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This month, I've had a lot of experiences with art/film. I took a figure drawing class and
During vacation I've seemed to be watching unusual films. In the past three days, I've watched a show about a Times photographer and a japanese silent film.
I've also eaten excellent ramen from a ramen bar sort-of place in the village. (no, not that village you prisoner fans)
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I had the figure drawing class a few weeks ago. There was a live model (not nude, but she only had her underwear and bra on) and we worked in charcoal. The teacher there talked a little about the type of poses that we would be drawing and gave us tips on how to draw (ex. a standing person is usually 8 heads tall while a sitting person is 6 heads tall). After that, he let us practice drawing the model in a series of 2 minute poses and 5 minute poses.
We went over four major poses (standing, sitting, crouching and laying down) and started a little on how to draw clothed figures. He gave us more tips, like drawing the figure first, then the clothes over the figure and that there are 7 types of folds: spiral, c fold, radiating, pipe, zigzag, crushed and inert). The model changed into a dress, and we did another series of 2 and 5 minute poses (they were going to do a 15 minute pose, but I had to leave to go somewhere else.
I liked getting more experience of drawing people, and learning a bit on how to draw clothes (since that gives me trouble a lot of the time when I draw people). I'll put up a few pictures after I take a cleaning break, or tomorrow.


The movie about the photographer I saw was a documentary called "Bill Cunningham New York". It was about this times photographer (who is now about...80?), Bill Cunningham, and his unique lifestyle. He takes photos for fashion spreads in the times.
From what I got, Mr. Cunningham seems to be dedicated to his job (a couple of times in the documentary, he nearly got run over) and his job seems to be his hobby...and his life!
I also thought that it seems like a hard thing to do to film a documentary about something current. You can't re-take a scene...the only footage you have available is the footage you have to use...

Miscellaneous thoughts about the movie Bill Cunningham NY:

-liked the moment when he took a picture of someone and it showed the actual picture in the paper

-liked a transition in sound (I'm not sure if it was intentional or not) when there was applause and it turned into the sound of cars passing by on the street

-I found it interesting how he noticed a general trend in the fashion each...week (I believe it was a week)

-I liked seeing places in the film that I've been to and were familiar with

-The movie made me wonder if he ever rode by while we were walking in the city. Before I saw this movie, I think I wouldn't have noticed him (while I was in NYC during the break, I looked around once or twice, but he wasn't in the area.)

The japanese silent film is called "Naked Island" (translated name anyways). It wasn't what I expected of a silent film since, well, it wasn't completely silent (You could hear footsteps and the water.) It was silent in that there wasn't much talking.
The movie was about a family living on a barren island. They had a day-to-day repetitive lifestyle which consisted of bringing water from the mainland to the island in order to water the plants (with meals and sleeping in between). The film is slow-paced and gives off a calm, but monotonous, feeling. I admit, I dozed off in the first ten minutes of it, since the sounds of the water reminded me of being on the beach...and I had a late night's sleep.
It follows a year of their life, from the time they plant their crops to the time that they harvest them. The biggest event in the movie was when one of their sons die...! However, they have to recover in order to carry out their daily tasks and keep on living.

I also went and saw an exhibit on young artists at the Japan Society in NYC. The theme of the exhibit was that not all japanese art was "kawaii" (coughcoughIthinkweallknowwhatI'mtalkingaboutcoughcough). It had some graphic pictures (like a mountain of office worker corpses that, interestingly, looked like a traditional asian painting from afar), but it also had beautiful art, like this triptych (I think it could be called a triptych) of samurai riding on armored animals, and a giant screen of paper cutting art that you could walk around...

I also saw the musical "Memphis" yesterday. It was pretty good since it caught my attention, but I felt that the music wasn't that memorable...

...I've also re-energized (is that the appropriate word...?) my love of the works of Shaun Tan by re-watching his short film (here is the link: [link] if you'd like to check it out).