Tag

I said I'd post a picture of the as-big-as-me drawing once I took one, so here it is:

size

Standing next to it, you might look something like this:

for scale

Well, I'm in the market for a new bike.

My bike has always been pretty stiff, it has always been a bit difficult to steer, and the brakes have always been real bad, but now the whole thing is practically unrideable. I don't know what the deal is, but turning the pedals takes serious effort even on level ground, and climbing any sort of significant incline is pretty much physically impossible.
This problem seemed to spring up after I got it to Pasadena, but I'd thought it was just that the wheels were low. So today I took it over to the bike shop (I had to walk it the whole 3.5 miles because by then the back tire was completely flat) and got the tires all fixed up. But then I went to ride it home and, shit o lord, it wasn't the slightest bit easier to move the thing. I still had to fight it like crazy and I actually just about fell over trying to ride through an intersection. It was like pedaling through tar. I dismounted and walked it home again.

The guys at the shop told me that unless I'm working on developing freakishly huge Incredible Hulk-esque leg muscles, I ought to have the whole braking system replaced. They let me ride around a few new city/beach-cruiser-ish bikes and I was Blown Away by how much easier to ride they were than mine. Pedaling, steering, riding in a straight line. All 1000000000x easier. And the brakes! I could actually stop when I wanted to! Amazing! I had no clue how stiff my bike really was until I got on one of those. And here I'd been thinking I was just pathetically out of shape or something. It's like a whole new world has opened up before my eyes.

So, I need a new bike. I am sad about it. My bike has served me well this past year. I rode it around all last Summer and loved it like a child. Thomas gave it to me. I like that bike.

But it just isn't doing its job anymore. And after almost wiping out in the middle of an intersection and being bashed in the shins repeatedly by its pedals during our 7-mile walk today, I've lost most of the affection I once had for it. It is time for it to go.

I am back in school / school is back upon me. I am really glad, actually. I can feel like a real human again instead of a sea urchin. I was playing The Sims 2 so much that my brain is still working in sim-mode. I feel compelled to micro-manage all the tasks in my life and figure out the best way balance my different wants and needs in order to keep my health bar in the green as I race against the clock of life. Luckily, in real life it does not take me 5 minutes to walk across the room and I seldom wish to be abducted by aliens or throw sport parties or buy rugs costing at least $600 or make out with 6 different people or see ghosts or be saved from death.

sigh. I don't know any Sims 2 players. No one will get my geeky references.

Anyhoo (anywho?). I really liked my Materials class today. The two instructors are highly entertaining and interesting and I think it's going to be a great class.

Good things!

• Body Worlds was amazing. The fetuses were definitely the strangest part, for me. It's amazing how even the
  

  blood vessels
  squiggly little 7-week-old wormy fetuses actually LOOK like Impossibly tiny humans, with their teeny little hands and fingers. They are so ugly and weird dude it's awesome. Among the other highlights: blood vessel configurations floating in space (as pictured to the right [more photos of these things can be found here), the thoracic and abdominal organs (especially the intestines. In person, they look much more like balloon animals than they do in illustrations),  and the entire muscular system. The elaborately posed (mostly)intact bodies were all incredibly beautiful.

• Um I am still on break and it is still awesome.
  

• this

• Check this shit out: illustrations by Emily Jo Cureton, based on words from crossword puzzles! It's basically the greatest idea ever and I'm really excited about them.
  

  Lewd T Rexes

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  Iffy Zoo Logic

See the rest of them HERE.

(I found out about these, as well as the stop-motion movie I posted a few days ago, from the illustration blog Drawn!)

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Bad Things!

• Thomas might be allergic to Wednesday. (the cat).
  

• Gas prices.

• That is all.

Other!

• Pasadena just passed that law about smoking in public places. I will personally enjoy not encountering smoke as often, but I feel sort of bad for the smokers in my life.
  

When did google maps add photos to their directions?! So helpful and awesome!

DANG

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I just got around to taking pictures of more school things...

flat

magenta

This is a combination of Mexican folk art designs and amanitas muscaria mushrooms. I was running on 0 hours of sleep when I drew it.

crossword puzzle on mushrooms

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This was for drawing concepts. We had to paint a portrait of someone we had never seen, based only on the information given in his/her obituary. This is Kate Webb, an Australian woman who was a foreign correspondent news reporter in Cambodia  during the Vietnam war. She was captured by Vietnamese troops and mistakenly reported as dead. After being held captive for three weeks, she was released for no apparent reason.

dissloving

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detail:


and how I imagined her feet might've felt...











I'm not sure how to begin to explain this one, but it means a lot to me and I am very happy about it.

childhood

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This hairy sucker sort of relates to Stuffed-animal Face up there. These are also from drawing concepts.

least comforting thing

And these are the only things I am going to post from my perspective class... an ice castle interior and Thomas as a banana:

ice room in perspective

banana Thomas

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That's all for now. I still need to take a presentable picture of the big drawing. I'll do it later.

PS: I just set up a flickr account where I'll keep all of my art junk organized! --->LINK

What's up right now:

thomas/me sleepin

But before I go, here is something I just saw and enjoyed greatly... another stop-motion clay Adam and Eve story (the first one appearing in this here post), this one done by Nick Hilligoss:

I've been enjoying being brain-dead this week. It has been awesome having no obligations. I've been watching movies and TV series (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind [good!], The Number 23 [it was on satellite. It was watchable but not good], the first two seasons of Weeds [I like it], the first season of the Boondocks [really great]), and actually going to yoga classes again.

I don't have any stories to tell, as events have been rather disjointed lately, so here are some random things:

I think my bike needs new tires :(

Thomas and I are planning to go see Body Worlds some time this weekend. It's going to be so great I'm looking forward to it like fhbejlafhwl. My head is going to explode.

Some good news is that my constant checking of the Art Center website paid off and a spot finally opened up in the Materials class I wanted. So that I won't get Mondays off, but it also means I won't kill myself with any 11-hour school days (yet. It's pretty likely that I'll have to eventually). Plus I think I switched to a better-liked teacher. So yay.

My grades for this term:
Drawing Concepts: A
Perspective: A-
Composition and Painting: B
Intro to Modernism: B+
Design 2: Structure and Color: A
Illustration NOW!: Pass

eh

Hearts of palm are the best food in the world.

shaving

at least You care

drifting

("Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb.")

Well, I survived another term. All of my finals went surprisingly smoothly and I'm expecting pretty good grades.

Ahh I love not having any work due! There is nothing hanging over my head. It is a big relief.
Mmmm 3 weeks of freedom. I have no idea how I will fill the time. For now, I'll just vege.