being cool in the nineteenth century

this daguerreotype intrigues me. it is called Portrait of a blind man holding a cat (c. 1850) with an unknown photographer. naturally i think it's awesome because it's probably one of the first photographs with a cat, but there's something else about it. although only blind men wore 'shades' in photographs, in today's perception he looks 'cool'. but i guess it's the movement of the cat. it's an endearing image, while at the same time creepy. i think it's great. the cat is blurred because exposure times used to be super long and if anything moved, it wouldn't show up. the cat probably stood still for most of the exposure but then decided to move and now it looks like a ghost of a pet. i'm taking history of photography and i'm now obsessed now with daguerreotypes. it might have been one of the first photographic processes, but it remains as one of the best images that you can capture. if you were able to microscopically zoom in on this photograph, you would see an incredible zoom. i could keep going on how this works, but i'm going to refrain from getting too nerdy.

i'm going to go back to studying now. tomorrow's friday, get excited.

-Genevieve

and the dreams they never lie

“Remember today, for it is the beginning of always.

Today marks the start of a brave new future

filled with all your dreams can hold.

Think truly to the future and make those dreams come true.”

sometimes i forget to stop and smell the roses. it happens. you get so caught up in the everyday, and worry about the future and contemplate the past. and before you know it, today seems so simple, so ordinary. i think that most people, i know i do, tend to think that today is just another day. that today (unless it is a holiday or your birthday), just happens to be another day of routine. another day that you drag yourself out of bed and go to school or work and before you know it, it's gone and on to the next one. i see this in so many peoples faces, i see it in their eyes, i feel it in the way they walk by me one after another. the only thing that i can think of is smiling. i smile, because what else is there to do? maybe they'll remember to do the same. this is my secret hope. sometimes i think maybe they see me and wonder 'what she's so happy about?'. i guess if they asked (and if they even thought of this in the first place) i would answer. because today is special. today i have the opportunity to do something with my life. i could take advantage of it and make it a good day. or i could let it slip through my fingers and then wonder what happened to it. the days that are remembered in history, most of those days were probably not planned as the day something important is going to happen. they started out like the same old monday and now they are never forgotten. so, here's the question tumbling around my head: why not?

i hope tomorrow is special for you,

Genevieve

missed the boat

i have returned from the lost world of i'm-not-sure-why-i-didn't-blog-in-three-months.

not sure if you missed me, but i missed you.

while we're on the subject, could we change the subject now?
i was knocking on your ear's door, but you were always out
looking towards the future, we were begging for the past
well we know we had the good things but those never seemed to last
oh please just last
everyone's unhappy, everyone's ashamed
well we all just got caught looking at somebody else's page
well nothing ever went quite exactly as we planned
our ideas held no water but we used them like a dam

-Modest Mouse

as promised, here are pics of my ceramics. a bit late i realize but better late than never, right? lol we'll go with that.

soft slab construction

firm slab construction with sgraffito

thrown on wheel

thrown on wheel

thrown on wheel

and here are some songs that came on pandora that i fell in love with...

alias & tarsier - "dr. c"

neil halstead - "sometimes the wheels"

mint - "the winter of 1985"

i promise to be back soon. i have a test in the morning, so i should go back to studying seeing at is midnight in ten minutes lol oh the joys of college. hope you have a lovely week.

au revoir,

-Genevieve