Middlemarch madness

I had been in something of a digital art rut recently, but Middlemarch inspired me to pick up my tablet pen once more!
These are all speed paints I did just this night.

"The Worst Kind of Virgin Sacrifice"
photoshop
time: 20 mins
explanation: Dorothea's fruitless labors in her disastrous marriage with Mr. Casaubon. The "worst kind of virgin sacrifice" is what Sir James Chettam calls her marriage, since she thinks she's devoting her life to contributing to his great work, The Key to All Mythology, except it's really not that great.
"Will Ladislaw"
photoshop
time: 15 mins
expl: A weird portrait of Will Ladislaw, inexplicably nude (or at least cravat-less). So not based on Rufus Sewell. Nevermind the heavily lidded jade green eyes and curly black hair ._.

"Dorothea Brooke"
Tegaki
time: 20 mins
expl: Ergh, don't like this one. First of my drawings tonight, though. Whenever I do these solid things, the contrast never comes out good enough. :/
"On the Steppes"
Photoshop
time: ~5-10 mins
Random blobular landscape. Looked a lot better in my head than on paper. Could be Dorothea and Will agonizingly, repressingly cavorting about, or Fred and Mary traversing the steppes of Middlemarch.
Well, that was fun!!! I'm far too lazy to create a real finished, polished piece at the moment. This graduation business is making me feel really apathetic and useless. But speed painting is less taxing, and it forces me to draw something.
It's quite remarkable that drawing got me out of my Sims 3 mode for today! The way I play Sims 3 is wasteful; I spend about 3/4 of my time playing on the character creation screen.
Upcoming... Middlemarch sims... I smell trouble.

Somebody else needs to read this book or watch this drama besides my mother, since I think she's tired of me ranting to her about it.

I found Omegle a while ago, but for some reason I only chose to start playing with it once I have a bio assignment due tomorrow.

This made me laugh.

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!

Stranger: hi

You: hi

Stranger: where r u from

You: do you like

You: i am from

You: ca

Stranger: ca?

You: yes

You: do you like furry thing

Stranger: what?

You: like kittens

You: or puppies

Your conversational partner has disconnected.

A Life Lesson Learned

Last night, I couldn't find my usual case for my contact lenses. So I dug up an old case that, despite the dirt and what I prayed wasn't mold, seemed decent enough. I drenched the thing in rubbing alcohol and rinsed it off in the sink afterward.
I thought I was clever for disinfecting the case that would hold the lenses that go into my precious, precious eyes.
Yeah, right.
This morning, as I put in my right contact, I felt a burning pain, as if my cornea was being ripped out by a thousand tiny little ant bites injecting folic acid into my aqueous humor. I heard and felt a distinct throbbing sensation in that space between my eyes and ears that was perhaps my brain. I could barely muster the strength to rip the contact out of my right eye.
My right sclera has been red for the whole day. Miraculously I can still see.

Live a little, learn a little.

Lesson of the previous night/today: Rubbing alcohol and things that go into your eyes don't mix.

This is becoming my media review blog...

I thought it would be fun to organize my thoughts about media I've recently consumed...

Things I watched recently that I utterly fell in love with
Middlemarch (BBC drama 1994)
I'm hungrily reading the actual George Eliot novel now thanks to the television drama. I love it when I'm initially lured to something by a hot actor that ends up actually being good and provokes thought in me other than "Oh dear lord why is this human being so attractive," although that thought does remain somewhere. At the very least, I can have some pretense of intellectual strivings.

At Satchem Farm/Higher Love/Uncorked
What I hate about this movie is that it has three different names depending on region, making it nigh impossible to find information. Again, another Rufus Sewell movie... When I go on these bouts of obsession, I always feel vaguely ashamed. It feels oddly embarrassing and I need to reassure myself that I am a teenage girl and should be allowed some room for raging hormones. But still! I have to end up rationalizing all these things to myself. But this was really quite a cute movie. It had that sort of feel good message that I would have despised or at least groaned at if it had been phrased in any other way, but this movie pulled it off rather nicely. I like the image of Sir Nigel Hawthorne on stilts walking to a 20 cubit plexiglass pillar.

Things I watched recently that I enjoyed
The Illusionist
I'm on a rampage for movies with Rufus Sewell in them, I admit it. Even ones where he has a great silly mustache glued to his upper lip. But I liked this movie on its own merits besides those of Mr. Sewell. Of course, the Phillip Glass soundtrack is almost a reason on its own to watch this movie, as is the cinematography. I've been influenced by Contemporary Media to more closely examine these sorts of things... Throughout this film I felt as if very little time were passing at all, so engaging it was. Edward Norton's performance didn't really do it for me most of the time, but certain scenes were executed very poignantly. It was fun trying to figure out the internal logic of the movie, whether the illusions were actually real or just illusions. But I do end up feeling rather bad for Crown Prince Leopold at the end and rather resentful towards Eisenheim. Overall, a good movie but not worth frothing at the mouth for.

Things I'm listening to
Luna de Fuego - Gipsy Kings
I never thought I would have liked anything that was mentioned in a Spanish book cultura section. But after checking out this CD from the library, I have to admit that it is damn good.

Things I wish I got but didn't
Koyaanisqatsi
This "movie" frustrated me. It's just beyond my comprehension, pausing to annoy me with bits of empathy and meaning here and there while testing my patience and ability to resist sleep. I was thinking, boring art is most fun to the person who makes it. By boring art, I mean art that delights in being boring and makes a statement through stasis. A lot of the meaning is just in the making itself. Or, that is complete drivel and merely an excuse to myself for being too dimwitted to really draw something out of this film. Phillip Glass soundtrack was hella great, though very hypnotic.

Miserable Les Mis film

oh dear lord, i have just seen the worst travesty of a book to film adaptation of my life.
the 1998 adaptation of Les Miserables with Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush
First of all, Valjean would never hit Cosette or tell her to shut up. That was just messed up. I know most of the people who actually read the book may have wanted to give her an actual personality but uh...
Why bother to spend 10 minutes about Valjean scaling a wall, 20 minutes on Javert sending a spy to spy on Marius (?!) and his love life, and 5 minutes with Cosette watching Marius make a rousing speech but not bother to put in Eponine, Enjolras, the Thenardiers...
By the way, Marius is supposed to be retarded, not a revolutionary leader with rousing speeches.
Why let Jean Valjean tell Cosette in the middle of the movie his past - thereby erasing any possibility of another self-sacrifical scene that the whole book is about when he has to let her go marry Marius instead? Why let Jean Valjean watch happily as Javert commits suicide?
Why let Jean Valjean get lovey-dovey with Fantine?
Why let Jean Valjean live at the end of the movie, after grinning as Javert drowns himself?

Why did I waste 2 hours watching this drivel?

...the fascination of the abomination...

And Uma Thurman is actually a really terrible actress. At least in here.
Actually, every actor in here is pretty bad. Even Geoffrey Rush!

Why can't film directors just make up their own movies if they're going to change the entire plot and theme of the book?

...

-SOBS-
Why do I always get attached to the ones that die?

Sneak peek! Hahaha... I will try to get this out before the end of February. It is my dream to return to our legendary monthly update schedule... or even better!!