Inspiration for your Week

Fi-na-lly!

I installed Adobe CS (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc etc) onto my imac!!!!! WOO HOO! Yes, I've been meaning to do this for about 5 months... not sure why the heck this took me so long but I guess I assumed it would take a day or so to download. Not so. It was an upwards of 20 minutes. Tops. LoL. Sheesh, definitely shoulda done that sooner. 

Since I installed it, (yesterday) I fully completed another digital art piece AND worked on cleaning up some drawings which will be used for T-shirt designs. Yes, that's right kiddies! T-shirts by moi! They should be pretty sweet, and I'm sure I'll be giving some out so ya'll can be my walking advertisements! I will post pics when I get the mock-ups finished :) :) :)  

On another note unrelated note, I'm kind of (okay really!) pissed that my heating bill is so expensive. I don't think we've been running it THAT much more than normal. Ugh. Hopefully the worst with that is over since this IS January and it IS still snowing randomly. Bah! Humbug! 

Insanely awesome...

I've been more and more surprised with our Netflix service recently. I found that there are some really great art/design documentaries that I never imagined Netflix would offer.

One of the first I watched was called:

1. POPaganda: The Art & Crimes of Ron English

and 2. Helvetica (yes, the font)!

 For those of you who don't know, Ron English is a vigilante artist! This movie/documentary illustrated that even more by being filmed in a guerilla art style, which made this even more fascinating and eye gluing for me. "The film also serves as a biography, chronicling English's evolution from a simple painter to an activist-instigator who skewers just about everything from Ronald McDonald to the war in Iraq." POPaganda: The Art & Crimes of Ron English went behind the scenes of his daily life and showed just how he goes about getting away with his billboard repainting :P

Moving on. Helvetica is one of the most popular fonts in the world due to its infinite readability. The documentary offered interviews with designers and artists who were insightful as to the development, use and universal acceptance of Helvetica. It goes briefly into the history of typefaces, and font making while showing how Helvetica has become the typeface of choice for everything. Whether you are writing a letter or creating a corporate logo. 

Another interesting documentary I watched (while not really related to art, but one of my other passions [Japan]) is called The Great Happiness Place which goes into the seemingly messed up culture of Japan. This compelling film explores the rarely seen world of Japanese host boys, men who are paid to entertain wealthy women in exclusive nightclubs. Almost but not quite gigolos, more akin to male geishas, the host boys of Cafe Rakkyo share their secrets. The narrative focuses on Issei, Osaka's top host boy, but all the characters in this unique subculture are fascinating. 

I would recommend all these movies with * * * * * 5 starz!!!   

Wrapped Up In Books

Let's see if I can remember some of the books I read in 2008:

The Shack

Night

1984

The Watchmen (graphic novel)

Eragon

Eldest

Brisingr

Twilight

New Moon

Eclipse 

Breaking Dawn

(i forgot a bunch)

On my List for 2009:  (I have way too many)

1. A lot more poetry...

2. Some piano theory 

3. Violin "how-to" 

4. Eragon book 4 (lol)

5. too many too name

6. Jane Austen... yup never read one of her's yet

(more to come!) 

You might not have known...

that I love to play the piano!

Just wanted to share some of my favorite pieces. I have wayyyy too many, but the ones that I post now express why the piano is such a great instrument.

A few of my favorite composers (you can research them a bit on your own, if i don't get to it myself)... Debussy, Chopin, Mozart, Scott Joplin, Rachmaninov, Tchaichovsky, David Lanz, Michael Nyman, Jim Brickman, James Horner, Yiruma...

1. The Heart Asks Pleasure First (from The Piano by Michael Nyman)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dPS-EHl-FE

2. Christifori's Dream (by David Lanz)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZwsuN8vb7g

3. River Flows In You (by Yiruma)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhN7SG-H-3k

4. Memory (from Broadway Musical "Cats")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIYJcUEPbdo

Now for some classics....

1. Concert 3 Opus 30 (by Rachmaninov) [watch the first 2.5 min]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHuSDmoa748
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6Ojk66DId4&feature=related
(just watch how fast this guy's hands can move!)

2. Arabesque (Debussy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWpV7L4YHuU

3. Fantasie-Impromptu (Chopin) of course.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvm2ZsRv3C8

4. Maple Leaf Rag (Scott Joplin)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMAtL7n_-rc

Random

1. Things (by Duke Ritious????)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_i3fQ2yQpA


Did you know? Mozart was baptized---

Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart !! Hahaha. What a name. And I thought Wolfgang was much. Also.. does anyone remember Mario 64 for N64.... In the water world... an eerie song plays. It is the beginning of Mozart's -- Fantasy in D Minor which is on a loop. Oh my goodness it is beautiful on piano. Listen to the first min...

1. Fantasy in Dm (Mozart)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8vDe4eQK60
I like where this guy's piano is. lol.

If you like piano music, you will not be disappointed :) There will be more to come!!! I also listen to a lot of other classical music (if you couldn't guess :P) and could probably come up with 102398023 more videos to show you.

So, I've lost my voice...

But that doesn't mean I can't type! Haha. I haven't posted in awhile, because I left my baby... I mean.. my Imac, back in P-town! So I've been switching between using a couple different laptops and computers here at home.

Oh my goodness. My parents are both techies now. They own ipods.. but not just any ipod. THE ipod touches! I am jealous. We have wireless at my house and they can go online with that little handy dandy thing practically anywhere!

Anywho, what have I been up to? I'm being asked that a lot. lol. Wellllll let me think.

-----I got a part time job at the mall, so that I could keep some money flowing in. They actually gave me a pretty decent amount of hours each week so I was busy with that. Hung out with family a lot, before and after New Years, which I must say is my FAVORITE time of year. MOST FAVORITE!

You haven't done New Year's right till you've been on my island. Illegal aerials, anyone? The fireworks show didn't stop till almost an hour AFTER the new year had been rung in. And this isn't just like one place shooting them off. It's hundreds of families flying these illegal things in the air for all to enjoy. It is a spectacular sight. When it finally dies down the whole island is covered in a thick fog (aka SMOKE) which makes everything look really cool. haha. yeah cool. Can you tell I love fire?

I want to talk more about that but I must post pics to go with them-- so more to come!