video games

I have found Railroad Tycoon II, and I have installed it on the ancient XP in the basement. THe good news is that the basement is where the exercise equipment is. The bad news is that television is horrible and I shouldn't watch it. Even history channel feels like a horrible joke, exploiting mental illnesses and having ghost shows.

I've also been playing Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass on a borrowed DS, until I find out what's wrong with mine and try to fix it.

I also must clean the Christmas-present mess from my room. I received a lot of things that secured my place in the kitchen, and I'm not ungrateful.

Some crazy part of me really likes going to bed at 12:34am. It just feels correct in an odd way. I've been sleeping something like 9 or 10 hours every night, amazing. I am remembering my strange dreams more and more.

15 more would just be pointless

I have finished my Christmas-shopping. Gift-giving is pretty exciting, but I always don't know if what I get is okay. I think, this year, I did well.

The more I am out of the house, the less I eat. I also don't snack nearly as much as I remember I did. The other day I even got to use the stationary bike for a while, which was nice. It feels great to get moving.

After two nights of air-mattress sleeping, I've decided to go back to my bed.

I'm not quite sure where I am right now, but I don't yearn to be home. There are people I like to see, but I'd rather be at school, even though I don't know people there as well as I know my friends back home.

how much have i written.

I have written.
Two papers in the last 2 days, and I have written them. Right now I'm up to 2450 + 1600 words.
Yesterday was 17th century trading of porcelain from China and beaver pelts from America, based on Timothy Brooks' book Vermeer's Hat.
Today is Friedrich's Two Men Contemplating the Moon (1830) and Gauguin's Ia orana Maria (1891-1892).
A book report and a visual analysis. Both with theses.
Times new roman, 12pt, double-spaced, 1inch margins all around, no extra spacing between paragraphs.
Yesterday was 8 pages. Today my outline goes to 9 pages.
8 page minimum (I think), 5 page minimum.

I do not have any other homework done for tomorrow, but I have Thanksgiving Break to make it up.

The best part is that I have a 12-15 page screenplay due next week as well.



*Edit*
I finished each of these. The art history paper ended up being 7 pages, and the screenplay was 9 pages (and crappy).

what i did during lunch

I made people happy today ^_^

happy valentine's day

The manifesto didn't get sent in.
Valentine's Day is coming.
And it can also be used. as a hat.
I made a film with animation in it, as in, a movement every 6 or 8 frames that come together to make a whole. I filmed it through a window and in a mirror, with the drawings out of dry-erase marker. It came out well enough for the action to be conveyed, but I don't think it's anything close to smooth. Also, I realized halfway through drawing a walk cycle that I wasn't placing the body correctly: they were too close together. So I redid it, as shown in the Richard Williams book. All 15-20 secs of animation took about 3 hours. The editing of the video took about the same time. I've gotten much better with final cut.

bring in the new year with Fleet Foxes

Somehow managed a nice, round number for 2010 posts, but it's not anything like 2009 posts. This marks almost the third year of this blog.


2010.
What happened last year:
I got into Pratt, New Paltz, and Purchase, waitlisted to CalArts, decided on Pratt, graduated Herricks High School.
I started college and did well in my first semester.
I started playing Maplestory.
I love my overgrown puppy.
Movies.
I started listening to more alternative and indie music.
I also noticed that I've said a lot of things like, "I want to ____," and I never get around to them. I shouldn't say, "I want to do all the things I want to do", because that's like running around in a circle to try to make a tornado. So maybe I should just do things, rather than spending too long trying to think about priorities of things and orders of things.


Start of another year.

What a life I lead in the summer, What a life I lead in the spring,
What a life I lead in the winded breeze, What a life I lead in the spring.
What a life I lead when the sun breaks free as a giant torn from the clouds,
What a life indeed when that ancient seed is a berry watered and plowed.


What a life, What a life, What a life, What a life.


What a life I lead in the summer, What a life I lead in the spring,
What a life I lead in the winded breeze, What a life I lead in the spring.

cleaning.

It is, certainly, a person leaning on a cane, rather twisted-ly. There is also a list of the seven sins (a design project), a list (of sorts) of shapes around her head, and a doodle of Ganes. I think I like her face the best.


I need some time to fully revamp this blog, because at this point, I don't expect anyone to read / look at it. I just like having an artistic journal. Yes. Revamped, cleaned.

Before easter, musicals

Today is the first day of Lent, the 40 days before Easter. No eating meat on Fridays, visit grandparents more often, go to church more, and give up something. I don't know what I'll give up. I think, though, that I'll say 'thank you' more, and have at least 2 out of 3 meals made by my own hands. This shouldn't be difficult.


Visited my grandparents today. Gramma is forgetful, Grandpa gives too much. They set a new record: there were 19 gallons of ice cream in the freezer.
I dug out Grandpa's old car, a beige 1991 Toyota Camry. It will be mine when I have a license. It has AM/FM, and a tape player, and it runs. I've named it Jimmy.


I found something interesting in a documentary about the Princess and the Frog. One of the lead animators talked about how Lassetter liked the look of the 50s-era disney (Cinderella, Peter Pan, Lady/Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, Alice). The art direction didn't lighten up until Dalmatians. I don't know why these stand out so much, but I just don't like them.
60's - '77 (Dalmatians to Pooh) and '89 to '99 (Mermaid to Tarzan).
Drawings from rehearsal today.

I'm not sure who this kid is. He reminds me of Barnaby from Hello Dolly, but with Peter Pan's voice from the disney movie. "I dunno, Cornelius." Someone was singing in a similar position at rehearsal, and I added the store-clerk outfit. The original 'Put on Your Sunday Clothes', which was the opening of the WALL-E soundtrack. Remember when actors had to dance and sing, and didn't have to look pretty?

Peter Pan Indians: Disney song, vs. the Mary Martin Version song.

250 ahhhh

250. The colors will change tonight. I'm looking at something plum and golden-yellow and red.
My portfolio. Warning: many many nudes ahead.

I have a cookie gun and extreme worry.

My brothers got a drum set for Christmas. It's set up in the living room. I'm blasting Maximum the Hormone two floors away and I can still hear it.

My art is very safe, in the back room of Ganes's room in school. I need to get it and put it in a portfolio and send it to CalArts. We get back on Jan. 4. It needs to be in California by Jan. 5. I've been very good with not freaking out.

     I was on the way to craft stores when I drew this self-portrait. In the mirror of the passenger seat, with a ratty pencil and notebook. I need a self-portrait for at least one portfolio, so I've been practicing. I wanna do one like Juliana's. And the face-shape bothers me. And the top lip shape. And the lack of help-lines. And what about making everything into shapes with Kandinsky-epic coloring? Like a child's block, but not exactly cubist.

Zombie, Fela Kuta, and Christmas.

Merry Christmas. No 'whad'jaget?', just that I have another large sketchbook. The extended family went, ooh, ahh, draw something, so I found a marker and showed off. I drew a self-portrait, and I like this one. There is enough going wrong with this picture in 'reality' that i'm just leaving it alone.
     I remember seeing a Man Ray figure-drawing and thinking 'I couldn't get into college with this.' And I smiled a bit because it's a little pathetic. On one hand, Man Ray is just a person. On the other hand, what am I expecting colleges to expect? Am I an intellectual artist? Can I be?
I've been listening to Fela Kuti's Zombie.

Attention!
Quick march!
Slow march!

Left turn!
Right turn!
About turn!
Double up!
Salute!
Open your hat!
Stand at ease!
Fall in!
Fall out!
Fall down!
Get ready!

Halt!

shostagigi

Made a flipbook. It was bad and rushed, but it is a flipbook. That's a basic start.


The few people in the STACroom around the end of school spent at least an hour bitching about Shostagigi problems. So, here is a working list of things not to do:
Do Not spell his/her name wrong
Do Not tell everyone who you have
Do your research
Do ask friends and family

Add more. I don't feel like these are new ideas, and I know there aren't actual rules, but not doing anything for a gift just isn't fun.


Princess and the Frog comes out tomorrow. I have a lot to do this weekend. I probably won't see it until next weekend, after the PiG paper. How to write a PiG paper: 1 part Kontroll soundtrack, 1 part Tea, 1 part reading Rilke to digest what writing should taste like.

Feast on Boston Market

One of my goals this year is to build a suit of armor out of cardboard. This comes with all sorts of problems in a lot of different areas, which is what I want to solve. I don't usually work in the third dimension, either.
   And today, I made a left vambrace, which is a fore-arm guard. And it fits. And I can't wait to make the other side.


STAC Nostalgia-Fest, 2009. Amazing. I realized, once again, that I was sitting sort of outside the 'group' But I was okay with that. Usually at parties I end up in a similar position. I was thinking about why I wasn't ecstatically hugging everyone, and then I realized that I didn't think of them as 'gone'. They were still part of stac because of our memories of them. They just moved to somewhere else. I wasn't surprised, I was more at ease. These are people I know. I'm comfortable around them. 


This weekend is essay-writing and Rilke-reading. Describing myself in writing. Coherent, english writing.


Sketchbook page of armor-figurings. The legs are going to be interesting. I just realized that the left thigh is much longer than the right thigh in the main picture.

Sacred turkey

My grandpa did it. He ordered out thanksgiving. I was going to cook and bake and now it isn't sacred anymore. I realize that he's just 'taking care of the family', the old italian ideas, but still.

Seeing a show just takes everything out of me. Sitting still is juxtaposed against thinking frantically.

Goal for the day:

[x]  Write the start of a calarts essay. 9.15pm.

[ ]  Start outlining neuroscience chapter, copy and color diagrams.

[x]  Get the paint-pens to work. 2.50pm.

[ ]  Finish Thor vol2.

[x]  Make a pin-cushion. 3.15pm.

5 periods of art a day. in the same room. yay!

Listening to: Across the Universe, playing from my brother's room.

BACK FROM DISNEYWORLD.

everyone is nice there. even the mechanic says 'hello' in the hallway. It would be one of the best places to work.

the colors are toned down, which lookes really nice. Too many colors is bad for web design.

happy Independence Day. my family usually doesn't celebrate much- we don't have a barbeque- but I'll try to keep in mind 1776 the Musical as I rearrange my room.