my anxious design
As normal, I designed more layouts. Some revisions of older layouts. Some new.
During my review with John we discussed taking one layout and spreading over various pages. This was my take on that.
My next plan… advertisements and logo
Closing In
After my meeting with John last Monday we discussed the different content that I would include in my three books. One book is of the black and white panoramic images, another is of the typography from certain buildings, and the last is the poem of Hampton beach from John Greenleaf Whittier. We discussed that the layout for each book has to be consistent with the others so that they can all work as a series and alone as well. We also discussed something else to bring into the book, a number system which can help the viewer locate the address and name of the buildings. This can be seen in the second and last pictures. This is not my final layout of this but just the basic idea so far. The numbering system would act as an index in which the viewer can take the number and find out the address and name of the location in the back of the book. I discussed my idea with John Colan as well and he mentioned that it might be interesting to include thumbnails in the back as well, just so one can remember what image they retrieved the number from. I have the poem layout up sometime before Mondays class so everybody can see how this is working as a whole so far. It’s going to be a hectic next few weeks, but I am really excited to see how this turns out!
untitled anomalies
while i think these look really cool i continue to feel uninspired by this series so i have yet to come up with titles for them (individually). I do like the idea of calling the group Anomalies, but that is as far as I have gotten. i am currently doing some reading on color and working on a labor intensive (too much so?) collage involving lists.
Here are the four marbled enlargements.
more layouts
I did some more layouts of course. I wanted to work more with background images which I am still exploring. I really like how these turned out.
In TRAPPED i used an old layout sketch that I really liked and turned it into something I could use.
more to come…
ICA Fragmented
CHOREOGRAPHY.
So, today, John and I had a brief discussion about choreographed dance. This is related to my video project in a way, although my models will not be dancing in the literal sense.
I told John how I have always been interested in dance — particularly synchronized dance. This is probably why I enjoy using my own body in my work. There is nothing as pleasing to me as the physical experience of being alive, and of feeling your own muscles at work, your blood flow. When I watch synchronized dancing, I feel this primitive sensation well-up from within me. Which makes sense, as nothing is more primitive than using one’s body.
I sort of just wanted to update that I’ve been thinking along these lines, and also, share with you a few videos that are sources of inspiration for me.
Though my video project will look nothing like these videos, they speak volumes to me about the capabilities of the human body, the aforementioned primal behaviors and the importance of rhythm. I think that rhythm, along with the physical use of one’s body, is something ingrained in every living creature. After all, our own bodies contain a rhythm of their own (heartbeats, breathing, etc.) To me, rhythm is just another one of those magical, ever-present things that exist throughout the universe — the closest thing to a religious experience I’ll probably ever have.
Anyway, wow, this is turning into quite the rambling post. Here are those videos.
This first one is a music video directed by one of my all-time favorite directors, Michel Gondry, for one of my all-time favorite “bands,” Daft Punk. Pay close attention to the movement of the mummied figures, and also the skeleton figures. So beautiful.
This second video is pretty well known. It’s the music video for Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” directed by Francis Lawrence. Not a huge fan of the song, but those dance-like scenes of the white-clad creatures in the bath haus writhing and convulsing give me chills.
Well, I hope this post wasn’t too self indulgent. I am in the process of doing a lot of planning for the video shoot this weekend. I will post again after that happens.
Update: Two New Works
What Does It Mean?
Quotation used with imagery from the recently popular viral internet video “Double Rainbow.”
Source available here: Yosemitebear Mountain Giant Double Rainbow 1-8-10
“There is no shame in exploiting the weakness of your enemy”
Decided to use the stencil-stick figures again, definitely going to be seeing more of them.
* * *
I asked some friends of mine to offer some negative thoughts for “Cheer Up.” I was thinking to use the Newspaper clippings for that project, but Lindsey mentioned in class that the real kicker about that image is how personal it is. Now, I had to think about this for a little bit, figure out how I could keep that personal feel to it without it being directly personal to yours truly. So I think I found the middle ground by taking the negative thoughts and feelings of other people and taking them out of context to make this image.
Keep expecting new things.
Methuen Animal Care and Adoption Center at Nevins Farm
Today I went to visit the Methuen Animal Care and Adoption Center at Nevins Farm. I had never heard of this place prior to my conversation with Erica Ruch, she suggested giving it a visit. I was very impressed with the place. It is a large property with many animals of all varieties. I only took pictures of the outside of the main building and of the property. It didn’t open until noon time, but there was a long line formed outside the door waiting for it to open which was really surprising to me.
It was really interesting (and aggravating) observing the other people who were also there. It put visual imagery in my head to match up with articles I have read. By this I mean, for example, I have read articles on cases of dog bites, how dog bites have occurred and how the people in most situations are at fault. I watched as a young girl (around 12 years old) and her mother stuck their hands through a fence trying to reach a pit bull who was visibly agitated and angry- she was barking and growling with her tail hidden. A staff member yelled at them THREE times with in 10 minutes telling them not to stick their hands through the fence (which there were also many signs saying the same) because the dog was getting upset. They kept ignoring the woman to the point that the staff member had to take the dog back inside and put her back in her kennel. So this dog’s outside time had to end early due to clueless people.
I also watched as a mother let her small son (around 3 years old) throw rocks at the chickens, and she just laughed along like it was the cutest thing she had seen. It was really aggravating to watch.
Inside the adoption center was very nice. It was large and organized. Each room had volunteer monitors to watch over the animals, each of them had knowledge of each individual animal such as where they came from, their age, and so on. Most of the dogs had pending adoptions or completed adoption processes. The number of cats was unbelievable. They had many in kennels and there was also two large rooms filled with cat furniture and around ten cats in each room.
On the way out I saw a man with his two small children standing in line with 3 birds in a cage and a very young black cat. I had assumed he was adopting them because the children looked very happy and the man looked/was acting very casual and content. But when a staff member approached him it was clear I had assumed wrongly. What I learned from eaves dropping on the conversation was he was there to surrender the three birds and cat. I was surprised because he seemed completely fine giving up these pets and showed no signs of remorse. (But to be fair, this could also be because he was with his two small children and didn’t want to make them upset. It was clear the children didn’t know what was going on and that they wouldn’t be leaving with the pets.)
Here is a list of adoptable pets at the Methuen Animal Care and Adoption Center at Nevins Farm.
anxiety + photography
In the following layouts I combined the letter forms with an image of myself.
In the layouts above you can not entirely make out what the word is because the first and last letter only has the negative space on one side other than both sides like the letters in the middle of the word. In the next layouts for “speed” the last space after the D is present so the word speed is more readable than the abstract ones. Unlike “alone” where you can’t see what letter would be after the N. I’m curious what everyone prefers. I was also wondering whether each layout had to have the name composition. Image on the left, text on right. I want to switch it up for different layouts but I’m afraid it won’t be consistent.
The List: The Movie
So I finally got to selecting certain portions of the Oct. 29th copy of the Boston Phoenix, from political articles, movie reviews and other such pleasantries. And . . . here we go:
- Personal Favorites
- Trying to fit a square peg in a round hole
- fraud is a front-line priority
- has disappointed us on a number of votes
- the other two deserve defeat
- We are not a fan of sin taxes
- This will only get worse
- A truly dangerous idea
- It would be the folly of better times
- it would be simply cruel
- hardest on those in need
- I don’t even remember how I found him
- it took my head off
- What the hell is this?
- are slow to absorb the work that really matters
- I don’t care much
- . . . Memories of the hard drinking guy who’d walk into a classroom with a gun would occasionally use it.
- “You Lie!”
- a lot of blather and punditry
- it might be hard to keep track of what matters
- The results are considered in doubt
- It’s likely to come with a hefty side of self-loathing
- . . . lusted after and devoured openly, with pride.
- We embrace our inner fatty-fatty-bo-batty.
- I dropped everything.
- It’s probably not safe to drive and eat a McRib, but I did anyway.
- There won’t be any tears at this farewell
- . . .touch on every uncomfortably funny aspect of sex, sexuality and her relationship with her dear mother.
- Or rather, a cliché
- the screen equivalent of a “summer beach read”
- break every 10 minutes
- rape and retribution, those sordid small screen staples are major attractions.
- “It’s like a classic greek tragedy.”
- immune to pain half-brother hulking albino
- it just can’t make scenes
- as far as satisfying movie-making goes, it’s pretty tragic
- . . . must deny her identity
- . . . assimilation to the extreme
- This does not sit well
- Too clumsy to fulfill its potential
- Good intentions go horribly wrong
- Did nothing to cure her . . .
- the ironies of this wrongheaded exercise in righteousness
- No one in her family has ever mentioned the existence of his person
- He can’t do anything wrong, at least in the eyes of his family
- Muting the melodrama and underplaying the politics.
- No stranger to the cynical view of things
- History repeats itself, the first time as tragedy and the second time as farce.
- He believes he is fated to repeat all the events in Trotsky’s life
- At first, they were mocking and indifferent.
- Over 40 and disillusioned
- Replaced by a culture that celebrates the worst aspects of Western materialism.
- They can’t betray those ideals without denying who they are.
- . . . offers compelling watching but not much insight
- We deserve to be demonized.
- The horror . . . the horror . . .
- Desperate kooky and needy
- . . . because nobody involved in the film seems to recognize how icky it all is.
- raw, unflinching look at the experience of modern warfare
- that’s sufficient to hurtle you into the mountains
- . . . deals frankly with the morass of war?
- Don’t kid yourself.
- its realism goes no deeper than the surface
- I’ve never seen a more detailed rendering of a sniper rifle obliterating a foe’s head a mile away.
- If accuracy was the goal, why was this significant detail so inconsequential?
- [Taliban] just the premise to let you slaughter hundreds of opponents, guilt free.
- Just rack up more kills than the other team
- It’s increasingly hard to tell them apart.
- But if it works, it works.
- (popular on the right)
- we’d have conquered Iraq and Afghanistan years ago if only our politicians had let us win.
- They’re all hostile
- True to life? This is a fairy tale.
- Mostly devoid of poetic whimsies
- “The tragedy of bourgeois life is that we’re never that funny.”
- one of the surface inane acting exercises
- killing these zombies is an act of mercy as much as anything
- things are not as they should be
- nobody home
- it does draw a lot of tension out of its quiet moments
- a darker place than I expected
- They got written off as weird
- everyone starts picking apart their oeuvres for signifiers and ripped off parts, as if they were nothing but the sum of their influences.
- . . . steal shamelessly from those who’d come before them.
- Doesn’t really care
- “we’re not kidding ourselves here”
- No ambitions to be original
- It’ll have to do better
- It’s embarrassing pat and predictable
- Blundering, square-jawed bravado
- . . . who framed him– as a villain.
- . . . who perjure themselves to convict the guy
- Unfortunately reminiscent
- Of course, we know how long that’s going to last
- . . . won’t make you feel very optimistic
Ok, I was aiming for 140 for the “cheer up piece, but I’m happy with what I got out of this. I’m not so sure where I am going with the big one. Anyway, I can see myself using some of these, the others . . . not so much. Other work on the way shortly.