Welcome back...

Oops for not writing for so long!

I don't know why, but I stopped doing my weekly documentary viewing and reflection. I really enjoyed the films I was watching, but for some reason or another, stopped. Maybe I'll find the time to start up again.

The semester is over! I don't know what words I can used to describe my feelings. I'm not relieved, because I wasn't overwhelmed with work. I'm actually a little bit upset to have this semester over because I am not looking forward to some of the classes I have to take next semester. First off, I am taking 6 classes instead of the usual 5 classes. Second, I am taking the 2nd sections of 2D design, 3D design and drawing. Not really looking forward to those classes because they sometimes make me so frustrated. After doing so much design on the computer, where mistakes are easily erased, it is frustrating to do work by hand, and then have to go through a lot more to fix an error, which sometimes doesn't even work. Also, there is just no where in my house to do such work! I need a studio space. I've been working in the basement on a fold up card table and sitting in a plush computer chair, which is not really ideal. I don't mean to be complaining, but that's the case.

Good news though is that it's Christmas Eve! Tomorrow I am expecting some very nice presents, including a brand new Macbook Pro! This current laptop that I am typing on is failing, the mouse gets stuck a lot and it is just a mess. So I am very excited for what tomorrow will bring!

Movies I want to See

I like watching the Oscars every year, but a lot of times I haven't seen all of the movies that are nominated, because I don't watch movies too often. The reason I don't watch movies too often is because of the length and the possibility that I won't enjoy it - therefore having wasted nearly 2 hours watching something that I wish I didn't! But of course there are great, quality movies out there that lately I have trying to seek out, and here is a list of some of the films that I need to make a point of watching.

• Up in the Air
• Invictus
• Precious
• Bright Star
• The Cove
• Every Little Step
• Garbage Dreams
• The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
• Sergio
• Valentino The Last Emperor
• Which Way Home

Many of these I took from the list of 15 films in the Documentary feature for the Oscars that will be voted on. I watched trailers for each of them and read a bit about them and then picked out which ones I wanted to see. Some I was iffy about so didn't list, such as Food, Inc because I don't want to see animals being slaughtered, even though I eat meat. Also Burma VJ I am not sure of because I don't like watching graphic, violent films, but I am not sure if any of this will be in that movie. Hopefully I will be able to watch all of the above movies and add more to the list as well.

Trouble the Water

Friday has become Documentary Night for me. Last week I watched and reflected on the film Objectified. Tonight I watched a documentary very different from that, Trouble the Water.

The tagline for the movie says it all "It's not about a hurricane. It's about America." The film takes us on a journey of Kimberly Rivers, a 24 year old African American who lived through Hurricane Katrina, and documented it all on her own camcorder. It really is an amazing film. It's upsetting and uplifting at the same time. It makes me angry to see how little the government did during the hurricane as well as after. And I'm angry at myself too, because the way the media portrayed the hurricane was that everything that could possible be done to help was being done, which I see now is so not true. Also, the state of New Orleans before the hurricane came is unacceptable, such poverty and an overall low quality of life. The 911 calls from Kimberly are especially upsetting, as she is told that they are not making rescues at the moment. She asks if she is going to die there, to no response. It's very moving and upsetting, but the faith that these people had is unbelievable. They had so much faith in God and in each other, and Kim and her husband were helping out both strangers and neighbors, doing much more than the government was doing, for so many people. It's just amazing to see people living in such terrible conditions, floating around (literally) trying to find a new home and start their lives fresh, but still being so positive because of their faith. The images of the hurricane and its aftermath did not look like America. In the words of Kim's cousins, it looked like a third world country. Garbage everywhere, people in the streets, on highways, setting up camp and just waiting and praying. It may sound strange, but I am jealous of these people because of the faith I have. I don't have faith. But, and this sounds terrible, but I don't need to have faith. Faith isn't something that should go away when there is no need for it, say when your life is on track, but I can't lie and say that that isn't the case. It is inspiring to see how someone's entire world can be broken and changed, but they aren't tainted.

Appropriately, Trouble the Water was nominated for an Oscar in 2008, for best documentary feature. It did not win, and I would love to see the film that did win, because I really thought that this was great. It did what I think a documentary is supposed to do - it made me angry, it made me feel for the people it was about, and it made me want to do something about it.

Documentaries sometimes get a mad rep for being "boring". I totally disagree with this, but I can see why people might think that - it isn't an action flick where cities explode, or a romantic comedy with unnaturally good looking lead actors. But Trouble the Water is a must see, even for those silly people who find documentaries boring. It is a funny, deeply moving, inspiring film that is told from the inside.

Objectified

Just watched a wonderful documentary called Objectified. It is a design film about the relationship between people and objects, chronicled by the designers. It's from the same man who brought us another great film in Helvetica: Gary Hustwit. I loved Helvetica. I saw it last year, when I was at Quinnipiac, in one of my Interactive Digital Design classes, with my favorite professor, Sara Jordeno. Helvetica really opened my eyes to design and made me fall even more in love with typography. Objectified was equally inspiring, but in a different sense - now I can look at the objects around me a bit more critically.

It is a feature length film, and I am tired at the end of the week, so my memory of specifics may be lacking. I realized about halfway through that maybe I should take some notes down of some great quotes, or of ideas that sprang to mind as I watched. There's something so pure about watching, reading, experiencing something for the first time that you can never get back again - the element of surprise and unknowing is gone. One takeaway I got from the film came from a very eccentric yet brilliant designer by the name of Karim Rashid. Karim brought up a memory he has, of when he was a teenager, in his days of "teenage angst" as he describes. When he would sit in his room, gloomy and sulking, looking at this alarm clock of his, of whose design he was so attracted to, would make his problems go away. I can very much relate to this, and I find myself staring at certain objects of mine for long periods of time (not so long, maybe ten, fifteen minutes most). This mostly happens when I am first waking up, on a weekend, or another day when there is no rush to get up. I am so in love with the way objects hang on my wall in my bedroom. There is such cluttered structure to it that I find so appealing. Perhaps it is not so humble of me to be so infatuated with the look, as it is something I created, but it really is something I love. There are different textures, mediums, sizes, dimensions, colors. It is not even so much what it is that is on the wall, but the way in which it is arranged. I am obsessed with clean and beautiful layouts. Just the other day I had such the urge to paint my room red, but then I realized that that would mean having to first remove my wall decorations, and I feared that no matter how meticulous I was, I would not be able to get the look back.

For someone not interested in design, or in the things that surround them, I think you will still very much enjoy Objectified as it invites you to look at things in a different way. Technically, it is a very well made documentary and is very engaging. I am happy to have stumbled upon it. I set out searching for a good documentary to watch tonight, and I certainly found one.

A very powerful verse came at the closing of the film. Describing what he would do with a billion dollar campaign, Rob Walker of New York Times magazine explains that he would "launch a campaign on things you already own, why not enjoy them today? Because we all have so many things that we already have...they're in the closet, they're in the attic." How interesting is that? It makes me want to just dig into boxes and find the things that have meaning to me. He goes on to say that with the threat of a hurricane, or some other reason that would make it necessary for you to quickly grab your things and evacuate your home, what you grab really defines who you are. Very thought provoking. What I would grab, besides my pets, I really don't know.

Value Menu

1. Everything that begins as comedy ends as tragedy.

2. Everything that begins as comedy ends as tragi-comedy.

3. Everything that begins as comedy inevitably ends as comedy.

4. Everything that begins as comedy ends as a cryptographic exercise.

5. Everything that begins as comedy ends as a horror movie.

6. What begins as comedy ends as a triumphal march, wouldn't you say?

7. Everything that begins as comedy inevitably ends as mystery.

8. Everything that begins as comedy ends as a dirge in the void.

9. Everything that begins as comedy ends as a comic monologue, but we aren't laughing anymore.


The previous lines are taken from The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano, a novel I am currently reading at the moment. They come at the end of short passages from different narrators in a specific chapter. I find it extremely interesting to explore such options, if one can consider them options, meaning that one believes that he can choose how the comedy ends up.
Perhaps Bolano would be angered at me exacting just these lines, and cutting out everything in between, including the characters who said them. But I am only trying to look at this in the context of life, my own life or that of anothers. On many days, I might believe number 4 to be true, but there are of course the days when 1 or 7 seem plausible, even number 5 in extreme cases.
I felt like writing more but I'm feeling kind of like a number 8 right now. Sounds like I'm ordering off the value menu.

"Everything that begins as comedy does as tragedy."

Halloween

I used to really not like Halloween. And this was when I was very young. I was scared, and I had some bad Halloween experiences as a kid. I don't hold these memories myself, but I've been told the story, and there are home videos of the before and after. I must've been 4 or 5 years old, and I was dressed as a bumblebee and so excited to go trick or treating around the neighborhood. As legend goes, my sister, my mom and I rang the doorbell of this one particular house. On opening the door, a very large dog came bounding out. I was a very scared little girl and I began to run. Everyone knows that a dog will chase a running person. From then on, I was not only scared of dogs, but of Halloween. Thank goodness we got our own dog when I was in 4th grade and now I love all dogs! But until then, everytime we rang a doorbell and I heard a bark, I would run back to the curb to my mom, and my sister would have to request candy for me. I don't know why I was always so scared of everything - I wouldn't even go to the houses whose decorations I thought were too spooky. I wonder if there was something else that happened in my youth that I am blocking out, but I don't think so. Katie was the fearless, talkative one, and I was the opposite.

Then in 3rd grade we must have learned about the reasons behind Halloween and its origin. This I remember from my own memory. I became convinced that it was sacreligious to go trick or treating, as the day was meant to honor the dead (at the time I did not know of anyone who had died). I vowed to not go out on the day with my sister and friends, and refused to get a costume. But as the day grew closer, I started to feel left out and realized a very important fact - I'm in 3rd grade. So I started scrambling for a costume. I remember being mad at my parents for not helping me more. I ended up taking an oversized shirt, and making it into a smock by splattering paint on it. I got a palette and a beret and was a painter. Needless to say, I had to explain my costume to several people at the doors of their homes while I waited for my candy.

But now I love Halloween. I love the weather, that is perhaps the greatest reason that I love the holiday. And I love seeing the costumes of little kids, it's always so adorable no matter what they are wearing. I know a lot of college kids dress up in slutty or funny ways and go to parties, but I don't. I'm too old for dressing up. It's especially ridiculous when I see people's pictures on facebook and realize that we have the costume they are wearing, except my little sister wore it several years ago. And it seems to be the same size.

We only got two groups of trick or treaters yesterday though. It's like kids don't go anymore. It was very odd. I was looking forward to giving out candy to little cuties, but only did so once! Is the obesity epidemic stopping parents from letting their kids eat Halloween candy? Maybe, but there's probably some other explanation.

Here's Emma as a bunny, so cute.

It's November now, which I could not be more happy about. Closer to Thanksgiving, closer to Christmas, closer to holiday break! Plus I'm going to Niagara Falls the 12th with friends, and I could not be more excited for that! Time to act like a 20 year old for once (though I may be acting a bit like a 21year old that weekend - even though it's Canada so I can act like a 18/19 year old).

Floating

I wonder what it'd be like to fall asleep and then wake up in another hemisphere.

I'd like to try that.

Things that bother me right now, and those that don't

Things that bother me right now, or have come to my attention at some point today:

• Trying to talk about sports in a group of boys or men. Because you are a woman they seem to automatically tune you out and do not hear any of your points. However, their subconscious mind must hear you as they then repeat exactly what you just said, but claim it as their own thought. I watch sports more than most girls, and I consider myself a specialist when it comes to the Yankees and all of the NFL. So it's very frustrating, and upsetting, when just because you're a girl no one will listen to you. Or they act surprised when you say you love some team. I remember years ago in high school a bunch of guys were talking about who the best quarterbacks were and I tried to say something but was caught off by "Oh there's some dude like Peyton something? I heard he's good." Really.
• People who hate the Yankees with a passion. Because honestly, it's just pathetic to hate anything with such a passion, let alone a sports team. Also it's hard to understand how such hatred does not stream from jealousy. Putting so much energy and emotion into hatred of something is ridiculous. And it only causes unnecessary controversy when you choose to voice such hatred. Get over it.
• The fact that the Yankees and the Giants were playing at the same time. I found it hard to enjoy watching either game because I kept thinking of what I might be missing in the other game. I was furious when I saw that the schedules would collide, and am sad that I missed most of the Giants game and will have to wait a whole week before seeing them again :( Weren't the Giants originally scheduled to play during the day, but then were switched for the Sunday night game? Not sure but that was what I thought.
  
• Eli Manning's performance in tonights game. I was mostly watching the Yankees, but what I saw of Eli was painful. But his offensive line really wasn't giving too much support either. I don't like losing.

Things I do like:
The Yankees are going to the World Series!!!!

MOMA

I'm embarrassed to admit that before today I had never been to the MOMA. Especially majoring in graphic design, which requires you to take mostly art courses, practical, theory and history, it makes little sense that I haven't gone before. I've been to the Met lots of times. I have a weird stubborn problem where I don't like going to places (not just museums) where I don't already know tons of information. But that just makes it all the more amazing when you are standing in front of an amazing piece of art that you've studied and read so much about. I want to be able to appreciate what it is that I'm looking at, because often a piece of art isn't just aesthetically pleasing - there is so much in the painting and the artist, their reason for creating it, the surrounding historical time period, etc. When I went to Europe summer 06 (unbelievable to think it was that many years ago, but it some ways it feels longer...), I went to several museums, not too many, but I regret not fully looking at the pieces, and I mean not merely looking at them but seeing them. When I went to visit Katie in London in March 08, we hit the museum circuit hard, and at that point I was much more educated about art history then my first trip overseas, and I had so much fun exploring the galleries. But I would give anything to be able to go back to the Louvre, and to Venice and Rome and all the other great cities and places I visited, and to spend hours and hours in the museums. Back in my naivety I thought it was touristy to go to museums and whatever, but I was so ignorant to think that.

Another reason that kept me from the MOMA was the fact that I am still in the process of learning, and I do not know of all the artwork that I would see, or at least most of it. I know it sounds silly, because museums are supposed to be places of learning, but as my professor would say, you must take that information with a grain of salt, as it is not always so accurate. Just on Wednesday he told us of numerous instances in which he had to correct the information on display boards, or on the museums audio, because it was wrong, and he is still trying to argue against some information that is on display at the MOMA. Another not so good reason, I know, but today when I was at the museum, I found it frustrating that I was unfamiliar with certain galleries. But I was also pleased with myself when I overheard a tour guide giving a brief lecture on Pablo Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon, and I already knew most of what she was saying.

To give the MOMA one word, I would have to say overwhelming. But I mean overwhelming in the good way, the way in which some much beauty is surrounding you that you don't know where to turn first and are just in awe at the paintings. There were certain paintings that literally made me gasp because I was not expecting to finally see it in person (didn't do my research on what the MOMA held). On several instances I stood in front of a single painting, or sculpture, for quite some time, tracing every little detail. The Henri Matisse room was one of my favorites. His paintings are so large and I just wrote a paper on one of them (it isn't at the MOMA but others from the same period are). I also of course loved Picasso, and Marchel Duchamp was definitely another of my favorites. Paul Cezanne is one of my favorite artists, as is van Gogh, so seeing their work was...beyond words. The exhibition on Polish posters was also very amazing to see, as it laid the foundation for graphic design today. Ah so many great artists, I seriously could've spent all day there but I got tired after a few hours. I think I was so blown away that I became quite exhausted. I wish the price to get in wasn't so high, because although it's not nearly as large as the Met, I want to slowly, very slowly, make my way through each room. I wish I could go back and do just one floor per day. Oh and I found a new favorite artist today, and now that I'm looking at more of his work online, I'm blown away! Robert Rauschenberg (blow is his Factum II). He uses the most intersting mediums and does a lot of collage work, which I am very much loving at the moment. I believe for my next illustration project (for class), I am going to used mixed media in a collage type piece.

I went to the museum by myself, and it was a nice little trip all by my lonesome. I do a lot of things alone. Actually I do more things alone than I do with others. To some that might seem sad, but it shouldn't, because I don't mind.

Switch?

Is it possible that I have made the switch from livejournal to blogger? We'll see...

As explained on my livejournal, I felt kind of weird posting because of the fact that I've had it for so long and maybe there was a change needed. Like it was weird that someone could go back and look at how I was 5 years ago even though that's not who I am today. Maybe I could just go back and make them private.