So- today I got to cracking again with Sam Shepard's Tooth of Crime and just trying to work all the kinks out as it goes in conjunction with The Bacchae. Tooth is not the easiest to understand; the jargon Sam uses in this post-apocalyptic musical alternative reality where Rock Stars declare "turf" and battle each other with song is rather in tune with or akin to the patter that Joss Whedon used in Firefly- kind of back-alley gangs slang if you get my drift. So a few re-readings go a long way, to understand what's both being said and left UNsaid and what is being alluded to. I've read numerous articles on Tooth and tried to decipher the musical reality in order to create the visual one.
One thing I read that I kind of disagree with is that, when it came out, everyone said Tooth of Crime was a show "about fame" and how it destroys the famous and causes them to become deluded. I highly disagree. To ME, Tooth cannot be about anything but RELEVANCE and becoming irrelevant in society as art forms grow, change and morph to fit the needs of the society they are in. As I cross towards my 26th birthday and find that I have more in common with other people my age or older, I find myself greeting new demons of questioning the relevance of myself as an artist and storyteller, and identifying that fear in Hoss. I also find myself recognizing the face of the younger generation in Crow, but also realizing that Hoss and Crow are constructs towards a greater truth.
I read this article about the dying art of film yesterday and it really fed into this aforementioned reflection. Though I agree that the way this author talks makes it sound as if the film industry is in far more dire circumstances than reality would have you believe, I do mourn the passing of the "old" way of doing things in the arts. I don't think it's just nostalgia- the old things WERE better. They were thought about with more depth and worked out through hours of labored imagining, uninterrupted by a multitude of technological distractions and the laborer without a sense of urgent ADHD that prevails throughout most of society nowadays.
Yup. So why is it that we don't want to preserve the "better" old ways of doing things? One cannot argue that the "blues" of the Hoss generation technically trumps the "Crows" of todays' musicians who pick and scavenge the cords of musicians past in order to pick their bones clean. One cannot argue that "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" is a better film than "G-Farce" (the hamster movie in 3D). Why don't we want things to be "better"?
Maybe we're all too distracted. Great art comes from allowing oneself to be "bored" and listen to the muses. You really can't hear the muses over text-messaging.
Just a thought... Until next time...
<3 J
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
The Fifth Re-purpose
And I will keep re-purposing this blog until it contains a theme and a title that makes me consistently want to write. As of right now, it does.
I kept thinking about This Article yesterday and the implications of the right brain understanding something that it can't reveal through the left brain.
Then I started thinking about TM and non-traditional (but are there really any traditional?) methods of locating creative inspiration and utilizing it to its' full potential.
The heart of the matter is that I think a lot like Lynch and tend to "get" his stuff. His stuff being the stuff you're not supposed to get. So I'm wondering- how can that be? And to attempt to communicate this understanding completely fails- playing into the "competing voices" in the brain.
It is possible that the right brain's understanding can be called "subconscious" understanding and I have studied under those who aim to make their subconscious understanding their primary means of existing and using information. However, when one has to communicate using only subconscious understanding, there of course will be failure of communication, since the right brain is not intended towards communication.
But my theory is that because I've heard the compositions of Angelo Badalamenti since I was VERY young, that I somehow subconsciously "understood" the way that Lynch tells stories. When I go to try to create or communicate using my own story-telling capabilities, I use my subconscious more than most and end up making decisions I do not consciously understand. However, they will, as Lynch puts it, knock one "out of your seat" with their "rightness" as far as decision-making goes. To put it into better understanding, for example; I was designing "Antigone" and I didn't need to "think" in the typical sense of rationalizing visual information towards something that would communicate to an audience. I saw a picture of a cliff and I said "YES" and it knocked me out of my seat. I said yes to a few other things as well, and put them into a composition and it almost made me cry. Whenever I show someone the image of this design, I get extremely polarized, powerful responses- 85% of them completely positive.
That is the "rightness" that cannot be understood to communicate it through the left side of the brain.
Back to TM or Transcendental Meditation, which Lynch is of course a big support of (to put it lightly). Lynch has a talent for making subconscious choices that cannot, using left-sided reasoning- create any semblance of a linear storytelling or meaning, but seem "right" to the viewer. I believe that practicing TM can help the creative individual experience this feeling of subconscious "rightness" in their creativity- consistently! And aim to make a study and practice of said meditation for my own goals as a designer (AND moreso, as a person).
My goal is to perpetually fall out of my seat.
I kept thinking about This Article yesterday and the implications of the right brain understanding something that it can't reveal through the left brain.
Then I started thinking about TM and non-traditional (but are there really any traditional?) methods of locating creative inspiration and utilizing it to its' full potential.
The heart of the matter is that I think a lot like Lynch and tend to "get" his stuff. His stuff being the stuff you're not supposed to get. So I'm wondering- how can that be? And to attempt to communicate this understanding completely fails- playing into the "competing voices" in the brain.
It is possible that the right brain's understanding can be called "subconscious" understanding and I have studied under those who aim to make their subconscious understanding their primary means of existing and using information. However, when one has to communicate using only subconscious understanding, there of course will be failure of communication, since the right brain is not intended towards communication.
But my theory is that because I've heard the compositions of Angelo Badalamenti since I was VERY young, that I somehow subconsciously "understood" the way that Lynch tells stories. When I go to try to create or communicate using my own story-telling capabilities, I use my subconscious more than most and end up making decisions I do not consciously understand. However, they will, as Lynch puts it, knock one "out of your seat" with their "rightness" as far as decision-making goes. To put it into better understanding, for example; I was designing "Antigone" and I didn't need to "think" in the typical sense of rationalizing visual information towards something that would communicate to an audience. I saw a picture of a cliff and I said "YES" and it knocked me out of my seat. I said yes to a few other things as well, and put them into a composition and it almost made me cry. Whenever I show someone the image of this design, I get extremely polarized, powerful responses- 85% of them completely positive.
That is the "rightness" that cannot be understood to communicate it through the left side of the brain.
Back to TM or Transcendental Meditation, which Lynch is of course a big support of (to put it lightly). Lynch has a talent for making subconscious choices that cannot, using left-sided reasoning- create any semblance of a linear storytelling or meaning, but seem "right" to the viewer. I believe that practicing TM can help the creative individual experience this feeling of subconscious "rightness" in their creativity- consistently! And aim to make a study and practice of said meditation for my own goals as a designer (AND moreso, as a person).
My goal is to perpetually fall out of my seat.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Alice of the Magic World
www.jetsetta.com/travel/alice-of-magic-world-tokyo
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1RUipx/jetsetta.com/travel/alice-of-magic-world-tokyo/
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1RUipx/jetsetta.com/travel/alice-of-magic-world-tokyo/
Propping- Not Being in Charge
So hey there bloggers! (if anyone reads this). I was thinking it might do some good to say what I've been up to here at Two River. It's been a very valuable learning experience so far, and I expect it to continue.
One of the hardest things for me to do when I first came here was to take a step back and not always have to be running everything. After being in the designer seat for so long, I functioned automatically with the knowledge that instant decisions were expected of me and that if I didn't know the answer, I had to create one on the spot. Whatever I didn't know at the moment would have to be something I learned quickly.
Coming here and finally being the Assistant- where I'm not EXPECTED to be the final word on anything- was quite a shock to the system. I still have to hold myself back quite a bit to keep from being overzealous. I know it's not ideal, but I respect the people I work for too much to want to make them feel like I'm running them over. Not that I don't give my opinion or change into a leadership role when needed- I'm ALWAYS fighting myself to try to not take over. But opinions do come out every which way and 9 out of 10 times they are helpful and appreciated.
It's a good step in getting me to chill out a little. My counselor once said to me that I have a problem with trying to race through life without taking a moment to stop and enjoy the things that really matter, and I believed her, but didn't internalize what that means for me and what I should do about it. Until now... when I'm really suddenly honest to goodness trying to really figure out why I feel I have to be racing all the time. It's a "race" in a way in theatre- a race against time and a race against apathy. But it can really drive ya crazy if you buy into all the hoopla.
So the newest thing I want to do is really take the time and try to concentrate on every task as I'm doing it and nothing else- very zen. I've lost some of that zen quality with work. I would really like it back- not only for spiritual purposes but practical ones as well. That mindframe really seems to expand the clock...
Anyways must get going!
<3 J
One of the hardest things for me to do when I first came here was to take a step back and not always have to be running everything. After being in the designer seat for so long, I functioned automatically with the knowledge that instant decisions were expected of me and that if I didn't know the answer, I had to create one on the spot. Whatever I didn't know at the moment would have to be something I learned quickly.
Coming here and finally being the Assistant- where I'm not EXPECTED to be the final word on anything- was quite a shock to the system. I still have to hold myself back quite a bit to keep from being overzealous. I know it's not ideal, but I respect the people I work for too much to want to make them feel like I'm running them over. Not that I don't give my opinion or change into a leadership role when needed- I'm ALWAYS fighting myself to try to not take over. But opinions do come out every which way and 9 out of 10 times they are helpful and appreciated.
It's a good step in getting me to chill out a little. My counselor once said to me that I have a problem with trying to race through life without taking a moment to stop and enjoy the things that really matter, and I believed her, but didn't internalize what that means for me and what I should do about it. Until now... when I'm really suddenly honest to goodness trying to really figure out why I feel I have to be racing all the time. It's a "race" in a way in theatre- a race against time and a race against apathy. But it can really drive ya crazy if you buy into all the hoopla.
So the newest thing I want to do is really take the time and try to concentrate on every task as I'm doing it and nothing else- very zen. I've lost some of that zen quality with work. I would really like it back- not only for spiritual purposes but practical ones as well. That mindframe really seems to expand the clock...
Anyways must get going!
<3 J
Friday, October 28, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
How to Ghetto-Refinish Furniture
This week I had an experience unique and informative to any painter, prop person or home-decorator.
Ghetto-Refinishing. To share in this experience first you need
A) A piece of furniture you have no business refinishing. Best if covered in a slick, somewhat reflective outer seal. Preferably from Ikea.
B) Oil-based wood finish. Must be purely oil-based and not polyurithane with oil polymers. Makes the dry time longer.
C) Damp, cold drying space.
D) Not enough time.
E) A drastic finish requirement, like go from honey to dark walnut in the least amount of steps possible.
F) Spray matte acrlyic.
G) Lemon pledge.
H) Three days.
So assemble your (in this case) side table from Ikea with almost plastic-feeling finish. Make sure it is actual wood though and not some kind of laminate finish. With gloved fingers and a throw-away chip brush, please proceed to lay on a thick gooey mess of dark-walnut stain onto your slick honey-colored surface. Pray to the gods that the color will eventually take and not roll off the sides. Take a rag and wipe off as much as you can without rubbing off the color altogether. Keep rubbing it off, spreading the layer of oil thinner and thinner with your chip brush in the direction of the grain. Keep doing this. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Notice drips and repeat. Come back an hour later, find more drips and repeat.
Put fan on surface. Put oversized fan on surface. Come back an hour later and find wood chips and human hair embedded in surface and the finish too tacky to remove said pieces. Curse and leave it until tomorrow.
Next Morning: Stil tacky. Gross. Rub rag over surface in direction of grain until faux dry. Around 12pm add second layer of black walnut. Repeat steps from first day. Realize that the damp air will not let it dry under any circumstance and move table carefully (probably up an elevator and through a narrow hallway) to a room where you can climate control everything and keep the air dry. Put two fans on it and stink up the room. Wait until tomorrow.
3rd Morning: ALMOST dry......... but Still tacky. Curse words. What to do???
Ta-da!!! Spray matte finish to the rescue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seal in all the tacky gross oil parts by pretending they don't really exist.
Except... what is that chalky residue???
Whip out the LEMON PLEDGE ::sparkle sparkle:: and proceed to polish the matte finish.
ANNNDDD.... it's dry and shiny! Yayy!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, no one touch it for like... 5 hours. K thxneverdoingthatagainbye!
~~~~~~~~~~~I just realized that by this point, you might be asking yourself "How do I AVOID a ghetto refinishing experience?" SO glad you asked! Although I encourage everyone who works in theatre to fudge up as much as possible, A few friendly tips can help these sorts of exacerbating headaches.
A) Know the end goal of your piece of furniture BEFORE your purchase. Or in any case, the director's, designer's or other head honcho's end goal. Sometimes this is impossible. Some people like to feel the way the wind is blowing in the morning in order to make a decision about furniture. Some people like the Meisner approach and want to see the furniture become the Horse of a Different Color before going back to the original shade. One can never tell.
B) Purchase a piece close to your end goal desired result. One coat to make something more red or more tan is much easier/faster to do than three.
C) Purchase a piece of furniture with unfinished wood. Choose your own Adventure!!!!
D) Strip the furniture before refinishing! Which gives you TWO roads in the wood to walk down: Stripping and Sanding. And like the journey through the River of the Dead, you must sacrifice a part of your body in order to make it to the end of the road- either your lungs or your hands. Using a wood stripper, the more potent the chemical, the more likely you are to feel the burn in your lungs (but that paint sure do run right off!) The more "organic" and safe versions will take forever but you can practicaly bathe in the stuff (Jessica Moretti does not endorse this. Please follow the instructions on your bottle).
If you sand, you'll end up rotating between radial sanders and square hand sanders, getting really into it, praying to the Sanding gods and chanting their names under your breath as your hand starts feeling a less-than-pleasant buzzing that doesn't really leave after you're done. Beware of White Hand- a condition that destroys the muscles in your hand due to too much sanding. I'm not joking.
Either one of these techniques will be quite successful! But if you choose either one, you will probably need 5 days to complete the process with the staining just FYI.
E) If, like me, you were stopped at every step of the way from making a healthier furniture choice, the best thing you can do is get the piece into a warm, dry area. Having a dehumidifier is a really great trick, if you can move the piece into a small, dry room.
Other than that... good luck!
-J
Ghetto-Refinishing. To share in this experience first you need
A) A piece of furniture you have no business refinishing. Best if covered in a slick, somewhat reflective outer seal. Preferably from Ikea.
B) Oil-based wood finish. Must be purely oil-based and not polyurithane with oil polymers. Makes the dry time longer.
C) Damp, cold drying space.
D) Not enough time.
E) A drastic finish requirement, like go from honey to dark walnut in the least amount of steps possible.
F) Spray matte acrlyic.
G) Lemon pledge.
H) Three days.
So assemble your (in this case) side table from Ikea with almost plastic-feeling finish. Make sure it is actual wood though and not some kind of laminate finish. With gloved fingers and a throw-away chip brush, please proceed to lay on a thick gooey mess of dark-walnut stain onto your slick honey-colored surface. Pray to the gods that the color will eventually take and not roll off the sides. Take a rag and wipe off as much as you can without rubbing off the color altogether. Keep rubbing it off, spreading the layer of oil thinner and thinner with your chip brush in the direction of the grain. Keep doing this. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Notice drips and repeat. Come back an hour later, find more drips and repeat.
Put fan on surface. Put oversized fan on surface. Come back an hour later and find wood chips and human hair embedded in surface and the finish too tacky to remove said pieces. Curse and leave it until tomorrow.
Next Morning: Stil tacky. Gross. Rub rag over surface in direction of grain until faux dry. Around 12pm add second layer of black walnut. Repeat steps from first day. Realize that the damp air will not let it dry under any circumstance and move table carefully (probably up an elevator and through a narrow hallway) to a room where you can climate control everything and keep the air dry. Put two fans on it and stink up the room. Wait until tomorrow.
3rd Morning: ALMOST dry......... but Still tacky. Curse words. What to do???
Ta-da!!! Spray matte finish to the rescue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seal in all the tacky gross oil parts by pretending they don't really exist.
Except... what is that chalky residue???
Whip out the LEMON PLEDGE ::sparkle sparkle:: and proceed to polish the matte finish.
ANNNDDD.... it's dry and shiny! Yayy!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, no one touch it for like... 5 hours. K thxneverdoingthatagainbye!
~~~~~~~~~~~I just realized that by this point, you might be asking yourself "How do I AVOID a ghetto refinishing experience?" SO glad you asked! Although I encourage everyone who works in theatre to fudge up as much as possible, A few friendly tips can help these sorts of exacerbating headaches.
A) Know the end goal of your piece of furniture BEFORE your purchase. Or in any case, the director's, designer's or other head honcho's end goal. Sometimes this is impossible. Some people like to feel the way the wind is blowing in the morning in order to make a decision about furniture. Some people like the Meisner approach and want to see the furniture become the Horse of a Different Color before going back to the original shade. One can never tell.
B) Purchase a piece close to your end goal desired result. One coat to make something more red or more tan is much easier/faster to do than three.
C) Purchase a piece of furniture with unfinished wood. Choose your own Adventure!!!!
D) Strip the furniture before refinishing! Which gives you TWO roads in the wood to walk down: Stripping and Sanding. And like the journey through the River of the Dead, you must sacrifice a part of your body in order to make it to the end of the road- either your lungs or your hands. Using a wood stripper, the more potent the chemical, the more likely you are to feel the burn in your lungs (but that paint sure do run right off!) The more "organic" and safe versions will take forever but you can practicaly bathe in the stuff (Jessica Moretti does not endorse this. Please follow the instructions on your bottle).
If you sand, you'll end up rotating between radial sanders and square hand sanders, getting really into it, praying to the Sanding gods and chanting their names under your breath as your hand starts feeling a less-than-pleasant buzzing that doesn't really leave after you're done. Beware of White Hand- a condition that destroys the muscles in your hand due to too much sanding. I'm not joking.
Either one of these techniques will be quite successful! But if you choose either one, you will probably need 5 days to complete the process with the staining just FYI.
E) If, like me, you were stopped at every step of the way from making a healthier furniture choice, the best thing you can do is get the piece into a warm, dry area. Having a dehumidifier is a really great trick, if you can move the piece into a small, dry room.
Other than that... good luck!
-J
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Ironic
How the one thing that you are trying to escape ends up being your one refuge. I'm talking about design. You want to get away, to stop working so hard and then turn around and feel purposeless. So you try to keep busy, read, write, and suddenly you're picking up a script and reading it with analysis in the back of your mind.
It's a sick, sick problem. Workaholism...
Went to the beach today and tried to relax and somehow mind wanders to work. Also missing John a bit and really jones-ing for a trip to the Adirondaks with him. There's nothing like New York mountains. Like my good friend Brooke says, while the North Carolina mountains are folksy and mysterious, the New England mountains are the stuff fairytales come from # BeautyandtheBeast.
Altogether, life is very pleasant in Red Bank. I can see getting very settled here but I know in my heart of hearts that I'm going to be wandering for a bit longer. Still debating New York in my heart. Something about the island makes me very claustrophobic. It's a little pressure cooker and sometimes I think we're all insane for wanting to live there, for in nature it is not really natural for humans to want to live caked on top of one another and packed in like sausages. I guess it's exciting. A spectrum of colors, flavors, smells and sights that don't really cross the general populace that you get inundated with on a daily basis.
Just wondering if I want to be inundated?
What draws me the most is the presence of Art there and the expectations of great works. I like that. I like people having high expectations and standards, to expect to be blown away, to want to forget where they are and be submerged in a Story for a while.
Is that all pretentious? I have to wonder- Are we merely pawns in a great scam that is Theatre? Does it suck away your substance and spit out something wonderful but leave you hallow on the inside?
I don't know.
These are questions to be experienced...
Anyhow. I should really read The Bacchae and The Tooth of Crime.
Still a little depressed about Game of Thrones, episode 9. Was trying to solve problems for the Starks in my dreams last night. Funny how a tv show can suck you in like that. I almost forgot that Tyrion Lannister must really be a dwarf in real life; he ceased to exist outside of the show for me. That's good storytelling.
Okay!
Away...
<3
It's a sick, sick problem. Workaholism...
Went to the beach today and tried to relax and somehow mind wanders to work. Also missing John a bit and really jones-ing for a trip to the Adirondaks with him. There's nothing like New York mountains. Like my good friend Brooke says, while the North Carolina mountains are folksy and mysterious, the New England mountains are the stuff fairytales come from # BeautyandtheBeast.
Altogether, life is very pleasant in Red Bank. I can see getting very settled here but I know in my heart of hearts that I'm going to be wandering for a bit longer. Still debating New York in my heart. Something about the island makes me very claustrophobic. It's a little pressure cooker and sometimes I think we're all insane for wanting to live there, for in nature it is not really natural for humans to want to live caked on top of one another and packed in like sausages. I guess it's exciting. A spectrum of colors, flavors, smells and sights that don't really cross the general populace that you get inundated with on a daily basis.
Just wondering if I want to be inundated?
What draws me the most is the presence of Art there and the expectations of great works. I like that. I like people having high expectations and standards, to expect to be blown away, to want to forget where they are and be submerged in a Story for a while.
Is that all pretentious? I have to wonder- Are we merely pawns in a great scam that is Theatre? Does it suck away your substance and spit out something wonderful but leave you hallow on the inside?
I don't know.
These are questions to be experienced...
Anyhow. I should really read The Bacchae and The Tooth of Crime.
Still a little depressed about Game of Thrones, episode 9. Was trying to solve problems for the Starks in my dreams last night. Funny how a tv show can suck you in like that. I almost forgot that Tyrion Lannister must really be a dwarf in real life; he ceased to exist outside of the show for me. That's good storytelling.
Okay!
Away...
<3
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