Victory in Japan Day

This photo is one of those 'classic american icons', meaning lots of people associate it with america and the past. The piece is fairly sound in it's composition, because it captures three different grounds with a fair amount of clarity and descriptiveness of Times Square, but the head on view of the figures is a bit harsh. I actually kind of prefer the Victor Jorgenson version of this image, because the composition is more dynamic, but the sailor in the dark uniform is obscured by the kissing figures, giving them a weird footed appendage.

Other stuff we're supposed to be examining:

"Reverence of Goldfish"

• the palette in this one is a little more depressed, because of the deep shadows. They give the masses of fish great contrast though
• the man sitting on the bed - he might be only half conscious, or depressed like his surroundings - seems to be the focus of the piece, as the majority of the fish are pointed toward him.
• if it weren't for the fish this would read as a very domestic scene, perhaps in a Tim burton film from the 90's - the monochromatic decorations remind me of films like Beetlejuice andEdward Scissorhands, because they're minimal. They provide only the basic detail necessary to describe the scene, which leaves you more space visually for the characters within the scene.
• the young woman is asleep and ignorant to the fish mob

"Portrait of Nan" by Joe Peter Witkin

• elegance due to elevated hair, satin gloves and decoration, perhaps a noblewoman.
• the little skull might be an agent of death, either in her command or her ally, like an ambassador
• the woman's true face is concealed by the large letter -perhaps her real face is grotesque, or isn't there at all
• the blank look on the fake face combined with the dangerously spiked hair suggests she is cruel or powerful
• the cruelty is only reinforced by the darkness of the photograph and the strange, dark stain on the left, could be blood or something similar.
• the darkness of the page and the sharp furniture on which the woman sits are all very unfriendly, if not mildly threatening

Ohhhh, that's gross.

"The Cocktail Party" by Sandy Skoglund, 1992

What makes this a cool piece:

• The bright palette and composition attracted me.
• Upon closer examination i realized all the 'little orange squiggles' were actually cheese puffs, which I think are the most abhorrent snack food to come into existence.
• The composition and selection of models intrigued me. why are the four in the background only dressed in food and not covered head to toe like their companions? Are they all turning their attention to the puff-suited man in the back of the room? The narrative possibilities are endless.

Doesn't this Orozco guy have anything better to do?

This article, "A Day Without Distraction" a.k.a. Anal Retentive Time Management, is an experiment rather than a collection of preachings about how to be more productive, and not get distracted from work. After reading a handful of other articles on this site (" Master Plan" and "Control Your Check-In Addiction") I decided it was actually the most insightful in their current string of "Life-Strategy" articles, considering that it is written from the perspective of the writer, Cal Newport, applying a set of rules to his workday to see if they actually help or hinder his productivity (hint: it's both).
The fact that right off the bat, New port manages to botch his appointment time and makes up for it with a series of 'small tasks', is kind of encouraging he makes the most of his time. It does seem like the distance he needs to get from place to place is quite minimal, so not too much time is 'squandered' that way. But it's also funny that his communications are extremely limited by the committed time.
I don't consider checking email or other messages as 'wasted' time, but considering the amount of time they take to sort through, read, and respond to, it's definitely a time suck. I think there's a better way of permitting yourself time to deal with electronic communications, ie, give yourself 5 or ten minutes out of every 2 hours. I don't feel my 'efficiency' is lost in the transition from work to distraction, because a lot of the communication involves my work as well.
Funny, unrelated thing I noticed - 4 of 5 of the articles are illustrated by this Oscar Ramos Orozco dude, and not that his work is bad, but all the articles start to look the same after a while, literally. I dont know if that's a practical decision on the part of the parent company, Behance, but it's kind of monotonous from a consumer perspective.

chemical spill

futzing around with really basic composite stuff

Sometime in the future...

Ended up in Sam Fritch's class again, so here I am, again.