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| Can't get that damn man out my head. I'm bloody confused and I feel guilty for being tease. | | |
| The first three weeks of my quarter have been.......good!
My Spanish class is entertaining. It's a huge class full of running start students. Profesora Yeregui is rather eccentric; she is rather prone to rants about "how it is different back in Spain".
Environmental geology is interesting, but the prof talks down to the class too much, I think. He's a nice guy though. On the plus side, the most ridiculously attractive guy on campus sits next to me in lecture.
English 102 is my favorite class. Professor Sherman is just as great a teacher as he was in 101. It's a nice small evening class. At first I thought the people in my discussion group were a tad on the inane side, but I like them now.
OC has really high enrollments this year (LOTS of running start students, darn kids), so it's a bit noisier and finding parking is impossible. I've made a few new friends:
Sean, a military dude
Chris, a fellow psych student
Jenny, a super nice pregnant girl
Quinn, the awesomest person alive
Zac, Quinn's comparably awesome friend
Marlena, a strong-willed art student
Kairee, who is friendly and has a good sense of humor
Himesh, who is pleasant and pretty
Chad, a flamboyant DJ
Good times. In other news- my hair is getting too long and it annoys me. Also, I cannot wait for Christmas.
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| School. I miss it. That is all. | | |
| About a year ago, I stopped reading fiction. Not that I don't like fiction- don't get me wrong, I love it. Consider the Lord of the Rings books be J.R.R. Tolkien.
Tolkein's excellent writing is guaranteed to whisk the reader away to an imaginary for hours on end. But I don't want to be whisked away.
To me, reading fiction is like taking a drug. You disappear into your own little world for a few hours, and when you get back, you have nothing to show for it. You haven't made any friends, or acquired any money, or necessarily even learned anything true. I enjoy reading books like LOTR, but afterwards I feel like I've lost a few hours of my life.
To a degree, I feel the same way about art.
This is a still life by Caravaggio, my favorite classical artist.
Most people looking at this painting would fixate on the subject matter, saying things like "that's pretty fruit" or "those melons look weird." News flash- THE FRUIT ISN'T REAL. This is not a pile of produce on a stone ledge. It is paint on a canvas. The painting is a lie. What's the point of going to the Seattle art museum to look at pictures of fruit? Why not go to the Pike Place Market and look at the real thing? At the market you could buy some fruit and use it for something constructive.
Of course, there is much to be appreciated about art. An true art critic would not look at the subject matter, but at the technique- how the painter made the fruit "look so real". Or an art historian would wonder why Caravaggio chose to paint this particular assortment of melons rather than his usual dark scenes of decadence and violence. But still, representational art is a lie. It's just a very well-constructed and historically significant lie.
I like modern art because it can be appreciated for what it is, not what it represents.
This is a painting by Mark Rothko, one of my favorite abstract expressionists. When people look at Mark Rothko's work, usually all they see is paint on a canvas. I like that, because Rothko's work IS paint on a canvas. And that in itself has intrinsic value of color, shape, and texture to be appreciated. It's more sensibly tangible, and more relevant to my life. Modern art is evocative, it calls on the viewer for interpretation. It doesn't focus your attentions on a simulation of reality or a world of fantasy, but back on the reality of yourself and how you see the world.
Of all the arts, I think music is the most relevant to everyday life. Instrumental music is fully evocative- it doesn't mean anything, It doesn't symbolize anything. It is, literally, just noise. Music can be personal and relevant because the abstract sounds take on a personal meaning in the mind of the listener.
Lyrics, however, do have specific meaning. They tell stories, give opinions, and express feelings. Lyrics can be evocative too, especially if they talk about emotions. But as much as I like introspection, it's hard for me to identify with a lot of lyrics. Too many songs talk about subjects I can't personally identify with, like love or depression. Sure, I would love country-western music if I drove a truck, drank beer, and loved dogs. But I don't.
I think the best genre of music, lyrically, is folk music. The subject matter is very down-to-earth.
This is the Crash Test Dummies, a Canadian folk music band I like. They sing about things that everybody can identify with, like growing old, having nightmares, and being careful not to stick metal forks into the toaster.
This is Cannibal Corpse, a Death metal band. Death metal is another genre with good vocals. Although it has lyrics, they growled in such a way as to be completely unintelligible. The focus is mostly on the complex instrumental work. Very introspective.
I follow a philosophy of realness in all my media choices.
This is a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare. Like LOTR, the play immerses the viewer in a world of fantasy. Actress Shanaya Rafaat is not really lost with her lover in a magical wood inhabited by fairies. The actor who plays Puck cannot really turn people into donkeys (that would be cool, though). This play is entertaining, but not real.
This is a concert for my favorite band, The Becoming. At a concert, what you see is what you get. Although they can't turn people into donkeys, musicians really can make the song you hear. They don't pretend to be something they're not, but they still look awesome and do awesome things. I like concerts because they're REAL- the performance represents nothing other than itself. The performers are real people doing their real job- you can go talk to them after the sho, and they will be the same people they were onstage. The audience is normal people just like me, there to appreciate something they like, not just a facsimile of something they like.
Some more Mark Rothko, just for good measure.
No dirty lies in this gallery. | | |
| So......
I'm leaving for Creation Fest tomorrow. And I'm very excited. And I'll be back next week. | | |
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