You Might Be In Art School If...

Here's a collection of humorous and frustrating anecdotes from my time (as of yet unfinished) in "art school":

If you have no rational assignments, and therefore no point system, and therefore no way of knowing your grade until it's too late... you might be in art school.

If your discussions almost always end up feeling like a philosophy class instead of an art class ... you might be in art school.

If 90% of the male population of your class is bearded... you might be in art school.

If you often feel as if you are the only sane person on campus... you might be in art school.

If your Facebook statuses within a 30 minute window of the start of class always include: "Ugh. Damn. Hate." and "get me out of this class" ... you might be in art school.

If you look up from your iPod during class only to find it's nearly over ... you might be in art school.

If you look up from your iPod during class only to find it's been 5 minutes ... you might be in art school.

If most of the women look like men and most of the men look like women ... you might be in art school.

If your teacher hates any and everything you pitch to them ... you might be in art school.

If the same teacher is shown 12 minutes of black film and says, verbatim "I actually liked most of it" ... you might be in art school.

So, these are just a few rants I have based on this class I'm currently in. In fact, the very last one of those happened today. The teacher had nothing good to say about anyone else's films, then this kid showed 12 minutes of black film, which he hand processed, so there were smudgy bits and very, very, very minisucle bits of light on it, and the teacher says, "I actually liked most of it" after we had all spent 35 minutes trying to figure out why the hell he shot this, why we were watching it, what the point was, and the meaning of the word "is" (yeah, for real).

I looked over to my wife and said, "aaaaaaaaaand that's why I hate this class".

So yeah, HOORAY for art school ... *vomit*

Welcome To Nazi Germany

There's a sign on the door leading to the editing room at school that says there are cameras watching the room. These cameras are there to ensure that things don't get broken or stolen, and if they do, the responsible party can be held accountable. A good idea on the school's part, I think. Until you think about the privacy issues involved with this. Some smartass wrote on the sign, "Welcome to Nazi Germany". An interesting, if not hyperbolical statement.

This got me thinking about some recent issues at Panera, where I work. Nearly everyone is friends with each other on Facebook, including the boss. She has told people she doesn't like it when people "bitch" about work on Facebook. The latest issue involved a coworker saying he was going to work to "slave for a few". The boss's response was "you can quit". This brings up, in my mind, issues of both non-work things affecting work, and censorship. She wants to control what is being said by her employees about work in a setting outside of the work place. I find this to be extremely controlling and (in this latest case) immature. If a person cannot say what they feel about work in a non-work setting for fear of being reprimanded or (in the worst case scenario) fired, there is something very wrong with that situation.

That's all I've really got about this. I wrote it up quick, but after my anger and frustration had subsided. What do you think?

More Films

I just got around (finally) to putting my 8mm films up on youtube (Watch Them Here). It took me so long because when I got them transfered, they were upside down and in reverse. But iMovie 09 made it easy to fix that, so they're up now. My final project has been up for a while, but now I've got ever film I've made so far at UCB up on youtube.

Watch 'em, comment on 'em, etc

Here it is!

Well, after what has seemed like forever, followed by an eternity, my Bachelor of Fine Arts application film is finished!

I shot it on February 8th, so it took me almost a month to make this roughly 2 minute film. I shot it in a Bolex 16mm camera, on Kodak 250D film. I edited it on a Steenbeck flatbed editor and spliced it together with tape splices.

The subject is my nephew, Zachary, who has cerebral palsy, in his walker. He isn't able to walk on his own yet, so this walker is what he's learning to use to get around for himself.

Watch it on YouTube

Restlessness and Insomnia Induced Rambling

Well, I'm at it again. I've recently found falling asleep one of the most difficult things to do. So here I am, laying in bed, writing, instead of sleeping. My recent acquisition of internet at home now makes it possible to blog, instead of doing nothing but making pictures in the ceiling popcorn as I fight insomnia.

Something I've been thinking about more and more lately is just how excited I am to get married. July 25th seems so far off right now (162 days away, sad day). there is just so much I'm looking forward too. Living with Dani is one of the major things for me right now. It's got so many benefits: financially, we'll be, at least marginally, better off (instead of paying for two different apartments, two sets of groceries, etc...). I'm very much looking forward to being able to come home after a long day of school and/or work and have her waiting for me.

The planning is becoming increasingly stressful and strenuous, but things are coming along. One of the more exciting parts of the whole wedding thing is that I'll be able to go back to Ecuador again. I feel this pull to get out and away from everything lately. Not permanently, but I feel the need to travel. I want to get out of all the "normal", daily stuff surrounding me and just let myself go and immerse myself in a "foreign" place again.

That's pretty much all I've got for now. Since it's almost midnight and I should probably at least try to fight this sleeplessness better.

I'll leave you with this "final thought" (a la Jerry Springer) from a Starbucks cup. I found it interesting and intriguing.

"The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating – in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life."- Anne Morriss

Keep on fighting the good fight ;)

Bored! But Not Totally

I'm sitting at Panera, waiting to start working, and I'm bored. So I clicked through all my links, played all my games, read all my blogs, and found no one to talk to, so I'm writing.

I've had a thought in my head all day, "This is going to be a good semester/This is the kind of stuff I want to be learning"

We started shooting today in 16mm. Just the general "get used to the camera by shooting a 8 second clip each". Everyone had about 8 seconds so we could shoot 1 roll for the class. My prof. is really cool too. He's a younger guy, funny, and he teaches well.

Sitting in Spanish class I had a similar thought. "I'm finally starting to like Spanish class". Which is a good thing. Even still, it feels like no matter what, I'll never have a full or good enough grasp on it, because if I have a teacher who's from Mexico, I'm learning Mexican Spanish; a teacher from Bolivia (currently), Bolivian Spanish. The base language is the same, but so much of it is slang, that no matter what I learn, someone has something to say about the vocabulary or phrases I use. Stupid...

I've got 2 assignments for my 16mm Film class coming up, and they're both exciting. The first: shoot 2 practice rolls, getting used to the camera: it's quirks, settings, and it's abilities. Dani and I will be doing this over the weekend. (It's a partnered project, in an effort to defray the massive cost of film and developing)

The second is all about composition. We have to take a bunch of still photographs (and turn in 15) with composition of shot in mind. I'm excited for this for 2 reasons. 1- Composition is something I feel like I have a lot to learn about an a huge area I would like to improve. 2 - It means I get to use the new digital camera (that is a replacement for the one that was destroyed in the plane crash), which is always fun.

Final Thoughts:
I wish I had a job in the field. Getting to play with all these toys makes me want to do more with them. I wish something would come around and jump at me, instead of me having to wade through all the muck and mire of job searching and the application process. That's always been one thing that keeps me from moving around (job-wise) too much: the whole pre-employment process.

Final, Final Thought:
I also wish that an enormous sum of money would fall (tax free) into my lap. I wish I could just go to school without having to worry about paying rent and bills, as well as juggling time between school and work. But I'm sure that's a common thought. Who wouldn't want a large sum of money to fall from the sky for them?

FINALLY!

Hooray!

I finally got my remote blogging editor ( Ecto ) working, which means it'll be easier for my lazy ass to post more blogs. That is if anyone still reads this thing ;).

So, there's been a ton of shite going on in my life, starting with Dani ending up here with me for Christmas instead of home with her family. (This was due to the crash of Continental Flight 1404, but I want to write up a full thing to give this a more detailed blog later) I've been working A LOT, which has turned out ok, but I've been worrying about getting enough hours now; life's a two-headed coin, isn't it?

School has started up again, and this semester is shaping up to be a doozy. Not so much in terms of academic challenge, but in terms of time consumption and monetary spending. My 16mm film class is going to be EXPENSIVE!

Other than that, things are pretty much business as usual, aside from planning a wedding, or two ;). More on this later as well.

I'm looking forward to blogging more, so keep reading (whoever you are) and I'll try to keep writing.