Hojotoho!*

My last blog post is officially a hit, especially with the woman whose blog post inspired it: WhiteFeather wrote on Thursday that she "needed that. Really." You can read her full post here. I'm starting to lose track of how many times we've referenced each other in our respective blogs this year (hmm... Maybe I should do a tally.). But I have to admit that I love it: it's almost like a conversation, but it's carried out on two different blogs. WhiteFeather also posted the link my last blog post on Facebook. And praised me.

The link to my last blog post as it appeared on my Facebook profile, with the resulting conversation between my mom and me.

Yesterday was the Met's final radio broadcast/Live in HD transmission of the season (Die Walküre), and that evening was their final performance of the season (Orfeo ed Euridice--Christoph Willibald Gluck). Time to start the countdown to December third--the date of the next radio broadcast (Handel's Rodelinda)!

Yesterday's performance actually surprised me: although I like Wagner (unless I'm watching the opera), this time I really got into the performance and the beauty of the music. During some of it, I actually felt like crying. Although that's not unusual for me, I've never felt that way towards Wagner. Until yesterday. And I almost did cry, too: during the Ride of the Valkyries I turned on my dad's radio (which is part of a big, beautiful sound-system: the radio/receiver, CD player and tape player are all separate, and the whole thing is connected to a pair of book-shelf-size speakers that make everything and everyone sound gorgeous), and basked in the glory that is the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and one of the greatest pieces of music ever written. And choked up a bit.

This week, the Met released the lineup for next year's HD transmissions. I'm thinking about going to either Don Giovanni (Mozart, of course) or Satyagraha (Phillip Glass). But no matter what my decision, I'm not going to performances in either December or April (mi dispiace, La Traviata), due to finals: although I could probably use the stress-relief, it would probably backfire because I'd be going over my to-do list nonstop when I was supposed to be enjoying the opera.

*The title for this post is taken from the first words of the Ride of the Valkyries.

And just because the Ride is so darn awesome (in all senses of the word), here's a video of the instrumental version, performed by the NBC Symphony and conducted by Arturo Toscanini (who conducted the MOO from 1908 to 1915) from 1948. If you can, hook your computer up to THE BEST set of speakers you own, and crank up the volume as loud as you can stand. And check out that first violin section.



If you want the full effect (valkyries included), here's a version with the vocals, as performed at the BBC Proms.

How do you fill all that free time at the end of the year? With creative awesomeness!

This coming week there are only two days on which I ABSOLUTELY have to be at school. But on those other days I'll probably end up at the college anyway.

Monday: My last Photoshop class for the year. :-( That day we finished our pages for the magazine and handed them in. We also chose dates and times for assessments with Drew (mine's on Thursday afternoon).

In the morning I asked him to cut another mat for me, and after class my classmates and I hung our show at City Hall.

Tuesday: I didn't have class in the morning. And Photo History wasn't so much about the history of photography as it was about getting ready for the show--everything from Karen handing out stickers with our artist statements and bios on them (they went next to our non-tableaux vivant), to Chelsea curling Karen's hair with a straightening iron.

That afternoon we also found out that two of the photos from the show had been censored by City Hall. One of them depicted a dark version of the Last Supper. The other, an S&M scene. Both photos were removed from the show after the opening.

CENSORED: The Last Parody, by Anne-Marie Rolf and Roger Flanagan

CENSORED: Because Whips and Chains Excite Me, by Emily Jackson

Snow White's Sister (Snow White 2)--my tableau

Rusted Ripples--my non-tableau. The guy on the left is Peter, by the way.

This was my first opening where I was one of the artists, and not just a viewer. Because of that, I found it a little awkward (what do I do?), but it was still a really good opening. It wasn't too crazy, either, which I liked (some openings can be really crowded and loud).

Wednesday: That morning I had my assessment with Peter, which went well. We talked about my independent project and he critiqued the portfolio that I'd produced after all that hard work (a couple of pieces could've been taken out, which would've strengthened said portfolio), as well as asking me what my plans are for the foreseeable future (I'm still figuring that out).

Late that afternoon I met with Anne-Marie and Hannah Nissen (Surface Design major) to finish our cardboard chairs for Design. Let's just say that our chair is never going to behave the way we want it to... Oh, well: we tried.

Thursday: That day, all I had were two assessments (Karen's in the morning, Rod's in the afternoon)--and one heck of a cleaning job. Both assessments went well, and after my assessment with Rod, I dove in and started cleaning out my shelf in the studio--while listening to Tchaikovsky (Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor). After dumping a whole lot of stuff (mostly foamcore), I still had a large Bean bag that was so heavy that I only made it as far as the Kings Place Mall before calling a cab.

Rod told me that he'd come across my blog--and he liked it. Like Peter and Karen, he said that there was a definite voice behind my writing. So Rod, if you're reading this, hi!

In the evening, I got a note via Facebook from Peter (he sent it to all the members of the photo studio's Facebook group): he's having a potluck/party this Tuesday (which happens to be his birthday). Right away, I decided that I'll bring vegetarian burgers (preferably homemade--here's the recipe I'm going to use. I plan on doubling it.). I might bring something to drink, and I'll definitely bring my violin. From Peter's message: "Bring friends, intoxicants, food, instruments and good cheer."

Friday: Although I didn't have class yesterday, I still managed to be fairly busy. Yes, I took my sweet time that morning (though I got started on whipping my violin--which hasn't been played much in the last eight months--into shape for Tuesday's potluck: I don't want to have to tune it every couple minutes. I'm going to tune and play it every day between now and Tuesday: welcome to violin tuning boot camp.), but once the afternoon hit, I didn't stop. Most importantly, I paid my first-ever visit to WhiteFeather's studio. I'd been wanting to visit since FVA year, but couldn't due to the workload and life getting in the way (the usual). But it was worth the wait. WhiteFeather spent most of my visit scrubbing her worktable (today's lesson: the edge of a playing card makes a good scrubbing tool). I had a blast exploring the room that is StudioASAP (formerly Studio 4ward), chatting with WhiteFeather as well as asking questions about the art that I discovered, some of which was made during her time at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), and much of which I recognized from her blog (either because she'd posted a photo or because she'd written about the piece in question).

If I'm into a topic, I'm fairly good at retaining information. However, I often don't realize how much I've remembered until I'm using that information in conversation. My visit to StudioASAP was one of those times: I recognized several pieces because I'd read about them in WhiteFeather's blog (hot ticket), and I commented on them. She told me about the pieces in question, the successes and failures, and how she's thinking of using the failed creations in the future.

Afterwards, I went to the college (which is literally a hop, skip and a jump from StudioASAP) and started work on my own project. I won't say much (or anything at all) due to the fact that because this is a public blog, anyone could read this, and I don't want the people that this project is intended for to read about it before they've seen said project. However, I will say that it's a thank-you present.

WhiteFeather scrubbing away in her studio.

Some of the awesome stuff I discovered in WhiteFeather's studio, including a piece of plexiglass that she etched by machine (she made the design in Adobe Illustrator).

Some more awesome stuff.

Wouldn't you love to have a floor like this?! The floor of StudioASAP (and my feet).

 Today I plan to shop for ingredients for the burgers (I need black beans, walnuts, a red onion and canned corn--not the creamy kind), and will make them some point between today and Monday (I have a feeling that the flavour will be better if they sit for a day or so).

March Break

I spent March Break as I'd planned: being lazy (I spent most of last Saturday and Sunday in bed), doing homework (I just finished off a roll of film this afternoon and will drop it off at Harvey Studios before going to class on Monday afternoon), hanging out my parents, cooking, listening to opera (Rossini's Armida last weekend, with Renée Fleming in the title role--brava!--and Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov today), grocery shopping, reworking the week-by-week plan for my independent study project (originally I hadn't planned to shoot photos for it, and I'd forgotten that the first week of the project was the week before March Break), finishing my Photoshop homework, doing a résumé blitz in St. Andrews, and writing. I also won the lottery (I won twenty bucks today--not much, but it's the first time I've won anything. I bought the ticket in F'ton before going to class the Friday before March Break.).

Today was the encore simulcast of Nixon in China at the Empire Theatre in F'ton. I thought about getting tickets for it, but I'm glad I didn't, since I'm an hour-and-a-half away right now.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning I made the serious mistake of checking my Blogger Reading List before going to bed: since there was a "new" (written last Sunday, but I hadn't read it yet) blog post by WhiteFeather, I just had to read it. She's moving closer to ditching the music in Fantasmagorie. While I think that the movie is strong enough to stand on it's own and doesn't need the music, if she does get rid of the music, the music should either be used for something else or released as a separate work, because except for the breathing the piece is too beautiful to scrap.

One of my friends who's currently in FVA posted a Facebook status a few days ago saying that she's submitted her portfolio and application for the diploma program (she hopes to get into photography). In light of that, I want to take the opportunity to once again cheer on the FVA Class of '11: I want to wish those who are applying for the diploma program the very best, and I hope that you get into the studio you've been eyeing for the last few months. Applying is unbelievably nerve-wracking, and I will never forget it: choosing what to submit (I still have the list that I made of everything that I wanted to submit and where those things were), finding those things (if your room isn't as messy as mine was, congratulations--FVA year and small bedrooms do not mix), prepping said things (taking photos of stuff from Design and Creative Process for example--thanks for the help, Drew), filling out the submission form, putting it all together--and then taking it to the registrar. And then taking a deep breath--and fidgeting with nervousness about whether or not I got into my first choice--or whether or not I got into the diploma program at all (I was rather concerned about that--my GPA at the end of FVA was around 2.25, and my marks were really dismal in 2D and 3D Design and Creative Process).

But in May I finally got a letter from the community college (not from NBCCD) congratulating me on getting into the diploma program. As soon as I read it I started laughing and crying because I was so indescribably happy. Just over two weeks later I got my FVA certificate (I didn't go to the graduation ceremony--I fully intend to go to the one in 2012, though), my transcript, and a note from Peter--who, along with talking about what would be needed for the coming year (like a laptop--Mac preferably--with as much RAM as possible), wasted no time in acquainting his future students with his sense of humour (which is awesome).

Since the Bangor Symphony Orchestra will play Beethoven's second symphony tomorrow, I thought I'd include a movement from that work. It's not my favourite symphony--I prefer the sound that Beethoven started to develop with the third symphony (the Eroica), and which continued to grow and change until his death. Even though Beethoven was always thinking a few steps ahead of his time, the second symphony still feels very tame--especially when compared with something like the third, which right from the first movement (allegro con brio--fast with vigor) is very Beethoven in terms of how he constructs the melody. But it's not surprising: he studied with Joseph Haydn, and for the first few years of Beethoven's composing career Haydn's style clearly influenced Beethoven's (he didn't start to go off on his own until the Eroica).

The second symphony was written largely in 1802, which was a very dark time in his life: he was going deaf (he wrote the Heiligenstadt Testament that year--BTW, it's a very good read: yes, it's long, all one paragraph, and, as I recall, is made up of only three sentences--which makes it feel even longer--but it gives the reader a glimpse into what Beethoven's life was like and what it was like to be him at that time), and when I did some research into what else went on that year, the Testament and his deafness are pretty much all that come up. However, he also wrote three piano sonatas (nos. 16-18, op. 31), the Seven Bagatelles for Piano, op. 33, Six Variations on an Original Theme (piano), op. 34 and Fifteen Variations and a Fugue for Piano on an Original Theme ("Eroica" Variations), op. 35.

Where I got all this info (a.k.a. the bibliography):

Article about Beethoven's second symphony on Wikipedia (dissects the different movements, as well as talking about the history behind it)
Article about Beethoven's second symphony on All About Beethoven
Life of Beethoven PowerPoint Presentation
List of compositions

You've been waiting long enough: here's the video I promised earlier. The fourth (and final) movement (allegro) of Beethoven's second symphony. Dedicated to the BSO, and the musicians that make up the orchestra--especially the violinists. Now, BSO, go be awesome--especially you guys in the violin section.

high on art

This year, March Break is in the most awkward spot possible: this week is assessment week (I had my Photoshop assessment at 1:40 this afternoon), we start the next term next week--AND THEN we're free to go crazy in Cancún or Fort Lauderdale (PASSPORT), or go home, or do whatever.

This past weekend, I wrote nonstop: I had to finish two papers for Professional Practice (five hundred words each), to be passed in by nine this morning (I submitted them via email last night), and I had to write a five-hundred-word reflection paper for History, which I copied onto my blog for that class, so you can read it here (and see some of the photos) if you want to. Let's just say that I had way too much fun with the assignment--and on a school night, no less (I was up until midnight on Wednesday night shooting the photos, and I had to get up at seven-thirty--6:30 EST--for class at nine the next morning). But in a way that's a good thing: if you love what you do, sometimes you do end up staying up until all hours because you love it so much.

To celebrate the return of the Santiago el Grande, as well as the portraits of Lord and Lady Beaverbrook, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery hosted a Surreal Masquerade on Saturday night. I didn't go to the ball itself, but as part of festivities, WhiteFeather was going to present a short movie that she'd made called Fantasmagorie. Since I love her work, I had to see it.

Due to excitement, and being used to having to be out the door no later than half an hour before my classes start, I left at around seven-thirty--but I could've left as late as seven-forty-five. However, WhiteFeather's computer died an hour before the masque--and she didn't have a backup of the file. But she was able to have the file retrieved, and the show went on--about fifteen minutes after it was to start.

I was unbelievably excited and overwhelmed when I saw WhiteFeather come through the door of the gallery. I gave her a huge hug before she ran off to set up her movie--and I headed outside to stare at the window above the entrance (I didn't care if I looked a bit weird--as an artist myself, I'm used to it). After waiting a couple of minutes, the fun began. 

Fantasmagorie was perfect for the event: like the work of Dalí, it's surreal and you have to forget about trying to make sense of what you're seeing--just enjoy the show. I actually watched it three times: the first time the movie played, and then the second time with WhiteFeather (she had to make sure it looped properly--it did). After that I started to walk home--but I only got a couple of metres onto the Beaverbrook Trail before stopping dead in my tracks, turning around, and going back to the gallery for viewing number three. Finally, I was satisfied and ready to head home. As I wrote in a comment to one of her status updates on Facebook (saying that she's been invited by the B. to do another installation for them next year), "I should've known better than to try to decide for myself when I was ready to leave: that sort of decision can only really be made by the art in question. The viewer doesn't have a say in the matter. Another extremely good example: Adam MacDonald, who's a master at keeping me in front of an individual work a lot longer than I'm used to--in fact, as I walked back to the gallery, I muttered under my breath, "you are SO pulling an Adam MacDonald, WhiteFeather.""

WhiteFeather will post the video on her website in a little while, and I'll make sure to post the link here. Fantasmagorie was so mind-blowingly awesome and beautiful that I want to share it with everyone.

My Photoshop assessment went well: the only real concerns Drew had were 1. the fact that the HDR assignment from this past week (two HDR panoramas) didn't look really strong and "HDR-ish" (my word), and he didn't know whether they were HDR--he was cool with it once I explained that yes, they are HDR, and I put them together using a combination of PhotoMatix Pro (for the processing) and Photoshop (to put the panoramas together), and 2. I'm currently missing the noise reduction part of assignment five ("Noise, Chromatic Aberration, and Printing"). He didn't know whether he'd somehow missed it, or if I hadn't submitted it.

This coming weekend (starting on Thursday) is the House Weekend, which can only mean one thing: ASSASSINS!!!!! Okay, it also means other things: Thursday night is Virgin Drinks Night, for example. But when we played last year, I was eliminated before I could attack my target. This year, I want to actually "kill" my target--and do a better job at protecting myself. Come eight tonight, be afraid--be very afraid.

My HDR panorama of the college's basement.