I don't remember from what patch of thin air I pulled this obsession, but I've had it for a while now. It's kind of waned over the years but it's still there. I am obsessed with spies. But like I said, I wouldn't really call it an obsession anymore at this point in my life.
It may have started with the fact that I'm the little sister. I used to really enjoy spying on my older sister, whatever she did. I think I also enjoyed getting her in trouble, but what little sister/brother doesn't enjoy that? My cousin, Lauren, joined me in my obsession and we started to pretend we were spies any time we were together. Sometimes we even roped her dad into playing along with us. We went on covert 'missions' and had meetings with other spies who were, in reality, non-existent.
In middle school I happened upon this really awesome subscription in the monthly scholastic catalogs. Each month they would send you new gadgets and a book about being a spy. The starter kit would have been enough for me, but my mom kept the subscription up so I got something new every month. Things got serious then, especially when my cousin started to get the subscription too. Every outing was a mission.
This is basically what my starter kit looked like.
We started our own spy organization then. We came up with the ridiculous name "Federal Agent Bureau," which we frequently shortened to FAB. When I say we were serious, I'm not even joking. We had an FAB file book, which was essentially a handful of notebook paper in a binder. It had at least five different files, including lists of agents, mission logs, and meeting logs. We were the only two 'real' agents, but we pretended there were a lot of us. We really did have meetings, too, and an oath you had to take to be an agent. When we were apart we would send each other coded letters, or letters written in invisible ink. We even had matching uniforms we had scrounged up.
Over the years our interest in being spies waned, but I still had a thing for it. When Kim Possible was around I loved her. I drew her, and variations of her, almost constantly, but I grew out of that eventually too. In those gap years of high school I still kept the dream alive by writing spy stories, even though I didn't have any inspiration to look to. I mean, there were a few bright spots, like National Treasure. I totally knew they were looking at an 'Ottendorf'' cipher (book cipher) before they did.
Until Burn Notice came out. Here was a niche I could finally settle into without it being an obsession. I still watch it all the time, even though I haven't always been able to keep up weekly when it's on television. Now with the availability of Netflix to me, I'm watching every episode they have up this summer.
This retired spy hasn't totally left everything behind, though. I still have all of my gadgets and books in an old messenger bag up in my closet at home, and I occasionally take them down to look through my past. I also still have our file book. I will probably always keep them so when I'm a hundred years old and sitting in my rocking chair I can reminisce.
I've never been able to make myself like James Bond though. It's great to get this secret past off my chest guys.
Sometimes I just really want to pull my hair out when it comes to movies nowadays. Here have some homemade pie:
This rant comes after I discovered that Disney is releasing a fifth 'installment' of Pirates of the Caribbean. Perhaps they felt like they hadn't been confusing enough in their last one? I'm really not surprised at this development though, given Disney's current reputation for horrible movies. I'm not saying all of them are horrible, I'm just saying that most of them probably make Walt turn over in his grave. He's made it nice and roomy by now. And then just think what they're going to turn Star Wars into...
The last good movie I've seen from Disney was Brave. I've heard people say that Merida just runs around and does nothing and gets nothing done, but at least she's not running around with some random guy. I was just finally happy to see a Disney princess who didn't need a guy.
Disney's partnership with Pixar is one of their only bright spots. I've seriously never seen a Pixar film I didn't like. Their relationship has been a bit rocky in the past, though...something about Disney being greedy I think (I hope you caught the sarcasm).
You know, when I was little I would have given anything to work for Disney. I seriously wanted to be an animator. That dream died a long time ago. Today, I have absolutely no desire to work for Disney. None. I'd rather tell my own stories, like this one:
Yay! It's my book!
The story is based on a dream I had which I'm currently turning into a short story. It involves time travel, memory loss, and paradoxes. I started out wanting it to flow smoothly and transition from frame to frame in a very understood way, but as I went through the process of planning it out I began to fragment the story, purposely not giving any one narrative or meaning, giving it a dream-like quality. I want people to interpret this the way they see it, I them to come away with their own interpretation of the story. I've begun to understand that in order to make my art more accessible I should pull back and not make things so firm and planned and set in stone as I usually do. In no way do I see this as a sacrifice, though, I see it as growth as an artist. I'm more proud of myself for that than for doing all the work on this book. However, because of time constraints I had to cut out the last four pages, but I intend to finished them and add them in this summer.
Now that we're done with our personal growth session, more pictures!
From the back.
From the front.
When you put a light source behind the book you get to see the hidden phrases in the pages (the writing isn't actually on the drawing, it's behind it). These are my three favorite pages where the writing worked especially well with the image.
The cover took a lot of work too, but I really love the way it turned out. The only thing I'm not sure about are the comments from my classmates that it kind of looks like a giant ice-cream sandwich. Do you see that? The fabric is a discontinued sample I got for a dollar at Joann's (win!), and the metal piece was something I found on the sidewalk one day when Caroline and I missed our bus stop and walked back to the apartment from the next one. I really pleased at how successfully this came out and I'm looking forward to doing more of these in the future.
Guess what else? I finished repainting my ukulele! Now begins the horrendous period where I have to tune it every five seconds until the strings get back into their comfort zone.
Awesome accents, right? They're actually more aqua/turquoise but the lighting made it look blue. But I know what you guys are really waiting for...
BAM!
I think I love this back soooooooo much more than the first one. I'll be keeping this design for a while. And a special thanks to my lamp:
This little guy helps me out with lighting since the lighting here in the apartment is really stinky. If this guy died, I'd be so sad.
Okay, it's summer guys. The semester is finally over and I survived my first year at FSU! So what's next? Adventures galore! Tallahassee has really overwhelmed me with a lack of possibilities, or maybe it's underwhelmed me with possibilities...I don't know, I just know I need a break from this place. Today is my last day here for the summer. Tomorrow I'm going to Panama City! I'm staying there for the whole summer to work and have fun and work and hang out with family and friends and work and go to a wedding and work. Did I mention I'm going to be working? Not just at a job, but also on my artwork. I have a painting to work on and I'm going to start another book too. I'm beyond excited! Let the adventure begin!
