Macbeth

Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare and tells the story of a man who receives a prophecy from a set of witches that he would one day become the king of Scotland. He is then pressured by his wife to kill King Duncan in order to cease the throne.

I decide to attend the Saturday showing at 2pm of UCSB’s production. I had high hopes for the Naked Shakes and their version of Macbeth and was extremely disappointed. When I first heard that the cast would not be using props I was very interested in seeing what elements they would bring to the stage to compensate for the lack of aesthetic appeal. The only part of the play I enjoyed was the opening scene with almost the entire cast playing the part of the witches after that the play just went down hill. Aside from the opening scene of the play there were a few aspects I enjoyed such as how they composed King Duncan’s throne entirely out of people. The constant drumming in the background also set a humdrum and dark mood which was perfect for the essence of the play.

            I was very confused by the casting and failed to understand why Macbeth and the King were so old mainly because I thought it would be a strictly student cast play. I found it ironic that the king was black because in the play he died first. As the saying goes in any movie the black guy always dies first.

EAP

            On Tuesday, Professor Irwin Appel, head of the performing arts department, came to speak to us. He said that his whole life he always knew he wanted to act or play guitar. He attended both Princeton and Julliard, which I found to be extremely impressive. I personally was disappointed in his presentation because of the fact that he was an actor and therefore should have had a stronger stage presence. He surprisingly was the only one of all the presenters who remained completely stationary and seated during their presentation.

            Friday we took a field trip to the study abroad center, which was by far my favorite field trip because I am extremely interested in studying abroad. I ideally want to study in New Zealand but Australia would be really cool too. I am not sure yet if I want to go for an entire year or just a summer. I know for sure though I will not go for a single quarter because I feel that trying to arrange housing in Isla Vista for only 2 quarters would be too much of a challenge.

            I forgot to mention in my past blogs that I attended The Adventure Program seminar. In the meeting they spoke about really cool mobile camping trips that involves students from all the UCs. They go places like Colorado to white river raft and Yosemite to swim in hot springs. If I am unable to study abroad for some reason I will definitely make up for it by attending one of the Adventure Program camping trips.

The Dean who can Shred

On Tuesday Don Lubach Ph.D., the Associate Dean of Students came and spoke to us. He emphasized the unique resort vibe as being UCSBs ultimate attraction. He said the number one way we recruit top professors is by showing them pictures of our gorgeous campus, which I believe because it was the primary reason I personally chose Santa Barbara. Dean Lubach is responsible for all freshmen activities and teaches INT 20

            Through out his presentation Dean Lubach emphasized critical thinking of new ideas and analyzing the world. He supplied us with a long list of resources that can help us become better critical thinkers which included Davidson LIbrabry, CLAS, Arts & Literature, Multicultural Center, Kavili Institute, and Reddit. I feel that Dean Lubach was able to connect with the audience so well because of his authentic enthusiasm about the subject. I had the wonderful experience of watching the rocket launching with him and my classmates on the roof of lot 22. While patiently waiting for the rocket launch the Dean decided to shred on one of my peers skateboards. Making me officially think that I go to the coolest school ever when you can watch a rocket launch and skateboard with your dean,

The library visit was very useful because it showed us first hand how to properly navigate through the library’s database. If we had not gone I probably never would have been able to find search engines like Ebsco that link you to millions of online research texts.