Sitting on the Bottom Bunk of My Bed at Home

Home sweet STL! One of the things that makes me happiest is the first evening home from college after being away for awhile. My peaceful afternoon included catching up with family and friends, baking chocolate chip pumpkin cookies, enjoying a homecooked meal of spaghetti and salad, shopping at Target (no Target by my school!), watching my 6 year old brother’s soccer practice, and driving around in my 17 year old brother’s bright red new car. After enjoying these comforts of home, I love to settle down in my old bed, turn on the bedside lamp, and curl up with my laptop. On Stefan Sagmeister’s ‘Scale of Happiness’ (picture below), I’d say that feeling is one of delight, with bliss being ultimate happiness. So yea, it’s a pretty peaceful feeling.

In doing so, I went through ALL of my old Illustration posts (conveniently linked to all the posts in the ‘Illustration‘ link on the top right of the blog). And I was happily surprised that I feel like I’m making progress. Just from the amount of comments, likes, and stats, my ’3 Montage’ of the bird, lantern, and waffle seemed to be quite well done. And my beginning sketches are absolutely awful compared to my more recent work with watercolor and gouache. So I’m happy with the way things are going, even though it might not seem like I’m getting better when I see everyone else in my class making freaking awesome artwork.

10 Reasons I Want To Be Hiram Bingham III (not really, because he’s dead now)

1. He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii
2. He discovered the forgotten city of Machu Picchu
3. He married into the Tiffany family
4. He was an aviator
5. He had 7 kids
6. He graduated from Harvard, Yale, and University of California-Berkeley
7. He was in the Senate
8. He got to travel alot, ergo is claimed to have inspired Indiana Jones
9. He published a book, Lost City of the Incas
10. Some of his travel/exploration research was in National Geographic

Attn.: Important Message to People Who Make Trailers (Whatever Your Job Title Is)

You’re at a party, and everyone wants to watch a movie. Someone suggests a few movies, and Shutter Island is one of them. You’ve never seen it (and Leonardo DiCaprio’s in it), so you vote for that movie. Then that annoying person (who invited her anyway?) shouts out, “I’ve already seen that. He’s a mental patient at the hospital.” (Sorry if I spoiled it for you. If you haven’t seen it, you really should; it’s a decent movie)

That annoying person is equivalent to the movie trailers today. I’m sick of seeing a trailer on TV, thinking it looks good, and watching the movie only to realize that… you already saw it in the trailer. Seriously, stop giving away the endings. I didn’t pay $10+ of my hard earned cash to watch what was already summarized in a 2 minute commercial.

In fairness, I guess I should reflect on the position of those people whose job it is to make trailers. True, it would be terribly hard to make a trailer that doesn’t give away too much of the plot, while still making people think it’s going to be the best movie ever so they’ll go spend their money on it. And in their case, they’re just doing their job. So of course they’re going to choose the get-more-people-in-the-theater option. Because that’s what their boss and their paycheck is counting on. They have to appeal to as many different audiences as possible, so that means including clips of comedy, romance, action, etc. from the movie. By the time you’ve compiled enough diverse and exciting clips, you’ve given away the plot.

Most of the classic, highly successful movies have been introduced by trailers that, gasp, did NOT give away every important scene. Imagine it being revealed in the trailer that Darth Vader was Luke’s father. Enough ranting. But if another movie is spoiled by it’s trailer, I’m saving my money for virus software so I can watch movies free online.

Janet Echelman Avant-Garde Sculptures

As a fellow artist, I’ve been a fan of Janet Echelman’s since I saw her talk on TED (btdubbs, I’m obsessed with TED. More specifically, the inspirational talks on TED). Here’s her talk, “Taking Imagination Seriously”: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/janet_echelman.html.  She has completely reshaped the meaning of the word sculpture. Using netting as the main material, Echelman’s sculptures have a fluid, wind-blown essence. And they’re all hand-knotted! Her sculptures have gained immense popularity and have begun popping up all over the world. Check out her portfolio: http://www.echelman.com/site/portfolio.html.

In Denver, CO

'Her Secret Is Patience' in Phoenix, AZ

Nature’s Crazy Shenanigans

• Sliding Rocks of Racetrack Playa (a playa is a dry lake bed): The rocks in Death Valley National Park mysteriously move across the completely flat playa, making trails behind them. Some of the rocks are up to 700 lbs. No one knows how the rocks move, or has ever seen them in motion. Some hypothesizes are wind, ice, and slippery mud to help the rocks along.

• Fire Rainbow/ Circumhorizontal Arc: The complete halo runs parallel to the horizon with the sun as its center. I’ve actually seen one before and it’s incredible.

• Lucid Dreaming: Real life Inception. A dream where you’re aware you’re dreaming, and can actively participate and manipulate experiences in the dream environment.

• Red tides/ Neon tides: Huge amounts of microorganisms in the ocean accumulate rapidly and causes discoloration (usually red or green). As a result of excess nutrients that cause algae to decay and deplete oxygen, some of these can be harmful (Harmful Algal Bloom). A species of phytoplankton that also causes red tide is bioluminescent at night, only glowing when disturbed. When this happens, you might see what resembles a Pink Floyd laser show.

• Pororoca: Surfers’ ultimate dream. Waves up to 13 feet high and travel 8 miles upstream on the Amazon River. One guy rode it for 37 minutes.

• Morning Glory Cloud: Roll cloud up to 620 miles long, sometimes only 330 feet above the ground. They’re sometimes in rows of up to 8.

Sources:

Racetrack Playa: Wiki,http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ODbazOhpiMo/Tf7kTdrKk3I/AAAAAAAAAD0/TiUEBgfcUuQ/s1600/70768910.jpg; Fire Rainbow: Wiki,http://www.hoax-slayer.com/images/fire-rainbow.jpg; Red Tides: Wiki, http://cdn.webecoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/red_tides_6a.jpg; Pororoca: http://www.bigearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/pororoca.jpg; Cloud: Wiki

Movies I Might Actually Pay $10 To See

One Day (with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess)

Life In A Day (not in most theaters)

The Dark Night Rises (Batman movies never disappoint; in theaters July 12, 2010)

Something Borrowed (I actually don’t think it’s still in theaters)

Monsters Inc. 2 (classic)

Family Vacation Spots

This past weekend, my family and I (minus my brother who wanted to go to another lake with friends) went to our grandparents’ condo at Table Rock Lake. And no, I’m not going to brag about how we have a lake house and you don’t. This is more of a post about how families find time away together.

My family's condo community

Table Rock Lake is about a 4 hour drive when my dad’s driving, and 3.5 when any other person drives. If my all 7 members of my family are along, set aside another hour for bathroom breaks, fast food drive-thrus, and getting candy at gas stations. When we finally get to Branson, the only thing we ever do is go to Silver Dollar City (most people go for the shows). Our extended family has been going to SDC for about 40 years now. My grandparents get the grandkids season passes every year for Christmas, and they were recently given lifetime passes as a present from the founder of Silver Dollar City himself (although these passes aren’t for sale). My grandparents have been going since the park opened. I can see myself continuing the tradition when I have kids too.

'The Wilderness Church' in SDC where my parents once had a marraige renewal ceremony

'Electro Spin' Ride

The 'Magnificent Wave' Carousel

Skillets can consist of grilled corn, chicken, green beans, sausage, potatoes, peppers, etc.

We always stop by 'Eva and Delilah's Bakery' for breakfast

If you don’t already know, Silver Dollar City is a olden-time-themed park. It remains quaint while being quite an expansive park. Employees roam the streets and work the facilities wearing long dresses, overalls and leather hats, or suits. What makes family vacation spots so enjoyable is the traditions and secrets that come with going there year after year. For example, before going on the Mine Train shooting ride, our family has to agree not to cheat. Years ago we learned that you can ‘cheat’ by shooting your gun at another gun’s points display gives you easy extra points. Another trick we’ve learned is to wait until the women at the Candy Shop have finished a peanut-brittle-making demonstration to get free samples. The food is my favorite part. If you ever visit, don’t go without trying a Skillet (medley of grilled veggies, potatoes, onions, etc) and a pastry from the Bakery (the cinnamon rolls are as big as my face). All of the pathway shortcuts, best rides, and most interesting performances at Silver Dollar City, you can bet my 6-year-old brother knows. These little bits of knowledge make our vacations seem more like our home, therefore creating a stronger sense of family at our vacation spot.

This weekend we had a nice trip. We hung out at the condo, went to Silver Dollar City of course, went swimming, mini golfing in town, went shopping at the outlet mall and Branson Landing. What we didn’t do that we usually do is hang out by the water and go fishing (since we’re right on the lake). We also got a call from my brother who stayed home, saying he crashed the car while we were away. My dad and I even got a game of tennis in, despite the sweltering heat. We tried the scramble-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk thing, but it just kinda shrivled up. We didn’t get to go on a more expensive trip to Florida this summer because of money issues, but I enjoyed this vacation as well. I think it’s necessary to have a permanent home away from home, no matter how inexpensive or close to home it may be. Comments on your favorite family vacationing places?

Saying Sayonara to Borders

I stopped by Borders today before going to work because they’re going out of business. Everything is 10%-40% off, and there were sooo many people there. It made me happy to see that so many people were at such a cool store. Borders has been such a great place for me because I enjoy going there simply to browse, get a magazine, and sit in a comfy chair with a coffee and read for awhile. I know, such a hipster. But really, I’m not. Borders was the place I went to for stress relief, or if I just wanted to go shopping while not feeling guilty (because reading=learning, right?).

So let’s get this over with. I’m thinking the main reason Borders is going out of business is because of Kindles and Nooks, etc. I really have no idea, but that was probably a leading cause. Contrary to most of my friends, I don’t think Kindles are that bad. I’ve grown up with technology and usually it helps a tremendous amount. So if you save gas by downloading a book instead of driving to the bookstore, that’s cool beans. My friends say Kindles don’t allow the satisfaction of holding a book in your hands, or smelling that ”book” smell, or seeing your progress of how far of the book you have left. So there’s pros and cons to both. Conclusion: Kindles are not awful.

On one hand, I have to say that for the sole reason that we have libraries, I don’t feel that there’s much need to buy books. I understand that there are lots of books that one can’t get at a library, but for anything you need immediately, you CAN get it at a library. What I usually do if I purchase a book is forget about it after flipping through it for 20 minutes. Here’s what happened with the book I bought today: I was really excited at first because the cover was so pretty. The reason I usually pick up the book in the first place is if the cover looks cool (I love aesthetics; it’s in my blood). Because of this grab-your-attention quality that every consumer object has (or lacks), I’m studying to become a graphic designer. But that’s a different story. Anyway, after admiring the cover, I flipped through the book, reading tid-bits here and there, but I was largely drawn to the pictures. Once I’ve seen all the pictures, I set it down only to pick it up a year later and wonder why I spent $15 on the book I looked at for 20 minutes. Btdubbs, that’s .75 cents for each minute I spent looking at it.

My point is that it really isn’t necessary to purchase a book, because the inspiration you get from simply flipping through a book is enough to generate action, and therefore outcome. Shia Labeouf once said to never mistake process for product. That is insanely important in our lives. Anything you want to do, you should do it before you think about it too much. Because if you over-analyze, you won’t do it.

If you need a specific book for a longer amount of time than simply for getting inspiration (like for a report), the library is enough. So while I’m sad that I won’t get to sit and read at Borders during my lunch break anymore, perhaps we should be grateful that we’ll always have libraries. Whether you use them or not, your tax dollars are funding them!