-4.2-

All right. Time to talk about "From Bauhaus to Our House". I meant to say something during the discussion, but all of my points were said already...and I didn't think of anything to add on before I had to go to music.
I'll jot down the main points:
-I've never, seriously, read a book about architecture before. Last year, I had this pocket guide to architecture last year (which I lost....twice... >:( It has my name in it, though) but I mostly used that for reference on buildings around the world.
-I liked the book, and how it was written, but I disagreed with some things Wolfe said. Architecture is constantly evolving, and the "International Style" is just a phase architecture is going through....
-Related to the previous bullet, I wondered if Wolfe would be complaining if architecture hadn't changed. If he'd say that architects were being 'yellow-bellied and....bourgeoise'
-The "International Style" reminds me of suits. Most people think they're uncomfortable, and they still wear them. And the style is spreading everywhere. And it looks the same. (Don't get me wrong, I like suits. But that's how they can be compared to the glass boxes.)
-Wolfe used the phrase "take it like a man" a lot. (He was being sarcastic, right?)
-He thinks that this new style got rid of all the 'real' talent. The less-talented/lazy/smart-alec people got to shine in the "International Style"
-Most modern cities look similar now days....
-(Ellen pointed this out to me when I asked her during lunch...and this was brought up in the discussion) Wolfe uses a lot of religious terms to describe the architects.
-(From the discussion) I never noticed that you see more detail the closer you get to classical architecture, and vice versa. I thought that was an interesting detail.
-(From the discussion) I also liked how Danny (I think?) pointed out that the folded paper showed how functional it was. The paper airplanes couldn't actually fly and the paper cathedrals couldn't be entered....and that's how the architects applied this way of thinking to buildings and the "International Style" was the result.
---
I wanted to talk a bit about acting class 2, but I don't have the time...so I'll quickly write down these two bullets:
-....Wait. Aw, man. I forgot what I wanted to say
-(I think this was it) The main point of the class was that your body can affect your mood, and your mood can affect your body. I think I remember reading something like that in this book about body language that I have. For example, if you cross your arms, you tend to feel angry/defensive feelings.
- When Luke mentioned that "we did this during our childhood". I agree. I find it harder to 'pretend' now days, especially with other people, since people don't do it as freely. And I miss that. A lot. It's funny, since I was thinking that a lot last year, and this year.
---
Some quotes I found from the STAC blog on Dada, that makes sense to me, and how to approach Dada:
And it doesn't have to make sense, because we're at a time where we make our own sense - our own personal sense - of the world. 
My ideas these days on the process of creation center around the decision making involved

-3.2-

Lots of things this week. Exploring Dada and acting classes...!

I'm in the group for Dada art....and we've been Dada-ish about the project.....(I'm not sure if that's great for organization). I think we're going for individual projects. I have some ideas, but it's more from the historical standpoint of Dada (after WWI). The problem is, every time I think of an idea, it doesn't seem "out there" enough. It has a clear meaning behind it, when (I think) it's supposed to have the meaning of "just confusion".

Acting class! I had meant to blog about this last week, but better late than never!

Here's some thoughts:

-Haha when Luke said to get your shoes ready when Danny went up, I saw Sarah's bare sock poking out behind a rack of props....what a great mental image!

-It seems that there's layers of acting. So far I've seen 4: What's going on, what's supposed to be going on, what the audience thinks is going on, and what you think is going on.

-You can use a situation that you're familiar with in order to react correctly in a situation you're not familiar with.

-I felt nervous when we were trying to pick up the hat, and it only increased as it came closer to my turn....however, I felt ok afterwards (and almost wanted to do it again).

-While waiting for my turn to go, I kept on imagining myself in appropriate situations...but when it was my turn, those situations seemed to have disappeared. (I also felt that if I tried to use those situations, they wouldn't come off as 'real').

I will talk a little about "Bauhaus to Our House", but I'm getting kicked off, so I have to do that tomorrow....or when I get a chance.

On a final note: I'm excited for the trip on Friday! I've been to PS1 a few times, but I haven't gone in a while....the last time I went, they had chickens there, haha.

9/13----
random dream I had on Tuesday:
-There was this mushroom sculpture
-Son(?) of the artist made a simpler mushroom sculpture to remind everyone of what the bigger mushroom symbolized (which was something about someone dying and something about falling off a building)

-2.12- Blog Quotes

"In a sense, I am a newbie every year because I have to learn how to work with the new community."-megan

"Rules are made and only meant to be broke within reason. Rules aren't made to be broken only for individuality, there should be something more. "-megan

"I've been thinking though. Thinking about thinking. Since human beings have the power of intelligence, we have a tendency to over think everything. We believe that we are creatures greater than anything created in the universe. At the same time though, we still do everything all the "lower" forms of life do. We still eat, digest, take a crap, and reproduce. What's so profound about that?"-Ellen


"In a weird way, it makes me think about if my brain was a museum and I was taking a tour. I don't know, it was just one of those activities."-Ashley


"You can be the best candidate in the world but the best candidate doesn't always win, the most popular with the most money will be the one to win. "-Mike H.


"Now thinking about it , it makes me laugh because the web is about me so i have no one to impress besides myself ! "-Gigi

-2.1-

Working on the wall reminded me of some sort of interface I saw once...like the wall, it had little "webs" of  ideas(?). There was a big idea everything connected to, and then littler ones branching out.


Before we started the project, I thought everyone would follow the rules, and we would all write the same way, but it turns out that some people purposefully (?) bent the guidelines, and we all had our own different style of capital block letters. This resulted in everyone's wall coming out a little differently not only in interests, but the shape of the web, the handwriting, or even how people drew their lines connecting to their likes!

While working on the wall, it was a little crowded, which wasn't that fun, and my arms got sore from holding them up for a long time...however, I liked that a lot of people were chattering, and there didn't seem to be any problems with space and such.

I think this was a great 1st group project for the year! It's a good way to find out about people...we can walk up to the wall and look at everyone's interests....I didn't get that much of a chance to look at the wall, but just from the few webs that I looked at, I found some interests I had in common with other people!
If you were looking at the wall in a metaphorical point of view, this could be considered a "class picture".

-Will edit later into a proper paragraph-


Thoughts about the wall:
-It reminded me of something...an interface or something else....
-I think it turned out to be an good introduction piece for STAC. We can just walk up to it and see the person's name and what they like....
-I expected everyone to follow the rules, but some people didn't. However, I found it funny how some people purposefully(?) bent the rules, while other people stuck to them.
-Everyone's "web" came out a little differently...whether it was the shape, or the handwriting...the way the thoughts branched out....
-It was a little crowded on the wall, which wasn't that fun. Also, holding your arms up for a long time made them sore.
-We did the wall sort-of spontaneously, so I was wondering if it would look better if we planned it a little more
-We were all on the same wall, but we all had our own little corners...(SYMBOLISM of how we're all in STAC, but we all have our own interests~?)
-I wish we had more time to look at it before writing a journal about it.

STAC 2011 -1.1-

 A new STAC year!
I...don't know many of the newbies, but I hope that will change as the year goes on! I'm looking forward to what sorts of trips and activities we'll be doing this year.

About today in class, I got excited when Luke mentioned animating, perhaps. I finished an animation over the summer (Link to youtube), and I started another one also (I put a WIP video of it on my Facebook). I mostly have been doing ideas based off of songs, and not using original characters, though...

I'm waiting for the book to come in the mail, but I heard that it contains advanced vocabulary. Ellen told me that she had to look up a lot of words when she was reading it.

Misc. comments on the Star Trek episode yesterday:
-They chose a woman to play the  androgynous alien so ppl could relate to the relationship between the alien and the man more than just if it was a man and another man actor. They'd be able to understand the frustration, not just gay rights supporters
-'Could see it as transgender people, also, since the alien felt like they weren't the right gender (?)
-blogging thought will edit later