, Mimi went to the man’s room with a candle in both the opera and the movie. The candle blew out and she “lost her key” in both, allowing her to create a relationship with the man who owned the apartment. In both, everyone was poor and connected to each other because they were “bohemians.” Furthermore, in both the movie and the opera, Mimi and her lover fought before her “death.” The difference was that Mimi didn’t actually die in the movie. The ending of the movie caused me to be conflicted. I liked that the ending offered hope, but it was a bit unrealistic.

Overall, I would rather see the movie again than the opera. I didn’t hate the opera, but I feel like the movie had a more developed plot. The movie was easier to follow and I was able to actually understand the true meaning of the story.

The Zoom call that we had with Rich Stremme was not only very interesting, but also very informative. It was cool to hear about the history of tattooing and how Rich started in this industry. I loved hearing about his experiences working in the Underground as well as his experiences working for Pat. Overall, I would say that it was very interesting to learn about tattooing from a guy who has been doing this for around 20 years. He seems very passionate about what he does and made me appreciate tattoos a little more. I would say tattoos are a type of art form because they tell the stories of a person, no matter what the tattoo is.

The week before the Zoom call with Rich Stremme, we were given the option to hear him talk about graffiti, rock music, or tattoos. I was most interested in tattoos because many people have them, and I was curious about the history and art behind them.

During the week of the Zoom call, we worked on our graffiti projects while also listening to Rich via Zoom. He gave a presentation on the history of tattoos, and talked about his personal experience. I learned that tattoos have a long history to them as they have evolved over time. I found it interesting that Rich still incorporates many of the old tattoo styles in his work.

I was most intrigued by Rich’s experience with Pat. She served as a role model for him and taught him a lot about the industry. I found it interesting when Pat denied 5 sorority girls who wanted to get identical dolphin tattoos. She would only give the girls tattoos if each dolphin was different. 

Through the Zoom call, I realized that tattooing is an artistic field. If I ever decide to get a tattoo (which is very unlikely), I would want it to have a personal meaning.

The zoom call with Rich Stremme was very interesting. It was cool to learn about the art of tattooing. I never really thought that tattooing was an art form, but after hearing his story my viewpoints have changed. I loved learning about his journey with tattooing, especially his work with Pat. His work underground is super interesting, and I overall really enjoyed learning about his story.

I had never thought about tattoos as an art form before. So, looking at it through the art lens was pretty interesting. It was interesting to learn about the history of tattoos as well as the evolution of the machinery and style. I had never realized that there were so many different layers and details to tattoos- from needles and machines to Japanese and American tattoo styles. I think learning about it from a tattoo artist that has been tattooing for 20 years was a cool way to learn about it too.