My Kiddies

I figured that everyone is putting pics of their adorable children online, therefore, I must show how cute my kids are. This is both of them attacking me. This kind of behavior happens usually around four in the morning. I will wake up with Lane shreading my arm and Adele on my head batting at my eyes. Brent and I are looking into investing a spray bottle to discipline the little suckers.
Enjoy. :)

P.S. Sorry about the shoddy cinematography. I should really invest in a better camera.

California

(Work from the Getty Museum, L.A., California)

I should be studying right now, but once again find myself procrastinating through my blog. To update everyone, I am proud to say that I was accepted to graduate school at the University of Utah for the fine arts program! Woo, hoo :) I wasn't sure if I would make it in, so it came as a pleasant surprise. I will start in the fall semester this year and hope to focus on the psychological topos surrounding women in modern art. There is a lot for me to work out now financially, etc, but I'm sure it will all pan out.
Brent was also assigned to train his company's offshore teams in India. We are not sure when he will go, but I will be accompanying him for a portion of it. It will be a great opportunity for me to learn more about the Middle East since I know very little concerning it (except for the recent political happenings). And hopefully we will have the opportunity to travel to surrounding areas. Brent should be there for a month, I will probably be there for a portion of that since I am now certain on my scholastic future.


This past week has been spring break and my Mom, Brent, and I decided to go on a road trip to Long Beach where we would stay with a good friend of the family. We had a great time with the exception of the case of strep throat that struck me. Unfortunately, (and I suppose fortunately considering I didn't have to take time off school or work) I was too sick to do anything extreme that we planned, but was able to go do a few things. Our host's house was right on the beach which allowed us to frequently have the feeling of being somewhere different than our regular surroundings. It still wasn't horribly warm, but nice enough to walk along and take pics comfortably. We went out to so many wonderful restaurants and gorged ourselves on seafood! Overall, it was relaxing and a much needed get away.

One of my favorite touristy locations was the Getty museum. It was so incredible and the architecture was innovative. The museum is located on a hill where you have to take a tram up to the actual structure. Once there, you are rewarded with encompassing views and a harmony of nature and architecture. The building melds with its surroundings and grasps the themes of height and picturesque panoramic views. There were glorious gardens and the span of artwork was surprisingly wide. I was disappointed in the lack of modern art, but I could have somehow missed that building. I was blown away be this structure and do not regret the visit.

Here are a couple of pics from the trip (in no particular order):

My mom cracking crab legs for me. She is crazy, but absolutely loves to do this and will not let anyone crack their own crab legs at the table. She MUST crack them!


My mom and I at a local hang out.


Brent and I having good times.


Mwah ha ha :) I caught Brent sleeping on the trip. I have like a million of these photos. I think this was the furthest I could get up his nose without him noticing.


Brent and I walking in the uber cute neighborhood where our host lived. All of the houses were so unique and fun.


A small section of the Getty.


I found this sign ironic. It would imply that lifeguards are not real people right?





Brent's bib from the Crab Pot. Mmmm...


Me at the Getty.


A picturesque view built into the architecture.

It relates

It is interesting that after my post on censorship that I would run into this on another person's blog. It relates to my digression on the point of being an art history buff. Ken Robinson has it right. Very funny man, very accurate too.

"Kiss me thru da Phone"

Quite possibly the most ingenious song I have ever heard... Especially when it is stuck in your head all day. I just want to give a gratuitous shoutout to Brent for introducing me to this densely romantic song.

Click to view: Kiss me thru da Phone

I'm not usually one to do this, but...

The other day Monica Meyer, a Mexican feminist performance artist spoke at my school. With her presentation, an important topic was breached: censorship. An unique (and somewhat contradictory) slide in her presentation came up exhibiting a press-released photograph of decapitated heads to illustrate the consequences of what I believe she called "narco-terrorism" - a current problem occurring near her hometown Mexico City relating to drug cartel. What is significant was the Q&A after the presentation. Out of all of the things that ms. Meyer showed us, this image stirred the most conversation. The interesting thing in this is that while the artist shared her philosophy on life and the meaning of art(according to her)with us, the image was discussed largely in political terms in relationship to the ban that former Pres. Bush put on images of those killed in Iraq, and Pres. Obama's reversal of this ban.

While the topic of censorship can become quite complicated, I have always had a problem with the decision of a group of people to restrict an image, book, etc. from others. I have a difficult time believing that another person (with the exception of my parents) could know what was ultimately best for me, which leads me to believe in the power of an image.

If you'll allow me to digress, art history majors tend to receive a lot of flak for their choice of study. One of my uncles put it best: "what do you really think you will do with a useless major like that?" (This mentality is also evident in the allocation of bailout funds concerning the arts). If I had been wittier at the time I would probably have questioned the level of happiness he was experiencing in his specific career. While one may make more money than another, the age-old cliché of money doesn't buy happiness is applicable. But back to how this relates...:) The (seemingly useless) study of images allows one to realize the sometimes unrecognizable plight of the artist, but not only that, what an image says about the culture and how an image might inversely affect a culture. The censorship of a particular image is evidence of the power that an image holds, thus making the study of these images very relevant to a society's identity.

In relationship to the censorship of pictures of the consequence of the war in Iraq, is it possible that the Bush administration would gain even less support than what they were currently experiencing by allowing these images to be seen? But why not let the people decide for themselves? Yet, with the release of this ban by Obama, couldn't the reverse be possible? That due to general popular approval of the war currently (which doesn't seem to be that popular) that President Obama is using these images as an aid to encourage his popularity by making his predecessor look bad? The power of the image is subjective and the effect widely debated, but one thing remains consistent, the issue of censorship is a political tool to discourage independent thought.