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?