With the Midpoint Review at AAU coming up in a few weeks, all of my time as been in writing the proposal and preparing for the presentation. A bit confusing, but I'm getting my act together slowly. Going through two years of classwork was a chore. Some of the work from my earlier classes were damaged and unusable. The paper itself requires a lot of work. I'll be glad when its done.

I've been looking at the Wyeth's recently, especially Andrew's interiors and window scenes. I'm trying to see how I might incorporate some ideas from Andrew's work. My final project, series of paintings, is coming together, albeit slowly. I'm considering creating my own world, a world that combines the earthy "underworld" look of Odd Nerdrum, the metaphors of Andrew Wyeth's countryside, and the allegory of Dante's "Purgatorio", Part 2 of his Divine Comedy. I see these paintings as kind of a "Dante meets Nerdrum meets the Road Warrior and Wyeth on Mars."

A drawing of N.C. Wyeth I did today.

Google Plus is a Big Minus

I use Google. But when they began this Google+ crap to compete with Facebook my experience has been just one big cluster frick. I've set up numerous Google accounts and all I want is to use email and store files.

Fat chance keeping things simple.

I've spent the last hour setting up a new account. I uploaded two photos using the Picasa app, which was a chore because I had to fill out Google+ forms to view them. What a joke. It's all so confusing: Google, Google+, Google Drive. Getting all these things to sync up is anything but user friendly. Do I really want to spend hours trying to learn all that is required to navigate the Google maze of applications and storage bins?

Let's face it, Google. Your Google+ is a joke. I know you want to rule the world, but to do it you need to KISS.

My Own "Boyhood"

I watched Richard Linklater's "Boyhood" last night on DVD and thought Mason and I had a lot in common growing up. For one, we both loved photography. We also were adorable children, though he had better hair. We had siblings who picked on us, though I didn't have a narcissistic sister. I had two older brothers who couldn't accept that I was Mom's favorite. (Only joking, guys.) I also grew up in a post-divorce home, visiting Dad during the summer. He was not anything like
Ethan Hawke, thank God.

The above photo is the only one I have of The Wedding. Our blessed mother is wearing blue in the center of the photo, sound asleep, surely dreaming of a better life with her second husband. I'm the cute one staring at my new step-grandmother, who I never really talked to or even met more than once or twice. My older brother Mike looks like he's about to punch something. Wayne, appropriately in the middle, is the calm one.

Memories of my own boyhood came flooding back as I watched "Boyhood." The film itself was not all that great. But it was based in Texas. The director, Rochard Linklater, was born in Houston and studied film in Austin. He formed the Austin Film Society in 1985. His work provoked in me a desire to rethink my own childhood and try to figure out just why I'm here. Of course, the point he made in the film was this: none of us can figure these things out.