Busy as a bee. . .

I've been so swamped with stuff, I realized today that I hadn't posted anything in forever! Which implies a false lack of manga ambition—we have been working on it steadily, though at a much slower pace than normal. Elicia has finals and projects to start attacking, and I had lots of work things to get off and running this month. But I can take a breather today (phew!); I stayed up last night 'till 4 a.m. prepping for a meeting today, so I am allowing myself a blogging break. Hopefully I will get some well-deserved catch-up sleep tonight.

Thank goodness for Whitney and pop candy! She finds little artistic gems every now and then that are great and boost my creativity. Like these shirts that I am kicking myself for not thinking of first, since the idea is so simple yet brilliant. And this great music video (linked below? It swears Blogger can do this but we'll see), which I found via her link to the vid of Jack White's new Coke commercial. I'm thinking that the music vid came before the ad but I'm not sure, and I am ashamed to admit I cannot place the original inspiration for either of them; maybe the famous modern artists, particularly the sculptures of Duane Hansen? Frankly, I can't believe Coke would go so Target in its ads; refreshing or knock-offish? You decide.



Anyway, in spite of not posting current inspirations I have been very inspired lately. I'm continuing the redecoration of my apartment again (I had to break for winter and lack of funds), and the creativity that this requires somehow spills into all the areas of my life, to my delight.

Seriously, if I didn't want to be a graphic designer or a manga artist, I'd love to go into interior design, it's a very soothing pastime. And everyone is afraid of color it seems—except those people on the home docoration shows who do those crazy home makovers, of course—but since color has always been an ally of mine and does not intimidate me, I think I'd be great at it—minus all the professional schooling I lack, of course. (I got to teach interior designers last year basic Adobe Creative Suite skills; it was fun and I learned a lot from them. I also learned that an interior designer's wardrobe and grooming are light years above what I, a so-called feminine tomboy, would ever be capable of maintaining—for example, the students were told by their professor to get manicures in preperation for a guest speaker's arrival! What other class would demand that?! Insane.) Anyway, design fun aside, sketching out how my finished rooms might look is also good practice for drawing perspective and buildings. Which I don't do nearly enought of. I realized this the other day when Elicia looked over my sketches; she couldn't believe that I knew how to draw perspective; my own sister for crying out loud! As I explained to her, just because I don't want to do it, and am leaving it up to her in our mangas, does not mean I cannot do it. (Sigh.)

I also watched movies for research—and yes, this counts. =) I wanted to familiarize myself with the things in the genres that do and don't work, and the typical visuals and the famous scenes, so we could steer away from the rote and do our own take on things. I had to watch a lot of bad, albeit "classic," movies, but it was time well spent in spite of that.

I finally saw the movie Frida, and was blown away. I knew of Julie Taymor, of course, because Elicia studied her this year, but we had no idea she had directed a movie! And what a movie—the paintings practically come to life before your eyes! And Salma was perfect, she even looked like her. And IMO her performance was more arresting than Nicole Kidman's, who won the acting Oscar that year—stupid academy, but then again when are they ever perfect? I was already biased that year—I thought Julianne Moore's performance(s) were far more breathtaking—but I had no idea how much Salma was robbed. Give this woman good films, and stat! And give us more films like this, please! Life would be much more beautiful that way.

I am also beginning to sketch out the important details of our character's lives that flesh out who they are—the weapons they use, the objects they prize, how they clothe themselves—in a way that I never did before, which is really quite fun.

I am also going through the monumental task of getting my finances in order—our old car died so I had to get a new one (Goodbye Chester, I love you and always will!), and of course tax season is a pain now, since I can no longer do the E-Z form over the phone. To deduct or not to deduct? That is the five thousand dollar question. >(

So yes, I am working bit by bit in all areas of my life, and am loving it. Dare I say it? In spite of the odd transitions of family, friends, career and so on, I think this is the happiest I have ever been in my life. Don't worry pessimists, the euphoria won't last long, I am sure. But In spite of everything life isn't all that bad sometimes.