Crying Lightning

The title has no relation to anything I'm blogging about. It is the song that is playing in my room right now (by the Arctic Monkeys).

An update on the whole art theft situation, I got a bunch of people to message the girl who stole my art and she finally gave me credit and even sarcastically told me thanks for all the messages she got (I found humor in this).

Today Kaitlyn and I attended a 4 hour orientation on working at an animal shelter (North Shore Animal League which is the world's largest no-kill adoption and rescue organization) and they kept on talking about how you should act how you want to be received by the animals. If you a afraid the dogs and cats will be afraid too. If you are baby talking with too much energy they will have too much energy too. I know this goes the same for horses. I ride an Arabian horse named Raven, and the Arabian horses are known to be skittish, so if I showed fear they would be terrified. This made me think about how this works for people. I guess you can relate it to the whole 'be treated the way you wanted to be treated' concept if you would like. This made me connect that to acting, and how actors can work off each other.

I think a lot. Maybe too much.

I love to learn.
Yet I hate school (except STAC of course) I can spend hours going from one page to another on wikipedia, I can start off on a page about bananas and somehow end up on a page about Ted Bundy.

My ramblings are over. You may kiss the bride.
Goodnight.

poster child

Today I worked more on the posters for STAC Live. The original copy was photocopied so I can color in and design each one. Keeps it interesting. I forgot to document it but I'll be sure to do that tomorrow seeing as I'll probably be working on it again after we go over our a capella song.

butts

If you are expecting some nice looking buns on this post I'm sorry, I'm not that kind of blog. The reason for the somewhat misleading title is because that is what I feel like now. butts. My friend just informed me that some girl on Tumblr took my art and reposted it acting like it is her own. That's right ladies and gents there is some art thievery going on and I don't like it. I don't have the heart (or lack of) to do such a thing. I guess in a way it is flattering that somebody would think my art was good enough to steal, but it still feels like butts to have somebody get credit for art that I did.
This is the art that was stolen:

The blog that has stolen it:
http://heymooncx.tumblr.com/post/41737937234

by the way every time I italicized the word butts I hope you react the way Pee Wee Herman did every time somebody said the secret word.

butts

How do I know I really like something? I have the urge to draw it. Whether is me recreating what I see or if it original fan art, when I really like something I constantly have the thought in my head "I want to draw this". The other night I was watching the new bond film Skyfall I thought it was pretty good. I had the urge to draw something related to it. Specifically Ben Whishaw who played the Quartermaster. He stood out to me throughout the film because I already knew his work rather well. I watch a show on the BBC he stars in called The Hour. The Hour is about the BBC in the 1950s during the Suez Crisis (you should watch it if you ever get some time). Ben Whishaw also played multiple roles in Cloud Atlas. I actually did draw something related to Skyfall in my 365 because I wanted to and Adele's song in the movie was my excuse.

Ben Whishaw as Q in Skyfall

Another film I watched was Submarine a British coming of age comedy-drama. Again. I want to draw it. Thanks to Alex Turner (lead singer of the Arctic Monkeys) doing the soundtrack, I once again had an excuse to draw it for my 365. It is a book too. I'm ashamed to say I have not read it yet (I own it) but I will after I finish the book I am reading now.

Right now I am reading the book Warm Bodies. I want to draw something related to it. Who would have guessed?! You might have heard of it because it is going to be a film very soon and the commercials play often. I am trying to read the book before I see the movie and so far I have not been able to put it down. If somebody told you the synopsis you would probably look at them with disgust because it is about a zombie who falls in love with a living girl. However it isn't sappy and poorly written like other supernatural romances that come to your mind (I'm not naming any names). There are some many lines that make me think to myself "I like how that was written". Zombies are not really my favorite supernatural creatures because they seem so mindless and that comes off as a little boring to me in comparison to other supernatural creatures (I still like zombies). This book is narrated by the zombie named 'R' (he forgot the rest of his name), and I never really cared about a zombie's well being until now.

Maybe after I finally put the book down and study for midterms I'll draw something related to it.

R and his friend M

The Correspondents.

I posted about them on the STAC facebook group but I felt the need to blog about them too. I found them when lurking Reddit late last night because they released their music video for "Well Measured Vice" which has an interesting story behind it. The lead singer broke his foot so he decided with his time he was going to animate the whole music video.

After hearing this song, I decided to look into them more, and I found out the are a London based band. According to wikipedia their genre is swing and hip hop. Interesting mix right? Sadly they only have about 7 songs out but on January 28th they a releasing a new EP.

Here is "Well Measured Vice" 

The Correspondents are made up DJ 'Chucks' and MC and lead singer 'Mr. Bruce'. You can listen to more of their music on youtube or spotify.

here is one more song by them:

Mr. Bruce is kind of crazy in the best way possible.

So Long and Goodnight

I got bored last night and drew this

I drew it in a program called FireAlpaca which is kind of a mix between photoshop and paint tool SAI. I tend to see people put deep quotes over pictures of nature, even when the quote has nothing to do with what is going on in the picture, which made me draw this (In moderation I am fine with those photos, I also wanted to draw a deer at the time).

On another note:

Today I went driving for the first time. My permit came in the mail on Friday so my dad took me today. I was terrified. I was questioning 'why should anybody let me near the wheel of a car? I'M GOING TO KILL EVERYBODY'. But the second I started a song by My Chemical Romance came on the radio, and I almost never hear them on the radio. It almost felt religious. I'm still scared of driving but having my favorite band play on the radio made me feel a bit better. I'm surprisingly not as bad at driving as I thought I'd be-

But I would still be careful. 

I'd like to make a bunch of business cards that say "I'm glad you exist" and give them to people friends and strangers.

Showbiz

While writing a paper on Mental Health Reform I decided to play Muse's first album Showbiz from start to finish. This doesn't sound odd or anything out of the normal to most of you I'm guessing, but it has been a while since I have listened to Showbiz from start to finish. I don't listen to full albums as often as I probably should. I tend to let itunes shuffle my music around for me because I don't like making decisions. I got slapped in the face with nostalgia. Muse was one of the first bands I really got into (My Chemical Romance was the first). By that, I mean the first bands I really found on my own and obsessed over by myself. I remember trying to show my cousins that video where Matt Bellamy called Dom Howard a wanker and me being the only one genuinely laughing. Until that I was only listening to the classic rock station all the time in the car, Pink Floyd, Queen, The Rolling Stones, Genesis, The Beatles, etc.because my parents dictated over the radio and the stereo. I never argued with them over that (except those few times I felt like a loser for not listening to z100 in elementary school).

   Muse is one of those bands that I understand, if people don't like them. They may not be for everybody, and that is fine. I know my dad doesn't like them and makes fun of Matt Bellamy's voice every time something Muse related comes up. But to me Muse is like home. There is some music that are like a party, or a riot or just fun to listen to with friends, but then there is the music that you find home in. I don't mean where you physically live when you leave work and school, a different kind of home. Does that make sense? A home with yourself. I wouldn't really say the mind home because sometimes the mind is terrifying, and sometimes the mind is the last place I would want to be but something near the mind. The heart? I don't think there is the heart. Love is only in your mind. Blood is in your heart. I think I am getting off track here. No matter what I am feeling this music is kind of a pat on the back or like Matt Bellamy, Dom Howard, and Chris Wolstenholme are all giving me a hand to hold onto. The hand you need to keep going on.

left to right: Chis Wolstenholme (Bass), Matt Bellamy (Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Keyboards, Synthesizers), Dominic Howard (Drums, Percussion)

You may have the honor/punishment of seeing my face tomorrow. I don't really feel 'better' but I feel like I can somewhat 'function'. If I come off as stupid to you it is because I coughed my brains out.

Sugar We're Going Down Swingin'

   STAC trip to the city 2012/2013 numero due. When we showed up to the Armory I couldn't see a part of the building that didn't fascinate me. Everthing about that building seem so large when I am so very small. When I got into the room with the swings it took a few minutes to get a free swing but when I finally sat down and began to swing back and forth I couldn't help but grin. I feel as though I haven't genuinely smiled in a few months. I think that a good 80% of my smiles are forced to help the current situation. Everything in that room was nice and relaxing to me. When we left the Armory we took the subway to Bleeker St. this took us about an hour to do because the subway was so packed my group had to keep on waiting for the next train. I gave Lisa my kazoo so that kept us entertained for some time. When we got to Bleeker St. we walked to Pomme Frites. I did not know there was a place that was dedicated to fries until now. I got the smallest size and it was still a lot of fries.We then proceeded down St. Marks and began a journey to a record store. It was cold and it wasn't easy but when I finally got there I looked through the records and bought a CD. I finally got a physical copy of Showbiz Muse's first album. Lisa, Peter and I walked to the theater but we were too early so we ended up into this old print shop. It had old newspaper clippings and maps for sale. It was one of those stores that you never knew existed, and you didn't quite know how they stay in business because it didn't seem like a store people would come in and out of often. I love old things like the stuff they had there. I find old objects and photographs very interesting. I tend to go into antique stores in Vermont a lot with my dad and buy little things like old photograph tintypes and skeleton keys. We went to a gift shop called Random and found hilarious pins that said "I <3" and it then had the most random things you can think of somebody "<3"ing (I got I <3 Lanterns and I<3 Wheels).
   After that, it was time for King Kong. I noticed some mixed opinions on this. After the show Michelle asked me if I thought it was a hit or a miss. I think it was a nudge. It didn't deck me in the face and made me want to see it again and again like I feel with the Neo Futurists but I'm glad I saw it. It still left me feeling sad for Kong. How all he was trying to do was protect Anne but he died because of it. New York wasn't as ready for him as we thought. I really liked the use of the picture of Kong. I liked how there was no voice actor for Kong. I felt the picture was effective enough.
  Overall I really enjoyed the trip. It felt nicely paced, I didn't feel like I had to rush for place to place yet I was bored and cold for hours.

Now I must go start a kazoo band but before that I will leave you with some pictures (I took a lot of videos too). I still haven't gotten used to my new camera with the stalker zoom.