set yourself on fire

hmm. november seems to have slipped through my fingers. it was a good month though. ate a lot of food. hope it was good for you too.

now it's december...finals and end of semester scramble. lots of fun times...in the library.

i was introduced to stars this year and i'm kind of addicted. take a listen, it might become your new study/chill mix. pandora radio station is worth a listen of them.

i'm working hard the last couple of weeks, to see if i can pull through. i finish next week on thursday and heading home on friday. my home and tons of books await me. i've never read any jane austen, shocking i know, so i shall read some works. throw some cecelia ahern in the mix and some old favorites. it will be a grand old time. can't wait.

and i'll be heading to the movies to catch up on all the films i haven't seen.

oh, speaking of which. i saw Amelie finally. it was incredible. so is the soundtrack. definitely go check out both. i'm in love with Jean-Pierre Jeunet and his genius.

i shall be back during one of my next study breaks. especially when i'll be studying for art history. i'll put up some of my favorites. lots to choose from since my last exam is going to cover rococo to pop art. it's a bit crazy, but i can't wait to study for it.

hope your week is starting off well. good luck to those in finals or approaching finals. it's almost over. be back soon...i promise lol

-Genevieve

give me art, or give me death

since i'm kind of obsessed with female artists, and we're now starting to see female artists in my art history class, i'm super stoked. my t.a. recommended the French film, Artemisia about Artemisia Gentileschi's early artistic career. it's very romanticized and much of the story is not true to real life, but the plot they created is interesting and the acting is pretty great. it's a super lovely time period and i'll warn you that it is a but scandalous. however, worth watching.

i spent a couple of hours at the library this afternoon finding books for my cultural diversity paper. i tend to get side-tracked in buildings with many books and films. time seems to stop and all that i can think about is i wish i could sit down and just read til i fall asleep. for my paper, i have chosen to write about the diverse population that is Native Americans. and i'm supposed to choose government policies that have affected them positively or negatively. i'm quite excited. i enjoy writing papers when i get to choose a topic. even though i took out 7 books for my paper, i also took out 3 films. i wanted to take out 4, but wasn't allowed. i think i'm going to forgo sleep this weekend. i took out Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Le scaphandre et le papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) and La Prise de Pouvoir Par Louis XIV (The Taking of Power by Louis XIV). parlez-vous français?

this weekend is the downtown festival and art show, so i'll try to go and take some cool pics. this weekend should be pretty interesting on the creativity front.

last night was an event night at the museum of art where i volunteer and we had some craft stations. i kept walking around and trying out the different ones, but one that i found so interesting was making rings out of colorful wire. so simple but yet so pretty. jewelry design is something that has always fascinated me. i'd love to meet someone that makes jewelry out of metals and different materials. here's the swirly, rose ring i made (at least that's what i'm calling it)

i'm definitely going to make more rings. just need to get some wire and the tools. anyway, i'm off to go to a fine arts event, where all the different schools are going to display their recent work. should be pretty cool. hope all is well in your world. i'll be back soon, au revoir,

-Genevieve

do what you love, love what you do

happy halloween...a little late. i wasn't prepared for november, but it's here so i guess i'm just going to roll with it. the weather's getting nice, i'm excited.

so i took my art history exam yesterday and it went well. i got a bit confused with dates, as per usual. but all in all it wasn't too terrible. i know a lot of times the century, just can't quite remember if it was early or mid years of that century. names and artists are the easy part, especially when you come up with funny ways of remembering it. i chose to answer the essay question of comparing & contrasting high renaissance and mannerism. these are the works i used to argue my case:

Raphael's Madonna of the Meadow (1505)

Giorgione's Sleeping Venus (c. 1510)

Parmigianino's Madonna of the Long Neck (1535-1540)

Bronzino's Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time (c. 1545)

and i've now become obsessed with learning about women artists like Sofonisba Anguissola and Artemisia Gentileschi. i'm in the process of reading about some other women artists, but here's my favorites:

Sofonisba Anguissola's The Artist's Sister Minerva (c. 1564)

Artemisia Gentileschi's Self Portrait as the Allegory of Painting (1630s)

well that's some of my loves. i think there's too many to...oh wait. one more. this one i'm really obsessed with. mostly because it reminds me of a camera lens:

Parmigianino's Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror (c. 1524)

ok, i'm done. i think. if i think of more, i'll come on and put them up. we're almost done with baroque and now moving into rococo. can't wait.

well, i hope your week is going well. half way done. be back soon,

-Genevieve

the maps of the future blur and clear

it's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not -anonymous

i'm in somewhat shock that october has flashed before my eyes. it's been a good month. not too terrible, i've survived some crazy days and all nighters.

it's 3 am and i'm heading to bed, but i'm somewhat wide awake. i've been super anxious the last couple of days. in a good way though. i'm very aware of the present and what needs to get done, but i just want to keep planning things that i can't really plan. thinking about the future is so strange. but intriguing at the same time. the future is a big question mark within a question mark staring me in the face. it's as if i know that i can plan something, but it's not ever going to be something set in stone. and it's confusing, but oddly wonderful at the same time.

i forgot how much i like this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cweU7DlXVAk&NR=1

it completely fits my mood.

i've been studying for art history. like hardcore studying. well maybe not completely, but it feels like i can put so much effort into art history and it doesn't bother me. it's my passion. if i could marry a subject, it would be art history. he has that spontaneous and romantic flair that i can't get enough of. enough said.

when i come back (after some sleep) and i promise it will be soon, i shall share some favorites from what i'm studying. hope you are well. remember, "don't worry about a thing, cause every little thing gonna be alright". good night,

-Genevieve

it's all coming back to me now

when i was in high school, i used to go to a lot of concerts. it was the thing to do with my friends. we didn't go to many mainstream, pay-$100-to-see-me-live shows. we went to the indie shows and warped tour. and recently thinking about going to see certain bands, i realized how much i miss it. i miss going to listen to your favorite songs, dancing and screaming your heart out, camera stalking the lead singers and moshing until you couldn't breathe. good times. it was a pretty big part of our lives. we would go and then buy the shirts to rep the bands we saw, and hope that after the show they would come out and say hello. the autographs didn't mean as much as getting a pic with your favorite band member. it was the highlight of the week.

so, i started looking up shows around here and of course started looking up bands that i saw in the line-up. there's nothing better than discovering new music.

anyway, just being a bit nostalgic. and since i haven't put up a music post in a while. i decided to share a cool find.

if you ever listened to dispatch, then you should check out state radio. it's with one of the guys from dispatch and with a similar vibe. on myspace they categorize themselves as 'rock/reggae/indie' but i don't think that's enough of a description. if you've never heard, then i suggest a listen.

i hope you like it, i'll come back with some other stuff i've found or been recommended next time. i'm going to go try to be productive as i look up some more shows. hope all is well,

-Genevieve

leaving your mark

"Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it." -Salvador Dalí

"This is your one opportunity to do something that no one has ever done before and that no one will copy throughout human existence. And if nothing else, you will be remembered as the one guy who ever did this.This one thing."

-Sam from Garden State

"If you can't laugh at yourself, life is going to seem a whole lot longer than you'd like" -Sam

i'm in love with this painting. i don't think i can begin to describe how much i love it. it's Salvador Dalí's Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea which at Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln - Homage to Rothko (1976). my mum took me to the Salvador Dalí museum a week ago. if you ever get the chance to go, i highly suggest it. it was incredible. this painting is one of his masterworks and it's ten times better in person. Dalí did his own thing and that's why i admire him so much. he wasn't afraid of doing what he wanted. he sought to stand out and sought to defy the norm. he's sort of my hero.

i've been thinking a lot about how i just want to do something no one's ever done before. set some sort of first in history. i think it would be pretty neat. just sayin.

if you've done a first, kudos. i hope your week's been good. be back soon,

-Genevieve

the older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune

i found this in my notebook. my thought, random sketch, poetry, inspiration, quotes, everything notebook. i just thought it fit my mood and i wanted to share it with you all. i tend to write myself little quotes or notes like this. because sometimes when i most need it, i come across them and then i remember. i remember how i felt when i wrote it. and somehow, it relaxes me.

this week has been the craziest week this semester so far. but i made it. and today i celebrate another awesome year alive. it's been a nice day and i'm excited because my mum is coming up to visit me. i'll try to be a bit more cyber alive next week. no exams or papers thankfully.

i hope your week wasn't too bad. and i hope you have a nice weekend.

peace and posi+ive energy to you,

-Genevieve

cause you gotta have faith

october's here. that was quick. i'm excited for this month. it is the month in which i was born and it's halloween and the weather is going to get nice. i'm stoked.

i have this weird addiction to george michael's 'faith'. not his faith literally that would be even more weird, but the song. you probably know the tune, it's one of the fabulously cheesy 80s songs that gets stuck in your head and you can't do anything but really want to listen to it. or in my case, dance around my dorm to it. i don't think i like it so much because of the music per se, but more for the lyrics. and i'm not a gay man getting over a bad break up either. but i think having faith in anything or anyone is something you gotta do. it keeps me going, when times get tough. so "before this river becomes an ocean", i'm just going to drink some coffee, listen to some music and occasionally dance around my dorm.

some interesting, cute and funny things i've seen in the last couple of weeks (that i wish i would have taken pictures of)...

i saw a student walking around with a parasol in the sun. she made my day.

i was stopped at a light and a guy in scrubs skated by on a longboard. it made me laugh and kind of want to meet him.

i eat lunch outside the library a lot and i always see the coolest people on the coolest bikes go by. especially one guy with killer dreads.

i met a seven week old kitten that had been taken in as a stray. she was fragile, under nourished and tiny, but she was so adorable.

i found the pics on flickr. but maybe next time i'll have a cam and the daring to try to take a shot of what i witness.

well i hope you have a happy friday and that you get to witness something interesting, cute and or funny. be back soon,

-Genevieve

the joys of forced relaxation

In a haze, a stormy haze
I’ll be round, I’ll be loving you, always

Always

Here I am and I'll take my time

Here I am and I’ll wait in line, always

Always

-"Parachutes" by Coldplay

one of my favorites from my class. i don't remember if it was on the exam, but i don't think i'll ever forget it. it's Filippo Lippi's Madonna and Child with Stories of the Life of St. Anne (1452). i just wanted to share it with you.

i've been sick all weekend, but i don't have any swine related illness, just your average cold. nothing to do but sleep, watch hulu and drink my weight in o.j.. i'm in the library right now, procrastinating the work i didn't do this week lol. or well in my mind i'm 'multi-tasking', but it's just a slow process of accomplishment. all in all though, i feel much better. happy to blog again. maybe tomorrow i'll come back on and have something a bit more exciting. til then, i hope your monday isn't too rough. ciao,

-Genevieve

something about table settings

i can't believe it's tuesday already. where did the weekend and monday go? well, i hope you had a nice weekend and your monday wasn't too tough. i've been writing papers and now studying for my first art history exam. things are crazy, but i'm enjoying what i'm studying so i guess it's ok.

on saturday night i went out to dinner with some friends to this really cool pizza place. i took some shots while we were waiting for the food and they also have a store with knick knacks and things. i took a pic of a door that was decorated all in beads and little decorations. i'm completely in love with this idea. i hope i can somehow recreate that door, maybe in a table or something. and last night with some people that live in my building, we had a mini tea party. so i took some shots of the scrumptious food of course. i have this new found interest in photographing tables with eating utensils and glasses. here they are...

happy news: i bought some dyes and t-shirts with my friend to tie-dye. hopefully we can squeeze it into our schedule soon.

and i don't really think many people do this but this is my 50th blog post :) woo. i think it's kinda cool, maybe it's just me.

anyway, hope you are doing well. sending warm thoughts your way, be back soon,

-Genevieve

the rebirth and rekindling of my love

how incredible is this painting? just sayin. this is The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck painted in 1434. want to see something cool? ok here it is. i don't think i have words to describe how much i enjoy the renaissance. got to go back to my studies, but hope all is well. sending some posi+ive energy your way,

-Genevieve

the tide of a new week

tonight i'm in the library, watching online lectures, catching up on the reading that was not read this weekend. i went home for the weekend and spent saturday and sunday as much time as i could at the beach. it was a lovely and relaxing escape. there's nothing better than laying down and listening to the waves crash on the shore. i was imagining doing yoga on the beach. that would be pretty amazing, one day i shall do that. well, i hope your monday wasn't too bad. i've been really inspired lately with coldplay's viva la vida cd and i can't get enough of santana's "samba pa ti" as per usual. how cool is the strawberry swing vid? i don't know, maybe it's just me, but i think it's genius and entertaining. coldplay is perfect to listen to when i'm walking around campus and daydreaming, staring at the trees. i really need to see santana before i die or well, he does. he's perfect to listen to when i'm hanging out or studying. speaking of which, i should go back to the lecture tab on this window lol. oh and the pic above i found on flickr, it just made me smile, so i wanted to share it.
anyway, hope you have a great week, i shall be back tomorrow hopefully with a mini adventure story. until then,

-Genevieve

darius went west and is still rolling

tonight i went to go see screening of the film "Darius Goes West: The Roll of His Life" and i don't really have words to explain what i felt. it made a big impact on me though. it's a documentary about the story of Darius Weems who has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and wants to get MTV to pimp out his wheelchair on "Pimp My Ride" and travel around the U.S. he and his 11 friends take a road trip from his hometown Athens, Georgia to go west to California. this film makes you laugh and cry and really see disabilities in a new light. his story is not the only inspiring part of the story, it's him and his attitude. i can't even begin to describe how amazing of a person he is. you'll just have to see it for yourself. through dariusgoeswest.org, you can see the entire film for free. i encourage you not only to see it because it is an amazing film, but also to learn about DMD and the efforts that are being done to find a cure.

so here you go:

oh and darius and some of his crew came to the screening at my school and darius is currently 19 going on 20 this month. hope all is going well,

-Genevieve

this is totally an adventure story

on sunday night, i went to go see The Brothers Bloom. it was very smartly written, created, directed, edited. you name it. i literally laughed out loud and not because it was stupid funny or so ridiculous that i was compelled to chuckle, but i laughed because it was so intelligent. so wonderfully unexpected and had little parts that were just ingenious. if the trailer at all interests you, go see it. it's a very unforeseen ending, but it's a great ending. i found the screenplay online if you're interested. but if you can, just go experience it. enough said.

now i have to go back to studying renaissance art. buona notte,

-Genevieve

the tree could be man's best friend

i don't like to make any partial posts on religion per se but i felt like writing about this thought. i'm taking a native american religions course and one of the main discussions is animism. i find it a very captivating subject. the idea that every person, animal, plant, even manmade objects could have souls or spirits. whatever religion or belief or way of life that you practice, i think there should still be an underlining importance to respect the world around us. i believe that by being one of many species/things/objects, our actions have consequences. even if you're atheist, there is an earth around us, there is a universe that we belong to and even if we are one little spec in a vast space, we do have an impact on a piece of that space. it's sad to me to think that as humans we make ourselves the most important beings. yes, we are important, but we aren't the only ones. look around you. there are living creatures that's lives and existence is affected by us. many probably think that going outside and communicating to a tree is a bit strange, but in a sense, by any interaction you have with it (i.e. planting, watering, cutting, climbing) you are communicating with it. at least, an animist would claim so. what or whom decided that because plants don't speak our language we can't speak to them? we talk to our pets. we talk to animals in the zoo or park. we even talk to the fly that keeps flying in our face. sometimes we end up talking to furniture or appliances. although maybe the latter is because of some complaint. still, why not plants?

either way, we should respect them. that is giving them care and possibly love and what living thing doesn't want to be cared for? sometimes people argue that we should take care of our earth so that our grandchildren will have a green earth. but is that really enough reason. shouldn't it be because they matter too? i don't know. maybe i'm just expecting that people would feel compelled to care for a plant the way that we care for a pet. that might just be the way i see things. well, to show you who i love, check out the pic. it's my basil plant. her name is Zola, which means "piece of earth". and yes, i do communicate with her. she's my sunshine and i love waking up and seeing her while i eat breakfast. hopefully, i will one day have a garden for her.

i encourage you at least to next time stop and think about what you see around you. our planet is beautiful place full of beautiful beings and things. maybe even try to communicate with it. you never know what might happen. i'm no shaman, but i do know that amazing things happen when i open up myself to the world around me.

i hope you had a restful and groovy holiday weekend, i know i did. now back to reality,

-Genevieve

tie-dye things and random musings

as promised, pics of my tie-dye adventures this summer. i dyed three shirts and a purse that i sewed together. i put a bunch of colorful buttons, that ended up dying the cloth as well, which gave it an unexpected effect. i was pleased with the outcome. i plan on doing some more, hopefully soon. i love the way you don't know how it's going to turn out. you can never replicate an exact dye twice. each is an individual beauty and occurence. everytime i went to take off the rubber bands and unravel the twists and turns, it was like christmas morning when you're a kid. don't know what to expect but you're secretly wishing for somthing that you wanted, but getting something else is still getting a surprise. it's amazing.

and here are my random musings of jellyfish on friday and saturday night. i started with the markers and colored pencils, then did a simple sketch with graphite pencils and then went on to watercolor. the green one of the markers was something i titled 'cabbage or jellyfish' lol. i haven't done any charcoal sketches, but i might do one in the next couple of days. i have this idea floating around in my brain, that i might try to do in my sketch pad with graphite pencils. hopefully it will turn out or convey what i want. if it works, i'll share it.

and i also included a graphite sketch from either early summer or late spring semester. i couldn't get the hair, so i won't even show it here but i'll show you her face. and also i was playing around with watercolor and it only makes sense to put up it, since it's the slogan for this blog. anyway, i felt like sharing some work. it's nothing that great, i know, but i've never put anything up other than photography so i felt like spicing it up a bit.

i hope your holiday weekend is going lovely, i'll be back soon with some thoughts on animism,

-Genevieve

drifting to a new way of thinking

we watched the Seasonal Seas episode of the film The Blue Planet by BBC in my wildlife issues course. it had beautiful shots and it was incredible how they captured all the underwater creatures. when i was little, i hated jellyfish, well maybe not jellyfish themselves but the jellyfish bites or attacks. they stung pretty bad and one time i had one get me all over my legs. in spanish jellyfish are "aguamalas", a compound word of "water" and "bad". so, throughout my life i haven't really been a big fan. but after watching the film, all i wanted to do was sketch a jellyfish or paint a watercolor. that's on my mini creative to-do list. sometimes we associate something with an emotion, and it's incredible to look at it in a new light. we sometimes take things for granted from experiences we've had or how we've been brought up. but it's really intriguing to have that concept challenged. jellyfish are beautiful creatures, and although i still don't want to have a physical encounter, i have a new found appreciation for them. they float so peacefully and almost seem angelic in their tranquility. i put together the above jellyfish mosaic with pics from flickr and the youtube vid below is jellyfish in Hong Kong Ocean Park that i just found kinda cool. they apparently have lights in the tanks that change colors and makes the jellyfish look amazing.
i'm gonna go try to draw some jellyfish, but i hope you have a sweet holiday weekend. be back soon,

-Genevieve

heading down happy avenue

ok, so i just want to say that if you are even remotely interested in the 60's hippie revolution or Woodstock itself, 'Taking Woodstock' is something you should go check out. it was incredible. the focus is placed more on the main character's journey to bring the festival to his town and his struggles and successes, but it shows so much cultural and historical insight that it really captured the time and place that Woodstock was. they didn't show music, just played it in the background, but they showed the long backed-up line of people and the hills full of all the spectators. there's so many little details that made me smile and laugh about the time period and what was groovy back then. demetri martin was impressive and i loved emile hirsch, as well. so basically, good reviews all around, if you like time pieces and especially if you like the hippie era. go check it out, it's far out man.

now i just have to go see 'Paper Heart' with Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera. looks like a really adorable and intriguing documentary/story. i saw the trailer for it and was hooked. it's showing in a theater near campus so maybe i'll go see in the next few weeks. here's the trailer, hope it sparks your interest.

if you do go see it, let me know what you think. no spoilers though, please. that's just not cool lol, but a general yay or nay kinda thing. hope your week got off to a good start. peace,

-Genevieve

to judge or not to judge, a book by its cover

before coming back to school, i read Tweak by Nic Sheff. it's an autobiographical book about Nic's addiction to meth and then his recoveries and relapses. i was walking around border's one day during my break from work and i picked it up because the cover looked interesting. (yes, i did judge the book by its cover) i opened it, read the first page and was instantly hooked. his account, in somewhat a journal layout, is addicting (no pun intended). the way he writes is realistic, he writes as if he's speaking to you. he doesn't try to make it politically correct or try to make himself sound like someone else. it's real. and rarely do you feel like you're reading something someone wrote in first person in such an honest account. he's inspirational. he opened up completely, and it was like a therapy for him. he has many problems, but i admire his strength and his constant struggle to stay clean. maybe it's just me that likes books in a journal/letter format that simultaneously have drugs in the storyline, like Go Ask Alice or Perks of Being a Wallflower. nonetheless, if it sounds interesting to you, i definitely recommend it.

i'm now currently reading The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea for my cultural diversity in the u.s. course. it's the true story about Mexican immigrants/border patrol/immigration issue, written in a very informative and eye opening, newspaper article type way. you don't feel like you're reading a sad and long story about the difficulties of the desert, but you become sucked into this intense journey that many take and not all come out of. it has made me think a lot about the issue in a new light, putting myself in their shoes by knowing the entire story and journey that they undergo just to cross into the u.s.. i never new that it was this extensive and how many people there are just trying to trick them out of money or have them tortured or deported. i'm half way done, and it's not like it's a happy story. it's pretty grotesque and honest about the realities that go on. Urrea doesn't try to clean up other people's actions, he tells it like it is. but that just makes it even more impressive. so, if you're into the whole nonfiction and issues books, i recommend you go check it out.

i'm going tonight to go see Taking Woodstock and i'm super excited. i've been waiting for this movie for it seems like too long. i shall be back to let you know how it is. hope your weekend is going well,

-Genevieve

back to school and back to blogging

time. it tends to flash before my eyes at times. i'm very disappointed that i didn't come back sooner, mostly because i missed it so much but also since my friend said something to me today.

friend: "hey, do you remember this thing called 'blogging'?"

did i mention that my sarcastic friend happens to be lise from "head in the clouds" ?

well, here i am interwebz, we meet again.

my summer went pretty well. i worked a lot and took summer courses, but was able to have some creative things in them. i finally finished 'Into the Wild' and watched the movie. let's just say, i fell in love with the screenplay and the artistic direction they took. a watched a couple other films, which i definately recommend: Junebug, Rocket Science, Paris, je t'aime, Volver, (500) Days of Summer, Away We Go, Harry Potter & HBP to name a few. i also finally tie dyed, i'll take some pics this weekend to show you. i sewed a simple cloth purse with the sewing machine and managed to not break the sewing machine. i finally got the hang of it. i usually just sew by hand, but i must say that being able to use the machine is a quicker process.

oh, i forgot to almost mention the reason i have been away so long. i was getting ready to move back to college. i moved in the 21st of august and started classes this week, so i will soon have plenty of time to procrastinate lol. i'm also taking very interesting courses which will probably inspire me with a few blog posts. but until then, i just want to wish everyone a happy welcome back to school or last few days of summer. hope everything is going well, i shall be back soon (very soon) to share something a bit more interesting. i am currently listening to Animal Collective, so here's a little sampling. the vid is super cool in a creepy sort of way.

until we meet again,

-Genevieve

summertime shots

a promise is a promise. here they are. i went to a park near my friends house and took a small nature walk. i felt like i was in the everglades when we were near the swampy areas. hope to be back soon. until then, hope you like these.

-Genevieve