#putting it down on pixel to try to rid my brain of the images

[perfectlyripeclementine]

it’s been a long time since we’ve been together. you took me out tonight and i saw your eyes lingering on the rings on my fingers, at the gold around my neck dripping down my chest. i saw that look in your eyes like wonder, saw that smile of yours that i know means love. i saw you relax when you laughed at my jokes. i saw you almost take my hand, and then shy out of it.

when we left the restaurant you worked up your nerve and asked if you could kiss me. so i leaned in, touched my lips to yours, drew you into me. and the warmth, that marvelous warmth, filled me up. in the cab we couldn’t keep our hands off each other, couldn’t be separated by an inch. it was all the strength we had not to spend the whole car ride making out in the back seat like we were coming home drunk from a bar. but, no; this is holy; we didn’t want an audience for this moment.

there were no pretenses when we got home. we wanted to be close to one another. you sat on the couch and i asked if i could sit in your lap: you said, please. so i came and sat on top of you and flooded with your heat. i took your hands, laced our fingers and said: i missed you. your touch on me after that was all hunger, like i might disappear if you couldn’t feel me, like you could never have enough of me. pulled me down on you like you’d never felt so safe as you did under my weight. the shock i felt course through your body when i found the right spot to grind on - how it changed your breathing - how i held your beating heart in the soft of my hands.

hours later, we fell asleep entwined, me wrapped around you, holding hands.

[s-k-y-w-a-l-k-e-r]

Tagged by @jimmytfallon for this gif meme. I’m not really sure how the meme started so I may be missing the point, but I think it’s to show overall skill with coloring and whatnot? Also this project presents a minor challenge for me, in that all my .psds and previous gifs are almost all full-width. So it was fun practicing with half-width!

Anyway, I have three different methods I use, depending on the source material, for getting videos to work with. 

For YouTube/Instagram videos of 720p or lower, I screencap the video, load files into stack, and use the basic method outlined here. I think it’s the best way to handle smaller gifs.

For YouTube/Vimeo videos of 1080p or higher, I directly load the video file itself into Photoshop and work off of that.

For screen recordings (most of the Pacific, BoRhap, and Robot gifsets I do are like this), I simply don’t have the option of screencapping—my computer records at almost 3000px width and the screencaps fill up my hard drive in a matter of minutes. So I open the screen recording in Photoshop, and after I’ve slowed the clip (in all three cases, it’s usually around 81% speed for it to be somewhat normal speed), I resize to the desired width immediately. This has to be done or my computer will crash and this thing is not exactly bottom of the line.

From there, I do my adjustment layers and then I sharpen. It doesn’t matter what order you sharpen in if you’re doing this as a smart object. You can turn on and off these sharpening effects—and if you’re feeling fancy like I have lately, you can do the same with the artistic effects like oil paint or half-tone.

Adjustment layers in order of preference/use:

Curves. You can literally do everything in curves if you’re really willing to learn how they work. Initially, you might think they effect lighting. The bottom left corner turns up and down blacks. Left of center, you’re changing how light or dark the shadows are. Right of center, you’re changing the highlights, and to the top right, you’re changing the whites and how bright they are. But you can also change colors within the different toggles of Curves. I don’t always do this because to do an effective job, you still have to create multiple curves layers—and why do that when you can just do...

Color balance! This is the absolute most important coloring tool that I’ve found to deal with Mr. Robot’s pallor. It’s so green-yellow that I find myself turning things back to red and magenta and blue to try and give Elliot a little bit of life back. In the gif above, you can see that it was almost a pea green tone over the whole thing, so I gave it back some peachiness (and don’t get me started on how dark all of Mr. Robot is).

Brightness/Contrast. I try to use this sparingly, but sometimes it’s just the simplest tool to get things done.

Selective Color! I didn’t know about this for a long time and once I figured it out, it was a game changer. When you just want a yellow robe to be a warm yellow without green undertones and you want high contrast in the rest of the image but not in the yellow robe—Selective Color is where you need to go. Hue/Saturation can only do so much for you here.

Solid Color. Lately I’ve been trying to vignette some gifs using this. And it can be really helpful to do so because it cuts down on flashing pixels that will add to your overall gif megabyte-age. So I’ll load one up in a dark color (if not completely black) and then use a layer mask to get rid of a lot of the solid color. This is not shown anywhere above, but you can see it in action here. It’s more valuable in extra-big gifs.

And then Smart Object effects

Plain old Sharpen. I always do this before the other. And sometimes I turn it back off after I’ve gotten the next step down. In the yellow robe gif above, I wound up turning off this sharpen layer because it introduced too much edge noise.

Smart Sharpen. Learning how to hone this is absolutely vital. 500, .3, 20, Gaussian is always a good place to start—and if that doesn’t mean anything to you, just try opening the Smart Sharpen tool and putting those four things in. Of course, once you get a handle on Smart Sharpen, you can go wild trying to get things just right. Layering it with other Smart Sharpen layers can sometimes help create a balance, too.

Oil Paint. I’ve been screwing around with this a lot lately and haven’t quite got it nailed down, but I’m having fun with it!

Other Useful Layers

Overlays. I love to layer up two separate video files! So much so that I now have a drop-down menu for them on my full browser layout. The YSL/Rami modeling overlay above is the perfect example. Want to see how I do it? Ask for a tutorial. I don’t want to give everything away in one post!

Layer Masks. For mostly-still scenes, especially in cinematography where the camera doesn’t move a lot (like Mr. Robot, or in an interview), you can take a picture basically of your gif, super-impose it, and then make a layer mask to make it smooth. Works really well in many of my Mr. Robot Rewatch sets, like this one. Again, willing to give a tutorial if you ask.

Captions. All of mine come out looking fuzzy and I’m not good at them so I don’t do them much. If you’re a gif maker reading this and have a method you like, please share because I cannot figure out why I can’t make this look good.

So anyway, as you can see, it’s a lot to work with. So many options! There’s so much that can go into a single gifset, and though I have a system down to where I can make certain gifs really quickly, it’s still usually an hour or two on even the simplest gifs. I like to think it doesn’t take as much brain power as a fic writer, but it does take a certain intuition and know-how that takes years to hone.

I love my fellow gif makers and would love to see how they do. Tagging @gwil-lee, @ewan-mcgrxgor, @ilygwilym, and @warmommy because I want to learn your secrets see your process if you’re willing to share!

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Stalkers and Masks

Septics Inverted

A JSE Fanfic

These are two moments that I really wanted to address, but I felt both were too short for their own story. So I took one and made it a framing device for the other. One’s about Stacy and what she’s going through, and the other is about Marvin and one of his problems. Ehhh, probably not my best work but I’ve done these two plot points all the justice I can.

Read the intro story: Part One | Part Two

Various other AU-related stuff found here

Taglist: @evyptids​ @awkward-bullshit​ @watermelonsinmyattic​ @asunachinadoll @a-humble-narcissus @metautske​ @odysseus-is-best-boi​ @acuriousquail @beerecordings

Stacy liked to think that her computer was secure. She kept up-to-date on her antivirus software, didn’t give trust anything that asked for her security information, and kept her passwords on a sheet of paper in her nightstand drawer instead of anywhere digitally that could be hacked. However, she quickly learned that all these precautions were for naught when it came to the living glitch who decided he wanted to check on her every ten hours or so. She’d be browsing the Internet and suddenly the webpage would freak out. That didn’t mean she was being hacked (actually, technically she was) it just meant Anti decided to pop in.

Honestly, she was starting to warm up to him. Maybe that was because he hadn’t showed up in person for the last week so she didn’t have to deal with his personality. Occasionally she’d get an email or text from a blocked user, asking her how life was, if she was safe. And, well, life was better. She’d gotten a new job at a department store with better pay. The hours were good too, now she had time to spend with her kids and also get enough sleep. Things in the city seemed to have calmed down, in that there was less death and disappearance on the news.

But...something was off. There were times when she was out and about, driving the kids to places or running errands on her own, when she felt like someone was watching her. When she looked around, she usually didn’t see anyone. But there were times when she thought she saw...him. To the point where it was starting to freak her out.

One night, after putting the kids to bed, she sat down at her computer and typed a simple phrase into Google: “how to tell if someone is stalking me.” Immediately, the page froze. She hit enter several times, trying to search, but a strange, rapid staticky beeping just came out from her speakers. And it was that moment when she realized it wasn’t just something wrong with her Internet.

A fizzing of pixels later, Anti was sitting on her desk, legs dangling off the side. “What are you, seven?” she asked before her brain could catch up with her mouth.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Anti said. “So what’s up with that search?”

“Are you spying on me whenever I use Google?”

“No, I just installed a program to let me know when certain words were searched. Such as ‘stalk’ or ‘stalking.’” His eye narrowed. “So? What’s the deal? Is it him?”

“I’m...not sure,” Stacy said slowly. “Sometimes I think I see him, other times I just get a...a vague sort of sense that...someone’s watching me. It’s probably nothing, I’m probably just being stupid, but...better safe than sorry, y’know?”

“Definitely, especially considering they could be magically tracking you.”

Stacy gaped at him and his nonchalant statement. “Excuse me?”

“Come on, you were there that night at the diner. You saw that magic was real. Didn’t you think something like that was possible?”

“No, I didn’t.” Stacy leaned back in her swivel chair. “I guess it never occurred to me that that was a-a possibility. I didn’t know the rules for this sort of thing. Sorry, I should have thought—I should have known.”

Anti stared at her, then glitched off the desk and into a standing position. “No, you really shouldn’t have, because nobody told you. It’s not your fault, so don’t assume it is. I could possibly give you a brief overview, let you know what you’re in danger of.”

“Oh! Th-thank you!” Stacy hadn’t realized she was apologizing for things that weren’t her fault. Force of habit, she assumed. She looked at the computer screen, where her question still lingered, unsearched, in the search bar. “Do you think...I-I mean, I know Chase doesn’t have any magic, unless he does and I didn’t know, so...are they teaming up?”

Anti considered this. “Probably. Your ex and the magician aren’t on the best terms, but they’re civil. You’d be in more danger of having the doctor or the vigilante stalking you for him, those guys are closer.”

For some reason, that simple statement made dread pool in her stomach. “H-how many of them are there again?”

“Five.”

“And...and they could all help Ch—help him follow me?”

“Mmm, probably.”

“Oh my god. Oh my god.” Stacy sat on her hands to keep them from shaking. She’d never done anything in her life to warrant so many enemies. And, if she remembered correctly, these guys were responsible for most of the current chaos and terror in the city. She worked hard to take deep, controlled breaths. “Do you...do you have any, uh, um, any info on these guys I could see? You’re all computery, do you have files on them or something?”

“I do. But you don’t want the full files, you’ll lose sleep. I can maybe give you some edited versions...” Anti’s head tilted to one side. He stared intently at her computer screen. She watched as her browser closed and her file explorer opened. By itself, the computer navigated to the downloads folder, then five new folders appeared, each one labeled with a name, followed by (edit).

“Huh...that’s handy.” Stacy scooted her chair closer to the desk, grabbing the mouse. She stared at the folder with his name on it for a while, but she couldn’t bring herself to click on it. Instead, she clicked on the next one down, opening up the folder to reveal various .txt files.

“There used to be photos and videos in here,” Anti said, peering over her shoulder.

“Why’d you remove them?”

“How squeamish are you?”

“I mean...my daughter broke her arm once. It was all bent but I could look at it.”

“I probably made a good call then.” Anti pointed at one of the files, and it opened up. “Brief overview: guy’s a doctor. Not really, ‘cause he got booted from medical school for maltreatment. Didn’t stop him from faking graduation, getting a job at a hospital, and then stealing the patients who wouldn’t be missed.”

“This sounds like the backstory of a horror movie villain,” Stacy laughed nervously.

Anti didn’t laugh. “I’m sure the patients thought they were stuck in a horror movie.” He gave Stacy a dead-eye stare until her smile faded. Then he turned back to the screen. “Police in his home country found out. He ran, ending up here. Started a nice little black-market clinic and kept up his hobby.”

“You know I think I’ll read this one later, when it’s lighter outside.” Stacy hurried to click out of the folder. She opened up the next one instead. This one had videos as well as text files. “...should I be worried about these?” she asked, circling one of the videos with the mouse.

“Nothing explicit, just violence like you’d see in a movie. Criminals get the shit beat out of them. The works.”

“Wait...this is for that vigilante, isn’t it? The one on the news?” Stacy looked at the folder name. “That’s his real—”

“Yep. So if you see a guy who looks like this—” He opened one of the videos, fast forwarding until he got to a good image of the vigilante’s face. “—and he introduces himself to you as that, you better run. Actually, don’t, he’s probably faster than you. Distract him until you can sneak away.”

“He can’t be that bad, can he?” Stacy asked, skeptical. “I mean...getting rid of the criminals in the city? It’s like a real-life superhero.”

“Well, superheroes don’t beat confessions out of mob members and then murder them. He’s probably the safest to have a conversation with, though. Assuming you haven’t done anything illegal.”

“O-kay...then...” Stacy was starting to realize just how deep this trouble she was in really was. She could feel the beginnings of panic edging in on her, but she pushed it away. She’d let herself freak out later. “Wh-what about that magician guy? I think you called him Marvin in the diner? Can he really...magically track me?”

“Probably.” Anti closed the vigilante’s folder and opened up the magician’s. There were a lot of images in this one, what looked like pictures of pages from books. “I’ve been trying to keep track of the spells he knows, but it can be difficult. There’s a good chance he knows a tracking spell, but he probably wouldn’t use it unless someone, like your ex, asked him to.”

“...do I want to know why?”

“Eh, he doesn’t really care for spells like that. If they can’t produce effects he can see, he won’t use them unless necessary. He’s a flashy bitch like that. Has a style and sticks to it. Like that cape, which he only takes off maybe one day per week, and that mask, which I actually haven’t seen him take off yet.”

“Really? Never? Not even to sleep or take a shower or anything?”

“Sleeps with it on. And I’m don’t know about that shower thing, I didn’t put a camera in their bathroom.”

Stacy briefly wondered if his knowledge about sleeping with the mask meant he’d put cameras in the bedrooms, but she pushed that out of her mind for now. “Why? Seems uncomfortable...”

Anti laughed. “Well, a long time ago, he tried a spell he wasn’t ready for, and it blew up in his face. I’m pretty sure he’s embarrassed about what it looks like underneath there...”

“Schneep! I know for a fact you’re in there!” Marvin banged on the door. When there was still no answer, he sighed, looking around the reception room of the clinic where he was standing. He didn’t like this place. It was that kind of almost-nice that looked like it was trying to fool you into thinking it was less shady than it actually was. The good doctor really needed to upgrade his decor.

Having enough of contemplating his dislike of this place, Marvin turned back to the door and started banging harder. “Hey doc! I’m not against melting your door down if you don’t come out in the next thirty seconds!”

The door flung open, and Marvin barely jumped out of the way in time to avoid getting a whack to the face. Schneep poked his head out. He was wearing his mask, which he proceeded to pull down in order to scowl at Marvin. “There is no need for such a commotion, my friend!” he scolded. “I was in one of the back rooms, I did not hear you for a while and then it took me a tick-tock to get here.”

“Whatever. Get a security camera wired up here, or a buzzer or something. I could’ve been a customer who just decided to take business elsewhere.”

Schneep barked out a laugh. “If people come here, it is not because they have options to take business to. But enough of this, what did you want?”

Marvin shifted on his feet. “I...need you to take a look at something.”

“Oh, is that all?” A wave of relief crossed Schneep’s face. He stepped back, opening the door wide enough for Marvin to pass through. “Come in, come in, I can see what it is back here.”

Marvin let Schneep lead him into the operating part of the clinic, but he refused to sit down on the table. “It seems not so serious, so if you would please wait a moment while I take care of this...” Schneep vanished through one of the metal doors leading deeper into the building, leaving Marvin to tap his feet impatiently. He didn’t like this. First of all, this place looked like it was thrown together, and also needed an upgrade. Second of all, he was already having doubts about this, he didn’t want them to have time to fester.

Schneep reemerged, tossing an empty syringe on a nearby tray. “There we are, we will not be disturbed now,” he said. “What is it you need help with?”

Marvin started fidgeting, pulling on his fingers. “Okay. So. I am—look, I’m trusting you with this. You can’t tell anyone, alright?”

“That is no problem.”

“I’m serious. I will literally put a fucking curse on you if I find out you told anyone.”

“Okay.”

“I’ve been working on one that can make it feel like pins are being shoved in your eyes whenever you look at something, and that something can be as vague as a specific color. Y’know, like the literal version of ‘cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.’”

“Now you are going overboard with this. I have no intention of telling anyone whatever it is this is about. This secret of yours is safe with me.”

Marvin exhaled slowly, and looked toward the ceiling. “Okay. Okay, good. Fuck. Here goes nothing.” Before he could change his mind, he reached up and undid the straps of his mask, then pulled it off. He slowly looked back towards the doctor.

Schneep’s eyes were wide. He stepped forward until he was uncomfortably close to Marvin. He raised his hand. “May I...?”

Marvin hesitated. “...fine,” he grumbled. “But take off your gloves, they’re still messy. And be careful.”

The doctor pulled off his gloves, then put his hands on either side of Marvin’s head, turning it from side to side so he could get a better look. “My god,” he muttered. “What happened to you?”

“That’s not your fucking business,” Marvin said through gritted teeth. “But they’ve been...itching for a while now, and I’m wondering if they’re infected or something.”

“I would be surprised if they were not. They look...angry.” Schneep’s eyebrows furrowed. “How old are they?”

“I think about...four years at this point?” Marvin started turning his mask over in his hands. It was hard to remember sometimes.

“Really? I would think only a couple months.”

“Doc, I’ve been living with you for two years and haven’t once taken off my mask. You didn’t think there was a reason for that?”

“Ah yes.” Tentatively, Schneep reached out and tapped Marvin in the middle of his forehead. “What is this?”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Marvin yanked his head back.

“Excuse me, I am concerned! That looks like bone!”

“It’s not bone, it’s just—making my first mask out of ceramic was a really bad idea, ‘cause even magically-enhanced pottery can still shatter.”

“Why do you have ceramic embedded in your face?!”

Marvin resisted the urge to touch the places where the shards had ended up lodging. He had them memorized by now, mostly because of the dead spot in his nerves there. Forehead, upper cheeks, one between his nose and left eye, one above his right. He could have dealt with the rest of the scars, if only the shards weren’t there. “Look, I was wearing my old mask at the time this happened, it broke, I ended up getting pieces of porcelain fucking stuck to my face, can we move on?!”

Schneep raised his hands in surrender, stepping back. “Okay, okay, fine!”

“Thank you.” Marvin began spinning his mask around his pointer finger, using one of the eyeholes. “Anyway, can you tell if they’re infected? And can you help if they are?”

Schneep bit his lip, eyes scanning the damage. “Well, I would have to know what caused them. They look a bit like burns, but in the pattern of knife slashes. Like hot glass.”

“What?”

“Bits of broken glass, heated up so they will burn, flung at your face. That’s what it looks like. There are also parts where I am reminded of Lichtenburg figures.”

“What?” Marvin repeated, exasperated.

“When things are struck by high voltage, patterns will appear. These are not quite the same as scars of lightning, they are...bigger. But I am reminded of them.”

Marvin sighed. “You know what? Let’s just work under the assumption that someone took a hot, electrified knife and repeatedly applied it to my face, that’s probably as accurate as you’re going to get. There might also be some lingering traces of magic in there.”

Schneep rolled his eyes. “Well, I cannot do anything about that, but if they are itching and irritating you, I have some salves that may help. They are in the other back room, the storage one, if you would kindly follow me.”

“Alright, alright, but I hope you find this stuff quickly. Chase is making me watch his ex for him, and I don’t feel like getting into a shouting match with him over not actually doing it.”

It was around midnight when Stacy decided to go to bed. She’d tried to read through the file Anti had given her on the magician, but had to stomp halfway through. Some of these spells...why would anyone want to use spells like that? Instead, she switched to reading the vigilante’s file, managing to finish it. Then she realized it was way too late, and she had to get up early to make breakfast for the kids, get ready for work, take the kids to school, and go to work herself. That was only four things, but that was too much.

She was walking down the hall to her room when there was a knock on the front door.

Fear jolted through her. Who could be knocking this late at night? Nobody good, probably. She stood shock-still in the hallway, waiting for something else. When nothing happened, she swallowed her nerves and crept toward the living room and the front door. Maybe it was nothing?

When she flipped the lights on, the front room looked exactly the same as it had earlier that day. Except for one thing: there was now a brown envelope sitting on the floor, in the perfect position to have been pushed through the mail slot. Stacy slowly stepped forward. She peered through the peephole on the door, seeing nothing on the other side. So she looked down at the envelope on the floor, then bent over and picked it up. She turned it over in her hands.

There were words written on the back of the envelope. “Hello sweetheart.”

Stacy recognized that handwriting.

She collapsed on the couch, staring at the envelope, listening to her heart pounding in her ears.

He’d found her.

[lifestylejournaling]

Masterlist of Lifestyle Journal Ideas

I was going to post images with each listing, but 100 pictures on one Tumblr post was quite a task. So, if you’d like to see examples of any of these, I am adding them to my Pinterest Board which can be found [here].

1. Books To Read- Color them in as you go! Or make a fun list of them and check them off one at a time. 

2. All About Me- Make doodles of things you love, add quotes, draw yourself!

3. Future Log- There are so many ways to make this page. Please do some research to see which would work best for you

4. Movies To Watch- Pretty self-explanatory, but there are many ways to do this page too

5. Skills To Learn- Jot down all the things you want to learn

6. Important Numbers and Addresses- In case of emergency of course. Also, be careful what you put in this part for your own privacy reasons

7. Year In Pixels- Honestly, one of my favorite pages

8. Fonts, Banners, and Frame Ideas- For practice and to choose from when you are having trouble being creative

9. Snail Mail Log- Keeping a list of people who you want to send letters to

10. Savings Tracker- It’s always fun to see how much you have saved up

11. TV Series Tracker- Keep track of all the shows you still need to binge

12. Monthly Challenges- I know I haven’t been helpful with this lately, but you can always search for challenges on my page

13. Music Playlists- A list of songs that describe you, your goals, things you love, etc. 

14. Timeline of Your Life- This was hard for me to make. My life isn’t all that exciting

15. Inspiration Page- Fill it with quotes, pictures, memories, etc. 

16. Self-Care List/Ideas- I posted many lists like this on my Pinterest if you want more ideas

17. Monthly/Yearly Memories- Look back on all the good and bad things that you’ve gotten over and endured. 

18. Sleep Tracker- See how many hours you get each night. This also works well when paired with number 7. 

19. Me Time Log- Keep track of how many hours you spend with yourself. We all need to learn to love on ourselves a little more. 

20. Tiny Adventures- Go out of your comfort zone and go on some tiny adventures like reading in public, talking to a stranger, giving people compliments, etc. 

21. Word Tracker- For those who are writers who like to procrastinate

22. Daily To-Do List- This can be done on your weekly pages or you can make a page specifically for daily sticky notes. 

23. Blog Post Ideas- Got an idea, but you’re not at your computer or have what you need for your post? WRITE IT DOWN

24. Fitness Log- Keep track of how much and when you work out or stretch or do yoga or and of those fun physical activities. 

25. Food Log- If you’re trying to lose weight or just get healthy or just want to track your food intake for fun, this is for you! 

26. Meal Prep- I love how cute and helpful these pages can be. 

27. Gift Lists- Ever see something and say to yourself, “Man, ____ would really like that”? Keep a list of things people would like so that you don’t worry about it when it comes to holiday time or birthdays. 

28. Grocery Lists- Every time I go shopping, I forget something because I didn’t write it down. 

29. Goals- Oh, yes! It’s 2018. We need some goals. Monthly, weekly, daily, YEARLY. Just get some goals and aim for them. 

30. Recipes To Try- I see nice recipes all the time on Facebook, but I never think about them again after I keep scrolling. It’s bad. 

31. Daily Affirmations- Give yourself some compliments and some emotional support

32. Business Plan- Make yourself a good businesswoman or businessman or businessperson in 2018. You got this. 

33. Birthdays- Keep track of all those important people in your life that need to be remembered on their special day. 

34. Work Hour Log- Sometimes we don’t keep track of all the things we get paid for. Actual work, babysitting, photography jobs, writing jobs, pet sitting, house sitting, etc. 

35. Wishlists- Not so you can #treatyourself, but so that you can make note of things you really want. 

36. Gratitude Log- It’s always good to have a moment of gratitude with yourself. Make it a monthly challenge if you need to!

37. Quotes- Your own, friend quotes, celebrity quotes, author quotes, and lyrics. 

38. Illustrations and Doodles- Doodling helps you keep your mind fresh and ready to react quickly to situations. 

39. Jokes- Your own, ones you heard, ones you read, etc. 

40. New Discoveries and Interesting Facts- Find a new interesting fact? How about that lemonade is basically Sprite in almost any other country than America?

41. Travel Log- Places you want to go! There are so many ways to do this, so look up different versions before starting!

42. Family and Friend Favorites- Their favorite colors, animals, stores, places, hobbies, etc. 

43. DIY Projects- Things you want to try out someday. 

44. Chore List- Keep track of when you do your chores so that your house doesn’t become disgusting or dusty. 

45. Bucketlist- What do you want to do before graduation, moving out, marriage, having kids, etc. 

46. Story Ideas- I always come up with story ideas and then when I sit down to write them, I blank. 

47. Period Log- For people with periods that have many PMS symptoms or even PMDD symptoms. This is a great way to show your doctor all of the things you go through each cycle. 

48. Words That Make You Happy- Silly words, ugly words, words that are fun to say, etc. 

49. Things That Make You Happy- People, places, and things. 

50. Monthly Habits- Water intake, cleaning, bathing, exercising, reading, etc. 

51. Story Titles- This can be titles for books, short stories, poems, or just nice sounding titles for anything. 

52. Made Up Words- I make myself laugh with all the words I make up on the daily. 

53. Follower Counter- This page keeps me inspired to keep doing what I love. 

54. Index- Always have an index for easy access to the pages you want to find. 

55. Icons- Sometimes we need to have icons to make our pages pretty. Sometimes we make too many icons and never use them (me). 

56. Packing List- For those who travel often or stay at friends’ houses more than our own, it’s good not to forget the things we need. 

57. Morning Routines- Our bodies need routines for mornings to get us ready for the day. 

58. Nightly Routines- Our bodies need routines for nights to prepare us for sleep. (see what I did there?)

59. Weight Tracker- If you’re struggling with your weight, keep a chart tracker or add your daily weight to your calendar. 

60. Pen Test Page- If you get new pens, highlighters, or markers, its best to test them out before using them. 

61. Brain Dump- Sometimes we just need to jot down ideas or thoughts. It’s okay if they don’t make sense. 

62. Spending Log- Keep track of what you spend because you might need that someday. 

63. Water Tracker- HYDRATE

64. Habit Tracker Reward System- This is something I came up with myself, so if you have questions, message me!

65. Name Lists (For Babies and Stories)- Keep a list of cool names for characters or even future babies. 

66. Looking Forward To...- Birthdays, holidays, raises, pay days, vacations, etc. 

67. Compliment Lists- Make a list of your go-to compliments, your favorite ones people have given you, etc. 

68. Level 10 Life- Please look up what this is before jumping into it!

69. Pet Care Log- Keep track of how much you do with your pets. Walks, play time, park time, play dates, baths, etc. 

70. Achievements- What have you done that you are proud of?

71. Weekly Log- Keep track of your week. This is one of the most used pages in any bullet journal honestly. 

72. Monthly Log- Another overly used page in any bullet journal. Very important. 

73. Daily Log- I don’t do this too often, but I know it helps others who really need a whole page for each day. 

74. Bill Tracker- This was fun to make and something I will be using now

75. Income Tracker- How much and how frequently do you get paid?

76. Deadline Page- Prepare yourself for things that you need to get done. Do not procrastinate this year!

77. Vocabulary Practice- Sometimes we just need to educate ourselves on our own terms. (and with our own terms. Anyone? Anyone?)

78. Doctor Appointment Log- If you don’t want to add them to your calendar or they are too far out to add to the calendar you’re using. 

79. Username and Password List- Be careful with this page. If someone finds your bullet journal, this could be bad. 

80. Monthly Cover Page- These are so cute! I just started doing them, but they make my journal so artsy and pretty. 

81. Dream Log- This is a fun one. Track your dreams. This would be good to line up with how many hours you get as well. 

82. Favorites List- What are YOUR favorites? Movies, snacks, drinks, subjects, people, colors, animals, etc. 

83. Habits To Break- Do you bite your nails? Quote The Office too much? Throw clothes into piles on your floor? STOP THAT. 

84. Small Things That Matter- Puppies, getting up in the morning, pennies, smiling at yourself, laughter, etc. Remind yourself that there is good in the world. 

85. Things To Sell- Get rid of the things you don’t need. Or make things to sell! Be prosperous this year. 

86. School Schedule- High school and college students really need this. Even teachers do too. Make a chart of your classes, room numbers, buildings, and times.

87. House Projects- Things that need fixing or improvements around the house. 

88. Day Trip Ideas- Fun places to go when you have the time. 

89. Things I Am Bad At- It’s okay to admit our shortcomings and work on them. Or just accept them for what they are. 

90. Resolutions- YES! Make yourself this better this year. Be the best you. 

91. Crochet/Knit Log- When making a blanket, small items, or just keeping track of your improvements in your skill. 

92. Future Planning- Make a list of the things you want in your future and how you plan on getting them. 

93. Quirk List- Ever notice you do small little weird things? Make a list to appreciate who you are. 

94. Who Borrowed What- Sometimes people borrow things and you forget until you need it again. By then, they threw it out or gave it to someone else. 

95. Six Word Stories- Get those creative juices pumping. 

96. Love Yourself- Write down all the things you love about yourself. Appreciate yourself. 

97. Paying It Back- Honestly, a good page to have, but it doesn’t get much attention from me. 

98. Childhood Dreams- We should always try to look back on what we thought we wanted

99. Good Deed Ideas- Ever think “wow, wouldn’t it be great if I could _____”?

100. Mind Mapping- There are a few reasons I really enjoy this, but it really helps me get my thoughts and ideas out more easily

[fangirllifu]

Sweet Like Pudding Ch. 23

Italics - thoughts

It's a month before the Representative Playoffs, and Kuroo had an idea he pitched to Bokuto and Akaashi. Kenma's Birthday is coming up, and as the 'good-if-not-the-bestest-best-friend-he-is', Kuroo obviously had to organize a surprise birthday party for him. Despite the other's blatant refusal to participate in such events.

Since Kenma's birthday falls on a school day, Kuroo had to plan it accordingly. His original plan was to have a small team celebration, but opted against it as Kenma might react badly, especially with the ever-unpredictable-current-cause-of-Kenma's-headache, Haiba Lev. As such, he just decided on a private celebration at Kenma's house (permission from his parents are not needed, he's basically family), with a special guest of honor, of course. All he had to do now was plan how he was going to get said guest of honor to come. After all, they were the most important factor needed. And that's where those two come in. Bokuto and Akaashi said they had it covered so….. guess he doesn't have to think about that now then.

—~~~— —~~~— —~~~— —~~~— —~~~— —~~~—

It's officially D-day, and so far everything's been going according to plan. He'd managed to prevent his teammates—who remembered Kenma's birthday—to not throw him a party. It came as a surprise though, even to him, that they would gift Kenma a whole pan of Apple Pie. And for the first time, the pudding-head wasn't annoyed with the team as they greeted him with a 'Happy Birthday'. He's obviously too distracted with the Apple Pie to care about anything else.

Kenma's good mood was surprisingly constant throughout the day. Well… he wasn't exactly in a good mood, per say. He was just not in an irritable mood as he usually is this time of the year, which counts as being in a good mood in Kuroo's book.

They were currently chilling in the living room of the Kozume household, playing one of Kenma's video games, while his mom was in the kitchen preparing. After losing so horribly for the fourth consecutive time, Kuroo sinks into the couch with a heavy sigh. As he straightened back up, he chanced a glance at the clock.

"They should be arriving any minute now—" Kuroo thought and sure enough the house bell sounds off.

*Ding Dong~*

"Go on Kenma. Open the door. I bet that's Bokuto and Akaashi with your present." Kuroo smiles mischievously as he pauses the game, and eagerly shoos Kenma to the door.

As Kenma gets closer to the door, he hears an embarrassed and highly flustered voice that he recognized to be Kanna's, exclaim.

"What the hell you guys! I—"

Kenma opens the door to be greeted by the image of Kanna being securely held by Koutarou on his shoulder, and Akaashi behind them.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Koutarou cheerfully exclaims as he sets Kanna down in front of them.

"Happy Birthday Kozume." Akaashi greets with a nod.

Kenma merely spared them both a glance, as he was too distracted by the girl in front of him. There was Kanna standing in front of him, wrapped in a big red bow, wearing a black over-sized hoodie with what he could only guess, as a bunch of gaming icons decorating the sleeves. There was something in front, but he couldn't really make out what it was, with the bow in the way. (art)

"Um…" Kanna mumbles looking everywhere but Kenma.

"Happy Birthday?" She sheepishly smiles at him and opens her palms in a 'ta-dah' motion, though not really doing much as her arms were bounded to her sides.

Kenma chuckled at the endearing image, the sound causing a bright blush to bloom on Kanna's face. Kenma recollected himself, before extending his arm to gently pull her inside the house and out of the cold night air.

"My gift?" He teases good-naturedly, highly amused.

"Um… the hoodie was my mine. I wasn't aware I was going to be the one to wear it, and end up being the gift though…." She sheepishly answers, still avoiding his line of sight.

She twitched lightly, when Kenma suddenly came even closer to her and pulled the bow off. Now that it was off, he could finally get a closer look at the hoodie. In front were the words 'KODZUKEN' in pixel font, in the shade of Kenma's iconic pudding hair, and he was right about the gaming icons on the sleeves. All in all, it was a very well thought out design, Kenma couldn't help but note. And it looked absolutely adorable on Kanna's small stature.

"I like the hoodie. Thank you." He comments as he puts the ribbon aside.

"But I think you should keep it." His words caused Kanna to look up at him and meet his gaze. Only to regret it soon after, as he had that 'look' on his face that did weird things to stomach and made her chest hurt.

"It looks better on you."

She's positive she just turned to jelly. She's wondering how she's still standing, when she can barely feel her legs with the sudden onslaught of emotions.

"Wha—What is wrong with me?! I don't understand what's happening?!"

—~~~— —~~~— —~~~— —~~~— —~~~— —~~~—

Akaashi and Koutarou who had long since left the two and sneaked their way inside, were spying on them—along with Kuroo—on the couch.

"Ngghh~ Why does he have to speak so softly?! I can't hear what he's saying!" Bokuto grumbles gripping down hard on the couch.

"That's the exact intended purpose Bokuto-san. So you don't hear." Akaashi states pointedly ignoring his incessant twitching.

"But—" Bokuto was going to argue, but stopped with a look from Akaashi.

"Oh, come on Akaashiii~ Don't tell me you aren't curious about what Kenma's sayin—look—look, see~ Kanna-chan's face just exploded. I want to know why~" Kuroo whines along with Bokuto.

"The both of you are hopeless." Akaashi resignedly sighs as he stands up from his seat and proceeds to walk towards the kitchen, calling out to the older male. "Come on Bokuto-san, we haven't even greeted Mrs. Kozume yet."

Bokuto springs up and follows quickly after Akaashi, they come into the kitchen to see Kenma's Mom placing a plate filled with food on the table.

"Hello Aunty!" Bokuto cheerfully salutes.

"Hello Mrs. Kozume." Akaashi greets with a respectful bow.

"Hello to you too Koutarou-kun, Keiji-kun!" Kenma's mom addresses, happily welcoming the two boys.

"Mrs. Kozume, this is for you." Akaashi steps forward and hands her a small rectangular box.

"Hm?" She hums questioningly as she accepts.

"I'm sure you'd be quite pleased with it." Akaashi lightly smiles, encouraging.

She opens the box and sees what appears to be a scrapbook. She flips the cover and giggles. "Oh, dear! Thank you so much! I'll be sure to treasure them."

The two bowed and walked back towards Kuroo on the coach just as Kanna and Kenma turned and made their way to the kitchen, probably to say their hellos as well.

—~~~— —~~~— —~~~— —~~~— —~~~— —~~~—

"But as I said, I really like the hoodie. Did you design it?" Kenma asks, he really did like the hoodie.

"Yeah… I even had to ask Kuroo if you had a favorite food so I could include it in the design." Kanna bashfully nods.

"Oh? Where is it?" Kenma asks intrigued, as he didn't see it anywhere.

Kanna turns around to show him the back, where a big slice of Apple Pie was plastered right there in the middle—pixilated—still keeping to the game theme of the hoodie. And here Kenma thought it couldn't get any better. It just did.

Kenma shakes his head in fondness and gently ushers her along. "Come, I'll introduce you to my mom."

They walk, passing by the trio on the couch, two of which had just started playing games on the TV with the other just watching over the impending chaos. They pointedly ignored the shouting and shoving, and continued on their way.

"Mom." Kenma calls, as they come into the kitchen.

"Hm?" Kenma's mom turns, and smiles widely at the sight before her. "Hello dear! I believe this is the first time we've met."

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Kozume. My name's Bokuto Kanna, Kou's cousin." Kanna bows, returning the smile.

"So this is her…"

Kenma's Mom beams even brighter as she exclaims. "Oh! Tetsurou-kun's told me all about you! You're even cuter in person!"

Her words caused Kanna to jerk in surprise and shuffle closer to Kenma, keeping her head down to try and hide her tinted face.

"Mom. You're overwhelming her." Kenma admonishes, with a scolding stare.

"Oh, I'm sorry dear. I didn't mean to." Kenma's Mom apologized, smiling softly in seeing how her son was quick to defend the girl.

"It's alright, Mrs. Kozume." Kanna reassures as she lifts her head up to meet her gaze.

With a delighted smile back on her face, Kenma's Mom states. "Dear none of that, call me Mom instead!"

Before anything else can happen, Kenma quickly took hold of Kanna and steered her back out of the kitchen.

"Okay, that's enough. We'll be by the couch if you need us." He says with hurried steps.

Kenma's Mom giggles, at the sight of her son's frantic actions. She could get used to this new side of Kenma that Kanna has managed to bring out.

"Welcome to the family Kanna-chan~!" She hollers mischievously, after them.

"Mom!" He calls out, then proceeds to grumble about 'embarrassing moms' as he walks alongside Kanna.

"Your mom's very… um…" Kanna mumbles, not sure what to make out off of the interaction she had just had.

"Don't mind her too much." Kenma responds as he continues on his way towards the others on the couch.

Only for them to arrive to the scene of Koutarou wailing on the floor, Kuroo standing triumphantly smug above him, and Akaashi on the side looking like a resigned mom so done with her two children.

Koutarou notices the two and proceeds to crawl towards them, he then extends his hand holding the controller as he dramatically pleads "Avenge meee~~, Kanna-chaaaaannn~~~"

Kanna doesn't know whether to be exasperated by the theatrics, or laugh at the utter stupidity and level of brain cells absent in the room.

"Okay… I guess." She appeases, to stop and rid them of his incessant 'I'm dying' groaning.

"Oh~ So the little one has come to avenge its fallen, now has she." Kuroo challenges with his irritatingly signature smirk.

Kanna doesn't rise to challenge and merely shrugs at him as she makes her way towards the open space on the coach, and sits. The rest of the guys follow soon after, and Kuroo starts the game.

Everyone was zeroed in on the intense match between the two. For once, Koutarou was silent.

They were finally nearing the end of the game. Both of them had been fighting a close match throughout it, so whoever manages to take this, wins the whole thing. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Kanna executes a high level move that surprises Kuroo and almost made him lose, but he perseveres. Kuroo swivels his head to look at Kanna in shock, only to realize what just happened.

"Kenma! Tha—Stop telling her the cheats! That's cheating!" Kuroo complains, startling Akaashi and Koutarou—who laughs loudly at Kuroo's misery at being played.

"You're supposed to be my best friend! Kenma!" Kuroo continues to grumble, whilst trying to evade and counter Kanna.

Meanwhile, Kenma continues to lead and instruct Kanna on where to go, where to aim and what buttons to push. Kanna gladly listens and eagerly does as she's told.

"Stop ignoring me, dammit!" And…. he loses. Not surprisingly so.

"That was a low blow, man." Kuroo sighs dejectedly as he deflates on the couch.

"You were taking too long." Kenma nonchalantly stands up and takes the controller from him, and returns to his seat beside Kanna.

Kenma—the gaming master/expert that he was—then proceeded to obliterate them multiple times in the half hour they were waiting for Kenma's Mom to call them to eat. They were so wrecked that by the time they were called, they were quite literally relieved and thankful to be out of Kenma's mercy.

They chatted some as they ate. Though they didn't say it out loud, Kuroo and Akaashi were well aware that Kenma had gone a tad easier on Kanna, than the rest of them. And the both of them were constantly observing how the two were interacting with each other. It's only been a few months, but the two don't seem to realize the amount of chemistry that oozes from them whenever they're together. They're pretty sure that Kenma's Mom—and Kanna's for that matter—are more knowledgeable in what's up, than the two of them.

Its equal parts amusing and annoyingly cute. It's amusing because their little interactions are just so wholesome, and annoying because they want them to be together already. Heck, every single one of them already consider them official, they only need the two to finally confirm it. And they know, when that day comes, a huge party/celebration is going to be thrown— or at least attempted.

After dinner, they thanked Kenma's Mom for the lovely meal, and then got shooed back into the living room. Where our favorite trio sat on the couch behind the two on the carpet, and watched as Kenma tried to teach Kanna how to play the game he just loaded. Kuroo comments 'it's his favorite game to play' and 'how unbelievably patient he's being'. Which is unprecedented in Kuroo's book of 'Kenma's personalities when he plays'.

Eventually, they had to leave as it was getting late. Kanna and Kenma wrapped up their game, and everyone said their thank you's once again to Kenma's Mom for having them. Kuroo was outside chatting away with Koutarou and Akaashi, as they waited for Kanna. She said she had to go to the bathroom before they go. She wasn't sure how busy the trains would be, so she'd rather be prepared than regretting the entire time.

Kanna walked towards Kenma at the door, and as she moves to open it, he stops her with a touch of his hand on her arm. She turns to him in question at the gesture.

"I'll see you this weekend?" Kenma asks in a soft, unsure voice.

Kanna blinks for a second before responding. "Oh! Yeah! Of course! Yes! Yep!"

Kenma nods and releases her arm. But Kanna doesn't make a move to open the door, instead she turns fully to him and asks.

"But are you sure I should keep this? I did order this just for you." Gesturing to the hoodie by lifting her arms.

"Yes, I'm sure." He assures with a soft smile, then looks away to hide his blush from seeing a pouting Kanna.

"Okay….." Kanna concedes, though still doubtful. They conclude the conversation there, as they both walk out the door, joining the others.

—~~~— —~~~— —~~~— —~~~— —~~~— —~~~—

It's finally the awaited weekend, and Kanna didn't know why she was feeling so weirdly the entire time leading up to it.

(But let's be honest, we all know why, right? Of course, we do.)

Kanna was walking by herself, on her way to Kenma's house. He'd offered to meet her at the station so she doesn't have to walk alone, but she kindly declined. She didn't want to trouble him by having him walk back and forth just for her. As she was walking up to the door of the house, for some reason, her palms were getting sweaty, and she had this inexplicable urge to turn and just hightail it as far as she possibly could. But she stood her ground and continued forward, even managing to ring the doorbell without any further interruptions.

"What's wrong with me, really? Am I sick or something?"

Kanna was deep in her thoughts, when the door opened, and she was greeted gleefully by Kenma's Mom.

"Hello, dear! Come in, come in!" She ushers Kanna inside and as they walk further inside, she calls out. "Kenma! Kanna-chan's here!"

Sound of footsteps could be heard thundering down the stairs, and Kenma appears from the corner leading up to it.

"I'll leave you two to it then. I'll be down here if you need me. Have fun!" She waves them off as she makes her way to the couch and continues watching her show.

Kenma walks towards Kanna and guides her up to his room. As she walks in, she looks around and sees; a modest sized bed, across from that is a flat screen TV equipped with multiple game consoles, next to that is a shelf of what she guessed were the CDs for the games. On the other side was a bookshelf with a couple of mangas, next to that was a desk with a few cat trinkets and school books. She realized how dark the room was when he closed the door and the room was only illuminated by the TV, guessing it was because of the black-out curtains.

Kenma sat at the edge of his bed and patted beside him, gesturing for Kanna to sit. She complied and appreciated how soft the bed was as Kenma handed her the other controller.

"So what are we gonna play?" Kanna asked looking at him eagerly.

"We can play some PvP games or some one-player ones. I could also teach you how to play my favorites if you like." Kenma suggested, standing up and making his way to the collection of games at the side.

"That's great and all, but are you sure? I know I've mentioned this multiple times, but despite doing well in academics, I really can't understand how most of these work." She voices looking unsure, as she fidgeted with the controls.

"You'll be fine. Why don't we start with the basics, I'll pick a few and then you can decide which ones you like." Kenma assured, doing just that and holding up a few he'd selected in his hands.

"Okay!" She nods.

And so they proceeded to play a few simple games that didn't require Kenma to explain much, and it came as no surprise that her favorite ones were a couple of idle games. Afterwards Kenma showed her his collection of favorite games—the ones he keeps coming back to. He played a few rounds with Kanna watching amazed at how he played, before he handed the controller to her and guided her through it.

Kenma was lying behind Kanna as he watched her attempt to copy what he previously did in his demonstration and ceremoniously fail, causing him to chuckle at her frustrated groans. He continued watching her as she tried again multiple times, simply reveling in the range of emotions her face expressed. When she suddenly whopped and giddily turned to him with shining eyes and a bright smile, and Kenma was hit with a sudden realization.

He stared at her wide-eyed as she turned back to continue playing, unaware of what Kenma was currently going through. After some time, he sat up from his position and wordlessly inched closer to Kanna, and gently—albeit a little unsure— wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in.

The reaction was immediate. Kanna froze, completely forgetting about the game as she asked in a soft and slightly worried voice. "Kenma?"

Kenma respond by bending his head and placing his forehead on her shoulder. They sat in silence for a moment before Kenma's voice broke through.

"Would you….."

"Hn?" She encouraged when he stopped, feeling the apprehension in his voice.

"Would you say yes…." He started again, then paused and let out a breath. "…if I asked for me to be yours, and you to be mine?"

Kanna flushed terribly as his words registered. She turned her head and stared wide-eyed at Kenma's head, who was quite adamant in burying his head into her shoulder.

"Ke—Kenma I—" She spluttered not knowing how to respond.

"It's alright. You don't have to say anything." He assures, yet sounding small and hesitant. But before Kanna can say anything, he continues.

"I just—um—don't…know….." He stutters, tightening his hold on her. "…I've never actually been in this situation before so—um—But I feel comfortable around you, much more than I do with Kuroo, and I don't feel like I have to constantly worry and I can just be… And it's alright if you don't agree, I just—….want to be allowed to stay by your side….Please…."

He finishes, screwing his eyes shut and further curls in on Kanna in apprehension as silence envelops the two, letting his words hang in the air.

Kanna turns her body around, in his embrace, to face him. "Oh, Kenma…."

With his head still down, Kanna cups his face as she contemplates. "I'm such an idiot. Of course that was the reason! This must be why Keiji keeps making fun of me. Because I'm dumb when it comes to my own feelings."

She steels her resolve, despite the uncertainty, and takes a deep breath as she says. "I'm not sure how this works too, but….. I'm sure we'll be able to figure it out together, right?"

He lifts his head up and stares at her wide-eyed. "Is she…..?"

She smiles at him as their eyes lock. "Does this mean you're going to let me cuddle you then?"

Kenma's face explodes at the unexpected question. He surges to bury his head once again in her shoulder from the embarrassment, as well as preventing her from seeing his reddened face.

"Kenma?" She asks in confusion, trying to move away but is locked in place by a surprisingly strong grip.

"Huh? Did I say something wrong?"

—~~~— —~~~— —~~~— —~~~— —~~~— —~~~—

Kenma loves his hoodies. I mean who wouldn't right. They're so soft, warm and just downright the epitome of comfort. But for some reason, recently when he's browsing through shops for new ones, he keeps on wondering if they would look cute on Kanna. All because of that damned birthday party.

"I'm losing my mind." Kenma shakes his head as he wills his blush to be gone from his face.

Notes:

Here is the b-day special for Kenma I have promised. Also as an early Valentine's present to you all, I have drawn an illustration of Kanna. If you missed it, here (art). I'm new to everything, but I hope you receive it well, I had a lot of fun making it.

There were multiple instances, while writing and editing this, that I either cringed so hard or felt my heart clench too much from the amount of fluff. I'm not sure if it was alright or too much, so I shall await your generous comments regarding the matter. I also have little to no knowledge of console games so please don't come at me.

[Previous Chapter | Next Chapter]

Chapter List

[aryapathak-ls25-blog]

Week 8: Digital Sculpture Moving Light

LS 25- Week 8

Conceptual art- questioning whether the artwork or the conception of the art that draws on other concepts ex. He had a picture of a blue light beam that was projected on a screen... is the picture the art or is the projection itself the art

 Interactive art- mobile spectator, you interact with the art... spectator actually impacts the art and the art isn’t complete until the

 Light art installations: our perception

  3.5.18

Expanded Cinema

 Cinema As Object - Sculpture

 Film/ Video Installation Art. 

 Cinema is a femoral, part of the magic or dream life of cinema has to do with that idea.

 The sense of non-objectiveness of cinema is part of its allure in a way.

 We have very little idea of how this came to be, the mark of the best classical cinema is the film that hides its own traces of coming in to its being. 

We immerse our selves in to the story lines. 

 The drive toward ultimate seemlessness becomes the object as technology of cinema continue to develop further. 

 Film and light could have a sculptural aspect to it.

 Laszlo Moholy- Nagy - Light Prop

    -How one could work with light and project with light 

    -Create objects that could alter light and change light was something he was very interested in. 

    - 

 Light Play in Black White and Grey

- Starts off with scripts of film as sculptural objects.

-  the device rotates on a motor and a projection of light is passed through a bunch of objects on the device to cause the distortion of the light to make a bunch of shadows that rotate around the projection.  

- It also goes in terms of white as well 

- and then in to grey. 

 Anthony Marcar

"Line Describing a Cone" 

 The film that is running through the projector is slowing drawing a singly line that extends and extends

the emphasis is on the beam of line that is being drawn, creates the sense of solidarity and that it becomes an object within itself.

What is light? What is the relationship between Light as a material and something as a ephemorality. 

 Film

There is a projector shining and people waving their hands in the light in attempts to make shapes. 

They see the cone given by the light as an object therefore want to pierce through it.     

  Film

A bunch of screens and multiple projectors going back and forth from reality. A very immersive environment with loud speakers.

 Watching this makes me feel like I am actually at the place they are showing on all of these screens. 

 Maybe that is the point of this film is to show the power of screens, lights and sound to help individuals feel as if they are in the place and truly immerse themselves in to the screening 

 A sense of simultaneity, people become mobile spectators, people become as they are able to move around and get different experiences. 

 Picture of a series of sculptures by Robert Irwin.

Room light sculpture

    - No light technology 

    -Only shadows and Reflections from Dawn to Dusk. 

    -The shapes change through out the room from the course of the day. 

    -The space is divided by a series of screens., this allows the light coming in to reflect in the different ways

    - some could argue this cinematic as the shapes are in motion and are changing through out the day. 

    -  This is a "Motion" picture installation. 

 Objective Art

 The View on the mind in the viewer rather than in an object

  Space as Medium

-from Medium Specificity to Site Specificity- where the work 

 Marcel Duchamp

Famously took a urinal in the men's room and place it in the gallery.

This makes us ask the question : "What is Art?: What can we distinctify as art? A kind of catalyst for the viewer to actively engage in the set of questions that become philosophical and ethical. 

 Joseph Kosuth

put a dictionary definition of meaning in the gallery as a painting and art. 

 Vague and Complex.

How do we articulate that something means something. 

 Nam Jun Pike

"Standing Shiva" 

using both traditional sculptural objects and TV Cinema to make comparisons of both perspective. 

 3.7.18

March 7th

 Jim Campbell. Moving Light Artists

  First Film he shows is hit exhibit at the NY exhibit 

Trying to show what it could feel like being mentally ill

He portrayed fire on the individuals being filmed, sometimes froze them

  Memory Recollection

A lot of tv screens

If would start from the screen on the left and delayed showed the movements moving down the line of the screens.

  Digital Watch

 A portrayal of the watch and the image of the individuals on to the watch it self.

Tried to portray a times frame and wanted to inco

rporate that aspect in to his art.

 Ruins of Light

 First public art project he created in the Phoenix Suns Arena

Captured peoples imagery and super imposed on top of still images from scenic scenes from various places in the world. 

Wanted to get rid of the taco bell and mcdonalds from the imagery 

  Created a couple of works that were dedicated to the uncertainty principle 

there was a Buddha in the cube and the closer you get to the sculpture the foggier it got so you only got to see the shadow of the Buddha.

 Untitled (for Heisenberg).

 Light projected on to the bed of salt

theory of abstraction

the more you would approach the figure the less you would see

 Anti Interactive works the more you wanted to see the less you would actually see

 Reading the Bible

The Bible hung up while some one was spelling out the bible verses.

 Cyclical Meter and Cyclical Counter

 Clock represents the flow of air coming out of this woman 

 Camera Pointed at a candle inside the Brooklyn bridge, used a speaker to amplify sounds of wind  

 He wanted to create an interactive work with no goal and not game oriented and this led to a piece of work that changes color based on peoples touch of the screen. Images only come on when there is no sound and vice versa.

 He started thinking about what goes in and out of the computer and wanted to focus on the Reconstruction Filter. 

 Ambiguous Icon

Created his own display icons 

"Running Falling"

showing it with and with out and diffusing screen.

 Fight

A boxing match in color but by filtering out the pixel structure the information is more comprehensible by brain 

88 Pixels and at the limit of percieveability.

 Fire and Freeway And a Walk 

This work defines an image simply by its perimeter with a black picture and a string of LED lights all around the perimeter. 

 Primal Perception

Not enough details to have the analytical part of your brain to work so it shuts off.

It allows a subliminal part to show in terms of interpreting the work of art 

 Motion and Rest

six  different disabled individuals walking to their gates.

the medium and tech and content all came together.

 Wave Modulation

Ocean Waves going and gradually going in to regular speed motion and eventually stopping it. It is blurry and low res so it goes from representational to abstract 

These works have a lot in common in sound.

  Home Movies

Pixels instead of facing out are facing the wall. 

There is no way of seeing the image with out the display device.

Very Low Res as well 

 Last Day in the Beginning of March

Visual Poem about the last day of his brothers life

Room that you walk in to there is a series of about 3 foot circles projected to the ground 

Not a work of visual art but more about feeling it and being there.

25 different rhythms of being there that day.

 Ocean Mirror with Fragments 

Low Resolution Technology in public art works.

UCSF for about 10 years.

Glass Wall of images made up of 49 cubes, each cube was spread out in the garden . The whole garden dances minimally throughout the whole garden. 

 In Hong Kong the ICC building

he built an imagery of an individual swimming up the tallest building. 

(Definnitely the coolest imagery I have seeen) 

BLOG POST:

This week we discussed digital sculptures and moving light. Professor Skoller discussed how part of the magic or dream life of cinema has to do with that idea that film is ephemeral; the mark of the best classical cinema is when film hides its own traces of coming in to its being, allowing viewers to fully immerse themselves in the art. Reflecting on my favorite movie of all time, Carol (2015), really helped me internalize this point. Part of the reason why I loved this movie so much was because, for about 2 hours, I felt like I was actually there, living in the 1950’s, and like I was literally a part of the relationship between the 2 main characters. We also discussed conceptual and interactive art. Conceptual art involves questioning whether the artwork or the conception of the art is really the focal point of a piece. Interactive art is art where the spectator actually impacts a piece. The art isn’t complete until they’ve seen it and reflected back on their own life. For example, McCall’s film seemed like an example of conceptual art. I found myself thinking that the point of the film was probably to show the power of screens, lights and sound to help individuals feel as if they are in the place and truly immerse themselves in to the screening, rather than to have the audience look at the actual images depicted on the screen.

In discussion, we talked about the responsibility that artists face when making a public art piece that people have no choice but to look at, which also relates to Jim Campbell’s lecture. Campbell’s first public art piece was Ruins of Light, which captured peoples’ imagery super imposed on top of still images from scenic scenes from various places in the world. I thought it was interesting how, from the readings, it didn’t seem like Campbell was super into public light installations. I’ve included a quote below:

Basically, Campbell himself seemed to be turned off by flashy light installations, yet he still decided to take on the the salesforce project, because he was thought it would be a fun challenge. He saw his work as an experiment and was interested to see how people would react; in fact, this was a common theme in Campbell’s work. One of his main goals was to create interactive work that avoided being formulaic; this was clear when he was talking about Hallucination and Digital Watch and how they didn’t elicit the response from viewer that he’d hoped it would. It seems like Campbell is very considerate when developing public art pieces and he makes sure to think carefully about how pieces will affect the public.

Here is a picture from another public art piece called Skygate, which is an outdoor 1985 stainless steel sculpture by Roger Barr, installed along the Embarcadero in San Francisco: