trying to get a hang of this whole Painter thing (as in Corel) and damn, this shit is hard. why are there so many brushes??  why do they all have weirdo textures? WHY is OpenCanvas not available for mac??

I feel like a digital painting granny for not knowing the answers.

hip-hop

It was tuesday. I ambled into the dance studio with a grin and without a clue, thinking the class would be my magical gateway to regular exercise and healthy living. I was wrong.

Once participants had assembled (their seemingly un-hip, un-hop appearances assured me that I would fit in), the instructor, silently and without preamble, launched the class into a spirited dance warmup. And by "spirited," I mean serious. Coordinated, practiced, actually dancing, shit you see on TV, warmup. I hobbled in circles in the back of the room like Quasimodo.

The rest of the class continued in the same fashion, through Crunch Barrage and Complicated Choreography, with everyone (including the un-hip appearing folks I mentioned earlier) replicating the instructor's movements and demonstrations with astounding kinesthetic acuity. Not knowing any better than to see the whole hour through, I stupidly flailed about for the rest of the class. Even glimpsing my own gangly figure in the mirror (looking especially ridiculous from the attempts at dancing) wasn't enough to convince me to leave, thinking the situation would somehow improve.

The hour eventually ended. The instructor avoided me, perhaps from embarrassment or irritation. I scurried away to the locker room, cursing the online description of the class being "for all levels" and "open to non-dancers." The moral of the story is: Next Time, Just Freaking Email The Instructor And Ask First.

Well, the lure of learning how to "break it down" and "rip it up" still hasn't subsided, and they failed to fully convince me that I don't have what it takes to declare Dance Battle on someone someday (my true aspiration). Maybe I'll go back next week.

and then i drew some ribs

未来の破片 - asian kung fu generation

get ready for some deformed hands!!

... i also decorated some more altoid tins. (the glue is still drying on the safety pin one)

why are my hobbies so stupid??

sharon

my favorite character from Battlestar Galactica <3

I Love You, Camera. part III

Canon Canonet QL17 GIII

I simply adore this camera. I picked it up at the San Luis Obispo swap meet (the first and only time I've been, since it requires waking up at the crack of dawn on Sunday) for $5 in absolutely beautiful cosmetic condition with film loaded inside. At first I was afraid it was cursed, since I lost two of the first four rolls of film I shot with it (lost to the longs drugs/CVS changeover, another in the postal system), but since then I've shot three more rolls that have come back fine. 

Since I never bothered to find a battery for it, the shutter speed and aperature settings are completely manual. Focus is also set this way with another ring on the lens barrel, helpfully indicating distance in feet as well as meters. It is extremely forgiving and takes beautiful pictures, and I've gotten better at it with each roll I shoot.

sketchbook assignments

some definite anatomical errors in the second one, but i like it mostly. :)
(drawn from photographs 'cause I'm a cheater)

shameless materialism!

my boots came in today!!! once again i'd like to proclaim my love for zappos; i ordered them last night around 8pm and they were delivered this morning at 10!

aren't they beautiful? <3 i guessed right on the size and they fit perfectly, but it's funny that the overall effect of the contrast stitching is to make my already-small feet look even smaller. oh well :P 

here is the version that urban outfitters used in their august 2010 catalogue:

they look lovely on the model but i didn't think i could pull them off. ;P

some gorgeous $280 Frye boots that i can't afford:

and in an attempt to get this boot/shoe-lusting frenzy out of my system, i doodled some beautiful flats that urban outfitters had on sale (but were out of my size):

inane ramblings

I love zappos!! :D they upgrade me to free two-day shipping all the time. I've been looking into boots to buy for my trip to Ireland in a few weeks and wanted something rugged, comfortable, but still stylish enough to wear in public on a regular basis. I was looking into doc martens.. trying to figure out what makes them so special, but then the Bass "monica" boots I was also considering were shown in an urban outfitters catalogue from past winter! of course that sealed the deal for me because deep down I'm a wannabe hipster.

other boots I was looking at were a few pairs by Frye, but of course were out of my price range.

I would post pictures but I'm on the press right now using my phone. we've been waiting here, bored as hell for the last hour because the "journalists" wanted to wait for the results of the basketball game. we don't even have files yet. how's that for inane?

thank you card for a job interview.
(hopefully) many more coming

two words: auditory. orgasm.

radioshack sucks.

---

on a much happier note, the very nice man at Jim's Campus Camera in downtown san luis obispo took a look at my Rollei A110 (see several posts down) and determined that it was in fact functioning properly. :D  he tried out a S27PX instead of the V27PX that I had; it wouldn't fit in the battery carrier but fit directly into the battery chamber fine, and after that the metering system started working.  he even fixed a cute little mod for me with gaffers tape so the chamber wouldn't be exposed. :)

 can't wait to start shooting!! <3

I Love You, Camera. part II

Minolta Autopak 460TX

This charming 1979 camera was my second 110 film camera. I had been searching Ebay for Vivitars, Kodak Instamatics, and other Autopaks for a 110 camera with more manual control and functionality than my Superheadz Ikimono (blog entry on this one later) and found the 460tx to be the perfect fit.

With its simple focus distance slider, 3 exposure mode (daylight, cloudy, flash) settings and telephoto zoom, it's a great point-and-shoot with the perfect set of adjustable settings. It's a pleasure to take photos with, especially with its push/slide film advance function, and never fails to elicit "what the fuck is that thing" reactions from my friends. :)

so tell me what do i need

are you listening? sing it back

present for my boy.<3

jimmy eat world - sweetness

detail:

in other news, i bought a rollei A110!! it needed a battery that is no longer manufactured due to its mercury content so i ordered a replacement model and it should arrive sometime this week! i can't wait to start shooting with it :)

I Love You, Camera....part I

It's three in the afternoon and what am I doing, instead of starting homework or earning money? Feeding my addiction of all addictions: browsing Ebay for film cameras. Today it's the Pentax Auto 110, a beautiful little SLR camera I've coveted in the past and am rekindling desire for now. Grainy, nostalgic images (retrieved by Google) fill the screen, and I start to reminisce fondly upon all the 110 shooting I've done in the past.... when I think to myself, "When was the last time I took the time to commemorate each of the precious cameras that have been a part of my life?" and seemingly unrelated but now appropriate: "When was the last time I made a decent entry in that pathetic webpage I call a blog?"

On both accounts, the time has now come! I present to you Part I of a blog entry series where I individually showcase pieces from my personal photographic arsenal that have made an impact on my artistic growth and forever earned my affections. :)

Pentax Optio WP

This beautiful, functional camera was one of the first digital, fully-waterproof cameras to be released by manufacturers that didn't resemble an oversized plastic Lego. With its elegant exterior design, JIS Class 8-standard waterproof performance and 22mm-thick body, I fell in love right away. (Note the simple controls and 2-in LCD screen, set flush with the body.) This 5-megapixel beauty carried me through the years into college and I named it Taeo. <3

let's take a break at work

"I enjoyed myself too taking along with me 5 cameras and had some fun shooting.  Panasonic GF1, Leica CL, Canon F1, Ricoh auto half, Fujifilm Instax 210. Yes 5 cameras this time.  I had to give each camera an assignment and it was real fun, like working with 5 different persons each get his/her own task but you have to manage them."
-Patrick Ng's blog post 8/10/10

seriously, i love this guy.

other than that, it's been a great morning so far! i'm working with Gene in the LEBO/soon-to-be-in-addition-to-playboy cell and he's really great and easy to talk to. he kind of reminds me of jeff with all the discussion about systems improvement and lean ;)

and i've decided that even though participating in the sketchbook project is essentially paying someone $25 to give away my art... i think it would be a fun project to do. now that i'm in the twilight of my college experience, i'm beginning to question my lack of achievement and overall level intellectual and creative stimulation. i need to push myself to try more things. even if painting in a moleskine isn't exactly a "new" experience for me, at the very least, it's still an artistic assignment.

who the hell is this guy? i want his life.

check out Patrick Ng's blog at scription.typepad.com :)

(fuck, i should have bought that auto half when i had the chance...)

in the meantime, lots have happened lately in quad-land, aka wisconsin. all but one of my roommates have departed from the house, leaving an empty void in my chest which all the cute new clothes, shoes, and junk food cannot seem to fill.

but a girl can try...

despite spending excessive amounts of hard-earned money on such frivolity, i am proud to say i have accomplished a tiny measure of artistic progress. tiny.

acrylic, water-soluble pastels, mickey avalon lyrics

water-soluble pastels, my own photographs for reference, really lame chinese

an old drawing for an old friend.

the beautiful pastels that made the first two drawings possible<3