Category Archives: Blog

Vintage Writing Poster Design

So I had a poster job to do for Tuesday among all the craziness that happened this weekend. Its for the literary magazine at school called the Manuscript and when I heard Manuscript vintage/romantic writing came to mind and this is my version of it. I tried to have it inspired by a postcard as it is a ‘call’ for submissions kind of poster I thought it was appropriate. Didn’t want it to make it too much like a postcard though, just inspired by it. 
So my college decides to evacuate everyone off the art/music campus because they were worried about cold temperatures and our safety since that building is really dark with the lights off. Was not too pleased. 
I usually went up to the main campus to recharge my comp so I could use it for later when I was back in my room. I was up there today when I realized I had a big conference poster I needed to print out for a client. So I sent my adviser an email asking what I should do, then remembered that she may not have power and decided to call her. Funny that she had just gotten my message when I called her 🙂 but then she tells me, “You have to evacuate from the dorm.” And I’m like what? So I read the campus-wide email and thought, “fuck”. 
I live six hours away from this school so the school gave us some options:
A) Go home
B) Stay with someone on North (main campus)
C) Stay with someone who lives in the area
D) Have office of housing find you a place on north in an unfilled dorm
So since staying with a friend would be more fun, I frantically thought of who lived in the area and then my friend Amy took me in.
So yay, hopefully the power will be back and I will be able to get into my dorm. The whole problem with this though is that they gave us less than 40 minutes to evacuate and that wasn’t fair especially since the bus schedule from the art/music campus to the main campus ran on a half-hour schedule on the weekends. 
They’re intentions were good, but poorly executed. 
Basically we were left to figure it out for ourselves. 

Snow is a life ruiner.

This weekend. OMG
Last night some dumb drunk college students (probably) released the fire extinguishers on three floors and set off the fire alarm. It took about an hour and a half for the situation to resolve. The fire alarm in my dorm is ear piercing loud and I cannot stand loud noises and I usually get into a bad mood whenever there is a fire alarm. I have to muffle my one decent ear as I don’t want to go as deaf in that ear as I am in my left. Not fun at all.
Then I was up until like 4 am because of the fire alarm waking me up and going out in the chilly out side. I slept late today and about 1 pm the power in the dorm went out because it was SNOWING outside. Two days before Halloween it SNOWED. I have never experienced snow this early, in New England the first snow usually happened around Thanksgiving. 
But no power meant no elevator (I live on the fifth floor) and no food service in the hill. So I had to lug my stuff up to the main campus because the student union had food service and power and I need to get work done today. I was definitely not happy waking up today.  BLAH.
Oh and I think my fridge is slowly dying. It froze my water.

Longchamp

Ahh. So this lovely bag arrived at my mail box this week from lovely mother! I have been wanting one of these bags since high school as they appeared to have become a staple for carrying all our textbooks, notebooks, binders and survival kits. Considering I grew up in a wealthy/upper middle class town and the majority of the students could afford to spend around $120 (what it was then) on a bag they’d use every day. Though since my parents didn’t see the purpose of spending money to show that you had it they wouldn’t agree to spend $120 on a bag that appears to be extremely high quality. 
I abuse my bags, as I carry a lot in them. Sometimes even my laptop gets thrown in there when I’m on the run. Otherwise it goes into the computer bag.  
But I found a few chinese sellers on ebay that drew me in because they were selling these at $32! Flat. So I did some research and found out that there was a group of makers in china who made these bags, not Longchamp themselves. They USED to make them, but when they found out that they could make them for cheap in china they did and then jacked the price up to $140. Yeah, not about to spend that much on a bag either. It took a lot of trust because sometimes people sell knock offs… and I didn’t want to get something that looked like the real deal but was actually crap in quality since I was looking for quality and not necessarily aesthestic. 
I also wanted something a bit more sturdy and professional looking for my future job and/or internship. 
So I hope that this bag will not let me down. I’ve gone through so many bags and the one that has lasted the longest for me was a flowery canvas bag from kohls but the handle was so short I’ve resorted to using weekend bag now. 
So a legit Longchamp Les Pliages for $32. Not too shabby. 

The Concept of Images

So I shouldn’t be writing because I have a mild form of tendonitis in my left wrist. The pain isn’t excruciating it is more of a painful throb. It even made me feel a bit nauseous at one point (weird I know). I currently have it wrapped up in ice.

I haven’t even been doing a lot of wrist work… but I use my wrists a lot in my every day and weekly activities… piano, harp, laptop… plus my joints/wrists are weak in general.

Anyway, I was contemplating about Images and their purpose in our society, through the views of a mystic I find them to be extremely fascinating.

The entrapment of the Rubidium 85 atom is the result of a three-year research project funded by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, and has already prompted world-wide interest in the new science which will flow from the breakthrough. The researchers then proved they could reliably and consistently produce individual trapped atoms – a major step towards using the atoms to build next-generation, ultra-fast quantum-logic computers, which harness the potency of atoms to perform complex information-processing tasks. Source: http://www.physorg.com/news205161948.html

In mysticism, the concept of an image is used to described our physical world. The scientists’ 21st model of the Universe is a holographic universe. This just means our physical reality is essentially a grainy picture.  Above this paragraph is a photograph of a rubidium 85 atom trapped. This is the first time anyone has seen any kind of atom. If you look at the picture, it just contains particles of light.  According to scientists we are made up of a bunch of atoms similar to this.

I began thinking about the parallels in science and spirituality, and the concept of images really brings that link closer. ‎I was reading a Practical Kabbalistic guide this weekend and ran across this:

The Analogous Identity of the Divine Plane and the Material Universe, the second being created “in the image” of the first and remaining its reflection, inferior and imperfect; And enduring rapport between the two, a rapport flowing from the analogous identity, being able to be expressed at the same time as it is established, by a secondary science, called Symbolism. – Practical Kabbalah – R. Ambelain (19XX). trans. Piers A. Vaughan.

When I am meditating on the ‘As above and so below’ I am always reminded of this passage in the Book of Genesis from the Bible:

Genesis 126 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,a]”>[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

I am also reminded that many things can be reversed, that’s just how things are in this world. You can neither be on the ‘black’ side of the spectrum or the ‘white’ side of the spectrum.
Putting the “reverse” concept into practice I like taking this passage from the Book of Genesis :

Genesis 13 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

And rewrite it as, “And Light said, “Let there be God,” and there was God.

The above rewritten statement is very kabbalistic and is essentially how this world was formed. The atoms are living entities, who think. According to Byran Kamilla of the It’s All In Our Mind – The LIGHT BRINGERS – Eliminating The Illuminators

The screen in front of you is empty … 

Now imagine the empty screen is the totality of everything that is … even though there’s no shape … no colour … and no sound. 

As you look at the screen in front of you … what do you see? You see nothing. As you look at the screen in front of you … what do you know? 

You know a lot. Even though you don’t see anything on the screen, you still know … and have locked up inside you, a vast storehouse of knowing. 

At this point in time, and in this scenario we’re contemplating, what you know may be correct, or it may be incorrect. It makes no difference. 

You still have an incredible amount of information recorded somewhere within you, even though you can’t see anything. Imagine again, that all that knowing you possess, has within it, the power and strength to exist forever. 

There’s no beginning and no end. You have the power and wisdom to be eternal. Imagine that you’re filled with this knowing and completely possessed with this eternal power and strength. This is about as powerful as anyone could hope to be. 

Let’s imagine that this knowing not only exists in you, but it exists in every person on the planet. It’s not something you have to go out and find, it’s just there, in you and in everyone that ever walked on the face of the earth. 

Now imagine that someone, or a group of individuals, with that same eternal power, also wanted to have your power, and my power. Imagine that this group wanted to take possession of all that is ours. 

However, they can’t take it from us by force, because it’s locked inside us, and it is who we are. Still, they desire to at least control it. 

This group wished for our power to work in unison with their power, and the enormity of that combined strength of power and knowing would make them greater than the greatest … the most massive force in existence… they would appear to be GOD…

Diffraction pattern of an icosahedral quasicrystal

Inspired by the growing numbers and varieties of quasiperiodic crystals, the International Union of Crystallography has redefined the term crystal to mean “any solid having an essentially discrete diffraction diagram”, thereby shifting the essential attribute of crystallinity from position space to Fourier space. Within the family of crystals one distinguishes between periodic crystals, which are periodic on the atomic scale, and aperiodic crystals which are not. This broader definition reflects our current understanding that microscopic periodicity is a sufficient but not a necessary condition for crystallinity. In our research we deal with questions concerning the symmetry of crystals. We classify crystals according to their symmetry using an approach in Fourier space which treats periodic and quasiperiodic crystals on an equal footing. Source: http://www.lassp.cornell.edu/lifshitz/quasicrystals.html

The above photo is a diffraction pattern of a quasicrystal.

When writing this post, I remembered how the first image that was ever created was using the ‘as above and so below’ concept. This discovery was originally made by Aristotle:

Here is the kabbalistic image of the concept of “as above and so below”:

And the battle continues…

This has been a pretty shitty week.
Monday I got slammed twice from the academic committee about getting my grade from my summer french class appealed and seeing if I can get my on campus job (studiosouth) be an internship to get credit. Nothing was accepted. The internship was mostly a GPA problem. But the GPA problem is rooted in my language disability.

No one has told me to go study for a test in the way that is most appropriate for me.
They all tell me to study for a test as if I don’t have a disability and just give me extra time.
But how am I supposed to use this extra time to my advantage with what I have?

Its fucking ridiculous that I have to take language classes when I have a documented language disability. But apparently my high school and college both see it as not serious enough to accept it as a legitimate disability and so I have to take the language classes, which are hell for me.

So now I have to plan my life next semester based on two scenarios.
One, if I get my disney world internship.
And two, if all else fails.

I absolutely freaking hate talking about future plans, or what I’m planning to do. Its my life, I’d like to keep it to my self! Also being a mystic, I’ve had experiences in the past where I talk about something that’s going to happen so much that it ends up not happening even if it had a lot of potential of happening.

I’m just so fed up with trying to make this work its driving me crazy.

So this is the scenario if all else fails and I have to come back next semester:

What I would be taking:
Silkscreen Printing TR 9:00 AM-11:30 AM;
Interactive Design II MW MW 6:30 PM-9:00 PM;
Photography I TR 6:30 PM-9:00 PM
 and my french class online.

If I DO get my internship this is what would happen:

I would take the “Internship class” to get credit for the internship which will fulfill the lame .25 units I’m short.
And I would take the french class online to meet the french requirement (1 units).

Next step would be to meet with the Foreign Language department chair to see if the french class I have found online would be acceptable and as well as meeting with the deans for possible scenarios and get some questions answered.

Alternative Energy Concept Car

So last night when I was supposed to be doing an assignment for my sociology class I got hit with some inspiration and an idea/concept for alternative energy car.

I like to think about things like this, and while I don’t have the engineering background, I definitely have the design background as well as the ideas…

SO like most people this past week, I saw this video

and it got me thinking.

First question that came to my mind… how can we take this idea and use the technique to create a piece of practical technology from it?

Second question that came to my mind… how can we easily obtain liquid nitrogen?

While LN may be cheap, its not that easily obtainable and you have to be certified to handle it.
So I go on google and search for a ‘kitchen’ or ‘hobby’ science substitute. I find this substitute:

Its’ not liquid nitrogen. But you can make a cryo-fluid having -110F temperature. (Liquid nitrogen is more like -320F.) A -110F liquid can perform most of the Liquid Nitrogen demonstrations.

Poor man’s “Liquid Nitrogen” is made out of dry ice and 99% rubbing alchohol.

Do you know what dry ice is made out of? It’s a condensed solid form of CO2. That’s right, the gas that’s in our air and what is said to cause global warming and pollution. And from my research as it melts it turns into gas again, but its not the same kind of CO2 that is from the air, its as delicate as what is used to make carbonated drinks.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Levitation created by LN which can be substituted with a cryo-fluid having -110F temperature which is said to reproduce the same kind of LN demonstrations. But the question then is, can it reproduce the same kind of superconductor effects?

Since we’re using dry ice, as product of a green-house gas, we’re taking our problem and turning it into a solution.

Animation from High School

Here is the animation I did in my high school animation class. I still love it. Unfortunately it doesn’t want play all the way, I don’t know why, but you’ll get to listen to some of the soundtrack I composed and recorded for this. The video won’t get to the awesomely animated bar scene =/ oh well. If I find the original file, I’ll upload load it.

White Crow Papermill and art processes

We went to the White Crow Papermill in Fleetwood, Pa today with some of the people in my department. Making paper has always interested me. It was definitely refreshing to see some of the alternative ways that they made paper. One of the professors in the art department owns this place so that’s why we visited them. Sometimes in art, there are specific processes that are needed to be done in order to get the right outcome and until you’ve mastered the original process, only then you can start experimenting. But paper making isn’t that rigid. I mean, you have a basic process, but you don’t necessarily have to use the same tools to recreate the end product.

He did these really cool artworks where he embedded different pieces of paper and then ‘casted’ them so the pieces blended into the surface so its’ smooth.

Camp Chronicles Series

58″ x 40″ handcast and mixed media paper

Reading for Early Graduation

With so many obstacles and bumps in the road for my early graduation approval, I decided to do a tarot reading to gain insight/guidance about what is to come and what I may have to overcome.

(I really shouldn’t be blogging right now since its way past my bed time, but I had the urge to do the reading now, and when that happens, its usually the right time for such things)

Q: Will I graduate early? (I realize this question may be kind of vague for this kind of spread but I wanted to see my results first and then do a more in depth spread if I have to)


1. Six of Swords

According to Psychic Revelation

Generally the 6 shows at least a slight reduction in stress and strain. Things may not be perfect, but they are going to be better than they may have been in the recent past. Take this time to get your head above water and decide where you’re going from here. Even a short break or change of scenery will be helpful. This doesn’t have to cost money.

2. King of Wands reversed

According to Psychic Revelation

In general the King of Wands reversed is a positive card. People around you are likely to be kind, tolerant, and understanding. You should have more than enough energy to get what you need to do accomplished. Again, a light haired, older man may play an important and helpful role in your life.

3. King of Coins

According to Psychic Revelation

The King of Pentacles speaks of authority, tradition, and success in money matters. When he appears in a reading, it’s a sign that now is not a time to be a maverick, now is a time to follow the establish way of doing things. When he stands in for a literal man in your life, it generally refers to a very masculine fellow with hair and eyes on the darker end of the spectrum.

Then I did a “finishing card”. Usually when I do a “finishing card” its because the spread doesn’t feel complete and something important needs to be shown and this is usually done intuitively.  


4. Finishing Card: The Lover’s Reversed

According to Psychic Revelation

When this card appears in reverse, it’s very likely that you are feeling ambivalent about a relationship or situation in your life. You must pay attention to what your gut is telling you and to try to analyze and get clear about what this is and why. Your feelings and emotions are there for a reason. Don’t ignore them.

Even when reversed The Lovers is a powerfully positive omen, particularly of course for romantic relationships, but in truth, for all relationships in your life. The card is associated with the astrological sign of Gemini, “The Twins”.

 At first glance I think the end result will be good. I will probably graduate on time and will get something done early. However, the King of Pentacles doesn’t make sense but at the same time he does. I don’t like the, “Now is a time to follow the established way of doing things” because that means I will have to may not graduate early. But at the same time, that card may be telling me to follow the necessary steps that are required to get my grade appealed and work around my problems with graduating early.

King of Wands made me laugh, its’ obviously talking about one of the deans 🙂 and the energy of this card is great too, it should mean that people will be willing to work with me and make sure I get this fight done and over with. The King of Wands could also be speaking about my Learning Services councilor… which would make more sense I guess since he’s writing a letter to get my grade appealed, etc. and playing an important role.

First card, Six of Wands, is easy. Perhaps this may indicate when I’ll find out if it’ll be appealed. The only time I’ll be traveling anytime soon will be Thanksgiving.

We’ll see what happens!

Shadow Divides

One of the twitter accounts I follow called, “Spacefuture” posts tweets about space and everything about it. They posted today this: http://robertlorayn.computersclub.org/universe.html it is a computer generated model of a cyclic universe. Using the idea of the big bang and the ever expanding vastness of the vacuum.

It got me thinking, it really did.

The page begins as a white screen. Think of this white screen as light, and all the things of this world are united within this glowing, white light.

Then suddenly shadow appears. Shadow is the dagger. It cuts and divides objects making them the 3-Dimensional things we know of today.  When the shadow begins and slowly expands, as seen in the model. Stars start to appear. Again this is because shadow divides.

Someone had commented on an earlier post about crop circles and they mentioned that they wondered why everything in this universe was constructed by a sphere. They are not spheres, but balls. Everything is a ball. There is a difference. Spheres are constructed by lines and points. Balls are constructed by the shadows that are created by light.

When you draw a ‘sphere’ or ball on a piece of paper, you don’t start drawing it with lines and points but with shadow and light. 
Just like how in the cyclic universe model, when the shadow begins to expand, it shows stars and stars are balls of light with shadow attached. 
And then just as how shadow expanded, at a certain time when the shadow has completely taken over, the cycle begins again and the shadow begins to retract and dissolve. Then what is left is a shadowless light in which everything and anything is connected to. 

iSad

Moments after news broke about Steve Jobs’ death, a rainbow popped out of the Pixar campus (taken with my iPhone 4). Rest in peace, Steve, and thank you. SOURCE
Steve Jobs bought a small studio, “The Graphics Group” in 1986 and later renamed is “Pixar”.

iSad. We Sad. World Sad.

“Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.” – Apple.com/stevejobs 

As some of the readers of the blog may know, I am one who does not believe in coincidences. I honestly believe the rainbow above Pixar is a mystical occurrence, photographic evidence of someone achieving the Rainbow Body of Light taught in Buddhism. The timing of the rainbow is impeccable and instantly awakens the questioning mind. Interestingly an article was published today by CNN journaling Jobs’ philosophy and spirituality:

The name of Jobs’ company is said to be inspired by the Beatles’ Apple Corps, which repeatedly sued the electronics maker for trademark infringement until signing an exclusive digital distribution deal with iTunes. Like the Beatles, Jobs took a spiritual retreat to India and regularly walked around his neighborhood and the office barefoot.  

Traversing India sparked Jobs’ conversion to Buddhism. Kobun Chino, a monk, presided over his wedding to Laurene Powell, a Stanford University MBA. SOURCE

 Even Job’s said himself that he doesn’t believe in coincidences:

 “I believe life is an intelligent thing, that things aren’t random,” Jobs said in a 1997 interview with Time, providing a glimpse into his complicated belief system that extends well beyond the Buddhist teachings. SOURCE

According to an article published by The Red Dragon Shop,

The ultimate Great Completion culmination is the Rainbow or Body of Light attainment. This is widely recognized as a sign of extreme sanctity in Tibetan Buddhism and among the Bönpo.  [..] The Rainbow Body – The Body of Light is light without shadow; it is awareness without obscurations; it is omniscience; it is pure space. […] The Body of Light represents a complete and total and radical transformation of one’s status of being, a rediscovery of what was primordially present, and this condition is permanent. It is Awareness itself and is dependent on nothing else.

Sogyal Rinpoche wrote,

In 1952 there was a famous instance of the rainbow body in the East of Tibet, witnessed by many people. The man who attained it, Sonam Namgyal, was the father of my tutor at the beginning of this book. He was a very simple, humble person, who made his way as an itinerant stone carver, carving mantras and sacred texts. Some say he had been a hunter in his youth, and had received a teaching from a great master. No one really knew he was a practitioner; he was truly called a “hidden yogin.” . . . he then fell ill, or seemed to, but became strangely, increasingly happy. When he illness got worse, his family called in masters and doctors.

His son told him he should remember, ‘Everything is illusion, but I am confident that all is well.’ Just before his death at seventy-nine, he said “All I ask is that when I die, don’t move my body for a week.” When he died his family wrapped his body and invited Lamas and monks to come and practice for him. They placed the body in a small room in the house, and they could not help noticing that although he had been a tall person, they had no trouble getting it in, as if he were becoming smaller. At the same time, an extraodinary display of rainbow-coloured light was seen all around the house. When they looked into the room on the sixth day, they saw that the body was getting smaller and smaller. On the eight day after his death, the morning in which the funeral had been arranged, the undertakers arrived to collect the body. When they undid its coverings, they found nothing inside but his nails and hair.

Those who have mastered the trek-chod phase of Dzogchen in which pure and total presence is stabilized, are able to do to-gal. This is the final Dzogchen practice which enables the yogi at the time of death to dissolve his or her physical body into the essence of the elements.

The above photo was taken (on my cell phone so sorry for the quality) when I was traveling to Cancun, Mexico, which turned out to be one of the most mystical experiences I’ve had, in the most sublime way (everything ended up being related to the Orion constellation, I wrote about it here). 
While I was riding in the air plane, I kept noticing this rainbow bubble (mid picture to the right) that was following the direction of the plane. It only appeared when we were over a cloudy area. The sun was low on the other side of the airplane so it couldn’t have been a reflection or light shining on a reflective spot on the plane. I have completely forgotten about it until now because it reminds me of the rainbow bodies of light illustrated in this picture!: 
It just occurred to me that the old apple logo was a rainbow:

Semiotics: the study of Signs

This is probably a premature decision. But I’m currently inspired and moved to go to University of Tartu in Estonia to get a Master’s degree in Semiotics…the study of signs and sign processes (semiosis), indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication.

Its basically a combination of philosophy, linguistics and communication. I figured it might really help me with graphic design career. Why Estonia? It’s under 10k for a two year master program probably half the cost of a US Master’s program… and I can probably afford it and its’ abroad! I never studied abroad. And really still want to at some point, or work abroad… either or. Also the University of Tartu is the center for Semiotics.. so they’re really into the subject which is pretty new and blossoming.

Here’s the program from the University of Tartu’s semiotics department website fora 2-year master program taught in English:

Program Outline
General module

History of Semiotics: Basic Concepts and
                               Classical Works
Tartu-Moscow Semiotic School
Readings of J. v. Uexküll and J. Lotman
Methodology for Semiotic Analysis

Culture module

Cultural Semiotics and Theories of Culture
Semiotics of Art
Semiotics of Translation
Semiotic Analysis of Performance and
                               Multimediality

Nature module

Biosemiotics
Ecosemiotics: Cultural Interpretations of Nature
Zoosemiotics: Umwelt and Animal Communication
Landscape Semiotics

Society module

Sociosemiotics and Societal Theories
Ideology and the Concept of Identity
Models of Communication and Mass Media
Semiotic Analysis of Subcultures

Optional courses


Master thesis

We’ll see though…

First I graduate…. and get an internship and then work some…. or for awhile.