pho with mom

Yesterday was definitely pho weather, so after class I went home-home to get a bowl with my mom at Vietnam House in San Gabriel. I always get the #8 with all the fixings! I ate until I was uncomfortably full and proceeded to pass out for the night only to rise early for a 5 am shift!

happy valentine's day

Apologies for the obnoxious overload of Valentine's Day imagery. Funnily enough every single item pictured comes from Trader Joe's! All of this could be had for about $22. Unintentional plug for the store there... I had a really rough weekend and made it awful for someone else and for that I am remorseful but determined to make things right. And once again I have realized I have an amazing support system in my family and at work (school is missing because I've withdrawn my interactions there... bad huh). So anytime I declare I feel alone or alienated I need to give myself a good slap in the face! Even though it is good to look closer, we definitely need to zoom out and look at the bigger picture constantly.

Love to my friends, family, dear ones. I'm dysfunctional without you...!

the solar system

I picked up this book at a sleepy little thrift store on my way out of Mammoth last summer. I think it was a school astronomy textbook! I was always enamored by the creativity and vision that artists had to have when doing the paintings/renderings of planets they didn't have the technological means of seeing. Now with amazingly detailed photos sent by space stations and rovers, as well as with the advanced digital renderings these to me are a lost art. The power of imagination is incredible and so I still find value in these old images.

hurry up spring!

I'm tired of this monotonous hibernating feeling!

all I want to do is...

Sleep, sleep, sleep. And dream. And dream about sleeping.

graphic ramblings

It still needs work but this diagram on the suburban vs. rural edge I was toying around with caught my instructor's eye and was the ticket to redemption from the terrible critique/diatribe I received Monday. I'm planning on making the inset a really detailed line drawing, with no grey circle blob trees and making the inset bigger? And maybe not having it cut into the context drawing. I'm favoring a bolder, cartoony-er look because I hate the clean&slick-but-stiff or ethereal, dreamy fetishizing of data that we see in graphic design these days (I'm horrible with words at this moment), but I don't want to simply reduce everything to street sign icons, I'd like to create my style's own identity please. I mean as best as I can, because nothing is original anymore right?

Still needs a lot of work...

drained

I started this week seriously thinking everything would crash and burn by Friday. I'm relieved to say I was proven wrong, but it has been, to say the very least, emotional.

Random thoughts:
- Having slept 7 hours total in the past 40 or so I'm feeling like I'm going to collapse, but it feels familiar.
- I cooked myself dinner though, my tummy was happy.
- I lost my metal water bottle and am irrationally sad over it.
- Also I'm really irritated by the SMALLness of people, how petty and selfish we can be.
- I have too many army coats.
- I really need to find a job before I graduate.

funny friend

Joe forgot to make his base image a mirror of how he wants his final text to look like. Hilarious! Joe really likes my oak tree print and since my letting him use it to stamp his newest ep means he won't use a pre-made stamp my tree will be the art for it. Once again tricked into helping Joe G. Damn! One of these days I'm gonna come to collect...!

Sanctum (2011)

'Sanctum' is an independent Australian film that was funded by Americans, bought by Universal Pictures and of course, executively produced by (who else?) James Cameron. Based on a real-life underwater cave-diving incident experienced by writer/producer Andrew Wight, it's a fairly typical throwback to the high-stakes adventure drama, where inevitably a crew of cave divers, some highly experienced, others fledglings, get blocked in by the water flooding the caves from a freak storm, and so the only way out of the cave is to dive deeper, 'following the river' until it leads out to the ocean. With lots of melodrama and crappy dialogue the film is rather mundane, but it is a sight to see for the underwater camerawork. I am being a little unfair as I'm tired but determined to finish writing this out, so I'll attempt it again. For the first half of the film I couldn't stand the characters - the 17 year-old main character Josh (played by Rhys Wakefield) first appears having run away from the Esa Ala cave system to escape his cold, overbearing 'cave-manic' father Frank (Richard Roxburgh), to meet up with the financier of the expedition Carl (Ioan Gruffudd) who left the expedition partway to bring his girlfriend Victoria (Alice Parkinson) back from the States. The stereotype of the pompous, arrogant, self-entitled American businessman is deeply overplayed and was actually distracting. But anyway, I felt myself not caring about the any of the characters' predicament once they found themselves trapped in the cave. Only when Frank's nature as a caver (caver?) really began to show did the film begin to redeem itself a bit. Be warned, some of the scenes get claustrophobic (especially in 3D) there's some grisly deaths and some language. At one point I ripped off my 3D glasses, put my fingers in my ears and shut my eyes, but otherwise it wasn't too bad. The director, Alister Grierson came off as a really cool guy, and was self-admittedly a little nervous in front of our large class (cute!) and it was apparent he was very passionate and involved in the entire production. It's funny because, since I liked him, I hated the film a little bit less. Sanctum releases in Australia Feb. 3rd and in the U.S. Feb. 4th.

a change of pace

I'd call these... abstracted outfit shots, a little like in this old post. Can you spot each item? I realize how useless these are as they severely lack the context of a person wearing the clothes, but as always this is just me musing aloud to myself.

1. Thrifted Bally loafers, AA seed stitch socks (mustard!), BDG cigarette jeans, hand-me over pullover from sister, Gap hoodie layered under Gap anorak.
2. Topshop jeans, flea market studded belt (which you cannot see here), thrifted black & white striped pullover.
3. 8 eye Dr. Martens, Cheap Monday jeans, Uniqlo sweater, YSL necktie as pseudo scarf because I was cold and don't know how to tie a tie. All thrifted except for the Docs.

As a creative type I'm as moody as they come and so often last year when I felt like nothing but lazy my outfits would consist of black jeans, Vans and a pullover. My personal style was nonexistent because I was too busy juggling school, work, visits with my boyfriend, and adjusting to living with a new roommate, and though I always thought about dressing better I never put my heart into it. Now I'm not claiming that I'm doing any better - I still feel as clueless as ever but I've definitely been experimenting since the year began and I gained this weird new thirst to express myself through what I wear. More often than not I don't look exactly the way I want to but what's important is that I'm having fun and staying comfortable.

nature's textures

The other day I realized how wonderful the sense of touch is, how great it is to experience textures. How a meal is so much fun when it is crunchy, smooth, silky, crisp, soft, airy. How luxurious it is to step into a hot shower, scrub yourself clean with a loofah and emerge with squeaky clean hair & body! Textures make our everyday experiences amazing with the infinite possibilities of sensory stimulation we can receive. I guess this is really just a love letter to variety and how wonderful it is...things like fuzzy leaves, meshy cast-off seed pod material, and lichens & moss just really excite me...

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)

Terry Gilliam's 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus' closely resembles a fairy tale, centering on ambiguous morals, a deal with the devil, and of course, the power of imagination. Set in the modern day, the 'Imaginarium' is a traveling show featuring Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), his daughter Valentina (Lily Cole), sleight-of-hand expert Anton (Andrew Garfield), and Percy (Verne Troyer), the Doctor's loyal confidant. Doctor Parnassus has the wonderful gift of revealing and guiding the imaginations of whomever enters the Imaginarium, though at a terrible cost. Having challenged the Devil, or Mr. Nick (Tom Waits) centuries before, he gained eternal life as he had won over 12 souls with the power of stories and imagination, before Mr. Nick won his through the temptation of desire and addiction. However, when Parnassus falls in love with a mortal woman, Mr. Nick grants him youth, but any resultant child from the union will belong to Mr. Nick once they reach the age of 16. The stakes are raised again as the wager is now 5 souls before Valentina's 16th birthday - whoever reaches 5 first gets Valentina. When the troupe saves a hanged man (Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell) who is revealed to be a disgraced philanthropist, changes occur within the show and the troupe, as well as the dynamic of the last wager.

flea market fun

Some snaps from the Rose Bowl Flea last weekend, right after which I fell into getting sick again. I didn't get much except for my new favorite ring and an old army sewing kit I'm thinking of converting to a wallet (?) but it was great spending time with my sister and being visually overwhelmed by the goods, the people and the atmosphere.

to a fresh(er) start

An amaryllis plant I gave to my mom for Christmas; a thrifted thermal that my sister found that became a sort of cocoon for me when I was feeling most ill - don't you wish all clothing labels still look like this?; a glass beaded flower I made.

I've been so sick this past week... Growing up my mom always took great care to ensure that near the end of winter/summer vacation my sister and I were germ and virus-free, to start the new school term afresh, without absences or tardies. I didn't do so well this year. It's almost as if the fall semester finally wreaked its havoc on me by destroying my immune system. Loss of energy, constantly stuffed sinuses and cough, headache, body aches. I think several bugs overlapped because after feeling alright on Saturday I was useless on Sunday, and pretty much was on the road to recovery til now. I feel my strength coming back now, and just constantly drinking fluids and taking vitamins and medicine to combat whatever is lingering. I hope it goes away soon... I already have a lot of work I need to begin!