Ciao Roma!

Tonight is my last night in Rome. I am a little sad to leave but I will be in Europe until early July so I can't really complain. Since my agriturismo I have done a lot of things. I went to some more churches, historical sites, bars, and restaurants... but I am just going to recap the highlights.

Early in the week, a friend from USC visited me. I took him to some of the big important sites that everyone has to visit, but we also enjoyed a good dinner and a fun night out.

Later in the week, while walking around randomly, I found the street with the hotel I stayed at 9 years ago! I was so excited. Also, oddly enough, one of the girls I was with had stayed there 5 years ago. So we stopped and reflected and took a cute photo.


Another day, I went with a few friends to have an aperitivo above the Spanish Steps. An aperitivo is like a pre-dinner drink with snacks intended to “open the palate" and give you a chance to socialize. It was nice and relaxing, especially with the view of the Spanish Steps! Ahhhh I love you Italy and your lovely food related traditions.


Too much happened this week, and I can not even begin to recap it. Given that this was my last week in Rome, I did everything and lost a lot of sleep. It was an incredible week. Family and friends, I will be home soon enough and then we can talk about all the fine details of my Roman holiday.

When in the US, I am a computer addict. My addiction manifests itself in three ways - through technology (the form and function), graphic design, and the internet. With this internet addiction I am usually up to date on most current events ranging from pop culture to politics. However, being in Europe I am usually a day or two behind. It kind of pains me but at least I still manage to get my news. Honestly, I have better priorities here. I have learned a lot of about restraint leaving my iPhone at home... but I still have my laptop, my child.

So here are my recent but probably not current internet discoveries. I love movies and I am excited for many upcoming films, but these promotional photos sold me. Get ready for Sherlock Holmes and Alice in Wonderland! These photos are striking, but what also got me is the similar composition. Many current films are showcasing the actors in simple but beautiful posters. I like the cleanliness of many of them, but then some do fail like the poster for Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Well, it may also help that these two movies have some cred and the other... well, not so much. Did I just write cred?



Another great thing I found on the internet is this new Jib Jab Obama video. It follows along the theme of Jon Stewart's "Hope-and-Change-O-Meter," where he placed Obama between Gandalf and Wizard FDR. This video has Obama saving the day with super powers. He can do more than kill flies...



One more thing, family, if you feel inclined to buy me a welcome home gift. This would do the trick. I love the Onion store! (This is not necessary, because clearly I am living a gift).


Ciao! Soon I am off to Venice, Paris, Amsterdam, and Stockholm!

ctrl-c, ctrl-v, Disney

A few sites have recently posted the same video showing a compilation of Disney animated sequences that identify the fact that Disney has character templates. The Dark Roasted Blend blog wrote this about it - "Some sequences were used as templates, and I don't see a problem with that... This is however a valuable glimpse into the animation kitchen of Disney's dream factory." I essentially agree. The Disney animators are only copying their own work, however, it does make you consider some Disney animated classics in a different light. My friend Andrew told me about this video while at Disneyland this Sunday. It shocked me at first, but knowing the difficulty of animation it is somewhat understandable. Also, this video is a reflection of today's society - pessimistic and skeptical. This video would not have been made in the prime of Disney animation. It was too beautiful and precious. I could totally be wrong, and this copying could be a known fact, I just ramble... Either way, interesting video.



Looks like Disney characters have the same dance instructors.

it was only Coachesterday...

Finally! Here is my EPIC Coachella recap. Woooooo!
**all photos in this post are mine

I got back from Coachella Monday morning at 2 am and have been busy catching up on school. So sorry for the delay.

I thought it was best to title this blog post with one of the brilliant Coachella puns that Eric, Erin, and I came up with on our trip. (Ok, they aren't technically puns, they are compounded/blended words, but I shall call them puns.) What triggered this manic pun-fest? The new Coachella iPhone app.

Ok back track > before Coachella my iPhone broke. My beautiful white 16 GB techno-gem. The right side of the screen became a worthless dead zone preventing me from unlocking the phone. I could receive calls and text messages but I couldn't do anything about it. My iPhone was in a painful coma. Also, this all happened on my 21st birthday. What a disaster. The next day, the day I was leaving for Coachella, I went to the iPhone store hoping something could be done. I explained my problem and then *poof* they gave me a brand new phone for free. No questions. Replaced. Fantastic! I now had a functional phone so I could contact my friends at Coachella. I went with Eric and Erin but I had some other friends that I wanted to meet up with in Indio. Now, with my new working iPhone I was able to download the Coachella iPhone application. The application included a set times schedule, an interactive venue map, a friend finder, a Coachella photo uploader, and the infamous Coachooser. The application bombed, completely worthless (I used paper print outs for the set times), but it left us with the word Coachooser. Fail. Worst pun ever. So we came up with better ones:

Coachillin' like a villain

Coachellin' like a felon

Coachestery (Paul McCartney inspiration)

Coacheleanor Rigby (Paul inspiration again)

Fauxchella (inspired by the knock off Coachella shirts being sold on the street)

NOchella (inspired by the 3 inch moths we had to dodge at night on our walk home)

Other random ones that simply formed out of the trend:

Coachelementary

Mr. Coachangles (Eric laughed. but Erin booed this one. I love it.)

and more...

There were many I came up with that were utter fails. I almost added Coache- to any word. Kind of like how USC adds SC to everything. SCampus, SCard, voteSCount, and other terrible ones like SCamp. That camp sounds like a disease.

Anyways, so Coachella. Life changing as usual. No big deal.

I spent a fortune on food and water. I got sunburned. My ears were assaulted by loud music for 3 straight days. My legs lost their function from never-ending walking, standing, and dancing. BUT I would do that every weekend because of the pure awesomeness of the experience. I love music, so seeing so many incredible artists in one weekend is ecstasy. I would have suffered even more for the experience.

Here are the bands I saw:

Friday

We Are Scientists
Steve Aoki
The Hold Steady
The Ting Tings
The Black Keys
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band
Franz Ferdinand
Leonard Cohen
Beirut
Girl Talk
The Crystal Method
Paul McCartney

Saturday

Liars
Drive By Truckers
Michael Franti & Spearhead
TV On The Radio
Calexico
Fleet Foxes
Thievery Corporation
M.I.A.
Band of Horses
The Killers
MSTRKRFT

Sunday

Friendly Fires
Shepard Fairey
Okkervil River
Lupe Fiasco
Lykke Li
Peter Bjorn and John
Yeah Yeah Yeah's
My Blood Valentine
Public Enemy
The Cure

Yes. That is quite a list. Each artist was amazing. I was not disappointed by any of them, well, besides Shepard Fairey. When I saw Shepard Fairey on the line up I was confused. He is the brilliant designer behind Obey. Fairey was recently in the news because of a battle with AP over his Obama image. My response to that would require an entirely separate blog post, but hopefully you read about that. Anyways. I saw Fairey on the line-up and I was super excited, but what would he do? I love the man because of his design. I even own his book, Supply & Demand. Would he do spoken word like Henry Rollins did on Saturday? Live art design? What? Well, he DJs, but very very poorly. He selected good songs, even some great classics. It was refreshing to hear some classic rock mix with modern music in a DJ set, but he transitioned between songs with a few scratches and some poor fades. Terrible! As an artist, I was so happy to see Fairey in person. As a music connoisseur, I was insulted. However, given that Fairey was at Coachella, he designed a limited edition poster for Paul McCartney. He made 500 prints and signed them all. And I bought one!! Eeeeeee so happy!!! Remind me to get that framed.

Back to the rest of the music, the good music. I would review each set, but I saw a lot of bands and reviewing each would take too much time and my blog post would become a novella. Below are a few thoughts about a few performers. Don't judge the selections, it doesn't reflect my favorites. In fact, some of my favorite performances aren't listed below like Franz Ferdinand because there is nothing particularly exciting for me to say besides - that was fantastic, good stage presence, sang some good songs... That is not fun to write or read.

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Lykke Li is a cute blond Swede with a lot of spunk. She has a great sound and an incredible stage presence, probably even better than a lot of the big bands I saw. Her energy was contagious and Erin and I discussed that we want to be her! We even practiced her dance moves. I honestly forgot she was playing at Coachella and I am glad that Eric and Erin reminded me and we went to her set.

Peter Bjorn and John is always great. I saw them at Coachella two years ago, but this set was particularly fun because it was a "Swedish smorgasbord" (A quote from Peter, the lead singer). Robyn, another Swedish singer, joined the set for a song. Then a few songs later Lykke Li showed up again! Woooo pale white Swedes in the California desert during a heat wave. It was fantastic. A good collection of my favorite Swedish imports minus Ikea.


The Yeah Yeah Yeah's are crazy. We showed up and a giant eyeball was on stage. A+ for set design. When the concert started, Karen O, the lead singer, came on stage in what looked like a metallic fish scale curtain with green tights. It was pretty outrageous, but I could tell she loved it. In fact she barely stopped smiling. Her happiness was adorable. I love when musicians love their job. Musicians are performers, working for the audience, but when they love what they do, their passion comes across and it is generally a better experience.


My Blood Valentine assaulted my ears... even with earplugs. My Bloody Valentine is considered one of the loudest bands in the world. Their performances have ranged from 120 - 132 decibels (from what I have found online). During Friday and Saturday I saw plenty of people wearing earplugs just because of the constant noise they would be experiencing. Those few were smart. I am not too concerned though. When I start losing my hearing there will be bionic ear transplants and I will have hearing like a mouse (apparently they have great hearing). However, on Sunday, things were different. Coachella was even passing out free earplugs. Then I remembered My Bloody Hearing, I mean Valentine, was playing that day. Erin, Eric, and I talked about the decibel level the entire day. We were both concerned and anxious. We eventually decided to stay as far away from the stage as possible but still within view. When they started playing, WOW! So loud and we were easily farther than a football field away. Then they reached their last song and it ended with about 15 minutes of non-stop noise!! Ahhhhh. Good thing I had earplugs.

Public Enemy with Flavor Flav. Enough said. Yeah Boy!!! Hahaha what a joke.

The Cure was incredible. It was exciting to see the influential English rock band along with Robert Smith, the lead singer, and his iconic goth look. They sounded great in concert. I still can't believe I saw them! Just like Heaven.

The Crystal Method was awesome!!!! The electronic music duo mixed up a storm. We were dancing like crazy. I really wanted to see them, so unfortunately we had to leave Paul McCartney for a little bit. I felt somewhat sacrilegious for leaving the main stage, but it was totally worth it. Half way through our time there, two robots came onto the stage. I was super excited. I love robots! Who doesn't? Then after some cool dance moves they took off their suits and it was the hip-hop group LMFAO! They rock the beat and rock the show. In my closest group of friends at SC we always play these two specific LMFAO songs, they are like our anthems. Because of that, I freaked out when they were on stage. Then all my regret about leaving Paul vanished.


Paul McCartney is legendary and so was his performance. However, I feel like he was drunk. Some of the things he said were a little ridiculous. "We are going to ROCK the rooof toonighTT Coachellaaa!!!" Ok. Thanks Paul. He started off with some Wings songs. It was good, not quite what I was expecting. Drive My Car was stuck in our heads all weekend for some reason. I also enjoyed Got to Get You Into My Life. Like I said earlier, we left for a little to see The Crystal Method. Sorry Paul. When we returned he sang Birthday from the Beatles White Album. I am pretty sure he sang that for me. My 21st was the Wednesday before. I forgave Paul for wishing me a happy birthday two days late. During his performance, I heard some of my favorite Beatles songs and he did two quality encores.

Right after the first encore we all thought Paul was done. He walked back stage, then back on, then he started singing Yesterday. Nathan, my friend who was working backstage, then texts me. Here is the exchange:

Nate: He fooled me. Dammit.
Me: Hahahaha. He is such a tease!
Nate: Who does he think he is?
Me: Paul McCartney!

You gotta love The Black Keys! Their performance was great and I think they are highly under appreciated. I love them in particular because they have a classic rock edge that I find so sexy. Most of the bands I listen to are classic rock bands, so it is refreshing to listen to a new band that shares that sound. They kind of sound like Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and The White Stripes thrown in a blender.

I have never listened to Michael Franti & Spearhead. Well, maybe I have, but I know nothing about them. We went to see them in concert because Erin's alternative hippy mom told us to. When we arrived we felt a great energy in the crowd and we couldn't stop dancing. They created this great warm environment of love and happiness. As lame as that sounds it is true. It felt great being in that crowd. Apparently the lead singer is a peace activist. I felt it.


Fleet Foxes was INCREDIBLE. I would have to say probably my favorite performance of the weekend. The sun was setting, the temperature was perfect, the stage was beautifully lit, and the entire crowd was filled with fans. Given that it is a music festival, often people will venture into crowds to see artists that they don't really know. Sometimes that results in indifferent spectators that don't really add to the energy of the crowd. That often disappoints me because I love the power of music to emotionally change a person and if they don't respond it makes me sad. When Fleet Foxes came on stage I fell in love with the lead singer because of his plaid shirt and his bushy beard. He looked like my guide in Yosemite. I secretly called him Mountain Man. He was amazing. When Fleet Foxes started singing, their haunting harmonies gave me goosebumps. Whenever the lead singer talked, I could tell how insecure he was and it was great to see that kind of vulnerability on stage. All around, it was a beautiful performance. PS - the lead singer Robin Pecknold is only 23! Husband?


M.I.A. was ridiculous. Loud, energetic, insane, colorful, funny, and fantastic. The set and costume designs were great and bold. I particularly loved the glow-in-the-dark accents on the clothing. The non stop dancing was so exciting. The stage was one big giant party, especially when M.I.A allowed a bunch of audience members on stage to dance with her. Security was freaking out. She also gave out horns to the crowd. Sorry correction, she threw out horns and said, "My Lawyer said you will sue me if I hit you." Hahaha she is crazy. She was also an incredible performer and had a great set list. She recently gave birth so I was even more impressed with the outstanding show.


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Well, I am pretty sure I have reached novella length, but here are a few funny anecdotes before I stop writing:

We saw a root beer float vendor at Coachella but it was in the 21 and up food area! Not fair, plus it is root beer not real beer! Eric and I are 21 (both with the exact same birthday!) but Erin is not. In order to get root beer floats we went to the ID check place one extra time and gave Erin our extra wrist band. (Oooh admitting to illegal activity - I am wild). So we got in line for the 21 and up food area and our plan was foiled, they carded Erin again. She talked with security and said, "I just want a root beer float, no beer! I got this band only for that purpose. If you want you can escort me to the root beer float stand..." That didn't fly. Instead she waited outside and we brought the root beer float to her.

We inappropriately called our walk back to my car the "border crossing" because of the dirt road and the fact we had to somewhat squeeze between a fence and a wall to enter the lot. There was an actual entrance but too many cars were moving through it. Unsafe!

I have a ridiculously bad tan right now from being in the sun all day for 3 days.

I laughed at every DJ that mixed music from the musicians that were at Coachella performing live. "Hey DJ, nice M.I.A. song selection. Oh Wait, I saw her live last night. Play something else!!!"

We spotted the worst spelling mistake EVER on a van at Coachella - you snoze you loze. NOchella!! Fail!


There were several fantastic art installations/giant constructed crazy things! Epic high-five!



Ok, I am going to stop writing. Summary: fantastic weekend. A wonderful escape from life and I miss it so much!

seduction assistance

Dating is never easy. In fact it is utterly frustrating. The solution: Sundance Channel's Seduction Assistance. Whether you are a hopeless romantic, a perverted sinner, an emotional disaster, or an aggressive cougar, there is an assistance guide for you. I am an emotionally stable person. I do not have any serious personality flaws besides being a little awkward and strange. However, I am incapable of flirting. My demeanor is unaltered by different individuals. Though an admirable flaw, it is a complete hinderance for dating. Given that fact, I have disected the Seduction Assistance guides and as a result I have gained incredible insight into dating. With my personality, I have determined that the tactical approach is best (below). With my disability, my actions have to be strategic and calculated, and this guide gives me hope. Modern dating needs "high-tech weaponry and expertise," and I am prepared to bring it.

I am in love

will Paul Rudd.

I have always enjoyed Paul Rudd, even back in his Clueless and Friends days, but this video sold it. I am in love now. It's odd that Sesame Street would do that. Well, they tend to make good things overly cute. Like when Feist was on:



Anyways back to dreaming about Paul Rudd. That video is amazing because -

1. He is wearing an earth costume (GO GREEN!) that only reveals his forearms making his limiting dance moves absolutely adorable.
2. His lip snarl and sexy rendition of "Earth Rocks" trumps those muppets by far.
3. His comedic genius. His subtle actions are priceless. The Huffington Post put it well - "infectious joy and self-deprecation can't help but make you laugh."

His sexy dancing can even make Jon Stewart laugh, a lot.



Random thoughts >>

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Stop the drama over the Obama dog! There are bigger issues at hand. Ahhhh I hate the media. I almost cried during the Inauguration when one station spent a good half hour with a writer from Harper's Bazaar in order to discuss Michelle's outfit. We have a new president and you want to talk clothes? Or remember when Obama was in his "honeymoon" period and several stations covered his diet and his exercise routine. Jon Stewart had a nice response to this earlier this year:

Random News station: "Obama likes herbal tea, trail mix, and guacamole"
Jon Stewart: "We have all been to a grocery store, this isn't news. This is news - Barack Obama eats only bugs."

Thank you. Trivial news is pointless especially during our current situation. Well, then again, this trivial stuff is more entertaining than the economy, and actually it is helpful because the economy runs on confidence and if all the public sees is economic failure then things will spiral out of control. But current news - Pirates! Not awesome, but then awesome.

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So, Sir David Attenborough, the narrator of BBC's brilliant series Planet Earth, has recently become more vocal about the need to reduce the population to help protect wildlife. Predictable but too funny. I do agree, a continuously growing population does have ill-effects on the environment, but their proposals are in line with China, the only different is that they are requesting not mandating a limit to family size. Also, this organization, Optimum Population Trust, is focused in the UK. I am pretty sure that island is not the biggest threat in terms of population and environmental damage. Their three aims all start with the phrase "to advance," but how have I never heard of them before? Hmmmm


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Worst case scenario - you have swallowed the Higgs Boson, the God Particle, what do you do? Follow Michael Rottman's 10 steps or die. This is a real threat. Be prepared.

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Nooooo I followed a link and it was to something entertaining on Twitter!! My hatred is dwindling. I was convinced that the triviality of Twitter was worthless (kind of a redundant statement but true), even for an internet addict like myself, but things of interest/value can be found. Damn. Ahhh I love MythBusters. I am glad they keep only "human food" in their fridge.

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Countdown - 1 day until I am 21!

can I have it rare?

I typically watch movies while designing on my laptop, it provides a good range of background sound/entertainment but this multitasking is only possible if I have seen the movie before, otherwise I am easily distracted. Like today. While going through the free movies on TV I discovered Vampire In Brooklyn. That title was intriguing enough, it sounded like Underworld meets NY, but then I read the first name in the cast - Eddie Murphy. Eddie Murphy movies usually painfully include lots of characters played by Eddie Murphy. Which was true for this movie, but this movie is not Pluto Nash, it was actually watchable because it passed that fine of line of so-bad-it's-good entertainment.



I love vampires and the sexy dark culture associated with them. In fact, I pretty much am one - my canine teeth are ridiculous long, I am pale, I like working in the dark... I also love most vampire movies. My favorites including - Interview with a Vampire (incredible!), Underworld, The Addiction (Christopher Walken!), Dracula: Dead and Loving It (Oh Mel Brooks. I almost put down Young Frankenstein, but then realized - not vampires), The Lost Boys, Dracula (1931), Shadow of the Vampire (Willem Dafoe and John Malkovich!), and Bram Stoker's Dracula with Gary Oldman.

Gary Oldman is one of my favorite actors and I am convinced he can do no wrong even if the movie itself is terrible. In each movie, he completely transforms himself, almost making him unrecognizable. In The Contender he plays Shelly Runyon, a ruthless balding politician. In Harry Potter he plays Sirius Black, Potter's poised and pretty badass godfather. He plays a terrorist from Kazakhstan in Air Force One. Oldman is also in one of my favorite movies, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, a crazy existential play inspired by two minor characters in Hamlet. Oldman is absolutely brilliant.

Despite my love for vampires and my frequent appreciation for absurdly bad movies (like Vampire in Brooklyn) I still cannot get myself to appreciate Twilight. My sister made me watch it in theaters, but I have no respect for vampires who sparkle. So wrong. But I managed to sit through it because of Robert Pattinson's sexiness. Oh yeah. PS - he plays Dali in one of his upcoming films. Less sexy for Pattinson, but interesting subject!




Considering my discovery of Vampire in Brooklyn, I will leave you with as awesome Eddie Murphy song.



I almost posted his Boogie In Your Butt song, which includes such fine lyrics as -

I ain't puttin no boogie in nobody's butt
That's nasty, man
What you talkin about
Puttin boogie in people's butt
Are you out yo mind or something?
Could go to jail for doin something like that

But I will leave that wonderful discovery up to you and your internet.

the long and winding post

I have been absent from my blog for 4 days and I miss it!!
WARNING : this post is pretty jumbled because there are a lot of things I want to touch on, but all of them are interesting, I promise!

This Saturday I went to USC's Springfest to see Brand New. I am not the biggest Brand New fan, but I like their music enough that I went to see them alone. But I wasn't alone for long, I made some new friends like an Irish Catholic Marine from Boston that was located in Japan. I stood in the back to catch Brand New's set before heading off to a party. The stage was simple but was filled with smoke so when lit, the band rocked out as intense silhouettes.


At any concert, I enjoy watching the crowd and seeing the excitement of the audience. I love how music can transform people and this change is even more obvious at concerts where the biggest fans are grouped showing their appreciation and energy. Just in case you don't know Brand New...



The next day I accidentally slept through my alarm, so I missed the Palm Sunday service at home, but I did make it to breakfast with my parents and my brother. It was great to see my brother! I don't see him that much because of his traveling, but he may be in Rome the same time as me this summer! Eeeehhhhh!!

Speaking of siblings. My sister killed her laptop and had to get another one. Why am I not surprised. However, I am still impressed that I managed to convert her to a Mac user. I never dreamed that transition was possible.

I just saw the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are. I am so excited! This is one of my favorite children's books, scratch that, one of my favorite books period. (I have come to the conclusion that students don't really read that much, ironic I know, so this book fits nicely into my allotted extracurricular reading time). The movie is going to be incredible because the monsters are not computer generated... The photos look amazing, but I hope it doesn't disappoint. I often hate child actors and this movie depends on the kid's performance. But Spike Jonze is great, so I doubt I will be let down.



Another movie Jonze has worked on that I love is The Fall. I was suppose to watch it last night, but unfortunately other plans conflicted. We only got through 10 minutes, not cool! I am now desperate to see it again. If you have not seen it - rent it! Even if you don't like magical realism you can still appreciate the cinematography. It is a captivating movie. I need to remember to buy it. My recent movie purchases include - The Battle of Algiers, Slumdog Millionaire, and Burn After Reading. I love having a DVD library, it allows me to educate my friends or fill my free time. Actually, I don't have much free time. I use my DVDs for multitasking when I am designing. My typical evenings include me, my laptop, my bed, and a fantastic movie.


Photo of the week = Bill Gates' Facebook Page. Please read the details. It's worth it.

Yessssshhhh!!!! I found another brilliant video that mocks Twitter (see below). I loath Twitter. Even Twitter's reasoning why you should have a Twitter page, or why you should Tweet, is flawed.

The online explanation:

"Why [Tweet]? Because even basic updates are meaningful to family members, friends, or colleagues—especially when they’re timely.

* Eating soup? Research shows that moms want to know.
* Running late to a meeting? Your co–workers might find that useful.
* Partying? Your friends may want to join you."

I agree family members, friends, and or colleagues care about you and want basic updates. But eating soup? Moving the lawn? Sitting alone in a dark room crying? I don't care. If you are running late to a meeting, don't waste time Tweeting, call your colleagues. Eating soup because you are sick, call mom. Send her a friendly email. Have direct contact! Yes, I may be hypocritical blogging, but the substance of my posts trumps any Tweet. Also, I blog to clear my head, procrastinate, and/or because I feel like I have something valuable to say rather than Tweet that I am about to nap or go to the bathroom.

How are you suppose to respond to a Tweet, what value is there? Can you respond to a Tweet on Twitter, or are they just lonely cries in the dark to the Twittersphere? Anyways, ignore my rant. If you Twitter, good for you! I hope you can prove me wrong and Tweet something of substance. I just looked at one of my favorite writer's Twitter (Joel Stein) because he is pretty witty and I figured I would enjoy reading his posts, but I was wrong. I prefer his articles where he can expand on his ideas. A blurb is far from satisfying. I blog and have a facebook page, that is more than sufficient. Everyone in my life can contact me through one or the other. If not, I do have an iPhone addiction. Call me sometime. Enjoy the video:



My song of the week = Bon Iver, Flume



Bon Iver always puts me in a good mood. This song is like comfort music along with a few of my other favorites including: Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah, Cake's The Distance, Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, Fleetwood Mac's Landslide, Sublime's What I Got, Goo Goo Dolls' Iris, Mama Cass Elliott's Dream A Little Dream Live, any Led Zeppelin, etc. (I have too much music).

My recent art:


This is one painting in a series of 5. This is the first one, and each additional panel is a more zoomed in view of the plant. The final panel is a complete abstraction. It should be completed by the end of the weekend. I hope.


I designed this poster for the School of Theater's production of Twelfth Night. The director set the play in Malibu during the 1960s. I am traditionalist when it comes to stage productions of Shakespeare, well, only if the intention is serious. If the purpose is comical, then go crazy on stage! Like:



Now off to Intoduction to International Secuirty. Great teacher, depressing class.

ciao bella

ciao bella = hello beautiful

I enjoy the saying.
It is a beautiful day.
I am trying to learn Italian.
And Ciao Bella is the name of some wonderful gelato. Yum.

Unfortunately, even though it is beautiful day, it has been a tough week. Not only are midterms still lingering, but there was also a tragic hit and run accident involving two USC students early Sunday morning and the student body is filled with sadness and shock. The car hit two students; killing one and the other student remained on the car until the passenger and driver decided to remove the boy from the hood. I am utterly disgusted by their actions and I hope they get caught. My roommate got hit by a drunk driver last year, fortunately she was only bruised and we caught the guy. Hit and runs involving people are terrible situations, and it is heartbreaking that this one ended in death. Both students are in my thoughts and I wish their friends and families the best.

I wish more people would do good deeds in the world. Everyone is always so wrapped up in their lives that they forget little things that can be done to make things better. Compliment people, smile more, hug your friends... simple things like that can make you and other people happier.

I recently discovered freerice.com. It's an educational web game and for every answer you get right, 10 grains of rice are donated through the UN World Food Program. The internet is my favorite method of procrastination, so if I can claim I learning or doing good things for the world, I can rationalize my wasted time. Last night, while avoiding one of my research papers I practiced some math, geography, art history, and most importantly Italian. By the end of the night I raised over 1,500 grains of rice. Go me!



This summer I will be studying abroad in Rome for 5 weeks, so hopefully I can master some more Italian by then. When reading Time magazine this morning, I saw on their Pop Chart that "Rome plans Ancient Rome theme park. Get ready for Crucifixion Cove." For those of you that don't know about this Pop Chart, keep in mind that it is full of sarcasm. This theme park is not going to be like The Hold Land Experience. For example, under shockingly predictable on the pop chart, "Kiefer Sutherland to enter either season, second week of 24." (I thought that was pretty clever.)

Apparently, this theme park idea is inspired by the film Gladiator. (Great movie!! I remember being angry when it didn't get two thumbs up.) The city of Rome needs tourists and this is their solution to the Euro Disney competition in Paris. But I feel like this is the wrong solution...



"The planned park will strive for historical accuracy while offering family-friendly attractions based both on life during the Roman Republic -- which ended with the assassination of Julius Caesar and the civil war -- and during the Roman Empire."

It seems right up my alley, but it's hard to compete with Mickey...

"Mommy Mommy, can I see Caesar get assassinated again?!"

Bad.

it's new math

Internet + Katherine = brilliant discoveries

Simple and direct mathematical equations that explain life.
(Ponzi Scheme = ROI - R - I)

Funny exams that result in not so funny grades.


Watch the following video to enjoy the inappropriate wit of Bo Burnham. He was born in 1990... makes you question your intelligence and daily word play.

crayons on my mind

When a person thinks of crayons they usually reminisce about their youth. Crayons are given to kids everywhere from CPK to kindergarten, almost as a distraction tool. It is easy to control kids when they have stuff to play with. I am impressed with the crayon skills kids have. They can cover a piece of paper in seconds by moving their hand back and forth so rapidly that their hands become colorful blurs. And what results from these manic crayola periods? Purely unrecognizable but important blobs of color that will end up on a refrigerator.

When I think of children's drawings, I first think of my early "artwork" and then I think of Maddox. Maddox has a website titled "The Best Page in the Universe" where he simply insults everything. The humor is crude, harsh, hyperbolic, shocking, but enjoyable if you like that kind of stuff. He has two pages where he has critiqued children's artwork. It is a little sad, poor kids, but the stuff he says is too outrageous to not enjoy a little.

Below is one review:

That's interesting, everyone in this picture is white. Even the rainbow is white. Perhaps in an ideal world, everyone would be white isn't that right, Rachel? Or should I call you RACIST? Nice try, Hitler. F

Well, that is what I use to think about crayons until I saw a review of Christian Faur's crayon art on Gizmodo. Actually, it is less of a review and more of an introduction to his work followed by the statement - "Dude...stare at it and you will go cross-eyed!" I would agree with that, my head kind of hurts from looking at Faur's work, but you have to admit it is pretty clever and unique. He aligns thousands of crayons to create images out of their color, where each crayon is like a pixel in an image. So ingenious, art made from crayons without drawing with them! I enjoy the close up photos the most because they clearly show the crayons. It illustrates the process and the idea without giving you a headache.





In Faur's artist statement he says, "My studies in the natural sciences have made me aware of these hidden layers of complexity present in even the simplest objects. These invisible layers are seen most clearly through the lens of logic, which is used to decipher the underlying rules and laws that govern the physical world." Faur applies this to his work, using simple objects to make a more complex whole. He has a scientific approach to art that is very intriguing. I don't personally like the aesthetics of his work, but I appreciate his process and creativity. Below is another example of his work that does not use crayons.

oh my, pigeon?

At lunch yesterday, a pigeon walked up to me and my friend Leah. Easily distracted, I redirected our conversation to the fact that doves are pigeons. This fact always amuses me because in Christianity the Holy Spirit (aka: the spirit of God) is usually depicted by a dove. And if doves are pigeons, then the Spirit of God is a dirty bird. Pigeons are pretty much at the bottom of the hierarchy of birds. I know this is blasphemy, but a devout person could stretch my pigeon fact to fit Christianity by saying - the truly religious are humble and do not value material things... like pigeons on the street.

Scientifically, getting a pure white pigeon does take some time, but they are still pigeons. Leah said that this is why she is Jewish.


Wikipedia's description: Pigeons and doves constitute the family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes, which include some 300 species of near passerine birds. In general parlance the terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used somewhat interchangeably. In ornithological practice, there is a tendency for "dove" to be used for smaller species and "pigeon" for larger ones, but this is in no way consistently applied.

There are lots of things misunderstood about religion, just look at current events!! One of my favorites, besides the pigeon, is the Cross of St. Peter (known as the Petrine Cross). It is believed that when St. Peter was sentenced to be crucified he requested to be crucified upside down so he would not die in the same manner as Christ. However, some people believe that inverting the cross makes it the opposite of Christianity. So often you will see St. Peter's cross as a Satanic/anti-Christian image. If only those Satanists went to bible school.

Here is another adorable animal video to follow the kitten video I posted yesterday. This is by far the cutest animal video I have ever seen because it doesn't involve creepy family members or strange dialogue/music. Instead, it includes a variety of baby animals and Samsung phones!!! It is part of a new viral marketing campaign. But this does raise the question: what are humans suppose to do with this phone? Because I am definitely too big to use it as a dance floor or a computer monitor. As much as I love this video, it would have been better if iPhones were used.

I woke up in that city with insomnia

But unlike Frank, I am not king of the hill. Oh, New York, New York.

In LAX, on the way the way to NY, I bought two of Godiva's new Chocoiste products. Both are now gone - eaten. In the spirit of Valentine's Day, right? The Godiva pearls (specifically the milk chocolate with café latte) are delicious! However, these pearls were completely consumed not specifically out of hunger or taste, but poor snack design.

They are pearl sized chocolate drops in a box designed to last so you can snack on these pearls for several days. Aye, here's the rub - two pearls, or even ten, are not enough! They are tiny chocolate specs! Who eats random drops of chocolate just to snack?!! Chocolate is not designed for people who have restraint or can manage serving sizes... those people stick to salads and don't buy Godiva pearls. Stupid over priced chocolate! Gone in one night - now I have an empty metal container. Worthless!

My hotel room is also worthless. I have free HBO, but no remote. I am not going to spend all my time watching TV, but what if I wanted to? Sorry, no remote! So, my relaxing hotel stay would be inconvenienced by the fact I would have to get up to change the channel.

Ok, I am not a complainer or that lazy. I am actually very happy this morning. I am watching Once (a great movie - well, actually an incredible feature length music video with an even better soundtrack) while I wait for my sister. We have wonderful plans to waste money and catch up.

This however, is not the only reason I am happy this morning. I woke up to a message from Stefan Bucher. The designer I wrote about on my blog yesterday. It was definitely a surprise. He thanked me for the post. I am flattered and frankly a little embarrassed. I never expected him to read it. I guess I was naïve to assume only my friends and family would be reading my blog. Well, not naïve, I just thought the ramblings of my personal life would be left unnoticed by the active blogosphere. Now I wonder, who is reading this? Perhaps someone from Godiva... make those pearls bigger!!!

let me introduce you to Stefan G. Bucher

blog assignment 1

Stefan G. Bucher “is a man possessed,” or at least that is what his bio says. When he thinks of an idea, he makes it come to life. However, I believe he is not just possessed with ideas waiting to be realized, he is possessed with monsters, and hundreds of them. Bucher is the man behind the successful blog the Daily Monster. For 100 days, beginning in November 2006, he filmed himself illustrating monsters every night. He has done far more than 100 monsters by now, but they no longer occur every night.

It may not sound too exciting, but as you watch these time-lapse videos you realize he is drawing upside down. Bucher begins with an opening frame/page where he writes the blog title and what number monster he is on. This alone impresses me because I cannot write upside down, and his backwards lettering is very nicely composed.

Following the intro, Bucher dabs some black ink onto the paper and sprays it with compressed air. Each time this creates a unique splatter of ink, but to an average eye it looks like… well, dripping ink or a mistake. Bucher, the possessed man, turns the splatter around until he discovers the monster within the random spray. Then he begins to draw.





It is incredible how he has developed so many unique figures out of simple random ink splatters. I am not sure what Hermann Rorschach would think of Bucher, but I think he is a talented designer and through his blog he has inspired/contributed to several trends - the web based design trend, the time-lapse video trend, and the ink spray trend. My design teacher has warned us to stay far away from this ink trend because it has been done and EVERYONE is doing it now. In the design field, appropriation happens, but being original and starting a trend like Bucher is something all artists aspire for. With Bucher’s success he now travels to speak at design conferences and has several monster related products.

I do not create work like Bucher, but I have seen his impact in the design world and I love his work. I appreciate his clever synthesis of design, imagination, and technology. Bucher also has a successful design firm, but nothing compares to his monsters. The monsters, though usually black and white, are filled with energy and always manage to be different for other characters in the series. Several of the monsters become colored or animated, only to visually depict the life of the monsters that are always imagined by his viewers. I also love the texture seen in his work. The hand drawn aspects of his text and monsters add a tactile quality that is often absent from digital design. It creates character that I find visually pleasing.

I am still surprised that I was not aware of Bucher’s work till this year. Bucher was speaking at a local school and my design teacher told the class, expecting an enthusiastic “let’s go!” But instead we responded with silence and blank stares. This began my monster education.

From their toucan beaks, to their wide eyes, to their friendly waves, to their gnarly hair, to their sexy heels… I now love these monsters and Stefan Bucher.

finally entering the blogosphere

I never wanted to start a blog.

I enjoy blogs and visit several almost daily. I also post enough links on my facebook that if compiled, would amount to a pretty full blog.


So, it would seem likely that I would create a blog, but I intentionally refrained from doing so. Not because I am afraid of being judged or because I don't have anything to say, but because I have too much to say. I knew that creating a blog would consume all my free time and eventually I would become a hyperlink.

Unfortunately, I can not hold back any longer. This blog is required for my advanced writing class for visual and performing art students. The blog is meant to serve as a venue for artistic musings or rants. Of course I asked if I could use it for more than class assignments... my teacher responded with a solid yes. Fantastic, now I am doomed.

Here begins the future tool of my procrastination.

Enjoy.