Reach 80 by the end of the year.

Well, shit. 2011 is almost gone. Since I've made it this far on the blog, I'd like to get an even number of posts. Goal? 80. I should also look to find out if I made and forgot any resolutions.

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).

Prayer for a Midterm Paper

This is not the first time I've had to sit down and write a paper in a sitting.
It will not be the last time.
I just hope that I can express myself clearly, try not to use pretentious words, and still make the page amount without any stupid antics.
I hope that I will not make serious grammatical mistakes.
I hope that I will not be working on this paper during lunch tomorrow.
I hope I will be able to print it out in time.

"Education provides both society and the individual with methods of nonviolent expression."

Manifesto-writing, core values

This is a rewrite and update of my previous manifesto, from about a year ago to the date. Not true. I have a few newer drafts since Jan. 20, 2010, in April and May, I don't remember if I did them for STAC or not.

These are things from previous statements that still are part of me.

Core Values

Comfort

Movement, Same and Changing, and the Repetition of

The Marriage of Art and Science

Opposites, and thus, whatever is in between the opposites

Issues

Order

Simplicity

Grids and Arranged Squares

Alone vs. Lonely

This is a lot of things that just lead to a Manifest for my Art.

(This is a very rough draft.)

my art is like a grid of squares, each with a neat little scribble in it, squiggling around in each squared, contained clutter
be nice, be thankful, hold doors open, be polite, be the best
no, really, be the best. Don't just win. Make sure the other team will never win again. It's sick sick reality. And it shouldn't be that way.
There's reality, right there, and you passed it.
Too busy following the to-do list. I forgot what I had to do.
There is a very important difference between 'alone' and 'lonely'
Simplicity often goes under-appreciated. be sparing, straightforward. It often communicates better.
Follow a half-formed idea to the end of the rainbow.
Art and science are very close, and need to be taught together. All disciplines benefit from learning aspects of the other.
Never stop reading, never stop writing.
Listen, and you could hear something great. Write it down, and you have it forever.

these are some drawings

I believe some of the colors have been changed a little from the original scan, because photoshop tends to screw with jpegs.

The first is a combination of the words 'science' and 'art', in friendly bubble letters, colored with crayons. It's also a practice in translucency, which I think worked out decently well considering I used yellow and blue (which have drastic intensity/value differences).

The second is.... it's like when someone is talking, and you're not really listening, but you just nod? This is what I thought the writing version of that is. I figured that out while I was doing it, because I realized it was like writing without paying attention to anything. It's like someone in a movie pretending they know sign language, and flailing/gesturing so that it looks like sign language, but it's still ishkabibble.

As a note for the future, this is my first time using a scanner at Pratt (my scanner/printer/fax/copier was too bulky for my room), and it's rather lovely. It also makes R2D2 sounds.

tack

There's a metal tack in my shoe
and every time I walk
it makes a tap
so
I feel like I'm tapdancing

visiting stac.

Luke interviewed me about college, and I should have been better prepared. But everyone, any by 'everyone' I point a finger at my brother, laughed when I said keeping my room clean was important to me.


Your room is your home base. You sleep, work, eat, live in it. And living in a room with dirty dishes in the sink, crumbs on the floor, cockroaches under the bed, how does that affect your work? What does that say about your ethic, your process of working, your life?


I've started reading Vision in Motion. The school library's copy is from 1947. The book is about how the impacts of the industrial revolution have been intellectual, but people could not keep up emotionally with production and global thinking. the book dictates a new art curriculum that properly teaches emotional expression in a post-industrial revolution society.

urban life

Midterms are coming. Next week? The week after? I'm not sure, but hell I need to find out. Most of the classes have portfolio reviews, which are fine, but that means I have to redo and rework some of the homework i've done over the last weeks.


I've started keeping a journal of vignettes about some of my experiences. It started a few weekends ago, when I visited manhattan. A couple of children were running down the street, they crossed my path, and the boy ran into the street. The girl stopped herself, and made a primal screech of danger, which caused the boy to stop, look both ways, see that he'd run at the right time anyway, but turn around and come back. It was a wonderful moment of primal expressed within a metropolitan setting.


I've been watching, carrying this book with me, trying to figure out how to live here. Urban Life. It needs a new title, but that is the gist. Maybe if it's in Latin. Vita Urbanus. What about Vera Urbanus? True/truth [pertaining to] Urban. I wonder if I could teach myself Latin.


I find that I need to write more, to balance my visual expression.

song: STYX

I came from english class, and I need to write.


I like when you can feel the sharpness of the blade that made a smoothie. I like when the strawberry seeds are cut for you, and the pineapple flesh has been broken into juice and pulp. The peach fuzz has been broken down, and its texture becomes another layer. The ice that was once cubed has been transformed into cold. The strawberries become the texture's pink.


Well... the smoothies really are that good.


I just wanted to say something about working. I like college homework better than high school homework, because it teaches you how to properly manage time. I get a project and a week to do it. It's a step up from a worksheet and a night to do it, because then, you can only do your homework the night before it's due.

fin

LIZY is surfing on a picnic table, through the flooded mud marsh that once was Herricks High School field.


LIZY is getting water and milk for herself and ZACH.


LIZY and ZACH talk about something, and LIZY ends up spilling water exactly in ZACH's lap.


LIZY runs to get paper towels. ZACH runs upstairs to change. LIZY fights back stupid tears that she fucked up again. ZACH comes back down. LIZY runs into the back room after cleaning up the mess and tries to hide in a pillow.


The pillow smells like vanilla oil and soft things, and LIZY watches Law and Order to stop thinking about all the events she was never careful about. By the time ZACH comes in, LIZY has settled down. ZACH offers himself for a hug, LIZY tries to hide in his armpit.


LIZY
"Sorry for blowing up like this."
ZACH
"It was only a glass of water, Hun."
LIZY
"But it was, like, the breaking point of everything. Sorry for falling apart like this."
ZACH
"Hun, stop apologizing, it's okay."
LIZY
"Sorry. Oh. Nevermind."
ZACH
"Now, help me with the pots?"


LIZY gets off the couch and starts putting the pots and dishes in the dishwasher.

Mr. Morton walks down the street. Mr. Morton walks.

LIZY pulls up to the house, parking badly.

LIZY opens car door and gets out of the car, taking her book.

LIZY starts calling ZACH from the sidewalk, even though the front door is open, because LIZY knows that walking into a house unannounced is rude.

ZACH is already there, opening the door. LIZY walks in.

LIZY starts taking off her shoes, because LIZY knows that they do not like dirty shoes walking around the house, especially on the new carpet.

ZACH says that bringing a book is rude.

ZACH
"You don't being a book to someone's house when you're going to hang out with them!"
LIZY
"I don't think it's rude. We may end up at separate ends of the couch."

ZACH shakes his head a bit and shows LIZY the computer room, where he is playing Team Fortress 2, one of LIZY's favorite games. ZACH directs LIZY to a desktop computer tower.

LIZY
"Sit on a computer?"
ZACH
"Yeah."

LIZY agrees, but is not comfortable. LIZY puts her forehead on ZACH's soft shoulder and watches ZACH try to find a server to play on.

LIZY tries to help, but is talking too much, and puts her forehead on ZACH's shoulder again.

The computer freezes. LIZY tries to list the ingredients needed for burritos while ZACH is waiting for the computer to restart.

ZACH tells LIZY to be quiet.

ZACH
"Do you have to talk all the time? Do you think l before you talk?"

LIZY does not talk as much, and puts her head on ZACH's shoulder again. ZACH tells LIZY that it is annoying and she should stop.

LIZY is listing ingredients again, but in her head only.

Dream Log

I've been keeping a dream log, to keep track of anything interesting. Vivid dreams represents the outer limits of my imagination, so I like to write down the places where they happen, whatever I remember about the feelings or the circumstances, the characters and plots.

time, essay-drawings

I realized today that my time with stac has ended. I'm going to be crying a lot tomorrow night. I can leave the school, but stac has really really been important to me.


In other news, I've developed a visual structure for an essay.
The thesis or assertion acts as a locus point. Paragraphs are lines flowing out of it, where the length and distance of the lines represent the length of the paragraph or how far its thought process goes from the thesis. Then, paragraphs could have similar subject matter, so they would intersect.

I feel like this is a crude way to depict essay structure, mainly because I don't know a lot about structuring my writing. I wish I did.

WALL-E soundtrack.

Graduation. Shit man.


I went to the blood drive Friday, and I almost fainted, and it was scary. I get scared when my body is doing something I didn't tell it to.


I've started MapleStory. Sorry, world.


So on monday, I need to have
a first draft for the Turn of the Screw paper,
a final draft of my myth, which needs to be completed, renamed, and I need to look up things on TVtropes for story/characterization
a final manifesto, which I will put up, which will NOT be about being too harsh on myself

Getting things done day.

1. I painted more of the cow today. I'm making a cow. Out of foam-core. It may be my 'individual project', but I seem to have a lot of those.


2. Myth, my final for Mythology class. I'm writing sci-fi, because I would love to get an idea out of my head. I've been writing down the history of the future, a history of the protagonist's world. Or the opposite of history? Using historical patterns to create a fantasy future. It's fun.


3. Quest Project, Animation. I need a camera to actually take pictures of the frames when I'm done. But I have a  lot to do to lead up to 12-15 seconds. Basic characters, storyboard, exposure sheet, stuff that's unnecessary but I need to show something.


4. Health Project. A month to make a Powerpoint or Photo-story of the curriculum. Not bad.


5. Manifesto, another draft


6. Biography. Eat right through the book, write scenes, go through major editing.

Putting a paper online. - . . - . . - (interesting verbal cadence.)

I added my Character Study of Woody from Toy Story 2 (there is a difference in character development between the movies) as a page of A1-bqx. I think it's pretty good. It has a ton of large ideas, theories, and a considerable lack of scientific evidence. But there are always things I could do better, but that's not important.

http://a1-bqx.blogspot.com/p/sheriff-woody-character-study.html

Peter Paul and Mary

An Artist's Statement.
Rough. It's wanting, the phrase is.

My art almost always includes a sense of movement. It comes in the form of a repetition of a shape or line quality, or a physical movement from a model. I'm also consistently moving in my own life. And, everything is moving all the time all around me. As an artist, I'm interested in converting movement outside an artpiece to movement inside and art piece.
    I'm also trying to form art and science together. I must have both, and I know there is a way to keep them both in my life and keep them in my art. At this point, I mostly use sciences and history to decide for or against keeping certain facts in my art.
   My art ends up with a sense of repetition. Sometimes it's intentional, and sometimes it creeps up. The repetition and movement often work together. I also love to work with simple shapes and colors. I want to paint my life with them.

Core Values:
Arts and Sciences, together
Movement, change and sameness
Finding and Keeping Knowledge (sort of like Resourcefulness)

Artistic Issues:
Repetition
Opposites
Misunderstanding and attempted communication
Simplicity

statement and procrastination

As the Artist Statement is being written, I'm thinking of questions I need to find the answers to (in relation to the writing of an artist statement). How do I blend my core values and issues into a piece about who I am and what I do as an artist? Is that what an artist statement is? How is the statement in time: is it about my past art, my present art, both?

I was thinking of time, and of the video game Braid where time is, in a level, represented from left to right. So I drew a forest (tie it in to fairytale somehow) with colors and shadows relating to times of day, in order. It also represents the past, present, and future of a day, where the present is in the middle and midday. I like this drawing, but I only realized after that sunrise and sunset are relatively short periods of the day.

Past, Present, and Future. With weird-looking 2D trees that are at different heights on the page, so they look 3D. And the shadows are interesting.

think deep.

This is the exact page, with decently legible writing. I have a lot to write about, but I have a quarter test tomorrow and a midterm on thursday, so this is not the time.
It does expose me a bit. I thought a lot, and took some notes, so this includes everything except the Koan. And there are a bunch of things that connect, but I can't find a name for their connection. Like my fascination with superheroes, need for the biggest swords in video games, competition, the childish selfishness. They're all related, and I don't know how. And the white circles in the mural, and now I'm trying to work in both 2D and 3D, and simple shapes, and that's related to order and organization and repetition.