June 21, 2010

30 Days: Day 17 - An art piece.

I totally did not ignore my blog for several days on end. Nope. I really did post this the day after day 16, promise. I mean, would I lie to you, dear internet? Would I be stingy with my oh so Very Important blog posts? Only Asians are stingy and I clearly am not an-- oh wait, yes I am. MOVING ON.

I thought about doing something sarcastic, tongue in cheek, a joke...something clever. But I decided to go against that because I have this blog, see, this other blog that I sometimes devote attention to but mostly ignore like a red headed step child. Actually, I adore red heads, so maybe an Asian step child. We don't need love since we don't have souls.

Anyway, I thought I'd go ahead and share my favorite sculpture, something I intended to do over there on that blog, but since I hate it and all, I'll share it here first.

*pets Nerdy Rabbit* Yes, mummy loves you best.


Skipping all the historical blab that you can surely click for yourself, yes, this is basically a statue monumenting a Greek god attempting to rape a feminine figure. Someone will probably ask me to revoke my feminist card for this, but just hear me out. Considering that the subject matter is so old and is a depiction of a myth AND was created in a time where the feminist ideals we hold dear today were hundreds of years away from being conceived, I'm going to give it a pass.

Plus I just think it's kind of hilarious that Apollo's wood is being cock blocked by Daphne turning into wood.

What I love most about this statue is the technical achievements Bernini was able to produce as well as obviously conveying artistry through how fluid the figures are. Normally sculpture tend to be very ridged because, hey, they're made of rock, and rock is hard to work with, and the more straight lines, the better. But Bernini clearly said to hell with that! and made the whole thing move. Move. It's like a Matrix action sequence permanently stuck on pause.

It's hard to see from this photo, but on top of that, Bernini went all balls out in displaying his technical skills. Notice the drapery wallowing around Apollo's midriff, Daphne's turbulent curls, her entire lower body texture as tree bark, and finally, my favorite bit, her fingers turning into leaves. Leaves that were sculpted so thin that light bleeds through, like real leaves.

The Baroque era often has many negative stigmas attributed to it, and some for rather good reasons (it is fairly gaudy as hell, though not quite as bad as Rococo which would probably suit Edward Cullen quite nicely), but it capitalizes on the idea and continuation of depicting realism in artwork that the Renaissance started.

June 12, 2010

30 Days: Day 16 - A song that makes you cry.

I'm supposed to pick a song that makes me cry. Uh...I can think of several songs that hold very strong, sometimes sad memories for me, but I can't think of a single one that has ever moved me enough to cry. God Help the Outcasts was probably the closest I ever got to showing any kind of sadness from a song alone, which wasn't a lot. Disney is probably the best at creating these widely known tearjerker moments, but I tend to think that's actually a meld of song and visuals in order to produce that kind of effect.

I cried at the beginning of Up, but I'm fairly certain that had more to do with watching Carl's life unfold than the soundtrack, which certainly helped, but probably didn't take the cake for why everyone was bawling uncontrollably.

On the other hand, these Disney child stars and the alike make me sad inside. Except Zac Efron, he's way too fabulous for all of that.

June 10, 2010

30 Days: Day 15 - A fanfic.

Today is fanfic day, and in true fanfic fashion, it's time to see how JK Rowling feels about all of this.


June 9, 2010

30 Days: Day 14 - A non-fiction book.

I'm going to keep this short and to the point as I think the following speaks for itself.

My favorite non-fiction books are The Zombie Survival Guide and How to Survive a Robot Uprising. It's coming.

June 8, 2010

30 Days: Day 13 - A fictional book.

And now a return to blogging!

A book I finished recently (and I mean that in the loosest terms. I haven't really committed myself to leisurely reading since I received my degree in reading good) was Seeing Redd, the second installment in the Looking Glass Wars trilogy that, last I heard, was in the works of becoming a movie. Which would be rather awesome, I think, because there's lots of room for compelling imagery that feeds off of viewer knowledge since the story of Alice is so well known.

Anyway, the book itself isn't necessarily spectacular and is an easy read. It's predictable, but fun nonetheless. I personally enjoyed some of the feminist undertones in a story that was originally largely about a damsel in distress (for example, Wonderland is ruled by a Queendom and the King of the Baorderlands, Arch, is considered a misogynist idiot). However, I recognize that I love retellings and fantasy, and the book nerd in me squeed all over this series as it have several throwbacks to the original series and incarnations, and the modern fantasy nerd of me loved the Westernized version of a magical girl trope normally associated with Japanese cartoons.

Let me just breakdown the basics.

Alyss Heart is Alice reincarnated, the Princess of Wonderland and wielder of White Magic. She's a bit obnoxious and doesn't really become badass until later, but she's not the real reason most of us are reading. I was pleased that she was depicted as a dark brunette/raven haired as that's generally how Alice is never portrayed. I'm assuming this is a deliberate homage to the Queen of Hearts normally illustrated with dark hair since Alyss represented the Hearts Family out of the four family factions.

The main antagonist is Alyss' aunt, Redd, wielder of Black Magic and basically crazy. She is a mixture of the Red Queen and Queen of Hearts, her image coloring being red (including her hair) and is often yelling for beheadings. She dethrones her sister quite early in the first book, taking over Wonderland while Alyss is in hiding in our world.

Other major characters that are easily recognizable include the very badass Hatter Madigan who serves as Alyss' body guard, Bibwit Harte as the white rabbit and tutor, and The Cat based on the Cheshire Cat and Redd's assassin. Card soldiers return as well, and sport fancy physical updates best illustrated through official art rather than descriptions in the book.

Three books of the series are out, I have yet to read the latest titled Arch Enemy, so I'm hoping it doesn't disappoint.

June 3, 2010

Oops, break.

So today should be day 13 of continuous blogging, but I'm going out of town this weekend to a shoddy computer. I could rectify this by pre-writing all of my entries and just wrestling with the laptop until they post, but I'm going out tonight to celebrate my new job. I can't stress enough how much I need to celebrate.

I know this blog isn't very widely read at all (but to the person linking me from RedvsBlue, ilu, unless you're saying shitty things about me, then I hope you die in a fire), but for those of you who do periodically tune in to see what new asinine thing I'm spewing from my finger tips, know that I'm not dead yet, I'll be back next week.

In the meantime, here is the latest image I drew my friend after I told her I probably won't be able to be her workchat buddy after this month.

And then her little broken cow heart was repackaged into
Big Macs, bringing much joy to the overweight girls and boys.

Toodles!

June 2, 2010

30 Days: Day 12 - Your pick!

Today is another one of those Yay You Pick! days and I'm kind of at a loss of what to write about. Of course, it's really early in the morning when I started writing this and the only things I can think of are completely negative and full of rage, which can be funny, but not something I want to introduce here.

Oh, I know, in the spirit of Conan O'Brein who pleaded with everyone on his last show as the Tonight Show host not to be negative, I'm going to share a YouTube clip of him, Stephen Colbert, and Jon Stewart being completely awesome at one of his performances in New York. So many people have seen this already since it was put up yesterday, and I'm sure those of you here have already seen it, but oh hell, this is my pick day, right?

June 1, 2010

30 Days: Day 11 - A recent photo of yourself.

Now that I'm 24 and done battling evil and stuff, I've become an American pop idol, Cali Sparkles.

Let's go to the Super Wal*Mart everybody!

Robin Sparkles and I used to be real tight in the past. Trufax. But then she moved to New York and I went to Seattle and we've fallen out of touch. Such is the way of life.