infidel - infidèle - ungläubiger

 

i read "infidel" by ayaan hirsi ali in less than 48 hours, which is good for me, considering it was a memoir. it was absolutely fantastic - to be thrust into the extremism of tradition muslim culture is astounding. it is an amazing capture of life and survival. recommended. on the scale of one to ten, this one goes to eleven. 

plan - avenir - zukunft

so, i was going to post another drawing today, but then i kind of fucked up the picture, so i have to restart it/move on to a new picture. anyways, i thought that i would do a post about colleges, because it's the weekend before school starts and i'll be writing my college applications this fall. that's crazy scary.

anyways, i have six colleges i want to apply to:
(ranked in order of desirability)
1. goucher college
2. colorado college
3. hampshire college
4. reed college
5. pitzer college
6. bard college
7. university of nebraska (go corn huskers!)

no, wait. just kidding about that last one...

so, yeah. i've narrowed it down and am scared out of my mind because it's coming up so fast. i mean, i'm taking a couple really tough courses this year that i hadn't been planning on taking (ap statistics, for one), but i'm also going to go all out on my academics this year to make up for last year.

i'm also planning on starting an art appreciation and experience club at pchs with two of my friends (the finer things club - american office reference) and an underground zine with another friend (the bullsheet). also planning on learning how to dive (maybe).

so, yeah. that's my bare-bones plan for this year.

boycott - israel - video

again, sorry for the hiatus. i've been working my ass off to get ready for school (which starts in exactly a week!). anyways, i received this video from my good friend bonnie and found it funny and extremely depressing at the same time. enjoy.

0 - the fool - attempt

so... this is my first attempt at actually drawing. the inspiration was of the zero tarot card: the fool. sketched with a 2h faber-castelle pencil, inked with faber-castelle pigment liners (black), and colored in with 7 prismacolors (three of them skin colors). i think that this came out well - the pose is a little awkward and the anatomy isn't all there, but i think that the colors and techniques are good, for the most part.

critique, or not, but i just wanted to share this first step into the world of markers and "real" art.

(sorry for the shitty image, but it was the best i could do - the colors are brighter in real life and the lines are crisper)

goucher - college - future

(i couldn't get the video embedded correctly, so go here.)

i have found a college. i know this may come as a surprise to all of you, seeing that i've been extremely undecided about what i'm going to do after my high school graduation, but i have (officially) found my 'perfect' college.

it's a small school (under 2000 students) that has independent study and required study abroad. i could see myself going to goucher and will do my best to get in.

billboard - wwf - awesome

this awesome billboard built by wwf. innovative and pretty much one of the best billboards that i've ever seen.

sorry for the extremely short post, but i have work to do. excuse me...

markers - prismacolors - excuses

first of all, please excuse the little hiatus. i'm really trying to update this blog regularly, but sometimes i can't think of a post idea/i don't have the time/i'm not in the mood/the sun is in my eyes/insert some lame-ass excuse here.

also, sorry about the lack of picture, but, don't worry - there will be more soon.

i got prismacolors! and faber-castell pigment liners! and cool bleed-proof paper! it's very exciting. i've been wanting to do more with markers after seeing camille's inspirational marker work, but all i had was my brother's old dried-up primsacolors (the fine tips were unusable and the colors were dull). so, i finally shelled out $30 and got five markers and a pack of pigment liners and quality paper!

i love markers. i've been messing around with colored pencils but, damn. it takes a really long time to color in something all smooth-like. markers are quick, convenient, and really fun.

craziness - folie - wahnsinn

it takes thirty seconds to figure out what craziness really is.

trip abroad - voyage à l'étranger - reise auswärts

 

seeing that i've denied that i can't go to the lion park in johannesburg for a volunteer trip abroad for a number of years, this morning i searched for another trip i can take during my year off after high school: working with horses in the african bush. 

the minimum age is seventeen (unlike the eighteen of the lion park trip), so i'd go in the spring after my birthday. working with horses and conservation is split 40%-40% on the trip, with "other activities" being the other 20%. it sounds fun and it's a feasible trip abroad for the year after graduation.

awesome.

"i was kidnapped by lesbian pirates from outer space"

sorry - this is two reviews in a row, but i feel as if i need to share this comic with the (very few!) readers of this blog. this insanely witty comic is the story about a susan bell, a normal girl kidnapped by lesbian pirates from outer space to travel throughout the galaxy while outwitting male man, sally speed, and, of course, the notorious gay ninjas from mars. fantastic artwork, clever dialog, and absolutely hilarious characters.

go check it out. highly recommended.

the dark knight

i have now seen "the dark knight" twice. i am not ashamed to admit this fact. in fact, i would consider seeing it another time, it's that good.



 this movie is unlike any other superhero movie i've ever seen. i think this is partly because batman is not necessarily a hero; he does not always do what would be considered the right thing to do. also, heath ledger completely revolutionized the concept of the joker. obviously, jack nicholson's portrayal was much more like the comic book joker, while ledger made the joker so much more tangible:

ledger's interpretation of the joker was much more psychotic, instead of simply being bizarre. he made every scene he was in incredibly profound (in a sick and twisted way). from imdb: "In "The Dark Knight", the late Heath Ledger portrayed The Joker as a completely psychotic and demonic killer. Any humor that the character shows is sardonic and cruel. Ledger's Joker was a personification of anarchy and chaos. His primary goal seems to be to prove that people, in dire situations, are just as sick and horrible as he is. This Joker's most frightening and dangerous asset is his intelligence. He says late in the film, "If I were to kill a gangbanger or blow up a tank full of soldiers, no one would mind because it's all.....part of the plan." Thus, The Joker's plan is to not have one and show that there doesn't have to be a reason to everything: chaos."

i have not stopped thinking about this movie since i saw it. i would definitely recommend it to anyone and everyone.