I am da-runk at Alex Somm-....Toops' wedding. Wunderbar.

Green Lantern and Young Justice

So guys, I haven't posted in a while.

Like...a REALLY long time.  I've been meaning to do so but every time that I sit down to work on a post I sort of, well, don't.

But now there's something that's been brought to my attention that I've been trying to play ignorant of for the past week, which unfortunately I cannot do so anymore.

Cartoon Network has canceled both Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Young Justice.

Prometheus Part 2

So remember those plot hole I mentioned?  Yeah.  These guys touch on everyone of them.

WARNING!  THIS IS ENTIRELY SPOILER-IFIC!

Prometheus

So very recently a friend of mine got a job at the movie theatre.  From what I understand, the pay is kind of shit but everyone's pretty chill there overall.  However, one of the major perks: Free movies.  Provided we go with him we get to go see movies for free.

Pretty much.

So, this past Monday we went and saw Prometheus together.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I'll be damned: this movie exceeded whatever expectations I wasn't expecting.

As a general synopsis for the plot: a bunch of scientists make a discovery at various archaeological digs around the world that all point to one grouping of planets.  These scientists all suit up, hop on a trillion dollar expedition to this planet in question, and low-and-behold: aliens.

The visual effects were stunningingly great, with minimal points of "well golly gee, I hope those animators were paid overtime!" as far as the CG goes, which sort of remains true to the original Alien series.

However: there are a few overall plot holes/blaringly "DUH" points to the story, which sort of detract from it.  I mean, it sort of has a whole bunch of every single trope imaginable to a space scenario such as: the gun-freak, the science nerd, the military bitch and the android.  I mean some of them are minor enough to ignore and just sit down and watch what's unfolding in front of you, but still...

Overall though I'd say it was a really freaking excellent movie.  If you have the opportunity to go see it: do so- you won't be horribly disappointed.

Adventures at Target Part 2

So...the people at Target generally scare me sometimes.  It's kind of a miracle that they've managed to survive in the world long enough to get to the point where they are now that they can "afford" a 50" LED television.  But even scarier is that fact that the managerial staff are somehow qualified to call themselves such sometimes.

Take for instance this scenario:

My department was starting to get a little busy, but nothing I couldn't handle.  A really cute girl had come up and asked me to sell her a camera, so I more than obliged.  I proceeded to sell up the cameras she was looking at, and overall started to make sure that she knew what she was purchasing (ie: what features it has and all that fun jazz).  Very suddenly my walkie goes off with a very pissy voice "ELECTRONICS YOU HAVE A CALL ON 34, SECOND REQUEST, CAN I GET A COPY?!"

Mind you I hadn't heard the first request, which was then confirmed by the guest I was assisting and confirmed again by the tech-installation guy.  Tech guy says to me "I got this," and picks up his own walkie "Tom's currently assisting a guest and is more than a little busy, can someone else get the freaking call?"

My manager jumps down the walkie's throat "If Tom's so busy he should be calling for backup, I'm sending someone back to electronics now".

The three of us stare at each other in bewilderment.  "I don't think he quite got the message..." the guest starts in.

I dash over to the phone, answer the inane "Do you have XYZ in stock?" and "Can you put that on hold until tomorrow?" questions they always seem privy to ask, and returned to the girl I was helping.

Nearly 10 minutes later "backup" arrived.  Really?  What if it had actually been an emergency?  What if I had a line of 20 people all wanting to be rung out for their crap at once?  What if they all wanted iPads, and me as a single human being couldn't handle them all at once?

But whatever, it's the thought that counts.

Backup then leaves, I sell her the camera, and we part ways.  Not 5 minutes later did a massive crowd appear.  "Can I get backup to electronics?  It's starting to really get swamped back here and could really use a hand."

Manager: "Copy that, great communication!  Alright team, let's remember to keep the communication up so we can really push guest experience!"

Silence.

Myself: "So uh...how about that backup?"

It literally took another 10 minutes for backup to arrive, which, by that time all of the other guests had already left or I had taken care of them.

A Bit of Bitching

Okay, I know I haven't posted in about a month and the last thing you want to read is something along the lines of "WAAAH BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCHITY BITCH!" but I'm just going to go ahead and throw it out there:

If you want to live in America, learn to speak English.

It's just something that has been progressively pissing me off for the longest time.  Why is everything printed in both English and Spanish?  Where did the French writing on my box of cereal come from? 

If you're going to move to a country that doesn't speak your native language: at least make an effort to try and learn at least a small yet functional amount of it.  I mean, if I were going to move to Germany, I'd sure as hell try to learn functional bits of German.  I'm not saying that I'd try to make myself fluent in the language, but I'd try to learn just enough to make sure that I don't wind up in the red light district when I'm out shopping for cheese.

But I seriously cannot count the times in my experiences in retail that I've had to call over another employee just because "No speeek inglisch".  For serious?  For fucking serious?  You learned just enough English to let people know that you do not speak English in a really fractured and grammatically incorrect stereotypical statement? 

Mind: Blown

I'm sure this is going to get me a whole lot of hate mail and a whole lot of "How can you be so insensitive?" comments.  No.  Fuck that.  If you are capable of spending whatever wages you have earned (whether through legal labor or not) to purchase a 46" LED TV and give me the "How much cost does this?" and "No speak English" lines, then you are more than perfectly capable of going out and learning a little bit of whatever the native language is.  What gripes me more is that there have seriously been people who get pissy at me because I don't speak whatever language they speak.  Really?  You're going to "No speeek inglisch" at me and then give me attitude when I say "I'm sorry, I don't speak Spanish but let me find you someone who does"?  That's what really gets me. 

I get the whole "This country was founded as a melting pot of cultures and this is just the next step of the whole integration into the world process" bullshit whatever blah blah blah: but still.  I'm not saying "Drop your native language and speak English exclusively."  No.  Far from it.  Go ahead and speak with your brethren in whatever language you chose whether that language be Spanish, French, Chinese, Elvish...whatever.  I'm more so fed up with people going out into general society, not knowing a single word of the native language and expecting the world to cater to them. 

And now I've said my piece. 

In Memory- Karene Faul

I first met Karene Faul some time in 2005 when I went for my portfolio review as a high school senior trying to figure out what college to go to. 

When I first saw her I thought for sure that there was no way I was getting into Saint Rose.  Her eyes beamed down on me with a strong intensity and I knew that she was not going to pull any punches in her critiques.  We went into the review very quietly and listened to me very intently as I described my work, taking notes and offering bits of advice as it went on.  I was nervous as all hell.

When we finally got through my portfolio she gave me all sorts of constructive criticism, and then turn and stared me dead in the face with her intense eyes and asked "Why do you want to do art?"

I explained how it's always something that I've done and that I wanted to get better at it.  It is a part of me and to neglect it would be to ignore a part of my very soul.  Granted at the time I wasn't so fluently poetic about it, but I still went on about how I wanted to learn what I could in order to get better and to really produce the art that I wanted to make.

I saw a glimmer in her eyes for a brief second.  We continued talking for almost an hour about different artists (and at one point or another about how it could be applied to video games I do believe...) and at the end she told me that I was in.

She then led my parents and I on a personal tour of Picotte (the art building), but the whole time I was just in awe of how connected she was with the other students, referring to all of them by name no matter what department they were working in and asking them what they were working on.  I could tell she really cared about her students and their work.

Flash forward a few years to Screen Printing I and the less than stellar year I had with Karene.  I, being the 18 year old snotty self that was indestructible and could produce only perfection, vehemently refused any suggestions that she or any other faculty would make.  I wound up doing mediocre in the class as a whole, but it wasn't the grade that got me down as I had held onto believing for almost 2 more years: it was the fact that I felt like I had let Karene down.

It took me a while to realize this fact and made my silent apologies.  In retrospect, I probably should have made them more verbal, possibly put it down in writing a bit sooner.

Part of me feels like Karene always knew that I should have been a Studio Art major instead of a Graphic Design or Art Education major and kept trying to push me towards it in subtle ways.  Granted, to me at the time her "subtle ways" came across as instant hostility whenever she saw me and very terse criticisms of works in process...but sure enough: once I changed over to Studio she brightened up around me and the criticisms became constructive.

My superior senior year was a bit of a cluster-"effe" between deadlines not being met by certain individuals and classes that should have been taken years prior being crammed in at the last minute...(a whole other story that I shall not get into at this point): Karene was there for me every step of the way.
She called me up during the summer prior to help me plan out my remaining two semesters.  She filled out paperwork in March that should have been done in November and immediately had it processed, bypassing all the ludicrous red tape that colleges seem oh so fond of.  I could tell that she really wanted her students to succeed and wanted to give them every opportunity to do so.


It came as a shock today when I found out that she had taken very ill, and an even greater shock when a few hours later I had heard she passed away.  I wanted to write her a letter telling her all of this, but unfortunately time hasn't given me that opportunity. 


So this is for you Karene.  May you rest in peace knowing that you have touched the lives and hearts of hundreds of students: both artists and non-artists alike.  You will always be in my heart and thoughts.

Rest in Peace Karene.