Revelation

Is the title of the song I am listening to at the moment.

I've had a couple of kind of important moments of revelation myself, recently. The first one was something that improved my life greatly, the middle one of utmost importance, and the other one is the thing that is ailing my life at the moment.



Firstly, when I was in high school, (it seems so long ago yet it was just last year...) I was friends with a girl who most would call a poser. I didn't see it at first but as summer break faded so did she. Along with 60 bucks she owed me, which I eventually got paid back... but let me start over.

This girl was the kind of person who only does and likes things because their friends do. She was supposedly very into Japanese culture, as I am, and she said that she really like Japanese music like me. Yet the only time she listened to it was when I was around. She not only copied my internet name but she copied my style, which is a mixture of prep, goth and punk. (Weird, I know.) She copied my strengths in school (history was the one that she mimiced) and pretty much follwed me everywhere. (Statements of a mutual friend.) She even tried to get a job at my workplace.



So I took her to the Family Values Concert last August. The only reason that I went was because Dir en Grey was there, and I desperatley wanted to see them, even if it was just once. I ended up being able to shake hands with the bassist and the lead guitarist, as did she. This was a very big thing for me, because I'm a very big fan, but she burst out sobbing. I didn't.

We lost touch.

The last one I mentioned is at my workplace, there is a girl creating hostility. It involves me, and her, obviously. We used to be friends, but she and I fell out after she went through a management certification two months later than me. She became obsesive with the job, and started acting superior to everyone that we work with, even though everyone had seniority over her, that didn't stop it.

Last week I recieved a text messege stating that we could play nice at work but we were not friends. Like that wasn't known before, but on top of that she started telling one of my best friends that I was trash talking her to everyone around the place when I did no such thing and I don't know where she got such an idea.

Work place drama sucks.

My dad said that I don't need people like that in my life, and I am better off without her friendship. Just like the previous story, I am sure once she gets over the power trip of this job, she will quit and eventually loose touch with us at work as well.

These aren't good revelations, but they are, none the less revelations.

Next month...

There are two different concerts in Los Angeles that I want to go to, and I won't be able to. The first is a Korean pop concert, which is having many different artists, some of which I listen to and some of which I don't. Later, around the 25, there is a Japanese Rock Revolution concert, which is what I would die to go to. There are going to be MANY artists there that I like. This is not fair, it's not fair that all the Japanese and Korean artists I listen to are going to L.A. and no where else, because I cannot afford to go to either and I will miss out.



You're probably thinking, "This girl is strange, she's not Asian at all but she likes this stuff?"



Allow me to ellaborate... when I was in eigth grade I was introduced back into Japanese anime by a girl I knew. I used to watch Sailor Moon and Pokemon, but this new phase was unlike any other. It launched something that has laste six or so years with me. After I got really obsessive with Dragon Ball Z (which I insisted on watching in Japanese on the International Channel,) I started to listen to the Japanese music which was on those said shows. Once I fell into the InuYasha string, I found Ayumi Hamasaki, and she launched all of what I know today. When on an Ayu fansite I found the music artist Gackt. Gackt used to be in a visual kei band known as Malice Mizer, which led into Mana, the guitarist of Malice Mizer is now in a band called Moi Dix Mois. Watching different visual bands eventually led to Dir en Grey, who led to La;Sadies, which led to X-Japan because the old drummer of X used to produce Dir en grey. X Japan then led to Luna Sea, because the drummer and the guitarist are friends. It's all a chain, all this happened because of anime and that one girl in middle school.

Goth

My title might be very misleading, because when you think of Goth, most people think of the high school kids that wear their clothes straight out of Hot Topic who are supposed to be depressed or whatever. When I think of Goth, I think of clothing and architecture styles, but even I was called a Goth a lot when I took karate classes. Black, being one of my favorite colors, is what I wear the most of, which makes many people assume I am a Goth. I am more interested in the Gothic Lolita fashion of Japan than anything, because it’s what sparked my interest in clothing design. The clothing style that interests me the most, however is the line Moi-meme-Moitie, created by Japanese rock star Mana, (who is a MAN by the way.) Though his clothing is expensive, it’s beautiful, and it’s the reason that I wanted to learn how to make clothes in the first place. Looking at Mana’s creations made me create as well, though most of them are still drawings, I hope to make them into real articles of clothing one day. Compared to Mana, I am not a Goth at all, because all of the clothing that he makes is Gothic Lolita and Aristocrat, (can you tell he’s richer than I can ever imagine?)

Not all Goth clothing is black, quite the contrary, actually. If one looks around hard enough, they can see that deep blues and purples, as well as crimson reds are used heftily in Goth fashion. Also, if you look back through Japanese rock’s fashions, most bands went through ‘Goth’ phases, which were later moved out of, like all phases. Mana stuck to it though, and continues to create amazing peices.

YouTube feat. Gackt Dressing Up!

Tommy Hilfiger Spoof

This ad is making fun of Tommy Hilfiger brand, probably making fun of one of their ads sayings. This ad says “Follow the flock” and then it portrays some sheep. It appeals to people’s sense of humor, because I think that since this is so mild, even people who like Tommy brand clothing will think this ad somewhat humorous. Theme wise, this is just a spoof, doing what spoofs do; making fun of the main brand. This particular spoof is saying that you are simply going with what everyone else goes with if you wear this particular brand. Also, this ad relies on both the words and the image, because without one, the other is insignificant, and people would have to read into the ad much more than they have to as it is right now. I haven’t seen the original picture that this would be making fun of, because I don’t follow major fashion trends, but like I said before, I think that this ad says it all when it’s read. Trend followers have a tendency to just “go with the flow,” or following the flock, like this ad states. Take the ‘emo’ fad for example. When I was in high school, senior year, it was all the rage to be emo, but the year before no one had even heard the term. This ad is saying that if you’re into fashion, you’re just going to go with it, whether you like it or not, but that’s not always true, and that’s where this ad goes wrong.

Calvin Klein's Ads

In this picture, a couple is portrayed holding each other. The sex appeal is strong, but it’s not as bad as something say like, Abercrombie and Fitch. The female is straddling the male, and she is shirtless, as is he. You can see the woman’s underwear, which says “Calvin Klein” on it, making it obvious what this ad is for. It’s not inappropriate, because it’s not showing anything but it might not be something that parents want their young children seeing. The partial nudity is hidden, but the implications aren't rated G. I don’t know the effectiveness of it, but judging from how popular of a brand Calvin Klein is, I would say that the sex appeal is pretty effective for them. Personally, I don’t really see this as an exaggerated attempt at pathos, but other people might see it that way. It is an attempt at pathos though, because it’s prying at the person’s sex appeal. Ads like this are trying to make people think, “If I wear this brand, girls will sit like that with me” and vice-versa. Do most people think that way? I doubt it. Rationally, people should know that members of the opposite sex won’t flock to them because they wear a certain brand. Advertisers like to make it seem that way, but everyone knows that won’t happen. A better example of this sort of ad is the ones for Axe body spray, because those are more exaggerated extremes of what this picture implies.

Analysis of Constellation

Like I mentioned in my last post, things like this piece take a lot of concentration, just because of the tedious nature that they invoke. Because this artist used letters, it makes me wonder how she decided which letters to put where, or if it was completely random in her choosing. The letters are so tiny, I imagine that it would be awfully time consuming, and the fact that the perspective is somewhat forced because it’s easier to tell what it is from far away makes me think so even more. I did like how where she wanted to show the blackness of the universe, she used masses of letters, and then when it came to the continents, it was less, and then islands became even less, and water became none. That showed amazing contrast, because this picture is solely black and white. Looking at this artist’s other works, she seems to favor black ink for everything and she also likes tiny things making a bigger picture. In another piece she used words instead of letters to create a spiral, but if you read the letters they don’t make much sense. Looking at both of the pictures from far away boggles my mind, because I would think to make that picture, the artist would have to see it from far away as well, but it doesn’t seem like they could do so. Unless perhaps they hung it up on the wall and went on the other side of the room, then perhaps they could do so.

(The image quality didn't save too well. If you click the above link you can see a very good smaller picture.)

Reflection of Constellation

This was amazing, because it made me see something that I didn’t see the first time I looked at it. Something like this would have taken immense concentration and I don’t think that I would be able to do it myself. The title “Constellation” threw me off a bit, because I see this as a quarter of the globe, not a section of stars like the title portrays. Other than that, there wasn’t anything else that I found interesting or cool. I used to take a lot of art classes in high school, and if I had more time, I would still be active in this area. This reminded me of something that I had to do for a beginning class, where we used multi-media, and then we had to use hatching and cross-hatching (hatching is like /// and cross-hatching is like making a lot of x’s) to make a picture. The teacher set up a still life, and we had to use that to portray an apple, a flag, a pear and a vase. It was one of the most challenging things I have done, but it was also one of the pictures I did that I was the most proud of. Making something such as this would be an amazing feat for me, because it just seems like it would take so much time, and could cause a lot of frustration.

Observation on Constellation

Constellation by Alice Attie, is a series of letters all meshed together to make a quarter of the globe. When it is up close you can’t tell what it is at all, because it all looks like a bunch of shapes made of letters. Once it is seen from a distance, it’s clear: It is indeed a globe, showing some parts of Europe, North America and North Africa. The left half is more than likely supposed to be the universe, a dark, black mass that comes from putting letters really close together showing little spaces for breathing. It progresses down into the North American areas, Canada and some of the United States, and some of Greenland, which are put together much more lightly, showing that they are separated from the blackened mass. At the same time this also displays that this is not supposed to be white, like the water. The one clear thing is Italy; the boot shape is very distinct in this picture, even when it is seen at a close angle. It does seem like Europe is very close to North America, but maybe it was meant to see it like you are looking at the area where Italy is, so you see North America off to the side, making it look a little closer than it actually is.