I’m taking American Sign Language this quarter, and it is so intimidating in the best possible way. My professor is actually deaf, and there’s been no interpreter since the first day. It is so immersive it’s obvious that I am learning a lot, but it also very nerve wracking. I love that thrill of learning something completely new, but I don’t love how much I sweat in that class.
I actually entered a Rock Band tournament with my friends Sam and Katie yesterday. If only our drummer Cody wasn’t in jail (that sounds more bad ass than “he had to work during it”). It was a blast, going to this room with multiple large projections of Rock Band on the wall, and a practice set in the corner. And of course it’s fun trying our best against these great competitors. Each band got two sets of 3 songs, and the songs were chosen with a point system, which was tricky, but seemed to work well. There were people there a lot better than us of course, but let me tell you: we performed our hearts out.
There were some high highs (we won best dressed! That’s right, we went in costume!) and some low lows (due to speaker malfunction Katie couldn’t hear herself singing, which led to us failing Won’t Get Fooled Again even though I was a millisecond away from saving us, it was so heartbreaking I had to fall to me knees). And to my surprise, I won the raffle to get a brand new Rock Band bundle! How amazing. Sam is going to take it off my hands once we finish college, but until then it’s tons of drum battles!
Similar to my Y rant, once something I love reaches its end, I am compelled to tell you all about it. Maybe it is part of the letting go process, attempting to give it to others, in hopes that it will live on with them. But then again, I would have been willing to tell you about it at any point in its 60 episode run, because it is the best thing I have watched in a long time. It is an amazing hyper-realistic examination of modern American city, represented here by Baltimore, Maryland.
It starts out as a twist on the old cop show formula, in that the crime is not solved by the end of the hour long episode. The case is allowed to breathe through 13 episode seasons. It gives time to the showcase minutia of detective work, really develops characters, and becomes a very satisfying experience. This means it requires you to watch TV a bit differently, however. You will need to pay attention to things. Threads are dropped and picked up multiple episodes later, and it will be all the better if you remember who that guy was and what he was doing.
As the series progresses, it does not bother telling the same stories of drug dealers and the po-lice after them. It shifts gears each season, introducing a new facet of the city, while never neglecting the people you already know and love. You get to see the plight of the blue collar dock workers, the back door dealings of the politicians, the heartbreak of the school system, and the crushing responsibility of the media to report it all.
And in the end (as it has been with each season finale, but especially now), it somehow manages to be satisfyingly closed and open. They managed to combine a circular “life will go on” with a “this story is complete”. We know exactly how the lives will work out for most characters, except for two, and I will happily continue to imagine their possible lives far into the future. Creators David Simon and Ed Burns have made something really special here, it is the most riveting and rewarding show I have ever seen. Congratulations to them and everybody involved! I will never be able to get you out of my head.
I know my girlfriend doesn’t read this, or at least won’t before she gets the surprise, so I think I’m safe. I’m off to Maine in the morning, to visit her as she gets out of work with flowers. I’ve been super careful not to tell her at all, and she has been complaining about not being able to see me for Valentine’s Day in our three years together (it’s unfortunately one of those long distance things), and how I don’t do very many romantic things… haha, it’s too perfect. And I’ll have proof here, to show how fully planned out this has been!
There is actually a cartooning class at RIT and I am enjoying it like crazy! It is always great to practice things, but when it is something I already feel passionate about, I get an extra kick of excitement. Today we were doing pieces in the style of famous creators, each student needed to intensely analyze the artist we were assigned, then use that information to realize what interesting bits and pieces we could incorporate into our own styles. I was assigned Seth and given the graphic novel Clyde Fans: Book 1 for reference.
I made sure to note the documentary style, like there is a camera actually following a character around, and cutting to close ups in between. The characters tend to do menial real life tasks while words come streaming out of their mouths, not necessarily on topic. The backgrounds are loaded with detail, but always with simple objects, nothing is too complex. The color palette is very consistent, it is either blue, gray, a mix of the two, or pure white (on yellowish paper). Let me know if you think I got the style.
The last issue of Y: The Last Man came out today, and it was a great close to an incredible series. It really pulls at your heart strings, and allows you to reflect on all the great times you’ve shared with these characters. I haven’t read everything by Brian K. Vaughan yet, but I’ve loved everything as I try to. He is such a brilliant storyteller! If you like this, Ex Machina and Pride of Baghdad are also completely worth your time. And Pia Guerra’s art throughout the series has been phenomenal, so well stylized, and incredibly clear. What an achievement in comics this run has been! Even if you have never tried comic books before, give this a shot, everyone I’ve recommended it to has loved it. Especially non-readers.
Because I received so many compliments on my pastel figure drawing last week (check it out), I thought you might want to see a few other pastel pieces I scrounged up.
This is quite an old fruit and vegetable still life, but I enjoy the reflective quality of the fruit and surface, and the color of the wall. Then I have two self portraits: the pointing one is the older (and least successful) of the two, but I like that I was at least going for the foreshortening and distortion. And the colors have some life to them in the inquisitive one.
Another class I am taking right now is Figure Drawing. And let me tell you: at this point it feels so good to just be drawing again. It’s been three years since a model has disrobed in my presence, and as weird as it sounds: it was nice. The pure art center of my brain was ready to go almost instantly. And here comes a wide sampling of durations, poses, and techniques…
I did it, I braved the hordes of people to stay up all night (especially hard after you’re full of turkey), waited in line for hours on end, and eventually managed to wrest from the clutches of the indifferent store keepers my great prize. I managed to get Rock Band for my 360, and let me tell you, it is the best rhythm game experience I’ve ever had, perhaps even the best gaming experience in general! It is so well designed, and fine tuned: the presentation is top notch (especially the opening movie). And the actual game play is phenomenal. I have never had so much joy, it is really a communal experience getting a full band together and completing an intense set list. It is so cooperative you are rooting for those struggling, and cheering when successful. I don’t think I’ll be playing much else for a long while.
I know I haven’t posted for quite some time, but that is because I have been working hard on finishing up my finals. That includes designing an online portfolio, writing a paper, writing a journal, and two projects. The first project I finished is for QTVR:
