Ralph Steadman

I was recently introduced to the art of Ralph Steadman through a school project. The assignment was to pick an artist from the list and create a work of art in the style of the chosen artist. I saw the unique style of his work and immediately chose him to base my work off of. Conveniently in copywriting class we had a discussion about Hunter.S.Thompson. Hunter was a writer who had a unique style of writing and worked in journalism up until he took his own life in 2005. Hunter S.Thompson had a fascinating life and was quite the eccentric, possibly due to the vast amount of drugs and alchol he took on a daily basis.

Ralph Steadman was a good friend of Hunter and often created the illustrations that went along with his articles. Ralphs work uses ink and minimal colour. Almost caricature like illustrations. What peeked my interest even more on these people was the film Fear and Loathing in LasVegas. The movie was about Hunter.S.Thompson and his trip to lasVegas in search of "the amercian dream". Starring my favourite, Johnny Depp as Hunter. Another movie to watch and get a sense of the real life of Hunter is Gonzo:The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S.Thompson.

Heres a nice little video of Ralph Steadman that will give you an idea of what hes about.

As for my project, the concept behind it was my struggle of living with chronic bitchface. When people first meet me their first impression is that I'm stuck up. I am not stuck up. I just happen to have the type of face that looks naturally bitchy when in a relaxed, non smiling position. So here's my self portrait, Ralph Steadman style.

Cliches: as bad as Disco (Tattoo addition)

You can call it an act of rebellion or a dumb trend but I think tattoos are going to continuously grow to be accepted. I don't even think tattoos can be considered a "trend" since there has been over 5000 years of the art. Sure, back in the day tattoos were reserved for sailors, criminals and circus freaks but in modern times its more common to have one than not having one. I got my first tattoo at the age of 18 by going against my parents advice that I would regret it and that I am too young to make permant desicions.

It was only a small one on my wrist. An homage to my childhood and the ever popular Harry Potter series. I wanted to avoid any type of cliche, been-done-a-thousand-times-before, designs. Of course there are a lot of Harry Potter tattoos out there and sometimes its hard to be original. My first thought was the classic deathly hallows symbol. I googled deathly hallows tattoo, and over a million results showed up. Being as stubborn as I am, I couldn't bare having a tattoo that over a million people have already. As an artist I like to think that I'm pretty original and creative and to have a cliche tattoo would ruin that reputation. I ending up getting Sirius Blacks Azkaban number on my wrist which when I googled, I could only find about 3 people with that tattooed. I figured 3 is more original than 1million so I went with it.

When people say tattoos are addicting, I believe it. It's been not even a year since my first and I am always coming up with new plans for tattoo designs. I consider tattooing as a serious possible career path for myself at times. Ultimately though I question if I could handle giving people tattoos that I wouldnt want to see. To help you out if youre thinking of getting a tattoo, below is a list of tattoos ive seen a thousand times and are as bad as disco.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS
1."Live, Laugh, Love"
2. Tinker Bell, Betty Boop and Winnie the Pooh. (specifically on middle aged women.)
3.Butterlies
4.Infinity symbols
5.Deathly Hallows symbol
6.Tribal armbands
7.Chain armbands
8.Anchors
9.Naudical stars
10.Browning buck and doe symbols
11.Feathers and arrows
12.Dandelions with bits blowing off
13.Feather transitioning into little birds
14.Any design that looks like a temporary tattoo
15.Made in "........"

I've never actually seen anyone with a heart and banner combo with the word "mom" inside, but if i did, I'd give them props.

De-stress

Going into the last three weeks of my first year in college, the projects are piling up with deadlines left and right. As each project gets put on my massive to do list I can feel the stress building up. Listed below are a few simple things that help me to de-stress, maybe they'll work for you too.

1.Take a long shower ... or a bath perhaps? Just steam the troubles away.

2.Get a relaxing playlist on that will mellow you out.The Songza app has some great playlists with all genres. Personally my favourite chilled out playlists are, "Mellow Indie", "Sleepytime Indie", "Mellow Electro" and "Indie Make Out". As you can tell, Indie is pretty relaxing to me. Acoustic works as well. The "Majestic Casual" Youtube channel has a good playlist of atmospheric sounding music.

3.Light a candle. Candles make your room smell good and have a pleasant relaxing glow.

4.Tidy up. Not having to look at all the mess that you're eventually going to have to clean will ease your mind.

5.Pamper. Do something small to treat yourself. For example: paint your nails, put a detoxing face mask on or tweeze those eyebrows.

6.Drink a hot beverage. I prefer chai tea or apple cider. It'll make your insides all warm and cozy.

7.The last piece of advice I have is to just get that work done. It may be a struggle but checking stuff off that list will feel fantastic. And in the end, the only real cure for stress is conquering the direct cause.

What NOT to do.
1.Open your laptop. This may seem like a great idea at first but actually, this is a terrible idea that will lead to endless scrolling on Tumblr most likely. Or even worse, you'll start watching a new series on Netflix and next thing you know, school has finished and you somehow managed to watch all 200 episodes in a row.

Jeffery Campbell: HOMG Platform Sneaker

Unfortunately it's still not dry enough outside to take out my Jeffery Campbells :(
Last summer I was obsessed with these sneakers and debated buying them for over a month. Finally the shopping demon inside of me decided that I should just buy them as a gift for myself for finally getting a job. This post will be a review of the shoes themselves as well as my overall experience ordering them from the website NastyGal.

Before ordering them I did my research on where I could find them and reviews on the quality of the shoes. I ended up choosing NastyGal because it seemed to be a trusted website and I felt confident that I wouldn't get a knock off brand. As for the shoes themselves I read a ton of great reviews and they looked pretty versatile when paired with a variety of outfits. The sole of the shoes are obviously huge and look very heavy, reviews told me that they really aren't as heavy as they look.

Now onto the actual ordering,
The day I decided to order them there was only one pair left! Like a sign from God, they happened to be my size. I ordered and it came to around 90 dollars after taxes and shipping. I was later emailed that the original box they came in was damaged but the shoes were fine. They notified me that they would be put in a different box and gave me a 5$ store credit for the inconvenience. I forget how long it took to actually receive the shoes, but it felt like forever. When they finally arrived just by looking at them I could tell that they would be too small. And sure enough they were definitely too small for my feet even though they were my regular size 9. Since I bought the last pair they restocked fully. It cost me about 35$ just to send them back and them I had to re-order to a size 10 and wait some more. After all that hassle the larger size fit perfectly.

My opinion,
If you order these shoes, definitely order a size up because they run small. As for the weight issue, when you pick them up, yes, they do feel lighter than you would think. BUT, wearing them on your feet all day, you can feel the weight giving you a bit of a workout. One day I was going on vacation and I decided to wear these shoes on my feet so they wouldn't take up so much room in my luggage. Unfortunately that was a terrible idea because I had to walk 15 mins to catch my bus. All I can say is, I don't think my thighs have burned that bad before. Other than the slight weight issue, they are pretty comfortable and great quality. The perfect sneaker with a little extra something to stand out. And of course I ordered black because black goes with everything.

Spring, if you ever return.

It's officially spring here in Ontario, Canada. I live in a mining town in northern Ontario and by looking outside right now you'd never guess that its "spring". April starts in a few days while there is still ample amounts of snow outside. Just thins morning it took me ten minutes to brush the foot of snow off my car. It wasn't the fluffy stuff either; it was the heavy, damp stuff that instantly turns into one thick mountain when you try to move it. I have to admit the temperature outside was quite nice considering the condition of the roads. Even though it was probably +2 degrees Celsius outside I still had to get out my heavy duty winter boots to trudge through the fresh snow.

By the end of the day everything started to turn into slush. By the weather reports it should warm up and hopefully spring might make an appearance instead of this "second winter" people are predicting. Spring happens to be my favourite season for a multitude of reasons. Instead of making another list like I've done in most of my posts ill describe a short spring time scenario which describes exactly why I love it.

The morning is gloomy, making me feel drowsy and yet I have the will to get out of bed due to the enticing, unfamiliar sound of birds outside of my window. I am finally able to take out that light leather jacket in replace of the heavy, hooded, fur trimmed coat. Stepping outside doesn't require nearly as many layers and preparation. Breathing in the damp air without the struggle of that harsh cold that makes your lungs hurt feels refreshing. The sensation of being able to comfortably go for a casual walk around the block. The sun finally beats down on the newly revealed pavement. The sound of water running down the street drains. The dry patches of road sprinkled with dirt from covering the slippery winter roads and the sound it makes when you drag your feet across the pavement. Then comes the rain again. The calm taping on the side of your house from another drizzle. And finally the search for that fly that you keep hearing buzzing faintly by the window sill. Where it came from? you have no idea. Sneakily hibernating in your house all winter. The precursor to unveiling my summer wardrobe.

"Black is such a happy colour"

In design class we discuss colour a lot and the many types of combinations. Complimentary, analogous, triadic, split complimentary, etc. Eventually we got into the topic of wearing colour. Since we're a group of artists and graphic design students you might think that we would be bold and eccentric with the colours we wear. That is not the case. In fact when we looked around the class most of us were wearing neutrals and a lot of black.

I am a culprit of wearing black 99% of the time. My closet is more than 50% black. I happen to be a very picky person when putting outfits together. I tend to wear just one pop of colour and everything else has to be neutral, and by neutral 90% of the time that means black. For example, most people wear blue jeans on a daily basis with any colour of shirt and its a normal part of society. If you see me wearing blue jeans it is a very rare occasion and I'm probably at camp. Something in my mind tells me that blue jeans do not match with anything, unlike everyone thinks it does.

I took the challenge my teacher gave us and wore colour for her next class. Not to be dramatic, but, it took everything I had to put this outfit of colour together. So, I pulled out the pair of pastel yellow jeans from the bottom of the drawer I never open and paired it with a electric blue sheer top with a daisy pattern bandeau underneath. I happen to have my hair dyed magenta at the moment which made this outfit even crazier. I felt pretty uncomfortable for most of the day. Moral of the story: Wear what you feel comfortable in, no matter what, even if it happens to be all black.

Here is the colour combination together. The grey was the colour of my boots.

Terrifying.

StarWars Virgin

Recently I have watched the Star Wars series for the first time. I managed to go almost 19 years of my life without watching a single star Wars movie. I finally caved and decided that I was tired of the overwhelmingly shocked responses when I told people that I've never watched them before. Since Star Wars is a big part of pop culture and one of the largest sci-fy movie franchises, I was already familiar with the characters.

Suggested by a friend, I watched them in chronological order according to time within the world of StarWars instead of based on the release date of each film. I managed to watch four in one day and then later had two more sittings to watch the last two. I've heard from others that the storyline in a little confusing to figure out but with the previous knowledge I picked up I basically predicted everything while watching the first movie (The Phantom Menace). Everyone knows the classic line, "Luke, I am your father.", unless you happen to live under a rock. With that bit of information it was not hard to figure out what was going to happen.

First impression was a little overwhelming because a lot of information and characters were thrown at me at once. There is no lack of action and dilemma in this series. Overall the first three that I watched were pretty impressive on the grand scale. I had an issue with the graphics used to create Jar Jar Binks. I know that the species in StarWars are obviously supposed to be unique and aliens but his character moved in a way that was not natural feeling along with the colour to a point were I could tell he was animated into each scene. Later I found out that basically no fan of StarWars actually like Jar Jar Binks character in general.

I was more impressed with the last three I watched, which happened to be the older ones, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. I personally prefer the old school special effects and costumes to animation. Although costumes sometimes look a bit cheesy; the look and feel of something actually being there interacting with the actors appeals to me. A few things that stuck out to me were:

1. The strange rat creature that was attached to Jabba the Hut.

2. The scene where Luke finds out Darth Vader is his father is pretty comical due to the weird chipmunk face Luke made when he freaked out and found out.

3. Chewbacca would spaz out in every situation.

4. The transitions were varied and looked like they were made by a grade-schooler using iMovie.

5. The excessive amount of arms and hands that were chopped off.

HONY

When you're out around town do you ever people watch? Doing your own thing but looking around at the people passing by and sometimes wonder who they are, what they're doing or what their story is. Humans of New York deals with that basic concept. I first came across HONY when my friend shared random posts from the Humans of New York facebook page. I would see these photos of random people outside in New York followed by a short quote from the person.

Seeing these posts was intriguing enough for me to learn more. I found out that this project wasn't strictly a facebook page but there was also a tumblr and twitter page. On top of blowing up over social media websites HONY was made into a book in October of 2013. The book became a best seller and soon after the social media websites grew in followers. The person behind all of this is Brandon Stanton. A 29 year old street photographer. He started street photography when taking a tour of American cities, along the way taking countless amounts of photos.

After taking so many photos and not getting noticed for it he began including the conversation being him and the subject as a caption. You get the first impression of the person from the photo and then when you read the caption you get slight insight on who the person is. The quotes vary between deep and full of wisdom, humorous, simple statements and personal views.

Reading these little snip-its of conversation you realize the diversity of humans. Everyone has a story and something different to say based on a simple conversation.
Here is a couple direct quotes from HONY to give you an idea of the diversity of the caption conversations. I will also leave the link to the website for you go to explore for yourself. It's worth the look and is a small thing to look forward to everyday since it's updated often.

"We were talking every day. Then her replies strted taking longer. Then she stopped replying all together."

"What's the most frightened you've ever been?"
"The first time I smoked weed, I thought a homeless guy was the Grim Reaper. So I started praying."

"Had cancer six times. Beat cancer six times."

"I pretty much only read fantasy because I've had more than enough of reality."

"Se cheated on me."
"Did you know the guy?"
"I introduced them. I invested in the guy's business. He lost my life savings, then he took my wife."

"Put this on Instagram."

www.humansofnewyork.com

Top Movies: Part 2

I  was originally going to write a top 20 list but as I started writing the list kept getting longer. I had to change the title to "top movies" because I believe this list will just continue to grow. So without too much explanation, here's the next set of 10 ten movies I love.

11. Looper (2012)

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt
Another science fiction action thriller with a complex storyline. Set in the years 2044 and 2074 this movie keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time. Since this movie uses time travel, the director decided to make things slightly hard to follow by using flashbacks and repeats of scenes that leaves you wondering what in the world is going on. Criminals, time travel, telekinetic powers, and the "Rainmaker".



12. Beetlejuice (1988)

Starring Winona Ryder, Micheal Keaton and Geena Davis
If you haven't seen this classic Halloween movie I suggest you watch it immediately. A tradition in my house is to watch beetlejuice every October. Without this movie Halloween just wouldn't be the same. Somehow this movie stays goofy while still being creepy at the same time.



13.The Breakfast Club (1985)

Starring Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson and Antony Micheal Hall
Put a bunch of teens into detention on a Saturday, add a dance scene and see what happens. This is a classic John Hughes film about five very different teens that bond over detention and realise that they have more in common than they think. I like this movie so much that I almost bought a tank top with Judd Nelson thrusting his fist into the air walking through the football field. Simple Minds song, "Don't you forget about me" will forever be my go-to song for an 80's flashback.



14.Ed Wood (1994)

Starring Johnny Depp, Martin Landau and Sarah Jessica Parker
As you maybe can tell by now, I'm quite the fan of Johnny Depp. This movie is a sort of biography about director, screenwriter, producer, actor, author and editor, Ed Wood . The story of Edward Davis Ed Wood, Jr, is quite interesting. He made low budget films in the 50s to 70's. He was award the Golden Turkey Award for Worst Director of All Time. You can tell by some of his movie titles that he probably deserved this award. For example: "Glen or Glenda", "Night of the Gouls" and Orgy of the Dead".  This movie directed by Tim Burton focuses of the time in his life when he met the washed up actor, Bela Lugosi, who was famous for playing Dracula in 1927. The movie is strange because the characters are quite kooky but its worth the watch. Did I mention the fact that Ed Wood also cross dressed?



15.Donnie Darko (2001)

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone and Maggie Gyllenhaal
A dark science fiction drama about a boy that barely escapes death when a turbine from a plane crashes in his room. He also sees a giant apocalyptic rabbit named Frank. I wont go into detail about this storyline because too much weird stuff happens. I myself don't completely understand what happened but I like it. This movie has multiple websites dedicated to understanding the storyline because its that confusing. Something about the Primary Universe, a Tangent Universe and the Philosophy of Time Travel...



16. Wolf of Wallstreet (2013)

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and Matthew McConaughey
This is a long movie about a New York stock broker. That may sound utterly boring but it's about Leonardo DiCaprio as a New York broker whose involved in fraud. Its actually quite interesting watching somebody start at the bottom of the food chain to becoming a millionaire. The fun part is that its all based on a true story with every little fact, leading down to company names and character names are all based on real life. The only thing that I'm not sure is true is all the drugs used in the movie. Overall good story though.



17. 21 Jumpstreet (2012)

Starring Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill and Dave Franco
Based on the tv series from 1987-1991 this movie is probably one of the funniest movies I've seen since Napoleon Dynamite. Thankfully it's not one of those movies that look hilarious in the previews but then when you go to watch it, you realise that the funny parts in the commercials are the only funny parts in the whole movie. This movie is jam packed with good jokes and scenes throughout. And it doesn't hurt the eyes to have Channing Tatum and Dave Franco both main characters.



18.Underworld: Rise of the Lycans  (2009)

Starring Rhona Mitra, Kate Beckinsale and Micheal Sheen
This movie has pretty terrible reviews. I personally enjoy this movie for the costumes and creature design of the lycans.



19. Lost Boys (1987)

Starring Corey Haim, Corey Feldman and Kiefer Sutherland
I was introduced to this movie by my mom when the first Twilight movie came out. apparently it used to be one of her favourite movies at the time. This shows what the 80's version of a vampire is. According to this movie they were much more brutal than in Twilight. Teenage vampires in the 80's walked around Santa Carla, California like regular teenage delinquents and occasionally requite new members. All together they just kind of look like a hair metal band. Weird things happen and the feel of the movie has an overall fogginess. Ending with a bloodbath.



20. Princess Diaries (2001)

Starring Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews and Heather Matarazzo
I have to throw a curveball in here. With all these complex dark, cult classics I also enjoy a childhood feel good movie like Princess Dairies to bring back good memories. Anne Hathaway's character Mia Thermopolis is also inspirational since she began as a super awkward, frizzy haired girl and ended up being royalty. No matter how old I get I'll still appreciate the humour in this movie.

Top Movies: Part1

For this post I will be listing off movies I can watch over and over again and never get tired of them. I'll give you a little insight on the movie without giving any spoilers because, well, no one likes spoilers. Watching a movie for the very first time is one of the best feelings. After the first time it's not quite the same because you don't get the excitement of not knowing what's coming next. I tend to also be one of those people that takes watching movies very seriously. I need complete silence and low lighting with good sound to fully immerse myself in the movie for the first time. If it happens to be a movie I've watched already I don't mind interruptions nearly as much. Now, on with the list! Here's the first 10 (in no particular order)

1.Benny & Joon (1993)

 

Starring Johnny Depp, Mary Stuart Masterson and Aidan Quinn
This movie is a heartwarming story about a mentally disabled girl. The addition of Johnny Depp's character adds humor at almost every time he's on camera. It's interesting to see Johnny portray this type of young, fun loving, goofy guy; which is a step away from the majority of overly exaggerated characters he usually plays. This movie is great from beginning to end.



2.Harry Potter Series (2001 - 2011)

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint
I grew up with the Harry Potter franchise and the characters in it. The imagination of this movie matched with an amazing cast made this a multi billion dollar franchise. I enjoy a movie with a complex storyline and the Harry Potter series delivered that. I loved the series so much I actually got a Harry Potter inspired tattoo of Sirius Blacks Azkaban number on my wrist as a reminder of that time in my life and growing up.



3.Pirates of the Caribbean 1,2 & 3 (2003 - 2007)

Starring Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom.
After the third movie is just wasn't the same without Elizabeth Swan and William Turner. "Captain" Jack Sparrow is the kind of character you cant help but love. As the series goes on the story gets darker and heavier. Along with the direction of Gore Verbinski and soundtrack by Hans Zimmer this movie is one of my top favourites. I happened to name my cat after the character Calypso.



4.Planet of the Apes (1968)

Starring Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall and Linda Harrison
Based off of a french novel from 1963, Planet of the Apes is a sci-fi movie about three astronauts that land on a planet earth in the future where apes are superior to humans. I personally also am quite interesting in costume and special effects used in movies. I enjoy seeing movies that use real life costumes instead of using all CGI for the unrealistic elements. The weird sound effects in the background are also quite enjoyable.



5.Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

Starring Jon Heder, Tine Majorino and Aaron Ruell
Set in 2004 in the town of Presto the movie has many elements from the 80's and 90's. This movie is the kind that you either love or hate. The humour is appealing to a certain audience and is probably not everyone's cup of tea. The movie has a very dry humour and the pace of the movie is quite slow which works well with the visual pale, dusty look. The characters are all unique and have their own quirks. The droned out feel makes this movie hilarious along with the script.
"Tina, you fat lard, come get some dinner!"



6.Dale & Tucker vs. Evil (2010)

Starring Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk and Katrina Bowden
This is a Canadian comedy horror that you probably never heard of and stars actors you've probably never heard of either. Again this is a kind of movie you either love or hate. The humour of this film is borderline "Scary Movie" humour except with a better storyline and no pop culture. The main element of this movie that makes me love it is the fact that the whole thing is just one giant misunderstanding. It uses clichés from horror movies and a lot of gore. I suggest you give this one a chance.



7.Shutter Island (2010)

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo and Ben Kingsley
A psychological thriller with a confusing storyline that I still have questions about. The ending is what got me. Even after watching this movie multiple times I still pick up on little things every time I watch it and have many "Ohhhhhh." moments where I've finally figured something out. The use of flashbacks makes you understand the story but at the same time confuses you even more. Its definitely a movie that will make you think and you can't really have too much Leonardo DiCaprio.
"Which would be worse? To live as a monster or die as a good man."



8.Cry Baby (1990)

Starring Johnny Depp, Amy Locane and Kim McGuire...
Set in the 50s this movie is a musical that mimics and pokes fun of other musicals at the time such as Grease in the most ridiculous way. The story is about the rivalry between the delinquent "drapes" and the preppy "squares". It's also a love story between Cry Baby Walker and Allison who are in opposite social groups. Tis movie is over the top and the characters are all pretty weird; especially Hatchet Face...



9.Making the Grade (1984)

Starring Judd Nelson, Jonna Lee and Andrew Dice Clay
I don't have much to say about this movie other than the fact that it's and 80's movie starring Judd Nelson. That should be enough information to make you watch it.



10.Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)

Starring Steve Carell, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.
This romantic, comedy/drama film has a good mix of all of those genres. It makes you laugh, cry and wonder what's going to happen next. The cast has some of todays most famous actors. I believe that any movie Steve Carrell is in will be brilliant. The plot from the beginning follows different stories that gradually merge into each other, but its not until the end that you realize that they are all connected in one glorious scene.

Ottawa

So this past weekend I planned a road trip to Ottawa with two friends of mine. The whole idea behind the trip was to decide  whether or not I want to move there next September for school at the University of Ottawa, or not. This post is going to be all about experiencing my first time in Ottawa and the impression I got from it along with thoughts of the future.

Since I am currently in college and can't afford to take a week off of school to visit; I had to simply go for the weekend. I'm lucky enough to have friends that go to uottawa and live on residence that let me stay in their dorm for free. My very first impression of Ottawa came from the sports bar we went to eat at the Friday night we arrived before even getting to the university. The atmosphere of the restaurant was almost like everyone knew each other. It was loud even for the small amount of people in it and it felt very....Canadian. After the restaurant we went to the residences. The two friends I was staying with shared a room on the 20th floor of their building. Overall the stay was ok but I don't think I could handle living on the top floor and have to share a bathroom with all the other girls on the floor.

The next day we went out shopping and walked around downtown Ottawa. Being in Ottawa compared to my hometown of Sudbury is like being in a different country. People in Ottawa are outside all the time; no matter how cold. Everything is close enough to walk and there's much more things to see and do. Most people around the university dress better than my hometown and also a plus is the fact that Ottawa is very diverse (therefore, many cool accents). The culture is rich and the architecture is amazing.

It took me a long time to make my decision of applying to school in another town. But, I think I've made the choice to just go for it. I get many different opinions when asking if I should move out or not. Some say "What are you going to do with a bachelor of fine arts?", "It's going to be expensive" and "Why aren't you going to Toronto for art?" while on the other hand I get the people that encourage me to follow what I love to do and go out to experience the world. The people on the other hand sound much more interesting to me. Just leaving for the weekend I did think of home and miss certain things about it. This thought scared me because I feel as though if I stay in this town where I grew up any longer I'm going to want to stay here forever. I don't want to be one of those people that never leave, and instead stay in this town looking at the same rocks everyday. No, I don't know what I'm going to do with a bachelor of fine arts. Yes, I know its going to be more expensive than college. And finally YES I am going to take the chance and apply, hopefully I get accepted and won't have to wonder what my life would be like if I would have gone away.

Arctic Monkeys.

Welcome to my blog!
I'll just put this out there right now, I don't have a set plan for this blog (which is ironic because it's just like my life) So I'll just go with the general theme of, whatever I happen to be interested in the most that particular week.

This week follows up with the past 3 weeks of regularly listening to the "AM" album by the Arctic Monkeys on repeat. I first came across lyrics and gifs from this album on Tumblr. Eventually I got curious from seeing these things steadily for a couple weeks on my dashboard and looked it up. I instantly loved the whole album. I even bought the entire album off of iTunes; which is very rare for me to do.

I listen to it in my car pretty much everyday because it just happens to be good driving music in my opinion. I am definitely not a music critic or happen to know anything technical about music, but I'll try and describe the feel of the album as best as a can. To start off, I wouldn't really know what genre this band is. It sounds like a mix of, rock, indie, alternative and something more. The first song on the album "Do I Wanna Know?" happens to be my favourite in general and also I just happen to know all the words and may possibly sing it in my car on a daily basis... It starts off with a hard beat of stomping and clapping and then the guitar comes in followed by the great Alex Turner with the vocals.

The combination of the heavy stomping with vocals that have somewhat of a rap grace to them mixed in with the high pitched smooth background vocals makes it sound so unique. The lyrics from this album are about lust, frustration, isolation, sex and getting high. Those things are touched on by using poetic rock lyrics. My mom actually commented one day that it reminded her of, "the beatles, but not." Which is a good way to describe it. A band that is fresh and laying their own path.

Even though this is the Arctic Monkeys fifth album, I hope this is only the beginning for this band.
Here's the link to listen to the full album to experience it for yourself if you haven't already.