Fives

So...it's been quite awhile since i've been posting on here. Just thought i'd catch up with what's going on in my life

5 Things since I've posted on the blog:

1.) I nearly chopped the end of my finger off and had to go to the ER on the same day as my critique:

2.) I relaxed on a beach for 3 days in Navarre Beach, Florida

3.) I went home to Texas and spent some quality time with my lab Ollie and my red kitty

4.) I went to Austin City Limits Festival for the 4th time. Friday was perfect weather, Saturday we got rained on for 10 hours and Sunday we waded through mud, but I got to hear some incredible music

5.) Went to Memphis for 5 days with people from school and volunteered at a national design conference put on by AIGA called Make/Think

http://designconference2009.aiga.org/

5 Things currently on my mind at the start of this new quarter (4th quarter...ahh!!)

1.) A book I just finished reading called A Cage of Stars. I bought it at the discount section at Borders (I can't resist the bargain section!) and it turned out to be really great. It's been awhile since I've found a book that I can't put down:

(from Amazon)A young Mormon girl finds herself torn between retribution and forgiveness in The Deep End of the Ocean author Mitchard's latest. Twelve-year-old Veronica "Ronnie" Swan witnesses the murder of her two sisters in her family's yard in tiny Cedar City, Utah. Murderer Scott Early is immediately apprehended, but is diagnosed with schizophrenia and ends up spending just three years in a state mental hospital. The rest of Ronnie's family turns to their faith to forgive Early, visiting him just before his release after a battery of drugs have restored him to normalcy. But Ronnie remains angry and haunted by her inability to save her sisters from him, and as she comes of age she tracks Early to San Diego, becomes an EMT, talks his wife into hiring her as a nanny for their infant daughter, and starts planning her vengeance. But as Early's life comes into focus, Ronnie's plan leads to an unexpected climax.

2.) Phoenix, Avett Brothers, and Dismemberment Plan. Seeing both Phoenix and Avett Brothers at ACL has spun me into a listening marathon. Both bands were so impressive that I can't stop listening to them and haven't gotten sick of it yet. I liked both before but they have become my recent music obsession. Unfortunately, I don't actually own their cds and don't want to spend a lot of money buying all of their albums just yet. I have been listening to The Dismemberment Plan because I am in a class this quarter called Entertainment Design. In the class we are 'assigned' a band and we have to do the design for an album, a single, a show poster and 2 pieces of merchandise. Our instructor wrote down a bunch of bands and put them in a pile that we drew from. I ended up choosing the Dismemberment Plan and I've been researching them and listening to their music pretty consistently to try to get a feel of what their 'brand' should be. Our instructor even sent out a bunch of their music that he owned so we could download it to iTunes for free. Also, I've been looking at a lot of show posters on gigposter.com which is a great site to check out

3.) The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman: (http://www.short-stories.co.uk/)

In my Type 3 class we are designing a 50-100 page book of short stories (or one short story) that portray a common theme that can still be relevant today. The layout/design/colors/theme of the book must represent the short story(ies) as a whole. When researching short stories a friend suggested The Yellow Wallpaper, and when I read it I remembered having read it before, either in high school or college. It's about a husband and wife who live in a huge estate home over the summer (during the turn of the century). The woman, the narrator of the story, is somewhat mentally ill but her husband tells her to rest rather than give her medication. The room where she is confined is covered in old yellow wallpaper and the story follows her thought process about the wallpaper and she slowly goes insane by the end of the story. It's really eery and provokes strong imagery so I thought it would be a good choice for a book. Only problem is that it isnt long enough to fill 50 pages so I have to think of other stories that would fit a theme. If you haven't read the story, you should check it out.

4. Beatriz Milhazes: A friend brought me a book of artist Beatriz Milhazes work that he got while he was in Brazil (Beatriz is a Brazillion artist). Anyways, I absolutely love her work. It's bright and colorful and I totally want to use her style to create a painting of my own.

see more of her work here

5.) Texas Football!!! :

Texas in prime position at No. 3 in BCS

enough for now...time to do homework