Buyer's Remorse

Good evening. We, or rather I, am currently 2 hours and 10 minutes (give or take) away from 2010. I'd like to take this moment to express a big F*@^% you to 2009 and the ridiculous idea that with the new year comes new opportunities and whatnot. It's just a calendar day, not very much more. What's even worse, is the notion of a New Year's resolution....If you want to make a life change, why on earth wait for the New Year? Do it the moment you want to make the change, rather than sitting on your lazy behind complaining about it.

On a (not so) happier note, earlier today I paid a lovely visit to a place I call Sunflower Music (because that is its name). Haven't been there in over two years, somehow I managed to get there with little problems. I decided it was time to buy the new AFI; Crash Love. Another funny and slightly related story; I had a nice conversation with the lady who served me at the cashier about AFI. She would have been in her late 30s, early 40s I'd say. Thought that was pretty awesome, kinda made me wonder from what 'era' of theirs she first got into them. We then discussed the Soundwave Lineup (which includes AFI, along with a bunch of other pretty good bands). In terms of Crash Love though, I'm slightly disappointed- though I don't really understand how I expected it to be as great as what I expected. Don't get me wrong, it's a great album... I just expected it to be a little more 'bad-ass', for lack of a better word, I suppose. I think it's just an album that will take a bit of time to grow on me. Medicate was definitely a good choice for the first single though. I think at the moment, that and "The Beautiful Thieves" are my favourite songs on it, though admittedly I had already downloaded those and another track off of Crash Love. Which seems to cause confusion as to why I would then go and 'pay money' for it. Uhh, because I like it, duhh...and I think that if I like someone's music, then I should have the common decency to, you know, pay for it, 'cause I'm not a freeloader and I respect the fact that that is what they do for a living.

Enough of that now. So. New years. Hurray? So, the 'tradition' I suppose would be to look back on 2009. Ok. Thanks 2009 for bringing me to the realization that wow, I'm kinda screwed! Oh, and for opening up my eyes to the fact that 90% of the 'friends' I have made throughout the course of grade-school were never really my friends to begin with. All of this has little to do with the fact that it was 2009, but moreso with the coincidental transition from High School to University. To be honest, as frustrating as it all was, it was much more liberating. I suppose I'm just a lot more prone to being irritable now. Could be the heat, though. I thoroughly despise summer. Some people we're going into another ice age soon...That would be lovely.

Yeah, I still don't know what to make of this CD... Seeing as I've been listening to Sing the Sorrows for the past week....You almost wonder if it's the same band, heh. Ehh, it'll grow on me.

So, I was about to say "dude, wtf, no one's online"....Uhh yeah, it's New Year's Eve and everyone else in your life actually has a life. Hmm. What an intersting observation. I was actually invited to a gig tonight.. Would have got in for free too. So why am I here? Suppose I'm not feeling particularly sociable. Perhaps I've had enough of driving on the Freeway for one day.. Perhaps both. Perhaps I'd just prefer some better company right now, but it seems I'm stuck with myself. Hurray. Here's a toast to the New Year! (for which I shall have a sip of water).. Ugh, might I add stale... Anyhow. We'll see how things work out. My 19th birthday is in less than 6 months- apparently some dramatic changes are suppose to occur in my life around then, or so says astrology. That'll be interesting, I suppose.

Bet you didn't see this coming...

This is so adorable, I can't contain myself.

Longtime

Good morning cyberland!

It is now 1.36 AM and I am bored out of my mind. Usually, I'd be chatting to Roadee, or Zac (mostly Roadee)....But they both seem to have lives, or at least, tonight they do. My bad, it is 12.36 AM... Hmm, perhaps the fact that I seem to have misplaced my ability to correctly read the time should be a key indicator that it is time for bed. Nay! I think not. Though, I do plan on going to bed early tonight.. By which I mean before 2AM... Which was my plan last night (actually, last night the plan was before 1AM...) but then turns out I got accepted into QCA (Queensland College of Art) and uhh decided to enroll etc etc which took forever because the Griffith University website (they 'own' the art school) is lame and really REALLY slow... Seriously. It took me 2 and a half hours to enrol....and I happen to know that my Internet is not that slow.

So, what's news? Yeah, that is right, I transferred... Uni SA can eat my socks.. Not really, but there was some weird union thing going on over there that caused them to put some kind of ban.....which entailed withholding students' grades..meaning I missed the first offer round for my transfer and freaked out thinking they'd totally screw me over and not give my my grades in time.. But it all worked out in the end. So, here's hoping I will like this course better? I am now doing a Bachelor of Fine Art (as opposed to 'Visual Art'...). It doesn't look like I have an explicit theory course this semester either...Sweet! I'm so sick of lectures (already!). Then again, they always were great for catching up on sleep.

As you have probably noticed by now, I have nothing worthwhile to report. What have I been up to in the past month since I last posted? Handed in the last of my assignments (what a relief) and am now officially on my summer break. I moved house, which was about as stressful as it was each time previously, and attended a Green Day concert (and I may or may not have mentioned these things in chronological order). 'Green Day?' I hear you saying.... My reply: yes. For the third time. Their act never gets boring.. and that drunken rabbit that opens the show never gets old (there's a guy-or actually I think it may have been a woman..this time at least- dressed in a pink rabbit outfit who stumbles around the stage 'drinking' beer... at least I think they're pretending, and pretty much rallies the crown and whatnot before Green Day come on.) I got some amazing photographs... Some even show lame teenage girls screaming and crying because of the 'awe' that is Billie Joe Armstrong. I mean, he's awesome, but get a grip, girly. The crowd wasn't bad. I might upload some photos in a later blog (of the band, not the crowd).

Do I have anything else worth mentioning? I've been driving a reasonable amount lately. Needless to say, my car is amazing!

Yes, this was a terrible summery of what I've been up to. Who gives. I'm out. Peace.

Well, that's one weight off of my shoulders

Good evening. It seems I've been slightly busy during the past week or so. Turns out, I haven't logged onto Twitter in a while (though I have tweeted from my phone via SMS).... That usually means I'm busy, I suppose. Last Friday I miraculously finished that essay for a class named "Visual Art and Culture in the Modern Age" or "VACMA" as I like to say, because the abbreviation sounds just as ridiculous as the tutorials for it. Let me tell you about this essay; 2500 words. It was a head ache, believe me. I chose the topic "Abstract Expressionism", the exact question I cannot recall (nor do I need to, as I am done with it!). I felt reasonably good about said essay after having finished writing it, but after I printed it out and handed it in, it dawned on me.. I may actually not have addressed part of the question, or at least not as well as I could have.. Though, I tend to feel this way virtually after every essay that I write and I always do well. Still, I think I actually have a reason for this one. I guess we will see what happens. Once the essay is marked and given back to me, I will perhaps upload it to the Deer Log. I would upload it now, but I also submitted it online through a program and checks for plagiarism. It would suck if it came back 100% plagiarised, just because it picked up the same essay written by the same person, posted on their blog.

In other news, earlier today I handed up my last project (perhaps last ever?) for Sculpture. I say this, because, although I like sculpture, I did not enjoy this course and failed to see how much of it actually related. Somehow I actually stuck with it and didn't drop it for another subject, something I seem to have a knack for doing. I will perhaps upload some photos of it. I guess I should, I took them with my phone which I have here right next to me. I suppose I shouldn't be lazy and should just upload them... (PS.. these are three different sculptures, though one would perhaps be better suited as 'installation')




It isn't party time yet. I still have work to do for two more classes. Though that should (hopefully) be less stressful. I shall now sign off on this post, as I am making Falafels.

Peace.

Hello October (of which there is four hours left)

Hello cyberspace!

So, it's been over a month since I last blogged. In fact, if I had waited another week it would have been a whole two months and a bloggless October. So, here's a rant for you savvy readers (of which I am quite sure there are only 2).

I'm a little confused as to what's (still) with the hype about H1N1 (Swine Flu). To my understanding, the main reason there was a big freak-out about the virus is because certain groups of health professionals were afraid it would mutate into another, worse virus. Okay. So what's with the vaccine? As I am sure everyone knows (actually, no they don't which is a shame) once you are vaccined for something (for the moment ignoring the blasphemy of the H1N1 vaccine) you are only protected against that virus. I will try to make this explanation even simpler. If you're vaccinated for H1N1 and it turns out at some point it mutates into a new strain (as flus generally do), then the original vaccine wont protect you against that. Anyhow if I proceed with this point, it will just go in circles.

My point is that I find the idea of the shot ridiculous and the fact that in some places on this planet they are thinking of making it mandatory (or have they already?) scares me. I mean, other than the fact that it's still untested-or unapproved, I can't quite recall. Perhaps both.

Besides, how likely is it that you're going to contract Swine Flu? And even so, how likely is it that it will kill you? I remember having read someplace that the percentage of deaths from the regular flu strains is higher than that of the Swine Flu, however this could be wrong. My point is, I don't believe it is as bad as the picture is being painted.

The fact that it contains squalene, which shares a known connection to guillain-barre syndrome, which is (in short) an autoimmune disease (where the body starts attacking its own cells), google that one for more specifics as I'm not writing an essay here (on second thought, it might turn out that way...). The shot also contains aluminium which I'd hope the majority of people would know is bad for you..Then again, it is in most commercial deodorant and other hygiene products that virtually everyone uses and either knows it is in there and do not care, do not know it is in there (is it that outlandish to read the ingredients on things?) or do not know how terribly bad it is...? I don't remember if I was asking a question or making a statement, so I put a question mark just in case.. What else was I saying? Oh yes. I remember now. It also contains....Formaldehyde (I'm suprised I remember the spelling). As far as I understand, that stuff is used as a fixitive or something along those lines in photography (thank you, art school!)...and otherwise (again, to my understanding) when consumed in some way or another, is generally seen as being a contaminant. Don't quote me on that last part, as I'm not (yet) a chemistry dictionary. Perhaps I should have studied Chem at University...But even so, it would have only been for my benefit to know what all those ridiculously disgusting additives are. I would never for the life of me work in an industry where I would be making those things and putting them in places where people can get poisoned (ie. Vaccinations?)

Anyhow... To get to the point of what I was saying... Nothing particularly infuriated me about the contents of this vaccine. Drugs are drugs, they're not going to contain anything that is actually good for your body.... The point is, I did some further reading on this. Turns out, the vaccine uses an egg base. I already had no intention of getting this shot, but knowing that last piece of information worries me a little more. It is probably the least harmful substance (in terms of, for the human body) in the whole concoction, but perhaps it is my ethical beliefs and moral obligation that comes into that part.

The real issue is, if this shot becomes mandatory, life is over as we know it! Okay, that was a little over dramatic, and maybe I shouldn't refer to myself as 'we'. I mean, one can refuse and refuse as much as one likes, but the fact is, this is a capitalist society; no money = well, go figure.... Perhaps I skipped a bit far ahead and missed the point I was trying to make.... It seems like one of those things, that if it is made mandatory, then generally a lot of employers would not like to hire you...yada yada yada...Oh, why is everything in life so political?

I just had a thought... Why does this worry me? I plan to (in the future) be self-employed anyway.

Disclaimer: I'm not actually a scientist, but that doesn't mean that I don't know what I'm talking about. Also, this post turned out to be a lot longer than intended.

Some further reading (a list I might add to when I have more time):

This is definitely worth reading: http://sacredessence.com.au/blog/swine-flu-the-facts/ (Note where it says more people have died from the vaccine than from the actual virus itself)

http://www.fluscam.com/Vaccine_Package_Inserts_files/Novartis_A-H1N1_2009_Monvalent_VaccinePackageInsert_BasedOn1980Approvalfor%20Fluvirin_UCM182242.pdf (The insert that comes with the vaccine)

http://thebirdflupandemic.com/archives/h1n1-swine-flu-vaccine-insert-admits-it-causes-guillain-barre-syndrome-vasculitis-paralysis-anaphylactic-shock-and-death

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/04/29/Swine-Flu.aspx (Not sure I fully agree about the krill oil though).

Good evening!

Hello people of the Internet! I had no news until I looked at that little news thing on MSN messenger.... Some guy swallowed a lit cigarette.... Tasty?

It has just hit me that being 18 actually means that you're technically an 'adult' and therefore are expected to act like one... From one day to the next.. (I know, my birthday was almost 3 months ago.. Still.) I keep forgetting this and often find myself in situations where I'm not exactly sure how to act anymore.. Or rather, how I am supposed to act... Man, this should come with a user manual or something! I'm kidding. Whatever, maybe I'll get used to this 'adult' business, maybe I wont... I actually hope I wont. I don't need to become more cynical than I already am, and I certainly don't need (nor do I want) to become the boring, lifeless 'individual' (by which I mean sheep) I have seen almost everyone else become.

Here's another question.. Should I get back into AIM? I haven't used it in years and don't remember my password, or user name for that matter...nor am I any longer acquainted with the people I used to speak to on there. It's almost a crying shame, but when I really think about it, I guess that it isn't.

I think I will leave it at that for now. That shift I had this morning really drained me, or perhaps it was that 15 minute walk in the sun on the way home from the bus stop. Warm weather really tires me out.

Peace. Unity.

News

Not really. I do have an exam tomorrow.. and two assignments due in the day after that. Perhaps I should be doing some homework...Or perhaps I already am. My hands feel really uncoordinated today, does anyone else ever get that? Fingers are just going in all the wrong places. I tried playing some basic guitar scales earlier today, and it just did not happen. It's not to say that I haven't practiced in a while, because I've been practicing every day (or second day..depending on how late I get home from classes/work on certain days)... Strange day I'm having. I did paint a relatively good picture today, so I guess that's still working. I tried taking a picture without using the flash, but it came out worse than it did with the flash, so until I have some daylight to work with (and can take a slightly better photograph), I shall share this with you.

Oh look!

I haven't blogged at all this month. Word?

I'd say it is because I have nothing worth while to share. Then again, do I ever?

Currently eating oatmeal... A useless piece of information I could have just as easily posted on twitter...Where it would appear to have been more relevant.

Anyhow, I must leave now before I am late for work.

Peace.

A touch of expression

Here are some (not so good) photos of a few paintings I've done lately.. In fact, one of them I did last night..The other two, the night before last. One of these I believe is the best thing I have ever painted...In a sense. Perhaps not 'technically' but just in the way that it ended up...I can't explain what I mean, but I just love it... I also did all of these 'free hand' or whatever you will call it. Basically, just painted it straight onto the canvas, without having drawn it on in pencil (or whatever) first...So that was somewhat surprising.. In that it worked that well.. Anyway, enough babble.

Damn, am I going to be tired

I have a lecture in Ten hours.. Meaning I have to get up in about 8 hours in order to get there on time... So I should really be in bed already, in order to catch up on the sleep I have missed during the past 4 nights. Oh well. Such is life, I suppose. Does anyone want to trade places with me? I think the class is called Visual Art and Culture in the Modern Age (I hope it's not anything like Representing Visual Culture from last semester, but with a name like that....) After that I need to go to a hardware store (again!?) and buy 5 linear metres of timber for Sculpture on Tuesday. Like they couldn't have told us this in advance? (The email with this information got sent out on Friday... I don't check my University email that often, but I did on Thursday; nothing important then)... They give us 4 days to get these materials? They've had six weeks to inform us of what crap we need to bring with us. My drawing instructor (or whatever you call them?) did the same thing, but luckily I already have (most of) the supplies for that class. We need gouache though. I hate gouache, with a passion. Kill me now. No, don't. I'm going to bed. Let us hope I will get a reasonable amount of sleep. Good night.

P.S. Who else doesn't want to go back to school? Haha...

Here it is.

A slightly better photograph.

Insert witty title here.

Just like I said, here's a photo of the painting I've been working on. I think it's finished, by which I mean that I'm 90% sure I'm happy with it. It's still wet, so I'll take a better photo of it when it is dry and I can put it somewhere that will allow me to take a photo of it without all of the shine...And perhaps also when it isn't dusk and I have some natural light to work with, rather than flash.

Oh, wow!

I remember when six weeks felt a lot longer. It just occurred to me that next Monday, I go back to University. Yay? 10am, a lecture for a subject whose name I cannot remember. Then straight after a tutorial and that's my whole Monday. I also think I am working from 5pm-9pm that evening. I will have to double check that. The point to this post was for me to express the fact that I still haven't done anything I said I would do during this break and it now seems to have been a big waste of time (still, it was a good time). I suppose I will spend tomorrow finishing that painting I began the other day. I'll upload a photo of it when it is done....by which time I hope I will have found my camera. On a similar note, I was playing with my phone today and realised the camera has a Panorama setting... it basically takes three photos and puts them together. I had so much fun with it, I think I might even upload some of them once I find my USB cable. Found it.

Cliched "MySpace" poses never get old. Also, this further proves that my aiming of the camera is particularly bad.

P.S. I just heard what was either a firecracker or a car that backfired somewhere near the front of my house. Such joy.

Good Morning!

I should probably in bed. Instead, I am going through some photos I took at some of the studio workshops at school...I found a photo of one of the prints I made during the Printmaking workshop. This turned out quite well, I think.... Which brings me to my next dilemma.. I need to choose 4 subjects for next semester (Well, I have already chosen them...) one of which is the compulsory history/theory subject which everyone has to do, then my choice of any 3 studio classes.. I chose painting, drawing and sculpture. Why? because they are my 'thing'. Many other art schools I looked at had painting and drawing in the same course... Which would have made life easier and solved this dilemma... Anyway.. My issue is... Do I really, really want to do printmaking? Do I want to do it enough, not to do...drawing? Because that will more than likely be the one I would change.. I have until next semester begins to sort this out. So, I have two weeks... That is if the printmaking class isn't already full. I have no idea. Any suggestions? Words of advice? Ahhh!

Anyways... here's the print.


Nicole.. Please don't hate me for making you look sort of funny in this.. It looked fine before it was reversed...(when it prints...It gets uhh, inverted.. I'm too tired to get into this!).

At a loss for words. Still, I write.

First Michael Jackson, now The Matches. I don't know what else to say to that....Other than life goes on. Still, I haven't had the motivation I had 2-3 weeks ago during the last couple of weeks... It's funny, when you literally don't have the time to do anything at all, your creativity just goes "BOOM!" and you have so many ideas and so many things you want to do.. When you have the time for it, you (well, I) tend to sit around feeling sorry for myself, searching for that muse. So, at a loss for anything fresh to post or any new ideas, I shall instead upload a photograph of something I did nearly a year ago (well, the photograph is of two paintings I did last year, one of which I did over a year ago and cannot stand... I'm sure you can see why... The other painting I do quite like)

Oh yeah.. I'm in this photo too.... So be it.

RIP Michael Jackson

I don't actually think that this news has fully hit me yet...I'm at a loss for words.

RE: The Monster That Is Consumerism

In response to a Blog that Roadee posted a couple of weeks ago, I thought I might get hip to blogging about customers that I deal with who really piss me off.. Or maybe just the one I had today...

I came back from my break and saw that Emelia had put someone else on register four, which is the one I was using. So, she put me on register three which had not been used at all today up until I was put on it. I thought "okay, cool". So I was on register three. Just to set the story a bit, every night when closing the store, procedure is to basically remove large amounts of cash from the registers (I assume in case the place gets robbed, there isn't much for them to take?)..So, in the morning, we have a small amount of cash to work with, which does get annoying when there are a bunch of customers who come in the moment the store opens, bring an item that costs $2 to the check out and pay with a $50 note (or in some more bizarre instances, a $100 bill)...Well, let's just say I always sorta freak out that at one point I am not going to have enough small change left to give to customers.. But eventually I end up ordering more change anyway, so I guess that's all good.

Okay, to the story... I'd just opened this register (well, I'd had a few customers..all of which up to this point payed via eftpos....but anyway) and this lady comes and buys something, I don't remember how much it came to but it isn't relevant. Anyway, it turns out she is paying by eftpos, cool. Then she says "oh and I'll have 100 out" (as in, $100 cash-out)...Now, because I still only had a small amount in my register, I couldn't really giver her $100.. Yes, I had that much, but if the next person comes and pays with a $50 and needs a lot of change, I'm not going to give them their change in coins...So, I said to her "I'm sorry, I can't give you that much cash-out at the moment because I don't have that in my register at the moment" (well, I did, but I didn't have it to give just like that kind of thing, you get me?) So she's like "but I want cash-out" and I explained to her the same thing again (totally disregarding how rude she was being), I mean, what else am I supposed to say to that, right? Then she continues in saying "I NEED cash"....At which point I just wanted to say "Then go to a fucking ATM".

No, I didn't say that. I wanted to. I just looked at her, I mean I'm not going to repeat myself again. So then shes says"Well then, cancel the payment, I'm going to another register!".......Uhm, OK, sure....I don't understand why she would want to line up again for several minutes just to get cash-out when it would have been faster to finish that payment then and there and walk a couple of steps to an ATM. What a moron. I really do not like the people who shop where I work... They all seem to lack common sense.
End Post.

This is indeed creative

I stumbled upon this at www.myspace.com/dairy_is_rape

Some good information on that page. Check it out if you have the time. I'll warn you, some of the videos on there are quite sad to watch. Well, I thought so. Which got me thinking; why do I always watch/read things that upset me? Particularly...If it's a truth that I am already more than aware of... Perhaps I just like to torture myself. Arguably, such torture does not even come close to what these people experience. Yes, I said people, because cows too have a personality and how I see it, that makes them people... Moreso than most humans I know.

New Header?

I was looking at my blog not long ago and thought "hehe...Deer Log". Yes, I'm aware that I have a peculiar sense of humour... I like puns, so sue me. Nonetheless, I decided that I had to illustrate this... It's rather tacky, but here it is and I decided to put it as my header. It probably would have looked better as a digital painting, but I'm not too good at those and I don't have the patience either. I'm thinking of doing a series of these.


P.S. The scanner seemed to slightly blur the bottom right of the drawing. Oh well.

Mmm mm mm! Delicious Satire

I found this while 'cruising' around on myspace. Enjoy.

Conservatives Warn Sex Change Only Barrier Between Gays/Marriage


_{No, this is not for real.. Just incase you weren't sure.}

Extreme Painting

This morning was fantastic. I woke up at seven, which is the usual time I would wake up on a Tuesday morning. However, I decided to not get out of bed until eight, meaning I would probably be an hour late for my studio class. As it happens, I was about an hour and 20 minutes late, not that it really mattered. I actually enjoyed the class today; usually bugs the hell outta me.

Here are some examples of, what I like to call extreme painting. This is all my stuff... I don't feel comfortable posting other students' work without their permission, for obvious reasons. Enjoy.



I don't know what I thought when I came up with doing what I did in the below one.. I didn't really like the outcome and it also seems as if I didn't photograph it either.
This next one was extremely fun.

Some Older Artworks; Soup is Good Food

I was looking through some photos and happened to find this...somewhat an installation piece I did as one of my 11th grade 'major' assignments. It actually got displayed at the Gold Coast Arts Centre in an exhibition that displayed selected artworks from schools across...well, I'm not sure how large an area, but I do know 3 artworks from the school I was attending at the time were chosen. I was the only 11th grader, the other two were in the 12th. I guess that's somewhat an accomplishment, eh?

Unfortunately, this is not exactly how it is meant to be displayed, but this is the best photo I have of it.. This was taken when it was still at school before they took it to the gallery (and somewhat damaged it....) Actually, they didn't display it correctly there either. Miss K was sort of upset by that, seeing as she had written detailed instructions of how it was to be set up... I read them and figured any idiot could understand that. Perhaps they were at a loss for space? I do not know. Oh well, this is the general idea of how it looks and you get the point. Unfortunately, I am unable to re-take this photograph, depicting how it should have been displayed, seeing as before I had a chance to pick it up, someone threw away the sculpture part.. That took me weeks to complete. At the time I wasn't phased, but now it does somewhat bug me. Here's a somewhat 'artsy' photo of it. I think I took this? I don't quite remember.
By the way, I titled this artwork "Soup Is Good Food", I encourage you to try to figure out why. I might upload some other older artworks later, but for now, enjoy.

Youtube Madness

I was youtubing not so long ago, and I came across this... I think this just goes to show that Jimmy Fallon pretty much just kicks ass.



Come on, this is classic.. After watching that, I decided to look him up on youtube to see what I could find.. Here are a few videos:

This one has embedding disabled, but it's a music video from his album (I forget what it's called, but it came out in 2002) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPjfqWCscJk

Embedding has also been disabled for this... It's a skit he did while on SNL back in the day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi8JSto5eM0

Embedding also disabled (what is up with that?!)...Also from SNL, from the Weekend Update segment... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVMoEIF2_5A

Enjoy.

Also, I just got linked to this. I found it incredibly amusing, but also silly..Still, more amusing than silly.. Tell me your thoughts?



Barrack Obama impersonations crack me up... I don't mean that in a bad way, I think he's pretty hip. The impersonations generally just exaggerate the way he speaks, to an extent, where you cannot help but laugh... Anyway, this spoof ain't that bad...

I'm having a 21st Century Breakdown

In response to the blog I posted on April 27th.. I wish to confirm that yes, Green Day still has it. I bought the album yesterday (though I had been listening to it online days prior to its official release). It's pretty damn good. Somehow it ever so slightly reminds me of Warning, which was one of my favourite Green Day albums (was? still is!) and then there are other elements to it that slightly echo other albums, as well as the parts that don't echo any of their previous albums but are undeniably, absolutely Green Day-esque. Songs on the new album that I currently cannot get enough of include (but are certainly not limited to!): Horseshoes and Handgrenades, 21 Guns, Last Night on Earth...

For someone who is a skeptic, I find it funny that I have a thing for somewhat slow, ballad-like love-esque songs.

Arbitrary news

Don't you hate it when the washing machine eats your clothes? I sure do. Earlier this evening I took it upon myself to wash my uniform, considering I have work tomorrow and I like to be at least somewhat clean. I just went to empty the machine so I could hang out my clothes... The damn thing ate one of my socks.. I cannot find it and I know I put a pair in there. One came out. I did, however, find a 5 cent coin that I hadn't seen before. Peculiar.

Looks like I made it afterall

I got to class and didn't really miss anything.. Wow, what a surprise?! Not really. Anyway, I took some photographs of some of the stuff I did today and also found some photos I took yesterday of what I made out of clay.... Here they are.

Clay sculpture...

Same sculpture, different angle... The, ehh, breasts are sort of huge...By time I was done, I didn't have the energy to, uhh re-do them. Oh well...Voluptuous clay.

This is a charcoal drawing based on my hand..But it isn't my hand. I was just looking at my hand when I decided "I should draw that". Well, it makes sense to me.

Another charcoal drawing. I started drawing the left eye (your/my right)... It just sort of all happened from there on. I wasn't aiming for perfect proportion, or composition for that matter.

Some stencil work I did.... Uhh, yeah there is something wrong with that.. I think it was meant to be Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but when I look at this now, I'm pretty sure it goes c, c, g, g, a, a, g...not what nonsense I have there.. There are also a few other things wrong with it, but I'm happy with the overall outcome.

"Good" Morning...

So....I technically should be getting on the bus right about now; seems my alarm decided not to go off this morning (similarly to friday)... I know this, because I'm assuming I woke up at the time it should have gone off, but I figured that I did that thing where I wake up at 6 (for no apparent reason) because it happens every morning. It didn't this morning and after about 35-40 minutes of not being able to fall back asleep, I looked at the time and holy shit.. It was 7.35. I could have made my usual bus (which on some days gets me to class 10 or so minutes late, other days early...I hate peak hour traffic) if I skipped breakfast- BUT! I am a firm believer in that breakfast is the one meal, if any, that should never be skipped. So, here I am eating my oatmeal.. I'd not go all together, but I technically have an assignment due in...That I am yet to finish. On a similar note, it looks like I am going to be needing a new phone (as it doubles as my alarm)... I remember, I almost missed my own High School graduation (as well as a couple of exams) because of this. Let's see what happens.

Peace.

I had no idea that glass could be sensual...

Today...what can I say about today? Well, I guess I will start with the fact that my bus was 20 minutes late, therefore I was 20 minutes late to my Foundation Studies tutorial. Turns out; didn't miss much. Brenda (aka my tutor) seems to think my idea (for the next project) is pretty good. Then again, she said that about my last idea which got me less than average grades....Apparently the studio diary wasn't up to scratch. Oh dear, I know I didn't do as much as I could have... Certainly thought I might have deserved just a slightly higher grade than what I achieved. Though, I do hear that teachers at this University (or perhaps just in my course) tend to grade students subjectively, not objectively. Oh well, that's all done now.

The real point of this post is referring to Monday's workshop... Glass. At first I thought "aw, jeez...lame" considering many of the workshops we have had.. have been pretty crap. I quite thoroughly enjoyed this one. We got to sandblast a glass object (that we were required to bring in, however for those who didn't bring something, there were random 'scraps' of glass they could use). I wont go into the process of how it's done, but I will say that I enjoyed using that machine....apart from the fact that it was constantly causing me minor electric shocks...Note to self: don't lean on a machine that creates a tonne of static... I sort of lost full function of my upper arms for about half an hour (as in, I had trouble with finger co-ordination..it was amusing!) Did I mention the object I brought with me was a shot glass (is it a shot glass? I found it in the kitchen.. it looks a bit bigger.. ohh well here's a picture- or three- of the final product).











The second activity required us to make a mold using wet sand (and then pour hot glass in that, making a cast)....basically, we get a bunch of wet sand, put it in a box and imprint something in it (certain objects make better imprints than others). Originally, there was a turtle figure that I wanted to press into the sand and therefore make a glass turtle, but it didn't make a very defined imprint..Instead, I found a pumpkin lying around (literally) and pressed the top of it into the sand. It ended up resembling a certain part of the female anatomy, therefore I liked that particular idea. I got to use one of those big spoons (I apologise for not remembering the correct term!) to scoop the (hot and fluid) glass out of the furnace thing it was in and poured it into my mold. After it set slightly, I took it out of the sand (using utensils, because it would have still been hot as hell.. that stuff is heated at 1200 or so degrees Celsius for glass casting.. which is what we were doing) and realised "wow, that looks awesome!" Seeing as it resembled a part of female anatomy (I'm sure you can imagine), naturally, I had to make another one! You need a pair, come on.. So I did the same process, only this one didn't work out as well. I think my sand may have been too wet and my pouring skills the second time around weren't fantastic. Still, it was a heck of a lot of fun. Also, Mel, the lady who was teaching us about glass, etc, said that my glass cast was quite sensual...(and nipple-y)... Why, I had no idea glass could be sensual...How magnificent.

Hurray for Prioritising!

Good morning! It seems that over the past few days, I've really gotten back into playing the guitar. So much, in fact, that I'm thinking about getting piano lessons. Actually, I don't really know how that relates... but it's an idea. For now it's only an idea, until I finally get paid from my new job. Then I'll be able to work out what I can and cannot spend money on. I guess it's a matter of prioritising. Such fun, eh? Actually, I've come up with a list of things that I 'need'... This list is inclusive of, but not limited to the following things (which are not in any particular order whatsoever, even though I seem to have numbered them):

1. Buy a new acoustic guitar (any suggestions?)
2. Get a new pair of glasses (seeing as my current ones are pretty much useless lately)
3. Wayfarers (yeah, that's right!)
4. Piano lessons (even though I could teach myself....perhaps the experience of an actual music lesson might be fun?)
5. Fix the keytar (or ask Trent nicely to see if he can fix it for me)
6. Art supplies (and lots of them!)
7. Get a driving instructor
8. Get my driver's license (Finally! I've had this learner's permit for almost a year!)
   
9. Save up a tonne of money for future plans (that, for now, shall be kept to myself)
10. Buy a trombone
11. Get trombone lessons
12. Find out what the hell a sousaphone is. Yes, I know that has nothing to do with money, which is what this list is sort of about....but it has been bugging me for a very long time and I never get around to actually looking it up!...hold up... THAT is a sousaphone!
13. Get a sousaphone
14. Get lessons

Yes...That is a long list. See what I said about prioritising?

I don't care what everyone else says;

I stand by the fact that I think that they've still got it.

Know Your Enemy


Bon Appetit.

Here's something deep and philosophical for you

Well.. Roadee said not to delete this blog.. I took her advice...Instead I'm deleting the contents.. Good bye :)

Knowing

I just got back from the cinema. I saw 'Knowing'. Originally, I didn't know what to expect from the film, but had come to the conclusion that it starred Nicholas Cage, therefore it couldn't be all that bad, could it? No, it couldn't. In fact, it's probably one of the best movies that I have seen in a while. That doesn't say much, really, seeing as (in my opinion) 99% of the movies that have come out in the past year or so have been worse than terrible. I can say this though, it is quite possibly my favourite (or at least, one of) doomsday movie.

I'm going to (try to) keep this short because I don't want to reveal anything in case anyone who reads this wants to go and see it. I know that I find it annoying when someone tells me every detail about a film I want to see but haven't yet. It sort of ruins the experience, I guess you could say. So, overall I'm just going to summarise my thoughts. The storyline was great, at least I thought so- two girls I overheard talking after the film didn't seem to agree.. Well, they didn't like the movie at all. Usually I can think "yeah... I can see why someone might not like this film"...But with this movie, I really couldn't see why anyone could leave the film and not even slightly have enjoyed it. The only conclusion I could come up with was that it just wasn't the type of movie that those girls were into... Which makes me wonder, why would you go see a movie with a theme or genre (I don't know how best to put it) that you don't even enjoy.. Or perhaps, they genuinely just didn't like the film... Who knows. They do. Anyway, back to my opinion, which we all know is the only opinion that counts (haha...yeah, right). The movie was suspenseful, I guess one could say. It was interesting, there weren't any parts where I was bored. For me, during the whole movie it was sort of like "ohh, what's going to happen next?!", it was pretty cool. There were a few very action-filled scenes, some quite gruesome.. Not in a blood and gore kind of way, just in another way I can't really describe.. A way that most movies I guess wouldn't really portray that kind of thing? Actually, I remember thinking that some of those scenes seemed slightly horror movie-esque, just in the way that certain things were portrayed...I guess in a Final Destination type of way. Also, the movie was really...well, moving I guess you could say? There were parts that were really, really sad. Intensely sad, at least I thought so. I quite liked it. I think it's also time for me to find something to eat, I just realised I haven't eaten since breakfast and that isn't good. So, until my next ramblings. Peace. Unity.

Human Tetris

Last night I decided to look for some computer games that I hadn't played (or actually seen) in ages...Age of Empires II and Zoo Tycoon, actually.... I used to play them a lot, then about a year ago they went missing. They must be in a box somewhere, I just wouldn't have a clue where to find them. I pretty much gave up my search, seeing as I didn't know where they were and no one else seemed to either. Instead, today I decided to google some online games. I started with Tetris (and for the moment, ended there too). I came across this Youtube Video called Human Tetris, by Guillaume Reymond. It pretty much blew my mind and I thought it would be wrong not to share it. Here it is.

An introduction, I suppose.

Hi. Well, this will be my first post on Blogger. I decided to start a new blog here, for whatever reason. What to talk about? I'm so glad you asked! Monday will be the beginning of my 6th week at Art School. I guess that's exciting? Not really... I thought I would enjoy it more.. Though I think it is moreso to do with the fact that this University technically was not my first choice and if I had my way, it wouldn't have even made it as a fall back....The course is too generic and at the same time, has too narrow a focus. Everything we are learning at the moment (and apparently, for the 3-year duration of the degree) is contemporary art, etc. Don't get me wrong, I quite like it, however I don't think it's right that an art school should only focus on one art style or period, however you wish to put it.. Especially when the examples we are shown and the work we are expected to create fits, for the most part, into the generic, contrived-looking 'contemporary' art styles.

In one of my classes; Visual Inquiry, we have been doing a lot of 'expressive markmaking' and abstraction, etc. I actually enjoy this, however so far it is all we have been doing and after a while it really does get boring- particularly when we are not even being taught any form of technique or given any constructive advice.. Now, I like the freedom of being able to do what I want to do, however this is supposed to be a structured course and seeing as all we are supposed to be doing is reflective upon the topic, I think we should be given a bit more direction, rather than being thrown into it without explanation. I say this, because I seem to have come across a lot of people in my course who don't understand exactly what we are meant to be doing, seeing as we have been doing the exact same thing for 5 weeks with instructors/tutors who just prance around the room glancing at what you are doing, giving no feedback whatsoever. Seeing as we are being graded on this and how it matches the criteria (which so far, no one seems to know what it is), I'm a little confused as to what the point is of having instructors who don't give any useful feedback.

On a similar note, students who I have spoken to who seem to carry a similar viewpoint have asked their instructor/tutor (whatever you wish to call them) this question, "Is this all we are going to be doing in this course?" (as in, are we only going to be drawing random lines and circles which are meant to be an abstract representation of an actual physical object, an emotion or mood which we aren't given any stimulus to try to emulate). The reply was "If you want to study fine arts, you're in the wrong place". Quite blunt and to the point.. Why can't they give feedback or input like this? (Why can't they give input at all?) Well, that's handy, seeing as this is the only art school in this state. Also, I remember being taught this, time and time again, by my highschool art teachers (who were, you know, useful!) , and indeed by studying other artists....To be able to abstract a figure, you must first know how to draw that same figure realistically...So that you can gain an understanding of how it can be abstracted... Why aren't we learning this? All the artists we have been told to research for this course have done this... I don't see how it relates, really- I mean, studying artists who began as realists and used this to abstract their later works, when all we are doing vaguely fits abstraction.

Before I began this course, I asked myself "What is the difference between a Bachelor of Visual Arts and a Bachelor of Fine Arts". I just assumed that this University chose to call it Visual Arts.... Now the difference has come and slapped me in the face- so to speak. Don't get me wrong, I don't like art classes in which we are required to draw and paint a bowl of fruit and get the lighting and shadows so dramatically correct, etc etc..(although that does teach you technique...) I like art in which I can do what I want, at least for the most part.. Being school, usually one is somewhat restricted with what one can do.. But with this course, I don't like the fact that we are being taught only one way of doing things... It just comes across to me as a sort of stuck up "we're a contemporary art school, this is all you can do here"..... I don't get it- I mean I get it...But I don't get why I should put up with this. The first contemporary artists were on to something, I agree with that. But 80% of those who followed were and are trying too hard to fit that niche. I don't know where I am going with this post, really. I guess I'm just saying, I don't like this art school very much....The theory course is directed toward contemporary art, my other practical course is the same. Why are we only being taught this narrow-minded perspective? To me..that is the opposite of what art should be.. I think we should be allowed to express what we wish to express in the way we wish to express it, in any art form we wish. And, in terms of 'school', be taught and shown different art forms and artists who expressed various things in different ways. I know this is only first year art school, and with any course, first year never gives much freedom in that sense... But as I mentioned previously, the whole, entire course and degree is tapered toward the contemporary arts....and that is not what I wish to graduate with. I'm not benefiting from this course whatsoever. I've even considered dropping out...But that would leave me with too much free time... I don't know what I'll do....Time will tell.