Every now and then I indulge in the madness of Youtube. I can say, right now, that whoever came up with the idea for that side bar is rolling in the dough as we speak. Yep, rolling in it. All you have to do is look up a video, and then you'll see something on the side that looks interesting. Then, suddenly it's two hours later. You've been sucked in!
I fall victim to this occasionally, so I have a great collection of my favorite videos. That, my friends, is what today's post is all about!
This one is a video I got hooked onto recently from a friend I made in my digital foundations class. It's called Thought of You, and it was animated by Ryan Woodward. I posted it on facebook earlier this week, but I had to share it again. It's sooooooooo beautiful. The best way to view it is in full screen, 720p. It will blow your socks off. You won't be able to find them. Stock up on some socks before you watch it.
So, last semester I got hooked on Portlandia after Caroline told me about it. This one is a particular favorite because we watched it in one of my art classes a few weeks ago. It might be hilarious, but it's also ridiculously true....which is kind of sad I think.
I don't know why, but I got into The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which is a youtube series that started last April and ended yesterday. It's basically Pride and Prejudice in 2012, if Elizabeth had a video diary. I found it by accident one day, in January, but I caught up and for the past three months I've been watching every Monday and Thursday when the new ones came out.
How it Should Have Ended is a really good channel I stumbled across after watching one of their videos. It's basically a bunch of animated shorts of how popular movies should have ended. The first one I ever watched was How Tangled Should Have Ended.
Their Superhero Cafe shorts are good too.
The dance walking always amuses me.
And then, of course, there's Kid President. Someone should get me a shirt that says, "Not cool, Robert Frost!"
On a side note, this guy is my Spanish teacher. He can dance.
And, then, there's Cooking With Arpakasso! A stuffed alpaca who cooks and has that smooth voice should get everyone's views.
And finally, BurdFu! My friend Adam makes these hilarious videos. Watch them all...or else.
This is the newest one.
But this one is my favorite.
I'm addicted people.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Dear Baby
I love you and I haven't even met you yet. You're making one of my dreams come true, one that, at times, I never thought would happen. Why? Because, dear, I knew your mother when she was in high school. She was the most frightening teenager you or I could ever imagine, and I could never imagine her having kids. And then there was the time when she swore that she would never have kids, and Grandma Rose said that she would change her mind. That's the kind of aunt you have, one that remembers really obscure things.
I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to meeting you, and holding you, and smelling your baby smell. There's definitely something to say about the relationship between an aunt and her nieces and nephews. I've experienced it, and I know it's something intricately unique, but I've never seen it from the other side. This is going to be new and exciting for the both of us!
I can't promise that your parents or your family are 100% normal. We're all a pretty crazy bunch, but I have a feeling you'll fit right in. I mean how could the child of a man in a beard club not fit in? Anywhere? And don't get me started on your mother, or your grandparents, or well, anyone you're related to. I have some interesting stories about almost all of them...but I'll save those for when you're older.
Don't despair about life in this world, baby. It's a lot better than some people make it out to be. You get to hug people and laugh with people and run around without shoes on (sometimes in the rain!). I know you're going to enjoy it, baby, because I'm your aunt, and I said so.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Write a Novel in a Month...You Know You Want To...
Remember my post One Score, One Finish Line, One Novel? I mentioned something called NaNoWriMo. It's short for National Novel Writing Month, 30 days of crazay writing! I know it's not until November, but you guys need to hear about it now so you can prepare. Every November thousands of people from elementary school to people retired and living in old fart bliss attempt to write a novel, or 50,000 words. To some people that just sounds crazy and outrageous, and it is, but it's also glorious and aaaaaaaaaamazing!
Come on people, it's only 1,667 words a day! Anybody can do that! There's even a website to help you! You can create a profile and befriend other writers (Writing Buddies!). You don't even have to know them outside of NaNo. There's a place for your novel information, and your information (which doesn't have to be real, I mean, who lives on Goaty Goat Island? I do apparently.)
(My profile, with my horrible pen name)
One of my favorite things is that they give you your statistics:
(Yeah, mine from last year look pretty bad)
It kind of helps you keep track of things, especially if you get behind, which happens to me a lot. And like I said before, you're not alone! In 2011, more than a quarter of a million people did NaNoWriMo, and I'm pretty sure last year more than 300,000 people signed up. There are more than 60 forums where you can talk with all these crazy writers, so you're bound to find someone you have something in common with. My favorite forums are the Adoption Society and Games, Diversions, & Other Exciting Forms of Procrastination. The first is a place to drop off things you don't need and pick up things you do need. From titles to catchy character lines, you can pretty much find anything there. The second is a place where you can waste time and have fun. Insane games abound! Sometimes they can be constructive and develop your characters, sometimes they're just ridiculous, like Throw Something at the Next Poster.
I turn my nose up at the NaNo naysayers, the people who think it's a menace to the "art" of writing. It's not all about quality, it's about getting it done, something I have problems with myself. It's not just for people who are dead serious writers, it's for people who want to write, regardless of whether they're good or not. And for those who think nothing good can come from writing furiously for a month straight, you can forget that argument. Did you know Water For Elephants started out as a NaNo project? Yeah, go ahead and look bashful. Over 100 NaNo Novels have been published, and one day mine will be one of them.
And guess what? It's not just in November! Camp NaNoWriMo, which is way more flexible, happens in April and July. You can choose a different word count other than 50,000, and you can have cabin mates! So if November is too hectic for you, try April or July. Personally, I prefer July because November and April are hectic end-of-the-semester months.
So for everyone out there who has ever wanted to write a novel, has issues with finishing things, or likes a challenge, this is for you, and you should try it! I've done it for three years and I haven't won ever, but I know one day I will. The fact that I still want to keep trying every year should be an encouragement to you. You can write, because I say you can. Don't let anything stop you.
Come on people, it's only 1,667 words a day! Anybody can do that! There's even a website to help you! You can create a profile and befriend other writers (Writing Buddies!). You don't even have to know them outside of NaNo. There's a place for your novel information, and your information (which doesn't have to be real, I mean, who lives on Goaty Goat Island? I do apparently.)
One of my favorite things is that they give you your statistics:
It kind of helps you keep track of things, especially if you get behind, which happens to me a lot. And like I said before, you're not alone! In 2011, more than a quarter of a million people did NaNoWriMo, and I'm pretty sure last year more than 300,000 people signed up. There are more than 60 forums where you can talk with all these crazy writers, so you're bound to find someone you have something in common with. My favorite forums are the Adoption Society and Games, Diversions, & Other Exciting Forms of Procrastination. The first is a place to drop off things you don't need and pick up things you do need. From titles to catchy character lines, you can pretty much find anything there. The second is a place where you can waste time and have fun. Insane games abound! Sometimes they can be constructive and develop your characters, sometimes they're just ridiculous, like Throw Something at the Next Poster.
I turn my nose up at the NaNo naysayers, the people who think it's a menace to the "art" of writing. It's not all about quality, it's about getting it done, something I have problems with myself. It's not just for people who are dead serious writers, it's for people who want to write, regardless of whether they're good or not. And for those who think nothing good can come from writing furiously for a month straight, you can forget that argument. Did you know Water For Elephants started out as a NaNo project? Yeah, go ahead and look bashful. Over 100 NaNo Novels have been published, and one day mine will be one of them.
And guess what? It's not just in November! Camp NaNoWriMo, which is way more flexible, happens in April and July. You can choose a different word count other than 50,000, and you can have cabin mates! So if November is too hectic for you, try April or July. Personally, I prefer July because November and April are hectic end-of-the-semester months.
So for everyone out there who has ever wanted to write a novel, has issues with finishing things, or likes a challenge, this is for you, and you should try it! I've done it for three years and I haven't won ever, but I know one day I will. The fact that I still want to keep trying every year should be an encouragement to you. You can write, because I say you can. Don't let anything stop you.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Frank Lloyd Wright Has No Sense of Storage, But I Still Like His Houses
Going to a major university can sometimes have its advantages. Like how today I got to go visit a Frank Lloyd Wright house, the only Frank Lloyd Wright house in Florida, which happens to be right here in Tallahassee. It was so bittersweet. You see, the family he designed the house for didn't have a lot of money, and they still don't, so the place is falling apart, which is just so sad. Some parts outside weren't even completed. The place is called Spring House and it was built in 1954 over ten months with only six men building it. The only way I can describe the shape is that it's very boat-like. Here's a picture of the blueprints for a better idea.
The kitchen and the fireplace are round and on the bottom floor there is a bench that runs half the length of the building along the wall in a big open spacious room that pretty much takes up the whole first floor. Across from the bench, the entire wall is nothing but windows. We got to meet the daughter of George and Clifton Lewis, the people who had the house built. Her name is Byrd and I got to sit and talk with her by the round fireplace while I got warm from walking around outside. She told me that when she was in college, going to FSU, she used to sleep down there on that bench. She said it was beautiful in that room at night when there was a full moon.
If I could, I would put up a million pictures just to show you how great this place was, because I took a lot. Honestly, I probably took more than a hundred. But Byrd's mother, Clifton, who is still alive by the way, doesn't want anyone to publish any pictures. I can understand that so much, so I'm going to honor her wishes. I did however, find photos on the Spring House Institute website, so here's some of that.
Vintage picture from the 50s when the house was still fairly new.
The family, way back when. The girl next to the woman is Byrd.
The entrance nowadays.
The window wall, from the second floor.
The second floor, where all the bedrooms are. Beneath this is where the bench is.
And for all of you who don't know who Frank Lloyd Wright is, here's a little spiel
Frank Lloyd Wright is a very famous American architect who built the house in the above picture, known as Fallingwater (Oh, and he designed the Guggenheim, but no biggie). I like to call it the Cantilevered Wonder. Wright was into organic architecture and Usonian homes (phrases he coined himself). Organic architecture is basically the blending of buildings with nature so that everything is harmonious. A Usonian home is characterized by simplicity and practically no storage. My mom couldn't live in one of these houses. In fact, I don't think she and Frankie would have gotten along very well.
So what was the point of all this? Spring House was recently put on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Spring House Institute wants to restore and update it and they need our help raising the funds for it. They would like we, the students, to create pieces of art inspired by Spring House. These works will then be auctioned off at a big pricey fundraiser event, with the student receiving half of what their piece was auctioned for, and the foundation receiving the other half. Whoever came up with this was awesome. I will definitely be keeping everyone abreast of how my piece, whatever it turns out to be, is coming along.
When I have kids, we'll be fieldtripping to this place for sure.
If you want to know more, see more pictures, or donate, you can go here: www.PreserveSpringHouse.org
The kitchen and the fireplace are round and on the bottom floor there is a bench that runs half the length of the building along the wall in a big open spacious room that pretty much takes up the whole first floor. Across from the bench, the entire wall is nothing but windows. We got to meet the daughter of George and Clifton Lewis, the people who had the house built. Her name is Byrd and I got to sit and talk with her by the round fireplace while I got warm from walking around outside. She told me that when she was in college, going to FSU, she used to sleep down there on that bench. She said it was beautiful in that room at night when there was a full moon.
If I could, I would put up a million pictures just to show you how great this place was, because I took a lot. Honestly, I probably took more than a hundred. But Byrd's mother, Clifton, who is still alive by the way, doesn't want anyone to publish any pictures. I can understand that so much, so I'm going to honor her wishes. I did however, find photos on the Spring House Institute website, so here's some of that.
Vintage picture from the 50s when the house was still fairly new.
The family, way back when. The girl next to the woman is Byrd.
The entrance nowadays.
The window wall, from the second floor.
The second floor, where all the bedrooms are. Beneath this is where the bench is.
And for all of you who don't know who Frank Lloyd Wright is, here's a little spiel
Frank Lloyd Wright is a very famous American architect who built the house in the above picture, known as Fallingwater (Oh, and he designed the Guggenheim, but no biggie). I like to call it the Cantilevered Wonder. Wright was into organic architecture and Usonian homes (phrases he coined himself). Organic architecture is basically the blending of buildings with nature so that everything is harmonious. A Usonian home is characterized by simplicity and practically no storage. My mom couldn't live in one of these houses. In fact, I don't think she and Frankie would have gotten along very well.
So what was the point of all this? Spring House was recently put on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Spring House Institute wants to restore and update it and they need our help raising the funds for it. They would like we, the students, to create pieces of art inspired by Spring House. These works will then be auctioned off at a big pricey fundraiser event, with the student receiving half of what their piece was auctioned for, and the foundation receiving the other half. Whoever came up with this was awesome. I will definitely be keeping everyone abreast of how my piece, whatever it turns out to be, is coming along.
When I have kids, we'll be fieldtripping to this place for sure.
If you want to know more, see more pictures, or donate, you can go here: www.PreserveSpringHouse.org
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)