Homework 4: Color Schemes and Monochromatics

Homework 3: Trying Futurism and a Flower using Adobe Illustrator

Homework 3: Response to Understanding Comics - Dispence

This reading was extremely engaging and interesting, and at times really entertaining. Everything he said made sense except the part where he put the eye on the closed curves. I thought of an amoeba like monsters rather than an eye and then in the panel to the left of the realistic eye, I thought that it looked like a target sign rather than an eye.
Regardless this comics made me re-evaluate perception in life in general, the importance of comics, and the expression of my art preference in regards to reality, the picture plane, and language. I found out that I prefer to draw in between reality and language which means that I am attracted to the beauty of nature and ideas. Which means I'm screwed when it comes to Futurism which seems to be primarily about the beauty of art and a little of ideas.
I think that comics or cartoons are underestimated by many conservative older people. I agree with the author that comics can be possibly be just as emotionally and physically complex as any other literary works, in story also.

Homework 2: Sketches of Salvatore Ferragamo shoes

Homework 1: Reaction to the Podcast

http://kelbytv.com/photoshopusertv/2011/03/15/episode-260/

Episode 260 is about providing new options for layering. I don't have much experience with Photoshop, so I have no idea about what most of the things the three speakers are talking about. Though it is complicated, with a little fooling around with Photoshop or watching the episode a few times would understand what they are talking about. Since I haven't used Photoshop much, I'm not sure how I would use these various techniques other than for the examples they are using. I feel this episode was to show a new way to Photoshop a word writing technique that allows for more flexibility. So if I used this method rather than the other more simpler and quicker methods, I can have more creative control over the final result.

Homework 1: Reaction to the Founding and Manifesto of Futurism

Before reading the article I've only heard of the name. After reading, Futurism seems to be an interesting paradox. On the first page, the person says, "Mythology is defeated" and "We're about to see the Centaur's birth." Or I could be misreading it. Perhaps the person means to say that mythology is at "last conquered," and thus we normal humans can enter the world of mystic ideal and mythology. Regarding the paradox, mythology is something of the past but to make it something of the future is a paradox of sorts. The mythology is a metaphor for something. For example, the person says "three snorting beasts," referring to his/her car. I suppose a part of Futurism could possibly be to make the old a part of the new, describing the new through the old which creates something amazingly new. As I read the first two pages I was enraptured by the descriptions and the prose.

The most fascinating part of the article was the manifesto. I didn't realize that Futurism began in Italy. Though this fact is not the reason the manifesto is so engaging. The rules are stated with such enthusiasm and mysticism that I want to get up and join the fan club of Futurism even if I disagree with a few of their ideologies.
The part after the eleven rules is more enthralling still.

The whole Futurism concept reminds me a lot of capitalism. Capitalism is about the immediate future with no regard for the past, except for the previous revenue statement, and speed. Futurism denounces the museums which is respect for the past. Capitalism for it to grow needs to disregard the past. Capitalism can never stop growing, if it were to stop, it would crumble. Growth is the future, moving forward at a violent speed. Because growth is so important, if competition is included, everyone would want the immediate fastest growth possible. Since capitalism is about money, it can also thrive very well during periods of war for certain industries, such as the munitions and technological R&D companies. The Thirty could be likened to thirty CEO's who want their companies to keep on growing to unprecedented heights. As the person says, "younger and stronger men will probably throw us in the wastebasket like useless manuscripts-we want it to happen." Which means when the CEO's are old befuddled men, they want capable men to replace them to carry on their companies' power and might. The new men will hate the Thirty because they are jealous that the Thirty were able to carry the companies this far, but they will also admire the Thirties' business capabilities.

Homework 1: Ethnographic Studies

So, the USD is crap compared to the Euro which sucks for those of us who have been brainwashed into thinking that US is the hegemon of the world. Because now things aren't so affordable and you have to try cooking with LIMITED ingredients. And guess what, you end up with a natural disaster like this:

Looks GROSS, right? Because it is, in taste, smell, and looks, even feel and hearing as it sputters.

Which leads us to the occasionally weird smells in Florence which makes me have to use a good-smelling candle: 

This one smells like vanillaish.

This actually brings me to the fact that there are no smoke detectors at all in the apartments. When the adjoining apartments smoke, some of the smoke enters my apartment and it smells like smog, which the candle is for. An ashtray:

Ignore what's in it.

The windows here don't have screens which makes it really annoying when the mosquitoes come strolling by. Six to ten mosquito bites per night is not a good night. So yesterday night I used a mosquito repellent and whaddya know, no more mosquitoes. The leftovers of the mosquito repellent:

The Screenless Window

The last post about the apartment. Florence is an old city with old buildings and apparently a city of old keys too. They cost around 50 euros to replace, which is currently around 75USD.

Awesome, huh?

Since Florence is the capital of Italian culture, it is also the wine capital of Italy. I think... wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, wine, everywhere.

This isn't wine by the way. lol

Regarding liquids there are several different types of milk which is confusing, like alto qualita, parlizamente scrimato, etc.

Staying on the topic of food, I ordered from a Chinese take-out place yesterday. What is so amazing is the price which was 2,50 euros, and the quality of the food. They actually used white rice, not the yellow rice found in the USA. It was less greasy too.

The candy strip thing in the back came with it too. Apparently the place, Jian Jian is so cheap because it was established 20 years ago and the customers are just as old too, so to change the price would be to lose the customers.

What was also cool about Florence is that there are a few Farmer's Market thing that goes up almost every day. The food is a lot cheaper and more fresh than most other places in Florence.

A sample of vegetables, they also sell meat, nuts, fruits, and etc.

For the last study, the train station. The Florence train station is moderately sized. But the cool thing is that it's not all indoors, there are parts of the station that is outdoors too, such as where the actual trains are on standby. 

That's all of the ethnographic studies for now. More to come later. Possibly...

Homework 1: 100 Squares

Homework 1: 100 Circles