Upper Deck San Diego

I learned the Play That Funky Music bass line. Hopefully the band can get together soon and practice that. Morgan Freeman is slowly coming together, but we'll get there. I have to upload our original version on a USB and just write what narrations we already used. Coming up with completely new narration would be a waste of time. There are some new scenes that will require some more writing, but  I believe everything will work out.

On a different note, I want to play around with circuit bending. I remember doing it with my sister. She got this cheap Crayola keyboard and I got to play around with it and it was great. I was pretty young when I first did it, so I can't quite recall all the small details of it. The great thing about circuit bending is that you don't need to know a lot of technical things to circuit bend, a lot of it is just playing around. If anyone has toys that they don't need or use that have a circuit in them... donate them to me!

For those who don't know what circuit bending is, it's the "creative customization of the circuits within electronic devices... to create new musical or visual instruments and sound generators."

To get the feel of it: 

It's amazing how much you can do with that one keyboard as a result of circuit bending. Ah. I really want to do this. I need to dig up some toys. 

Yesterday's Lunch

Today I worked on the Morgan Freeman film with Kat, Bari, Peter, and Austin. We just need to get the narrations done because all of our ideas seem to be pretty solid. I'm really excited to see how this pans out. I think our first video was pretty good given the circumstances it was created under, and now that we have some more time and the abilities to edit it and improve our audio, we should be set.

Also, STAC band is doing Have a Cigar by Pink Floyd for one of our songs and I'm really looking forward to that. I have some bass to learn.

What A Wonderful Puddle

I was asked to shoot pictures and videos at Mr. Coleman's birthday party. That's adding to my hours for photography, yay. That was probably the only not so terrible thing about that. Although I must say, we had STAC Art today and to be honest, I was very productive and I did get a lot of work done. It felt good to put all my energy into what I was doing. Two great things about today. 

Ranting/Pondering I guess... 

Today was the first day the school started playing music instead of bells. I'm not a fan about the idea, but that's not the point. I've had so many people telling me that student government needs to change this, and that it's a terrible idea. This led to other comments about how student government does nothing at all and that people have so many complaints about what needs to be changed around here. First, student government had nothing to do with the bells. Second, if you're so unhappy with your school, why don't you say something to your student government reps? People want change but they don't want to do anything. If someone has feedback, advice, complaints, etc. student government reps do bring them up at meetings. So, no, student government isn't unproductive and we actually do discuss real issues and concerns. Believe what you want to. At times we can be unproductive and yes it's frustrating, but so can every other class and club.

I get similar comments about STAC from so many people. So many people tell me that we don't do anything and whatever. Well again, think what you want, but what perspective do you have? How can people speak about something they know so little about? I guess I'm so annoyed because I've been extra irritable lately, but either way it's completely ridiculous. 

It doesn't get to me too much, but it does feel like a slap in the face when someone criticizes STAC or student government, or anything I do. I'm used to it of course. It just really bothers me when people can speak so loudly with a warped view on things. I can tell people that STAC does a lot, and student government does too, but I often feel like I'm wasting my breath because they don't really care. I just want to stand for what I believe in and love. The past two days have been pretty rough and I've been unable to do that without shaking or wanting to break down. Everything will get back to normal in a day or so. 

A Great Big Pile Of Leaves

I'm not that great at drawing, but I've been practicing a lot. I've done quite a few self portraits and what not. I recently got inspired to do one line drawings by an artist on Tumblr. One line drawing is drawing without lifting your pen, pencil, etc. I really enjoy doing these little doodles. They're quite fun to make. 9,999 hours from now and I think I'll get the hang of it. I worked on a few tonight, and here they are:

Kontroll

Today's discussion in class really got me thinking. To start off, I found the whole idea of monomyth to be quite interesting. I actually find a lot of comfort behind it. Often times we feel like we're alone, but that really isn't the case. It seems that our issues can be structured similarly. According to Joseph Campbell, there are 17 stages. 

• The Call to Adventure (some information is received)

• Refusal of the Call (often refuse to heed the call) 

• Supernatural Aid (a guide becomes known)

• The Crossing of the First Threshold (leaving the known limits of your world)

• Belly of The Whale (the final separation from your known world and self)

• The Road of Trials (a series of tests, tasks, or ordeals that you must undergo to begin the transformation)

• The Meeting With the Goddess (experience a love that has the power and significance of the love of an infant and mother) 

• Woman as Temptress (temptations that may want you to abandon or stray from your quest)

• Atonement with the Father (you must confront and be initiated by whatever holds the ultimate power in your life) 

• Apotheosis (you must move beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss)

• The Ultimate Boon (achievement of the goal of the quest)

• Refusal of the Return (you may not want to return to the ordinary world once you have been enlightened in the other world) 

• The Magic Flight (sometimes you have to escape with the boon)

• Rescue from Without (you must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring you back to everyday life)

• The Crossing of the Return Threshold (retain the wisdom gained on the quest, integrate that wisdom into a human life, and share the wisdom with the rest of the world)

• Master of Two Worlds (achieving a balance between the material and spiritual; becoming comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds)

• Freedom to Live (mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which is the freedom to live)

Kontroll is a great example of a monomyth. Throughout the film, Bulcsu attempts to catch the killer in the subway system. I believe that this killer is just a metaphor of Bulcsu's evil side. The 17 stages can we found in Bulcsu's journey to overcome his evil. There are some elements that are really clear, such as the woman as temptress. Although the Bela's daughter was a temptation, I also think that while she was a temptation, she was his rescue from without. The last scene as the go up the elevator is one that shows Bulcsu becoming the master of two worlds and acquiring the freedom to live. I wish I could go more in depth with it, but I think I need to re-watch the move now that I have knowledge of monomyths (now that is possible with the Youtube link)! 

I was recently in this messy and weird friendship/relationship with some guy. I was able to get over it and I think I'm currently experiencing the freedom to live. I'm looking forward to beginning the cycle all over again and seeing how well it fits into the monomyth. 

I think if you analyze the challenges in your life, you can find yourself stumbling upon a structure similar to the one above. This whole concept is universal and timeless. It has been around for thousands of years in many different civilizations. So whether you think you're alone in this world or not, and whether you choose to accept it or not, struggle and pain are universal. And that is fact.