Wow, I can’t believe it’s September 20th. // September 20, 2009

These days, I have been subsisting on instant noodles, caffeine, Snickers bars and corned beef hash (!) which makes me miss the good old days when I actually ate actual food¹ or when I had time to make (and fantasize about making) lovely dishes aside from the usual salads:

Not to be all woe-is-me (but really, woe-is-me!) but my diet these days is pretty bad and food intake has been erratic. I would go for hours without food but gorge myself as soon as I got home. It is worst(/best?) right after a trip to the supermarket, which usually results into another trip to the supermarket… but enough about food. Here is my current thesis strategy, since I usually end up being distracted by online “frivolity”²:

That’s right! Good, old-fashioned note-cards map-pinned to a sheet of corrugated board (because cork is really, really expensive, and I have no walls). So far, it’s been working. But only as long as I keep my eyes on the board and my hands off my laptop.

I’ve also been trying to spend my time doing things related to my thesis, even if only tangentially. Which is why I have been watching episodes of My So-Called Life. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s about a girl called Angela Chase (played by Claire Danes) and her high school woes. I bet you can see why I love it. But seriously, I completely forgot how much I love this show. This is a funny screencap from the third episode:

Hardee-har-har. ALSO, I’ve taken to drawing, as a practice for my ambitious thesis that will probably erupt in flames, for no reason other than I suck. Um. Yeah. So, while perusing my Google Reader³ I saw a few exercises that I think I would enjoy doing:

FIRST: What I Wore Today.

UM. I stayed home. There is no body because I have yet to master the
human-body-drawing-skill, but if you are looking to look (heh!) at clothes
that people who actually know how to draw wear, their Flickr group!

SECOND: With / Without / Covet
I think this is pretty much explanatory.
Also, reflective of the LACK OF CAKE in my life.
Here is their Flickr group

So, as we can see, even though I am wasting a lot of time, I am technically still being productive. Even if just a smidgen. I’m just saying.

FOOTNOTES
¹ Thank you to my mother, who feeds me real food every dinner time. And lunch on weekends. <3
² This mostly consists of Tumblr, which I am enjoying very much, even after a year:
 
³ This is in bold because Google Reader is amazing.

 

Thesis Business. // September 19, 2009

The reason why I haven’t really been talking about my thesis is not because it’s top secret or because I’ve been so busy working at it that I didn’t have time or space to talk about it. The main reason why I never really talk about my thesis (save for a vague “basta, it’s about pop culture.”) is because I haven’t really gotten around to fleshing it out and actually working on it. It’s curious that I have checked out several books to help back up my very flimsy thesis statement, surrendered a couple hundred bucks in overdue fees and have had very little to say about it.

So, today, I am telling anyone who cares, and those who asked and I’ve blown off, about it. I’ve whittled the ginormous and vague ‘pop culture’ to three main focuses, all of which happen to be the main characters of television shows: Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars), Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Angela Chase (My So-Called Life). What started out as, supposedly, a collection of general commentary on films, music and television has been “reduced” to a book on three of my favorite T.V. characters. I’m going to write about how they are similar, something like that, and it’s generally going to be all in good fun. The design aspect’s going to be the general layout of the book, which will feature articles, “artistic renditions” (if I figure out how to draw in time) and informational graphics, much like these by Feltron.

I’ve recently realized how behind I really am, and I’m just writing this post as a reminder of how much I’ve been slacking off, in hopes that when I log onto the greatest/worst invention of all time (aka, the Internet), I will be reminded of how crappy my thesis is going to be if I don’t get on it and git ‘er done. I’ve only finished several article outlines — the one I’ve fleshed out the most is called “The Cons of Being a Vampire Slayer” — and yeah, wow. I’m really going to have to hustle.

So, there. Now, you know.

 

GLEE 1X03: Acafellas // September 19, 2009

Pretty much loved the third episode of GLEE, which looks to be FOX’s new hit. My friend described it as “half-good, half-annoying,” which I do not get at all, because I think it is “whole-good,” to use his manner of division of traits. Second episode aside (I really think that one was kind of a miss), I do think that Glee is a show with a really promising premise and the third episode opens up a lot of the issues and possible storyline that will probably come up in the later episodes.

While I don’t agree with how some of the said issues are handled, I do think that Glee has a mostly honest and humorous take on real-life issues, especially those that often come with being one of the ‘different’ ones in school. I’m definitely looking forward to the rest of the season, and am mostly relieved that it is going to only be a six-day wait after each one, unlike the months-long stretch between the pilot and the second episode. To satiate our Glee deprivation during those waits in between, here are a few links:

• Dianna Agron, who plays Quinn Fabray, has a personal Tumblr, which posts personal photos of their current promotional tour, such as this one:
  
• Glee Songs hosts a few streams of songs featured on the show
• I haven’t tried listening to these yet, but two Glee-centered podcasts: Glee Podcast and Gleek Squad
• F Yeah Glee aggregates certain posts and photos on the Glee episodes and cast members. Might contain some “spoilers” (stills from unreleased episodes)
• Cory Monteith (Finn) on Twitter, just because he’s awesome. He is seriously my new favorite person.

THAT’S MOSTLY IT. I really do love this show, and I’m excited every time that Glee theme (there seems to be a constant head-boppy theme, when something’s a-brewing, or perhaps this is just my imagination?) plays. I just really want this show to be successful, and I just really hope FOX doesn’t kill it before it has any real chance of being brilliant (coughFireflycough), but if the fanbase is any indication, it looks like Glee is here to stay.

 

 

 

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