It's The End of The Year As We Know It

Well, well, well. The year is coming to an end, and possibly the world unless John Cusack can save us and get us to one of those giant metal boats. I'd have to say that all and all this was a pretty good year for myself (and if anyone of the 3 people who reads this and the 75 others who just stumble upon it had a great year as well, high five!). I had some personal triumphs, made some important changes in my life for the better, and got my academic/professional life kinda somewhat maybe figured out.
Figures that I go through some of these things during the 25th year of my existence, maybe some of it was like a pre-midlife crisis. Hopefully not, but if so it better damn well help me when that shit happens for reals! I made some of the best most consistent and thought out work to date (by the time I write something like this again next year, unless the world ends (see above) I hope that will have trumped that work).
On the horizon I have some pretty daunting things to look forward to but, for once in long time I feel ready to kick that shit in the ass.
Well, gang (and whoever stumbles upon this (again see above)) I hope you had a great year and if not have a way better 2012. There will be more hilarious and awkward stories to look forward to next year. Hell, I'm getting ready to fly home again and maybe there is another chapter in the epic god damn saga of What's that Smell?

Random Stand Alone Story Time!!!!!!

RANDOM STAND ALONE STORY TIME!!!!!!

So here's the deal with this one, I was 20 at the time of this taking place. For Spring Break/Mandi & Megan's 21st birthday we went to Canada with some other people...who made the trip interesting in a few ways. But this is about one specific portion, specifically crossing the Canadian boarder to come back to the United States. Here we go.
We pull up to the window thing with the smug asshole at the gate. He asks why we are coming through, never mind the fact that we were all U.S. citizens and I had North Dakota license plates on my car; apparently I gave him a smart ass answer. Add in my long hair and I guess I was asking for what happened next.
He tells me to pull up ahead and asks us all to get out, then go in this small room. As we sit there I see them start to pull all the shit out of my car and looking at everything. They got to the trunk and pulled out my drawing supplies I kept in there for my Figure Drawing class. I see them pull out the pad and start flipping through it, while looking back at me as I wave. 10 minutes later we were let go. Oh, yeah did I forget to mention that inside that 18x24 drawing pad were dozens upon dozens of drawings of NAKED MEN?! By the way; it was a nude figure drawing class just in case you needed me to fill in the remaining blanks.

Memo to self: in the future (when I get another car) take all drawing pads out of the car when I go on car trips that take me to another country. Otherwise it could get interesting.

YOU CAN'T BE NO NOVICE WHEN YOU HAVE THESE!!!!!

Here are some funny short stories, that involve me in the sense that I was there to witness them. Enjoy. Or not, what the hell.

1. A few weeks ago I went to the dollar store by my house, because I like to buy cheap shit and it makes me feel rich sometimes. Anyways, I bought a few things and then as I was standing in line the magic happened. This guy in a suit grabs Wassabi Cashews and says the following to me (please note I did not engage him first): "AH MAN, WASSABI CASHEWS!!!! YOU CAN'T BE NO NOVICE WHEN YOU HAVE THESE!" Then the woman in front of me starts complaining about the price...of the dollar store. Next thing I know her and Wasabi Cashew guy begin a discussion about where the cheapest place to get shit is. Here is the jist:

Woman: This is outrageous! $1.25 is too much for this. I'm going to go to the dollar store downtown.
Wassabi Cashew guy: Oh yeah that place has great stuff, but its out of my route.
Woman: Me too, but I'm going to make the time to go there.
Wassabi Cashew guy: I can't.
Woman: Actually you know where the best one is? In Chinatown. Everything is 69 cents.
Wassabi Cashew guy: Yeah, but do they have name brand stuff?

Unreal.


2. When I worked at a music store back home, we went to an old folks home to deliver a piano to a resident. As we walked in, I saw photos of all the residents on a bulletin board. Above it was text that said the following: WANTED BY GOD.


3. On the way to meet a sculptor downtown a few weeks ago, my awesome fiance and I were riding a bus through the shitty section of town since it was the most direct route. On the bus happened to be the world's worst rapper/beat boxer. For 15 stops we listened to this guy throw White people and Asian people under the proverbial bus for the plights of Black people while making beats and trying to sing a chorus to his song. The two funniest things about this were the fact that everyone was pissed of that he wouldn't shut up, yet no one said anything because there is nothing like witnessing a train wreck in person. The other funny thing was how his rants made NO factual or historical sense AT ALL. Just to give you a glimpse at this, he actually blamed White people for the assassination of Malcolm X.

Awesome

I've been to my fair share of concerts, and I have some good memories of them. One of them is seeing Guns N' Roses* in 2003 and getting handed a toy by Buckethead. My favorite one though would be the first time I saw Slayer in 2003. I'm not sure what it is that got me thinking about this, maybe it was just deciding to throw on a Slayer album the other day (World Painted Blood) or maybe it just randomly popped into my head during my daily 5 mile journey.
Here's what happened. We were in high school and  had bought tickets to see Slayer on the 2003 Jagermeister tour. I went with my best friend and another friend of ours who decided to bring his dumb ass skanky girlfriend along (boo). My friend Ray and I were separated from our other friend and his skank. We were at the front on the left, while they were on the right. Show starts and bam! Craziness ensues.
When I was going there I was totally set that I wanted to see Dave Lombardo, because he's the fucking man, but as the show started Jeff Hanneman was right in front of me. The entire time. I couldn't believe it. Next thing I know, their set is halfway over and then Jeff Hanneman throws his pick RIGHT at me; the one he had played the entire first half of the show with, and some ass face knocks it away. Then the security guard picks it up and it seemed like time slowed down. The pick seemed to be sitting there for minutes. Just sitting there in his hand. I saw it and went for it, grabbed it while the asshole next to me went for it. I then open my hand and see it sitting there. The security guard saw that Hanneman had thrown it at me and when he saw that I got it, he high fived me. Than to top it off, Jeff Hanneman saw that I got it and screamed "YYYYYYYEAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" at me.

It. Was. Awesome.

Also Ray got a pick from him also.
Than I had to drive the 5 hrs back home as our dip shit friend didn't (and probably still doesn't) have his license, and I wasn't going to trust his girlfriend driving my car. So that's my favorite concert memory, and I still have the pick!


*As much as you can call it Guns N' Roses I guess. It was still a kick ass concert.

Clearing the Air

Maui wowie! It's been almost a month since I wrote on this doo hicky. I would have wrote something sooner, but I a) didn't have anything to mention and b) I just didn't care to.

Since I switched back into fine arts, I've noticed a few things about the people around me, from both my old Graphic Design days and also Printmaking. I know, I know; another thing about this blah blah blah... What I have noticed is that quite a few people who I go to class with simply just don't care about what they are doing or trying to earn (a masters degree), it's amazing. I mean the school we go to is not the cheapest in the world, so you figure that you would want to put in as much time and thought as you can right? I guess not for some people. I mean it's graduate school, it is supposed to be harder and you are supposed to produce better, more thought out, and consistent work. Yet there are some people I know who just don't give a damn. To them it seems like "let's experiment and do whatever we want without trying to become well rounded artists". The only reason I can remotely guess, is because it's easier when your parents are flipping the bill than yourself.
As for Graphic Design, I find it...interesting how students are trained to be ahead of the curve and change peoples way of thinking about social issues, yet everyone does the same dry boring ideas. Processed food this, evil corporations this, blah blah blah. To me that lacks originality in a big way. Also a side note to that; how is it that they are expected to change the world with Graphic Design? Is seeing a poster that was made out of recycled paper telling me I'm a bad person if I don't do this or that going to change my mind? One other thing that I have noticed also is how much fluff people put into their projects. It's super dry and boring, and they make it even more dry and boring by dressing it up using a thesaurus. Bravo.
 I don't know about anyone else, but I see through all of this and it frustrates me on many levels. People who don't give a shit about what they are doing and also people who try to change the world by making you feel bad about yourself. And fluffing up a dry shitty topic.

I promise this is the last time I bitch about this for a while. :)

Raise Your Hand If You're An Artist, Not So Fast...

As I made the switch back into Fine Arts from Graphic Design in the winter of this year (2011, in case anyone reads this down the road), it got me thinking. Are Graphic Designers really artists? I'm not trying to discredit or insult them by any stretch of the imagination, this is just a means for me to ask this question. I mean yeah they do "artistic" things but does it really count if everything you do is on a computer?
Someone who works with type is called what? That's right, a typographer, not an artist. They work with type. Sure they follow the rules of design and layout; how you want the piece to look are pretty much the same thing. Give the piece a first, second, third read; a place for your eye to enter the piece; but does that make you an artist?
If you don't get in there and make something out nothing with pencil, charcoal, ink, paint, clay, metal, etc... but rather you do it with a lasso tool, can you honestly call yourself an artist? From my point of view, since I have been on both sides of the table, I would say no. Everyday that I was just a Graphic Designer, I felt more and more disconnected from being an artist, I just felt like a guy who moved shit around on a screen. My skills (which never were or are the greatest, but they work for me and I try to get the most out of them) seemed or at least they felt like they were eroding.
 I guess that I would have to say the closest way to combine them would be through book arts and bookmaking. Sure you could combine styles and things of that nature into your work, but on it's own, I would have to say that being a Graphic Designer does not make you an artist. And I don't say that or any of what I said as an insult to anyone. This is just something that I have been pondering in my brain.

Books

So I'm in the midst of a sweet class called Book Arts; it's awesome in every since of the word. I have made plenty of books before and it is a very interesting process. In no particular order; you write the book, design the book, assemble the book, etc... if you do it right it looks bitching. Which leads me to ask a question; with books being kind of/gradually replaced by ebooks, why would you want to move away from real books? There are so many things that I feel go against ebooks, sure they have some pros, but largely I would say they aren't good. The typography is HORRIBLE! Did they even consult a typographer at all? Plus you can't interact with it really at all. I mean there is a book called Helvetica, where the goal is to rip the book a part. How would you achieve that with ebooks? *
In short, I would say that this class has made me appreciate books on a whole other level. Being so close to them in other ways besides reading them makes you see how awesome they really are.

*Yes I know I only mentioned like two things, but I've done papers and had discussions about this plenty of times before, so I get tired of typing out my arguments every time. Point is I see why some people like them, but I do not and I feel that I have some very good reasons (most of which I was too lazy to type).