Attack of the Ninja: Video

DJ Uppercut : The Attack of Ninja from Shane Lester on Vimeo.

When Mr. Justin first introduced this video to the class, I was super excited to watch the video about a female ninja, figthing a male DJ cowboy, as Mr. Justin had described it. After watching the video however, I was unfortunatelly dissapointed.

Although the artwork and music ws quite unique, and very well executed, I couldn't recognize a main plot, or even point of the video. It lacked the epic quality I had expected.

What did interest me was the sense of masculinity, and feminism of the video, and how they were portrayed by the characters. I loved that the ninja was a female! I know that when we think of ninjas, many of us imagine a male, or unisex character with very bland features. The gender of this ninja was almost a mystery. In the beginning, you could only tell she was a woman because of her long, thin fingers, and oval-shaped face, and graceful but powerful movements, which are generic female traits. Later in the video however, and during the close-ups of the ninja, she was portrayed with long, wind-blown hair, white-painted nails, blush, pink lips, and even face artwork that resembled eye makeup.

The cowboy on the other hand was very distinctly male. His massive size, boxy and stiff movements, and angular facial features, made the distinction obvious.

What did you think of the video? Leave a comment below!

This is hilarious! Does this apply to you??

Let Go

If you like odd, bizzare, queer, sickening videos, this is the video for you. Rather, if you are someone who would rather spend ther time doing something productive, then please ignore the music video below.

This video is filled with sick images of human parts consuming one another over and over again. The repeditive artwork was put to the tune of an even moe repeditave 12-word song. The only aspect I did like was the "cohesiveness". I did like the way it always came back to the singing lips, and the same face.

Here's the video. My advice: don't waste your time, or brain cells:

The Japanese Popstars Feat. Green Velvet - Let Go from David Wilson Creative on Vimeo.
 "You try too hard to keep contol, just relax and let go." Will haunt my dreams forever. What are your thoughts? How many nightmares have you had since this video??

October 2nd, 2010-Cross Country Race

Today LVCP's cross country team participated in our first ever race! This 3mile race had quite a few uphills, but was lots of fun. We did really well considering that this was our first real time. Here are a pictures from the event. The boys ran before the girls, and the guys were nice enough to stick around until I was finished. :)

A nice group shot. The OVERWHELMING number of girls CONSUMED the front row, while the guys stod in back. ;) Unfortunately, we're missing two of our boys in the picture.

Jeff, Will, and Dustin. Dustin was making me laugh the whole time!

Devan and Manny!

Paul was super fast!

Finish line! FINALLY! The girl in front of me (in blue) ran the entire race near me. We had the same pacing! I thought that was funny.

MUN Photos

As promissed...
here are a few of the photos I took while attending the Model United Nations conference at Santa Margarita High in S. California. I tried to choose mostly group shots, in case some of you don't want your individual pictures posted.

Panda Express lunches. SCORE!

My Friend Nicole in committee.

A group shot after the conference. Smile!

This group pretty much hung out the whole weekend. P5 + Germany! (You guys know what I'm talking about)

Food break @ Coco's. Not much to say.

Just a shot I took on the car ride home that I thought was pretty.

ADORABLE LITTLE MUSICIAN!

This is most funny if you're a Jason Mraz freak like me, but hilarious nonetheless. Please watch!

MUN Conference: Success!

A few days ago, my friends came back from an academic conference in Southern California. It was so much fun! Three of my friends and I even placed, and got awards! Overall, it was an amazing experience, and was very educational, and also a great bonding oppertunity. If you ever have the chance to attend a Model United Nations conference, try and go! Once I download all my pictures, I'll be posting some of my favorites here.
-JULIA

Banksy: The Man and His Flowers

Today in English class, Mr. Justin showed the class this image from the secretive artist: Banksy. We wrote our own paragraphs about our own interpretations of the art piece:

 What a beautiful piece! The contrast between the beautiful flowers, and the dark man show many things:

(a) The depict detail of the flowers show how Banksy is highlighting the beauty, peace, and overall "rightness" of the flowers.
(b) The citizen depicted in the image is not necessarily one man. He more represents a community of rebels. This is why he is not portrayed in detail. I perceive that he is trying to blend in with the others so that the source of his actions are not acknowledged.

I'd like to believe that this man is secretly doing good for his community. Instead of throwing a rock or grenade, the man here is throwing flowers, a symbol of good.

Perhaps this is a representation of Banksy him/herself. Aka: Someone who is doing good for the global community behind the scenes, without all the personal attention or media.

Of course, I can't be sure of my assumptions, but this is just my interpretation.

Let me know what you think! Please comment! Thanks!

-JULIA DI SIMONE

Lego Stop-Motion

Check out this fantastic stop-motion I found! I love legos, and the message is beautiful! Let me know what you think.

Sorry I'm Late: Fantastic Stop-Motion

Today in English class, our teacher showed the class an amazing video from Blink. I've seen videos from them before, and I was amazed by this one. The idea of locating the video on the floor was super unique, and gave the story a cool feel. Let me now what you think!

Sorry I'm Late from Tomas Mankovsky on Vimeo.
-JULIA

SOCUMUN Conference: Almost Here!

Today is Friday, September 24th, 2010. In about an hour or so, about 15 students, including myself are heading down to Southern California for a Model United Nations conference. I'm so excited! Today, we're driving down to our hotel, on Saturday, the academic conference will take place, and afterwards, we'll go to Knott's Berry Farm. Sunday, we'll go to the beach, and then drive back to Livermore. I will post my pictures, and blog about how the trip went. THANKS!

~Julia~

The Identity Project

PHEW! My first English project of the year is over, and I had a lot of fun making it!
Above are two images of one of my components. For the full description of my project, please check out my Digital Portfolio: http://sites.google.com/a/lvcp.org/juliadisimone/, under the 9th grade: English Folder.
THANKS! Please comment, and let me know what you think!
-Julia

Air-Sing Sang Sung: Music Video

Sing Sang Sung by  Air is a very mellow, calm song. It's music video however, takes art to a whole new level. It featured the band trapped into a small black circle, that travels through a beautiful maze of crazyness. I liked that nothing stayed the same, the shapes were always shifting, and moving. For example: One second, the little black circle was traveling through a series of purple trees, and the next second, the triangular tree tops became swimming jellyfish, and the trunks eventually became a crowd of womens heels and legs. I love the origionality, I have not seen anything like it? What do you think, did you prefer the video or the song itself?

Air - Sing Sang Sung from kevin kenger on Vimeo.

T-Shirt War!: Amazing Stop-Motion

I love watching stop-motion projects, and found this one on YouTube I just HAD to share. I was blown away! Enjoy, and tell me what you think!

Beautiful Creepyness: The Cellist

I found this painting on Google Images for a classroom warm-up. Of course I searched for a painting of a cello, and I found this amazingly creepy painting. I love the look of using the primary colors as the main color sceme. The cellist is so wierd, I love it! His long fingers, and sallow face makes him look like a part skeleton-part ancient classical musician. His hair though reminds me of a clown. What do you think of this skeleton-clown-creepy-cellist? Do you like it?

Little Red Riding Hood: Awesome Video!

Today in class, our teacher Mr. Justin showed the class a video he found on vimeo. I found this high school project phenomenal! It is an updated version of the classic children's story: Little Red Riding Hood. It not only incorperates literature and technology, but also science math, art, and more.

                    
                Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny from Tomas Nilsson on Vimeo.

I enjoyed viewing this video, and loved the spectacular attention to detail. I was slightly frustrated that the large amount of words on the screen only remained for a few minutes, but I understand that for a quick classroom presentation, it was just enough time to understand what the general idea was. This video made me more interested in what can be accomplished in cross-curricular projects. If I was more technology and math savy, I would love to do a project like this. Lastly, I wasn't crazy about the music, but I know some might really like it. What are your thoughts? Please comment below. Thank You!

-JULIA 

Welcome to my New Blog!

In this blog I will be posting work from my Freshman English class as well as random art, videos, and music I discover during my freshman year. This is going to be a crazy, random space, and lots of fun! Thank you for reading, and please feel free to comment on any post you find interesting. I'll post again soon!

-JULIA