Beethoven's 7th, mvmt 2, Allegretto

As I listen to more classical music- mostly from the Beethoven symphony compilation on my ipod- I would love to play bassoon again, just for the sound. Just enough so that I can play bassoon with a recording of the symphonies and play along and become even closer to music- just like singing along with an other song.

Right now, this is one of my favorites, Beethoven's 7th Symphony, 2nd Mvmt, the Allegretto.

But my art! Last semester feels like years ago as the weather brightens. I have a strip of sunlight coming through the window and warming my face every morning, begging me to get out of bed.

Last weekend was I-CON, which just was a mess of transportation, but I got to meet the nicest people and didn't spend nearly as much as I thought I would. And I survived without a jacket, too.

I have 1 month left of school. In that time, I have main projects to animate, I have 3 papers to write (one due each week starting next, and I've barely started them), and I have finals in the same classes.

Then, summer.

reed-making

I've been putting this off for 6 months, but I had a lot of time today.

Bassoon reeds. Get 5 blanks done by Wednesday. You start from actual reed, and you cut it down to size, add wires, add string, use pliers, hot water, hot wax, and nail-polish. After I make the blanks, I have to trim them down slowly and carefully into playable reeds. Then, I play them, and fix them more until the reed is perfect.

And I'm making a list for the next time I have to do this, and when I eventually lose the book.

This is after shaping, marking the wires, putting on 2 out of 3 wires, before putting on the string, and after shaping. See that big crack down the middle? From the middle to the bottom, especially around the lower wire. That's not supposed to be there. Fixed with nail polish.

The reed itself next to an existing blank, and its marks. The string wrapping. An almost-finished blank. And the string, nail polish, knife, and slide-rule that was used.

I really really want to hear from colleges.

used some really sexy crayons today.

Listening to Heaven on their Minds, Jesus Christ Superstar. There's a rock bassoon solo.

6 periods of art today. Portfolio, AP Drawing, an off period that i spent drawing, and STAC.

The color design was during the off period, and the black and white update with the vest was from Economics.

"Pilfered Vest" "Multiple Belts" "Flowing Skirt" "Leggins" "Olive Oil shoes". Many spelling mistakes. The shirt on the other side is based on what this girl was wearing.

I guess I thought I would have more homework, but I don't. Just some readings, an essay here and there. Maybe I just manage things better. I'm done for a few days and I really need to find something to do.

EDIT 9:40: I love babysitting. There isn't really any other profession where you get to spend time eating ice cream and playing video games with a nice kid. The mother is basically a closet hedge-witch- I come in and the whole place smells like her boiled cinnamon tea. No wonder the cat wouldn't come in.

I guess it's sorta like the teenage version of 'playing house'.

like as a hart desireth the water brooks.

i can hear my little wristwatch ticking.

it's late, and i don't have much to do this weekend. i've already worked at the art studio twice this week and i'll be teaching a bassoon lesson monday. i have an english paper, but thats nothing to worry about.

i started learning pitman shorthand. once i was able to memorize (on some level) the basic consonants and some vowels i could write a little. it gets confusing.

i remembered an off-topic lecture from band about child language development: a child will babble at first to try to make any sound. as does the deaf child learning sign language. i guess that i cannot learn shorthand by being right all the time- start babbling with the symbols. i remember looking for the symbols for the vowels sounds of 'journal'. in normal speech, i would pronouce 'journal' as 'jer-nle'. but some people may pronounce it as 'jer-nahl'. very confusing.

flicked another beetle out my window. ive heard that in Indian hotels, the decent ones anyway, there are lizards in each room to keep the insect population under control. perhaps i should just get one big spider. a trained spider. like Cpt. Hook had in that JV Hart book.

saw three movies today:

charlie chaplin's City Lights. overall, it was a better movie than modern times and gold rush, but i still like Modern Times a lot better. except for the bread-dance of Gold Rush.

some version of Robin Hood, with Uma Thurman as Marian. this version had so much myth in it. there were pagan rites and there was Marian the godess and robin as her hero. there was even a Saxon festival of fools for the coming of sping, and flowers in Marian's hair at her wedding. it was amazing in that sense. im sure modern critics would dub it a terrible movie. checking: ohnos, the Tomatometer has no opinion.

and there was a four hour special on Hans Christian Anderson on the Hallmark movie channel. i dont know how i sat through that. i thought that the acting was great. and it got me thinking again about fairy tales.

allstate, bassoon day, kitchen experiments

all-state went fine. in terms of performance, I did a lot better than the last two years. I doubt I'll make it, but that's not my concern anymore. i got my scales right, i played a decent solo, and i bombed the sight reading. now back to designing and drawing and making.

started impromtu-cooking/baking/frying. it's not exactly learning how to cook, its more like experimenting with working without a recipe. and staying generally out of the region of kraft's mac and cheese, and adding some flax for Omega-3s, using heat in different forms. i'm trying to understand... the basic happenings of cooking and baking and general flavor. it definately beats making rice for dinner.

i finally got a copy of 'Bassoon Reed Making: An Illustrated Basic Manual by Christopher Weait. i got to meet him at bassoon day, and his wife had a table with crafts. Mr. Fox, from Fox bassoons, was there with some new models. he had one of the teachers play each different model, explain the differences (this one has more baritone sound, this one more tenor).

and i got to interact with people my own age. i even started and kept up a conversation.

started cleaning out the craft supply store under the bed. found a heavy home depot givecard. it will hopefully go towards a cheap drill set.

let us undefine the stac-room. 'hangoutplace'- we're teenagers, so it happens. but as a 'studio', it becomes more of a workplace. it also becomes special, something only we have. a studio is an arts place, where things are made. ideas are great- but without making them, they are only ideas.

ive been reading a book about making ideas happen written by the imagineers, but it covers a lot of art- community brainstorming, positively effective brainstorming.

ive started thinking about how stacNight is going to be set up. we should start setting it up soon, stick with it, and perfect the original ideas. if only to make up for the lost time from the staclive.

im very interested too see megan's piece grow.

tales and whales

ive been looking at some artwork and portfolios of people accepted this year into CalArts. It's interesting to see what I have to work on, and what the admissions office looks for. at this point, i'm going to send in a portfolio for the experimental animation program as well. As long as i have a good lifedrawing portfolio and other works to add. The experimental animation department is more individually-based, and not story-based. But I like having a free-er portfolio. There's a portfolio and a sketchbook.

it is so good to hear from an artist who seems very comfortable with himself. its comforting to us that Warner's so sure about things, and has the limits and dignity of a true artist, and can tell us his story. it's also good for us to hear the reality that can happen- living at home and going to auditions and not holding a job.

new Tim Burton movie coming out this year, 9. about ragdolls saving a post-apocolyptic future. online at this point there is a trailer and a 2-minute clip of an action sequence that parallels Shelob from lord of the rings. there are so many good ideas in the movie, though.

I've been practicing a few hours a day. I think I can do it, but I'm going to make sure I'm ready. I'm fine not 'getting into' all-state (my face is already on a wall from an act of hard work), I just want to have a good performance. trying to think about my piece in terms of story, and it helps with keeping the ideas of the piece together, because Saint-Saens's Sonata for Bassoon is everywhere.

the indifferent-whale-drawing. from top left clockwise: dinosaur design, angry whale, baleen whale, glenn's indifferent whale, my indifferent whale. failwhale. so much- anatomically- is wrong with these drawings. ink and pencil. A very good bamboo quill.

essays, practice, draw with markers

started college essays in english. finally a chance to express myself with story! i think the best method for writing these essays is writing as many as possible.

lots of muscle-memory involved in bassoon practicing for all state. i think ive memorized one of the pieces. in performance, you can only as good as your worst, so i have a lot of practicing to do. and then i have sats and ap bio to study. time management!

i should keep a few idea-decks obstuctions? obtrusions? around. we should make our own. i want to make my own. 104 cards, lets see if we can't add another deck to that. or write them on crayons from a ginormous pack of crayons.

meaning with context

meaning through context. i must learn how to use this. perhaps this could be some missing link i still have to find out.

after All-state auditions, i plan to spend a lot of time finishing the art project from the beginning of the year with the watercolor people. it needs a title. and i was thinking about how that could be framed or shown. and what if every person was individually cut out and framed? this lead to 'invisible portraits', a series that's just different frames that suggest personality. i also have two 4-panel, weathered windows i want to use for an art project. i don't know what i'd do to them. paint them, keep them dirty, paint a reflection in them. something general so that people put their selves into it.

its so interesting to hear what people talk about with the pictures, because sometimes they just say something that's just a bit off and it ends up revealing a lot about them.

a tree pattern that i found on an agenda book of this girl i don't really know. i really need to copy it from her book exactly, these aren't right. they're just very geometrically shaped trees. there's something with the branch-lines extending to the edge thats just so interesting. tinted green/yellow. and there's a part of Walter's leg. he's not yet done- he still needs to be colored.