Response to Michael's Personal Space...

I thought you took this project in a direction that none of us considered. Nearly everyone in the class took the project guidelines and interpreted them in similar ways, doing strange things in public as to attract attention from the general public. You, on the other hand, brought your own (perhaps exaggerated) personal issues into others very personal space, rather than into a public sphere. Bravo!

weekly art show...

This week, I treated the viewing of the various Personal Space Projects as my weekly art show. It was quite a strange transition from being the performer (or artist) to being the viewer in a matter of a couple days. Whereas when I was performing my piece, along with Danger Dane, When people would give us strange reactions, it would seem super lame to us...it made me think that they were pretty stupid for not being able to make the connection that  we might just be doing a project, rather that standing around, "forgetting to take our meds" or something. When seeing the works of other students from other sections as I went about my daily business, however, I found myself jumping to similar initial reactions that my own viewers must have jumped to. Rather than immediately placing the bizarre girls sleeping in blankets on the side of the bike-path in the "artistic" category, my mind would quickly skip the rationalization, and move straight to the confusion, and misunderstanding. Not that I could see my own face, but I could have sworn I made the same strange facial expressions while passing the other art students as I received while doing my project. After passing a couple projects, I made the connection shortly after, and made an effort to backtrack and take a closer look, as to not just be another uninterested passer-by. This change in positions, from "artist" to viewer, wade this project quite interesting.

Day 68: LINKS TO WORKS...

PUN: http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/04/week-one-project-documentation.html
NEXUS (TRUTH/FICTION): http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/04/breaking-news.html
ALTERED ACTIVITY: http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/04/day-10-switch-up.html
CONFESSION: http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/04/week-four-project-     documentation.html
NARRATIVE / SEQUENCE: http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/05/day-39-free-for-allnarrative.html
ACT OF KINDNESS:  http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/04/day-27-random-act-of-kindness.html
AlTERNATE IDENTITY: http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/05/alternate-identity.html
PERSONAL SPACE: http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/06/weekly-project-documentationpersonal.html

Day 67: RESPONSE TO FEARS / CONCERNS...

In the second post of the quarter, I wrote about my fears and concerns as follows... http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/03/day-2-concerns-fears-hopes-for-this.html

I believe that all of the fears and concerns I initially had for the class were completely justified, or rather, turned out to truly apply to the course (which I could have fully predicted considering I write this post after only one lecture), however, I think that my main concern, that is, that the course would seem fairly convoluted, proved to be why I liked the class as much as I did. This "messy-ish" nature of the class is what made it so enjoyable. It became a break from the heavily regimented and outlined properties of most other courses one might experience at a university level. My initial fears shape-shifted into what were my favorite aspects of the class, and for that, I am quite surprised.  The last fear I expressed in the aforementioned post revolved around my worries of over-interpretation. I found however, that the class didn't really ask for me to do this, but instead, offered a platform for more free-form examination.

Weekly Project Documentation:PERSONAL SPACE

Danger Dane and I set up our project on the running trail on the shore of the lagoon nearest to Manzanita Village. We recorded an audio loop of crunching bones, chewing, swallowing, roaring, and burping noises, and played it through a speaker hidden in the bushes on the hillside opposite the lagoon, across the running trail. Just in front of the speakers hiding spot, we placed a sign with warnings posted all over, including an eye-witness sketch of the lagoon monster itself, as well an LA Times article with two new headlines reading "Lagoon Monster attacks campuses nationwide", and "Monster Strikes one Victim so Far". Closing off the running trail, we tied caution tape from the lagoon's fence to the sign. To top off the visual aspect of the piece, we laid a real cow Femur (nice and disgusting with pieces of meat and tendon intact) in the bushes, easily visible, as well as carved claw prints into the dirt trail, leading from the lagoon to the bushes. As people passed, we stopped them, and warned them of the risk in passing, and suggested that they stay away from the bushes, keep moving, keep their limbs away from the bushes, and to leave their food if they decide to pass. Most people didn't ask any questions whatsoever, and followed our instructions, obviously weirded out by the creepy sound effects. The funniest reaction we got was when an older woman walked by...listened to our warnings...and as she was walking away, stopped, turned, and asked; "Art department?". I guess it was that obvious...
Overall, I think our project received some great public reaction!

Here is a slideshow documenting the photos Danger Dane and I took of our Personal Space project, inlayed with the audio recording we had playing from behind the bushes. Enjoy!

Day 66: CLASS INTEREST?

I think both the "Beyond the Studio" and the "Artist As Activist" classes seem extremely interesting, and would be into taking both of them. I also think these two classes would work extremely well together, for the majority of "activist action" takes place in the public sphere, not within a studio, crossing over into the realm of taking art outside of its conventional boundaries. I've always been very interested in political graffiti, and in the course description, it mentions that the art activism class would include workshops in stenciling and poster making, both closely related to this, and both of definite interest to me. I feel like poster making would be extremely useful in the future, even outside of a strictly "artistic" setting.
I hope you get these classes Desiree! I'm on Board!

Day 65: FREE FORM

For this free form, i thought I'd share this photo...This is documentation of the FIRST time I've ever successfully done this...Im pretty damn proud of myself. 

Day 64: PERSONAL SPACE:

Today Danger Dane Tinly and I followed through with our Personal Space project, or rather, our "Lagoon Monster" project. We Set up our project on the running trail on the shore of the lagoon nearest to Manzanita Village. We recorded an audio loop of crunching bones, chewing, swallowing, roaring, and burping noises, and played it through a speaker hidden in the bushes on the hillside opposite the lagoon, across the running trail. Just in front of the speakers hiding spot, we placed a sign with warnings posted all over, including an eye-witness sketch of the lagoon monster itself, as well an LA Times article with two new headlines reading "Lagoon Monster attacks campuses nationwide", and "Monster Strikes one Victim so Far". Closing off the running trail, we tied caution tape from the lagoon's fence to the sign. To top off the visual aspect of the piece, we laid a real cow Femur (nice and disgusting with pieces of meat and tendon intact) in the bushes, easily visible, as well as carved claw prints into the dirt trail, leading from the lagoon to the bushes. As people passed, we stopped them, and warned them of the risk in passing, and suggested that they stay away from the bushes, keep moving, keep their limbs away from the bushes, and to leave their food if they decide to pass. Most people didn't ask any questions whatsoever, and followed our instructions, obviously weirded out by the creepy sound effects. The funniest reaction we got was when an older woman walked by...listened to our warnings...and as she was walking away, stopped, turned, and asked; "Art department?". I guess it was that obvious...
Overall, I think our project received some great public reaction!

Week 9: ART SHOW

A couple weeks ago I doubled up on shows for a week, and will talk of one of those shows for this week. I went home on mothers day weekend a couple days early (leaving after class that thursday), and while I was home, decided to stop by my old high school and surprise a few of my favorite teachers. While on campus, I made a trip to the school's art building, and stopped by the ever changing gallery to take a look at some student work for the Art Major's final show (my high school actually offered a high-school "art major" program). I was very surprised at the high level of skill displayed in many of the pieces. There was an array of mediums on display, from sculpture, to pen and ink, to photography, and even a couple installation pieces. A couple of my favorite pieces were done by some of the younger students that I didn't know personally, who seemed to take their work less seriously, almost making for a more light-hearted viewer experience. One of these such pieces involved a video projection of a flip book, in which he make slight changes to random images, coming off as a surprise to the viewer.
It was pretty cool to see some of the pieces that the younger classes were doing for assignments that I had myself when I was enrolled in the same classes.

Week 9: PROJECT PROGRESS.

This week Danger Dane and I have focused on our personal space project. We have made some definite modifications to the piece, that should make for a more interesting public interaction. Initially, as out interactive impute, we were planning on being news reporters covering the eery presence of the lagoon monster, but upon reflection, we realized that repeating our "news" coverage on loop for the three hours would get super repetitive, so instead, we though that it would be way better to lay out some caution tape, and be security for the pathway near the lagoon. I don't want to go into too much detail before following through with it in a public sphere...but note to desiree...TRY to walk past us on tuesday.
Other than that interactive change, We have been refining our sound effects...I LOVE FREE SOUND PROJECT. a mixture of our own homemade sounds and some borrowed...sounding plenty creepy.
LOOK FOREWORD TO PRESENTING!

Day 63: LEAST FAVORITE PLACE?

Choosing a "Least Favorite" place is almost as difficult as choosing a "Favorite Place". I think this is because I try not to spend time in places that I truly dislike, or rather, I zone out the place if i really don't like it. One place, however, that I've never really likes, yet have been forced to spend a lot of time in, is Huntington Beach, CA. Dozens of surf contests a year are held in HB, and as a competitive surfer, this means many-a-long-weekend have been spent down there, surrounded by tourists. I feel like HB attracts the hicks of the California coast. To me, Huntington is an overcrowded, tourist-run highway town that prides itself on its polluted beaches, claiming itself to be the undisputed "Surf City". If it weren't for the fact   that most of the surf industry s located near HB, I wouldn't spend much of my time there at all. I get a very Fake vibe from the place every time I'm there...not my style.

Day 62: FAVORITE PLACE?

Choosing a "favorite place" is quite the difficult task. I love a ton of different places for different reasons. If I had to choose one place, however, I would have to say my hometown of Venice, CA. There are so many faces of venice that only show themselves after years and years of immersion. From the hardcore skate scene, to the raw, underground surf scene, to the boardwalk, to the flourishing art communities, to the hole-in-the-wall restaurants, to the vast diversity of people, every walk of life, profession, and attitude, Venice is truly a cluster-fuck of prepossessing grittiness. I've lived in venice my whole life, and I can honestly say that it took the whole 19 years for me to recognize and appreciate all of its aspects, not to say that I'm done soaking it up...I don't know if thats even possible. I didn't realize how influential growing up in Venice has been on me until spending time up here in Santa Barbara, only making my appreciation for it that much greater. Venice...Home Sweet Home.

Day 61: FREE FORM

For this free form entry, I think i just want to post a picture of my dogs for no reason other than that they are the shit. Meet Rory (left), and Beau (right). Rory is a german-shepherd and golden retriever mix, and Beau is a true mutt. I love them with all of my heart. 

Day 60: AlT. ID

Out of all the Alternate Identity presentations presented today, My favorite would have to be Mary-Beth's project, in which she took on the identity of a stereotypical MTV girl. She recorded a video of a mock audition tape for an MTV like "RealWorld", where she just talked into her computer about herself. As subtle of this project was, the presentation was awesome. Mixed in with the interview was footage of her doing all of the  things she talked about. Seeing Mary-Beth in class prior to the project, and then seeing the ditsy persona she took on, made for a hilarious clash that added to the worth of this project.

Day 59: CRITICAL EXAMINATION

When I think about how people portray themselves on various social networking sites, like Facebook, or for that matter, how I portray myself on Facebook, the themes of personal space and alternate identity are most defiantly prevalent. The whole idea of online social networking revolves are these very themes in both direct and indirect ways. Whereas the goal for some might be to portray themselves "as accurately as possible", directly corresponding to their identities, everyone actively seeks to presents information that they see "fit", whether the info is perfectly true to their identity or not, in a sense, creating an alternate identity in the process. People delete, or "untag", embarrassing photos, and "friend-request" thousands of people, falsely demonstrating who they are through "hyper-selectivity". One can easily look at a profile on Facebook and read what someone's portrayed identity is, however, this outwardly, publicly expressed identity isn't always the person's "true" identity (not only in the corny sense, but in the sense that they could easily be lying on many levels). As far as personal space goes, everyone would like to think that their is some very personal aspect of online social networking, but truth be told, anything that can be accessed by millions is the absolute opposite...total public space. Whether people realize that online social networking forces the "personal" aspects of identity together with the "public" sphere, or not, the very idea of online social networking seems to combine clashing concepts...but who knows, maybe thats why its so popular... i mean, I have a Facebook and am on it far too much.

Day 58: FAVORITES?

I would defiantly have trouble picking a favorite alternate identity piece out of all that was presented today, an even more trouble picking a least favorite, mainly because all of them were really cool in their own unique ways. If i had to pick a favorite, however, I would most likely choose Max Rutman's piece about highlighting his OCD tendencies. This piece was very simple and genuine, not trying to be more than it was, but rather, emphasizing a particular quality. Where most people seemed to like the part of his video where he removes gum from underneath his seat the most (ridiculous in its own disguising way), I found the most entertaining aspects to be the subtle adjustments made to groceries while shopping at Albertsons, and the small organizational adjustments made while in his room. These weren't necessarily narrated in the video, but did a great job at stressing the real aspects of the video that, upon close attention, were ridiculously humorous. His video had me cracking up for its duration. Bravo!

ALTERNATE IDENTITY AND FINAL DAY

Today's final exam was most defiantly fair and straight foreword. It was relaxing that kip was walking around and talked to us during the exam about our identities. As a response to today, however, i want to focus on my alt. identity:

For my alternate identity piece, I decided to have a couple friends, Michaela and Milana Vachuska, cover my arms in tattoos. My left arm is a full sleeve, covering from my wrist up to my shoulder. This piece was primarily done by Milana, who drew two sparrows with bright sun rays emanating up to my shoulder and dark, bold blue rays down my forearm. On the outside of my forearm, i got a "tattoo" that I've wanted for a while. Milana wrote the name of the street I've lived on my whole life in Venice, "Dudley Ave"in Old English font. Michaela proceeded to do all the swirly embellishments to connect the two pieces, truly making it into a sleeve. On the right arm, I told Michaela that i wanted something with the word venice in it, and gave her freedom to just go with it. She read my mind, and drew a small scenic landscape of the boardwalk (off of which i only live a few steps) with the word venice hovering in the skyline, framed in swirly embellishments.  Both of the pieces turned out awesome. The amount of public attention and recognition was FAR beyond anything I could have expected. Everywhere i went, heads turned, glances turned into lengthened stares, and best of all, upwards of 20 people asked when I got the work done, and if it hurt. Usually I played with them, and said "i got it finished up a couple days ago", and "it wasn't too painful", only telling them the truth if they didn't actually figure it out on their own. more than anything, its made me consider actually getting a tattoo in the near future. But we'll have to see about that. PICS BELOW

MY BROTHER

My brother, Sam Lewitt, was recently featured in an interview in Art in America. Super stoked for him!
Check out the interview and review below.

http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-opinion/conversations/2011-03-11/sam-lewitt-miguel-abreu-prosumer/


http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/reviews/sam-lewitt/

Week 8: WEEKLY DOCUMENTATION.

For this weeks progress documentation, I should be covering the alternate identity project, however, seeing that i am currently in my alternate identity, I would rather save the photos and description of the project experience for a day or two from now. At that point, I will have completed the project, and rather than having part of the documentation now, and the rest later, I think it'd be a better idea to wait until its all done and together before releasing it. regardless. I can talk about the project a little bit more in this forum. I have decided to go with the idea of getting a friend to cover my arms and parts of my upper body in tattoos (sharpied on), the majority of which are tats that I have actually wanted to get at some point or another. This makes the project almost a blend of an alternate identity and a suppressed, real identity. I had my friend, Michaela Vachuska, a very talented artist, and freshmen at UCSB, do the majority of the tattoos, allowing her to put her own spin on them, making me a sort of human canvas. As to not release any photos yet, I've decided to include some pictures of work that Michaela has done, mostly drawings. PHOTO DOC TO COME!

Day 57: FREE FORM FROM ALTERNATE PERSONA

This friday I went home to Venice for a couple of days to surf and kick it with the fam. On my way down I stopped to surf with my buddy in Oxnard. While changing, he showed me his new ink. Got his family crest on his ribs. Pretty cool piece. I think he said he was still going back for color detail though. I couldn't let him get one and up his count on me, so i figured when i got home I'd hit up my buddy jamie and see if he had a few hours to spare to do a piece on me. I got the name of the street i grew up on on my inner arm. Turned out okay. He's still learning, but has some skill. Might have to get it cleaned up a little, but not bad at all. Ill post a picture of it a little later once it stops swelling and the redness goes away a little. After Jamie finished me up, we cruised down to the skatepark and bumped into Justin "Beans". jamie inked him up a few weeks before, and the piece looks nuts. He got some lyrics tatted all the way down his left side, from his pit, to hip. turned out really clean. Already planning my next piece. If any readers out there wanna hook it up, Im your canvas!

Day 56: ARTIST?

If I could be any artist, of any genre, I'd probably want to be the front man of a Philadelphia underground hip-hop super-groups Jedi Mind Tricks (JMT), and Army of the Pharaohs (AOTP), Vincenzo Luvineri, better know as Vinnie Paz. Vinnie Paz is an Italian-America rapper from Philly that focuses his lyrics on topics such as conspiracy, war, corruption,  politics, as well as his rough childhood and family issues. I've been listening to both JMT and AOTP, as well as Vinnie Paz's solo work, for years now, and slowly but surly have been recognizing his genius. Often times, people seem to pigeon hole his genre of rap of simply thuggish and violent, but upon a close listening, the complexity and depth of his lyrics reveal themselves to those willing to work a little in the process of uncovering.

Jedi Mind Tricks - i against i

Jedi Mind Tricks- On the Eve of War

Jedi Mind Tricks- Put Them in the Grave

Day 55: SUPER-VILLAIN?

If I could be one super-villain, Id probably be the Joker. To tell the truth, if i was going to be a total douche-bag super-villain, I would at least want to be funny, and I think the Joker, in a strange way (and as proposed by his name), has a sense of humor, even if it is mis-lead. The joker I'm thinking of follows Jim Carey's portrayal, thus might be slightly skewed. He's got a pretty dope costume, a cool staff, and jokes, louse all  the bad stuff...not too bad. Its tough to chose a super-villain though because they never seem to win, and choosing which loser to be isn't a daily thing to strive for. Any-whoo, the Joker + Theo = the Thoker. thats me.

Day 54: SUPERHERO

If I could be any superhero, I would most defiantly be AquaMan. He's the shit. As a surfer, I feel that both AquaMan and I share a certain affinity with the ocean. We have a ton in common. He kicks it under the water, I kick it on the water. He talks to fish, I would like to do that (and talk sharks out of a Theo-snack). He wears a tight spandex-type suit, I wear a wetsuit...same thing. Basically we're the same person, although he might have an edge in the whole "live under water" thing. I would kill to be able to breath under water. No more would i ever have to worry about sketchy surfing situations where drowning lingers in the mind. Not to mention, dolphins? I want to talk to them. They seem like they could have a lot to say, and I want in. Lucky AquaMan.

Day 53: FREE FOR ALL

This past weekend was the Spring Extravaganza. I didn't really have very high expectations for it considering i really only like one of the artists that was scheduled to perform, however my favorite part of the live performance wasn't what I thought it'd be. Biking over to Harder stadium, all I could think about was how sick Talib Kweli would be. Talib is an insane semi-underground hip-hop artist from New York (He's worked with the likes of Mos Def, Common, and the Wu-Tang-Clan, just to name a few). I've loved Talib for a while, and his performance was all i expected it to be. He had great chemistry with the crowd, and even squeaked in a few of his inevitable political messages (getting the whole crowd to join him in a "Fuck Fox News" chant). Although Talib's performance was the most close-to-home in terms of my musical taste, who really stole the show, in my opinion, was Rusko's performance. Rusko is an English dustup DJ / producer that over the last few years has gained world-wide recognition. Although I was familiar with his stuff before the show, I never could have guessed how fun Dubstep would be to listen to live. He was unable to contain his own energy, jumping up and down like a 5 year-old, which most defiantly rubbed off on the crowd, starting a huge mosh-pit, that, by chance, I ended up in the middle of. he did a remix of the Tetris theme song that brought everyone to perhaps the highest point of energy of the day.

A great day to say the least.

Day 52: FREE FORM

For this Free-Form, I thought I'd Share a few doodles from my notebook for this class. These are super quick ones that are not even finished nor will ever be finished. I've never really shared doodles until recently...but Fuck it. WHY NOT? they're kind of an intersection of art and life i guess...or at least art and academia. Enough talk. 

Day 51: RESPONSE TO LAST LECTURE

Today in lecture we covered a ton of artists very briefly, giving us what seemed to be almost an overview of the many ways artists tackle the idea of "Art and life" as intersecting parts, rather than separate entities. Out of the many artists covered today, my favorites were the works of Chris Burden, Kenji Yanobe, as well as the strange works of Alan Kaprow. Along with these artists, we revisited "Sam" Hsieh, focusing on two of his pieces, one of which involved him not going indoors for a year in New York City, the other involving himself and another artist, Montano, being attached by an 8 foot rope for a year, not 

touching each other, and never being in separate rooms. Although i find the presentation on Hsieh's works, or rather, his lack of presentation, to be fairly boring, I take his pieces to be incredibly fascinating and mysterious, the mysteriousness being half of the interest. We finished class by watching clips from Louie Psihoyos' The Cove, a documentary shedding light on the horrifying slaughter of dolphins in a small cove in Taijii  Japan. We examined this film form an artistic standpoint, highlighting how the filmmaker had to artistically utilize his available resources under circumstances that seemed to make his task impossible. 

I thought the broad spectrum of works covered in todays lecture was fitting for out last lecture, and seemed to sort of tie a knot quite well.

Week 7: Art Show

For this week's art show, I went to a "open mic" night at this restaurant / bar down-town off of state street. Normally I'm not one to go these kinds of shows, considering it usually ends up being a fairly sad display of half-decent, half-shitty bands and solo artists that shouldn't quite be performing yet, but my buddy, sadly in one of the categories, not sugar coating it ( and because of this, ill just call him Frank), was performing for the first time. I went with him to show some support, and actually had a good time. He writes his own stuff, usually just him and his acoustic guitar and a mic, but for this occasion,  his roommate, a fairly skilled drummer, accompanied him on a small makeshift set. Although the music may have not been that amazing or anything, the vibes in the room were awesome. Everyone seemed to be there supporting friends, so they were all super into the show, cheering too much, never too little, which seemed to give the performers, including "Frank", a lot of confidence. hats off to "Frank" for getting up on stage and doing his thing!

Weekly Progress Documentation:

For this weekly progress documentation, Im not so sure whether to talk about the flash mobs, the alternate identity brainstorm, or the upcoming personal space projects. Since I already responded to the flash-mobs a few days back, and just spent two days worth of journal entries on the alternate Identity project, I might as well elaborate a little more on the Personal Space project.
-First of all, me and "Danger" settled on working together to recreate the presence of a lagoon monster by the shore of the Lagoon on campus (in front of the U-Cen). to start the process of the project, we filled out, and turned in, a disclaimer / approval form for the project...APPROVED! Super stoked that they don't hate (or at east will allow) the Idea of piles of chicken bones on campus.
-To further the progress of the project, we have started to plan out how we will start the cumulation of chicken...to start, looks like were going to be getting tons of protein. chicken with every meal im guessing. potentially a few trips to butchers to ask for they extra bones (not sure if it works that way...worth a try tho!)
-lastly, to start with the creepy sound part, we've found a good microphone that we can use to record some of our own sounds, as well as started to browse "FreeSoundProject" for possible sound bites.

Hope it all comes together!

Day 50: MORE IDEA DEVELOPMENT...

Some more Alternate Identity project development:
Im not too big on any of the ideas i just talked about in yesterdays post, however, to elaborate on one in particular, I would have to pick the second idea, that is, to take on the once heavily desired punk identity. This one would have more meaning than the other two, seeing that the identity was something that could have been a very real one for me had circumstances let it be so. I think this one could be pretty shocking as well, considering that when living in the dorms I see a lot of the same people everyday, friends or not, basically everywhere I go. These familiar faces, assuming they've seen me before, would probably notice such a dramatic change of style. I also feel like the nature of  "punk identity" is very "in your face", so to speak, so it would most defiantly provoke more public response than a more subtle change...however, Im still not so sure i like the idea that much, so I think I might keep brainstorming.

Day 49: IDEAS...ALTERNATE PERSONA

A few rough alternate identity ideas...just a stream of thought...not edited too much.
THREE: I was thinking it would be kind of a cool idea to change something super subtle for the 48 hour period, something that wouldn't be that noticeable unless people really paid attention. Im not quite sure yet as to what would best exemplify this, but something along the lines of changing from being a right handed person to a left handed person (maybe put a cast on my right arm so i couldn't even use it). I don't know about this though...sounds a little to simple tho, and would be more of a nuisance that anything else.
TWO: Another Idea i have is one that I've kind of wanted to do since the confession piece, and was originally going follow through with for the confession in a slightly different way. I wanted to take on the identity of a true punk rocker (ripped up / re-sewn with patches, big-ass mow-hawk, and waterer else somas to mind). This idea is rooted in my childhood fascination with my brother's raw, punker identity...aways kind of wanted to be like him in that way, why not now?
ONE: I thought it could be funny to be a raccoon for a few days...sorry for the reoccurring raccoon theme in my proposals, but its only natural when your dorm room overlooks the dumpsters, a raccoons late-evening playgrounds. I'm not so sure how I would do this...maybe just spend the days scrounging around by the dumpsters making a ruckus. The main problem with this ridiculous idea is that I would naturally have to break character at various times throughout the day and night.

Day 48: LINKS TO WORKS...

PUN: http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/04/week-one-project-documentation.html
NEXUS (TRUTH/FICTION): http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/04/breaking-news.html
ALTERED ACTIVITY: http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/04/day-10-switch-up.html
CONFESSION: http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/04/week-four-project-     documentation.html
NARRATIVE / SEQUENCE: http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/05/day-39-free-for-allnarrative.html
ACT OF KINDNESS:  http://thecircadianchronicles.blogspot.com/2011/04/day-27-random-act-of-kindness.html

Day 47: FLASH MOBS

Today in class we did four separate flash mob in various locations across campus. We started with a big game of duck-duck-goose in the center roundabout on the main bike-path on campus. Personally I didn't like this one. It didn't seem like much of a flash mob at, but rather just some people playing a game. There wasn't much of an element of surprise to it, and it didn't really get much of a public reaction, despite the large amount of passers by. My favorite one we did was the first time we did the handgun flashmob in the study area of the university center. Our thirty person class entered the U-Cen from different entrances, at scattered times. Once all of were in the same general area, sitting down, acting casual, two of us bumped into each other, resulting in a stare off turned "hand-gun" stand off. As soon as the rest of the class saw this, we all pulled out our "hand-guns" pointing them at each other, until after about a minutes time, Desiree let off the first "BANG!" We then all proceeded to "fire", falling off over the place, strewn about the room. A few random spectators decided to join in the battle, machine-gunning from their study areas. Once everyone was down and "Wounded", Maxwell and myself stood up, worried, yelled "What the F*&#!" and ran out frantically. This one got some really great public reception and a range of reactions, so much that we actually re-did in another location. As fun as this one was, I think today was enough flash mob for one man to handle.

Day 46: FREE FORM

for this free form, i think ill just post a doodle I doodled the other day.

Day 45: OTHER CLASSES?

Other than this art class, ArtSt 7a, Art and Life, I am taking Communications 89, Geography 12, and two freshmen seminars (a 16 unit total). My communications class deals with Theories of communication, which often times, seem pretty boring, but can apply to broad life encounters, and help with general understandings of daily interactions both with other people, and with media. In my Geography class, we focus on learning how to interoperate different types of maps, and learn various forms of both analogue (compass and map and ruler) and digital navigation. Sounded cool when I signed up, but by far my least favorite class. My freshmen seminars ended at week five, but were super interesting. One of them was taught by professor Hall, and was on the topic of Music in documentary and political film making. I loved this seminar. We watched countless clips of films, and the critically discussed the use of music, and how it is used to make the viewers feel certain ways. The other seminar was on the topic of the Cuban Revolution. I really didn't know anything about this topic in history, so this seminar was extremely informative, as well as interesting. We looked at the revolution from a few different perspectives, giving us a fairly well rounded understanding of its drives major players (namely Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara). I seem to be doing pretty well in all of my classes, and for the most part, enjoying them.

Day 44: LECTURE RESPONSE

Today in Lecture we focused on the theme of sequence and narrative. After briefly covering Davin Antin's basic theories of narrative, we looked at the many works of Duane Michaels, Jim Goldberg, Bill Watterson, Chris Marker, along with many others, looking at the diverse ways that narrative are approached. My favorite works that we looked at were Michaels' Alice's Mirror and Take One and See Mt. Fujiyama. Bothe of these pieces approached telling stories through small sequences of photos that play with the changing perceptions of the viewer, making for an almost active viewer experience, something not very common in the medium of photography. We ended class by looking at a short 27 minute film by Chris Marker entitled La Jetee. Kip prefaced this video as the inspiration for big hollywood movies like Terminator, so, naturally, it wasn't quite what I expected...but even better. The film consisted of stills, and a single video image, edited together with some great narration and subtle sound effects telling the story of a man who is the subject of human scientific experience with time travel, who visits his love throughout the past, yet cannot remain happily with her. At first, I was slightly apprehensive towards the editing of the stills, yet they grew on me throughout the short, and ended up, in retrospect, working perhaps better, and more moving, than had it been all video.

Week 6: PROJECT ELABORATION

For the Personal Space project, Im 99% sure that me and Danger Dane are working together on a project that is based around reconstructing the presence of a horrible lagoon monster. To follow through with this project, we are thinking about making a trail of bones (kip said it would be okay to use chicken bones so long as we didn't kill the chickens, but instead used food waste, not that killing a chicken ever crossed out minds) towards the shore of the lagoon in front of the University Center (where theres always foot traffic and sun-bathers). Near the bone trail, we want to hide a speaker (or hide, ourselves, with props with which to make noise) and play sounds of crunching and gurgling, the sounds one might imagine an eating lagoon monster might make. We think the sounds will attract a lot of attention, not to mention the bones would freak some people out. To take this project even further, we thought it could be crazy to hide, drenched in water, and walk out in front of passers by, starring eerily at the lagoon monster's "nest". could be a stretch, but could also be epic.

Day 43: CONSENT FORM

Filled out...ready to go...kinda.

Day 42: PERSONAL SPACE?

Three more personal space ideas:

One: Sea Monster: One idea I had was to make a card board cut out of sea monster, strap it to a surfboard, and paddle it across the lagoon around mid day when many people are eating on the outdoor seating area outside of the university center that overlooks the lagoon. I think if this is done properly, it would provoke some pretty funny reactions from the lunchtime spectators.

Two: Raccoon and hunter: For this idea, Danger Dane and I were thinking of collaborating in the portrayal of a raccoon hunt on campus. As residents of the dorms, we are witness to nightly raccoon scavenges, and fights. The raccoons have become both a menacing symbol of nighttime, as well as a staple to out dorm experience. Because of this, raccoons have found ways to permeate into the majority of our jokes / stories...so why not create a raccoon story for all those who don't have the privilege to see them like we do. One of us would "dress" like a raccoon, the other like a hunter with a big net, and chase each other around campus. I picture dane as the raccoon.

Three: Chicken Bone Monster: following the theme of Lagoon monsters, me and Danger dane (another collaboration idea) were thinking about staging what would seem like a scene straight out of an cheesily scary horror movie. We wanted to pile up a bunch of chicken bones (i guess we'd save the bones every time we eat chicken) into a path, leading from the path next to the lagoon, into the bushes, We would then be hiding behind the bushes with many different props to make gruesome, frightening, monstrous sounds. the combination of these sounds and the presence of bones, we hope, would catch peoples attention, and condition a "wierded out" response. I think, to take this project to the next level, we should post flyers around campus about the presence of a lagoon monster this spring, and to "Beware". This would for sure crank up the student interest level.

Day 41: FLASH MOBS?

I think the Idea of doing an on-campus flash mob as a class could be really fun and  interesting. Personally I find flash mobs that include singing / dancing to be kind of annoying, as they remind me too much of something out of high-school-musical (not that I've seen it...). What i do like, however, are the flash mobs that involve subtle, yet mass changes. Flash mobs that include freezing, although extremely common, and, now, unoriginal, seem to provoke the most interesting reactions, with the viewers immersed in a sea of human statues, rather than watching a dance, shocked. I think my favorite flash mob that I've seen was one that we watched in class last thursday. This flash mob (which isn't a true flash mob because its staged for an X-Box 360 commercial) involved a large amount of people pulling out their "hand-guns" (shaping their hands like guns), and facing off in an awkwardly tense stare down. I think this could be a fun one to try out somewhere like the U-Cen or Library

Day 40: MOVIE TALK

Hmmmm. One movie that i watched recently was American History X, the story of Derek Vineyards', former neo-nazi from Venice, CA, efforts to dissuade his brother from following the same violent, hateful path that he himself claimed as his own. I cant remember too many cinematic details, in terms of shots / pans / etc., however one shot that i distinctly remember as standing out cinematically was the infamously scarring, black and white,  "curb-stomp scene". More than the violent part of the scene itself, i distinctly remember noting how well done the following shots were. In these shots, the police come screeching to a stop on his street, guns drawn telling him to put his hands on his head. as the camera, pulled back, follows Derek from the perspective of his young brother. This scene bleeds a dark, ominous vibe, really capturing the horror of the demented events that just ensued.

Day 39: FREE FOR ALL...NARRATIVE

For today's "Free For All" journal entry I think I want to use the space to elaborate of my Narrative piece, as for last week's "work recap" entry, I hadn't yet finished my Narrative video edit and didn't want to share too much before it was done. Now that I have presented it to the class, and its in the past, i might as well write about it a little.
Right from the get-go, I pretty much knew i wanted to make a video, or montage of some sorts.  However when i thought of video narratives, i continuously was turned off by the possibility of a corny video story. I actually came upon the idea that i followed through while watching a surf movie which was based on a day in the life of one of the worlds best. I thought, seeing how most "day in the life" videos seem to be basically the same, just a camera following someone around, it would be funny to change it up, and make a video about a day in my life... through the travels, trials and tribulations of my shoes.
To follow through with this project, every time i left a location, putting on, or taking off my shoes, i took photos of the process, and every time i left my shoes somewhere for a period of time, i took photos of them. I then proceeded to edit these photos together in sequential order (including a few photos of my feet without shoes to illustrate the fact that my shoes are often left waiting, bored, while their companions are doing their own thing),  with title slides for the main "scene breaks" throughout my day.
I thought that it was pretty funny that representing my day through this perspective allowed what was actually quite an eventful day to transform into what seems like a total bore.
Heres the youtube link...

Day 38: FAVORITE NARRATIVE

In today's "power-critique", My favorite piece was done by Erika Frost. Her piece was a narrative about a young girl named Jenni. I should be more careful...Not a girl named Jenni, but a Half-Girl, Half-Cat, named Jenni. The piece was done in an almost-documentary-like style, with self-filmed interviews about life as a cat/girl, the daily struggles it entails, and her social perception. From her interactions with her roommates (mad at her for clawing the couch), to her feeble attempts to climb trees (referring to her often human limitation), to her minor difficulties with bike-riding, the interviews contained only what was necessary, and nothing that shouldn't have been included, not overdoing any aspect. The subtle comedy throughout the whole piece had me cracking up throughout the entirety of the video, leaving the most lasting impact. It sort of reminded me of a more childish version of a monty-python skit. 

Hats Off!

SEQUENTIAL NARRATIVE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f44IEQQAlKk

Day 37: RESPONSE TO LECTURE

Today in lecture we focused on the theme of personal narrative and spoken word. As always with a new topic, we defined spoken word, focusing on its diversity, inclusive of monologue, storytelling, performance, poetry, stand-up, evangelism, improv, talk-radio, teaching, persuasion, and so-on. The main focus of the lecture today, however, was the performance aspect. A handful of students got up on stage, one-by-one, to perform various spoken word pieces in front of the class. Of these student pieces, my favorite was the first, a piece about a girls urge to not be the "nice girl" anymore. Although these pieces were quite successful in their own right, they were the "warm-ups" for our primary guest performer, world famous spoken word artist, Beau Sia. Fairly Unfamiliar with spoken word performances, and having just learned of the diversity present in the art form, I didn't quite know what to expect. Sia's performance, however, was captivating at every moment, instantly turning my into a fan. He admitted to, in-a-way, using us a test mice for some new material he has never performed in front of an audience, making his strong performances even more impressive.

Week Five: PROGRESS CHECK

So for my Sequence / narrative project,  I decided to do a day in the life of me... seen through the eyes of my poor shoes. I don't want to explain it in too much detail as I am not quite done with it (still need to finish the edit), but actually taking the photos of my feet every few hours was pretty darn fun. Im planning on editing it together as a sort-of "slow-mo" flip book, with large gaps in time, still, however, covering the major events throughout my day. I wanna put in scene title cards as well. Not much to report without giving it totally away. I'll have it up tomorrow!

Week Five: ART SHOW REVIEW

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a show in downtown Goleta that some friends of mine put on to raise money for a charity / cause that they have been passionate about as of recent. The show was entitled "Save Naples". Naples is a fairly secret surf spot in Santa Barbara County, on some fairly undeveloped land, that is currently subject to potential development. Development at this beach would mean losing one of SB's last truly untouched, beautiful beaches. The show consisted of work (all of which was for sale), of all types. From paintings (some of Naples itself), to photography, to pottery, sculpture, and drawings, the show was a "hodge-podge" of work done by locals all for the purpose of raising both awareness and funds to stop the ruining of this beach. During the show, which lasted two nights, some local surfers / musicians kept the mood of the show fun and entertaining with jam sessions that lasted the entirety of the show. Part of the musical entertainment was my friend Catherine (or "Kat" as most know her), who sang with the band both nights. Although some of the work was truly awesome (I liked much of the photography of surfing on the california coastline), the vibe of the show, that of community and common cause,  is what made it a very enjoyable experience.
heres an article i found about the show.,,check it out!

http://www.independent.com/news/2011/apr/13/artists-join-forces-naples/?print

Day 36: THOUGHTS ON PERSONAL SPACE / ALTERNATE PERSONA ASSIGNMENTS

I'm pretty damn excited for these two projects. That doesn't mean I have the slightest clue as to what I might do for them, but brainstorming should be quite a "cluster-fuck" of fun ideas. Lets just Start (key word here is start) the process, shall we? Ok...Go!
Personal Space:
slip-and slide on grass along the bike-path? outdoor shower in a public space... shampooing and soaping up, the whole 9 yards? hang up my laundry to dry between trees? put up speakers (disguised in bushes), and have a loop of frightening animal sounds, and startling sounds playing, catching passers by surprise (lion roar, elephant honk, eagle squawk, beak attack, etc... the scarier the better)?...i kind of like that one. on the same track, do the same thing but with sounds that are just completely out of place, like the sounds of waves crashing violently, lightning, thunder, etc". I don't know, just a rough brainstorm without really knowing what the project is yet.
Alternate Persona:
switch up my routine, wearing my clothes when i surf, and a wetsuit when I'm out of the water for two days straight? Fake beard (not an obviously fake one), wrinkles, etc... basically make myself look like an old man for two days, walker and all. be a tree for two days (with branches and leaves? yikes i don't know about that one). punk rocker for two days...go all out (piercings, tat's, hair-do and all).
JUST a start. The wheel has only just begun churning.

Day 35: RESPONSE TO CHAP 9 McCLOUD

In the last chapter of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, the concepts covered throughout the entirety of the book, or comic, are wrapped up, highlighting the importance of understanding how comics work. McCloud, in this chapter, states that the common thread throughout nearly all forms of visual communication is the inability for the messages to be understood in the exact, thorough way that they were intended in the communicator's (or for that matter, the artist's) mind. He describes the messages as having to survive a "journey" through barriers existing between communicator and receiver, and that when artist's master their medium, they are, in fact, mastering the ability to reduce the affects of these unwanted barriers. Another way to lessen the detrimental effects of these barriers, as McCloud proposes, is to learn, and understand the workings of the given medium. Comics, with their usage of mixing media, empty space, closure, etc, have many hurdles to jump before being fully comprehended by the viewer, however, this chapter proposes that the knowledge expressed throughout the previous chapters can lead to greater understanding of the art-form, and thus, greater appreciation for its many complexities.

Day 34: NARRATIVE IDEAS?

IDEA I:
I was thinking about maybe incorporating a song into video narrative. I would pick a song that i feel like tries to tell a story, and attempt to capture the story through video images that may not seem so obvious, but more on the obscure side. Hopefully these images would in a way capture the story in the song. Im not so sure about the legalities of using a recorded song, but, an idea none-the-less.

IDEA III:
I could take pictures of my shoes in all the different locations that they have been throughout a day in my life, and compile them in sequential order, in a video format (or even film a few seconds in each location). What may simply seem like a flashing sequence of the same shoes in different places, it would capture the passing of time and the movement through time.

IDEA III:
I could re-wax my surfboard, taking pictures with every 10 strokes of wax, capturing images of the buildup of wax into eventual bumps (hard to envision if you don't surf). when, placed in sequential order, and  played back and forth, the buildup and breakdown of the wax could be a cool visual representation of the passing of time, construction and destruction.

Day 33: FAVORITE ARTIST?

Although it's hard to pinpoint a single favorite artist, I would have to say my favorite at the moment is an Italian graffiti / mixed media / stop motion artist who goes by the name of "Blu". I came across his work during an english class i took during my senior year of high school when my teacher showed us a video of a mural he did in germany. Since then, I've followed Blu's website, always looking for his newest work. What I like so much about his work is its raw nature, and how he successfully brings graffiti, something that covers the streets of my hometown neighborhood, into a new light. His works come alive through his stop animation, in a way, transforming average city blocks, or building's walls, into surreal universes, where shapeshifting, or for that matter, anything, can happen. Another thing that really impresses me about his work is the scale of projects he tends to take on. while his drawings and still pieces can be incredible, both visually, and in size, his stop motion pieces often span across whole city blocks, covering entire sides of buildings. The time and effort put into these pieces blows my mind. Heres the link to his website. I Highly recommend you check him out.  http://blublu.org/.



Here's one of my favorite of his videos, although there are many more on the site (link above)

Day 32: FREE FORM

Sometimes people bug me. Have you ever had a conversation about music with someone who simply has no idea what they're talking about? So fucking annoying. Im not saying that just because someone has different musical taste than me, they annoy me... that would be ridiculous. What I'm talking about is when someone who has never given any real attention to certain genres of music tries to act like they know what they're talking about, often discounting the genre as "not real music". For me, this conversation seems to always be about Hip Hop, debatably my favorite genre of music. Im not talking about mainstream, popular, excuse my french, but, bullshit version of hip hop. The genre has a real history, and goes much deeper than the sad representation that plays on the radio. When people who don't listen to, or for that matter, study the genre beyond that which they hear on the radio or see on mtv (in my opinion the most ridiculous television station around), try to act like they know what hip hop is all about, and that it's the same, "idiots talking about money, babes, and guns, with no skill", thats what ticks me off. I urge all of you "haters" out there to look a little deeper before opening your mouth and making yourself seem like a musical ignoramus, stereotyping artwork based on the needle-point tip of a monstrous iceberg. A musical Bigot. Open your ears a little. you don't have to change your opinions, thats not fair to ask, but please, i repeat, P L  E A S E back up your opinion based off real musical research, otherwise your opinion is, to tell the truth, a quite-offensive "non-opinion".
Here's some food for thought:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ctpic0VhrA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nVzSr3yDcA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi7phK5zp8I

Day 31: RESPONSE TO CONFESSIONS DAY THREE

Out of todays confessions, my favorite was done by Andrew Munoz. For his piece, he edited together the sounds of someone walking through the woods, including sounds of birds, insects, bears, and the ground crunching under-foot. To present the sound, we all sat in the room with the lights off, the room blacked out into complete and utter darkness (with the exception of a quick burst of light when the door opened to let in a late classmate), and listened to it through surround sound speakers. His confession was the he was, and still is, afraid of the dark. He told a story that marked the start of this fear. When he was 6 he wandered off into the woods on a camping trip at night, only to be found hours and hours later by the rangers, crying, only feet from a family of bears. His presentation made for a truly unique viewer experience. Rather than simply listening to his confession, or showing us what happened visually, he succeeded in putting the viewer in a seemingly vulnerable position, pulling out the same kind of feelings of vulnerability that he may have felt, leading to his confessed fear. This may have been my favorite confession out of all that we have seen because of this very experience aspect. hats off!

Day 30: RESPONSE TO TODAY'S LECTURE

Today in lecture Kip focused on the broad theme of Personal Narrative. We determined that personal narrative is distinguished by its basis in truth, its inclusivity of signifying details, its non-transferable qualities, as well as its ability to allow the audience to feel empathy towards the story and its components. We then proceeded to look at various people and narratives that have been especially resonant throughout history, such as on the topic of the Holocaust, the massacre at Tienanmen Square, Rosa Parks, and Palden Gyatso, all or which the basis of endless numbers of powerful narratives. We then looked at the work of Sally Man, photographic narratives documenting the aging and relationships of her children, followed by the work of Lynda Barry, with her piece entitled "The Aswang" (from One! Hundred! Demons!), highlighting the childish, yet dark relationship between three generations of a family. My favorite piece that we looked at today was the narrative by David Sedaris entitled "6 to 8 Black men" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYdpte1W0vk). This piece takes narrative in its simplest form, and in my opinion, hits the nail on the head (sorry for bring so cliche...truly). I laughed my ass off during this piece, and even emailed the link to my dad as soon as I got out of class.

Week Four: ART SHOW

This weekend I had to go down to San Diego for a surf competition, so on my way down south from Santa Barbara, I stopped in my home town of Venice. During the short time that i was home, i went to a friend of mines small art opening he held his house. A current student of photography at Brooks institute, he decided to invite a small group of friends and family over to display what he has been working on. My friend, the photographer (who asked that I not use him name in this write-up), focused much of his photography on images on Downtown Los Angeles, attempting to show the contrast in dark, filthiness, as well as random beauty. My favorite image, Untitled, was taken from within dark alley, looking up against the side of an overflowing, fluid-leaking dumpster, with the sun just overhead, the overflowing trash casting unique shadow effects against the bright sun as a background. All of his shots were in black and white, and were blown up to be at least my height, and just as wide. At this scale, it was often times difficult to even make out that the shots were of common city scenery, making for many abstract interpretations amongst many other viewers, as well as myself. It was cool to go to a small show of a close friend's work, allowing me to see his work that i would have otherwise not known he had been making.

Week Four: PROJECT DOCUMENTATION.

This week we focused on finishing our confession pieces, and presenting / critiquing them to the class. The project that i followed through with was the one that i alluded to in last weeks "project documentation post". My confession, in a nut shell, was that I am still bitter about something that happened to me when I was five years old. To perform my confession, I stood in front of the class, wearing awkwardly-fitting children's clothes, and vented. To prepare for the "venting", I simply wrote down a couple major points that i should touch on, like the story of what  actually happened (this little bastard threw a metal fire truck toy at my head for no fucking reason), and how I met him over ten years later and still hated him without even really knowing him. before presenting, however, I didn't really "practice" the performance, for i felt that the more natural my expression was, the better, and more "real" of a confession it would be". Just as I didn't rehearse the rambling, I also refrained from trying on the small shirt i wore before the presentation. I knew it was small, but didn't know how awkward it would feel, making for a palpable level of tension between me and my wardrobe. My idea behind the small clothes was to represent the awkwardness, and childishness of holding a grudge of such an immature nature, into adulthood (Ironically, the most awkward part of the clothing wasn't wearing it in front of the class, but, instead, going to the thrift store to find it...in a way, that almost made part of my confession public). The language i used in the "speech", chalk full of "F-Bombs" and such, was very adult language, contrasting with the clothing...A very intentional contrast. Here are some pictures (Courtesy of "Danger" Dane) taken during the performance...

Day 29: RESPONSE TO RAUSCHENBERG.

After reading Tomkins'  piece on Robert Rauschenberg, I was left slightly confused as to the unique qualities of his work. I understood that he really focused on changing his work, in terms of medium of painting, the materials, as well as his attention to the fine line between art and life, however, unlike the other artists that we have read about, with very distinct, dare i say, "mission statements", this biography didn't seem to be quite as clearly laid forth. Upon review, however, i began to realize that his very questioning of the medium, and all aspects of his work, including the meaning, is what truly separates him from other painters of the time. Rather than repeat a theme, or explore the depths of a theme in series of works, Rauschenberg strives to simply "move on". He explains this in an interesting way towards the end of the article. "When a painting is finished it's already something I've done, no longer something I'm doing, and it's not so interesting any more...The point is, I just paint in order to learn something new about painting, and everything I learn always resolves itself into two of three pictures". This quote in a sense sums up my still slightly fuzzy understanding of him and his work.

Day 28: RESPONSE TO McCLOUD 7 AND 8.

In Chapters seven and eight of McCloud's Understanding Comics, two main topics stand as the central focuses. In Chapter 7, McCloud focuses on revealing the common ties between the art of "Comic"and all other forms of art. He suggest that all art consists of six components -- Idea / purpose, form, idiom, structure, craft, and surface -- which all together can be applied universally, with emphasis on various aspects for artists with different goals. In Chapter 8, McCloud brings in an aspect of comics that has, until this point, been left out of the equation, that is, the subject of color. He highlights the two main components of the struggle "Comic" has had with color throughout it's history, that is, the problems with "commerce" and "technology", and how these two restrictions have shaped the artistic use of color in major ways. He also focuses on the different uses of color, from the "four colors process" to color as an iconic / symbolic tool, to color as a means to express the subjective, and how they are part of conscious decisions that the artists make to convey different "vibes".  I found the notion that the cost, as well as the available printing technology, has dramatically shaped the use of color, with all of its potential as an artistic tool, as well as laid forth a context for situational creativity, very interesting.

Day 27: RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS

Today I was down in Encinitas for a surf contest. I was on my way to the beach in the early, pre-light hours of the morning, when i stopped at a local coffee shop along the side of the Pacific Coast Highway. Outside the coffee shop was a homeless man, asking for change to get a coffee. At that early hour, there weren't many other people passing by. This meant that, no matter how successful he was at asking for spare change, a cup of coffee was a goal that would take hours to achieve. I thought that rather than giving him my little change, only helping him get to his eventual success of a morning cup-a-joe, I'd just go ahead and get a cup for him. I came to this conclusion after ordering my coffee, and just before the lay behind the register finalized the same, I slid back out the front door, and asked him how he took his coffee, and proceeded to order him a cup. Upon exiting the shop,and handing him the hot, steaming large cup of coffee, almost dramatized by the cold, foggy morning that it was.  His eyes lit up, as he responded with an earnest "god bless you". A simple cup of coffee might not have done all that much in the long run to affect his life or anything, but making his challenging day that much better, and that much easier most definatly  had an effect on the both of us.

Day 26: CONFESSIONS DAY TWO

Today in class another bunch of confessions were displayed. I would have to to say the piece done by Maxwell about alcohol abuse. Max obviously took much time and effort to dial in every detail of his performance, making for a truly unique, powerful experience. With the lights turned off, all except a spotlight on the center of the room, the classroom was transformed into the unique locations of his scenes. He started off his piece pinning up a painting of two wine bottles, one pouring onto another, and proceeded to act out a scene taking place back when he was 14, an early introduction to the consequences of alcohol abuse. He then proceeded to fast foreword to present day, acting out a scene in which the role were reversed, where he now was the one being drunkenly "cared" for. This piece hit home with nearly everyone in the room, showing an all too familiar occurrence in our nearby Isla vista.  I personally got chills during his performance.

Day 25: FREE FOR ALL

Free for all...what to write. I could write about how much work i have to do, but that would just be complaining. I could write about how I can't seem to do any work right now, but then I'd seem lazy. I could solve my problems through a facebook status, but then I'm begging for attention. I could start stressing, but thats no use. I could think about my dogs, my home town, and how much i miss it all, but I don't intend to come off unhappy. I could get worked up about this weekend and the contest im competing in, but i dont wanna get nervous. I could work ahead, but thats not my style. I could stay inside, but id rather not. I could mope about, but thats not helping. I could go eat. but im not that hungry. Drink? not that thirsty. eeeh. Ill just write about what i could write about...or maybe just go to sleep. Im tired.

Day 24: CONFESSIONS, DAY 1

Today we held a "crit" day ("Critique day") in class, in which about half of the class presented their confession pieces. A thought the great majority of the pieces were really interesting, making it hard to choose a favorite.  However, one piece that stood out to me as particularly powerful was the piece about the father-daughter relationship. In this piece, the artist set up a dinner place setting, equipped with a salad, with a heart shaped bell-pepper on the top, a wine glass filled with water, a candle, a small pile of sand, and lastly, utensils wrapped in a two page letter. As a visual piece (what it was intended to be), it seemed to make a statement about loneliness, and in a sense, heart-ache, with a single setting, untouched and alone. The letter was long and dense, so the majority of the class didn't read it at first. The artist, however, decided to read it after everybody had a look at the display. The letter, eloquently written, was addressed to her father, spilling the artists emotions and feeling about her fathers unhealthy habits, and how she resents the fact that they have never had a strong relationship, and how she has longed for one her whole life. By reading her letter, the artists transformed an already strong visual piece, into an extremely powerful performance piece. Looking around the room as the artist read her letter, nearly every member of the class was completely fixated, many even visibly trying (rather unsuccessfully) to hold back tears. A truly passionate piece, well thought out, and well executed.