Wow.

That is all I can say about this summer so far. So far, it has been one thing after another, and before I knew it, it was July. This is insane; I cannot really believe it's July 6 already, since my summer is already going by so fast.

After my exams finished, I had a lot of time to do, well, nothing, and it was wonderful. I have to say that being able to do whatever I want without worrying if I have something due is amazing.

But I can't give myself a break. Having fun for the whole summer? Nope. Enjoying myself without a care in the world? Nope.

I'm taking an online course for the month of July, instead! It started July 2 and I've been working almost all day every day since. I'm taking the grade 11 Computer and Information Science course, which really should just be called 'How to use Java,' since that's the only program we're using. We had a short project on the history of programming, but we don't have to use any older languages (which is good, since I've heard of the many horrors of Turing! Eurk!).

And rather than taking my time and working through the content slowly, I've decided to work ahead and get as much done as soon as possible. You see, my course ends on July 31, but my family is going camping on July 24 until July 27, and I would very much like to go. So I've got to get the assignments done ahead of time so I can leave!

Right now I'm working on one due July 14. Each section has four to five assignments and I've completed two assignments out of the five so far. I'm working on the third, but I can't quite get it right, argh!

Java can be quite aggravating when you're a complete newbie at it and have no one to help you. Posting on Java forums is generally pretty useless since the people there have years of experience, and don't really want to help you. I've had people tell me things or link to websites, but never try to attack my coding and actually help me fix it.

Since I'm new at this whole 'Java thing,' it's not too fun to have someone say I'm doing it wrong, but not explain why!

In any case, I best get back to working! ;p

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In a previous post, I made a lot of points discussing art, perception, and how we believe art should and should not be. One of the underlying thoughts I had during this was what one considers to be taboo, or what a society thinks is.

In an explosion of immaturity and stupidity, the new Starbucks logo is being attacked by a Christian group as being 'slutty.' US coffee chain Starbucks has come under fire for a new logo that critics say is offensive and overly graphic (BCC).

Two things bother me about this. First of all, the word slutty is in quotations. Might this mean that someone from the Christian group actually used the word? If you're using such vocabulary, don't you think you have to up your standards a bit? If you're advocating for social justice, perhaps you should attempt to argue your cases with a BIT of eloquence.

In fact, the article quotes someone as stating, "spread like a prostitute... The company might as well call themselves Slutbucks."

That is most certainly the best way to get your point across. Use the foul language you are trying to remove from the public eye and then go as far as to slander the name of a company!

Additionally, from what the article indicates, the logo is based on a Norse design. The group did not even bother to do their research, which astounds me even more. If you are going to complain, you should have adequate knowledge of what you are complaining about. As noted in this article, the Starbucks design had the two-tailed mermaid as its logo from 1987 until 1992. There was a lot of thought put into the design and name itself: this article illustrates the stages of Starbucks.

Another reason their outrage annoys me is because of the nature of it. How many small children might you see going to Starbucks? Not many.

And the only people who might possibly be offended by this might be the parents of young children. Additionally, if a child did see the logo, the parent or guardian might be able to ask an employee the meaning, check on the internet, or make something up. (Of course, Starbucks is rarely visited by young children. Once you start drinking coffee, I would hope you are a bit older!)

So what is all the fuss about? Two tails misinterpreted as legs (since my legs most certainly bend like that) and a bare chest. Oh, dear.

How many sculptures have we seen that are stark naked? And how many were we offended by? There have been debates over nude sculptures in town cores, but a logo on a coffee cup?

I'm not sure it's worth all the fuss. It would be nice if everyone could grow up a little and stop taking offence to every single thing. Perhaps you should expand your efforts to combat poverty in your city? That might be a better use of your time.

To be quite honest, I think the human body is both a curious and beautiful thing. We walk upright, we use only two of our appendages (well, two of five in some cases ;D ) for movement, which frees up our arms for work. The human body is more complex to draw than an animal (or so I've found), and the very essence of a human is that of the nude form.

I don't see it as disgusting or something to hide ALL the time, but something that we can all appreciate. Why? Underneath our clothing, there's nothing else. Just us. While there is a time and place for appreciation of the human form, I don't think it's necessarily bad to do so in a logo.

And I'm not trying to go against anyone's beliefs, be them moral or religious. As artists, can't we all appreciate this? Even if you admire the angle a jaw is set at or the curve of someone's waist, you're appreciating their physical value.

LET'S GO, HUMAN FORM APPRECIATION!

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Hello, again! Thanks to all who commented on my last blog- your input is very appreciated, believe me. I can be a bit of a neat freak, so even mental organisation is something I take into consideration. (Ie: how I organise my blogs).

Although I never really minded blogging about anything and everything, I was a little worried others might. However, it seems as though you don't mind (at least, not too much ) so I'll stick to my sometimes lengthy, assorted-type blogs.

With this in mind, I would like to direct your attention to the image on the right. "Untitled" by Donald Judd is one of my favourite examples of modern art. All his work appears to bear the title of "Untitled," and this particular one was made in 1990. I don't know if it's how clean and minimalised the piece, or simply the colours, but I really, really like it.

What about you? I know a lot of people aren't too fond of modern art (likewise, there are critics for every art period), but I think there's a lot of be learned from modern art. I love the simplicity and clean execution of modern art, contrasting with, say, the Rococo period (which I blogged about a little while ago).

Hehe, I've been thinking about art history a little since I had my exam yesterday. I was surprised, since it was rather easy. I thought I would have to write a lot about some slides and art periods, but it was mixing and matching, true or false, and an art critique. I'm glad that's over, though!

To be honest, I was seriously freaking out over my exams. On Tuesday, I had an absoloutely horrible day. My foot was still sore and the day was turning out pretty horribly.¹ My first class was an annoyance. We were working on our cement sculpture and some of the metal lathe hadn't been attached to the reinforcement bar EVEN THOUGH we'd started putting on the cement and the winterstone already.² First of all, the wire was terrible. It was copper and breaking when I twisted in. Then my foot started to hurt. Then I had to wash my hands and my teacher said something like "Are you working?" and I replied with a "YES |:"

The rest of the day got better. By the last period I was still annoyed, but feeling better. On my spare (in US you get a study hall class? A spare is just where you don't have class at all and can do whatever you want) I was studying in the library and I hit my one toe and bruised it.

I got home and was freaky stressed. Aaaand I had a bit of a breakdown. Things happened, etc, etc, and I ended up telling my mom about my bad day.

It didn't help that in American History, we watched Deerhunter, which is an AMAZING movie, but makes me loathe george bush even MORE.³ I guess everything just sort of welled up and... it was the last straw. >__<;

I feel a lot better now that I've written my Sculpture exam and the first half of my Classical Civilisations exam. (: I'm dreading summer school a bit now, and I sort of regret taking that course... since I won't really get a summer now. :/ Arghhh.

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¹ I sprained the ball of my foot... or chipped the bone, which my mom thinks might be the case. My mom wants to take me to get it checked, but I'll just be told to use crutches or something. And I can't, since I need to carry a binder and a textbook, which isn't possible with crutches! D: And, of course, everyone would see me with crutches, which is worse than limping.
² See blog "definitions and interpretations: truth, Rococo and graffiti" for more information on the sculpture! :3
³ Deerhunter is a movie on the war in Vietnam. It is amazing, but so sad. I almost cried at the end, and nearly did when I told my sister about it yesterday. The parallels between Vietnam and Iraq are frightening. The movie made me so angry about Vietnam, which made me even angrier about Iraq. And I don't capitalise george bush's name anymore.

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The bane of many student's existence: the ill-spoken of exams! I have two in-class exams coming up next week- one for Classical Civilizations and another for Sculpture. My Sculpture exam is a lot of art history and written work on techniques we used, as well as a few terms.

At the moment, I'm trying to study for my exams. But? It seems as though I've sprained or strained the ball of my foot. Who does that? HONESTLY! It's been sore since yesterday and today it was really starting to hurt when I walked on it. My mom pointed out that it was really swollen and it hurt when I poked it.

I have sprained the ball of my foot.

In addition, I'm still trying to get over my cold and I've got a bit of a stomach ache, so I really don't have the drive to study at all. I was counting on using today as a study day, but I feel rather rotten.

So, instead I've been giving some more thought regarding which direction I would like to take my blogs. I've started blogging about history, art, and in the past I examined a lot of politics. I don't even know if I want to stick to anything, and instead, just post my musings and thoughts with whatever else I want!

My only concern is that it might be a bit of a bother to follow. I also want to try cutting down my blogs, since they tend to be rather... long.

Gah! I need your input. :P Should I keep updating with whatever comes to mind? Post some more thoughts on art and history? I don't know! We'll just have to see. Hopefully after my exams finish, I'll have a few good ideas. ;]

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