i Tentative Class Schedule:

1) Kierkegaard: Philosophy and Meaning in Life
2) Watercolor Painting
3) Contemporary European Film
5) Nordic Mythology
4) Masterpieces of Scandinavian Literature

In Copenhagen, of course. So yes, it's absolutely 100% official although my mind is having trouble keeping up with reality. This whole process has been so stressful, disorganized, and at times, so close to not working out (remember Cuba? or better, New Zealand?) that all these official approval forms and online regristration (online!) are really meaningless to me now. I booked my flight as simple as I ordered lunch (or actually, much simpler) and it was as light and weightless to me as deciding what to eat. Not that I want the whole crushing weight of five months in a place I've never even given more than a combined day of thought to. No, it's much more inspiring and exciting to think of spending the rest of the school year in a place I'd never would've imagined with experiences I never thought I'd have. So, yes, I would say I'm in a delicate balance of ... nervous excitement. It turns out that Kristen will be in Germany at the same time, along with Annie and Emily (I think) in Scotland, and Mama, Tatana, and possibly Diana (mi tia) will be visiting me. On my 21st birthday! Oh yes, it will be one to remember (for its anticlamaticism probably more than anything else. No Birthdaypalooza this year for me). Though I'll be officially able to buy alcohol and responsibly abuse it for the rest of my life a few months before my birthday, it'll be in a place where I could've done the same 3 years ago! But that really doesn't matter, it's just curious to see the effects of these turn of events panning out.
So, I'm rambling, but I needed something immediate to wrangle out these thoughts. It's been an exhausting dynamic lately (well maybe this whole quarter) of being sucked into massive crunch times and suddenly emerge in a expanse of idleness and free-floating. But being quickly sucked back into deadlines and promises. I finished The Unbearable Lightness of Being a week or two ago, and its whole lightness/weight concept has seemed to be accelerated on some kind of warp speed lately. Awesome book though (and yes, I just started Immortality, thank you Zack).
But more animation must be done-- the wonderful process of scanning. My neck is still sore from rocking out so much courtesy to Mouse on Mars (and the Junior Boys & Ratatat of course). I haven't danced like that in a looong time, or at least had a good dancing experience like that, and so many NU kids were there! In fact, I think it was just us NU kids who were dancing, with everybody else energetically shaking their heads and shoulders with feet and legs made of concrete. The Ratatat guitarist even danced with us! Gnarly. So I must nurse my sore neck with visions of lightables and pencils dancing in my head.
Oh, and what does it mean when your application form to your university (not housing form) asks you how tall are you? Damn tall Scandinavian bastards.

Pygmies, Soccer Canines, & Big Brother's Bulge
(and all true)


No way!

and

"Aye, he's unbelievable, isn't he?" said a delighted Mr Burn.


And!

A-HA!

That is all.

Kino Kitchen*

Kino Kitchen
Originally uploaded by mibaji.

COPENHAGEN!! Now, finally official, I think? COPENHAGEN!

*Picture in no way relates to post. (Yes, just filler to say COPENHAGEN!)

Kinda Exactly How I Feel About Websurfing

"What's great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you can know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it."-- Warhol

I hate the fact that I'm posting an Andy Warhol quote, but regardless, studying for my 1960's to Contemporary Art Survey class, I ran into this quote and have been thinking it over quite a bit. Now, of course, the bum on the corner (actually quite literally if you know where I live) probably doesn't visit the same sites I do, or, scratch that, even really cares/utilizes the internet, the fact that I (the cultural and out of context bum) can see Fred Durst's xanga or access and use the same reading material as Hollywood execs and Pixarfolk read, it's a little strange. As the internet's growing more and more, the personal pool of information and knowledge that was once exclusive can be absorbed by anybody, anybody, who cares to read-- and it's growing. Just the fact that I, if I wanted to, can visit these terrorist (dun!) websites with decapitation videos, that twenty years ago would be type of things you would only read & whisper about in newspapers, that I can actually go and see and participate in it the exact same way as they (they!! dun dun) do, is a little bewildering. As Dustin Hoffman illustrated with his infinite blanket in I Heart Huckabees, it's all connected (and/or the same?). George W. Bush knows it, Fred Durst knows it, Osama Bin Laden knows it, and you know it. Then I think, blogging is the perfect reaction to this. How natural is it to assert your own individuality in the face of all this chaotic sameness and everythingness that is the internet? It's almost a kind of knee-jerk reflex, almost inevitable. Who wouldn't want to claim individuality and personalize and link to the bizzarre? And, ironically, it all just becomes one blog that compromise one of the insurmountable and incomprehensible many, littering livejournals, xangas, blogspots, etc. everywhere. All unsettingly natural, the "one in the many."

Hmm. Well, too bad I dropped my Globalization class two days ago (har har har).

Pretty Drawings

Wasting time, I stumbled upon these drawings:
http://www.dannygregory.com/drawings/index.htm
Sweet. I should bust out some old watercolors and fool around with 'em, maybe when I'm in Baton Rouge before My Salacious Scandanavian Sassafras Adventure (TM). It would be nice to bust some chops on my beloved Southern hometown and have some nice drawings as a rememberance before I skip out on the country for six months, and better, to immediately get into a drawing rhythm when I step off the plane (or on it). I would do oil pastels, are they're my favorite, but I doubt I'd make good impressions shaking hands covered with yellow and blue goo all up in my fingernails.

This Holiday Season, Give Your Family Nightmares

polarexpress
Originally uploaded by mibaji.

Been busy, busy, busy, busy (that's four busys)-- It appears that nobody has a freaking clue on how to exactly apply to Copenhagen. I talk to the office here, they tell me to talk to the DIS office, and they tell me to talk to the office here. @#%$!

On a quick note, I've been seeing really good crowdpleasers lately, following Shaun of the Dead with a special advance screening of the Incredibles! Rest assured, the Incredibles was a wild ride but very different from Pixar's past movies. It wasn't Toy Story retold (grab two wacky, yet immensely entertaining, characters in a wackier, yet incredibly smart, adventure), rather, it was a comic action film with a Pixar sense of humor. Long and thrilling action set pieces, great strong characters, but awful villian (Jason Lee's great, but it sucks he gets stuck with the lamest character to come out of Pixar, even worse than .... hmm, what do you think is Pixar's weakest character so far?) It was a bit odd to see action movie cliches so prevalent in a Pixar film (the evil sidekick rescue, the sneaking into the enemy base, etc) but damn if they didn't do it so entertaining and fun. It was as if the Cold War never ended, with cadillacs everywhere and crazy James Bondian evil lairs (in a volcano!) never grew concious of their ridiculousness. And, of course, superheroes. Kudos for creating a superhero world distinct and enjoyable, creating a real grounding feel for the type of world that superheroes would still live and work beside us (the "cape montage" is the funniest joke of the film, if surprisingly gruesome [which only made it funnier, to me at least]). Which reminds me, the film is PG for a reason. It's an action film, and its not real possible to create a G-rated action flick; people die left and right, but never in detail... that's where it's comedy comes in and saves the day. It's definitely not my favorite of Pixar's, or even Brad Bird's (Iron Giant, baby), but I couldn't recommend a film more. And when it comes down to that, why feel the need to compare it to anything else?
Um, well actually, maybe because the teaser for Lasseter's newest project, Cars, looked terrible. I really hate to say it, but my feelings of intense excitement towards the teaser plummeted. The whole premise is, duh, cars, and it seems to adopt the same ol' Pixar dynamic (what do you mean Lasseter that your only fear is being complacent? ) of the buddy dynamic. Except this time it's a no-personality freaking Dodge Neon and a beat up pick-up truck with buck teeth (a-hyuk). Even worse, most of the thing was the Neon in some NASCAR race with some awful pop punk sum-fortysuck in the background. It then cut to the two cars watching the race on some drive through theater, ending on an amazingly unfunny one liner complete with buck teeth gleeking. Even the design was awful, with the windshield as really ugly looking eyes that aren't very expressive at all. Yes, it was cringeworthy, and even more so cause, c'mon, this is John Lasseter and Pixar. I know most Pixar teasers undersell their actual films but this was a new low. I still have hope, but this is the worst looking teaser and design to a Pixar flick I've seen (and I liked, no, loved A Bug's Life.)

But enough of this. Animation must be done and I should be off. And that debate last night did nothing to convince people one way or the other in my opnion. But maybe I should stop opnioning other people's opnions. What do youthink?

As of today, we no longer have hot water running in the apartment. When you turn the "hot" shower knob, even all the way, nothing but dust comes out. Welcome back, Winter, come mierda.

The Independent Study is officially okayed! After all that hooplah, Annette Barbier finally gave me a permission number. I did most of the talking (I mean, bullshitting) and she seemed genuinely jazzed about the project, much more so than I would've imagined.

Things are bright and swimming, except for Evanston Living. It's a little strange being directly involved in such an awfully terrible situation as Di and I are finding ourselves to be-- turns out our "contract" with Evanston Living was um, false. Yes, that's right, false. The guy who talked to Di and negotiated the residence contract just got fired-- apparently he completely lied to us about rent and bills and all these other details, which means we have to pay all this other stuff we had no idea bout. We are considering to throw an "Evanston: F-ck You" protest rally, parade perhaps. I guess this is what the "real world" is all about, money, lies, and inept organizations. I'm really still shocked by this, and am not sure where the hell I'm going to get all this money, even just to pay rent for this month. Augh.

On that note, time to work for six hours. Maybe I should just do what I've always said I'd do since I was kid-- pack my guitar and my drawings, go to New Orleans, and set up my own space in the Quarter. Yeah. That'd be nice. Except for the tranvestites.