Color

Let me explain the above. Today was phase 1 of a Visual Aesthetics project concerning color. Phase 1 deals with cold hue. The photo is supposed to be unedited and straight out of camera (except for the occasional crop), hence, the simplistic photo above.

If I edited it, this is what you would see:
Tell me why this version is ironic.

Yesterday, I set up my minimalistic drum set in my room. I did this for two reasons. One, I was going through drum withdrawals. Monday chapel set me off due to the band playing three songs I played with Remember at Hartland this summer. I was antsy. The second reason is I had to tune the kick and snare because they were due because I have a practice this weekend with musicians for a potential worship band. So either way, I needed to set it up. Check out the squeeze:


So most of the time the hardware reunionized, I was twisting lugs and spinning drum keys. I wish I could say they sound 100 times better. Alas, I cannot. The kick sound probably 3 times better, but better nevertheless, and the snare...well, I'm not going to say to save the snare embarrassment. Let's just say it needs work.

I'm not sure what else to write. I had some ideas, but I forgot what they were, a natural occurrence where I come from. I will tell you this though: my flag football team got slaughtered last week because my starting wide-receiver and two running-backs did not play. Boo.

random: I love when the most random people who are searching for the most random stuff on the interweb wind up on this blog. For instance, on Tuesday, September 29th, somebody searched "crayola washable laminated poster wikipedia" in Google and guess which link they clicked on? Why this blog is #3 when you search that, I will never know. If you are this person who searched for crayola washable laminated poster wikipedia, I am sorry I was not a help.

UPDATE: this blog is now #1 when you search the said term. Interesting. (Thanks Mike Cirricione for discovering this)



2nd UPDATE: it appears to be Senior Polls time at my high school. I have a pet peeve about this, if this offends you, you know why. I have a pet peeve concerning people "campaigning" for people to vote for them. Is this not defeating the purpose? It seems to me like a category like "most changed since freshman year," "best eyes," and other similar q's are opinionated questions. Especially best eyes. If I see a girl with stunning eyes, I will remember that she has stunning eyes. If Suzy Q runs up to me and yells "VOTE FOR ME FOR BEST EYES," she is trying to convince me to vote for her for best eyes. This may induce me to forget about the girl with the stunning eyes. I think if nobody "campaigned," the polls would be AWESOME because everybody would take time and think about each category and who deserves it, rather than the person that told them to vote for them last. That way, the most popular would not always be the ones winning. If everybody truly thinks about it, the people who are getting the awards will actually deserve it. In a perfect world.

Forego

Today is...interesting. I woke up, ran into some clothing, and began the day with mandarin oranges. I sit; I listen to Indie music: current -- Pinback. You tell me what you think. Tell me: what causes moods, ideas, philosophies to revolve around a person's current status concerning their persona. What?

I really don't know what to write. Today, I am slacked for words. You see the picture. You see how I feel through the picture. I will not tell you how I feel. I will give you a picture. See the picture; feel the feeling. What?


Let me tell you about last weekend. I went home for the weekend, and to go home for the weekend, I took the Metrolink train so I could get home, so I could be home for the weekend. I made it to the station and I boarded the train. Then I made it to Union Station and waited a half hour. Then I observed that my train was destined for “Montalvo” and the train at my gate was destined for “Oxnard.” Yes, they were on the close and possibly could have been the same train, but hey, wouldn’t they say the same thing on their destination declaration? I thought so. I hit me a minute after it left that the Oxnard train is probably the same as the Montalvo train. Yes, I missed the train and yes, I boarded the next train that was, yes, destined for Oxnard. I made it home and I am not going to go into detail because it really isn’t all that exciting and it may be a bore. If you have questions concerning what I did at home that weekend, let me know and I’ll be happy to tell you. Here’s a summary: hung out with family, hung out with friends, finished a project.

Enjoy this video:





What?

Let me tell you something. I really enjoy good advertising. What I mean by this is good design in advertising. Now, this is relative, of course, as what I might see as "good" may not be "good" in your opinion. When I see a good advertisement on television, the internet, print, or any other medium, I can't help but point it out. This happened recently. At Biola, there are posters advertising the "Roadtrip Nation." I really like the design of these posters. I have told people I really like these posters. Good design is exciting.

In-N-New

Out with the old, in with the new.

The first new is this. You may have noticed a new header. If not, scroll up and look at it. I can assure you it is new, at least new since last Wednesday. I still haven't decided yet if I like it better than the old one. I think it shows maturity as I graduated high school and am now in college, but at the same time, it lacks the representation of the glory days. Ah. It's here to stay. Also, if you scroll down and look to your right, you will see a new column labeled "The Top Five Posts." These are my top favorite posts of all time, some because they punch me in the face with an awesome memory, some for the content posted, some for the random creativity that inspires me to do better. See for yourself and decide for yourself. Make a "The Top Five Posts" of your own and send it to me. I'll post it on this blog for the world to see. I'm not even kidding. Happy ranking!

The second new is this. Not only is this blog going to be about whats on my mind right now, it will be on whats really on my mind during the week. Let me explain: on my computer I have a "stickie" note on my desktop that I write new "blog topics" on. That sentence was horribly structured. So now, when something is really interesting to me and I feel like writing a spiel about it to the interwebbed world, I will not forget what I was pumped about come Wednesday. Maybe, I'll just try this out. It may become to much of a hassle because I might get sick of writing.

First on the menu, today: I went for the earthy tones. Tan, brown, charcoal, dark pink, turquoise, denim, dark gold. The earthy tones. I must admit, the tie does not fit with the rest of the meal. However, this is my supposition: I am a sponsored snowboarder who, during the summer, has a meeting with the head of his binding's supplier. He must carry his backback containing his laptop because he needs to be checking out the new lines of gear coming up for Winter 09 while on the train to his meeting. If you have any other ideas: shoot.

I must admit, like with the tie, that today's "description" is lacking. There really is little to talk about. It's school, I'm at school, headed to lunch in a few, headed to class at 1: 30, and the day continues. Exciting? From what you're reading, absolutely not. But who knows what I'm keeping out? You don't. Sorry.





The In-N-New

Next up, the Zune HD. This may get a little technological for all you simplistic folk, so if you aren't interested, feel free to skip this section. Actually, I probably won't go all nutso on the specs...maybe just some opinion. I've been a Creative guy for a long long time. The Creative Zen Vision: M is still my mp3 player of choice and it still beats out most of the competition out there (I wrote a argumentative paper on this is high school. If you'd like to read it, let me know). However, that player came out a long long time ago and Creative has been unable to raise the bar to the point where I desire to spend a good amount of money on them. Now the Zune HD is coming out and it's tempting. Don't get me wrong, I probably will never get this player. However, what is really attractive about it, to me of course (it's subjective), is the graphics side to the player. The screen is stunning and what they did with the typography in the Zune UI is absolutely incredible. Take a look: video. In fact, the whole UI is stunning. It is beautiful. That's my main draw and sadly, I will never buy it.

"Where The Wild Things Are" -- interesting. It is probably just me, but....I'll just give you my opinion. This children's story is a classic. Everybody who grew up in the last 40 years has read this book and it has captured the hearts of kids everywhere. Now, in 2009, give or take a year, they decide to make a movie. Now, often times with an adored book, the movie changes it for the worst. However, this children's book is so abstract and innocent, that can it be messed up? I guess we'll have to see. I will admit, it looks promising. Adults and children alike are pumped, just read the comments on the trailers on youtube. I must say, the trailer shows many good aspects and hopefully will reflect the actual film. One of my favorite aspects of the film's artsy marketing side is the use of the extremely childish type and childish ambition. Take a look below at one of the posters:


Incredible. I absolutely love how the title is crooked and the letters are so incredibly free handed...mmm it makes me smile. I wonder how professional designers think of this? At first I didn't know what to think. But it appeals to the childish side in all of us, young and old, and forces an emotion that I definitely can't explain. I'm impressed.

Continuing with movies, I stumbled upon this video:


It's by this guy called Pogo. His original video was pulled off of the internet because of copyright restrictions, people are upset, Pogo is upset for the following reasons which are listed on his blog: http://pogotracks.blogspot.com/. Anyway, this song is absolutely astounding. It is a killer jam that lulls your ears into sweet melancholy due youtube stripping its rights. Search "bangarang pogo" on youtube and you'll see people's reactions. This song is awesome beyond belief. And with that, Hook is an awesome beyond belief movie. I need to watch it again. Bring's back childhood memories. Like Johnny Tsunami--best movie possibly of all time.


EDIT: see what did I tell you: that video is already down in the dumps. Just search "Bangarang Pogo" in youtube and you are bound to find it. It is definitely worth jamming to.

Nine

Today is September 9th, 2009. This happens one time a year, and won't happen again until one year, one month, and one day from now. It it 9-9-09. This is a cause for celebration. In response, I took a Sharpie to a shirt (see why this matters later in the post). 9-9-09. Incredible.

The photo you see above is a homage, a nostalgic metaphor. Check it out: http://emliv.blogspot.com/2008/09/in-remembrance.html. You might see a resemblance. That was one year ago on September 11th. I was not even planning this, but I was thinking about what I should do for 9-9-09 and I thought, "Hey! I should draw a big ol' '9' on a shirt and wear all white! Oh and it could be orange because I have an orange bandanna and orange shades!" Then I thought about it: "Haven't I done this before?" I went to the blog archives and discovered, why yes, I had, almost exactly one year ago. Strange? September draws similar thoughts, I suppose.

Moving on.

Here's a topic that has been brought to my attention: sleeping habits. In high school, school started at 8 for everybody. Most of the time, school started at 7 for me because of zero period. This is early folks. I found out the hard way that I am definitely not a morning person as every year there would be one class (at least) that would be an absolute nightmare as far as falling asleep in class would go. To all my teachers whose class I had a very difficult time staying awake in: I am greatly sorry and it wasn't your fault. The lack of sleep caught up to at the same time every day and it just happened to be during your class. Honestly, falling asleep in a class is a pretty intense sign of disrespect, but the problem is that it is almost almost unintentional. Can you really control when sleep fatigue slaps you in the face inducing you to fall face first on the desk in a slumber? All that said, college has treated me with a much better schedule. My earliest class is at 10:30 which often times serves for proper rested sleep. I'm not trying to brag, I'm just saying this kind of schedule serves my chemical makeup much better than the lovely 7 am class time of high school. For this reason, I am grateful. I have one concern though. What will begin to happen is the nights will get later and later because I know I can sleep later. Sleep fatigue will strike again.

Another point of interest. Before I left, a few buddies and myself ventured into the hills of Simi Valley into what is rumored to be the caves Charles Manson and his followers huddled in. I decided to bring my video camera. The experience was unbelievable. I hadn't touched the footage until yesterday. Feast your eyes, video stellars.

The Manson Caves - An Exploration from Morgan Lott on Vimeo.

IRRELEVANT: Labor Day.

For those of you who know me, you know I "make" a lot of t-shirts. After wasting many t-shirts with Sharpie, I came up with this revolutionary idea to write on the white t-shirts with washable markers, that way I can reuse and reuse and reuse the same t-shirt over again. But hey, guess what I forgot when I came to Biola? Yes, washable markers. So, instead of making myself a Labor Day 2009 t-shirt, I am wearing my Hillside Middle School Star Student t-shirt. Find the comparison.

Other than that, Labor Day will be pretty much just the way it was created to be. "Traditionally, Labor Day is celebrated by most Americans as the symbolic end of the summer. The holiday is often regarded as a day of rest and parades." Thank you wikipedia. Quotes from wikipedia are always spot on, yes? So with that, summer is officially over. School is up and running, the fun and games are dwindling, and it is Labor Day: it's official.

Fisheye

I have a few things on my mind. I have them in a list. This may be a little structured for your tastes.

To begin, the photo. There is actually quite a bit of symbolism involved and I will attempt to explain it. You'll notice the fisheye. If you don't know what this means (I was going to try and explain it, but I just realized that I have no idea how to explain it--sorry), then I'm sorry. Google it. The reason for this deliberate effect on the photo is that I have been wearing my glasses a lot lately because my eyes have been irritated for a while, so I'm giving them a little break. The fact of the matter is that my glass are a few prescription notches low, so that doesn't help anything, and it puts a slight fisheye effect on everything I look at. So the way you see that picture up top? That's the way I see most everything...it may be exaggerated a bit. You'll notice the tie and white shirt. This is symbolism of the roots of "It's Wednesday." When the tradition began, I would wear a white SS collared shirt with a tie. That's what I did today. Also, if you can't tell in the picture, I am wearing a tie with numerous knights and medieval characters riding horseback, some with swords, some with horns, some with armor. This tie is representative of the "medieval times" restaurant and show that is nearby. I have never been and I will continue to never go until I actually go. This tie represents that. The pants and shoes show an interesting color palette choice. The tie somewhat matched the pants, but in the same "off" manner as the dirty off-white shoes match the white shirt. Hmm...interesting. You'll notice the granola bar. Already, I have made a habit of missing breakfast, even in the confines of my room, so I must resort to granola bars. It's not good and not substantial. I'll work on that.

To second, cranberry juice. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I really am enjoying the cranberry juice here. There has been a few instances where it runs out in the machines and I literally burst out in frustration. However, in my enjoyance of cranberry juice, I have come to miss milk. Milk is a wonderful drink and I miss the soothing qualities it delivers when paired with pizza, or pasta, or tacos, or a sandwich. I miss 2%, I may have to go on the hunt.

To third, scootering. Interesting topic because you are not supposed to ride skateboards, longboards, or bikes around campus, but scooters are alright. So I have my scooter and am fully enjoying its benefits in arriving at my destination in a much greater speed than walking. However, it has been brought to my attention that "you can tell the freshman by who rides scooters." This is ridiculous. Even though I am a freshman and ride a scooter (imagine that), why don't the older folks ride them? They're missing out for sure. Yeah maybe it looks childish, but hey, I'm going to be in the middle of my meal before you arrive at the caf. I believe scooters a beneficial.

To fourth, room tour. Welcome to the Stewart 170 tour. Please keep all arms, legs, and other appendages inside the vehicles at all times. If there is a segment that is looked over or not shown, the authorities can not be blamed. If you need the vehicle to stop during any emergency, please place your hand on the "Emergency Stop" handrail on your right side. Thank you and enjoy your journey.

First stop: the desk.


This is where the work is done. This is where the blog is written. This is where stuff from my pockets are placed. This is where the tunes explode. This is where it virtually all goes down. Tour secret: the abominable snowman in the center of the desk, you see him; his eyes glow.



Second stop: if you look to your right, you will see the bookshelf.


You will see the subwoofer. you will see a volcom Hawaii bank. You will see a Red Bull. You will see penned sphere. You will see Sherlock Holmes. You will see my family. You will a nice solid green paper with black text. Tour secret: There is a book that was found in the Royal High School dumpster in the bookshelf.



Third stop: the wall.


Whenever I see a legit piece of comic mastery, I cut it out, "laminate" it, and stick it on the wall. Look at them and enjoy. You will laugh. If you don't laugh, you'll get a free refund of this tour. You will laugh though. I also have the golden ticket. I gave Charlie one of the laminated comic strips, a Bizarro comic from 2008. Tour secret: "Argyle Sweater" is very interesting and humorous if you read into it more.

Fourth stop: the closet.

This is where the clothing, food, shoes and other goodies are stored. Not much to see unless you know what you are looking for. Tour secret: There are five suits, exluding the smelly brown one, in the closet.



Fifth and final stop: the inspiration.


Let me clarify: the inspiration. This is what the inspiration reads: "Video Production Professional - Rudy Campos." This is why I am in the film program. I want to be the Video Production Professional, just like Rudy Campos was before me. Tour Secret: This picture is hanging by two of my three nails.



And that's the tour. Please exit to the left.