In Time, What It Is becomes What Is It?

Lynda Barry’s What It Is is what I needed, as a writer and as a maturing adult. I’m a believer that as we grow older, we leave behind the playful antics of our childhood, and we become caught in-between the harsh responsibilities and realities of life. And in doing so, we sometimes look at existence as more of a burden than anything.

But when you’re an artist, I think there’s a struggle.

There’s a tug-of-war between our imagination and what’s truly happening in this world, and though we are all pulling on the side of the imagination, sometimes reality wins, and we forget about the things that made us writers, like our dreams, our childhood fears, and what we cooked up in our minds. When I read through What It Is, it reminded me of my own childhood, one page after another, and what led me to becoming a writer. I, for one, never want to truly grow up, and I cling harder to my childhood probably more than anyone I know. If I could, I’d wear onesies all day.

But I can’t.

I have responsibilities, like a job, and sometimes, they keep me from releasing some amazing ideas—like wearing onesies all day. In a more serious tone though, Barry’s book brought me back to my childhood, and posed questions that I haven’t thought about since I was a child—such as. “What is fog?” on page 139 or “What would you like to be good at?” on page 74.

I suppose that in a weird way, Barry’s words and illustrations help me access an area of thought I haven’t been to in quite some time; and unfortunately, these questions are harder to answer now than if I were 7 or 8 years old. From a writer’s perspective, answering “What is fog?” now wouldn’t capture everything my imagination was once capable of.

But I suppose I shouldn’t let that stop me from trying.

Photo: Courtesy of Edupics

First Attempt at Electric Images

Some electric images I created recently; though for some reason, I'm having major trouble with sizing. I'll see what I can do about that.

The picture above was actually edited in Adobe Photoshop. One of my favorite music albums of all time is Something Corporates "North" and the cover was created in the same light with the actual picture being masked by a few like colors as if it were painted that way. The picture, for those wondering, is actually me receiving a trophy for winning a pillow fight tournament. It's a roadside traffic cone.

I love going on urban exploration trips, and this picture is the graffiti over the entrance to a satanic temple in New Jersey. I used sumopaint for this one, and I used the negative of a half-tone scheme with a squared pattern. I may change it though, because it doesn't capture the writing on the wall, which says, "You're Never Coming Back."

This is from another urban exploration trip I recently went on. It's the road sign on Shades of Death Road. I can't seem to remember the scheme I used in sumopaint, but it wasn't the negative. I'll keep looking.

This the outside of the satanic temple, which is actually located in a viaduct, which is a hollowed bridge with catacombs and rooms inside. I'm still playing with this, so I'll post a new version before class on Tuesday.

Thoughts on Until the End of the World

After watching the second half of Until the End of the World, I think I finally grasped the importance of colors and visuals in the film. A few things caught my eye, such as the concentration on black, red, and blue—namely the lab-coats. The father wore black, which is obviously a symbolic color of an antagonist; the mother and Claire wore red (also, the picture of a child wearing a red shirt stood on a table next to the bed); and the team of scientists wore blue.

The cave itself also masked a red and blue undertone. Some walls in the laboratory carried a faint blue, while the untouched rocky walls carried a red. The cave itself is also a symbol as the entrance showcased multiple cave drawings, while the heart of it encased the laboratory where dreams were formulated.

When the dream sequence occurred, the picture on the monitor resembled satellite disruption, which could be associated with the nuclear satellite orbiting Earth at that point and time.

Also, the DVD cover above is pretty sick. Courtesy of freshwap.net.

It's really hard to comment without seeing the movie, but I'll try.

Unfortunately, I was stranded at work last week, taking care of everything that my office feared would fall behind with the coming of the so-called “Snow-mageddon II”. And because of my absence, I missed out on much of Until the End of the World. Two Blockbuster stores served me a heaping plate of nothing in my attempts to find the film, and so this writing comes with viewing just a few short clips and seeing a number of pictures. Plot aside, the visuals of this movie seemingly include a variable of camera angles and quality, posing scenes as more than just characters conversing; they serve as artistic stimulants, and keep the transition from scene-to-scene fresh and entertaining. After I watch the remaining parts of the movie, I will be able to comment further on the visual stimulants of the film. Not understanding the plot and only being able to view sporadic bits and pieces obviously makes it difficult to comment.