-8.3- -9.3--13.3-

My blog this year has been a bit disorderly with the posting order. This is because I've written/drafted some posts that I haven't had time to properly write. Here is a conglomerate of those posts I've been meaning to post, but haven't had the time to:

-8.3-

+Talk about vacation

During the Rosh Hashana vacation, I went to visit colleges in Florida. The last time I went to Florida (During the spring break of 10th grade I went to Tampa and visited the University of South Florida Tampa.)

This time around, I visited Miami University, Florida Atlantic University (FAU), and FAU's honors college (that was a surprise visit, since we first heard of it while on the FAU tour; we were feeling spontaneous, so we drove to the honors college right before going to the plane!)

Also during this Florida trip, I visited a Japanese garden and museum. I didn't get to see all of the garden, but there was a section where it showed how the zen gardens evolved over time (It was really cool...the earlier gardens were based off of chinese paintings, but the later ones took their own form and became more abstract.)

There was also an exhibit on folklore art by Tsukioka Kogyo. I was so glad that we went that day, because it was the last day of the viewing (in fact, they started taking down the art a few minutes after we left)! Kogyo has amazing brushwork. I loved the lines and the pictures had fantastic colors:

From the "100 Noh" series that was on exhibition

The next day, on TV there happened to be a news feature about the origins of Pixar. We tuned in a bit late, but it was very interesting! I didn't know they partnered with Steve Jobs.

They also discussed how they had to tackle their successes, along with their failures. I clearly remember the Pixar artists talking about how they had to overcome "second project syndrome". After the breakthrough of Toy Story, they had to come up with something just as good, which was a big challenge... (I felt some connection there...what am I going to do after my big animation from last year?) 

+Talk about Marc Chagall

I thought most of Chagall's art was ok. It was nice, but I didn't spend a ton of time on the majority of his work (but I did love his use of color on all of them).

The two paintings I liked best were this watercolor of flowers (I can't find a picture of it), which captured the airy feel of late spring/early summer and one of a winter scene (the description said that it was too cold outside, so he had to paint indoors...I think it was when he visited Switzerland?). The colors of the winter landscape also captured a feeling, but this was of the crisp winter air. It's amazing how, if you use colors just right, you can evoke specific feelings and memories...

I also liked the paintings when he used ink. One of mushrooms reminded me of when I painted mushrooms during the sumi-e workshop in 9th grade (again, I can't find a darn picture of it...)

-goache= type of opaque paint

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-9.3-

The grey sky dark green leaves of the trees and the dull orange scraps scratching against the ground only add to the clear smell in the air distinct to the oncoming winter. The house is bathed in a blue-grey light the brown of the wooden paneling almost bright against the cloudy landscape.

Inside one finds immediate warmth...

The dark of the hallway, with a paper cut out of light pasted on the stairs, gain a bright yellow glow as a switch is flipped. Soft footfalls pad upstairs, the doorknob briefly losing its shine as a hand grasps it, opening the entryway into the cold blue living room. Northern light quickly loses its power as another yellow glow pops into existence, the room divided into fire and ice. A savory smell of tomato-baked chicken, or perhaps it's tomato soup, invades all scents.

And yet the room is quiet. The two orbs of light gloss over a silent TV, and illuminate the shadow of an empty table and coats are thrown over the three chairs still pushed out. The lady downstairs cooks well. What exactly is the food shes making. Who will eat it. A light hum pushes atoms around it creating vibrations. Flip.

Hi Im home.

Hi can you check the rice and beans?

Hm?

"You can probably smell it."

"Oh. Ok."

"Take off the lid. Try some."

"...It tastes good."

"Help yourself. It's dinner."

Suddenly, the warmth of the spoonful spreads to the rest of the body.

"Thanks...! See you later. I'm gonna hang up now."

Click.

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-13.3- (written around 9.30.12)

I just finished watching the movie Tokyo Godfathers.

It was free on demand, so my parents and I decided to check it out, but I remember wanting to watch the movie when I saw it on a shelf in the library.

This animated movie tells the story of three homeless people living in Tokyo who find a baby on Christmas Eve. Through their journey to find the baby's mother, a darker side of Tokyo is revealed...

The movie was a fresh take on Japanese culture and city life that I've never seen before. Although there was an ugly side, some of the characters looked downright gross, the characters seemed real (although overdramatic) and believable. It was a serious story, but there were lots of humor throw in, too.

The movie was rated PG-13, but I thought that was mainly because it was an animation. If the movie had been real people, it would have been rated R, I think (there were violent scenes, strong scenes of suicide, and lots of cursing.) ...It annoys me when people underestimate animations becuase they think it's "for kids".

The 3 main characters + the baby
(by the way, the character on the top left is actually a guy)

Speaking of animation, the art was fantastic. As I mentioned before, some of the scenes were very gory and ugly-looking, but the backgrounds looked almost as though they were photos. Almost.

The realism of the animation