I finally got around to taking photos of some of my assignments from last quarter. They're in the ink section of the gallery, and currently all five are stunning the sidebar in reverse-chronological order for your anticonvenience.
Also, they're available in a convenient list format:
I'll put up one more as soon as I can figure out how to photograph it without it looking horrible.
First day roundup~
Art of Japan seems like it could be interesting and irritating at the same time. It's finally a break from all the art history classes I've taken that were all about the old European masters or 20th Century bigshots like Pollock and Warhol, however the professor made a big deal about practicing "active learning," which sounds like what middle school class might engage in right after SSR. What it boils down to is 1) we have to keep a journal of critiques on the weekly readings (which I don't mind so much since it'll help me keep up), and 2) the professor frequently stops the class so we can discuss the current slides with whoever's sitting next to us. This was already old after the first time, so I'm hoping it she cuts back in the future. Also, we have to write two papers, which is annoying because I thought I wrote my last one a couple weeks ago, but they are mercifully short. Despite that and the discussion, I'm optimistic.
Chinese 6 is going to be just another quarter of Chinese. We've thankfully moved back into one of the spacious HSSB classrooms instead of the tiny little Girvetz space they put the class in last quarter. Also, being able to attend five days a week again will be helpful.
I have high hopes for Drawing 117, although the initial turnout frightened me. I walked in expecting a tiny group like my last two drawing classes and instead there turned out to be more people than in my lower division class freshman year. I expect a lot are crashing and won't stick around. Hopefully there won't be too many left after that. Also, the professor didn't even show up. The department didn't know where he was and he doesn't have a cellphone (I guess), so we're hoping it was just traffic and nothing serious.
I think I've got a good set of classes for this last quarter. Even if the art history ends up being a drag, at least I've got a good schedule. Tomorrow I only have one hour of class and it isn't until 11, so I'm pretty happy about that. I should probably still get some sleep, though.
I just put up a new set of photos, including some stuff taken in Boston over the weekend. Looking back at the stuff in my photos-to-add folder, I realized that the last time I updated the galleries was almost a year ago. I guess it has been a lazy couple of quarters! New stuff starts about halfway down page 7, and the entire last row is all Bostonia.
There are fewer things more gratifying than opening up a drawer and finding a Fry's gift certificate that I thought I already used. Well, there are probably a lot more... No, no. This is actually pretty close to the top.
WELL I figured I'd better finish my writeup on the Dear Friends: Music from Final Fantasy concert before I take off for spring break or else it will never happen. So here we go!
(This next paragraph was written about a week ago so that explains the apparent time travel.)
I'm now back in Santa Barbara after Monday's Dear Friends: Music from Final Fantasy concert. The concert did not disappoint; tickets sold out (although I did spot a few empty seats), Symphony Silicon Valley performed a strong (if a little conservative) lineup of songs, and Nobuo Uematsu himself was in attendance and received countless rounds of applause at various points throughout the night.
This was the set for the evening:
Not too many surprises based on past concerts and orchestrations, but a fine lineup nonetheless. I'd say my favorites had to be Zanarkand (presented in a new orchestral arrangement), Ronfaure, Dear Friends, the Rebel Army theme and, of course, the final two pieces.
Although the Symphony Silicon Valley were absolute professionals, the evening had an awkward feel to it, and it wasn't because half the people in attendance were either way over- or underdressed. (I saw someone in a full tuxedo, cloak, and hat standing a few feet away from someone in jean shorts and a Gameskins t-shirt.) The crowd often accompanied their applauce with wild cheering, overhead screens showed video sequences from the more recent games during each piece, and a horrible, horrible "mistress of ceremonies" took the stage every so often to read from cuecards about how she, apparently one of the Sacramento Kings' cheerleaders who got loose, was so thrilled to be there for this historic event and make generally pandering conversation littered with lines like, "I highly recommend Ronfaure for your next vacation." On one hand, I would have liked if the event organizers had planned the show to be a little more like a traditional orchestral concert, but somehow I think a Final Fantasy concert that took itself too seriously would be even more awkward.
Emcee and jean shorts aside, though, the concert was a fun experience, and Uematsu got up and spoke at the end to let everyone know how honored he was to have so much support even overseas. Plz come back soon Mr. Uematsu!! (Also tell Koichi Sugiyama and Hitoshi Sakimoto to come along with you.)
OK BOSTON TIME
As you may have guessed from the last entry (not by content, but by the fact that I decided to spend time transcribing that whole horrible prompt instead of studying), I'm through with finals and have just a few shifts left at work before flying out to Boston, where I hear there is now ice on the ground, not just inside people's freezers. The last week has been pretty rough, with the Final Fantasy concert excursion (which I still mean to post a little about) eating into the beginning of the last week and some necessary study time. Actually, I won't kid. I had no intentions to do any finals studying that Monday or Tuesday, anyway. As a result, the last few days have been a blur of hundreds of Chinese characters, tights and capes, and a mashup of post-war artists and the scholars who write about them in lengthy essays that require multiple pages of footnotes. My final drawing class of the quarter, which was only last Wednesday, seems like a distant memory.
While I'm always glad to be done with tests, I'm actually a little happier of the fact that on Sunday (or Monday, technically) I finished writing the last paper of my college career. (Possibly ever, depending on grad school plans, although, I do plan to minimize chances of future papers in the future by applying only to Hamburger University.) Finals are a pain, but I'm OK with them. I can deal with midterms, too, but if I had to pick something I dislike the most about school, it's having to spend hours droning on and on about some topic that, chances are, I'm not entirely enthused about.
I know, that makes me sound like the most passionate student ever, but seriously. People would get so much more out of school if all they had to take were electives.
Prompt:
We have considered the post-natural maternal body, under construction since the nineteenth century, and how our superheroes and supervillains affirm or manipulate its legacy. The theory of evolution opens up this bodily legacy to the widest possible influences and futures. In our individual development, we pass (inevitably) from the good and bad breast of the pre-Oedipal phase to the phallic evil-versus-good opposition organizing the Oedipal phase. We've added to the prize of destiny of self-difference a notion of sexual difference as traversing each individual psyche. We've called the components of this self difference the internal feminine and the internal masculine. Examine the ways in which three superheroes/-heroines seek a balancing act among developmental phases, internal worlds, and modes of valuation. Include as contrasting figure King Jack the Ripper.
Examples I used: Superman, James Bond, the Terminator.
So yes, I'm glad to be done with that class. The sections and reviews leading up to the final were highlights, as all the students (and even the TA, on occasion) took the opportunity to take jabs at the professor's unique1 lecturing style. During the final review session, people were asking for hints at the question the professor might ask. One student asked, "Will it make sense?" This received a round of applause from the entire lecture hall.
1 incoherent
[via palidor.com]
One of the panels at this week's Game Developers Conference prompted three big-name game designers, Will Wright, Peter Molyneux, and Clint Hocking, to design a game based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson. What they came up with: The Sims, Bonzi Buddy, Mortal Kombat, and something that can only be described as Peter Molyneux's Conceptual Art Barfstravaganza. Appropriately, the panel's moderator opened the session saying the industry is in a "creative crisis."
The concepts presented are actually less troubling to me than the whole spirit of the challenge itself, which seems like the product of the industry's ever-growing obsession with grabbing licences and, to a lesser degree, milking existing franchises. Actually, I have to give Molyneux credit for coming up with a pretty original idea. It was just his embellishment of it that sounded a little too art-school.
If they wanted to make things really interesting, they should have invited Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideo Kojima, and, I dunno, maybe Shinji Mikami, and they would all have to design their game for the Nintendo DS. GO TEAM GO
A few weeks ago I decided that going to Nobuo Uematsu's Dear Friends concert in San Francisco would be more fun than attending a couple days of classes during the last week before finals, so tomorrow afternoon Morgan and I will be heading up to the Bay Area until Tuesday. Then we'll be back for about a week (to take finals, I guess) before flying over to Boston to visit William for the weekend.
I'm a little concerned over what sort of clothes to pack for the trip, though. I keep hearing rumors that it sometimes snows in Boston. I have to admit I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I've gotten in a lot of practice with my umbrella during the last few weeks so I'm guessing I'll be all set. I just hope we can still make it out to see the Statue of Liberty.
I - Naked Juice's new Mango Açaí flavor is horrible. The first time I tried one of these it was fermented and the bottle exploded. The second time there was no explosion, but the smell was exactly the same. The label's description of the flavor being similar to chocolate-covered berries is one of the biggest lies in recent memory, right next to "I'll log after this instance" and Electoral-Vote.com.
II - OHGOD the Precious Slut tattoo shop in IV has an entire Jones-branded refrigerator filled with delectable Jones products. Lately the selection at IV Market and Mac's Market has been a bit lacking so I'm interested in seeing what they might have to offer, although I'm torn because I refuse to acknowledge the existence of a store with a name as idiotic as "Precious Slut."
III - I forgot what #3 was going to be. p.s. i luv soda
