Gondry makes me smile

Lindsay and I went to see the new Michel Gondry film Be Kind Rewind. Gondry has such an amazing ability to make simple, striking, and beautiful films. He doesn't make films that cater to the mass public ideals and that might be why this film isn't getting praise from all over. Sure it had some slow moments but at the end I wanted to cry from both sorrow and happiness. This movie really...it really moved me. The characters were portrayed perfectly and the scenes where they created the movies were wonderful! Just creativity. I love how Gondry thinks.

Alex Cahill, in class, said something along the lines of that because he left his comic simple and open to interpretation that people considered him a smarty pants. Something like that, I got a good chuckle. It was an okay class, I couldn't contribute much (sometimes I feel that it isn't an open discussion but more of a wait for the right answer). I was also very tired so I started to nod off.

Rode home to fetch my key card to get into the studios. I couldn't find it and was late to work because of the long search. When I got to work they had restocked the disinfectant, sponges, and toilet paper, but someone had borrowed my broom and dust pan and didn't return it! So I couldn't do my full job, and I have so much time I can do my full job. Whoever did that is a jerk.

One of the MFA's (the redheaded one with sharp sideburns) had these goggles with red blinky lights in them that when turned on and worn with your eyes shut they produce this really disorienting/beautiful personal light show. I started seeing green after a minute. Supposedly you are supposed to do it for 14 minutes.

I am forcing myself to start reading Palahniuk's Choke again. It gives me the same feeling as it did when I stopped reading it (the feeling that it is progressing slowly and going nowhere) but I am going to push myself. I bought it, I should read it.

Lost was another great episode. I knew it was Aaron! Oh and that whole Locke introducing himself to Miles scene was genius. Ohhh I can't wait for more! I waited years for this kind of quality from the show.

Robin, saint of birds, tea, and shoulder rubs

200 posts in my blog. I have been in Portland for half a year now, it will be exciting to reach the one year mark. It is a beautiful city filled with lovely (if occasionally honky) people.

Drawing was mostly a "further your idea" work day. I did several watercolors and was starting to work on condensing the figures when Modou stopped by and gave me some advice, suggested some artists, and generally hung about and talked with me about what I was working on (he said it was good). He showed me some images from his computer and someone text messaged him while he was on it. I like it when teachers are as human as the rest of us. Class went fairly quickly once I got a better idea of what I was working on.

Rode home, relaxed, ate some pasta, didn't read my comic and didn't work on my painting. There was a double movie gossip interest that popped up on the Internet that I had to investigate. Charles Burnes' Black Hole is being adapted by David Fincher and Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman are doing the screenplay. Fincher and Gaiman!!! That is perfect. This movie will be great. Also the Akira live action is underway...sort of. It is amazing how just the anouncement of a movie, the mere idea of its possibility, how excited it gets the fans. Wheee! Black Hole, I can't wait.

Soon it was time to head to school early to type up my idea behind my landscape. Lots of gibberish about semi-amphibious fish with air sacks and people living in stilt houses in shallow water. I think it is pretty cool. Didn't get as much done in painting as I would have liked. Some of the under lighting looks good, I think once I get more completed it will come together. It is a slow medium and somewhat tedious medium (I am also making this probably more complex than it needs to be).

Rained a little but not enough to warrant rain pants (I had them with me though). I started in on my much neglected Comic Lit reading: The Last Island by Alex Cahill. Cahill is a PNCA grad and the comic was his thesis. He will be in class tomorrow so that is exciting. It read quicker than I thought it would (sure it was a comic with no words but it was obviously written so that you moved through it quick). The panels didn't have much to linger on, they worked better when put together as a narrative than left alone. Uhm, yeah. I liked it, looking forward to tomorrow.

I had pasta for lunch and Annie's pasta for dinner. Both were large portions and I finished them both off completely. Uhhg.

There was another comic jam at Karen's tonight. It was only a single page that was based between Her, Robin and myself. It was about my career as a performance artist. At one point I was in a rabbit looking, fish printed, scuba suit with glow sticks, a snorkel, and fins. It as pretty rad, if I must say so. Then we helped Karen stuff fliers under PNCA doors and then it was off to bed for us all!

like pushing yourself through paint

Just replied to mom about that last post. Yeah, she didn't approve but I don't feel like I was in the wrong (and if I can't see a car, there isn't much I can do). Anyway, feel free to leave a comment on my blog instead of e-mailing me.

Anywhoo, onto daily business. Whoo, Wednesday! Printmaking! Actually not as fun as it normally is. Mostly a work day and it was focused on my softground...which I am not that psyched about. There ended up being some etching in places I didn't want it to be and I had to burnish it a little but it still came up with some texture. I'll have to sand and steel wool it. Daaang. Also the picture isn't as cool as I thought it would end up being. I also have to come up with the sugarlift design. I'm not behind, just a little lost for ideas right now.

Comic Book Club was very eventful. There were some minor(maybe major) disputes but it looks like our plans for an in-the-commons comic jam are under way! It will rock. We also did three mini comic jams during the meeting; they revolved around a bass player turned part way into a crab, why pizza is delicious, and someone meeting an alien. We actually did something in the club for once, wonderful!

Casey Oney was on his stomach, pushing a box of leaking paint in circles through the commons.

I received a package from home filled with goodies and food! Annie's Pasta, Pocky, Tiger's Milk (milked from tigers), sesame crackers, Sweethearts, Botan and Jell-O galore! Even with that I needed milk and eggs and a few other things so Lindsay and I hit up Safeway. We barely got home with all our bags. As we were trudging we noticed the lunar eclipse that was happening.

We dropped our stuff off and went to the 16th floor in the Tower to get a better view. You can see so much of Portland from up there (like the convention center) and the moon was eclipsed exquistely. Then after ten minutes we got bored and went down and put away our groceries. I kicked back and ate some udon with egg added and then went up to Karen's for a comic jam.

A comic jam is when you draw a panel and pass the page to someone else. Karen and I were just passing back and forth between each other. The comic I started ended up being a match between Karen and Jen Lee (Karen was walking backwards through the whole comic) and the one Karen started was about a failed romance between a fisherman and a mermaid. We are so doing more of these.

This morning I had one of those half awake/half asleep dreams. In it dad was coming to visit so I had to be very good about getting everything done ahead of time. Then I woke up fully and remembered that dad was not going to visit soon. Then I became sad.

mom won't approve of this

Ohh I'm all mellow from the yoga. The old instructor, Melanie, isn't there this semester but Trisha, one of the MFA, is now teaching it. Another of the MFA, I think her name is Chelsea, was in attendance as well. Amanda, Jen, one woman I didn't recognize, and myself rounded out the yoga group to six. It was nice. She played music and introduced a few new poses. I will be sore tomorrow but whatever, it was great.

On the way back home I flipped off a motorist. Not very Zen of me. I was at an intersection and I thought I had right of way because it was only me and a car in my same lane. Little did I know there was a car in the other lane that didn't have their lights on (so I couldn't see them). They were not going fast and I only really saw them till I passed the man driving and motioning crudely at me. I sailed ahead of him and I heard "HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK" so I gestured at him. I had right of way again so I didn't really stop at the next intersection and yet again "HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK" and yet again I gestured. He shouted something at me but I was already blissfully on my way. Some people just don't know how to drive, or really hate bicyclists. I've had several honks because I ride in the car lane on Jefferson so I can turn easier onto 14th. I get honked at because I am in a lane for one block. People get so pissed off because they have to slow down for one block. And it isn't even a full block, it is a bridge over another street.

Drawing was another critique intensive class. We also had a speech from a thesis student who needs help with his project. Sort of, assistance help. I might do it. Amina came in at 10:20 (class starts at 8:00) and Modou just motioned for her to leave and told her to come back Thursday. He followed her out and came back in. Later in class he mentioned something that was for our ears only. If he follows through with it I will be very proud of him. Amina later said she had a doctor's appointment but more on that later.

During the Drawing break I photocopied the comic club fliers that I made last night (they look awesome) and after class I put them up. I also grabbed a few more titles from the library. They now know me by name there. Booyah! The ride home was slow (the books weighed a great deal) but the weather was nice so it didn't bother me.

I watched some more Project Runway and looked up some reference material for my painting assignment. I left a little early to print out material.

I only managed to get my sketch done during painting class. My landscape is also a little more involved than some of the others. Well maybe not more involved but it has more invented details and specific little things. Not to say I am better, I am just going to be spending more time on this piece. Less a generic landscape than a full scene. And we have to pay attention to lighting and I am doing it at night. Hooo boy.

So yeah, we were having a talk in class about how critiques in the Illustration classes play it nice and Amina gave her two cents and it went a little downhill and I think she hates me:
Me: Our drawing class, people don't really feel the need to be nice. Some are mean.
Her: I don't see you being mean.
Me: I don't see you showing up to class.
Her: I had a doctors appointment.
Me: Well Modou is fed up with you.
(At this point it is a little muddled. Something about how she had an appointment and talked about it with him and I warned her that Modou was not happy)
Her: Just because I don't buy into the elitist art school standards.
Me: It isn't buying in. It is an education, you are here to learn. Someone somewhere is paying a lot for this education. It isn't elitist. (Something something). That is just my opinion.
Her: Well your opinion sucks.

And that is where it ended. She got up and left three times in the first hour of class and shortly after our discourse she left for a long amount of time. I have no patience for people that don't want to learn and don't take interest in the work of others. At this stage and class level, there is so place for self centered people who are not open to change.

I try not to gossip about people in my blog. Diana said that when it comes to blogs, you should write them like you expect every person you don't want to read your blog is reading it. She has been someone who has irked me since the first time I met her. One time she knocked on my door when it was almost Midnight, wondering if I was up to hanging out (I was in my pajamas, trying to sleep). I try to hold my tongue but I really can't put up with people that I think don't try when it comes to their education. Being here is very important to me, it takes a great deal of work to keep up (even if maybe it doesn't seem like it from my blog) and to try to figure out why I am doing all this. My family is supporting me in ways I will never be able to repay and I don't think I can ever fully show them how much they matter to me and how much I appreciate their support. Modou said being here is a privilege, and it is. I am extremely fortunate to be receiving a college education, and an art education no less. This isn't some lazy stereotype, this is something that is not normal and is forcing you to recreate how you think about how the world is put together. The ability to imagine and to create; that is powerful. I am being given than power. Am I punishing her because I don't think she realizes how great it is to be here? Yes. But I cannot abide lazy people, they have no purpose here.


Then Jen and I went to yoga. The hot security guard shaved off his beard and ugly hair, now he is hot again. Yay!

drapes!

Up late because I suddenly remembered I had to do the Comic Club flier. I am so bad about it, but it looks awesome. Hopefully it photocopies well.

Another fairly average Art History. Learned about some cool women artists like Sofonisba Anguissola. Awesome name.

For lunch Diana, Jim and I hit up Quiznos. I thought I ordered a small sandwich but the kind I ordered only came in regular so I ended up with the more expensive option. Oh well, my steak dip sandwich was awesome. We sat out in the park and enjoyed our lunch as it was an amazingly beautiful day. Really amazing, I didn't even need an overcoat, just my leather jacket, a light hoodie, and a shirt. Even had to break out the sunglasses! Amazing weekend all around. It will go gray and raining in a few hours though. Doing the bike commute was a real treat with the nice weather.

I saw a man with sunglasses that were similar to mine. I wore them better as I looked truly effortless today.

When I got home the weather was still pristine so I sat ont he porch and read some of Grant Morrison's the Invisibles. Had to backtrack to catch up a little, that comic is all over the place but it couldn't be done in any other medium. I also read a little of Jimmy Corrigan the Smartest Kid on Earth. Beautifully put together but so so sad.

The sun went down and I started painting my landscape (it is a night scene). I painted in between random episodes of the fourth season of Project Runway. Lindsay and I are hooked. So much fun but we are on top all of our assignments so we are not too sucked in. I think there was an artist version of that show; I will have to look it up.

over/under whelmed

Another Karen-centric day today. I adore Karen, I'm so glad she is at Goose Hollow now. It makes it bearable and I want to stick around so we can hang out more. We finished up our painting assignments together and went for a walk together around the neighborhood just as it was getting dark. We walked up the hill past all the posh houses and picked out which ones we liked best (both were tall, narrow buildings). In between looking at the nice houses we looked at the amazing view up on the hill. So many lights but they don't overwhelm the sky. We crossed over the overlook bridge and checked out some more houses before making our way into the park. It was about 6:30 at this time so it was mostly dark. We swung on the swings and sat on the see-saws. We lay over the pivot point trying to balance ourselves and talked about our views on the world and stuff. We eventually got a little chilled (the night was unusually warm) and headed back. We will probably take more night-ish walks because this area is really beautiful and peaceful.

I swung by my place, talked with Lindsay, grabbed my rice and headed up to Karen's for dinner. I had to make a second trip back to my place to get the cooker. My rice and Karen's beans, lettuce, and cheese made for tasty dinner when combined in a tortilla. Jen Lee was also there, finishing her piece for class. We put on 10 Things I Hate About You after I read the song lyrics in Jen's sketchbook.

I drew in her sketchbook as we recited lines from the movie. It was a fun time and the first Ledger movie I have seen since his death. So sad.

Then we watched some stuff off of YouTube. While waiting for it to load I danced to some of Karen's iTunes. Purely for Jen and Karen's enjoyment. Also as proof that they should NEVER take me dancing.

Earlier in the day I finished reading Fun House. The metaphors are consistent throughout and there is no resolution. Okay it is a memoir but it is a little overly open and leaves so much out. It as almost as if it was done too soon. I don't think I got much else accomplished today. That was bad of me. Shoot.

I have been listening to Battles today (or is it The Battles). Awesome music there; thanks go to Chris for the introduction to their sound (as well as Kaizers Orchestra).

hyper fixation

Whoo! My computer is up and running. That was a frustrating couple days. I changed some of the other numbers to zero, removed the password on this account, and made another admin account. My files had vanished but they still existed elsewhere so I just transferred them over here.

But one loss of the computer issues: I lost all the portfolio pictures I had recently taken. DAMNIT! Now I have to retake and rephotoshop them. Bleehh! Sets me back.

Slept in and when I got up I just had some cake and hot chocolate for breakfast. I have been reading Fun House, which is Alison Bechdel's memoir. I dislike it for being really overwrought with forced metaphor and implementing an overly literate vocabulary. The art is amazing but the narration makes me wince. Also the font is too big, Epileptic and Persepolis had nice small font that was perfectly legible. This is like...huge. It makes me feel like I am reading a Junior High comic when it really isn't like that.

Talked on the phone with Dad. Karen stopped by and used my computer (her internet is wonky). After she left was when I gave fixing it some real focus. And it worked!

Lindsay came home fairly early and Karen came over (again) with some stir fry. It was tasty and plentiful. Chelsey came over a little bit later and retold us her story of being at the James Turrell after party where it was located within a super posh apartment and she met lots of super posh people (like Elizabeth Leach). We hung out and watched videos from the Internet (like Lasagna Cat). Jim came over and we chatted and ate more food (I had two servings of Karen's stir fry). We decided to play some Apples to Apples because possibly there were enough people to play and then there was a knock and Kristen and Chris (Cris? Kris?) were at the door! So we played a game of Apples to Apples. Kristen won. Chelsey was a wee bit hyper. Well more than a wee bit. But yeah, fun was had. I walked Jim to the max (which didn't come for about half an hour) and when I came back only Karen was left. We talked for a bit more and then she went home.

Now I am enjoying my functioning computer. Wheee!