will sketch for wine

The other night a bunch of us went to Gallery 5 for a Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School drawing event. Dr. Sketchy's was founded by a woman named Molly Crabapple who decided that drawing class seriously lacked alcohol and burlesque models. And I agree. It was great. I've never drawn for 3 hours before but it seriously flew. I would scan in some of my drawings but believe me, you aren't missing anything. Here are some pics that I grabbed from: http://drsketchy.com/blog/.

predicting success

Last semester I did some research on the Myers-Briggs test. Learning that it predicts a person's preferred habit of behavior reminded me a bit of the SATs. The purpose of the SATs is to predict the likelihood that a student will be successful in higher education. They are both all about prediction of behavior; although studies show that neither of the tests' results can guarantee any particular behavioral pattern.

As we all know, and some have fallen victim to, not everyone is good at taking standardized tests. So what if you were to submit your Myers-Briggs personality to a school rather than (or in addition to) your SAT score? A Myers-Briggs personality analyzed in conjunction with a desired major could allow a school to assess whether or not they believe that student will be successful in studying that particular subject.

If you're curious as to what your MB personality could be, here's the test: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
(and don't worry, the MB test is a heck of a lot easier than the SAT!).

take a bite outta history

Ah the Victory Plate. Making money off Obama and he hasn't even started yet. This commercial is hilarious. Only two plates per order please.

sin in your cereal

Just found this blogpost called: "How Cereal Transformed American Culture (http://blogs.static.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/20822.html)." It's by: "Ian Lender is the author of Alcoholica Esoterica: A Collection of Useful and Useless Information As It Relates to the History and Consumption of All Manner of Booze. Photographs by Cary Norton."

Soo interesting!! The only pitfall is that not a lot of the info isn't sourced.

good swamp, bad swamp

Watching CNN's "After Party: Where We Go From Here." They just discussed the fact that Obama is going to say his middle name, Hussain, during the inauguration.

One made the point that I agree most with - "who cares," it's a name it shouldn't make any difference. Another one of the show's guests said that she looked up what the name Hussain means in Arabic and found that it means "good." Whereas President Bush's middle name, Walker, in old English means "swamp."

go fish

I have a love hate relationship with fishing. I love the idea of kicking back with a friend on a lovely summer afternoon, passing the time by watching the water. I do not however, enjoy touching or stabbing worms hence resulting in an unsuspecting fish getting a lip piercing. Nevertheless, I find myself reading a fly fishing magazine.

http://www.thisisfly.com/ redefines the barbaric old man hobby through badass style and cool technology. The articles describing fly fishing as an addicting drug and showcasing badass young guys defying the law and urban fishing. The technology that supports it is awesome. Each edition of the magazine features a playlist that you can click on and listen to while you read. There are videos embedded in the pages. You can actually turn the pages of the magazine and the index links you directly to the article you click on. I'd love to do my portfolio using this technology!

la musique qui me fait danser

Amadou and Mariam are a blind married couple from Africa. I love their music. It's in French. They have done some work with Manu Chao, another favorite international musician of mine.
Check out a song of theirs called "Senegal Fast Food."

the backs of our heads

The only time you see the back of your head is after getting a hair cut, when the hairdresser does the "two mirror" trick. Hairdresser magic. So, here are the backs of our heads. Check out Brandon's hair-art, nice stuff.

states that swing

Living in a swing state is great. A few examples why:

1. Drive down the country roads and you will find homemade party signs with more right and left turns than the road will offer.
2. Google CEO Eric Schmidt is coming to speak t VCU tomrw
3. Caroline Kennedy is coming to speak at VCU on Sat.
4. Just had Rock the Vote in the park near VCU, sadly Beastie Boys just came to say hello, not to perform. Boo.

be offended.

My friends Jake and Kyle created these stickers.
Check out their blogs:
http://rollingondubs.blogspot.com/
http://www.eggplantcreative.blogspot.com/

the shining, with doritos.

I admitted to being a ninny in front of 200 people today. Yep, it's true. I can't handle hotel626.com by myself. The site is brilliant if for no other reason than because it is only available between the hours of 6p.m. and 6a.m. A wonderful stipulation that guarantees it will haunt your dreams. But here is my question: what is a snack brand, Doritos, doing making a website that would make the director of horror film, The Ring, jealous? The scariest thing about the snack to me is the chemical ingredients.

Account Director Martha Jurzynski from Goodby spoke at the Brandcenter yesterday about integration. In looking at the Doritos home webpage I have trouble understanding the connection between the two websites. Perhaps because I have yet to explore Hotel626. Fair enough...Those of you who are brave enough to venture through the digital hotel let me know. Here is a pic featured on adage.com of Hotel626. It looks like Alice fell down the wrong rabbit hole this time around.

Here is a picture of the Doritos website. The website has a spy/end of the world look; sounds like Will Smith's next movie.

i'm a maverick too.

Ahh Sarah Palin, I can't tell you and Tina apart.

Check out: http://www.palinaspresident.com/, for one view of what Palin in the Oval Office might look like.

A little ditty about our lovely flute player - "Sarah Palin Remixed:"

folk yeah!!

I love music festivals. The 70th Richmond Folk Festival was this past weekend and I saw a few awesome groups. Here's a video from an Irish group called Laidan:

My friend Everitt and I were jammin out to a reggae band on Friday night. The crowd was in full bop and from all walks of life. It was so cool to see such strangers break it down. I had an 80-something year old man on one side of me doing a side-step and dreaded hippies raving past me on the other.
I don't know where the heck I'll be next year, but I hope I can take the time to come down for the 71st RVA Folk Fest!

abandon your seat, let the beat unite you

Here is a paper that I wrote for Peter Coughter's Cultural explorations class. The assignment was to visit a Richmond attraction and write our thoughts about our experience. I visited the Armenian Food Festival. For the paper I drew a bird's eye view of the event and mapped out my foot steps around the festival. I'll have to scan in the drawing later (I'm not much of a drawer so it's not a great drawing!), but here is my story transcribed.

Lose the bike. Walk amongst a crowd to which you hold no tie. “Heck, I don’t even know where Armenia is.”

“Wow, check out all the families! Welcome to the suburbs! I wonder if I’ll ever really be a part of this? Is this my aim or my biggest fear?

(In the buffet line)
Two old ladies in line behind me discuss the high prices of the food this year. “I guess I can splurge, I never go out” one says, making me feel embarrassed by all that I take for granted. The convo moves to aging and I appreciate my youth.

Sit next to a girl around my age eating by herself. We listen to the live music and watch the costumed children’s dance group. Her father approaches and I hear him in his loving, musky voice ask “did you get a discount because you are Armenian?” I know she smiled back. I miss my dad.

The crowd joins the dance. Linked by pinkies, complicated foot patterns mingle with the music and I, ever observant of each step, begin to dance in my seat. Abandon the seat. Take to the floor, link pinkies and accept that failure is inevitable but fun.

We snake around the church grounds in the shadows the evening attempts to throw at us. Exhale into the movement any fear of cutting the flow, let the beat unite you. Let pinkies become arms when those who are losing their war with time celebrate their mortality, however quickly it may be fading. Understand tradition, become a part of it even if it was never yours to practice.

"In fact, romanticism and science are good for each other."

"The scientist keeps the romantic honest and the romantic keeps the scientist human."
- "Another Roadside Attraction" by Tom Robbins, pg. 150

I love this quote. It illustrates the idea that opposites attract. But is this true? One could argue with the equally common phrase "like attracts like." I personally believe more in the latter.

For the creative execution of one of my recent projects we compiled interesting love stories. I find listening to these stories very optimistic. In an America that is increasingly lonelier I can only hope that my optimism isn't blind naivety. My favorite is still my friend Amy's.

Amy, an American student was hiking alone in Chile when she came across a winery and decided to take a tour. Amy was the only guest on the tour but just before she and the guide began a young French man, who was also hiking Chile solo, arrived. Amy and her new companion, Jean, conversed in their second language, Spanish, as Amy spoke no French and Jean no English. After the tour the two became traveling companions for a few weeks. Upon returning to South Carolina, Amy began taking French lessons and Jean began learning English. Less than a year later, Amy graduated from college and moved to New Zealand with Jean to become organic farmers. As it was the rain season, the two were stuck in doors. Amy later told me that if their relationship was able to survive those months farming in the rain and being stuck in the same small space, it could survive anything. She was right. The two got married about a year later. Amy and Jean now live in France.