think • think • thinking

c. Summer 2014

There are lots of cool people on the Internet. (And that is a huge understatement, believe me.)

I can't deny that I'm constantly inspired by the work I see everywhere, ranging from projects started to spur change to the beautiful film productions released on YouTube. Last week in particular I got incredibly caught up in binge watching multiple incredible web series, and I discovered a handful of utterly mind-blowing creators who work in the film production field. AHHH. I'm just so overwhelmed and filled to the brim with excitement and encouragement! I'm getting a little worked up just thinking about all the amazing discoveries I've stumbled upon, so just give me a moment to get myself together. (It's probably not helping that I'm listening to a particularly invigorating EDM playlist right now, ha.)

I think I'll go about this list of links chronologically, in order of when they were found. Lots of rambling after the cut! Read through if you're interested in reading about some great web series and beautiful YouTube creators.

I could make you mine

I've been following Neon Gold Record's blog for over two years now, and a video for their 5th anniversary was released recently. I've been reading their blog all this time for the cool music, but I never actually looked into the people behind it. The video (produced by MOI$T) really gave me a look into the effect the label has had on some of my favorite artists (and I discovered most of them through the Neon Gold blog!). This led to a lot of clicking around and Google searching, and it was all pretty inspiring.

(Listed in order of the discovery process)

1. http://neongoldrecords.com/ (from blog)
2. NG5: Five Years of Neon Gold (to video)
3. Refinery29: "How Two Buds Started Neon Gold Records" (to an article)
4. The Knocks – Dreaming (to music video by an artist from Neon Gold)
5. MOI$T (to the person who made the anniversary and music videos)

...all the way to me sitting here, thinking about not only how spectacular Lizzy and Derek from Neon Gold are because of their supportive influence, but also about the impressive videos produced and edited by the lady behind MOI$T! 

I especially, especially, especially appreciated what Justine Bowe (of Magic Man) had to say in the anniversary video about Lizzy Plapinger being one of the most inspirational female figures for her in the industry. More power to the ladies! The issue of the gender gap is something I've thought a lot about, being not only a woman, but also a person of color who wants to enter the entertainment industry.

Basically, this post is just another display of my nerdiness when it comes to subjects that intrigue me. I love discovering new music, and film or media production is something I'm going to start learning more about soon. Soon!

patchwork show in oakland

November 24, 2013

My good friend G invited me to go check out the Patchwork Show, held at Jack London Square in Oakland this past weekend, and of course (since we're both very crafty and DIY-oriented people) I gladly accepted. We originally wanted to take public transportation, but I ended up driving all the way up. I invited my friend A to come along too and I'm glad I did! It was really nice to have a buddy sitting next to me in the passenger seat for the long drive there and back. We got to chat and bond a little too, so that definitely made the day even more memorable.

Unfortunately I didn't take any photos while I was inside the Patchwork Show. It was basically a craft fair where local vendors sold their goods: jewelry, clothing, soaps, prints, cards, posters, etc. Everything was so cute and pretty! If I had the disposable income to spend freely, I definitely would have. The only things I picked up were all the beautiful business cards because I'm cheap. I was so tempted to buy some necklaces and earrings as gifts, but sadly my wallet wouldn't have been able to handle it. Ah, well.

The guy spelled me name wrong, but that's okay! : )

There were two food trucks outside the show! We went to The Melt because it was a lot cheaper than the other one (I forget its name). I got The Mission with fresh tomato — spicy but yummy.

We walked around the waterfront after we finished eating. Lots of sunshine and not a cloud in the sky all afternoon. I had such a relaxing day with two of the sweetest people ever. I've missed going on peaceful little adventures like these.

unconditional love explained in 23 minutes

I just discovered this TED talk — it is beautifully written and executed, so about halfway through listening to it I decided I wanted to share it on this blog, especially since I haven't posted a list of inspirational things in a while. If you have 23 minutes to spare, I highly recommend it.



Here are the last few phrases that stood out to me most:

"ecosphere of kindness"
"splendor can illuminate even the most abject of vulnerabilities"
"the terrifying joy of unbearable responsibility"
"I do not accept subtractive models of love, only additive ones"

In other news, I will have a recap post of how my last few weeks have been up very soon. I've been incredibly busy and without much time to flesh out a good post. I haven't really been able to keep track of all the little things that make me smile these days too. I'll definitely have more time once Thanksgiving break rolls around. (At least, I hope I will!) Until then, I leave you with this poignant and eloquently delivered TED talk. Enjoy!

week four (initiation, family, and little reasons to smile everyday)

The last page in the booklet from Little Joy's eponymous album.

Inspiration for the week of 10/13-10/19:

• Aaron James Gresham's posters for Vampire Weekend's UK 2013 tour
• "Emma Approved" — I love it so much already. Thank you, Pemberley Digital!

Things/people I'm grateful to and for:

• Barkada! The whole KAA family thing is making me so happy and excited!
• Honestly, I'm generally just super thankful for the MCC family
• Relatively empty highways on the nights I drive home super late
• A full tank of gas to start off each week (my gratitude for this is immeasurable)
• Daily "pings" (i.e., encounters and brief interactions with attractive people who make me smile)

Recap/highlights of the week:

gratitude

Old photo, taken during the summer in San Francisco.

Inspiration for the week of 10/6-10/12:

• Jennifer Dewalt, who learned to code by building 180 websites in 180 days (Seriously, she is currently my hero because I spent about a week over the summer learning HTML/CSS from Codeacademy but I lost motivation because I didn't know where/how to apply what I'd learned. Discovering her feat just blows me away!)
• Poetry magazine (I need to renew my subscription.)
• Mathilde Roussel

Things/people I'm grateful for:

• Google Hangouts and Skype
• Finding fellow English majors at school
• The people who have made me feel so welcome at school

Things that happened this week but I'm too lazy to make a separate post for:

• Halloween Haunt at Great America with some friends. I can handle horror movies, games, and books, but when it comes to being spooked and chased in person, you can count on me to cling onto your arm or hold your hand for dear life. I'm more scared of being jumped at than I am of a person dressed up in a creepy costume. (My goodness, I'm actually considering going a second time with a different group of people.)

What I've been listening to:

• The Speed of Things (2013) by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

you belong here

Inspiration for the week of 9/29-10/5:

• James and Aubrey (Actually, just watch all of this guy's videos. They're fantastic.)
• "I am learning everyday to allow the space between where I am and where I want to be to inspire me and not terrify me." — Tracee Ellis Ross, in an interview for UPTOWN
• Margaret Howell S/S 13 (photographed by Mark Sanders)
• Start Small: Why Tinkerers Get Things Done via 99u
• "We don’t give other people credit for the same interior complexity we take for granted in ourselves, the same capacity for holding contradictory feelings in balance, for complexly alloyed affections, for bottomless generosity of heart and petty, capricious malice. We can’t believe that anyone could be unkind to us and still be genuinely fond of us, although we do it all the time." — Tim Kreider, from I Know What You Think of Me

Things and people I'm grateful for:

• The cute tech guy who complimented the customizations I'd done to my Mac.
• The campus library
• The fact that my dog still loves me even though I'm rarely at home anymore
• More future concert buddies
• All the old copies of The Santa Clara Review that I picked up this week around campus
• The APSU board members who've been taking care of me

What I was listening to while compiling this post:

• Pure Heroine (2013) by Lorde
• You Belong Here (2013) by Leagues
• AM (2013) by Arctic Monkeys

things and more things

Inspiration for the week of 9/22-9/28:

• (Shown above) Ana Kraš - Shy Gestures from the Avant/Garde Diaries. (Ana & Devendra collabs = !!!! = loveliest couple ever)
• Refer to this post for the poems that I discovered/re-discovered this week.
• Prof. Jensen Jeung. Only been in his class for two days and he's already my favorite.
• 100 Years From Now

Things and people I'm grateful for:

• My soon-to-be concert buddy!
• The little girl I'm tutoring.
• That guy who has the really wonderful and deep voice and who is also so humble about who he is and where he's been that it amazes me.
• My commuter buds.
• Having a car.

Things I just realized:

• I'm seeing Young the Giant on Tuesday.
• I still haven't finished watching Pushing Daisies.

What I was listening to while putting this post together:

• We Are The Tide (2011) by Blind Pilot

Some things never leave a person:

Old photo. Taken around April this year at Mission Peak.

Poems I read tonight and would like to share:

• "Where You Go When She Sleeps" by T.R. Hummer
• "Oranges" by Gary Soto (I first read this in middle school, I believe! Glad that I found it again.)
• "Persimmons" by Li-Young Lee

Now that I think of it, those three poems all contain really lovely color imagery. Golds, oranges, reds. I guess I'm subconsciously finding myself drawn to autumn colors. I actually started crying after reading "Persimmons" (oh hush—crying over poems is what I do to alleviate stress) because sometimes poems just knock you over that edge you've been tip-toeing along during those days or weeks or months when you're plain exhausted, so you just gotta let the tears well up. Then you dry your eyes. Then you keep going. Yup. Can you tell that I'm writing this at one in the morning while avoiding my Latin homework and Sociology reading?

Happy reading (and crying, if that applies to any of you).

outshine it

Inspiration for the week of 9/15-9/21:

• 1972 by Noritaka Minami
• "The powerful and important thing about spoken word is, it doesn't matter what it looks like on paper. It's about what it sounds like when you say it out loud" — [the wonderful, lovely, amazing] Sarah Kay, via Education Week
• "Never apologize for your course of study — outshine it." — (I am so grateful for this quote. The posts on this Tumbleog honestly made me tear up after reading through the "English major success" tag.)
• the lovely Nancy H. for motivating me to keep "blogblogging"

Nutella cravings, among other things

This week's inspiration, favorite discoveries — generally just things I'm especially grateful for.

• tostada con tomate (using gluten-free bread, grape tomatoes, and a drizzle of honey)
• a bowl of granola + a spoonful of Nutella
• Becky May
• Joshua Saunders's music box pieces
• the sounds of autumn from Stijn's bedroom window in Europe
• cherry lip balm
• 101 Vultures by Alex Winston
• Slumflower

There's still about a week before I start school but I'm already spending a lot of quality time at the public library! The other day I finished A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams and am working my way through Joyce's Dubliners. I've been meaning to pick it up for ages after reading "Araby" and "The Boarding House" in last year's literature textbook. 

The other books I took with me are Taipei by Tao Lin, Horoscopes for the Dead by Billy Collins, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, and How We Are Hungry by Dave Eggers. Looking forward to powering through them before the excitement of my first quarter in college begins! I might write some reflections on the books, if I feel like it.

I also pulled out an old sketchbook I'd bought years ago and started filling its pages again. I've done some watercolors and collages in it already, as well as a bunch of lists and quick sketches. I found a list of journal ideas online and quickly jotted down a short story (more like a piece of flash fiction, really) using the prompt, "Write a work that intersperses love with landlords." It's pretty crazy, but I'm partially satisfied with what I ended up with. You can read it here.