great expectations for capital letters

it was around two in the morning and i was quite weary in my defense. i was attempting to study, and so was my roommate. however, all we could think of was other things to do instead. like doodle or talk or even just lay and stare at the ceiling. i was thinking about how i never type correctly. i type everything in lowercase, and i know i shouldn't but i can't help it. especially when i'm not typing something formal like an essay. people have become so accustomed to type in all lower case letters, especially when messaging online. i was suddenly hit with a worry that 'what if people become too used to typing in all lowercase?', 'what if no one types correctly in the future?'. i was having a minor confused freak out, but my roommate assured me that this wouldn't occur. she said something from 1984 wouldn't happen, like instead of loosing words we wouldn't loose capital letters. but what if our online typing changed the way we typed? maybe not in the immediate future, but maybe years from now, people will have changed the way they write because they got so used to typing all in lower case. this wouldn't probably happen with books or formal writing, but maybe just in communication online. writing has evolved so much throughout history, and i became curious about what were the effects that the internet could have on the way we write.

although the thought frightens me (at least at two in the morning it did), it doesn't change the fact that i will continue to type all in lower case. but i did have a new found appreciation for those who type in conversations online in the correct format. kudos to you out there that do this. you might just be the only ones trying to save our capital letters. thanks for not conforming.

on a lighter and less sleep deprived note, i got a new camera...so of course, what better way than introduce my new baby. here's a pick i took the first day i had it in my possession. i think i might call it 'big brother is watching you' lol 

and lastly, i would like to share one of my recent obsessions, The Gaslight Anthem and their song "Great Expectations":

they are pretty catchy, and have an up-beat and intoxicating sound. i would definately recommend looking up some of their other songs. hope you like the pic and the song, and now i'm going to go see if i can get some much needed sleep.

-Genevieve

pure, uncontrolled, unrestrained

i came across this randomly. it made me smile, so i thought i would share it with you.

and here's something i wrote today...procrastinating as usual...

happiness

bittersweet

the thought

of happiness

pure

uncontrolled

unrestrained

happiness.

i want

to be at peace

at peace

with the world

with everything

everyone around me.

feel the wind

tossle my hair

nothing mattering

only the thought

of happiness.

when even

the flowers

smile back

showing their life

feeling, breathing

pure

uncontrolled

unrestrained

happiness.

when i won't

need a soul

to be me

to smile

and laugh

and have

the thought

of happiness

pure

uncontrolled

unrestrained

happiness.

for when

i do find this

i hope to

be able to

put it in

my heart to keep

to one day share

with the world

with everything

everyone around me

so that they too

can feel

the happiness

pure

uncontrolled

unrestrained

happiness.

hope you are having a good week,

-Genevieve

it's never the end, it's only the beginning

planetary nebula is like colorful artwork in the sky to me. it's so strange to believe that it is a combination of dust and gases. during the astronomy lecture, i began to think about how the stars and planets were made out of dust. as humans, we find dust gross and unwanted. we clean our living quarters to make sure we are dust free. just today, i was cleaning my room, which mostly consisted of dusting. getting rid of this grey, black, brown mixture of unwanted mess. but yet, it is was involved in creating our universe. how can this substance create everything around us. how can it create such incredible things like planetery nebula. looking at the pictures, i wanted to pick up a paint brush and try to paint one. the contrast of dark background with the bright, some neon, colors are beautiful. the way that these nebula were created because a star died, shows how something is born out of the death of another. even if it is the end for something in our universe, it is the beginning for another. in a way, it's never the end. it's only the beginning. and we should try to approach life that way. it's not the end, it's just a fresh start.

may your planetary nebula shine bright out of the dust of something gone. be back soon.

-Genevieve

stop and smell the tulips

being caught of guard by nature is one of the most incredible things. at least for me it is. to be walking and then suddenly notice flowers or a tree or a beautiful sky are some of the moments of awe that i crave. i can't wait for more flowers to bloom and it to be officially spring. as much as i love fall, spring brings a peaceful time, nice weather and flowers. it's as if everything is waking up from a long sleep, and my eyes feel like they witness something new every year. i love when flowers catch me off guard and i can't help but smile. they radiate happiness and beauty. Renoir always makes me smile because most of his paintings of nature are uplifting. the painting above is Summer Landscape (1873) and the idea of this garden made me wish i could be there to take some shots.

although roses are beautiful, my favorite flower is tulips. when i was little i went to a tulip festival and i remember the rows and rows of different colored tulips there was. i remember picking up seeds in hopes of growing my own tulip garden. unfortunately, i was unsuccessful in this venture, but one day i hope to have a garden. a garden much like the one in the Renoir painting but it must have tulips. so with this thought, i started searching for paintings of tulips. i came across  A Field of Tulips in Holland (1886) by Monet. not only did it make me smile because it's a field of tulips but because of the windmill. a few years ago, i went to Germany and i will never forget driving on the highway by the windmills. they are massive in size and yet seem so peaceful in the fields. i could watch them for hours. this painting combined two of my favorite things. i really can't wait for spring. i hope you like the paintings and don't forget to stop and smell the roses.

-Genevieve

warm thoughts from me to you

in the past couple of days, i have been walking to class with the sun shining down on me while catching a few people speaking in a foreign languages. i miss the warmth that the rays can create and i enjoy hearing a language that i can't decipher. i think the combination of the two made me want to find a spot in the grass to enjoy the weather, and somehow at the same time listen to them speak. even if i couldn't understand what they were saying. i speak spanish, so if it is a romance language, i can pick up on few things. but if its anything else, it's a lot more difficult. that doesn't seem to bother me. it intrigues me not knowing what they are saying and it being able to sound so fluid and eloquent. i also love music that is in a foreign language.

i don't know how many people have ever heard Shakira sing in spanish, but she is one of my all time favorite artists. this song is Dia de Enero and i found the video with english subtitles. it wouldn't let me embed it, but here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHfmg_hfOWM

i love everything about this video, the setting, the lighting, the naturalness and peacefulness. i would love to make a video with sun rays shining into the camera like this. i've been trying to capture that on film lately because i find it breathtaking. the picture above is of a fountain that i love, the area is very peaceful. great place to meditate. and the sun was hitting just the way i wanted, so i took a pic of it. i hope that you enjoy the sweet melody of the love song. and that the sun rays in the video warm your thoughts today...

-Genevieve

a picture from my world

well i wish i could say that i took this a while back, but truth is that i took it this afternoon. i live in florida, so this is what we know to be winter. i was walking this afternoon in 65 degree weather, the sun was shining and the sky was cloudless. i hope this brightens your day like it did mine...

-Genevieve

to muse about the muse

i am taking art history (prehistoric - medieval), and right now we are studying Ancient Greek in lecture. i love most art periods, however there is something about ancient times that makes it even more interesting. it might have to do something with the fact that everything is speculation. we will never know for sure. we basically learn that 'this could have been used for this' or 'this could have symbolized this'. it's never definate. which although is a bit frustrating, it seems to give me more interest in what could have been. the possibilities are endless and for the most part, every claim is valid. i have a strange admiration for the creation of logic in Ancient Greece. everything was orderly and they tried to make sense of the world around them. there was a god for each specific purpose and for every time in your life. i like the idea of a muse, or nine muses, if you were in later Ancient Greek times. they were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (goddess of memory), and i believe the Greaks began with three muses and ended up with nine. the painting above is Nine Muses dancing with Apollo by Baldassare Peruzzi from the Italian Renaissance. 

most artists or writers now don't consider the nine muses as their inspiration, but are inspired by a certain muse. that's what lead to the question of what is my muse. what inspires me? even if i am not an artist or a writer, i still crave to create. i don't think i can attribute one thing to being my muse. i also considered the idea that it's constantly changing. many artists' muses were their lovers at the certain time of the work or children or other artists or even nature. but that breathe or whisper in the ear came from somewhere. many people might argue that it is from themselves, that they weren't inspired from anywhere else. but i don't know if that could be completely true. maybe it's a combination of the two. maybe it is a combination of something from the person's life and from their own imagination and creativity. i think this holds true for me. i am mostly inspired by the world around me, but there's something inside. sometimes ideas just pop into my head. sometimes things just occur to me and i feel the need to put them on paper. either way, i think muses are something interesting to learn about. i'm always curious as to how an artist or writer created something. if it was just pure chance that it occured to them or if they had something in their world that led them to create what they created. i shall now leave you and let you muse about this...

p.s. i would like to thank my friend for creating and drawing the sweet logo at the bottom of the page. i love it and couldn't have asked for a more perfect logo. thank you!

-Genevieve

a way with words

poetry has always been one of my interests every since middle school, but it used to be something i wrote for myself or read in silence in my spare time. and when i thought of modern poetry, i imagined a dark coffee shop with a bunch of people dressed in black and wearing berets, drinking strong coffee, and the poet infront of a brick wall with a bright light illuminating only him or her, and as he or she spoke, someone tapping lightly on bongos. yes, it was this intense. it never seemed to be a reality spoken out loud until about four months ago. i heard my first spoken word artist, who incidently happened to be Mayda del Valle. about a month later i attended another spoken word night at a coffee shop, it was open mic and at the end Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai performed. both full time spoken word artists who tour and both originally from Chicago. i must admit that i haven't been too exposed to spoken word, but from what i have heard, i enjoy it. i can't even describe in words the emotion i feel. it's strange. it's as if for a small moment in time, you are the speaker. you feel, you speak, you express an emotion that is of someone else. it feels to me as if i'm in their shoes. its a mixture of empathy and interest. when the words roll of their tongues and turn into a music that my thoughts can dance to, it's a simple happiness i can't describe. 

not to mention, the topics these two female artists discuss take on a bigger role than just politics and love. they add a flavor to what they discuss. maybe it has to do with their backgrounds or maybe its just how spoken word is. either way, it's catchy and intriguing.

so in the order that i saw them, Mayda del Valle doing, probably her most famous piece, "In the Kitchen". i know this vid is from 2003, she looks different now, but she still performs it with the same 'savor'...

and if you want to know more, her website is http://www.maydadelvalle.com/

and the second artist i witnessed was Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai performing "Black, White, Whatever". this vid is something she recorded and of course, i loved the editing, so i picked this instead of her performing it live.

and if you want to know more, her website is http://www.yellowgurl.com/

plus, i suggest youtubeing them both, because each piece is unique. they each have an individual flow, but it changes with each piece because it's dependent on their creations and emotions.

hope you enjoy the spoken word and i suggest if you are a 'spoken word virgin' to go listen (and snap of course lol) to some at a local coffee shop. and now i leave you, with the famous words of Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, "One world. One love. Many voices."...

-Genevieve

for the sake of creativity

have you ever looked at something and just become completely curious as to how it was made or how it was done? story of my life. minus i never seemed too interested in mechanics or how electronics were made. but when it comes to art, film, photography or music, it's a curiousity i can't satiate at times. i began making videos for school projects a few years ago, and ever since the moment that i opened Windows Movie Maker, i can't get enough of it. i love editing, filming, creating. sometimes certain movie edits are simple to do, but other times it takes planning and much trial and error. after a few months of editing, Windows Movie Maker couldn't do everything i wanted, but editing software is pretty pricy. so one day i hope to get to play around with a more intense editing software. lately, i have had an urge to film something and edit it. i don't exactly know what yet lol, but for creativity's sake, just have fun with it. i was searching on youtube the other day for The Postal Service music and i came across this video. the two people who made this used a lot of interesting techniques, and especially their use of lighting and the sped up parts. the whole set up is interesting, and they had the video match the song really well. makes you want to go out and make an indie music video.

i found out a little random info out by being a creeper and reading some of the comment responses. debohrah and neil used iMovie and took pictures of the drawings and made the time really short for each pic, so that it could be the movement that they wanted. i think they did an excellent job. i hope to one day do something with similar intricacies. i hope you enjoy this youtube video, and if you've never listened to The Postal Service, i also hope you go out and listen to some of their stuff. it makes for great chillin or studying playlists. there truly is nothing better and i must now say goodbye...

-Genevieve

the blue velvet dark and stars

so although i should be studying astronomy because i have a quiz tomorrow morning lol, i decided to share something interesting that my professor showed to us in lecture. this image shows the diurnal motion, the daily motion of the stars around the earth. we don't notice it, but as the 24 hours go by, the earth's rotation make that the stars 'rotate' in a circle. this circle is created at the north pole, so the center of this swirl is the North Star aka Polaris. i have always loved star gazing and the idea of space, so i decided to take this course for that reason. so far, i have enjoyed it because i like learning about the phenomena that occurs all around us. even if we are just a spec of nothing in a spec of a second in time. this photograph just blew me away. it is a picture capturing motion basically, taken over a span about 10 hours. the line is created by the rotation of the earth, and each line is a star or constellation. i want to one day take a similar photograph. i have no idea how to do it and i would probably have to go somewhere where there is no light pollution; but ever since i saw this picture, i have just wanted to recreate it. 

it scares me to know that we are close to nothing in this life. we mean so much to the people of our time, but in large scale history, we could be forgotten. i have always had a narcissistic dream to be famous for something. i want to be remembered for something in this life. i want someone to write a biography about me or be in a history book. when i was younger i thought it was possible, but sadly as i get older i realize how much of an impact you would have to make. to go from having 15 minutes (or seconds in this day in age) of fame to being remembered for longer. this photograph has much more meaning to me than the simple 'coolness' that you can see in it. it represents to me an aspiration to recreate this photograph. it represents how miniscule my life could be to the rest of the universe. it represents how much i would like to leave my mark. but all in all, even if it is worth a thousand words, all i can share with you is this piece of art. here is a song that i found on my ipod by The Weepies. they are an indie duo who create great easy going music. maybe you can enjoy the simple, sweet melody while stargazing one night...

-Genevieve

daydream of an earlier time

lately i've been feeling a strong urge to learn about the 18th, 19th and very early 20th centuries. more so to do with art and fashion and culture than anything else. i went to hear a speaker at the art museum talk about female artisits in the 18th century and the gender discrimination in the art world of the time. it was very interesting, and of course i fell in love with some of the paintings. especially because of the attire painted in the artwork. the elegant, fluffy dresses and exaggerated amounts of cloth. even if i would never wear it, i still admire how graceful women are depicted. i was most inspired by Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun, for her courage and her work. side note, she was supported by Marie Antoinette who loved her work. the painting above, Self-portrait with two pupils (1785)  is by a contemporary of Vigee-Le Brun, Adelaide Labille-Guiard whom was also mentioned in the talk. her dress drew me in the moment i saw it.

when i started to think about these paintings, i remembered how much i love Renoir and his time period. even though he is from late 19th century and early 20th century, i remembered the dresses of the women he painted. he painted many couples dancing and the dresses the women wore always were beautiful to me. much more simple than 18th century, but equally elegant. this Renoir painting, City Dance (1883) is something i came across while looking for Dance at Bougival (1883). i love to dance, i love this dress and i love Renoir. enough said.

and my last thought, i realized the other day that i love cursive. i love the idea of penmanship and of a time when people cared so much about how they wrote and wrote letters to their loved ones. when it was the only means of communication. i have always been fascinated by the idea of coming up with new ways of writing certain letters and making my handwriting unique. i wish people still wrote in cursive. this realization made my interest of olden times even more intense. i started imagining myself in a victorian home, wearing a flowy and ruffly dress and writing in beautiful penmanship a letter to a loved one, while drinking tea of course lol. these daydreams get me through the piles of work i have to do. and i hope they inspire you too.

-Genevieve

sunlight in your eyes

there is something about looking at the sun and its rays that is breathtaking. to witness a sunrise or sunset is a spectacular sight to me. all i want to do is capture it on film to remember the moment or look at it long enough to try to memorize it. but even though it occurs every day and even though i could catch it whenever i please, each time seems and feels like the first time all over again. one morning, i awoke at the crack of dawn to take pictures of the leaves changing colors. i fell in love with the sight of the sunrise once again. it's like a blind man seeing for the first time. these are a few of the pictures from the folder that contains about 300 lol. the leaves changing colors is something almost as equally breathtaking. i couldnt help but take millions of pictures. nature awes me. it's art on earth that people neglect at times. it can captivate you as much as a painting or a picture. and artists have tried to capture this beauty to portray what is around them, but sometimes it doesn't seem to quite fulfill the same sensation. although the artwork can be beautiful and be as realistic as the actual flower or tree, there is an element of something missing. the presense of that part of nature, that can only be witnessed in person. nature truly is art's muse and art is breathing because nature is giving it the air to breathe. 

hope you like them...

-Genevieve

and so it begins

this is my first official blog. ever. and i'm quite excited.

i hope to you use it to write about interesting things that happen in life or anything that i see that catches my eye.

expect to see art, photography, music, youtube vids or random things that inspire.

and funny anecdotes of my life because there seems to be someone that is laughing out there lol.

woo..my first post :) the future will ones be a bit more thought out but for now, just jam out to my recent obsession:

"Starlight" by Muse

enjoy! be back soon...

-Genevieve