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!

not original

my seemingly witty blog title is not original!! Bahhhhhh Color Me Katie!

I'm a nerd

Some of my recent discoveries that are quite nerdy>

I love the comics on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. They are always pretty clever, but they are usually improved if you read the caption below. Apparently one of the benefits of math is solving irrational proofs that can boost your self esteem. Wait that's wrong... :)


Another hit at Twitter! Awesome. Thank you Middlebrow. Bring the beast down! However, the Middlebrow comics have a Twitter account... hmmm. I get why it is appealing, really I do, but so many other networking sites have more depth. If you are going to keep in touch with friends through a virtual environment at least allow for more points of connection or conversation, otherwise our society is doomed. Most people are already losing their social skills. I fear a future Wall-E world where we all communicate via computer and nothing else. Ok, resisting a rant... ahhhhhh it's difficult. One more thing - I want Twitter to start charging for accounts. Then everyone would quit the site. Well, I would hope.


So, I just discovered Ian Pool. He is a great photographer that captures moments that seem ordinary but with a closer look they either present an interesting narrative on society or something completely ridiculous and comical. I love all the photos, but I particularly love the series of superheroes (and villains) doing everyday activities. Like Doc Oct, from Spider-man, on the phone in his girly man room; the incredible Hulk walking a tiny little dog; or the one below with Vader. Genius! I guess superheroes don't have aliases.


Speaking of Vader, how did I miss this on Gizmodo?! The Vader Project gave 100 notable artists a scale Vader helmet to decorate. Their tag line is - "Pop culture meets evil dad." Where can I get one?!!!! This is like a mass produced DIY vinyl toy event.


I am a techno geek, and I am particularly infatuated with Macs. When I found this tutorial it made me so happy! Given my finals, I haven't looked into the specs of the process, but just the idea of making the Apple logo on a laptop into an LCD screen is awesome! And so purrrttyyyy.


Ok so before I show any more of my nerdy discoveries let me clear up some stereotypes. Nerds are not just geeks with glasses that play video games and have no sex life. Nerds are people who are intelligent and are usually focused on a particular hobby. Don't get me wrong, it can be the stereotypical video game hobby, but there are also technology nerds, design nerds, movies nerds, etc. In my case I am a little of all of those. That is one reason why I was even more amused by the Vader Project.

Given my design nerd side, I am entertained by average things that are improved by some sort of altering design element. Like the combs below that are shaped like knives. How cool is that?! A knife comb, hahahaha!

Here is another example of being a design nerd - the graphic design heroes t-shirt collection. If you don't know who Paul Rand or Milton Glaser is, then you are definitely not a design nerd, or even remotely clued into design history.


Considering all the crazy designed things out there, this has to be the craziest - designer axes. Almost everything I own is somewhat designed - I have a Lego shaped external hard drive, I have pillow shaped like a log... even my dish scrubber is designed (it looks like a porcupine!). But why would anyone ever need a designer axe? The only people that use axes are foresty-woodsy people, farmers, firefighters, murderers... who else? I don't know, but I am pretty sure people who need axes don't really care if the handle is pink or green. I would categorize this as a failed design job.


I think I should go study. Bye.

the incoherent tales of ODJ

ODJ stands for Old Deaf Jimmy. Jimmy is not a friend, in fact I have never met him. I just hear stories about him... amazing stories.



So Jimmy works with my friend Andrew. Here is Andrew's description of the man,

"ODJ is a 75 year old Chinese immigrant who has been working as a translator with the same company for 35 years. He isn't particularly overweight, but he does have heart problems. I met him just after he had quadruple bypass surgery. He is the nicest guy in the world with good intentions, but he is literally IMPOSSIBLE to understand sometimes."

I am not sure why his heart problems are relevant because our focus is on Jimmy's inability to understand or be understood in conversation. Hopefully he only translates documents.

So when ODJ is lost in translation, Andrew recaps the funny conversation, or really lack of conversation due to confusion. The stories I hear are fantastic, and because of that I convinced Andrew to write a blog about our friend ODJ. Andrew created the blog, but he only has two posts so far. Both written in early March. And the first post isn't even an ODJ story, it is a description of the blog and apparently my state of being possessed by the blogosphere. Lame!

Because of Andrew's epic failure to maintain his blog, I am typing up the some of the ODJ stories he has shared through text messaging while at work.

Enjoy.

--

ODJ: you ever use the scoopie?
ODJ: you know the call you can make with your computer
Andrew: Oh Jimmy you mean skype?
ODJ: Oh so the E is sirent

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ODJ: where you on Tuesday?
Andrew: some friends from out of town wanted to go to Disneyland.
ODJ: you are the Disneyland.... UH, uh, uh, uh, uh, the ddisneyland uh... Guy!

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ODJ: you ever go to sex frags?

--

Twice ODJ has asked who the lady is on Andrew's mug.
The lady isn't a lady. He is Garth from Wayne's World

--

Jimmy thanked Andrew for helping him with an excel problem by showing him a video on his iPod. An inappropriate video for work.

--

ODJ: I like going to West Covina office because they have genital services
Andrew: uuuummmm what?
ODJ: you know genital services. They clean everything.
Andrew: Ohhhh janitorial services.
ODJ: Oh yeah...

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ODJ: I'm wondering you is a fan of simons and garfunkel

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ODJ: do you watch person escape?
Andrew: what?
ODJ: that TV show with the prison
Andrew: you mean Prison Break

--

If you enjoyed reading these ODJ conversation recaps you may also like Engrish.com.

If you didn't enjoy the short ODJ anecdotes, too bad. They are hilarious, especially when recapped by Andrew. Unfortunately, he fails to see the fun of blogging.

working for the weekend

One more final until I am a senior! That explains why I have been absent from my blog. Technically, I have been a senior for a while (according to units), but I won't consider myself a senior until I am in my fourth year of school. Some people graduate early, some become super seniors, some sign up for the progressive degree program, and some even pull a Van Wilder, but for me, four years is perfect. You see the natural progression of college life through those four years, and I enjoy carpe diem-ing ever minute.

Speaking of Van Wilder, this guy Johnny Lechner has been a college student since 1994. Wow. At least he has multiple degrees, but why not continue your education at a different level? How about a masters degree Johnny? His logic makes no sense and he has by far the most poorly designed website I have ever seen. Actually no, this website may be the worst. Speaking of bad design, check out USC's newest sculpture...


I needed to know what this thing is, so I searched the USC website and found this description in the news section - "A stunning bronze fountain, "Generations," sculpted by Aris Demetrios, is up and running northwest of Leavey Library, across from Stoops Education Library."

It is far from stunning. It is awkward not only in appearance but also in location. It has no relation to the environment. It is a huge bronze block next to the library. It looks like cheap brushed metal and how it represents "Generations" is beyond me. You could argue that the different sections of the fountain and the flowing curves symbolize generations, but I think it's a stretch. It's just ugly. USC has one of the worst public sculpture/fountain collections I have ever seen. Like my other favorite ugly fountain near the Engineering School. I hope I don't look that emaciated when I graduate. Clearly, money doesn't buy taste.

More posts to come. Maybe. GGAAHhhhhh finals.

raz the wonder kitten

blog assignment


At USC, I am currently in the Writing 340 class for visual and performing arts. Given that it is a writing class, we obviously write a lot, but one of our most recent assignments was a group project. The purpose of this project is to have people from different disciplines collaborate and create something. Honestly, anything. Several projects were presented this Thursday. Two were films, but with very different approaches and techniques, making it difficult to even compare them.

My group also presented. Our group name is team blAWESOME. It is meant to be a combination of blaw and awesome, but when spoken it sounds like blossom. Unfortunately. We also have two alternative names - The Disciples of Feagin and the Feaginites. Both inspired by our teacher, Feagin, if you couldn't tell.

So, who is team blAWESOME?

Allison the actress.
Brian the filmmaker.
David the game designer.
And me, Katherine the graphic designer.

We were unsure about what to do with all our talents, but after a short discussion we decided to make a video game. Nothing cooler, right?! But we had no idea what the game would be about. We all have very different interests and experiences with video games. We decided to sit on the idea and about a week later we began the most bizarre brainstorming session ever. Below is our thought process. I included this exact copy in our PowerPoint presentation and before I began speaking, the slide was greeted with an eruption of laughter because of the ridiculousness of the content.

OK, here we go:

cats vs. dogs OR pirates vs. ninjas

what about cat ninjas vs. dog pirates?

I want the cats to have wolverine claws! We need laser eyes!
what about an alley cat? roaming the streets? cat in the big city?

what if the cat was frozen and then had to deal with modern times?

like a pre-historic cat?

like a saber-tooth tiger? or kitten!!

And that is how we arrived at saber-tooth kitten.

From there we decided on a basic plot, which Brian refined and greatly improved. There are no longer vampires or pterodactyls in the Arctic.

Now with a plot I could do some design. However, I know nothing about designing video games. I own many, but I have never considered designing for one. I work with text and images. Static things. Sometimes I have to create illustrations, but rarely. Ahhhhh video game art! I wasn't sure where to begin, so I started with my favorite program, Adobe Illustrator, and drew some ice with the pen tool. No big deal. Ice is rigid. My design worked.


But then came the saber-tooth tiger kitten. My tablet is at home so I had to draw with my laptop mouse. Probably the worst idea ever, but I made it, an illustrated saber-tooth tiger kitten! Below is its evolution. I had to rework it because the first one was bug eyed, awkward, and it looked like Garfield. The second one looked a little like Simba, but way less cute. So I merged the two and got our protagonist, Raz!


Wooooo I did a cute little vector illustration! I thought I was done, but then David requested different images so he could make Raz move in the video game. I had no desire to redraw this thing four more times, so I used the direct select tool in illustrator and just moved the legs around. That is why the positions are a little odd, but they worked well enough for the game.


Allison did some character research for Raz in order to prepare for a voice over, but we never actually got around to recording her voice. (With these projects, there is no established end. Presenting unfinished pieces was acceptable).

Then David took all our work and coded a video game. A working video game, well kind of. It has a few kinks. But when we busted out the game for our presentation and played it, the class got so excited. I have never had so much fun giving a presentation. David and I may actually work to complete the video game.

Best group project ever. We are blAWESOME!

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!

what I don't want for my birthday

It's my 21st birthday today and a few people have asked me what I want. I don't know what I want, but I can tell you what I don't want...

I don't want a PediSedate.

It is suppose to distract kids with video games while they are being drugged for oral surgery. No game could distract me from that thing on my head. That head piece looks like a My Little Pony Hannibal Lecter mask.


I don't want a Speak n' Spellbinder.

Speak n' Spell + plastic instruments = bad idea.

Dane Cook accurately described the Speak n' Spell in one stand up routine:

"I couldn't spell when I was a little kid, I couldn't spell.
So my parents were all concerned so they went down to the uh toy store.
They bought me a little red box called Speak... n' spell.
You remember that? Speak n' spell?
They shouldn't have called it speak and spell.
What they should've called it was Speak... Like the Devil!"

So, imagine the devil speaking from your Rock Band Guitar. Talk about a cure for a video game addiction. However, I do appreciate the idea.

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!

extra extra...

read all about it. viva absurd news.

What people pay for in the news > tragedy, achievements, and absurdity. Well, this is obviously an oversimplification of news because current events, no matter the subject, are important to many people including me. Also, an insane amount of the population cares about celebrity gossip. But either way I am condensing highly profitable news into those 3 categories. I guess celebrity gossip can be absurd, but not absurd in terms of topic, absurd in that people care - a lot.

I think it's disgusting to profit off of tragedy, but people want to know what's happening, especially if it is dramatic. I hate achievements when advertised for ego but if advertised because of significant progress then I approve. Absurd news, even if tragic (dark humor), amuses me. I enjoy all types of humor. Hopefully you find the stories below as entertaining as I do. Unfortunately, some of the stories are not as good as the headlines.

Somali women flocking to port in hope of marrying pirates
>mostly about the pirates, less about the Somali women

Atlanta airport grooving to clean music
>the airport bought the rights to Shake Your Groove Thing, Bustin' Loose, and Fantastic Voyage and rewrote the lyrics to inspire cleanliness

Going 2 divorce you...
>a Saudi man divorced his wife with a text message. LOL

LineAqua glass sink basin, a mesmerizing vortex of toothpaste spit
>apparently the bloggers of Gizmodo are enchanted by spit in this new sink design

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Blazar: time-lapse video of gamma-ray sky
>hehe I love nerds. About a video made from the footage of the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope that has been orbiting Earth

For chimps, candy is dandy but steak is quicker
>Fantastic story! "Our results strongly suggest that wild chimpanzees exchange meat for sex, and do so on a long-term basis." That's obviously what she said.

And yet another unrelated video post. I saw She & Him in concert last year, and I will be seeing the "Him" (aka: M. Ward) at Coachella in a week. Yessshh!!!

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.

another genius product

The pillow keyboard >


I don't want this product because it encourages productivity through quality break hours. I want this product because I have successfully mastered typing with my face. The rate at which I can peck keys with my nose is awe-inspiring. Thanks Gizmodo for the product alert, I will get a promotion in no time.



(this can't be real!)

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.

design + function = good

I have always been a fan of products that are both practical/functional and designed. It can add delight and beauty to the monotony of some products, and in my case often humor as well. I believe it makes life fuller and more enjoyable. And as Oscar Wilde so brilliantly stated, "life is too important to be taken seriously."

For example, I own a Das Kapital safe and a tape dispenser man.


I don't claim to only own designed items that are functional because I do have perfectly useless but INCREDIBLE items like my Mickey Mao (I have it in red).


But there are certain items that everyone needs, like ice trays. So why not buy an Ice Invader Tray? The only reasons not to is if you don't know what a space invader is, you don't like space invaders, or style scares you. My point - if you need it why not go a little farther and make it special? Being a designer, I am all about personalization. It's great for self-expression.


Now on to totally worthless designed items (excluding my Mickey Mao, because it really is brilliant). This Monday, the HRP-4C humanoid robot was revealed at Japan's fashion week. Yes, not a tech conference, fashion week, because this robot has been designed to be a runway model. According to the director of the humanoid robot engineering, "Our robot can't move elegantly like the real models that are here today." No kidding, that half squat below is really sexy... However, Darth Vader would totally buy what ever clothes are going to be modeled on that rigid metallic frame.


With 2 million dollars in production it is a little disappointing, actually no, really impressive, but why for fashion?! Sometimes I feel people develop technology just to say they developed it, but it's totally unnecessary (kind of like the new shuffle). There are some things that artificial intelligence can not replace. The research director says that another 20-30 years is needed before this robot is perfected. I think that is science wasted. However, it can easily be applied elsewhere and I never like to frown on research because any progress in science is fantastic.

The only thing this "model" could possible wear is this new clothing line that was inspired by the recent UFO sightings in China...


If I was an alien, China would be the last place I would land. Plus with all their surveillance projects I would be quickly discovered and destroyed. Unfortunately, You-Tube is banned again in China, so my brilliant alien discovery would never be broadcasted and poor Moulder would still be left believing.

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.