Using what you have.

Commercial. Commercials. Commercials.

  Oh dear. Well, with a few screw ups and odd scheduling, we were practically left with nothing to shoot, all teachers we made plans to film with where rather nowhere to be found or had some last minute meetings. However we would not let that stop us. We asked everybody we felt would be good and got new film that we were not even planning. One teacher even asked if she could be in the box (obviously we let her). We even filmed between classes with me in the box in the hallway, so while people were in the halls getting to class I would pop and scare them. I found it really interesting how many people's response to seeing a box in the middle in the hallway was to kick the box (thanks for that).  In the end although I am not sure how the commercial will come out, I am actually proud of how much we did with last minute changes. 

Think happy thoughts.

Some are negative because others put them down, outer forces affect their opinions of themselves. I'm kind of the opposite, nobody hurts myself better than I do! I am always negative, always hating on myself for everything I do. I criticize everything I do, I am always disappointed in myself, because I feel everything I do is never good enough. 

         I spend a lot of time in my head, sometimes it can be a good thing but most the time it drives me to insanity. I enjoy being alone, being alone does not make me lonely, but sometimes if I am alone to long my mind kinda finds itself in dark places.

I am always trying to help others out, I generally put others before myself, but at some point I should start helping myself.

I'll stop here.

surpriseeee!

So today in STAC we started with ideas for commercials. My group was basing ideas off the limitation we got: same action, different place. We started off with the idea off knocking on multiple doors asking if that door led to the STAC room. We eventually went to the idea of me (I don't know why it has to be me) in the middle of a class in a box. Out of nowhere I jump out of the box exclaiming something along the lines of "Come to STAC live!" and then running out of the class. Doing that a couple times to fit the limitation. I hope it comes out looking good and not come off as stupid.

Honey, If We Are a Family, Its Only Natural to Fight.

So Friday was a bit hard to sit through...
with all the tough really deep questions, to the argument that went on.
I love everybody in this class to death, so this stuff really put my head into a pickle and drives me crazy. Half of the groups to seem to have major problems. The freshies seemed to have some 'Lord of the Flies' situation, the sophomores in my opinion didn't have too much problems, we just kinda drifted of did our own thing and came back together to make something cooler, the juniors seemed to have a great time, and the seniors seemed to be in major hell from what I see. I felt we were more open with our opinions than we have ever been before, causing more feelings to be hurt and more people to be defensive of their opinions. Sometimes I like to think of STAC as some artsy family, but there is no such thing as a perfect family everybody gets on each others nerves sometime or another but I think if get over any ego we have (not saying everybody is an egotistical jerk by the way) we can move forward and become stronger than ever.

By the way happy 'Sarah Eve' (aka the day before my birthday).

Be kind, Rewind.

Second time doing this, I wasn't sure what we were going to get out of my group's little movie, even though you have a general idea of how people will react to it, you never know. I think the movie we made this year came out better than the one I made last year, it was more fun filming and I think it came out better, even though it still kinda sucks due to the lack of editing and such. I think my favorite part of this is how if you mess up you accept it and move on, no time to dwell or worry upon some tiny mistake, after all the mistakes you make, the more enjoyable it is to watch back. This film I had to pick my nose, burp, eat with my mouth open, fall down some stairs, and become the world's worst policemen. Oddly, it was so much fun. I hope we can do more of these in the future.

Forever Lazy, in the fleece.

See what I did there? In the flesh, in the fleece (Punny right? Okay, I'll stop now.). I went to BJs the other day and found the 'Forever Lazy'. I just love weird unusual products like this.

Speaking of which do they still make Frankenberry cereal? That was the bees knees.

Dada Day

What much can I say? It was so awesome it sent the school 'on fire'. The acting really set up everything (kind of set a really high bar to reach.). I was so into I forgot to clap!! (trust me, this is no sarcastic comment I mean it!). It was nothing like expected. For this whole day there wasn't really a expectation to be quite honest. Then the dance came and it was very interesting but yet very entertaining to me, very cool. For music I couldn't hear much of the words but it was still thought it was great, I remember Scott ran to the STAC room one day screaming, then everybody joined him by screaming too, and I think Ellen said,"That's going in the song.", very happy to see it did end up in the song. The writing was absolutely nothing of what I thought it was going to be, much more entertaining than I thought it would turn out to be, very funny too, with the lollipops, signs, clothes, and the phrases said, it was all quite amazing. The art gallery was fun squirting people who passed by our project with tiny toilet water. From what I could see all the art projects seemed to come out quite well from what I could see. Overall very Dada!

Spent a period learning how to pick up a hat.

Today's acting class with Luke was very interesting, not exactly what I expected. We did a lot about expectations, how no matter what something is always going through our minds, even when we are told to stop thinking. We did a lot of acting more naturally, instead of worrying about become a character we should just act, because we will never truly be the character. Then Luke had us all act as we are stealing a hat from somebody or someone. When we went up at first we were way to fake and overdoing it. When I went up to try at first I wasn't even trying to steal the hat I was imaging myself sneaking a box of cookies upstairs (something I do quite often), in the middle I realized it was a hat and was trying to change the story in my mind, which made me lose it. After trial and error I think we all learned a lot today!

Watch out snuggies, you have competition.

I thought today I would never smile because of 9-11 being such a dark gloomy day for me, my family, and most of America. However I came across this commercial and just lost it.

I thought it was a joke but it is as real as it gets. Just the name of the product makes me want to buy it.

Forever Lazy? Yes please!!

My heart on a wall.

   My thought when I heard about what we were doing, I was a bit skeptical to be quite honest. I had this wall blocking me for the first ten minutes telling me "Hey you like that? Why? You're such a weirdo." I'm kinda of used to hearing that by now, but sharing it with everybody on a wall, WITH SHARPIE? I'm generally not that self conscious, I'm generally always myself but for some reason the idea struck me as well, unsettling.  But, after maybe two minutes I just kinda thought fuck that, it should never matter what others think about me.
   The thought of doing something like this seem so simple, but it is a bit more complex than that. Then the ideas just flew out! Well, not really, but you get the idea. The only thing stopping me was spelling, but actually did well as far as that goes. I personally think the best part was connecting it with the people around me, it felt good in a way, we connected as people, in the end we are not much different. It was very fun, talking about the things we like (along with cracking jokes here and there of course!) and stuff we enjoy. As much fun as it was doing it, the end product kind of bothered me in a way, it reminded my of those brainstorms I had to do before going on to an English essay. I would rather see drawings on the wall than words, but hey that might just be me.

New faces, new year.

School is back and kickin'

I am glad see you all survived through the summer, can't wait to hear more about later. Super weird seeing scared newbie faces, a little weird but, quite funny (especially the freshmen newbies, new to high school and STAC). I am excited to catch up more and get to know (and maybe even love) all the new faces.

Star Trek the Next Generation, was very cool, I've seen my mom and dad watching it but I have never actually gotten around to seeing it myself. I didn't really have bad expectations but it was better than I thought it would be! I could tell right from the start that Soran and Riker were attracted to each other and even thought it wasn't too obvious (like screaming I'm gay!) I could tell the episode was related to how our world views homosexuality. I thought it was interesting how even though it talked about homosexuality they switched it up in the way that, being with the opposite gender or not the same 'sex' (which is kinda like the genderless) was a bad thing, when to our society some people view being with the same sex is unnatural or a sin.I am personally glad they had the ending they way it was, even though it doesn't feel great to see she changed, it still lets us keep in mind that this is what our society tries to does and it sucks, if they showed a nice ending that may make people think otherwise. It shows there is a problem with society and that it won't have a nice ending if we keep acting the way we do.  Did not expect to see those messages in Star Trek.

Can't wait to see what we will do tomorrow in STAC.

Who's ready for STAC 11-12?

Summer is almost over, and that means school. YAY! (I mean this in the most unenthusiastic way possible). However a new year of school also means a fresh new year of STAC! I can't wait! ( It is the only thing I'm looking forward to this upcoming school year). I can't wait to catch up with the 'oldies' and meet and get to know some 'newbies'. I hope everybody summer has been well and I can't wait to see all the new and old faces.

I 've been doing a lot lately as far as drawing goes, I just finished this up this morning:

Recently I was looking at this cool artist who made her artwork kinda look something in a display window (to me.) I don't know I just feel like sharing it with you,, I thought it was cool :Check this out, its cool! My favourite of hers is 'Tears Explode Like Bombs' very cool.

See you all soon!

Art From a Man 152 Years Old.

      My dog wanted to go to the backyard and I saw that my dad was in the grarage, so I went in and I saw him with this big trunk. It was very old and had the name H. Koster Jr. engraved on it. It turns out my dad's friend was going to throw it out, but instead my dad decides to take it. My dad opened it and inside there was a lot of rolled up pieces paper and some things in frames. It turns out a lot of those rolled up paper and frames were filled with art this guy did in the 1800s and early 1900s. His art is really good too, lots of drawings, watercolored in, and some paintings in there too. Some of the paper was also his graduation certificate of the second grade (1866), a map of america, some other certifcates, one about a medal of honor. There was also a few books about "Amazing Art of the World" made in the late 1800s, a lot of realism in there. Some books were about photography too. It was very interesting to see. I'll get a picture of it later.

Last day of Jim Bonnie.

Surprise, surprise! I did not know it was today, I don't think anybody did until the last few minutes we were told the sad news. Overall it was an amazing workshop, I feel more open and powerful from it, and I learned a lot about myself. It was nice getting in touch with our inner child and going into our body and hearts. I learned that I am happier with myself when I am not hiding under a mask, and that we should feel what we feel and should not be ashamed of our emotions. That is basically what I learned, it is actually harder to explain than I thought. I know I will use what I got from this for a very long time (by that I mean forever).

Ripping off masks.

Today in the 4th Jim Bonnie workshop we worked more into the idea of mask, the fake emotion we put out to hide our real emotions. I always had the idea of mask in mind since I watched this one anime called 'His & Her Circumstances', I watched it a long time ago but I remember it being about a girl who acted as the smart honor student in school, but at home she acted like a completely different, crazy girl, and then she finally met somebody she could open up to so the had a scene where her face is a mask and it falls off and cracks.

As for the Charlie Chaplin film, that would make my 2nd time watching a silent movie, so that was fun. I think you get more expression and feeling out of that movie than a movie with words, words ruin everything. I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy the movie, but  I ended up really liking it.


Well, I'm kind of tired now, so I'll stop here, but have fun anybody going to Italy!

A mess a paint can become something much bigger.

So Monday workshop I started of a little bummed that I bought all the wrong things, and then got a little scared that I wasn't going to paint right (if there is really such thing). I tend to have no self confidence in my art, or anything in general. These paintings remind me of what my English teacher told me when she saw me doodling in class, she said, "Sketches are so cool to me because it started out looking like a bunch of lines but then turns into something recognizable.", of course this isn't sketching, its paint, but I feel like it has the same idea to it. After getting more comfortable with the paint, I started getting somewhere, somewhere where it looks somewhat human. Although it looked more like Elvis than Clint Eastwood, I am pleased with it, considering it was my first time trying this.

Jim Bonnie

While eating during STAC Wednesday, I kept hearing good things about Jim Bonnie, I even heard that people cried last time. I thought they were joking but when I found out that  it was true, I got a bit scared and nervous, because I don't like people seeing me cry. When we met Jim Bonnie, he seem confident and comfortable, something I'm not. I was a little intimidated. He was explaining how we are surrounded by zombies, draining our energy, and how we have to stop having our energy drained. Just walking through any hallway at Herricks you can see zombies, everywhere. Then he had us lie down and told us to bring back the child in us, when I closed my eyes a pictured something bizarre, possibly scary, or warped. I pictured myself when I was little smiling, but then gets punched in the back, little me falling to the ground laying there almost looking dead, but growing and transforming into what I look like now. Creepy. Afterwards Mr. Bonnie had is yell phrases like "OUTTA MY WAY!" "DON'T PICK ON ME!" "SLIMEBALL!" and yell no to things he told us we couldn't do. Doing that was like releasing any negative energy I had, giving me a fresh start with myself. I felt stronger and that nothing in my way could stop me. I felt like I could look anyone in the eyes and take them down. Later on we paired up, I was with Jon and we did an improv where he was a teacher upset with me a rebellious student. Jon looked like he wasn't having the best day so I felt bad acting like a bratty student. It was fun, considering I don't improv often (at least in STAC that is). Just working with Jim Bonnie one day was thrilling so I'm excited for the next workshop!

I should check my email more often.

Very sorry it is late, I haven't checked my email in days. The workshop we started monday was very interesting to me because normally I draw to draw, but i don't think I have ever drawn to paint. I kinda excited paint it, but working in just pencil was an interesting process, I don't draw in shapes a lot, so this is something I hope to use more in the future. I think I will get the good paintbrushes this weekend, along with the oil based paint(?).
I also do remember just with my sketches I kinda squint to see if it looks somewhat photographic. I feel so bad this is so short, its 6AM and I'm getting ready for school(will add more later.)!

Avery Milton...

I can not decide whether I like his art or not. Some of it was good, but some of it looked like something I made in art class in the first grade, so I did not think of that as a positive thing, but that just may be me. The one I liked the most was the chicken one, I liked how he used scratches and marks to his painting (chicken scratch?). I don't think I will form a definite opinion anytime soon, but he certainly isn't my favorite artist.

I like The Prisoner episode today, I think it is because like Allison said, the change in scenery makes it more interesting, I think thats also why I like episodes when he 'escapes' for some short amount of time before getting thrown back to the village. Number 8 was great, another thing that convinces me that some psychos are lovable. I think the best was his face when he had the blood dripping from his lip and that insane grin.

On to the paint.

So, on tuesday I had some touch ups and lipo-suction to get to. The person in the bathtub pretty much had no neck so Margaret helped me create one. After that I touched up a bit on little things with the paper mache and I eventually got to the paint. For tuesday I only got up to the white tub, because the rest of it had more wet paper mache. Today, I stayed after and painted some more. I recoated the white tub and I started with the skin. Tomorrow I hope I can finish it up and have it donated to weetacon!

I might be getting the hang of this. Just maybe.

Once Margaret got here friday (yesterday) I got out my little containers, poured hot water, and margaret poured a little cup of... wheat paste? I forgot what it was called, but form there I got to work on my bathtub. I got to be honest, I think I  like the squishy feeling of the paper mache! Once I finished with the tub I think I started getting the hand of it, at least I think so, for I know I could be doing this all wrong! I finished about 85% during the workshop. The container I brought in had a top thankfully, so I brought some paper mache home with some paper, and I am finishing the rest this weekend. I feel like I am making a cast of a mummy!

Mushy, mushy, paper mache.

    So today I thankfully remembered to bring in my bundles of newspaper, taped up together to create what will eventually be my seven deadly sins project. Today I walked in thinking all I needed to do was tape on the legs and I would be ready to paper mache, but Margaret had a good idea of adding arms. When I finally put that together I think it looked awesome. Probably because it put a lot into it this weekend (it doesn't look like much but, because it kept messing up, or the tape lossened up a bit, it took some time). So by ninth period I got to stick my hands in the paper mache. Its very squishy! I didn't get to cover too much of it but friday I will have about 2 hours of time to work on it so I will have to get it done then!

Paper... lots and lots of paper. Workshop day 2

So today I rushed to the testing room to get my last proof done on my math test, so I wouldn't have to miss a minute of workshop today! Today in our sinful workshop we are finally starting to put are doodles to life. Sadly Margaret makes this look easy, and creating some shapes are much more complicated that I would imagine (or maybe thats just me...). I started with the bathtub (if you don't know what I talking about, my sketch of it was in my last blog) and I can make a ball of newspaper but a bathtub... is a bit more complex (for me atleast...). After getting some help from Margaret I got the bathtub shape and some legs of the bathtub. Because of me being a bit of a slowpoke, I brought the various buches of newspaper home for me to work on over the weekend. I will finish that and next time I see Margaret we will get that paper mache to cover it!

PS: I think it is kinda awesome how Margaret started a blog!: http://margaretteachingandlearning.blogspot.com/

First day of a workshop of sins.

So today we met Margaret for the first time. She is really nice and I can't wait to work with her more. We went through her work asked her questions and she explain to us what her pieces were about, what she was thinking about at the time. Then the coofebs finally found out what our project is : the seven deadly sins. I always found that interesting but I never thought I would do an art project for it. She taught us a bit more about what each sin means and showed us some pictures of them from Dutch artists Bosch and.... I forgot the other one's name... Even though out of the 7 sins I think I relate to sloth most, I am doing a paper mache for gluttony instead. I hope I can get good at paper mache because I haven't used it since kindergarten. I hope this will get me to use paper mache more in the future!

here is my rough sketch or what my piece might look like that we drew today:

Margaret DeLima and the Coofebs

Tomorrow the Coofebs will be doing an art workshop with Margaret DeLima. When I got home today and started my I wasn't sure what kind of art Margaret does, because art has such a wide variety. I went to her website to see a sculpture of some sorts. From there I read her artist statement, I learned she is a visual artist that uses clay, paper, paint, tape, mold and so on. What stood out to me was that she does physcogeography. From reading her artist statement you can get a sense of what her art means to her, it relates to her life in some sort of way, or something she thinks about. I look at some of her artwork and I notice she does a lot of self portraits, which I liked because it was almost like view of how she sees herself. I think my favorite piece was 'Feed me' which was a pink bird house with a baby inside. I really can't wait to see what we are doing tomorrow, I am sure it will be interesting!

STAC live.

What else can this title be?
So for my first STAC live, I think I can say it was pretty awesome. It went much quicker than I thought it would be. The first time doing the opera was scary, but by the time I got to message of love, that kind of went away. I don't know why, but I think the second time did not go as well as the fist, but I think that was because less people came to that one so less people reacted, I guess... However, ninth period! So many people came, I was suprised to see people having to have to sit on the floor! By then, my confidence was built up, so I think I did my best then. I almost wish I could watch it, because I don't know how the screen worked out! Did it go well? I actually heard people talking about it on facebook!

GOOD JOB EVERYBODY!
Oh, and I am getting my braces off tomorrow!

Stepping it up a notch.

 This week was full of preparation and new ideas. I love the idea of the screen, and I really hope we can pull it off. It almost scares me the thought of it not working, but then again I am a pessimist. I am sure it will amaze many but, I still wonder, if there will still be that one [or more?] person who still won't get it, and still think negatively of STAC. On commercials: some I feel people [well, in my class] like and understand, but some were not. However, people still ask me about it , even teachers [although, one of the teachers I know for a fact does not like STAC]. As for the opera, I really like the whole idea of it, the teachers [or is it specter now?], the friends [who sound ghetto so it is funny sing ghetto and opera.], the girlfriend, and the parents. The lyrics are really funny to! For message of love, it was a little tough practicing that for the first time because we didn't have drums and it was my first time sing with the band. Anyways, I am excited for STAC live and for this upcoming week!