Aight, I know I'm a bum, but I've actually been busy and preoccupied. I decided, instead of keeping track of my daily happenings, I'll just have essays about anything. So, I shall be posting an essay soon.
Ahhh soorrryy!
Cody
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Jeez-us.
I've been such a bum, but it's to be expected. I'm me, for godsake, and anyone who knows who I am know how lazy I get.
There's much too much to cover from the past few days so... I guess I'm just not going to. I'll just give a brief overview I suppose? I'm much too tired today to slave over a keyboard for a few hours to put forth a beautiful post that documents what's been up in my life for the past... I don't even remember... days.
Well, in 2D design last week, Ania didn't show up. But, nevertheless, it turned out to be one of the best classes I've had at Cooper for the last year and a bit. We had a woman--whose name I sadly cannot remember--come in to teach us how to book bind. How this has to with 2D design? I have no idea (actually I do, but I'm too much of a bumface to explain it). We learned how to make three kinds of books, all of which I plan to use in the near future.
Drawing, on the otherhand, was the biggest pain in my ass ever. It had all the things I hated: crystal drawing, ink wash, and bitchy TAs. As one could assume, drawing a crystal is perhaps one of the hardest things to do, since a crystal is just shapes of different tonal values pieced together side by side. There are no lines when you draw a crystal, at least traditionally. And to top it all off, we had to produce these shades with india ink. For those who have never used this medium before (and you are so damn lucky if you haven't), it's very difficult to master. You have to know how much water or how much ink to have one your brush as you paint. I hate it. Really, I hate any wet media, but that's another story for another time.
Thank god my professor John is the awesomest man on this planet (he looks and sounds like Fred Harrison, except he always wears a black trenchcoat) because, without him, it probably would've been the worst day ever. He has a very unconventional way of looking at drawings so, like any good art teacher would do, he let us explore the medium, letting us experiment with how the brush works and how the ink flows. It was actually almost fun.
But, let's not forget the last thing on my hate list I mentioned earlier. Right when I was messing around with the ink--doing what I was supposed to be doing because it was the assignment--the TA comes up to me and starts to explain how I'm doing it all wrong. She attempted to push me into drawing these crystals the conventional way (making blocks of colour). Me, being the push-over that I am, listened to her.
Funnily enough, during critique, John liked my other paintings better.
The TA also started screaming at this other girl too. Okay, I admit it, the girl was painting the same view and the same shades and highlights in the same place over and over again. And she was being pretty stubborn when the TA pointed it out to her. But the woman went ballistic on the girl. She started hardcore arguing, telling the girl how she was being dumb and how she doesn't know everything and how she should listen to her and to stop being so stubborn. I remmeber she said something like "You're so annoying! Why am I even arguing with you?! Sometimes I just want to choke you!"
"She's psychotic," whispered the girl who sat in front of me. And I couldn't agree more.
Nothing really happened in 3D today. So I won't really go into it. Hopefully tomorrow is more exciting...
See yuh,
Cody
PS- I was social today. I spoke to Sam(<3), the awesome TA, about Trainspotting. How sad is it that I'm making friends with the help of Sean Fo outside of Calhoun?
There's much too much to cover from the past few days so... I guess I'm just not going to. I'll just give a brief overview I suppose? I'm much too tired today to slave over a keyboard for a few hours to put forth a beautiful post that documents what's been up in my life for the past... I don't even remember... days.
Well, in 2D design last week, Ania didn't show up. But, nevertheless, it turned out to be one of the best classes I've had at Cooper for the last year and a bit. We had a woman--whose name I sadly cannot remember--come in to teach us how to book bind. How this has to with 2D design? I have no idea (actually I do, but I'm too much of a bumface to explain it). We learned how to make three kinds of books, all of which I plan to use in the near future.
Drawing, on the otherhand, was the biggest pain in my ass ever. It had all the things I hated: crystal drawing, ink wash, and bitchy TAs. As one could assume, drawing a crystal is perhaps one of the hardest things to do, since a crystal is just shapes of different tonal values pieced together side by side. There are no lines when you draw a crystal, at least traditionally. And to top it all off, we had to produce these shades with india ink. For those who have never used this medium before (and you are so damn lucky if you haven't), it's very difficult to master. You have to know how much water or how much ink to have one your brush as you paint. I hate it. Really, I hate any wet media, but that's another story for another time.
Thank god my professor John is the awesomest man on this planet (he looks and sounds like Fred Harrison, except he always wears a black trenchcoat) because, without him, it probably would've been the worst day ever. He has a very unconventional way of looking at drawings so, like any good art teacher would do, he let us explore the medium, letting us experiment with how the brush works and how the ink flows. It was actually almost fun.
But, let's not forget the last thing on my hate list I mentioned earlier. Right when I was messing around with the ink--doing what I was supposed to be doing because it was the assignment--the TA comes up to me and starts to explain how I'm doing it all wrong. She attempted to push me into drawing these crystals the conventional way (making blocks of colour). Me, being the push-over that I am, listened to her.
Funnily enough, during critique, John liked my other paintings better.
The TA also started screaming at this other girl too. Okay, I admit it, the girl was painting the same view and the same shades and highlights in the same place over and over again. And she was being pretty stubborn when the TA pointed it out to her. But the woman went ballistic on the girl. She started hardcore arguing, telling the girl how she was being dumb and how she doesn't know everything and how she should listen to her and to stop being so stubborn. I remmeber she said something like "You're so annoying! Why am I even arguing with you?! Sometimes I just want to choke you!"
"She's psychotic," whispered the girl who sat in front of me. And I couldn't agree more.
Nothing really happened in 3D today. So I won't really go into it. Hopefully tomorrow is more exciting...
See yuh,
Cody
PS- I was social today. I spoke to Sam(<3), the awesome TA, about Trainspotting. How sad is it that I'm making friends with the help of Sean Fo outside of Calhoun?
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
"Move That Thing, You Chink!"
Hiya guys!
So, I apologize for signing off so early last night. It was late and I remembered I had to finish some last minute shit for 2D design. I'll explain the assignment a little later in this post (or maybe not).
As I mentioned in my last post, we went to the Met (the Met being, of course, the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 82nd). I was pretty damn excited since we'd actually be doing something cool after 3 long hours of endless poetry, and also since, depressingly and shamefully enough, I have never been to the Met before.
My parents have never been museum goers unless, being the ethnocentrics that they are, there is an exhibition of some sort of Asian (preferably Chinese) artist. I remember about a few months ago, we went to the Guggenheim to see this artist whose name leaves me. But anyways, he was known for making huge works from canvasses that he burned with gunpowder. It sounds cool, but honestly, it looks like shit smears.
But I digress. We divided into 4 groups of 9, and I was hoping--praying even--that I get to have Sam, my 3D TA, as my groups "leader" (even though he's spoken to me once, I think he's awesome. If Sean Formato, Ben Lovell and JJ Costabile had a love child, it would be Sam). I got stuck with the other TA instead, Anabelle. She's nice and seems pretty smart, but I paired up with her for poetry once and her writing is the pretentious sort that makes you want to facepalm yourself. But, nevertheless, I was still pretty pumped to be at the Met.
My group spent about an hour and fifteen minutes out of the 2 hours we had in the South-East Asian art. There's something you should know about me. I HATE ancient art, even if it is Asian, and to look at it for an hour and fifteen minutes... I swear, if I see one more statue of Krishna, I think I'LL turn blue. Jesus.
Then, to my delight, we got to go see pop art! Yay! How I love Andy Warhol and all the art he claims as his own even though he himself never made it! Yayyy!
I hate pop art.
But, the trip wasn't as dreadful as I've made it sound so far. We also got to see some pretty awesome stuff. Jeff Koons had three pieces up on the roof which I thought was amazing. He imitated such soft and fragile objects, such as a balloon dog, and built is very detailed with heavy metal. I great deal of juxtaposition there. And then I got to see Jasper Jones' White Flag and Damien Hirst's The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living. Two very awesome pieces that look exponentially better in person.
I seriously wish we had more time there, but perhaps it'll be better if I go on my own or with a friend or two....
So, I apologize for signing off so early last night. It was late and I remembered I had to finish some last minute shit for 2D design. I'll explain the assignment a little later in this post (or maybe not).
As I mentioned in my last post, we went to the Met (the Met being, of course, the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 82nd). I was pretty damn excited since we'd actually be doing something cool after 3 long hours of endless poetry, and also since, depressingly and shamefully enough, I have never been to the Met before.
My parents have never been museum goers unless, being the ethnocentrics that they are, there is an exhibition of some sort of Asian (preferably Chinese) artist. I remember about a few months ago, we went to the Guggenheim to see this artist whose name leaves me. But anyways, he was known for making huge works from canvasses that he burned with gunpowder. It sounds cool, but honestly, it looks like shit smears.
But I digress. We divided into 4 groups of 9, and I was hoping--praying even--that I get to have Sam, my 3D TA, as my groups "leader" (even though he's spoken to me once, I think he's awesome. If Sean Formato, Ben Lovell and JJ Costabile had a love child, it would be Sam). I got stuck with the other TA instead, Anabelle. She's nice and seems pretty smart, but I paired up with her for poetry once and her writing is the pretentious sort that makes you want to facepalm yourself. But, nevertheless, I was still pretty pumped to be at the Met.
My group spent about an hour and fifteen minutes out of the 2 hours we had in the South-East Asian art. There's something you should know about me. I HATE ancient art, even if it is Asian, and to look at it for an hour and fifteen minutes... I swear, if I see one more statue of Krishna, I think I'LL turn blue. Jesus.
Then, to my delight, we got to go see pop art! Yay! How I love Andy Warhol and all the art he claims as his own even though he himself never made it! Yayyy!
I hate pop art.
But, the trip wasn't as dreadful as I've made it sound so far. We also got to see some pretty awesome stuff. Jeff Koons had three pieces up on the roof which I thought was amazing. He imitated such soft and fragile objects, such as a balloon dog, and built is very detailed with heavy metal. I great deal of juxtaposition there. And then I got to see Jasper Jones' White Flag and Damien Hirst's The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living. Two very awesome pieces that look exponentially better in person.
I seriously wish we had more time there, but perhaps it'll be better if I go on my own or with a friend or two....
Ahh, I'm exhausted. I'm falling behind on posts and it's my first week. So typical. I'll post eventually about today's book binding endeavors soon (probably tomorrow).
Lo siento!
Cody
EDIT: I just realized I didn't explain my title. Some old lady with poofy white hair and a flat pale snake face was walking by me while I stood literally right next to the wall so I was squished beyond belief. It was raining and I had my umbrella up. This woman shoves my umbrella out of the way, shoots me a nasty nasty glare and proceeds to say "Move that thing, you chink!"
I dunno, I thought it was funny.
Lo siento!
Cody
EDIT: I just realized I didn't explain my title. Some old lady with poofy white hair and a flat pale snake face was walking by me while I stood literally right next to the wall so I was squished beyond belief. It was raining and I had my umbrella up. This woman shoves my umbrella out of the way, shoots me a nasty nasty glare and proceeds to say "Move that thing, you chink!"
I dunno, I thought it was funny.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
89 Degrees<3
Sometimes, the sweltering heat is a good thing, making the things we love exponentially better. Like ice cream, or fro-yo (<3). Other times, it's a sign of a bad day. Unfortunately for me, today's inflated temperatures resulted in the latter of these two choices.
As you may know, I generally like to write (all thanks to Mr. Sean Formato). But seriously, three hours of writing poetry from a line of hieroglyphs is not something I would typically categorize as fun. Both poetry and hieroglyphs are fun, but when combined, it proves to be a deadly mix.
I wish I had my strip of hieroglyphics, but I don't remember where I put it. So, instead, I'll humor you with my awful awful poem that resulted from today's assignment.
He's all glum with a cloud overhead,
unable to distinguish between a mitten
and a boot.
It's two, then three, then one
then three again.
And now he's starting to grumble,
but the cranes and groundhogs won't stop.
His mind's ablaze
and the grasses are drying.
And there's nothing he can do.
Nothing as the hawk sweeps in
with an ear of corn and a hairdryer
hanging from its talons.
And then he's done.
It makes no sense. But hey, I guess it could be worse. I know there was a girl who wrote about a blind man with one eye with no pupil, and another girl who described a narwhal swimming in the sky....
Oh shit, I have to do my 2D design homework. I'll post more about my trip to the Met later.
Sorry guys!
Cody
As you may know, I generally like to write (all thanks to Mr. Sean Formato). But seriously, three hours of writing poetry from a line of hieroglyphs is not something I would typically categorize as fun. Both poetry and hieroglyphs are fun, but when combined, it proves to be a deadly mix.
I wish I had my strip of hieroglyphics, but I don't remember where I put it. So, instead, I'll humor you with my awful awful poem that resulted from today's assignment.
He's all glum with a cloud overhead,
unable to distinguish between a mitten
and a boot.
It's two, then three, then one
then three again.
And now he's starting to grumble,
but the cranes and groundhogs won't stop.
His mind's ablaze
and the grasses are drying.
And there's nothing he can do.
Nothing as the hawk sweeps in
with an ear of corn and a hairdryer
hanging from its talons.
And then he's done.
It makes no sense. But hey, I guess it could be worse. I know there was a girl who wrote about a blind man with one eye with no pupil, and another girl who described a narwhal swimming in the sky....
Oh shit, I have to do my 2D design homework. I'll post more about my trip to the Met later.
Sorry guys!
Cody
Monday, July 7, 2008
Hot Air Balloons Minus the Hot Air and Ridiculously Spicy Ramen
Yo doods!
What do you get when you put a gaggle of art students, the word volume, and a gigantic box of I <3 NY plastic bags together in a single room? A hot air balloon-parachute hybrid, of course! Before the facepalmings and o_o's begin, let me explain what happened today.
Well, Adriana, being the quirky teacher that she is, decided to be a little different than your average everyday 3D professors. She essentially chucked a stack of plastic bags with the logo so synonymous with tourists and the Big Apple and had us quilt them together to form a gargantuan bubble. Strenuous, but fun, nevertheless.
But how the hell did we manage to get this thing to float up in the air? That's where the parachute part of our hot air balloon-parachute hybrid comes in. We managed to get ahold of a fan and bumped it up to high. Unfortunately, however, we, being the retarded art students that we are, don't know how to sew, so there were one or two holes scattered throughout our plastic bag bulb resulting in some flotation issues.
After stringing our plastic bag balloon to the ceiling pipes with fishing line, we finally got our bubble to stay afloat without any human support. That was exciting. Nothing reads accomplishment like finally getting your plastic bulb to hover over a fan on full blast.
We stood around it for a good ten minutes or so and then, just decided that it was "cute." Which it was, but this is coming from a group of students who supposedly go to Cooper Union, mind you. We have a way with words, what can I say?
So after class, I usually grab a bite to eat since I don't really like to chow down under such short time restraints (only an hour for lunch--I'm a slow eater!). Anyways, there is a lot to choose from; the streets are brimming with unique little food places where you can find virtually anything. Today, I decided to go for the Korean.
I want to say that it's on Waverly, but I'm not entirely sure. I have terrible navigational skills--probably a result of growing up in the suburbs. But I digress. This tiny Korean place is in the middle of a quiet little street, away from the bustling shops and crowded restaurants on Broadway. Simple furniture set up, nice cashier, killer menu design. It's seems nice and quaint and cute, so why the hell not?
I ordered a bowl of chicken ramen for about $7-$8, and I can honestly say, not the best idea for a 80-something degree day in July. For those who have never had Korean-style ramen before, it's a scorching bowl of broth with a whole lot of thick and chewy noodles. I mean, I love spicy and I love Korean ramen. But this place just overdid it by about 55 degrees; I felt like I was going to vomit flames. The chicken had a decent char taste from grilling, but it was dry, and the shiitake mushrooms were cold. It certainly not worth the $8.
Ah, I guess, better luck next time...
Gracias Por Leía,
Cody
What do you get when you put a gaggle of art students, the word volume, and a gigantic box of I <3 NY plastic bags together in a single room? A hot air balloon-parachute hybrid, of course! Before the facepalmings and o_o's begin, let me explain what happened today.
Well, Adriana, being the quirky teacher that she is, decided to be a little different than your average everyday 3D professors. She essentially chucked a stack of plastic bags with the logo so synonymous with tourists and the Big Apple and had us quilt them together to form a gargantuan bubble. Strenuous, but fun, nevertheless.
But how the hell did we manage to get this thing to float up in the air? That's where the parachute part of our hot air balloon-parachute hybrid comes in. We managed to get ahold of a fan and bumped it up to high. Unfortunately, however, we, being the retarded art students that we are, don't know how to sew, so there were one or two holes scattered throughout our plastic bag bulb resulting in some flotation issues.
After stringing our plastic bag balloon to the ceiling pipes with fishing line, we finally got our bubble to stay afloat without any human support. That was exciting. Nothing reads accomplishment like finally getting your plastic bulb to hover over a fan on full blast.
We stood around it for a good ten minutes or so and then, just decided that it was "cute." Which it was, but this is coming from a group of students who supposedly go to Cooper Union, mind you. We have a way with words, what can I say?
~~~~~
So after class, I usually grab a bite to eat since I don't really like to chow down under such short time restraints (only an hour for lunch--I'm a slow eater!). Anyways, there is a lot to choose from; the streets are brimming with unique little food places where you can find virtually anything. Today, I decided to go for the Korean.
I want to say that it's on Waverly, but I'm not entirely sure. I have terrible navigational skills--probably a result of growing up in the suburbs. But I digress. This tiny Korean place is in the middle of a quiet little street, away from the bustling shops and crowded restaurants on Broadway. Simple furniture set up, nice cashier, killer menu design. It's seems nice and quaint and cute, so why the hell not?
I ordered a bowl of chicken ramen for about $7-$8, and I can honestly say, not the best idea for a 80-something degree day in July. For those who have never had Korean-style ramen before, it's a scorching bowl of broth with a whole lot of thick and chewy noodles. I mean, I love spicy and I love Korean ramen. But this place just overdid it by about 55 degrees; I felt like I was going to vomit flames. The chicken had a decent char taste from grilling, but it was dry, and the shiitake mushrooms were cold. It certainly not worth the $8.
Ah, I guess, better luck next time...
Gracias Por Leía,
Cody
Saturday, July 5, 2008
For Starters (A Little Exposition)
Hey all!
Report cards and SAT scores are finally in, and I can finally say, it's officially summer. But, I suppose that doesn't really mean much since my summer is not one typical to your average high schooler.
For those who don't know what my summer schedule looks like, I'll give a brief overview. I attend Cooper Union's 6-Week Summer Outreach Program and, I'm not going to lie, it's pretty stressful (this was our first week). We meet about four times a week, and each day is a different class. They all start at 9AM everyday, and they end at 3PM, with the exception of my courses on Tuesdays, which end at 4PM.
On Mondays, we have 3D Design with Adriana. On Tuesdays, we have Art Issues with Stephanie Hightower in the morning, and Creative Writing with Dave Johnson in the afternoon. On Wednesdays, we have 2D Design with Ania Soloman (I initially wanted Cara Di Eduardo, who is, by far, the best art instructor I've had, but I've taken her 2D class before so I couldn't have her again). And finally, on Thursdays, we have Drawing with John.
These classes are all a whole lot of work, but so far I've been enjoying myself. The area around Cooper is pretty killer with neat trendy places and quirky little eateries to chillax in. Plus, as lame and bizarre as this may sound, I get to spend more time with my mother which I seldom get to do when I'm in school (I know, I'm a big dork).
Anyways, this blog, at least for these upcoming six weeks, will be documenting my daily outings around St. Marks and the rest of the city. And afterwards? I'm not quite sure yet, but I'll worry about that when the time comes.
Thanks for Reading,
Cody
Report cards and SAT scores are finally in, and I can finally say, it's officially summer. But, I suppose that doesn't really mean much since my summer is not one typical to your average high schooler.
For those who don't know what my summer schedule looks like, I'll give a brief overview. I attend Cooper Union's 6-Week Summer Outreach Program and, I'm not going to lie, it's pretty stressful (this was our first week). We meet about four times a week, and each day is a different class. They all start at 9AM everyday, and they end at 3PM, with the exception of my courses on Tuesdays, which end at 4PM.
On Mondays, we have 3D Design with Adriana. On Tuesdays, we have Art Issues with Stephanie Hightower in the morning, and Creative Writing with Dave Johnson in the afternoon. On Wednesdays, we have 2D Design with Ania Soloman (I initially wanted Cara Di Eduardo, who is, by far, the best art instructor I've had, but I've taken her 2D class before so I couldn't have her again). And finally, on Thursdays, we have Drawing with John.
These classes are all a whole lot of work, but so far I've been enjoying myself. The area around Cooper is pretty killer with neat trendy places and quirky little eateries to chillax in. Plus, as lame and bizarre as this may sound, I get to spend more time with my mother which I seldom get to do when I'm in school (I know, I'm a big dork).
Anyways, this blog, at least for these upcoming six weeks, will be documenting my daily outings around St. Marks and the rest of the city. And afterwards? I'm not quite sure yet, but I'll worry about that when the time comes.
Thanks for Reading,
Cody
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