a beautiful WORLD ...

I finally finished this painting last week... Earlier on in the school year, I posted a collage I made that looked very similar to this. This was our second task after completing the collage - to magnify the collage and paint it on a canvas. I, myself, was proud of this work, as this was my second / third time (not sure which one haha) ever painting on a canvas, but my first time painting on a canvas solo. Obviously, I cannot entirely assess this painting, as I may have different opinions compared to others... So, any comments? Good or bad, I'll accept them - and, of course, I'll try to accommodate the "bad" ones :P

right to PLAY

Last Wednesday, a group from the Right to Play foundation came and entertained us for an afternoon. It was supposed to be training for an event later on in the school year involving all of the Grade 10s to organize a fun day for kids from Willowpark and Firgrove Public Schools. We learned to play exciting, active games with large groups of people by playing the games themselves. 

For me, it wasn't entirely too entertaining an event as I had gone over most of the topics they covered in a Leadership Camp I did in the summer of 2006. (In fact, my camp introduced "better" games than the ones we learned to play and carry out at the event on Wednesday...). 

Nevertheless, I had a good time that Wednesday and I am not against the cause that the foundation is following, as it is only the "right" thing that we should help others in the world who are in need of help. As well, kids growing up without the ability to play is like listening to music without sound. You cannot listen to music without sound, just like a kid cannot live without being able to play.

~snow~

Snow!!!! Can't believe there is snow already in November... Christmas spirit already present in November haha... with the Christmasy music coming out, the decorations at the stores - Christmas is one month early!

It seemed to come so quick... the day before was a clear summer day with autumn winds sweeping by... then I was walking on a winter wonderland the following day! I just hope that the snow stays for Christmas ('cause we got a "green" Christmas last year, and it wasn't very exciting on that day as it normally would have been). 

Line Art + Pop Art

For a remix of the line art, please take a look at the blog "Self Portrait - Summative Two (- Remixed -)".

No Water !

I can't believe it! It happened again this year! hahaha... the watermain pipe broke on Tuesday!! lol It happened last year as well, and as a result, we had NO school!
w00t!! (since the school could not run its daily routine without water)... Also, as a result of the day off, we had an "extra" long weekend, extending to six days of no school!! THAT's a record!! ^^

"Don't judge a book by its cover..."

( Although this picture doesn't show it, this mall is HUGE!! )

My family took the opportunity of no school (Mid Term Break !!!) to go with my relatives to Detroit for Friday and Saturday. We left early on Friday (at around 6 am !!) so that we could arrive at the Somerset Mall early. Early Arrival = More shopping time :P Anyways, this mall was huuuugge!!! 3 floors of shops, 2 parts of the mall (the mall was connected by a bridge across the street, the mall was split into two, one part on each side of the street).

I know I sound like a girl right now (no offense to females), but I don't think I've ever been to a mall this size! But then again, it wasn't all "that" brilliant, as we scanned through the shops within 6-7 hours. Most of the shops either we didn't know of or were not appealing... So, in a sense, big doesn't always necessarily mean good haha...

Self Portrait - Summative Two (- Remixed -)

After creating the line drawing for part one of my second summative assessment for pop art, I decided to play around with the line drawing. Anyways, what do you think of this? I will post my original line drawings when I am entirely finished with the summative assessment (still have part two to do ahhaha...).

Holidays

WOW! I can't believe it! Our next long weekend is finally here in three days!!! =D It seemed like such a loooooong wait! I hope these three days of school (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) will come by quickly and without any hardships! That way, it feels like a "longer" long weekend! Haha... I've been counting down since two weeks ago - it makes me feel like the time is flying by faster! *sigh* I finally get to sleep in for a day or two! Can't wait! XD

Community Service - Fairlawn Neighbourhood Centre

'

I was helping out to set up / take down the Art Show and Sale that took place on Friday and Saturday. I went with Johnathan Li. It was sort of fun, working in an entirely new environment. Also, we got to see some incredible artwork done by artists around the area. I particularly like the one in the second picture I posted, of a chef kicking another chef's butt, causing the other chef to spill all his food materials. The artist has quite the imagination! :P We did a lot of manual lifting and carrying throughout the three floors of the building, moving tables down to the basement and helping artists load their belongings back into their cars. It was hectic! However, I wouldn't mind doing this again, as I can not only get community hours, but also get more artistic ideas that I can implement into my artwork from the several artists of the show.

Media Arts - Pop Art Inspired By Lichtenstein

The person in the picture is Utada Hikaru, who is a Japanese pop singer.

"Do you understand any of this?"

I often get asked this question when listening to music of other languages than my own, such as Japanese or Mandarin. But then again, if music was just plain lyrics, wouldn't that make it plain literature and poetry? Music is nothing without the melody in most cases. And even if I do not understand the language, I can learn it if I wanted to. I am currently learning Japanese out of a book I found in my house. Although the process is slow, I get much enjoyment out learning the language. And, to go further one step, even if I didn't learn the language, I could find out what the words meant by searching through the internet.

(The song on my iPod by the Japanese Indie band, MONKEY MAJIK, is written as Sora wa Marude (pronounced Sawla wa Mahludeh), which means "The Sky Is So...". )

Grade Rep Speech + Vote For Me !

Last Tuesday, I made my speech for being Grade Rep... I didn't know why, but I felt very nervous when I walked up to the stage to deliver the speech. Probably because it wasn't "good" compared to the other candidates' speeches. Also, maybe because I was a boring person myself :P . (Seems like the eight sessions of Toastmasters Public Speaking was all for naught ... haha...) Well.. hope everyone did vote for me at school =D. I really hope to be Grade Rep this year... haha...

Just want to clarify on the idea I proposed as I've had complaints as to not understanding a word I said.. Here's the "Poster Concept".
1) A problem is proposed. It is delivered to the audience (the entire grade) for opinions and solutions.
2) All candidates are to jot down their opinions and solutions onto any area of a large white piece of paper (poster) in any expressive way (e.g. writing, drawing).
3) The finished poster is hung up at meeting area for the entire year for reflection on whether the problem has been solved by the end of the year, or if anything has happened towards positively solving the problem.

1,000,000 THANKS to ALL that voted for ME !!!! XD

A Change in Uniform...

As I was walking home from the bus stop after school during this past week, I began to realize how different I looked on my "outside" compared to everyone else on the streets - uniform vs. casual clothing. The idea of wearing uniform isn't always bad, however - it's just not very stylish. For example, for some students to jazz up the look of the uniform, they may unbutton their top buttons of their shirt and roll up their sleeves to bring a more casual, teenage look. As well, these actions also make the body more flexible, as they loosen up the tight hold of the uniform so that one can make more flexible actions, such as stretching his arms out without worrying that the armpit area of the shirt would tear. To suit my needs of being able to wear uniform comfortably and stylishly, more of the current trends in casual clothing should be incorporated into the uniform outfit. For example, a zippered hoodie with a modern pattern would give a more general feeling of wearing casual clothing to school instead of uniform.

Numbers

(I took a picture of numbers with my camera and put a radial blur to it using Photoshop.)

As I was looking over my tests, I began to think about how, for the past few years, my school life had been revolving around certain numbers that were "essential" to having a better education - marks. In a sense, everyone's life revolves around numbers... marks, price tags, taxes, unpaid bills, cheques... It's strange how these numbers can control a person's life. For example, when someone gets low marks on a test, he or she may feel sad and depressed for many reasons (like being unable to obtain his or her goal of scoring an A+). However, when he or she gets a high mark (such as reaching his or her goal of scoring the A+), then he or she would feel satisfied and happy.
Sometimes, I think of what the world would be like if there weren't these numbers in our lives. Would it be better? I constantly think of a pressure-free life, of not having to worry about getting a high mark on the next test in order to improve or maintain my overall average. Unfortunately, that vision is only a mirage, and in reality, pressure is everywhere, pushing us to move on, regardless of whether we liked what we've accomplished and achieved or not...

Visual Art - Summative One

I feel so proud of this artwork i made XD it's purely made out of ripped parts of magazine paper. I've never made something like this! (With exception to the 3 testing ones we did earlier as a warm-up to this bigger one - one of those is posted in my first post on the blog :P) Through this picture, I hoped to achieve the feeling of tranquility when alone out in the wilderness, facing nature at its most beautiful. However, I haven't thought of a permanent name yet though for the artwork, but came up with several names, in which none of them seems applicable or "fancy" enough.. "A Summer Reflection", "A Midsummer's Day", "A Reflection on the River", "Mirage" (although I do like the sound of this one :P) ... Anyways, it was fun making this piece, as the art classes were very enjoyable as well (due to the constant jokes and talk going on between the small group of us).

One mistake is all it takes....

On Tuesday, October 9th, we went to visit different sections of Sunnybrook Hospital as an entire group of Grade 10s. We learned about the idea of taking risks (there was a difference between "smart" risk and "stupid" risk) and the consequences of doing a stupid risk. I felt sad, in a sense, for the people who were scarred by their "injury" for life. All they made was one mistake... and that one mistake changed their lives forever. Even though their injuries were caused by "stupid" risks, which we have been constantly taught not to take, it was depressing to think about how they would live their lives being paralyzed from the neck down or from the waist down for their entire lives. All they worked for in their prelife in hopes of becoming a better person in the future; all their dreams, were shattered instantly. And there was no return, no way to go back to the past... I now am twice-the-amount aware of the importance of wearing a seatbelt in a car because one simple mistake could cause a fatal consequence that can kill me or change my life forever permanently.

Indeed an inconvenient TRUTH...

I took this picture from the book adaptation of the movie "The Inconvenient Truth". I watched much of the movie for the first time in Geography class on Friday. Al Gore's evidence was devastating, as the images he showed were all contributing factors to apocalypse. It was uneasy for me to sit still while watching that movie, as the evidence stirred an image of the world's future in my head. Thousands of questions and worries began popping up, none of which could be answered by even the most adept person in the world. What would happen to the world if these changes continued to occur? What will happen to us? Will the end of the world come? This picture was one of various shocking images Al Gore showed. I've only heard of the glaciers of the world melting, but not as tragically as this - cliffs of ice dropping into the watery depths below. Other images that I saw that disturbed me greatly were the projections of what would happen to the coastline cities / countries if the ocean surface level increased higher than the coastlines - the cities were drowned in ocean water. I imagined the populations of people drowning to death because of these disasters. Al Gore really took the global common image of global warming to the next step, as it was indeed an inconvenient truth to live in this world, fully realizing that all the natural horrors happening around us are all occurring because of human activity. In a sense, we are all guilty...

Summative One (Violence)

a) The images I have used are indexical because they directly suggest the meaning of violence through various means, such as using weapons for injuring or killing (knife, gun, baseball bat). Another example is the fist punching into the man's face, representing physical violence.

b) The most powerful section of the art piece is the fist punching into the man's face, as it clearly represents violence, regardless of the era. In other words, it is the simplest form of violence from the very beginning when violence was first introduced into the world. As well, the emotion that the man has on his face when punched makes the image effective as any viewer could imagine the pain he must be suffering from enduring the punch.

"Go on, Have a Puff... It Won't Hurt You..."

Although this statement may sound kind of funny and stupid at the same time, the truth is that it does hurt you to take drugs / alcohol. This lesson was re-emphasized at a convention held in our Upper Gym on Tuesday, where a several booths were set up, explaining the harmful consequences of using drugs or alcohol.

At the convention, my friend pointed out this poster, which I thought conveyed a simple, yet powerful, message. "If it doesn't make sense here, why does it make sense when you drive?" The fact is that it doesn't make sense, regardless of any activity you do. Drugs and alcohol only offer a temporary escape from reality, plus a series of permanent life-threatening side effects. Just like when a person drives while drinking / using drugs, a pilot is responsible for all the people that they carry during the ride. If the pilots end up crashing the plane, they kill all the passengers aboard. I think this analogy is related to second-hand smoking. In a sense, I agree with what my mom always says about smokers: "It is okay if the smokers (pilots), die from their own smoking habits. However, it is not okay if their smoking habits cause the deaths of many other people because those people who died second-hand smoked."

House Day

On Friday (September 28), we had House Day!! This is my 7th House Day... I was a little disappointed though because I didn't get to try the Dance Dance Revolution event!! :( Oh well... hope they have it next year! :P Besides that, I had fun haha... They should've made it the whole day though instead of two periods of school, two periods of House Day... it's not as fun that way. No one wanted to go to Accounting class after the conclusion of House Day (sorry Mr. Stephens, it's not you, it's the idea of going to work again after playing!!)... Well, hope they jazz it up and make it better for next year!!

Symphonic Band...

Today was our first meeting for the symphonic band.. I haven't played my flute the entire summer!! I was surprised that I could actually remember how to play the instrument :P Turns out all the practice I had in the past at school since grade 7 paid off haha...
I hope there are more flute players in the band, 'cause right now, there are only two players including me.. any mistake either one of us makes would be extremely evident in a performance... (Where are all the grade 11 and grade 12 flutists when you need them...?)

Food For Thought

Normally, I would've looked at this meal and thought "the typical lunch cafeteria food: rice with goo". But then, for the first time, I started to think about the many other people in the world who would kill to get a meal like this. A Global Outreach announcement even stirred thoughts of the people I saw during my trip to South Africa who lived in rusty, tin shacks the size of three people huddled together. Then I thought to myself, that I shouldn't be this picky with food, and plus, be happy that I even get to eat a meal like this. I finished the plate before I left the cafeteria.

Fire Drills

This is a picture of a fire drill we did at school on Tuesday, September 18th... it's odd sometimes that we think fire drills as something "fun" because we get to miss some class.. but in reality, an actual fire drill could mean that someone is really suffering from any dangerous element of fire...

Media Arts Class - Assignment 2

Doesn't this look pro? ^^ But really, it's not as hard as you think!! :P We did this in Media Arts class today on Photoshop through a tutorial on blending and layers.

Fun With Cameras

After doing this Media Arts Timeline Project, I realized that bringing a camera into a classroom isn't a really great idea... especially when you're not watching over it carefully...

In a matter of seconds, someone in the class snagged the camera and took random pictures, sometimes without me noticing!! Then I would check the camera later to find some extremely weird-looking pictures in my memory card that I had no memory of taking...

So now, I have to hide the camera away from everyone so that they don't do another crazy taking-picture spree.

Media Arts - Picture In a Picture Tutorial

Following the "Picture In a Picture" Tutorial, we played with a high resolution picture to create the image to the left using Photoshop in Media Arts class today! :P

Visual Arts Class

This is just something I made in my Visual Arts Class with magazine cut-outs and glue (I called it "Sunset Horizon" ...). We were to incorporate a profile into the picture, such as a low horizon or strata. In the case of the image, it has a high horizon profile.

In general, Visual Arts Class has been especially fun, considering it was such as small class (I've never been in such a small class of only 8 people (including the teacher).) As well, since I do enjoy art, it is something that I look forward to every week.