It’s been a crazy semester, packed full of projects and the like, and I’ve done my best to detail the best of them on my portfolio.

Over the summer I had some pretty major things going on, from my trip to Poland to the New Hampshire follow-up project I participated in, which were great projects.

I started the semester off performing in a poetry slam.  I came in 3rd place (out of 3 performers), but received very positive feedback.  Next I tackled a short film idea that’d been running around my head for a while, and made some good headway with it.  No plans for filming or even redrafting the script yet, but hopefully eventually; it was just nice to get into a project like that again after being out of it for a while.

Outside of school I rarely have spare time, but I found myself perusing Instructables pretty often, and entered their Halloween contest.  I didn’t win that one, but I did win 3rd place for their pocket-sized contest with my fork-knife-spoon piece from last year.  I wore the prize t-shirt last night :).

After that the workload picked up, and the projects got more serious.  At the end of the Spring there is an annual all-school-show where each department displays their best work.  One of my majors has a Fall show they put on as well, to showcase their department and the variety of work it produces.  Much of this is performance-related work (music, theater, dance, sound, light shows), and I was asked to be the stage manager for this year’s show.  It’s called the SIM Big Show, and it was a pretty huge event, with over 200 people in attendance.  In addition to stage managing, my music video from last year played in one of the video screening rooms, and I had a piece I called Practical Nature in one of the galleries in school.

Following that was the final show for my Food & Art class, the only requirements being that we make food to serve the audience and we make a piece to display in the show that had something to do with both food and art.  Mine had some more complex messages to it, and though simple, I was satisfied with it.

Lastly – and perhaps obviously, judging by the trend in my work so far – was my woodworking final.  All Sculpture majors are required to take a woodworking 101 class called Projects in Wood.  More artistic than last year’s Joinery, we made an experimental carving, another box – simpler than the ones from Joinery – and the final was an “interpretive box,” which I’ll detail more in its post.

Winter Break has been great; I went home for about a week for a period of total removal from everything school- and work-related, hanging out at home for Christmas and much time with no obligations, and it was wonderful.  Now I’m back in Boston, tackling some personal and home projects I’d set aside during the semester, and preparing for the semester to come.

Up ahead: casting & moldmaking with plaster, kinetic art, beat research (studying and making music and hip-hop beats), and hopefully being a TA for the Projects in Wood class I just completed.

Aside from that, I’m continuing working at Henry Bear’s Park toy store and as an usher for the Blue Man Group during vacation periods.  With the new year I feel more methodical about my approach to projects, and life, which I’m hoping will help ease the next semester, bringing less stress and a bit more time for relaxing between things, be they projects or simply moments in a day.

Hoping each of you are well,
and wishing all happy holidays,
Blake

Smitten: [link]
Fear: [link]
I’m Me Again and it’s All Because of You: [link]

First up…my new demo reel is online! Finally, I can share the last few week’s (and June’s) work with people. Also, after watching that [link], check out my new portfolio site here.

Also…in other newses….I’ve got a few new poems up at DA (my profile’s linked to from the portfolio site, but I wanted to give ‘em a shout-out on here too). They’re posted below with links to the DA pages.

It’s You

I keep sitting and thinking,
getting lost in daydreams of you.
My heart skips and jumps, clinking,
feels fragile as glass, sticky like glue.

It shudders with fear, closed and cold,
shedding its own tears of self-imposed
solitude, emptiness, will I be alone when I’m old?
But you send me smiles through wires like electric hoses.

I’m showered, bathing in your love,
I’m warm and safe cuddling your heart,
your smiles mystify what I’m afraid of
and glorify Cupid’s fateful dart.

I’m shivering in the grey city tonight,
but your giggle comes across the airwaves,
makes the fire in my heart re-ignite,
and I revel in a chance to see your face.

Link: http://runeshai.deviantart.com/art/Reminders-141881842

Life

I’m filling my head with punk-rock tunes,
ingesting the lyrics like revolution fumes,
talking about progress, changes, unity,
while I’m caught in everyday reality.

Stuck in my thoughts, lost in my head,
one of these days I’m gonna end up dead,
ghost heart and soul, a tired old ghoul,
drenched in depression, a sober old fool.

My life is my choice, as the days come along,
I better start living soon, and stop writing stupid songs.
I keep getting lost in my mind, floating into space,
maybe I’ve got what’s wrong with the human race.

Life won’t wait, they sang,
It’s your choice, songs rang,
but I can’t stop worrying,
I can’t fight off the fear.

Without you I’m lost in myself, aimless,
without them I’m lost in the world, gameless,
I’m tired of fighting, hoping and pretending,
this feels like a trick question that’s never-ending.

So I’ll retreat to my songs of meaningful days,
waste time away in the sun’s faded rays,
I’ll wish upon stars that I figure myself out,
and avoid life until my time trickles out.

Life is like a quest, but without a grail,
a goal I once had, I feel I failed,
but the days keep moving, the sun rises and sets,
so I guess I’ll do the same, and give it my best.

Link: http://runeshai.deviantart.com/art/Life-142037871

I’ve been playing a lot more with rhyming recently in my writing. Mostly inspired by a good friend’s writing, who’s super-talented at applicable rhyming in poetry (as opposed to non-applicable rhyming, which is what I’m good at :P), and read me a new piece recently. I’ve always admired good writing that rhymes, because for me, it takes much more thought and effort to get not only the thoughts into the right words, but to arrange those words lyrically and have them match a pattern, that can be pretty tough. So it’s nice when I get a rhyming piece out there that I still like a day or two after writing it (I almost always allow a ‘cooling period’ after which I re-read my stuff, then decide if it’s worth showing to anybody). Of course, sometimes I’ll throw a rhyme in to fit the mood if not necessarily the feeling I’m trying to convey, to move the piece along and get me into a new rhyme that might afford a better opportunity to express whatever it is I’m trying to express.

Anyway….rambling…I’m content with the pieces above, they’re linked, and my new demo reel’s online (yay!) so check all that out and let me know what you think (of any of it) :P.

*moviegasps*

RROOAARRR!!!!! I’LL KEEL YOU WITH MY POERTY POWERS!! YESS!!!!!

*nomoremoviegasps*

…no? Garrhrhrhrhrumblerumble…fine….then just listen for a sec…

Okie…..ignoring the above, here’s two new(ish) pieces. I say ‘ish’ because only one’s new (written this morning), the other I wrote about a month or more ago but forgot I had and never put it online. Which is odd, because I do like it. So, here goes…

Punk-O-Pocalypse

War paint on my face
stand up, join my race,
fists raised, voices loud,
make our parents proud!

Patches, pins, leather straps,
platform boots, all that’s crap,
hair spiked, eyes right,
come join the fight!

Lookin’ up to the dawn of a new day,
working toward building us all a new way,
climbing up from the age-old trenches,
throw our coats on the corporate fences!

Criticize, it’s more than lies,
keep your faith, love and hate,
compromise, but be wise,
don’t give in, we can win,
stand your ground,
keep your crown,
leave the dust in the past,
make the bright future last,
raise your fists,
bind your wrists,
show the love we’re dreaming of,
make things right and join the fight!

Lookin’ up to the dawn of a new day,
working toward building us all a new way,
massing armies to rival the Pope’s,
who’d have thought? The audacity of hope!

…and for the next, older piece…it’s a bit of a love song with some serious pop-candy-goof orientation. Good fun :D.

It’s You

Why do I hear your voice
when you’re not around?
Why do I see your face
when you’re not to be found?

I’d cast aside my dreams
for you;
I’d kill to make your own
come true.

Passion, love.
Passion, love.
It’s you that I’m dreaming of,
it’s you that I’m dreaming of.

I miss you,
cuz you’re far away,
I miss you,
why couldn’t you stay
after last time?
We had a good time.
But you had to go back to school,
and that was really not cool,
cuz now you’re my little beacon,
and we only really talk on the weekends,
and even that’s not dependable.

Trust me, love.
Trust you, love.
It’s you that I’m dreaming of,
it’s you that I’m dreaming of.

Direction, I got some;
Interest, I got some;
Dreamin’, I got tons;
come on, come on, with me!

But I’d cast my dreams aside
for you;
I’d kill to make your own
come true.
I’d give everything
just to hear your voice
whisper in my ear
‘I love you, I love you too!’

Passion, trusting, dreamin’,
love…
It’s you that I’m dreaming of,
it’s you that I’m dreaming of!

Yup, so them’s the two new poems I’ve got fer ye fer now…I’ll be sure to let ye know iffen’ there be more anytime soon. Got some newsy things in the works right now, but I’ll post when there’s something to show, not yet. Lotsa life stuff goin’ on…probably include some of that then too. Best wishes, thanks for readin’, hope you’re havin’ fun :P.

Also, these are both obviously viewable at my DA gallery page.

Rebuilding…commence!

It’s raining.
Surprise, surprise.
I’m acutely unaware
        of a hand to hold,
        another body’s warmth.
Everything I see
        reminds me of her:
        the flower I wish I’d given,
        the grass I want to pad her happy footsteps,
        the forest bench and ocean air I wish I could share
                with her.
But somehow I’m reminded of you.
Yonder bench is overgrown,
        bright pink flowers wrapping their coils
                ’round its faded seat,
        perhaps reminders of its happy memories,
                a guarded relic,
                preserved,
                protected,
        and here I sit enclosed
                trees protect and hide me while I watch,
                        a solemn predator
                        after lonely prey.
Life goes on:
        tiny flies scurry in the breeze,
        grasses wave and dance,
        leaves whisper their endless tunes.
Still… I’m reminded somehow of you.
But I don’t miss you…
        I miss what I gave you…
        wish I could give it again…
        or just have it…
        or see it…
Oh, rebuilding…commence!
It’s raining.
I must walk home.
Maybe I’ll be cleansed.

also viewable @ DA.

The sky is exploding with fire;
a cascade of shimmering stars,
a colored flame-fall of dying light,
glowing brightest – like mars,
and giving up the fight.

Faeries rush to save them,
bolstering the forces,
but the neon cascade falls,
lighting up the watching faces,
bringing joy to all.

The thunderclaps roll overhead,
boom-clap-boom-clap-boom,
echoing like the sea,
and I sit alone in my room,
the fireworks, my laptop and me.

:D That was fun! Ian MacMillan was right, rhyming is fun, it does help you to think. I think I’ll aim for more rhyming poetry in the future, it makes you think and synthesize your thoughts and get into the concept and feeling of your subject. Freeform has a place, definitely, but this experiment has proven helpful in bolstering my interest in rhyme.

Now then, I’ve been getting out a lot more recently, I’ve taken to daily walks down to the waterside, picking different sitting-and-watching-spots each time I go to the park by my house. It’s about 6 blocks away, down the hill and across the streets, and I go when the sun is almost setting, to soak in the last few rays and feel the breeze on my cheeks, to breathe the fresher air and remind myself that there are other people living and moving around me, no matter how I shut myself up in my apartment room.

On these walks, I bring a book – Dune, for you curious types, and I’m almost done with it…a review should follow, but that simple mention is not a promise – and a notebook for recording ideas and thoughts, describing the sun and the mountains, the waves that lap the rock-cement seawall, or for remembering the old couple who wander down the path at sunset. I’ve begun writing much more, much like I used to, endeavoring to rediscover that spark I had before, the endless flow of ideas and thoughts that formed themselves into words, phrases, the lyrics of my mind that came pouring out like fresh, cold milk, coating and soothing and solidifying into a sweet cream… letting me understand their substance and intent.

And even now, inspired by a podcast series from the Open University (hurrah! for open learning initiatives) on creative writing, I’ve decided to link said podcast and some new writing of my own.

Podcast

Since I’ve already mentioned it, I’ll get it out of the way. The podcast is entitled Creative Writing, a description of its accompanying course can be found here, and a description from iTunes of the podcast is provided below.

The tracks on this album offer an invaluable insight into a wide range of techniques and practices surrounding Creative Writing. Writers as diverse as Alan Ayckbourn, Ian MacMillan and Tanika Gupta talk openly about their approaches and attitudes to all aspects of writing from original concept to final drafts and productions. Writing for stage, print, television and radio is discussed in engaging and articulate detail.

News/Writing

I’ve been taking walks and writing of late, and sometimes, if a day or two after writing it, I still like a piece, I’ll add it to my DeviantArt account. But since that blog isn’t linked to anything, I figured I’d let people know through here. The first poem is called Cold & Battled, and can be read here. The second is shorter, more fantastical, and needs a bit of help, but can be read in the meantime here. There’s another short piece in my ‘scraps’ section there, so look for that as well if you’re interested.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi2pBZGJqj8]