From Russia, With Blocks

Note: I wrote this back in January right after my life-changing roommates from hell got their 30 days. These songs helped me get through the next month and allowed me to heal, and forgive (but never forget of course). At the end is a little statement I hope they see someday.

I feel calmer now.

The house meeting with Sally just ended. To my friends, and the people who care about me: It went well. An eviction notice was handed down.

the pillows - I Think I Can

[youtube width="425" height="355"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScWZs8sKCfA[/youtube]

Its a great two part song. Inspirational anthem in the beginning, and emotional ballad at the end give it a great one-two punch of anime-inspired j-rock by the pillows. If you want your heart strings tugged at like Weezer’s “My Name is Jonas
” then hit up some FLCL and listen for the tunes from a rock band that has found a place in many anime-lover’s hearts, alongside Yoko Kanno, Tsuneo Imahori and The Seatbelts.

Who knows why the J-genres: J-pop, J-rock & J-indies are so endearing and approachable. “I Think I Can” is not the only anime tune that appeals to me so . It kinda reminds me of Joe Hisaishi’s themes for the Studio Ghibuli films, such as Mononoke Hime (Main Theme), Laputa (空から降ってきた少女 [The Girl Who Fell from the Sky] ),.
Listening to the Totoro theme - 風の通り道 ) [Kaze no tourimichi], I am still brought to tears by its beauty.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtQM3H59TgI[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f288vB6ACd4[/youtube]
Its no coincidence that this song is about the wind, whose fleeting nature is perhaps the epitome of the Japanese concept of あわれ (a-wa-re). The song is also connected with memories of my Aunt passing away as a child, and is a sad, yet inspiring and hopeful reminder of nature’s—and life’s—transience.

PS: I don’t plan on starving, or burning in hell

Don’t laugh.

A testament to the medium’s inherent wackiness, you find the most interesting things searching for anime on google.

Go Rubberman.

Rivals provide such great motivation.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OdbHgKXGwA[/youtube]
“Naruto vs. Sasuke: The Valley of the End”

Is what really got me thinking about this. Having someone to overcome, to challenge, to strive towards and against.

A friendly, but fierce battle between two souls.

Inspiration.

That’s what I need

Vis 1 Final

So here’s some more pics, not as pretty, but whatever. Here’s the statement I wrote for it:

When I first found out about this weeks assignment, I already had an idea in mind. I wanted to do something silly along the lines of this: http://www.cockeyed.com/pranks/mall/plazaprank.html. After scouting around La Jolla, I found a few potential targets (I thought about putting eye patches and weird hats on the dolphins at UTC), but quickly came to realize how bad something like this could end up (especially in La Jolla), and decided to do something a little less drastic. I couldn’t come up with anything until last Saturday, when I went up to L.A. to visit a friend. While there, we went to a few malls, stores, etc (Christmas shopping), and I was struck at how many Salvation Army bell ringers there were (though I’m used to seeing them at home, I thought it was a phenomena not as pronounced here in SoCal). There were even a couple dressed up as Santa! (Something I haven’t seen since I was little). That gave me a nice little surprise and I dropped some change off. On the way back home, I had to stop by school. When I got to the corner of La Jolla village dr. and Villa La Jolla, I saw a couple of homeless people looking for money and jobs. Now this wasn’t the first time I’ve encountered the less-fortunate around school, but seeing so many “Salvation Santas” in L.A. put the scene in a different context. It was then that I noticed that I haven’t seen a single bell ringer in La Jolla since I’ve been here. I went around searching for one, but the closest I could find was a small change drop box at Vons. This led me to the idea of making one up to atone for this, and setting it up at my original site, UTC. I also wanted to make some kind of statement with it to help shed light on how lucky Americans really are. I did consider making a real figure instead of a painting, but realized that if I did (and did it a real-life scale), it would be too hard and heavy to get to the mall. I didn’t really want to do anything that I’ve done before (drawing, water colors, pencils, etc), and figured that it would be a good opportunity to pick up and practice some painting skills so I used acrylics. I’ve never really painted before (well, not since I was little at least) with acrylics and wanted to see how I’d manage with them. In my opinion, it turned out very well (which prompted me to do another painting for the extra assignment). At first I had a little bit of difficulty coming out with even brush strokes, but I got the hang of it and had a lot of fun with them I really wished that I would have started using them earlier, as I like them much better than water colors and pastels (mixing colors is easier and more fun for me with paints).

           Going back to Santa, at first I wanted to find one that I could use as a subject, but I didn’t even see any Downtown (maybe they were on break though, I went there 2 days ago and heard quite a few bells). Wanting to get started, I decided just to sketch out the ringer, and turn him into Santa while painting. After doing a couple rough sketches, I became satisfied with one of them and went home. When I got around to painting, I googled up a few popular Santa images (my main source was the Coca-Cola Classic Santa), and referenced them for my own. I chose not to put the traditional Santa hat on him because the one that originally inspired me was quite bald (and proud of it).

           I chose the words, “Are you helping?” solely to instill guilt upon its reader. UTC being such an extravagant and excessive mall, I felt that it was quite an appropriate reminder to others that there are many only less fortunate people. I also didn’t paint the words on, because I felt it could make a nice and friendly Christmas poster without a heavy handed moral getting in the way.           

           I had trouble with 2 main parts with this assignment. First of all, I didn’t know what to do for the eyes. I don’t consider myself to be a great drawer, and didn’t feel like ruining a nice happy face with strange looking eyes. Not wanting to risk it, I borrowed some happy-looking anime style eyes. Secondly, I had a LOT of trouble with the collection bin. First, I didn’t know where to place it (I originally wanted to depict a hanging one, complete with the Salvation Army Sign, but I felt that it would have blocked too much of Santa. After finally figuring out a place for it, I sketched it out and it seemed all right. When It came to painting it though, I could not for the life of me figure out how it was supposed to look, and was very frustrated (I finally felt like I got it right towards the very end of my painting).

I still have a few more things that I wanted to add (like a few concept sketches), but that’ll come tomorrow. I’m sooooooo beat right now… I hit a lotta traffic in SD and LA, and driving I-5 North all the way up during the night is really boring and tiring.

g’night

because if you do, then you definately know that I have a limited vocabulary at times. I dunno, somehow the eloquence that I can sometimes acheive during my writings have been denied their verbal form.

“Anyway,” “definately”, “yeah yeah”, and my catch-all response, “That’s crazy.”.

Which leads me to my next point (as well as to my next post, and the next, and the next).
Anyways, forgive me once again.
I guess you could say I’ve beenliving my life “one day at a time”.

I think only a few people have the above excuse.

Those who are fuckin’ down & out. Those who lived before us, back when you had to use your own 2 feet to get around. Those who have no quarter, no roof, no property. The persecuted innocent.

I’m just a quote-un-quote military brat (not really)

Then there are those who have just turned 21…

Anyway, I have ideas for the new layout.

Grayscale Clouds Round Simple Kanji OKAY YEAH!
These words describe it, yes they do.

Once again, you can thank this Shocking New Development in Terry’s life to Clockw0rk.

Or more specifically, my good friends procrastination and the bowlings.

My new mantra: “Get your act together.”

So… on a more popular note,

Who’s keeping up with Bleach, Naruto and Samurai Champloo?

I’m up-to-date when it comes to Naruto. I’m liking where the manga and the anime are going. Though the anime’s filler sidequest was kinda stupid, I didn’t trip cuz I had other shit to worry about.

(I feel sorry for those Naruto addicts (and believe me, Naruto is a drug) who have nothing else to endulge themselves into. Luckily, I also am into Bleach. I’m around ep. 4 on the anime (I totally think Chad fucking kicks everyone’s ass. I’m curious as to his depiction the the intro though… he looks hella hollow…….. I’m also catching up on the Manga (somewhere in Vol. 4). I’m likin’ it. It’s about a dude who’s in touch with the spiritual world and is helluva tough. One day, he receives the power of Death (skeleton+black robe entity). Interesting.

Anyway, I’m getting tired and I have hella work to do.

Jah matta.

P.S. I need to connect with people. Today Kaia introduced me to Alicia White, and we 3 talked about the state of things. Anyway, the return is complete, and the away message is gone. I announce my return to AIM to noone in particular, cy’all there. Oh. And I guess there won’t be riots in the streets. Americans don’t give a fuck anymore and will not rise up against an unfit king. You know ‘the fuck I’m talkin bout.

P.P.S. Where the fuck’s Gaara?