A must watch video!

So yea, I was bored and taking a break from working on finals.

Is it the MOST wonderful time, of the year?

Its that time of year again, where we shop till we drop. Well, not all of us to say the least. The economy is doing so poor right now, it sucks really. I think someone had told me that the sales generated from the past black friday were the worst among years. Then again not many people have the money to splurge. We are in the midst of a recession too. Being a poor, starving artist/college student too, I try to make the best of it all. Well, not the best as I tend to have a bad habit of spending, spending, and even more spending. Its a never ending, viscous cycle I would say. Maybe that's why I am not doing to hot in school right now.

With my hunger for the latest fashion styles and trying to keep up with my tech toys, I find myself working for these as opposed to studying. What I mean by working is I seem to be spending more hours at Trader Joe's slaving away for 8-10 hours; 2-3 times a week making signs for them, and I guess this hunger I have for the finer things in life come at a price. My savings should be higher then it should be, I have an exploding closet of clothes and my grades aren't that well. So who ever did say Christmas was the most wonderful time of the year? Debt adds up, I work more to pay for it all and for what? I seemed to have dug myself in a deep grave and with 1 week of instruction and a week left of finals, I am at a loss it seems. Is it too late to pick myself up and fix it all? Only the last two weeks shall tell...

Its Britney Bitch.

I guess I have to admit, I have this huge fascination of Britney Spears. Its hard NOT to follow the tabloids as she is one of the most sought after celebrities. Come on now, Baby One More Time? She has been around for about 10 years and love her, or hate her, she will never go away (or at least thats what I think). Well I am glad for her, if you have followed any news of her, she has spiraled out of control and is back on track again. She recently let the world in on her life on a MTV documentary and let the how world know how she is feeling and why she has done the things she has done. Well she's back. She may not have the body she used to, or the dance moves that she used to but at least we (the world) think she's back on track. As a teenager, I loved her and I am proud to admit that. Growing up, people tend to be fake and deny their love for certain things just to be cool. So its nice to get that out in the open.

Why am I writing about her you ask? Well you sort of feel this sadness for this girl. She's rich, but all the money in the world can't buy her what she wants, which is privacy. She is tailed everyday by the paparazzi and its never none stop. She is like a bug who is always under constant observation and we can only hope she won't kill herself because of it. Can you imagine though? I mean I myself am an artist so I'd never be THAT famous, but to have your life be under constant observation....that's crazy, right? I'd certainly go nuts if I couldn't go anywhere. Meh, well I guess that's it for this blog, or thats what really on my mind for today.

Art History Bites...

The big question we ask ourselves as artist and designers going to school at the State college and University level, Why do we need to take Art History? I know we take general history because we need to learn from the past or else we will be doomed to repeat it, but why art history? Nothing seems to be a mistake really in my opinion. Art is art, its fun, crazy, it lets one have fun and be creative and messy. I guess I am only blogging because I am really frustrated with school in general. Its overwhelming at times and I feel like giving up. Perhaps its the "senioritis" I am experiencing right now? Or maybe I am burn out from the last four years of college  being a full time student while maintaining two jobs? I don't know what my deal is but I am falling behind terribly in school right now. Whats worse? The two art history classes are killing me, followed by my flash class, and internet production class. Is it possible to pick up my slack and catch up, or is it too late? We shall see as we are a lil past the midway point and theres not turning back. Stay behind? Or pick myself up and graduate on time? We shall see...

Check Major Please!

Is it bad I feel like I don't belong? So I've been questioning myself over, and over and over again, should I be in this thing called art? I've questioned myself as to why I entered this major. I like some art, I came into art being inspired by Pixar, but wait? Isn't that Animation Illustration? Well, I knew I did not have the patience to draw so I took up Graphic Design. As I progressed in my years here at SJSU, I decided to just go for my BA in Graphic Design, because I had recently gotten accepted into our BFA program of Digital Media Art. I came into this major expecting that I could learn a tid-bid of everything. from improving my graphic design skills to learning flash and making cool websites. Though there seems to be so much more to this major. 

DMA, defined by SJSU as a fine art study which is totally different from Design studies which DO include Graphic Design. *sigh*. Was it me, or did my teacher say "if your questioning what your doing, then you shouldn't be in this major". So what am I doing? I like art, but what do I know? There so much to learn and yet I feel so un-accomplished as an artist. I mean I don't even know what I want to do in my future endeavors yet as an artist. That is why I question "What the hell am I doing here?" My good friends always tell me to stop second guessing myself but maybe I am just to self absorbed to understand this thing called art. I have all this time I could use to research and see whats out there, but what do I do? I feel like I am doing nothing with my time, life for that matter. Why do I beat myself up about this stuff though? 

Rethinking my choice of college, perhaps I did make a mistake (be it School and choice of major within the art field). As much as I like Digital Media Art, maybe it was the wrong path for me. I mean as much as I wanted to learn flash, I learned to hate it more then ever after taking 101b, but its all the technical things that drives me nuts (technical would be the Action Script which is horribly dry and boring). What is it do I want to do? I have a thing for fashion which IS art. I think this discovery changes everything. Before, I just strived to succeed but this past year has nothing but questioning and falling fast and failing hard (or is that vice-versa?). So after I graduate, although I can't set my future in stone, I will for sure take a year off and originally I thought to check out the MFA program for DMA at UCLA but I think I have another optional path, to check out FIDM at San Francisco.  That is the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising for those who don't know. Who knows, life is full of surprises so who knows where I will end up, what I will do...heh. I guess that's all for this entry...DMA or FIDM?

Rashomon

So for our next project here in art 105, we are to team up with one other person to create a movie. However, its not as simple as you think. However many people are in your group, you owe thirty seconds per person of a recreation of a movie. The movie chosen is Rashomon, an old Japanese film from the 50's I believe. The person I will be working with for this Project is Jared A. and we have to do a 1 minute re-enactment from the movie Rashomon. Sound simple? Its not.

Well, the pro's: You get to work with someone and it is helpful. The con's are its not that simple recreating a movie that has already been done. Getting the same exact camera angles are going to be hard, Panning and following a person is also going to be tough when you don't have the proper equipment. The good news is I found the perfect location of where we can film our movie, my complex. The layout of my apartment works perfectly as it is a modern day version of the set in my opinion. Also for the scene of when the young Japanese woman is crying, the backdrop of my parking area is perfect for that scene. It is perfect and works out. Now its just a matter of getting the actors we need and the help we need. We shall see how things will go. Jared is scouting out the actors while I prep my place :) Well I guess thats all for now. 

Rolling....and ACTION! Its CMF!

So this will be my first year helping out in Campus Movie Fest (for those of who don't know, CMF is claimed to be the largest student film festival around the world). Jason C., one of my art 105 classmates is teaming up with John G. to create a movie based off of hit game of the 80's PacMan. Interesting concept, well sorta. I just feel for one to really grasp the concept of Pacman, they had to of played the game when they were growing up. 

Anyhoo, other's who have also participated on the group is Anthony, Myself, John G, Jason C, Jared A, Nick R, and lastly Eric D. The movie happened to be filmed the weekend of my 22nd birthday too so I was only able to contribute a day of filming for our group. It sucked that I was unable to help out more but I had made plans for my birthday weekend a month in advance. Friday the 26th, I had planned to celebrate with friends. The 27th was dedicated to filming our movie and at night my sister took me out to the City for dinner and Sunday the 28; my actual birthday my parents took me out to dinner. It was a fabulous weekend :) But my birthday news aside, here is our groups movie: Perfect Play. The movie that is based off the famous  but also classic game of Pacman. Enjoy!

http://www.campusmoviefest.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IdeaFlow.woa/wa/showAMovie?movieID=3596