Avoidance

Mental breakdown time, you guys.  Just had a good cry in the bathroom.  Finals, I h8 u.

We did some cut and paste in my Narrative class last week… Basically as we sketched we ripped and put back together our drawings.  I really loved it, and got a lot out of it, though everyone else in my class got very abstract and messy and I just reverted back to my second true love, collage.

Ugh seriously tho why is registration so difficult.  I NEED A TIME TURNER IMMEDIATELY. :(  I just really wanna take this class on semiotics. Or I want to take this class on linguistics but the teacher has like a 100% negative rating on ratemyprofessor.   Also I NEED to take this Color Abstraction class but it’s gonna be full by the time I register I just know it auasljdalskjfas;dlfoiufh DYING.

You can’t really cuz the lights, but my face is literally a shade grayer from charcoal.  Livin’ the life.

imitationeuropean:

I interrupt this blog for a moment of outrage.

Okay, maybe “outrage” is too strong a word, but when I saw the title of this New York Times opinion piece—“Adults Should Read Adult Books”—my first reaction was something like this. It’s no secret that I love young…

Yeah so anyways, I ended up commenting on this piece (in response to a comment which said “I’m sure this will be seen as elitist, but I think what makes people read children’s books is the same thing that makes them read Dan Brown, Dean Koontz and other really “popular” authors who write substandard fiction - laziness.”)  Here’s what I said (but do read the extensive and awesome criticism in the reblogged post).

This comment highlights precisely what is wrong with the above piece.  There is a difference between “bad” culture and “young-adult oriented” culture (let alone child-oriented culture).  Bad writing is bad writing, no matter for what age group - so what does the target audience matter?  Comparing Twilight to Harry Potter, or The His Dark Materials trilogy, or even the Chronicles of Narnia is just as bad as comparing The Da Vinci code to Sherlock Holmes. 

When I was growing up I was encouraged to read books that were well written and at my personal reading level - not just books that were written for my age group. 14 year-olds aren’t idiots, and even if they’re less interested in abstract or existential though (which I actually doubt), their reading level isn’t that much lower than yours - so what differentiates between bad young person literature and bad adult lit other than marketing?  Not much.

What differentiates well-written YA literature and adult literature?  Complex characters, themes and plots can exist in both, and they can be absent in both.  Jane Austen isn’t very metaphorical or metaphysical.  Boccaccio’s The Decameron is largely void of complex shades of good and evil.  Kazuo Ishiguro’s prose lacks brightness and momentum.  In contrast, Faulkner, Tolstoy and Shakespeare can be metaphysical, morally ambiguous and energetic. But so can authors who write YA books (Philip Pullman, Terry Pratchett, Garth Nix, Suzanne Collins, and Lemony Snicket, to name a few).

Also, to be honest, I felt like there was a lot of fantasy-hate in this article.  Liiiiike soooooo sorry you see fantasy as juvenile, asshole. :/

People I would like to see Punk’d (now that MTV has a new series):

1. Kanye West
2. Cee-Lo
3. Jon Hamm
4. Emma Watson
5. KANYE WEST
6. Robert Pattinson
7. Patricia Clarkson
8. James Franco
9. Aubrey Plaza
10. KANYE WEST

I recognize this is a highly improbable, almost impossible, list.  I just really want to see how these people act in real life.

Sometimes I get too proud of myself mid-project and I just stare at a good part of a totally unfinished, lame drawing or painting going YES I AM AWESOME.  It’s good but it’s bad.

New icon/profile pic whatever.  I’ve had new glasses for like a year soooo I felt it was appropriate.  Sorry if it’s confusing?  Sorry it’s still my face.

I had real trouble getting any work done today because it’s lovely out and the cherry blossoms are blooming and everything.  Also I’m stressed out but I won’t explain that so yeah.  CHERRY BLOSSOMS ARE WONDEROUS.

I’m going to see 21 Jump Street today. That’s about as trashy as my Spring Break is gonna get.  Also, hi I dyed my hair.

The Donut Pub! Fantastic 6 AM noms. (Taken with Instagram at The Donut Pub)

Parenthood (the tv show) is so good and realistic (in its structure and acting etc) but it is so stressful I hate it.

Kerstin is my favorite friend.  Love you foreverrrrrrrr.