Television & Art: I'm Really Arty

I had some spare time this week so I decided to enter a contest I found for the Flight of the Conchords. It's a poster contest, and although I can't beat Jemaine's first poster, I gave it a go. please checkout the Wiki Website for the contest and encourage Bret and Jemaine to pick mine. I had some difficulties uploading the image so it's not the best quality, but hopefully it will just encourage those who see it to want to see more.

Movies: Oscar Picks 2009

Everyone and their mother is announcing their picks for this weekend's Oscars airing Sunday. For the most part it seems pretty cut and dry what the majority's favorites are, but I still have some thoughts before the academy officially announces their winners.

Best Picture
Slumdog Millionaire will win for best picture. I only saw 2 of the films nominated but I think I choose well. I though Danny Boyle's Slumdog was just a very beautifully told story that people could get excited about and celebrate as a great film. The actors, the music, the direction, the screenplay just combined into something magical and isn't that what cinema is supposed to be? Plus, it was the only film to end with a Bollywood dance number, and I think that might be a first for an Oscar Best Picture Winner.

Best Director
Behind every great piece of art there's the mastermind who made it what it is. Give it to Danny Boyle who made something fresh, new and exciting and not just another story told really well. There's a balancing act happening in this film and without the right director, it might never have been. Who would have though the Trainspotting director would be the fan favorite at the Oscars only a decade later.

Best Actor
This is one of the few categories that raises a difference of opinion. It seems to be between Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler and Sean Penn for Milk. My pick goes to Mickey Rourke. I had a dream last night that I was Mickey Rourke's personal assistant. As bizarre as this dream was the one job that I had in the dream was to find him a new dog since he just lost his 18 year old dog. Call this pick for personal reasons seeing as how I feel for him having recently lost an old dog recently as well. Nevertheless, this was a right film for him to come back with.

Best Actress
I loved cringing along with Anne Hathway in Rachel Getting Married, but it is undoubtably Kate Winslet's turn to win. She's been nominated 6 times! Throw the girl a bone. I have always been a big Kate Winslet fan going all the way back to Titanic and am so excited for her this year. I haven't seen The Reader, yet, but if it's any good as people say it is I may be missing something worthwhile. Ricky Gervais told Kate Winslet in and episode of Extras (amazing show) something along the lines of "If you do a Holocaust film you'll get an Oscar." As if I didn't have enough reasons to love Ricky already, I think he's psychic.

Best Supporting Actor
Heath Ledger gave an inspired performance in The Dark Knight that will be remembered in cinema for a long time. This Oscar will make his star shine even brighter.

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz stole the show in Vicky Christina Barcelona. She was crazy yet loveable. I loved every moment of her onscreen time which is why I pick her. However, the Oscar may go to one of the other women who are lesser known but with standout roles like Viola Davis for Doubt or Taraji P. Hensen for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. But Penelope plays so well the crazy ex you never want to meet because you're afraid she'll kill you in your sleep or poison your coffee, but she'll always smile at you.

There are a million more categories I could ponder, but these are the ones I'm most interested in. I know Wall-E will win Best Animated Feature, and the short before Wall-E called Presto will win best animated short. I hope The Class which is a French film will win best Foreign film. Slumdog should win for best adapted screenplay and just maybe Wall-E will win for original screenplay. And if The Dark Knight gets recognized for Cinematography, the night will be a success (that movie deserved more recognition).
However, the Oscars aren't just about the winners. There's a lot to look forward to. For example High Jackman hosting, the fashion should be fabulous and the secret presenters will be revealed. It could be great, it could bomb. Robert Pattinson is supposedly presenting, that's enough of a reason for me to turn in.

Books & Movies: 'Twilight' - Fourever Fourteen

Not since I was a primal teen anxiously waiting for whatever beautiful face that lit my fire at that moment to release a CD or movie have I felt such excitement towards a phenomenon quite like this. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't have prepared myself for the whoosh of ecstasy that would come when my small interest in a book captured my complete attention for over a month. Of course I'm talking about Twilight, the new movie and the book saga by the author Stephanie Meyer. I may be a little late to the party since this is nothing too new, but in reality my timing couldn't be more perfect. Since I devoured the first novel, Twilight, nearly 4 weeks ago, I haven't been able to turn on my TV without seeing TV spots for the movie, interviews or gossip (especially revolving around the irresistible Robert Pattinson who play Edward the vampire). The buzz of the media and fan frenzy around this phenom has turned me into a ravenous Vampire devotee, or Twilighter. The time that I haven't spent running through the remaining novels was easily supplemented. Vampires seem to be coming out of their shadows more and more so I picked some other vamps like HBO's show True Blood or the campy vamps from Christopher Moore's "You Suck," another novel, to break up the monotony of our love sick Edward Cullen and Bella Swan in my 2,000 some paged journey through Twilight. About an hour ago I read the last line of the last book of the series, Breaking Dawn. Surprisingly I feel closure already from the simple two words "The End." It's as if a string has been cut, but I don't want to go anywhere. Why the hell would I?! The much anticipated movie comes out in 4 days and I'm still squealing with delight whenever I find some photoshot with the cast or watch the trailer again on my iPod.

I'll admit that I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading the pages of Twilight, but I felt compelled to give it a try. From the second that our heronie, Isabella Swan (or just Bella as she prefers), describes a mysterious group of beautiful teens that we find out to be secret vampires sitting at a lunch table admist an otherwise normal high school, I was in it. It's like the characters dazzeled me right from the pages. This was a fun ride to watch as the human Bella befriends and falls in love with one of them by the name Edward, while he tries his best to avoid her temptation while watching her like a guardian angel. The perils of a human/vampire love story, he wants to suck her blood! Love is hard leap for either character to take when their relationship seems to be a dead end in every direction (but one - turning her into a vampire too!), but they try to overcome it by constantly reminding the reader that they love each other, over and over and over. Meyer sets up her love story to liken a timeless love story like Romeo and Juliet. I can't see it being taught in a high school classroom, but the reader can't help but wonder - could they overcome the odds? If I didn't know something more exciting would come with these "other" vampires that I saw in the trailer, I don't know if I would have made it to the end. The climax was short, but worth it.

When I started New Moon, the second book, things seemed like more of the same, that is... until... Edward leaves. Gasp! Commence the most frustrating chapters of the saga when Bella turns into a complete zombie, completely numb and insociable without her other half (great role model for teen girls). I nearly wanted to reach into the book in shake her, or just skip ahead, he had to come back at some point.... right? This noticeable void in the book without Edward was challenged with the appearnce of an old friend, Jacob Black. We met him in Twilight as an awkward teen who informed Bella of the Cullen's history. I have to admit I felt bad for him, having an adorable case of puppy love for Bella (no pun intented as he soon becomes a Werewolf). I'll admit that Jacob is a good break from Edward, His werewolfiness almost as cool as being a vampire, almost. The end of the book brought both relief and panic as Edwards reappears in the near end. But their reunion is short lived when they have to stand before the odd and old Volturi vampires from Italy, to be judged. As flamboyant as they are, they left something to be desired, leaving us with a flat ending, but still drooling for the third.

Eclipse is the pleateau of the series. We feel the strain of Bella as she's torn between mortal status and wanting to join her beloved as immortal. She goes through heartache over Jacob as expected as he paces along side her like a friend through thick and thin, even though he never really had a chance at being her mate. Standard operations are in place now. Of course Bella's life is threatened because of her mortality and her involvement in the supernatural, frenzy ensues, something will happen, of course. All the meanwhile she's preparing for graduation, married life, vampire life, college life and having to leave her family and friends soon. Sounds like she's got a lot on her plate. The one aspect of this book and the others that keeps me interested is the rest of the Cullen family. Throughout the previous books and this one, we're introduced slowly to the clan. First of course there is Carlisle, the father, the maker, a compassionate vampire who encourages his family to be "vegetarian" by feeding on animals instead of humans. Then there's Esme, the mother; Alice, the psychic; Jasper, the mood changer; Rosalie, the beauty; and Emmett, the muscle. Each member has their moments in the books offering a brief break from modern times to flash to their "changing" moment, the start of their new life. My favorite "change" of course being Edward's in book 1. The fact the he was from Chicago, no less in the exciting early 1900s, I can't help but feel attached... insert *swoon...* Edward... The challenge comes when unwanted old friends return, with new friends. This would all be so simple if Bella was just a vampire already!

Then there was Breaking Dawn, the final installment of the long saga. Bigger than the rest in size, promising plenty of resolved story lines. It's hardly a secret these days, so I don't feel like I'm giving anything away, but in the early pages of the book our two lovers finally tie the knot. Too bad for team Jacob, but seriously, he's a big boy... The two newlyweds take an exotic honeymoon which commences the second most anticipated moment of the series... yada yada yada... you fill the blanks. That's pretty much all Meyer gave us; more for the imagination I suppose. For the first time in the series the book switches between the narration of Bella and Jacob. Getting to see things from the innocent Jacob's point of view was a relief, I could only imagine the horrific drama that would be meticulously detailed if that section was indeed in Bella's voice. It's only too bad for this book that Meyer decided to do her worst and completely jump the shark about halfway through. There's a "birth" scene that begins with someone vomiting "a fountain of blood." The morbid turn of events left some readers, including myself, to liken it to something out of Rosemary's Baby instead of our peace loving Cullen Family. However, with just a couple more flips of the pages there's relief again and all the drama is suddently gone, leaving us high and dry for all but a moment. The rest of the book for some reason looked dramatically different in my head than the beginning (going all the way back to Twilight and up till now). The following scenes played out like some overly drawn out TV drama, in their 4th season, dying to cut the strings soon, contracts almost up. This includes handfuls of new characters and cheesy special effects. I can't say I didn't enjoy it, having our heros go through just one more life threatening event, for old times sake. I can tell that Meyer tried really hard to end things in decent taste and satisfying her bloodthirsty fans, but you can't please everyone. I put down my copy of the book after I fawned over the last moments I would get of Edward and Bella and sighed. It was over...

It's over right? Like the drug that Edward was to Bella and vice versa, Twilight became my drug. Even if my supply was halted at the end of the fourth book until this Friday's release of the movie, there has to be more to read. I scowered the blogs and came away with a new hit. Midnight Sun is the early version of Twilight that focuses on Edward's point of view. Although not an official release of the story, the half finished manuscript that once was safe in Meyers hands leaked onto the internet. Although artistic integrity should be given to Meyer, how could she think to withhold us of this delightful retelling of our favorite lovebirds! I don't like reading 175 pages of .pdf files on my computer, but apparently it's my only option. I like to think of it as Edward's Blog, he would have one instead of a romantic diary style book like Bella. It's the perfect ying to her yang, they complement each other (these stories). The drug sustains my desire to go out and buy the movie guide that I've been eyeing, embarrassingly, at the book stores. But the fourteen year-old in me remains by putting up a poster in my room and secretly wearing a Twilight shirt under my hoodie. Believe me, this girl is screaming with anticipation in my head and will not let up till I see the movie. I don't plan on going to the midnight show with the other teen girls, but Friday morning at the earliest screening I will be there in the theater ready to be dazzled.

Photos from France

You may be asking ... 'hey'd where'd you go for so long?'
well, beginning in April, I had my thesis exhibition (photos from that coming soon). Immediately after I had the BFA exhibition at the Krannert at the University of Illinois.
The same day as the commencement ceremony for my class, the 2008 class of the college of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Illinois, I was on a cross Atlantic flight to Paris, France.
I stayed for a month in Avignon, in the South of France. I had a wonderful time and now that I'm back, and have finally organized my thoughts, I have pictures!

the picture below is my personal favorite from the entire trip. It's from a cemetery in Montmarte, Paris. I think I might have taken a photo of an unexpected friend. This photo has not been altered at all.

Click on this link to be redirected to my site which has all the links to my slideshows.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

For Elvis

Diptych of two short videos made March 2008. Brand new work!
the youtube version will loop 4 times, playing side by side once, a detail of each and once more side by side.

some inspiration

Christian Dior Fall 2008 collection
I love this makeup and general look!

Santogold "L.E.S. Artistes"
Uploaded by bluntedsoul