Paint and PSAs

In between getting paintings ready for tomorrow and writing my Powell paper (I can already tell it's going to be an up all night kind of night) I felt like blogging. I have an idea for a painting but I'm almost out of paints and it's becoming harder and harder to mix the colors that I need for my ideas. I'm going to have to take a trip into the city with my parents next week and restock my supplies before I head back up to Vermont. I never thought I would ever use up two tubes of white, but now it's like trying to squeeze water from a stone to get enough pigment out of the tube. I have two canvases started, but I really hate the one so I think I'll just let it dry and paint over the colors and create something new. I have fourteen hours before the critique, plenty of time to come up with something new. I mean look what can change in the course of an hour:

First Attempt

Final Product

For the record I liked the first version, but Dennis felt the second was a better use of the paint and since he's the one giving grade I will paint what Dennis wants. I actually like how the final version came out, there's a lot of texture. If you run yours hand over the canvas you can feel the raised lines of paint that make the painting feel more three dimensional. 

So while I'm waiting for the paints to dry I found these on Stumbleupon: 

They're Harry Potter PSAs. They're funny on their own, but are even better and make much more sense if you have any knowledge of the Harry Potter world. Being raised on the writing of J.K Rowling and even reading the first book in Latin, I am quite adept at Potter humor. The fire safety PSA is particularly amusing because Hebrew Friend likes to say "Augamenti!" when ever he pours himself a glass of water even if he is by himself. Ahh the simple pleasures in life. 

Finals Week: Not even close.

I nearly halfway through finals week and I feel like I haven't accomplished much and truth be told I really haven't. So far Monday night's exam has been my only one. It took six pages of handwritten essays to complete the exam and by the time I was done I could not feel my arm and had to go home and lay down for a few hours before I had the will to do anything else. Today was a nothing day, my only one for the week. I tried to get into the library and work on my paper, but here weren't any available study spaces in the quiet section so I ended up checking out about ten ancient books on Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon and taking them home with me. The books were so old the library had to take out the old punch cards and replace them with the lined sheet so she could stamp the date on the back of the cover.

Reading through the books lasted about ten seconds before I took out my paints and started working on a new piece for my final portfolio that has to be presented on Thursday afternoon. Right now I have the required ten, but I'm not particularly pleased with some of my earlier works and want to beef up the collection I have. Around 6:00 I wiped the paint of my face and hands, I get really involved with my art, and drove up to watch my Hebrew Friend coach his tiny high school laxers. I sat in the stands behind the bench this time and even waved when he was looking in my direction, but apparently he is completely oblivious. In between whistles I studied for my Southern Lit exam that's supposed to happen tomorrow morning. I'm more prepared than I realized and only had to read a few of the stories and just look through my notes. The youth leaguers kept giving me funny looks while I read during the game. Eventually it just got too cold for me and I had to head home.

Ugh I just want play Scrabble.

Finals Week: Off to a poor start.

I'm in the library right now supposedly studying for my science and theology final tomorrow night, but I'm finding it harder and harder to read through the chapters and make my outline. It won't be a terrible exam, we have the questions already and we get to make an outline for each of them. There's even an extra credit question that the class was given to think about ahead of time. It should only take me a few hours to write up the outlines and then I can head back home or over to the art studio if I feel like it, but right now I can barely get myself motivated to do anything. It's such a nice day outside that I would rather be playing some frisbee with the Hebrew Friend out in the sun, but I have to get this done otherwise it will be tomorrow night before I know it and I'll be in trouble.

Being in the library right now really makes me want to take a nap. It might be the climate change from coming in to a cold library from the warm outdoors or the fact that it's very, very quiet on the second floor and inviting to just lie my head down on the desk and close my eyes. I've been in here since this morning and all I've done so far is write my name and date in a Word document and click through Stumbleupon. I hate finals week because everything else that I didn't care about all semester suddenly seems more interesting or more important. Being trapped in the library leaves me open to distractions and the thoughts floating around in my head and those thoughts suck.

UPDATE: Had to get out of the library since I wasn't actually doing anything productive. Moved to the quiet Starbucks in the hopes that overpriced coffee drinks and gas usage would keep me settled and motivated for a little while. 

The Last Drink

Today I finished my undergraduate classes and am one step closer to graduation in two weeks. It's been a long four years trying to finish a degree in science and then at the last minute changing my mind and completing a major in a year in a half. When I was asked during a scholarship interview at the end of high school where I would see myself in five years I gave them what I felt they wanted to hear. I told them that I would be similar to the person I was then, but with an advanced degree in physics. In high school I bought into my fabricated life and even believed that my life would be exactly as I planned it. I never imagined the situations that I have experienced and put myself through over the past four years. I never planned on sleeping in train stations, running with the homeless, ROTC, meeting my most consistent and dearest friend at a minimum wage barista job, teaching girls to play ice hockey, or spending summer nights playing drunken baseball behind a train station.

Tonight I spent the evening with friends from jobs past and more present. It was small gathering to celebrate the end of classes and a chance to let lose before finals next week. Most of my work friends came out to drink and have an evening remembering the good times and trying to forget the thankless job many of us shared in a low grade Italian restaurant on the Main Line. I spent a good deal of the night catching up with E and discussing the different directions ours lives have taken since working together two years ago. Even the Hebro stopped by and though he has been totally awesome it's getting harder and harder to see him and know that I'll be leaving him behind in two weeks. Eventually after all the chatter and a few beers my contacts kicked in and I had to leave. Instead of being the dutiful friend and coworker by saying a heartfelt goodbye to everyone, I snuck out of the bar in typical Sidney fashion. It's hard to say goodbye to the motley crew that has been a makeshift family and close-knit group of friends down here in Philadelphia and sometimes I find it to just slip away like I wasn't there in the first place at all.

Led Zeppelin - Going to California

Salsa Shark Live at The Grape Room

Last night I had the pleasure of seeing jam band Salsa Shark perform to an intimate crowd at The Grape Room in Manayunk. The band played a late night set for the venue's STOP Bullying Me! fundraiser with rousing success. It was my last chance to see the funkadelic band play while I'm still in Philadelphia and I wouldn't have missed lead bassist/vocalist Mykk Hoffman's gently bobbing blond afro for the world.

The band has come light years from open mic nights at the now closed Village coffee house on 63rd in West Philadelphia. It's been a rough road for the young band. Going through drummers like I go through books, the band has finally settled on St. Joe's freshman, Tom Dominguez. With his dark scruffy beard and ferocious energy Tom kept the beats going even improvising after a string snafu forced guitarist, Curt Zimpher, from the stage. Playing in his own little corner of the stage, guitarist Bert Weaver kept background rhythms strong and even while grooving in his own personal zone. The interaction between Mykk and Curt shows the synergy and trust this close-knit group has developed over the years.

An evening of jam band music reminiscent of the Allman Brothers, Disco Biscuits, and The Grateful Dead all rolled into one with a little Jimkata on the side, Salsa Shark kept their audience captivated and begging for more. With most of their members still finishing up courses in college the band is creating a growing fan base in Philadelphia, but I hope to see them on tour up in Vermont sometime soon.

You can like Salsa Shark on Facebook and stay up to date on their latest on-goings and show dates.

He's acting dumb, that's what you've come to expect.

I'm lying in bed on this cold, cold April night trying to decide if I want to watch last night's episode of Game of Thrones now or wait until tomorrow or just wait until the Hebro falls asleep on his couch after a rousing game of Scrabble and just watch it On Demand at his house. Decisions, decisions. In the meantime I'm listening to Elliott Smith on Spotify and hiding under my comforter with my laptop and fuzzy. I resemble one of those forlorn and wayward kids in a Wes Anderson film. It's kind of fun actually, like being in a tent in the middle of my high rise apartment on the edge of Fairmount Park, the complete opposite of my old, but new again home-to-be in three weeks.

It's been a long while since I've listened to Elliott Smith consistently. I think the last time was in high school when he was an extra-credit question on a biology test (I went to a small school in the woods with good musical taste) and I rushed home to look up everything I could find on him. Even then I was too late to get on the Elliott Smith bandwagon as he had passed away two years before I took my biology test. My first introduction to Mr. Smith was during a screening of The Royal Tenenbaums with my dad. His song Needle in the Hay plays during the scene were Richie takes a razor blade to his wrists and the entire dysfunctional family reunites at the hospital after hearing about Royal's fake cancer and Margot's extreme personal secrets.

Can't wait to see Moonrise Kingdom next month. 

Remember it is only April...

I was going to write with a more serious tone or at least a less sarcastic and grating one, but with the weather being cold and rainy all day and in between watching countless episodes of Magnum P.I. (ladies of the 80s you know where I'm coming from) and what will probably be my last all-nighter in a very, very long time I decided that I would discuss an issue that is getting out of hand, especially since it is only April: someecards featuring Mayans and 2012.

Seriously people. Since the end of 2011 people have been coming up with various end of the world scenarios for the popular ecard website. Now don't get me wrong, I love those biting, snarky cards with their vintage etchings as much as the next person. In fact if I find a particular nasty one I'll even get around to posting it to my facebook wall until I get phone calls from one of my parents who find my humor too lowbrow for their refined tastes. It's the ecards with 2012, end of the world implications that I find so annoying, especially since so many people are taking this whole thing seriously. I mean if I survived May 21, 2011 (good call Harold Camping) then we will all be waking up January 1, 2013 mostly alive, but with epic hangovers. Besides if the world is going to end at the end of this year, technically I would be going out sometime on the 30th because of where I am situated with the International Dateline. So suck on that Mayan people.

Anyways... with the advent of global warming and the recent invasion of boy bands from across the pond, I can see how these ecards are gaining momentum so early in the year. In fact some of them are even funny, like the ones below:

Okay that one was pretty awesome.