SKOOLZ DUN
The first day of summer! WOOOOOOO!
Yesterday, the illustration department had a "thesis party" where the whole department showed up to view the thesis portfolios and eat cookies. It was the most 'together' I've ever felt as a department, and it was really awesome to see almost everybody show up. There were some really great theses this semester - some of Sam's stuff was really, really good, and I must say, Jasper Wong made one hell of a professional looking portfolio. Walt had some really great stuff, too. All in all, it was good to see everyone, and good to wish them off as many of them graduate. After that, me, Ama, Mike and Mark had our traditional end of the semester dinner, then I went back to their apartment and played computer games and drank Stella Artois.
So, about the pieces I just uploaded: More sketchbook stuff, and an overview of the last part of watercolor. I went into watercolor with the basic idea that I was just going to mess around and have fun with the medium to see how it clicked with me, but as the class progressed I realized that I had two main focuses: (A) To advance my skills with both color and brush, and to get used to the glazing/layering process, and (B) To experiment with watercolor and drawing, focusing in turn on the dominance of the drawing and dominance of the painting. Some of my pieces are strongly drawing-oriented with a color wash over it, and others have little to no drawing, to see how well I could build up a work using only paint. I think the class has gotten my mind working in some very refreshing ways, and I think I'm going to stick with watercolor for a while, in one way or another. Also, the portrait of the cardinal is a study of an El Greco painting. It's in the Metropolitan, so you might've seen it. Also, about my illustration work: I haven't gotten a single assignment done since the last one I posted, the Memento poster. I'd show them anyway but, ehrm...I don't want to.
Larry McClary cancelled the last three classes! It was really kind of frightening, we were all hoping he wasn't dying. Knowing that guy, missing three classes (let along the LAST three) seemed pretty freaking urgent. As it turns out, the poor guy had kidney stones. So instead of being in danger of death, he only had to experience some of the worst pain he's ever had to deal with. That's somewhat comforting, I guess. In any case, B&W class ended very anti-climactically and added to an already kind of lackluster end-of-semester. Ahhh, well, it's over and done with now.
And that brings me to the most important thing of all: Coachella. Ahhh, Coachella. Last weekend was probably the highlight of my year so far. What am I saying? It WAS the highlight of my year. Man oh man that was good times. So here's the breakdown:
Thursday night: Drove down to San Jose. Me and Nyk decided, somewhat foolishly, to watch Chronicles of Riddick at midnight. It was kind of entertaining, but I should have slept in preparation for the weekend instead. Went to bed around 3:00 in the morning.
Friday: Woke up at 8:30. Prodded Nyk awake (sleeping in my sister's room). We shoved all of our stuff into my dad's car, and got the cooler together - coke, energy drinks, 12-pack of water, 4 salami sandwiches. We got onto the road around 10. The drive was fairly easy - we had made lots of good road trip CDs, and we pretty much just rocked out the whole time. Got into Valencia around 3-4ish, and were greeted by the familiar sound of Erek's voice. We had a joyful reunion in the middle of the street, and put our shit into his house. We met his housemates and talked with Cameron for a while, then chilled in the backyard with a plastic Jesus statue and the house dog, Harley. We went down to CalArts cause we wanted to see it - walked around aimlessly for a while, saw Erek's studio, met some more of his friends/schoolmates, got some cheap ass coffee (I envy their cafe). After eating some mexican food and watching Van Helsing in spanish, we watched some crazy ass videos of Erek's back at his house, and then we headed over to one of his friend Allison's birthday party. Got sort of trashed, ate some chocolate. Me and Nyk laughed at how comfortable we felt there, because it was EXACTLY like a CCA party. Bunch of tight pantsed art school kids. They were a cool bunch, though. We also did some shady hustlings and bustlings to try and get drugs for the next day, and eventually wound up back at Erek's house. Me and Nyk slept on the floor in Erek's room, and we went to bed around 5 in the morning.
Saturday: Woke up at 8. Erek got our blood pumping and aided our getting ready by blasting Daft Punk. We were caravaning with the rest of the house, so by the time everyone managed to get ready and organized, it was already 10 or so. Stopped by McDonald's to get breakfast sandwiches and orange juice, and set course for Indio. After some shenanigans at Ralphs and a gas station, we finally got into Indio around 12 - but we didn't get parked and inside until around 2:30. Luckily, nothing much was playing early. Me & Nyk decided to stay together, but we split from Erek and his friends, since they went straight to see the Walkmen and we headed over to see Wolfmother. They were pretty good, definitely fun to listen to, but the comparisons to Led Zeppelin definitely did not work in their favor. After their set, Nyk went to go get water, and I stayed at the front. Next played Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! They were hell of good, and I clapped my hands and said yeah during pretty much the whole thing. They had some technical issues, but they shrugged it off and put on a good show anyway. Their singer is totally weird. After that, I went to go get something to eat, and me and Nyk miraculously found each other again. We headed over to a covered area and watched the end of Kanye West while we munched on overpriced food, then headed to the main stage as the Kanye crowd cleared out. Next played Sigur Ros, which was absolutely incredible. They played at dusk, which was couldn't have been more perfect. It started out with some stuff from Takk while it was still light, and played a song or two from Agaetis Byrjun (I spelled that wrong but I don't care) while the sun went down. The most welcome and stunning surprise was when they played Untitled 8 to end their set. By the time it ended in a cacophanic clash of insane drums and guitar beating (yes, he was actually beating his guitar with the splintered remains of his ebow), it was dark, and my eyes were teary. Jesus Christ. After that, Franz Ferdinand played. Those guys are insanely good live, and the energy just flowed over the entire crowd. The night came to an end with Depeche Mode, which I really, really enjoyed - like Franz Ferdinand, I could tell that those guys just live to perform, and they just got really into it. They put on an awesome show. After that, we headed over to the dance tent to see if we could dance it up to Daft Punk, but by the time we got there, it was totally filled up and the people in back were just standing there swaying back and forth. Fucking lame, who does that to Daft Punk? There's no point if you aren't dancing your ass off. So me and Nyk headed out, and sat on my car to rendezvous with Erek and the others. They got back about an hour later, tripping off of all kinds of drugs. Erek was on shrooms, and there were hints of acid, mescalin, and ecstacy floating around. No wonder Daft Punk blew all of their minds out. We decided to just camp out in the parking lot instead of trying to find somewhere to stay, and we all pretty much just laid down on the grass and talked for the rest of the night. around 3 or 4 we hotboxed their Ford Escape, and I went to sleep in the driver's seat of my car around 5, stoned and happy.
Sunday: I woke up around 9, absolutely drenched with sweat. I changed my shirt in the middle of the parking lot and put on a beanie because by this point my hair was a greasy, matted mess. After everyone else was up and ready, we walked over to Ralph's to buy some food. Erek had a fat blister on one of his heels, and his friend Sam stole some medical supplies for him. Me and Nyk stocked up on more energy drinks and coffee for the ride home that night, then I bought some 16 year olds two 12-packs of Corona, which they were quite grateful for. I think I pretty much made their day at Coachella. We walked back, and headed into Coachella once again. By this time, my phone had died, and I had no way of charging it due to poor planning on my part. I didnt get reception in the Coachella grounds anyway, so it hardly mattered. Anyway, the first band we saw was Mates of State, which was a lot of fun to listen to. All they were were two girls dancing around with a synthesizer and singing, and it was bloody awesome. We stayed at that stage and saw Ted something or other and the Pharmacists, who definitely put on a good show, but I wouldn't exactly listen to them on a regular basis. After that, Minus the Bear came on, and me and Nyk were pretty much right up front for it. They were really, really good. The way they play is just so tight and precise, it's incredible. We left the show early to meet up with Erek and the others at Jamie Lidell - he was damn good, but we only caught the last song and a half. After that came Gnarls Barkley, which was one of the biggest surprises for me - I'd never heard of them, their first album wasn't even out yet, but it's basically a hip-hoppish R&B band with Cee-Lo as the singer. They came out dressed as the Wizard of Oz cast: the guitarists were Wicked Witches of the West, the string section was all winged monkeys, the back up vocalists were two Dorothys and two Scarecrows, the DJ was the Tin Man, and Cee-Lo came out as the Lion. It was a fucking awesome show, it totally blew me away. After that, we all headed over to the mainstage for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which was another great show. I'm not as big of a fan of their new album as of their first, but they played the set with so much energy and enthusiasm that it made me appreciate the album a whole lot more. It really felt like they had put just as much into it as anything else they'd done, and seeing them perform was a blast. We passed around a few bowls during the concert, so by the time Massive Attack played, I was nice and stoned. Massive Attack was by far the biggest surprise of Coachella. I just didn't think that their music would translate into a good live sound, you know? I knew I'd enjoy it, but my god....total mind job. The bass was so deep that it penetrated into my very core. It was like a soul massage. I closed my eyes halfway through, and imagined myself in the middle of a vortex of sound that was whirling around me like a tornado. It was really intense. After their set, came the big one: Tool. Tool was a climax in a way that I hadn't really anticipated. As soon as Massive Attack left, I could tell that almost the whole crowd had just waited through Massive Attack to see Tool - and suddenly everyone pressed forward and I was almost instantly smothered. It got pretty crazy. Nyk started freaking out and started pushing backwards, but I tried to brave it out. Once Tool came on, they opened with Sober - and the crowd just totally went berserk. Usually, Tool crowds are pretty mellow, or at least respectful. But what I hadn't anticipated was that this WASNT a Tool concert. There were tons of people in the crowd who basically just wanted to come to a metal concert to beat people up. So I was stuck in a moshpit. The crowed was churning and swaying so much that after a few minutes I fell over, and was pretty much lying on my back on the grass. I started flipping out, because people were almost stepping on my face and limbs, and I heard the screams of several other people who had fallen. Suddenly, a hand descended from the heavens and gripped my arm and hurled me back onto my feet. I stared into my savior's eyes with pure gratitude. I seriously think he saved me from some pretty heavy duty injuries. After that, I spent most of The Patient pushing my way further back into the crowd, but another moshpit opened right in front of me: the kind where there were 4 or 5 huge shirtless beating people senseless. So I wriggled my way out of the crowd entirely, and spent the last half of the concert off to the side, lying down on the grass with my eyes closed. I definitely enjoyed the music still, but man, I had not expected that somehow. The concert ended at midnight, and me and Nyk met up again at a designated spot. It took until 2:30 in the morning for us to get out of the grounds and back to our car in the parking lot. Once we had all met up, we starting the drive home, and I almost blacked out several times, and realized that I hadn't eaten in over 16 hours. So I switched with Nyk, and we got back to Valencia at around 4 in the morning. We gave Erek and everyone else a very exhausted farewell, then went to eat at a diner nearby. We set out for San Jose at around 5 in the morning. 5 hours later, with 3 Monster energy drinks and a 12 ounce Frappuccino in my stomach, we arrived, and switched to my car. We got back to Oakland around 12:30 in the afternoon. By then, I had reached some kind of massive energy swelling, and I was pretty much bouncing off of the walls the rest of the day - I cleaned my room, did laundry, took a walk, did some pushups, and finally crashed and burned that night around 10:00. I woke up 13 hours later.
So. There is the story of Coachella.
Yesterday, the illustration department had a "thesis party" where the whole department showed up to view the thesis portfolios and eat cookies. It was the most 'together' I've ever felt as a department, and it was really awesome to see almost everybody show up. There were some really great theses this semester - some of Sam's stuff was really, really good, and I must say, Jasper Wong made one hell of a professional looking portfolio. Walt had some really great stuff, too. All in all, it was good to see everyone, and good to wish them off as many of them graduate. After that, me, Ama, Mike and Mark had our traditional end of the semester dinner, then I went back to their apartment and played computer games and drank Stella Artois.
So, about the pieces I just uploaded: More sketchbook stuff, and an overview of the last part of watercolor. I went into watercolor with the basic idea that I was just going to mess around and have fun with the medium to see how it clicked with me, but as the class progressed I realized that I had two main focuses: (A) To advance my skills with both color and brush, and to get used to the glazing/layering process, and (B) To experiment with watercolor and drawing, focusing in turn on the dominance of the drawing and dominance of the painting. Some of my pieces are strongly drawing-oriented with a color wash over it, and others have little to no drawing, to see how well I could build up a work using only paint. I think the class has gotten my mind working in some very refreshing ways, and I think I'm going to stick with watercolor for a while, in one way or another. Also, the portrait of the cardinal is a study of an El Greco painting. It's in the Metropolitan, so you might've seen it. Also, about my illustration work: I haven't gotten a single assignment done since the last one I posted, the Memento poster. I'd show them anyway but, ehrm...I don't want to.
Larry McClary cancelled the last three classes! It was really kind of frightening, we were all hoping he wasn't dying. Knowing that guy, missing three classes (let along the LAST three) seemed pretty freaking urgent. As it turns out, the poor guy had kidney stones. So instead of being in danger of death, he only had to experience some of the worst pain he's ever had to deal with. That's somewhat comforting, I guess. In any case, B&W class ended very anti-climactically and added to an already kind of lackluster end-of-semester. Ahhh, well, it's over and done with now.
And that brings me to the most important thing of all: Coachella. Ahhh, Coachella. Last weekend was probably the highlight of my year so far. What am I saying? It WAS the highlight of my year. Man oh man that was good times. So here's the breakdown:
Thursday night: Drove down to San Jose. Me and Nyk decided, somewhat foolishly, to watch Chronicles of Riddick at midnight. It was kind of entertaining, but I should have slept in preparation for the weekend instead. Went to bed around 3:00 in the morning.
Friday: Woke up at 8:30. Prodded Nyk awake (sleeping in my sister's room). We shoved all of our stuff into my dad's car, and got the cooler together - coke, energy drinks, 12-pack of water, 4 salami sandwiches. We got onto the road around 10. The drive was fairly easy - we had made lots of good road trip CDs, and we pretty much just rocked out the whole time. Got into Valencia around 3-4ish, and were greeted by the familiar sound of Erek's voice. We had a joyful reunion in the middle of the street, and put our shit into his house. We met his housemates and talked with Cameron for a while, then chilled in the backyard with a plastic Jesus statue and the house dog, Harley. We went down to CalArts cause we wanted to see it - walked around aimlessly for a while, saw Erek's studio, met some more of his friends/schoolmates, got some cheap ass coffee (I envy their cafe). After eating some mexican food and watching Van Helsing in spanish, we watched some crazy ass videos of Erek's back at his house, and then we headed over to one of his friend Allison's birthday party. Got sort of trashed, ate some chocolate. Me and Nyk laughed at how comfortable we felt there, because it was EXACTLY like a CCA party. Bunch of tight pantsed art school kids. They were a cool bunch, though. We also did some shady hustlings and bustlings to try and get drugs for the next day, and eventually wound up back at Erek's house. Me and Nyk slept on the floor in Erek's room, and we went to bed around 5 in the morning.
Saturday: Woke up at 8. Erek got our blood pumping and aided our getting ready by blasting Daft Punk. We were caravaning with the rest of the house, so by the time everyone managed to get ready and organized, it was already 10 or so. Stopped by McDonald's to get breakfast sandwiches and orange juice, and set course for Indio. After some shenanigans at Ralphs and a gas station, we finally got into Indio around 12 - but we didn't get parked and inside until around 2:30. Luckily, nothing much was playing early. Me & Nyk decided to stay together, but we split from Erek and his friends, since they went straight to see the Walkmen and we headed over to see Wolfmother. They were pretty good, definitely fun to listen to, but the comparisons to Led Zeppelin definitely did not work in their favor. After their set, Nyk went to go get water, and I stayed at the front. Next played Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! They were hell of good, and I clapped my hands and said yeah during pretty much the whole thing. They had some technical issues, but they shrugged it off and put on a good show anyway. Their singer is totally weird. After that, I went to go get something to eat, and me and Nyk miraculously found each other again. We headed over to a covered area and watched the end of Kanye West while we munched on overpriced food, then headed to the main stage as the Kanye crowd cleared out. Next played Sigur Ros, which was absolutely incredible. They played at dusk, which was couldn't have been more perfect. It started out with some stuff from Takk while it was still light, and played a song or two from Agaetis Byrjun (I spelled that wrong but I don't care) while the sun went down. The most welcome and stunning surprise was when they played Untitled 8 to end their set. By the time it ended in a cacophanic clash of insane drums and guitar beating (yes, he was actually beating his guitar with the splintered remains of his ebow), it was dark, and my eyes were teary. Jesus Christ. After that, Franz Ferdinand played. Those guys are insanely good live, and the energy just flowed over the entire crowd. The night came to an end with Depeche Mode, which I really, really enjoyed - like Franz Ferdinand, I could tell that those guys just live to perform, and they just got really into it. They put on an awesome show. After that, we headed over to the dance tent to see if we could dance it up to Daft Punk, but by the time we got there, it was totally filled up and the people in back were just standing there swaying back and forth. Fucking lame, who does that to Daft Punk? There's no point if you aren't dancing your ass off. So me and Nyk headed out, and sat on my car to rendezvous with Erek and the others. They got back about an hour later, tripping off of all kinds of drugs. Erek was on shrooms, and there were hints of acid, mescalin, and ecstacy floating around. No wonder Daft Punk blew all of their minds out. We decided to just camp out in the parking lot instead of trying to find somewhere to stay, and we all pretty much just laid down on the grass and talked for the rest of the night. around 3 or 4 we hotboxed their Ford Escape, and I went to sleep in the driver's seat of my car around 5, stoned and happy.
Sunday: I woke up around 9, absolutely drenched with sweat. I changed my shirt in the middle of the parking lot and put on a beanie because by this point my hair was a greasy, matted mess. After everyone else was up and ready, we walked over to Ralph's to buy some food. Erek had a fat blister on one of his heels, and his friend Sam stole some medical supplies for him. Me and Nyk stocked up on more energy drinks and coffee for the ride home that night, then I bought some 16 year olds two 12-packs of Corona, which they were quite grateful for. I think I pretty much made their day at Coachella. We walked back, and headed into Coachella once again. By this time, my phone had died, and I had no way of charging it due to poor planning on my part. I didnt get reception in the Coachella grounds anyway, so it hardly mattered. Anyway, the first band we saw was Mates of State, which was a lot of fun to listen to. All they were were two girls dancing around with a synthesizer and singing, and it was bloody awesome. We stayed at that stage and saw Ted something or other and the Pharmacists, who definitely put on a good show, but I wouldn't exactly listen to them on a regular basis. After that, Minus the Bear came on, and me and Nyk were pretty much right up front for it. They were really, really good. The way they play is just so tight and precise, it's incredible. We left the show early to meet up with Erek and the others at Jamie Lidell - he was damn good, but we only caught the last song and a half. After that came Gnarls Barkley, which was one of the biggest surprises for me - I'd never heard of them, their first album wasn't even out yet, but it's basically a hip-hoppish R&B band with Cee-Lo as the singer. They came out dressed as the Wizard of Oz cast: the guitarists were Wicked Witches of the West, the string section was all winged monkeys, the back up vocalists were two Dorothys and two Scarecrows, the DJ was the Tin Man, and Cee-Lo came out as the Lion. It was a fucking awesome show, it totally blew me away. After that, we all headed over to the mainstage for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which was another great show. I'm not as big of a fan of their new album as of their first, but they played the set with so much energy and enthusiasm that it made me appreciate the album a whole lot more. It really felt like they had put just as much into it as anything else they'd done, and seeing them perform was a blast. We passed around a few bowls during the concert, so by the time Massive Attack played, I was nice and stoned. Massive Attack was by far the biggest surprise of Coachella. I just didn't think that their music would translate into a good live sound, you know? I knew I'd enjoy it, but my god....total mind job. The bass was so deep that it penetrated into my very core. It was like a soul massage. I closed my eyes halfway through, and imagined myself in the middle of a vortex of sound that was whirling around me like a tornado. It was really intense. After their set, came the big one: Tool. Tool was a climax in a way that I hadn't really anticipated. As soon as Massive Attack left, I could tell that almost the whole crowd had just waited through Massive Attack to see Tool - and suddenly everyone pressed forward and I was almost instantly smothered. It got pretty crazy. Nyk started freaking out and started pushing backwards, but I tried to brave it out. Once Tool came on, they opened with Sober - and the crowd just totally went berserk. Usually, Tool crowds are pretty mellow, or at least respectful. But what I hadn't anticipated was that this WASNT a Tool concert. There were tons of people in the crowd who basically just wanted to come to a metal concert to beat people up. So I was stuck in a moshpit. The crowed was churning and swaying so much that after a few minutes I fell over, and was pretty much lying on my back on the grass. I started flipping out, because people were almost stepping on my face and limbs, and I heard the screams of several other people who had fallen. Suddenly, a hand descended from the heavens and gripped my arm and hurled me back onto my feet. I stared into my savior's eyes with pure gratitude. I seriously think he saved me from some pretty heavy duty injuries. After that, I spent most of The Patient pushing my way further back into the crowd, but another moshpit opened right in front of me: the kind where there were 4 or 5 huge shirtless beating people senseless. So I wriggled my way out of the crowd entirely, and spent the last half of the concert off to the side, lying down on the grass with my eyes closed. I definitely enjoyed the music still, but man, I had not expected that somehow. The concert ended at midnight, and me and Nyk met up again at a designated spot. It took until 2:30 in the morning for us to get out of the grounds and back to our car in the parking lot. Once we had all met up, we starting the drive home, and I almost blacked out several times, and realized that I hadn't eaten in over 16 hours. So I switched with Nyk, and we got back to Valencia at around 4 in the morning. We gave Erek and everyone else a very exhausted farewell, then went to eat at a diner nearby. We set out for San Jose at around 5 in the morning. 5 hours later, with 3 Monster energy drinks and a 12 ounce Frappuccino in my stomach, we arrived, and switched to my car. We got back to Oakland around 12:30 in the afternoon. By then, I had reached some kind of massive energy swelling, and I was pretty much bouncing off of the walls the rest of the day - I cleaned my room, did laundry, took a walk, did some pushups, and finally crashed and burned that night around 10:00. I woke up 13 hours later.
So. There is the story of Coachella.
posted by Daniel | 4:20 PM
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