Hatch Show Print

Today with my print class, I went to see the Hatch Show Print exhibit at the Newcomb Gallery at Tulane. It's on loan from the Smithsonian, so the entire gallery was FREEZING (the work being on paper and some of it very old, it needs to be protected from humidity).



A lot of the pieces were gigantic, and most of them had only one or two colors, but still they were very impressive. Originally, the prints were mostly advertising for companies or stores, but there were also some excellent advertisements for concerts and fairs and even (!) rodeos.



There was newer stuff too, but a lot of it was old posters advertising for the Grand Ole Opry and things of that nature. I particularly liked the Emmylou Harris poster, but I can't find an image of it anywhere on the stupid internet, so you'll just have to imagine the coolest looking poster of Emmylou Harris ever.



It's all pretty iconic. I drank a bunch of coffee before I went and blasted my iPod while I was looking at the work, and afterward I felt EXCELLENT. Also I felt pretty inspired, which is really nice because until now, I haven't really been that into my print class. I got a lot of ideas from that show, and hopefully I'll turn out some complex, multi-layered plates that will be fun to make and fun to print. Of course, Hatch Show Print is all relief work and my class is Intaglio, but the images are still achievable with Aquatints and line etches.

Twirlinettes

Sufjan Stevens played in Ithaca last night, at Castaways. I knew he was going to, and I had pretty much come to grips with not being at that show (and the fact that the year I spent there was devoid of good shows and as soon as I leave both Sufjan Stevens and Akron/Family are playing at Castaways) but then as soon as I opened the internet, Stereogum's first article is "NEW SUFJAN STEVENS - "THERE'S TOO MUCH LOVE" (LIVE IN ITHACA)" which is a perfect way to start the day. Now I'm sad and I'm still broke and waiting for Nicole to call me.




Videos and article at Stereogum.

Preposterous

I love public access television, I love weird food, I love people who celebrate where they live, I love campy bad acting, I love informative culinary facts and history, I love this prizel and his purple car, I love the internet you guys!

I was obsessed with this based on the theme song alone and am probably not getting over it any time soon. (cheese there are two new episodes!)

bam!

This Is How I Feel Today

Whatever You About To Discover, We Off That

So I was trying to write this itty bitty paper for Psych on Diffuse Axonal Injuries and the corresponding affected areas of the brain last night, and I might have stayed up until 3. This morning, while prepping to do some ab-and-thigh-and-butt busting moves, I discovered in an email that I had to write a paper in response to a reading I hadn't done for my first class. I got it done, but I didn't bust any part of my anatomy before school, nor did I drink a full cup of coffee or eat anything besides half of a banana.

And then it was SO HOT all day. I got a giant cup of iced coffee from PJ's at lunch and went to the park where I ate an apple and shared it with one skinny squirrel and one fat one. On the way through the quad to take money out of the ATM, I passed one of those girls giving away free energy drinks. Despite the potential for ulcers and stress disorders, I took one and then drank it during Psych.

After class I went to the sculpture quad to try to finish the reading I had to do for my last class, but I couldn't focus on the page at all, so I lay down in a scratty patch of grass with my sunglasses on and my head on my backpack. Next thing I know, the phone is buzzing under my head and it's almost 5. There I was, after 20 oz. of coffee and a Monster, sleeping like a homeless person in the quad.

Last night in my effort to avoid actually writing anything about the prefrontal cortex, I downloaded a bunch of stuff, including the new Jay-Z album and Kid Cudi's The Man on the Moon: The End of Day. As a result, I've been listening to these songs all day:


Hate all you want on Aubrey Graham, but this shit is killer.






Stupid Cudi blocked embedding of the real video, but you can watch it
here

And, because I'm just that awesome, download The Blueprint 3
And Man On The Moon: The End Of Day

P.S. Welcome to the blog, bitches!

A Simple Romance (working title): a short short story

Author's note: I just workshopped this in class, and cut out all the parts that didn't really work, but never quite completed the revision. So good luck fillin' in the blanks! :) I think I'm going to expand it. Lemme know what you think, loves. (Especially if you have better title ideas.)

A Simple Romance.

When he first saw her, waltzing through a field of tablecloths, he crossed his hands in his lap, right over left. Everyone has something to keep hidden, but she didn’t. She couldn’t have secrets with a smile like that, her eyes lit as if waiting to blow out birthday candles, even when carrying hot plates of filet minon and fettuccini alfredo. It was something about her peculiar combination of qualities, the attractiveness of her hard edges, the electricity surging through her softest spots. He tipped her well and often.

He sat and watched and waited until she had time to kill. He said his expertise was chemistry, teaching at the university. She told him that when she spoke with strangers on speakerphone, she liked to pretend they were trapped inside the plastic curves of the machine. He asked for her number and then called to leave a message, respectfully requesting that she release him from his tiny cage.

She liked him after that.

He bought tickets to the theatre, said he wanted to sit with her. She asked, as in a date?, and he answered with flowers at her doorstep. He didn’t fold his hands at dinner. He spoke with them, drawing a new language in the space around him, creating universes with his fingers as they outlined strings of possibilities, illustrating the chance meeting of two atoms. She touched her bottom lip as she smiled at him, laughing in gentle bursts of molecules, thousands at a time.

Standing on her stoop, she closed her eyes and he paused only half an inch from her face, so his breath now breezed into her through her parted lips. When the gentleman left, she smirked to herself behind the closed door. He reached into his pocket, slid a white gold ring back onto his finger, and hailed a cab home.

Hit Me From the Top, You Crazy Motherfucker

I'm going to learn how to do this:


kick-ass

Because of a lecture at TED.com I discovered a project by Jonathan Harris called Universe. It's beautiful and fascinating.



Universe by Jonathan Harris

Printing this week is stressful because I'm always terrified I'll leave the plate in the acid too long and end up with strange flat bites and such. It's still thrilling, despite my paranoia.