http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:srom&section=today deviantART RSS for by:srom en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:34:10 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/28598934/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/28598934/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:30:58 PST
I keep going to submit stuff, but then I remember that there was a really good reason why I took everything down, and I just don't remember the reason! So I stop.

Ah what the hell.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/25923637/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/25923637/ Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:27:10 PDT
HA!

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/25339208/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/25339208/ Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:22:40 PDT
I know that dA is one huge social expirament of the lowest-common-denominator sludge on the interweb, but COME ON PEOPLE.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/23303811/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/23303811/ Fri, 20 Feb 2009 10:07:04 PST [link]

Just thought you people out there might want to know. I think I'm going to switch when my fatcow account expires.

Speaking of that, I gave my online portfolio an overhaul (again)...

I made my gender ambiguous on my webpage.
[link]

Two clients have backed off and broken off their deals with me in the past month, and I blame it on being a woman. I always thought my work looked masculine, but since I'm obviously feminine, when clients see my work, they get confused and run. (And yes, art work is traditionally critiqued in such an unfair, bipartisan way. Just look at the abstract expressionists. And why do you think art from the feminist movement all looks the same?) JK Rowling feared the same thing, and chose the same route with her books. We all know how well that one worked out.

So I made it harder to guess if I'm a guy or girl from my webpage.

But now I'm having second thoughts. So could someone out there open up a discussion with me? Everyone in the real just tells me that my work looks like "my" work, which doesn't help me at all.

Would you have expected something different if you'd known right away that JK Rowling was a woman?

Do you think my work looks masculine or feminine? Do you look at it differently when you know it's by "Emily" and not just "M", which could stand for anything, or even "Srom"?

This isn't going to change the work I make, but some solid, non-middle-of-the-road opinions would put my mind at ease. I keep wondering what it is about my work - and me in general, really - that puts people off. I wish I could have some aspect to work on, instead of everybody saying that I'm fine, which translates to "there's nothing you could possibly work on. You're just going to be a failure."

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/21103837/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/21103837/ Tue, 21 Oct 2008 23:51:16 PDT
In fact, I've recently realized that I can't do anything. I can't color or even draw for shit (and I don't care what the fuck you guys say about that. I know what's true). I can't write for shit. I can't keep up contacts for shit. I can't even do my crappy retail job for shit, let alone get something better. And I never do anything worthwhile. Nobody cares about the crap that I do, because my stuff's worthless and I'm a worthless waste of space. And I have crappy ideas that no one relates to, and no matter how many Joseph Campbell books I read it's not going to change the fact that no one can relate to a Korean-American from a half Jewish family that broke over ten years ago. I'm embarrassed that I've been in denial about it for so long. It's no wonder that he doesn't love me. I'm just embarrassed about my existence in general.

I guess thinking all this makes me a bonafide adult now.

In other news, I knit a hat today, but that doesn't change anything.

I feel better. I guess throwing my cards on the table and letting the internet know that emo is not invincible is not entirely bad. Now you guys know that I know ths, and I know that you guys know that I know. But I still want to see John Hodgman.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/20942606/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/20942606/ Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:30:12 PDT [link]

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/20696004/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/20696004/ Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:14:27 PDT
Oh baby it's this: [link]

Too bad it doesn't work for anything except firefox. The rest of you people will just have to deal with dA's ads reloading and reloading, over and over, and you have to hit the back button a bazillion times just to get back to that gallery or search results page. Have fun with that!

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/20059101/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/20059101/ Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:08:53 PDT
[link]

History: They cooked this up in the Middle East to make using condoms hipper. Wii news says over 60,000 people have it, but I don't think it's because they think it's hip. Let's see what you think.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/19761104/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/19761104/ Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:25:31 PDT
]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/19231705/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/19231705/ Sun, 06 Jul 2008 08:25:17 PDT
i love this song:

[link]

too bad i can't seem to download it anywhere.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/18958924/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/18958924/ Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:05:09 PDT
[link]

Link #2 is an utmost surprise. Hope it works:


[link]

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/18921736/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/18921736/ Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:33:54 PDT
Check it: My New Online Portfolio:

[link]

That's right, cheleveks. A complete domain name change! Update your bookmarks!

And no, OBEY ZE TWINKIE is not going up there.

And now to get a job with the stupid thing. But first I'm going to bed. My last 36 waking hours have been devoted to this thing.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/18535167/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/18535167/ Tue, 27 May 2008 21:30:54 PDT
I'll be thinking about that one for the next month.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/17967982/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/17967982/ Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:48:32 PDT By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows.
Why he left his home in the South to roam ‘round the Pole, God only knows.
He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell;
Though he’d often say in his homely way that “he’d sooner live in hell.”

On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail.
Talk of your cold! through the parka’s fold it stabbed like a driven nail.
If our eyes we’d close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn’t see;
It wasn’t much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee.

And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow,
And the dogs were fed, and the stars o’erhead were dancing heel and toe,
He turned to me, and “Cap,” says he, “I’ll cash in this trip, I guess;
And if I do, I’m asking that you won’t refuse my last request.”

Well, he seemed so low that I couldn’t say no; then he says with a sort of moan:
“It’s the cursed cold, and it’s got right hold till I’m chilled clean through to the bone.
Yet ‘taint being dead—it’s my awful dread of the icy grave that pains;
So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you’ll cremate my last remains.”

A pal’s last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail;
And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale.
He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee;
And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee.

There wasn’t a breath in that land of death, and I hurried, horror-driven,
With a corpse half hid that I couldn’t get rid, because of a promise given;
It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say: “You may tax your brawn and brains,
But you promised true, and it’s up to you to cremate those last remains.”

Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code.
In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load.
In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies, round in a ring,
Howled out their woes to the homeless snows—O God! how I loathed the thing.

And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow;
And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low;
The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in;
And I’d often sing to the hateful thing, and it hearkened with a grin.

Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;
It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the “Alice May.”
And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;
Then “Here,” said I, with a sudden cry, “is my cre-ma-tor-eum.”

Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire;
Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher;
The flames just soared and the furnace roared—such a blaze you seldom see;
Then I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee.

Then I made a hike, for I didn’t like to hear him sizzle so;
And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to blow.
It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks, and I don’t know why;
And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky.

I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear;
But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I ventured near;
I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: “I’ll just take a peep inside.
I guess he’s cooked, and it’s time I looked;” . . . then the door I opened wide.

And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar;
And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: “lease close that door.
It’s fine in here, but I greatly fear you’ll let in the cold and storm—
Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it’s the first time I’ve been warm.”

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Le... ]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/17894702/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/17894702/ Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:23:08 PDT
unfortunately, the macbook's too new to support my eight-year-old scanner.

wah wah waaaaaah...

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/17755164/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/17755164/ Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:34:31 PDT
[link]

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/16230920/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/16230920/ Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:24:59 PST [link]

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/14186795/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/14186795/ Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:43:31 PDT
i'm just... stunned.

it may have toppled "The Blues Brothers" as my favorite movie. yeah, it was THAT good.

if you haven't seen it yet, i highly recommend it. you can probably get it for free out of the library. in fact, that's how i got it. but now i want it in my sparse (and highly selective) dvd collection.

ah media.

no, i don't mean THE media. just media in general.

i also read the play "Equus" a few weeks ago. you know what play i'm talking about. it's the one that daniel radcliffe's in right now in london, showing off his little potter.

well i took it out of the library just for kicks, just to laugh at what radcliffe got himself into.

but then i actually read it from beginning to end. and it was amazing.

it's very intense, and about human nature and all that high and mighty stuff. but HOLY SHIT. holy shit holy shit. now i really want to see it. i don't care who acts in it, as long as they're good.

these two things are so, so good.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/13687541/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/13687541/ Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:17:45 PDT
And now I have it (and "Picaresque" by the Decemberists too), and honestly, I don't know why fans are knocking it. It's a dark, mean, solid little gem of a johns album.

So what if there's little accordion? I mean, I love accordions in rock music, but John Linnell on accordion doesn't define that band. They Might Be Giants are using less gimmicks and proving that they can make great music by relying on musical ideas, rather than musical instruments. Does that make sense? I know I'm getting weird here, but yeah, that's what I think. I mean, come on! "Climbing the Walls"? (*is speechless*) That one's not even my favorite one.

Gosh, I don't know what my favorite one is. The answer to that sort of question always changes, depending on, um, the minute... It might be "Withered Hope" as it was when I saw them last month on their Else Tour. That song whirls around with sadness fanfare. I loves it. (I was scared for a second that it would fade out at the end, because I hate inappropriate fade outs! But it didn't, and I said "phew!" with relief.) And "The Shadow Government" is so fucking fierce. Aw hell, I like all the songs (you knew that was coming, right?). And "Contrecoup". I remember hearing the demo of the song a year ago or so. Look how much it's grown! I love their early stuff too, but Johns songs are so much richer and textured than they were at the beginning.

I've heard that some people are still angry that they lost the drum machine all those years ago. As a person who got the Sever-Tire-Damage-and-beyond stuff before the earlier stuff, I... don't understand that. If you're one of those bitter, bitter people, then don't get "The Else". It's kind of like "The Spine", except the teeth are sharper. Grrrowl!

The CD art and graphic design is awesome too. The photos actually remind me of the band "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?". It's as though something is terribly wrong, or the photographer is intruding on... something.

Well, there you go. Another quasi-review of something from me that you didn't ask for. I had to get it out of my system though. "The Else" may not usurp "John Henry" as my favorite TMBG album, but it might replace "The Spine" as my second-favorite. We'll see.

********

Okay, now I'm on the bonus disc (hey, remember when the word "disc" was spelled "disk"? Now that 'k' looks weird.) and holy crap they put the why did you grow a beard song on it! Hahaha! That song always cheers me up. He sounds so pissed off in that one.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/13482685/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/13482685/ Mon, 25 Jun 2007 08:36:02 PDT
And this time, I'm STAYING PUT. No more of this six month crap!

The job thing is going swimmingly. At least I think so. I'm expecting a call from the pipe-organ-building place any day now. I had an interview with them last week, and I think I knocked 'em dead. In return, they knocked me dead too. Every time I talk to them, I start out afraid that I'll be intimidated by building intricate musical instruments, and leave them being even more excited! That place is so freakin' cool! And it feels so... so DOABLE.

And in other news, my landlady's crazy.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/13212739/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/13212739/ Mon, 04 Jun 2007 08:57:22 PDT
And sometimes... it calls you to Florida."

-Ira Glass

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/13142895/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/13142895/ Tue, 29 May 2007 19:19:17 PDT feh. updated my webpage again, and put up a new and improved resume!

emnewman.net

just incase you were curious. yes, it's okay to let the javascript stuff work. ugly things only pop up if you click on my name. ugly things like... my face...

um, if you have any comments and suggestions about my resume, what it looks like and all, it would be great if you told me.

i should get crackin' on a new design anyways.

********

APARTMENT THINGS
i got a driver for that UHaul type thing, and this is good! what's not as good is that it's my dad, but i can deal. looks like i'm coming up with a whole truckload of stuff (pun not really there. that's just your head.) on the 25th of june. this is hopefully and most-likely.

tomorrow i have a meeting with my present landlord. mostly formalities and crap. he's not going to make me pay the rest of the year's rent, hooray!

********

JOB THINGS
tomorrow i'm also going to call the organ job and ask them if they still have openings. start to put my name in their heads. then i'll send a KILLER COVER LETTER AND RESUME!!!!!!!!YAH!!! then a week later i'll call them again and ask if they got that thing i sent them. then... wait, i guess.

today and yesterday i sifted through the files on my work computer and pulled out some things i'm especially proud of. thirteen files of pretty good design work. not so shabby. i learned a lot here and got some good experience and made some good work. i got to illustrate a little too! i learned how to answer telephones professionally and negotiate a little bit with people! yaaaypeopleskills.

i liked working here a lot, at least until it all went to shit. i doubt i'll ever have bosses like sheila-the-great and gary-who-is-also-great again. unless they both move to the north shore after they quit.

yeah, they're quitting too. haha. Food is Good, Inc., is losing their entire marketing and production team in one fell swoop. they deserve it.

********

OTHER THINGS
unfortunately, i just looked at the new tmbg macro community. bluhh. that's what i get for joining the flan's girls livejournal community. now i'm a whole lot stupider.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/13055606/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/13055606/ Tue, 22 May 2007 19:37:49 PDT
finding an apartment in the Boston area was a little too easy. and a little too fast. shiznit.

let's hope finding a job there goes just the same.

if it does, then watch out, you montserraters: I'll be home by mid-summer.

********

i'm checking the montserrat jobletter, and there's an ad for being a woodworker or organ builder!

an ORGAN BUILDER!

I TOTALLY WANT THAT ONE!

dude, I could totally do that! I love working with wood, AND they ask for musical ability and metal working experience, which I totally have both of.

screw my degree i wanna build organs! PRETTY ORGANS!

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/12999996/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/12999996/ Fri, 18 May 2007 11:13:50 PDT
i'm getting bad vibes from this guy. really really bad vibes.

i've heard about things he's been doing since he started working here, and they're completely irrational things (turning people who work extremely well with each other against each other and such). now he's here.

louis (that's his name) sounds like a classic disney villain. british accent... good with words (TOO good with words)... talks a lot... really buttering gary up. he reminds me of my dad, with a british accent. i don't know what he looks like, because i'm in my office.

he and gary had a stint with fonts and copyrights earlier in the week, and now they're... "clearing up the issue". and by "clearing up the issue" i mean getting three guys into the gary's office and... chatting. i'm really creeped out right now. louis just mentioned ooh so casually halfway off-handedly the welfare of gary's four-year-old daughter. he's very very subtlely threatening gary's job... about a bunch of fonts! he makes my skin crawl.

i'm trying to keep as quiet as possible (not playing music or anything) so they don't come in and talk to me. the voices are making me physically ill. i don't want them to know i'm here, so i can't leave or anything. plus, while i know gary can take care of himself, i don't want to leave him alone with these guys.

it'll be okay, but i'm just really really scared right now, guys. and if i write, it will keep me from freaking out. i want out of my job. designing in the house of hell is no fun anymore. i need to move back to boston really really soon. i also need lunch. it's two in the afternoon and i'm hungry.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/12950749/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/12950749/ Mon, 14 May 2007 08:45:17 PDT
Saturday morning: catch the bus to Buffalo, then catch the connection to Rochester. Meet up with Laura. Go see They Might Be Giants at the German House Theatre.

Sunday morning: Catch early bus back to Buffalo, go to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, catch bus back to J-town and crash like a taxi with a driver having a heart attack.

And it all worked. Perfectly. According. to plan. And better!

********

First off, on Saturday, since I didn't want to just sit in the bus station during the layover, I walked around Buffalo (second largest city in New York State), until I found the public library. What a great library! There's a cafe in there that serves coffee and sandwiches (but I only ate the apple that I took from home), and a bookstore where they sell for cheap the books they no longer want to circulate.

I expected the store to only have subjects such as outdated diet plans and self-help books. While they did indeed have these books, they also had a lot of European history and picture books.

An Al Hirschfeld art book was in there.

...

If you don't know who Al Hirschfeld is, then I'll tell you now. He made a nice illustrative niche for himself going to Broadway shows and making super-refined ink caricatures for the New Yorker magazine. His pen marks are broad sweeping gestures. His drawings of people are cartoony but absolutely accurate. He's my favorite cartoonist. I think. Wait... lemme think about this for a moment... Yeah. He's definitely my favorite cartoonist. I can't believe I found that book there!

********

And then in Rochester I met up with Laura, one of my best friends and the only person I know who likes Moxy Früvous more than me. She grew up in Rochester and goes to Montserrat. There's only one more day of classes for her, so I can't believe she flew in from Boston to see the show and flew back the next day for that one class. Her plan was as crazy as my plan. Probably crazier! I'm glad she was able to get there. Concerts are more fun with friends. And I had a place to stay for the night that wasn't a youth hostel.

Laura found a review of the show, so if you're interested in how that went you can read it here: [link] (I don't agree with the James Blount comment in the article though.) Hee. They made fun of Eastman Kodak a lot.

********

The review missed a few things though:

TMBG played a lot of songs from their new album. Now I'm psyched to get their new album.

One song that had the words "sad sack" in the chorus I particularly liked. It had this great funk rhythm going through it. (At least I THINK the words were "sad sack". I find that concerts are so loud that you can't hear the words, and only identify songs by their melodies. If you don't know the melody, well then...)

"Contrecoup" was really good too. Hmm. What other things stick out in my mind... I especially liked how they performed "Older" and "Particle Man".

John Flansburgh read his notes wrong during "Why Does the Sun Shine?". I'll paraphrase: "The sun is so hot that a million earths can fit inside". Pause. John Linnell chuckles. You could see on Flans' face he thought "oops" before shrugging it off and moving on.

"The sun is so large that everything on it is a gas!

Copper, uh...

alzheimer's...

brain damage...

Eastman Kodak."

********

He's funny. After the show he came out with a marker to sign things. This crazy girl pushed me and knocked me over. Um. Okay. I try my best not to be one of those crazy fangirls. But when he signed my ticket I had to ask him about their indestructable object logo, a piece of typography that makes my insides melt when I look at it.

"Who designed that logo you have now? Laura and I were wondering about that."

"I did," he said, simply and ego-lessly. And then I got to go WOW REALLY? and gush over it a little. I know he does visual things on top of music, but have only recently begun looking for his design work, because I'm interested. He talked a little about where the idea came from and stuff, which was great. And now I have to go look for old city monograms.

********

I got the "Gigantic" DVD from the merch stand. Not that I have a television or a DVD player. But I wanted it.

I actually did get to watch it when I got home. It's kind of long (or maybe I was just tired and suffering from post-adrenalization) but it's funny, anecdotal, and kind of sweet in a way. The package design is real nice too.

********

I said goodbye to Laura and her family and caught an early bus back... ]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/12913509/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/12913509/ Thu, 10 May 2007 17:02:36 PDT
(*hops around excitedly*)

***********************************

Aaauugh! Wildbrain put on YouTube three more episodes of "Joe Paradise"!

(*hops around some more*)

That makes eleven episodes hidden around the internet, and thirteen that I have to wait for. Come on, Wildbrain! Please don't wait another two months to put them up! I can handle them just three at the time, but with TWO MONTHS wait? This is torturrre... All I need is the first, fifth, and sixth episode and I can watch the whole first season if I'm techie enough (which I am).

I want a DVD of this. So badly. I emailed Wildbrain about it, and they said they didn't have any definite plans for that. Why would you re-release them and raise hype about it for nothing?! Come oooooooon! (I say "Come oooooooon!" like my brothers when they're being whiney. A high-pitched howling kem OOOOOOWWAAAAAAHNN!)

Everything about this show is absolutely flawless. The right amount of characters, the way they all act with each other, the music, the over-dramatic tongue-in-cheek dialogue, the right embellishment at the right time (like the gleaming of a gun, or a plume of smoke), the way the action builds. It all fits together. Perfectly. And yet simply! I don't know how they did it!

I keep watching episode 12 over and over again. It has some of the wildest posing I think I've ever seen. Ever. Oh, and at the 3min 12sec mark? THAT, my friend, is the rule of thirds in action. Never thought I'd see it quite like that, though. Episode 10 is really good too. How do you make a five-minute conversation look pretty?

Yeah, I'm studying the hell out of these things. Maybe there are other, better things to be studying, but... Oh well. Besides, the way I've been composing my painting drawings has exploded since I first watched this.

On a side note, Joe should see a doctor, because he has a rare and serious case of 2-D Animated Old Man Hotness.

I know I keep gushing about this when everyone else probably saw it when it originally came out in 2000. I was in tenth grade in highschool when it first came out... and I'm thinking that if I had seen it then, I wouldn't've liked it so much. The way I thought about pictures and picture-making was so close-minded then.

It makes me want to read and watch classic noir things too.

It's amazing what the folks at Ghostbot can and could always do with flash, even years ago with it didn't have all those filters for special effects and such. Ghostbot deserves all the awards they got for this series. They didn't use any gimmicks; they just used great storytelling.

Okay. I'm done. (*Catches breath*)

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/12876496/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/12876496/ Mon, 07 May 2007 13:50:56 PDT
[link]

This one's awesome. Out of all the links here, this one is the most useful. Has everything from baking yummy things to soldering microelectronics. People take pictures of making things and post them.

[link]

Just found this one. There are only a few but they are amusing, and might be useful for later in life (which is why I read tutorials on life-hacks all the time!). I always imagine being the eccentric aunt to my brothers' children and making them things like this and keeping them amused and busy outside. (It would probably teach them how to handle things without being paralyzed with fear but with common sense as well.)

I want to make stilts again. I haven't had this feeling since I was fifteen.

[link]

On the girly side, but I'm a girl, so... why wouldn't I like it? Whoever is behind this site never sleeps.

[link]

Like Drawn!, but for crafts. It's more clothing-oriented, but once in a while there's something else there (that's ambiguous, I know). I've been a clothing-reconstrucion-aholic lately, so I'm having much fun here.

Make stuff! Have fun!

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/12818992/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/12818992/ Wed, 02 May 2007 17:26:45 PDT
]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/12765990/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/12765990/ Sat, 28 Apr 2007 11:30:53 PDT
I think to celebrate I'll go see TMBG in Rochester next month.

Hooray public transportation!

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/12735800/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/12735800/ Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:23:50 PDT
Things for assembling a one-Korean show are running slowly but smoothly. I've got all the tools I need to frame my work (and the folks at the Chautauqua Brick hardware store ROCK. They don't patronize you or talk down at you for being a small girl or get you to buy expensive tools that you don't need.) and my new clean white mat board just came in the mail today! If you're interested in framing your work, I can show you how I'm doing it if you want. The prototype looks great and clean!

I have applications for a few shows, postcards, a modest-but-substantial body of work that I don't hate yet, and the know how. Illustration at school doesn't train you for this. They do more business issues for freelancing, while doing shows is more of a fine arts thing I think. But I can do this. If anyone has advice on how to handle a show, please share! I think if this is successful I can use it to get some commissions for freelancing. Do you think that sounds good?

Can I just say here that I love having hardware tools? I have a handsaw, a hammer, a bunch of clamps, a mitre box for making 45-degree angles, a speed square (I LOVE my speed square, a level, and a few boxes of nails. Give me a few planks of wood and I can make any thing! I love construction and building things. Well, just Making Things in general is what I live for, so you shouldn't be surprised to see me swinging hammers and wearing Carhartts. Okay I'm done.

Jobs after summer still looks sketchy. I can't believe 2007's a third of the way done! Argh! My heart's still on moving back to the Boston/North Shore area. Craig's List isn't giving me any jobs that sound appealing though.

The problem is I don't really know what I want to do to earn money. There's lots of options, but I can't decide on one that feels right and make it a goal to go for. Plus I don't have much people skills, and have no idea on how to improve them. I can just barely take a professional telephone call. I'm just a loner really, and frustrated because I know I can't live like that.

I would LOVE to do grassroots art stuff - making zines, self publishing. Being mildly subversive (10 points if a Montserrat student remembers where the phrase "mildly subversive" is from). Damn the man! This takes other people. How do you gather and organize people? How do you get them to listen to you and agree with you and work with you?

I would LOVE to do development work for stories like feature films and video games. You know how those guys on the Samurai Jack DVD extras are acting out the storyboards they draw? I want to do that, and that's it! Or make concept work for ideas on the overall look and feel of a feature thing, like what Mary Blair did? The part where you just paint, draw, and think all day? Yes, that's me. That's my job. All the job offers I've seen so far want portfolio reels though! I'd probably like a job in animation, just... not the actual moving part...

I would also love to be able to sustain myself part time at a blue-collar job, like clerking a coffee shop or somethng, and have plenty of time for my own work for shows and even more portfolio building. Make up my own stories, self-publish, and learn a little about distribution. This one seems the most feasible, really. Probably because it's the least impressive, but as Joe Paradise says: "I'm done provin' myself."

Sheesh, I don't even know what grand of a scale I want to aim... I have to sit down and figure this out.

And that's just half of the issue.

Uh, anyone want a roommate?

Here's the thing: I'm a young English-speaking minority with a bachelor's degree. I can do girly things like cook, clean, and sew, AND I can do guyish things too, like take out the garbage and wire your television. I don't have much, so I don't take up that much space. I pay my part of the bills on time. I'm interesting. I like all sorts of things and learning new skills. I don't smoke or party hard, and I'm not allergic to ANYTHING (oh except penicillin, but your cat doesn't shed penicillin does she?). I have a refined set of tastes but open to new things.

So why has every roommate I've had hated me (1), kicked me out (2), or gone crazy and left themselves (3)? This makes me sad. I don't know if I'm a good roommate or not.

(Actually, I think I do know the answers:
(1)She had a totally right-wing close-minded republican mind frame. I... ]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/12132116/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/12132116/ Sat, 10 Mar 2007 14:15:18 PST
My apartment lease is up in November. By then probably I will also not have my job at the design house. I can do anything and go anywhere.

What do you think I should do?

Here are some things you should consider when answering this question:

-Sheila suggests applying to Columbia University, which is also in the part of New York that isn't Manhattan. Mom says I should check it out too. I've never heard of this school. I don't really feel like doing grad school apps again soon.

-I was trained to do freelance illustration work. I have postcards and a website for it. Freelance illustration would be cool.

-Doing guerilla art things appeal to me. Community service appeals to me, especially if you can make it art-related somehow. Building houses appeals to me.

-I'm putting together the materials and papers to make a show for late spring/early summer. Nothing extravagant, just the public library and maybe some of the coffee shops. Selling/parting with my work is such a foreign notion to me, but I would actually like to have a show. Plus I honestly think that no one in Chautauqua County would be interested in buying my work.

-I think the job I would love to have the most is doing conceptual work and layouts and designs for a place that tells stories, be it feature films or video games or short stories or something. I love character design and storyboards. I'd like to think I'm pretty good at character design too.

-Working and living in the West coast does not appeal to me at all. Let's stay New England/East coast, please.

What do you think I should do? I'm open to suggestions.

Sorry to those on livejournal. I know this is old news for you. I apologize by offering you this link: [link] This is what's been keeping me happy lately.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11979563/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11979563/ Mon, 26 Feb 2007 19:26:46 PST
if you have a sense of love and belonging in a certain group of people, then that's your family.

you have responsibilities of course. you have to love, trust, and be loyal.
but what some people won't tell you is that you can choose who deserves your love, trust, and loyalty.

don't argue with me. this is all true.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11921804/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11921804/ Thu, 22 Feb 2007 13:31:20 PST
What you do: In quotation marks, put your name before the word "is", and see the random sentences that come up. Do it again, but instead of the word "is" put "wants" instead. Do the same with the words "should" and "thinks".

Funny shit! Plus my name's one of the most common names in North America, so I get a lot of stupid things.

Here's what I got:

"Emily is..."

Emily is possessed by six demons, including Satan himself, who calls himself Belial (2 Cor. 6:15).

Emily IS cool!!!!!! near lord I need sleep...

Emily is trying very hard to stand on her own, and for a few seconds at a time, she succeeds!

Emily is really an amalgam of all of us who have been cheated on.

Emily is also a FAT ASS!


"Emily wants..."

Emily wants a pony, and she slings lemonade on the corner to get it.

Emily wants to know who enjoyed her cuteness.

Emily wants to hang with the Diesel.

Emily wants to know that deep-down hidden fantasy you’ve always wanted to tell someone about.

Emily wants red feathers.


"Emily should..."

Emily should become a hurricane during the next 24 to 48 hours as it approaches the islands, as it should stay south of some shear that is present just north of it.

Emily should have still won.

Emily should respond to her feelings by mailing a personal check to a relief organization

Emily should not feel like she didn't deserve to win and feel badly when she is spending her money. What is wrong with you?

She (Emily) Should have been a man


"Emily thinks..."

Emily thinks that he is her cousin since they are dressed the smae and it is a masquerade.

Emily thinks Brits talk funnier than Aussies, no matter what anyone says .

Emily thinks that my powers are pretty kick ass, but I doubt she would have sex with me.

Emily thinks she is from Delaware but doesn't know where it is on a map.

Emily thinks she's got everything buttoned up but has so little control over anything — as we all do.

******

If you're wondering what I've been up to, it's because you haven't been looking at my blog, and missing a lot of my artwork. Sometimes I still can't believe I'm a blogger now.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11810235/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11810235/ Wed, 14 Feb 2007 07:12:47 PST
*coughJESSIEcough*

go to iTunes and find the They Might Be Giants Podcast, if you haven't already. there's an awesome live recording of 'alphabet of nations' about halfway through episode 23A.

holy crap!

i haven't been an obsessed fangirl about anything in a long time, and am overdue--

P.S... back when we didn't think about awful things, like sex, we called it "Feel Good Day". do you not remember?

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11602946/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11602946/ Sun, 28 Jan 2007 17:55:55 PST
I found a better working lamp in my mum's basement. It's one of those daylight-reproducing ones with the magnifying lens! Metal!

The republicans liked my poster in the end. I met the representative guy. He's super super fat. Morbidly so. Crazy!

I mail my Pratt app package tomorrow. Scary!

There are two new comic strips in my sketchbook. Two comics drawn in one month! That's a record for me. Congratulations, me!

It only sounds like My Life is running smoothly, because the only things I post are accomplishments. I could rant about how intellectually and creatively dried up I feel and add new episodes to the My Dad is a Thoughtless Jerk Show and how I miss my friends from Boston so much and how scared I am to both be accepted and rejected from Pratt and possible reasons why my cousin's toting the biggest Utter Drunken Slut Complex I've ever seen and my own constant fear of being inadequate physically and mentally and artistically, but that would be no fun.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11479702/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11479702/ Thu, 18 Jan 2007 08:38:56 PST
When do I get to start designing for SMART people?

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11469044/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11469044/ Wed, 17 Jan 2007 07:25:44 PST
I've been playing with it for about a week. Otto gets an A, not an A plus though. And here's why:

It holds everything nicely. Otto's 20 gigs. There was a 30G model out there, but I didn't feel like giving up that extra hundred dollars. Twenty is more than enough for me, at least for now. There's almost 300 songs on it now, along with a handful of jpegs, and there's barely a dent in the memory. I can put jpegs and text files and look at them through it's little screen too, and also store other files, since it's an external hard drive.

It's got a radio that picks up reception well, and a voice recorder that's fun to play with.

Just about everything's adjustable. The sound quality and volume are easily accessible.

It's easy to get into it with a computer (both PC and Mac. I work on a mac at work and on a PC at home, so i get to test Otto with both. They both work just fine, though my PC is six years old and needed some drivers). I don't use the software that it came with. I organize the files and folders and put it into the hard drive myself, so I can't tell you how well it syncs with programs like iTunes.

The graphics are... okay. That's fine with me though. I got it to listen to, not to look at.

The interface is good. A little confusing at first, but hey, ALL new interfaces take some time to get used to. If you read the manual, Like You're Supposed To, there's no problem at all. I figured out all the functions and controls within the first day or so, so I can navigate it without swearing.

It's about the size of a 20G iPod, but a little heavier, black, and made of metal. It looks good without drawing too much attention to itself as a fashion accessory. Just like me. Heh. But really, it looks FIERCE. If you had one and took it out of your pocket to adjust something in a public place, people would think "Woah. That girl did NOT get an iPod." Assuming you're a girl. (They might not think this in their mind as much as in their bones, where it really counts.)

I like it a lot, even though it's not perfect. For one, you can't really like using any type of control as much as the iPod clickwheel. The joystick thing is just fine though.

I always hated earbuds. It's really gross if you want someone to listen to something and have to share them, plus I can't ever get them to stay in my ears. My shitty family-dollar jenson headphones are better suited.

And you can't connect it directly to the computer. It comes with a sub-pack thingy that has all the output/input plugs on it, so you need to carry that around with you if you want to charge it or transfer files, which is annoying. Plus there's a wire for EVERY different type of connection you might want to do. One for the A/C adapter, one for USB connection, one for plugging USB things into it like flashdrives, and one for plugging into speakers. That's a LOT of cords. I think they could've just had ONE USB cable.

The battery makes me nervous. I have yet to see if it runs down quickly or not.

Charging it works better through the USB on a computer. In fact, I don't think the A/C adapter works at all, which is why I have yet to correctly assess the batterylife.

For some reason, songs that I got from the iMac sound better than the songs from the PC. They sound a little louder and clearer.

That being said, it's absolutely usable. Otto's friendly. Worth the investment. I'll see if it holds up after a couple of months.

I have nothing against the iPod or Mac. An iPod just wouldn't suit my needs. Not that I NEEDED one of these anyway but... I wanted mine with a radio. That's basically it. That and I want to get a macBook sometime soon, and don't desire a mac-centric life. that's scary.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11306327/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11306327/ Wed, 03 Jan 2007 20:14:10 PST
i was in mayville, where i work. my boss, sheila, gave me a task to go across the street to quality markets, the little grocery store in mayville, and get something i don't remember what. for some reason, this task could only be done at the end of the day, when my workplace and the grocery store were closing.

so i cross the street and walk into quality and... i fall asleep. there's a bench randomly there next to the movie rental racks where i sit down and fall asleep. and i don't wake up till the next morning!

woops, looks like i screwed up the task. sheila said it was fine and i should try again on this new day. so i try it again... i fall asleep again!

this happens one or two more times. the reason why isn't resolved.

on the last night during the dream - and here's where things get complicated - when i fall asleep at freaking quality markets i have a dream. yeah: i have a dream inside my dream...

in this dream inside a dream - i'll call it a subdream - i'm in a rural area running down a dirt road. i realize that i'm running abnormally fast. "that's funny. i only run this fast when i'm dreaming. i must be dreaming!

"and if i'm dreaming, that must mean i can fly!" so i take an extra strong leap and i propel up over the treetops. woot! i don't get to fly in my dreams as often as i want.

problem is, i'm still sort of connected to gravity. it's not really flying as much as just jumping really high. i can't control how high i go up, nor can i control the descent back down. "crap. this is going to hurt" i think as the ground rushes towards me. and it does. a lot. i land on my hands and knees, bruised but okay, and i try to jump back on my feet but instead underestimate my strength and go flying into the air again!

"okay. this is starting to suck," i think.

i wake up from the subdream. i'm still in quality. shortly afterward i wake up for real.

okay. how did i know i was dreaming when in my dream but i didn't know that i was dreaming about knowing that i was dreaming in the subdream? i can lucid dream while i dream, but just can't plain old lucid dream. bah.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11135029/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11135029/ Thu, 21 Dec 2006 06:28:08 PST [link]

read the price. read the reviews.

heh. merry christmas.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11074033/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11074033/ Fri, 15 Dec 2006 14:46:36 PST
but i know KUH-RAZEH!"

-James Brown

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11014356/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/11014356/ Sun, 10 Dec 2006 07:52:15 PST
Since I wake up at 6:30 during the week to catch the bus to work, I wake up agonizingly early on the weekends now. Fully awake by 7:30, I started making bread.

No, that isn't a euphimism or a saying. I'm actually making a loaf of wheat bread for the week, something I haven't done in, well... three years, which isn't that long in relation to other people.

Had to halve the recipe, make only one loaf instead of the usual two, because Hey! the mixing bowl I have now isn't big enough! But you still have to knead the dough 600 times.

One school year, I'd make two loaves of wheat bread every Sunday, sort of my own personal church. My two housemates thought I was weird.* But they'd change their tune every week for those moments when the new bread was just out of the oven. They always wanted to eat the ends with butter. Who doesn't? Fresh hot wheat bread is the bomb! I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's better than sushi.

But after the bread had cooled, they didn't want anything to do with it. They seemed to prefer the store-bought bleached-white crap. Fine by me; more for me.

The first rise will be done in a half hour. It will be all done by about three in the afternoon.


*(okay. making bread wasn't the only reason why they thought i was weird.

but i was never dangerous. i never melted the teapot to the stovetop twice OR invite a russian immigrant to stay indefinitely at the apartment!)

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10947255/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10947255/ Mon, 04 Dec 2006 11:17:03 PST
See the project:

[link]

Comments are vastly appreciated. Thanks!

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10898666/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10898666/ Thu, 30 Nov 2006 07:03:24 PST [link]

and just like that, finaly my favorite song for the moment was done with a female vocalist.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10837363/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10837363/ Fri, 24 Nov 2006 17:50:27 PST
i beat minesweeper... on expert.

it DID take 331 seconds...

but...

i didn't use any marking flags.

this beats the time i bought an electronic t-shirt off the back of a pop-tarts box by collecting box tops.

how nerdy are YOU?

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10827444/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10827444/ Thu, 23 Nov 2006 19:58:41 PST
MAJOR SPOILERS HERE. If you're into going to movies completely plot-virgin I'd say don't read this. It may be kind of boring too.

My mum, aunt, and I went to see this just for shits and giggles. I was going to be happy about seeing it anyway just because it was something to do with a little bit of my fam. BUT. I can't watch a movie without analyzing it's plots and themes, noting what's happening on the screen as well as what's REALLY happening on the screen. And I'm ESPECIALLY hard on animated movies.

So, in three words: it was good. Okay, in more words: not Pixar-movie-tight, but still entertaining, and not boring at any point. I didn't think it was going to be all that great at first; just something riding the moneymaking coattails of "March of the Penguins". It turned out to have substance to it, though.

It had a good basic theme: there's more than one way to have soul, baby. The being-different-is-okay kind of thing. The crazy thing is, after a while the movie starts backing away from the fact it's about penguins and gets really epic, which isn't a bad thing. A lot of memorable movies do that.

The substance thing gets complicated here though. I had some issues. One: the religion thing. There are a bunch of elders in the Emperor penguin community (they live in "Emperor Land". I'm not joking.). They're the ones who initially reject the main character, who's name is "Mumble" because he sounds like a screeching idiot when he sings and his dancing scares the poo out of them. They're really theatened by his dancing and how others start to like it. They chant to the wind... or something like that. They even call his dancing "pagan"! Yeah, THEY don't resemble Catholicism...

What Mumble brings back to the community in the end isn't completely sound either though. Sure, he breaks the ice (no pun intended) and brings change into creaking old traditions and stuff, but his mission is to get other penguins to believe in aliens (who are actually humans) who first caused a food shortage but become Mumble's hope to stop it. I probably don't know enough it to say anything, but isn't scientology about aliens? So is this a pro-scientology movie? And even if it isn't... what?

Of course, to confuse themes a little more, Mumble is right and the aliens (humans) are so enchanted with how they all dance together that they stop all fishing in the antartic. So... are the humans bad, because they were the ones who initially polluted the waters and took their fish, or good because they solved the penguin plight in the end? Are bad humans good? This was confusing. I think if humans had been treated consistently from beginning to end, the movie could've gone classic. Like old-Disney-movie classic. Not an easy feat nowadays.

The way the humans were treated visually in the movie, though, was great. Whenever the movie showed human presence in what's usually a pure untouched environment, the colors were this glorious rusty brown/red. I thought the color-linking was pretty cool. And, when they actually DO show humans, they're --live action--. You'd think this would be a jarring difference, distracting from the cgi, but it really wasn't. The animals are portrayed naturally enough that it's not a problem at all. It was a great way of solving the oh-crap-how-do-we-make-cgi-humans-that-don't-look-like-shit problem.

Okay. Gotta talk about the rocker penguins! I loved how a penguin species other than Emperor got some representation. And the main five were HILARIOUS.

Thing is though...

They...

They were all...

MEXICAN.

Rocker Penguins are Mexican!? Yes, they did some strange racial pairing on different species... Mexicans being the most notable. In fact, I found myself after the movie calling those characters "the Mexicans" instead of "the little penguins" or "the rockers", yet in the movie they never actually came out and said that they were Mexican. The elephant walruses (heehee... WALRUS!) spoke with Australian accents. The emperors were probably African American... and to think... none of the voice acters whose names I recognized were Black or Hispanic... they were all Caucasian...

I know this is more into deep themes and stuff than plot and characters, which is probably what you're probably more curious about, and I'm putting a lot of moral emphasis on the plot. It's just something I do. I catch it all and look at it hard so it doesn't subliminally seep into my head.

I really did enjoy the movie.

It was very entertaining! There was a lot of action (lots of sliding and head collisions) almost to the point where it was too much. I like that.

HUGE KUDOS to those guys for bringing back singing in animated movies... ]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10717233/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10717233/ Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:06:21 PST
the scanner's in one place, the computer is in another. the sketchbook's here, the brushes are over there. over the past few days i've been moving my things over to my new apartment. (!) i'm going to live above a theatre!

there's a couple new drawings, and a few good ideas. you'll get to see them when i'm all-the-way settled. lucky you.

****************************

jamestown and beverly are similar, busy-wise. there are lots of buildings and speeding cars, and pretty good amount of arts in both. but beverly didn't scare me at all, and living in jamestown strikes fear in my heart...

but don't tell anyone that i'm nervous about moving.

*****************************

"kids don't like it when their parents get divorced." -blume, from "rushmore"

*****************************

my cousin got me a great book for my birthday. it tells you how to do everything, from making twelve-foot puppets to how to use different types of birthcontrol. it comes from that badass-punk-rock-anticonsumerist-DIY-strongwoman vibe that i respond to with much admiration.

and while i'm not going to build my own composting toilet anytime soon, there's new knowledge of how to clean things without using deadly chemicals that i'm going to use like crazy.

i feel so BADASS when i can help myself.

*****************************

public transportation is in my near future! monday to friday twice a day! an hour each time!

and now i'm thinking of getting an mp3 player. but like hell is it going to be an ipod.

*****************************

"i'd rather bleed in new york than sleep in san francisco." - moses atwood.

... i hope i get into pratt.

*****************************

yesterday was my aunt's birthday. it was fun and very busy. very different vibe from my own birthday a week and a half ago. the waiter at the restaurant remembered me, and because of this, we got a complimentary extra course of ratatooie (no motivation to learn the actual spelling right now.). it was delicious.

i feel so ELATED when i see how smiling, making eyecontact, and being polite works in the world.

*****************************

"superman isn't brave." - grandpa, from "angus"

******************************

i was supposed the sew the fancy button on the purse that was the gift to my aunt. but i'd completely forgotten.

i feel so STUPID when perfection is but a tiny detail away, and i neglect it somehow.

****************************

"blackbird girl, you're brooklyn's sweet bounty.
you're a long long way from marin county." - moses atwood

... i hope i get into pratt.

****************************

man... "jaws" is such a great movie.

****************************

blogging world observation: sometimes when i write an entry, i can directly see how it effects others. namely, they write entries in a similar tone, emotion, or style. i wonder how many times my blog entry has subconsciously been a direct response to someone else's.

****************************

"aint it hard, man, but true,
you can love somebody who don't love you." - feral foster

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10667807/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10667807/ Thu, 09 Nov 2006 09:59:46 PST
He made it by recording a story that his four-year-old daughter made up on the spot and then he animated to it. He didn't edit her story at all.

Thought I'd share it with people. Go watch it and give it good reviews!

[link]

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10571193/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10571193/ Tue, 31 Oct 2006 13:17:49 PST
to celebrate, here's the website of the guy who genetically engineered the phosphorescent bunny! aparently he did it for art's sake. pretty interesting. not sure if i like it though.

[link]

and this is pretty enough for hollowe'en:

[link]

i recommend "brooklyn's bolinas".

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10517895/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10517895/ Thu, 26 Oct 2006 14:22:21 PDT
I could've dealt with being stuck in the wasteland that is Mayville for another two months. But to have that extended from two to ELEVEN? It was awful. I feel kind of bad because I freaked out and left work without telling anyone.

Tuesday wasn't very good either. I went to work and actually stayed the full day (my boss's reprimandation was swift and stung just enough where I learned my lesson without being too scarred. Then she gave me candy. She's very cool.). Then I went home, got yelled at some more by mum for not being chipper about being in the wasteland for even longer, and laid in the dark cave that is my bed until I had to go to sleep anyway.

On Wednesday, I was guessing which month of 2007 I was probably going to lay down in a field and wait for death to take me* when I got a call from the Jamestown Arts Council. They liked my portfolio, and are offering me apartment space for the year! Woo!

So next week I'm meeting up with them, looking at the space, and going over the papers. (It's so very strange an organization. Apparently, if I'm making TOO much money, I can't have the apartment. If they want to offer good inexpensive space for up-coming artists, though, I can see how that makes sense.) And then I'm probably moving! And by the time next year is up I'll probably be back in school. Hopefully.

But until then I'm dancing for joy. Everybody's kind of scared of me right now, because I sunk down and came back up again really violently in a matter of days. Ee, sorry everyone. You just can't spell "manic" without "Em". HA!

I watched "Corpse Bride" with Graham the other day. I had low expectations of it, so I liked it in the end. I'm probably not going to get it completely correct, but my favorite line in the whole movie: "Victoria? What are you doing here? You should be at home right now, laying prostrate with grief."

*don't call the guys in white suits on me. I'm being silly and over-the-top absurd when I say that.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10427995/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10427995/ Tue, 17 Oct 2006 20:16:28 PDT
i've been here long enough. this sucks. hello again, art school!

november 1st is the admissions deadline for the spring 2007 semester. ih, i've gotten college application stuff done in less time than that.

of course, this changes a lot of things. do i keep looking for apartments in jamestown? the answer to that question is clear: no. you don't draw up a rent contract for just two months! plus whatever i looked at in jamestown was just... awful. makes 31 elliott look like the plaza hotel. yeah, even BEFORE 31 got remodelled!

and in may? i'm really sorry you guys, i didn't think i'd want to go back to school so quickly. it came as a surprise to me too, actually. if this works out, then living in salem with the beloved jess and co. is out. at least for now.

and if admissions doesn't take me... well... let's not think about that right now.

they say that if you're good enough, you'll get places. well, i haven't even moved a mile, so i guess i know what that means!

maybe a master's degree will make it all better.

but FIRST...

painting or design?

painting or design?

painting or design? painting or design? painting or design? painting or design? painting or design? painting or design? painting or design? painting or design? painting or design? painting or design? painting or design? painting or design? painting or design?

paaaaaaaiiiiiiiiintiiiingg?

...

or desiiiiiiiiiiiigggnnnnnn?

PS: i got my They Shoot Horses Don't They and The Gossip albums in the mail today! they ROCK--

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10347492/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10347492/ Thu, 12 Oct 2006 09:02:27 PDT
[link]

[edit, some hours later] PS... go check out my sweet gothstume at my livejournal. [link] (*snicker*)

[edit, the next day] futurama's coming back! [link] time to cuss for joy!

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10279665/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10279665/ Wed, 04 Oct 2006 07:57:04 PDT [link]

NEVER EATING SOY SAUCE AGAIN.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10208763/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10208763/ Wed, 27 Sep 2006 20:55:37 PDT
all those crazy creative ones that you never would have thought of in a thousand years; the super-involved ones, where the deeper you dig into the story's world the more you discover; the ones that demand something of society and the world never forgets it;... all those different stories.

and i think about them, and i wonder "how do -I- make one of those?"

one day i was watching a roommate play the dot hack games and go through the extras and stuff. there's so much backstory, important crossovers, and crazy cause-and-effect between all the characters in not just the game, but the two or three anime serieses (what's the plural of that word anyway?) and the books. i was knocked over by how intricate it was.

then it hit me. the dot hack story wasn't just made up by one person. there's absolutely NO WAY it could've been. that story had to've taken a crapload of brains. a story isn't made by just one person. it's developed among many people who contribute in different ways. brainstorming, resources, advice, and - in the instance of videogame-making - funding.

so the way someone develops a story to the point of awe-inspiring greatness is to... ask for help. and lots of it.

easier said than done, i know. but i just... HAVE to do it... because... that's all there is to it.


***************************

i know, i'm being super annoying, constantly clogging up people's message centers with my journal entries. hmm... i don't think i'm sorry. however, i AM sorry for not being sorry. a little.

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10195284/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10195284/ Tue, 26 Sep 2006 16:47:18 PDT
y'know? it doesn't hurt at all really. and the blade was so sharp it didn't hurt while it was going through my thumb either. weird. but MAN did it bleed a lot. i only feel queezy about it because i could actually feel the cold steel... cutting through my nerves... like butter. gruesome.

but now it's very awkward to do simple things, such as typing and... cutting porkchops. my thumb is wrapped up in so much gauze and band-aids.

but when i visit beverly soon (!) i'm so going to show off my Design War scar. i think this officially makes me a designer, because all the designers i know have at some point cut themselves the exact same way.

yay, i'm a dumbass!

]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10150069/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10150069/ Fri, 22 Sep 2006 07:20:31 PDT [link]

woot-- i always love a good thrashing. ]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10114478/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10114478/ Mon, 18 Sep 2006 17:31:25 PDT
my plane lands in boston on October 6 at 12:40 PM. you have to keep me entertained until October 9th at 8:45 PM.

i'm counting on you.

and YOU, rosie! you better be there!

hope your semesters are swelling. or going swell. yes. that too. ]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10055256/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10055256/ Tue, 12 Sep 2006 22:12:33 PDT
i hide my stuff all over the internet in little pockets. i keep track of it, but don't link it together well. this is on purpose.

instead of writing cover letters and such for apartment acquiring, i put more love into the livejournal. the earl grey tea doesn't work, thus i pretty much drank two mugs of perfume today for NOTHING. but hey, there are more icons and interests and stuff.

i should stop sta... well, i SHOULD stop doing a LOT of things. but the one i was going to say: i should stop staying up so late fooling around on the internet and watching stephen colbert have a seizure with a lightsaber on tv. ]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10034003/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/10034003/ Sun, 10 Sep 2006 22:36:47 PDT
i just got off google maps, printing maps, wasting some inkjet ink. now i know there are at least three apartments that i can probably afford that are downtown in the next town. the arts council offering me space probably isn't going to happen, so i have to do this the old fashioned way... found these addresses in the paper's classifieds. i'm checking them out tomorrow afternoon and making one meeting and probably making more phone calls tomorrow.

holy crap do i hate making professional phonecalls. this morning i had to work myself up to an aggressive funk just to press the 'send' button on my cell phone. in senior seminar, fred said of a fellow student getting a gallery showing: "he made the scary phonecalls, and now things are happening." i have to make some scary phonecalls, and make some things happen.

before the googlefest i updated the livejournal. comics! holy crap comics! i mean... i only made three or four drawings and did an hour or so of cutting and pasting in photoshop, but hell yeah i finaly made a comic! next step: make another one.

before that i watched the movie 'crash'. a great movie. but i hated it. but it's important. it deserves all the awards it won. but it's horrible. but it's really great and i do like it. if you're american in any sense of the word, you should watch it. the movie is probably what has put me in this weird mood. all movies about humanity and society and all that put me in weird moods. it pissed me off that the last words of the movie were "fucking doofy chinamen" though.

(movies about humanity and such are the ones that make me want to make stories. comedy and fantasy and such are fun and all, but humanity movies make me think to myself "you have no right to call yourself a creator at this moment" and so i get up and start drawing and painting and writing. "little miss sunshine" and "rent" did the same thing. i think those kinds of stories are the kind i'm supposed to make, even though i get so completely seduced by pulpy fun shit like cal mcdonald.)

okay, i don't think that's the only thing that's put me in a weird mood. i haven't gotten out of the house and hung out with anybody other than my mother in like three weeks. and last night i had two dreams in a row where i'm forced into a position where i have to kill something or someone. and not with normal weapons that make sense. the first one i had to use a hammer, the second i had to use a putter. that's the SECOND dream this summer i've had to use a freaking golf club (okay. that first golf club dream was kinda funny though, because i was in a hot black suit and fighting a purple-polka-dotted octopus menace. seriously. but still).

i probably shouldn't be writing all this... i'm probably being really scary. owell. i need to get out and hang with some people. maybe i'll make up some imaginary friends. maybe getting drunk... or laid... or SOMETHING nice and vice-y would help too. i need to meet some people who will stop me from reading 'the brothers karamazov' late at night. i only have about twenty pages to go. no words can describe how amazing that book is. i bet it's 'the brothers k' that's giving me these weird dreams. i have no idea what to read next after i'm done with that one. ]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/9980604/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/9980604/ Tue, 05 Sep 2006 18:12:05 PDT
[link]

[link]

[link]

that big blue dirtbag still makes me laugh hysterically. ]]> ~srom http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/9912852/ http://srom.deviantart.com/journal/9912852/ Wed, 30 Aug 2006 21:35:28 PDT
thanks again, and sorry too. this summer's been about crazy extremes more than any other summer's been before. i've traveled more this summer than any other, but have never been more reclusive. my relations and friendships have proven to be stronger than ever, but i've never been more isolated and lonely. i've never been more productive or rode higher highs, but this summer also marks the first time i've been depressed to self-destruction.

so, i have no excuse for being crazed and soapboxy, but that's my excuse i guess. again, with the opposites...

again, thanks.

anyways, added some crap to my livejournal: [link] have fun there!

just ordered indestructable object and venue songs- so much giants... i SHOULD probably get albums that broaden the amount of artists i have, instead of buying the same artists over and over. but what the hell. i've wanted these two for a while. ]]> ~srom