New Animation

Since I am taking summer classes, I can continue to bombard you with my many animations
This is a paint on glass assignment that I'm rather happy with. Enjoy!

(due to issues with the video's size I will instead include a link with the video on Youtube) Paint On Glass

Summer Classes

I decided that to make sure I graduate on time, (I'd have to slack off really hard next year) I'd take summer courses this summer. I'm in the EAT (Experimental Animation Techniques) program, a crash course in experimental animation. I didn't realize this when applying for the class, but I already know just about everything there is to know about most of this stuff. I am happy with the pace of the course though: Our first day (yesterday) we learned about zoetrope strips and were assigned an exquisite corpse. (everyone in the class makes a part of it and then it is strung together afterwards)

This also means I'll be in olympia all damn summer, lets see how this goes. Hopefully I'll have something cool to show when I'm done.

This Is It, This is Dilemma

I finally feel I have the time, energy and motivation to make this post.
This is a legitimate attempt at showing you my final installation, even though it is impossible to fully understand it without seeing it in person.
To get close, you should try setting up an uncomfortable chair in front of your computer and cover it with a blanket or bed-sheet. Make sure your computer is higher than your head when sitting down. Now, run the animation while simultaneously looking at the pictures. Congratulations, that is the closest you are going to get to seeing the original ever again.
The artist statement is laying on a table with a coffee stained newspaper, a painted coffee cup, and a sketchbook:

Brian King works in many mediums including poetry, music, drawing, painting, animation, and soon film. His works often deal with the appropriation of culture and the degentrification of the prestige class. He is also interested with the subtle reflexivity of any piece of art.
Brian’s installation, “Dilemma,” is a culmination of his studies on the subject of sleep deprivation, a problem he’d become all too familiar with. The installation consists of an animation, two paintings, and a recreation of a living room. This piece is intended to recreate the feelings of a sleep deprived person in the viewer, simultaneously giddy and distressed.
The pixilation, a type of stop motion animation where humans are posed instead of other types of objects, is displayed on a monitor. It is a representation of the (more-likely-than-not) sleep deprived viewer. The paintings appear on either side of the monitor and represent the mood swings and alterations in perception of the world associated with being sleep deprived. These pieces are arranged before a set of uncomfortable chairs. When combined, these pieces create a feeling similar to that of sleep deprivation.

The animation is playing on the screen while the paintings are displayed to the left of the monitor.
















I've been considering putting this up again in another location with a little more control. Student shows aren't very high priority for resources.

Finished Project

I made an artist blog and I'm completely burnt out. There are pictures of my shit on my artist blog I made for class. Take a look. There's also an artist statement! I hope you like it. http://blogs.evergreen.edu/brianking/

Dilemma

I'm just full of surprises today.
This is the first element of my installation. This is my animation, Dilemma:

It looks really good if you watch the HQ version off of Youtube. The compressors messed with it a bit. It was originally shot in hi-def and the uncompressed version is two GB. I'll post video and/or pictures of the installation when its done.

Showcasing

I'm going to be showcasing almost all of my artistic skills in the next two weeks in various iterations. There'll be a concert I'm opening on Saturday May 30th with 'Pashaw!' It's my first concert and I'm really excited. I even made a flyer even though it is a small show for only a few people. I'm a nerd.
















I will also be having an installation at my class art show Wednesday June 3rd through the end of the week. Contact me if you want to come to the opening.

Newbies

I got a message from a newbie in Indiana. She wants to go to Evergreen, but is terrified of the weather and also of it not living up to her expectations. Despite my usual attitude towards newbs, I told her the full honest truth. I told her that I like it here and that the weather sucks but not so bad. I told her that the school is good if you are motivated. I portrayed the school with cautious optimism. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME! As an upper-classmen I am supposed to HATE FRESHMEN! They just want us to buy them booze, they are soul-suckers. They are so OPTIMISTIC. RAWR

Also, this is very close to home.

Taking Things Way Too Seriously

All right, this one goes out to Charlie D

We had powerpoint presentations for class on wednesday of last week where we were being evaluated by our peers. Mine was on sleep deprivation. I got my evaluations and they were ok, all of them besides one. I got to read a page of cold, odd insults which I will now quote:

Did he give a clear and organized presentation? Was it easy to find the main point of supporting points? Did they stick to the main points?
"No. No. Yes. He did not go off-topic." (this is where i started getting a feeling that this person thought they were better than me, complete sentence? come on!)

Explained connection between the research and project?
"No. He did not mention his project." (to be fair, i didn't and almost no one else did either)

Made good use of visual aids?
"Made adequate use. The images could have been better." (btw those images were AWESOME)

Used the time well?
"Yes."

(Here's the best part)
Had good personal demeanor?
"No. He was twitchy, ill groomed, and hesitant. He was not confident."

(Yes, I am twitchy and ill-groomed. They should string me up for that. What, should I get a fucking haircut before I go to do a powerpoint presentation? I couldn't take anything this person had said in the evaluation seriously anymore. Who says that?)

Well-prepared?
"Fairly. He could not quote sources."
(WTF? I thought we weren't supposed to write out a speech for our presentations. I thought paraphrasing would be good enough.)

What was the best about this presentation?
"The information" (sleep dep is pretty interesting)

One suggestion for improvement?
"He should know his sources and be able to quote them." (and that receives a big 'fuck you' stamp)

is it just me or is it inappropriate to call someone "twitchy and ill-groomed." The first time reading it I was incensed, but then I realized that this person must be upset with me,(is that possible) crazy, or socially retarded to say something like that. I have my theories on whodunnit, but what good is caring about it going to do. If I want to follow the life path of an artist, I need to be prepared to take harsh and ridiculous criticisms. That doesn't mean I can't give those people harsh and ridiculous criticisms right back and in a completely vindictive way. I gave the suspected ridiculing party some scathing criticism. (Allow me to paraphrase: Your presentation felt very canned, make it feel more natural and make us more interested in your topic. kthxbye)

My advice for anyone who wants to fuck with my shit, 'if you can't take the heat, stay out of my fucking kitchen. I cook with a flamethrower.'

The Reef Comic

I just got done writing a comic for Timefighters this morning while sitting at Café Vita. It feels good to get work done that isn't school related, but it is also kind of a bummer that I can lump that in with the rest of my procrastinational ceremony. I have the first draft of a research paper and a powerpoint presentation on the subject due Wednesday. I'm relatively screwed when it comes to that, but we'll see what i can do. College is killing me.

Sleep Deprivation

As many of you know, I'm doing a big project/research paper on Sleep Deprivation for class. Now imagine my delight when I found this article while perusing Digg.

It sounds like the research I've been reading lately is finally being brought to light, but now I'm falling behind! What's the next cutting edge?!

Also, Swine Flu. The next Bird Flu scare? I'd actually be more afraid of Swine Flu, they share much more DNA with us than birds, but I'm not going to Texas or Mexico anytime in the near future.

Also, I'm working on a comic about The Reef that will hopefully end up in Timefighters' comic zine

Something to whet your appetites

So, I know you all are bawling your eyes out every night when you check your blog list. You say, "Oh man! The House of Brain is still out of commission! What will I do with myself?!?!" Seeing as I don't want to cause any more grief and because I'm tired of throwing away all the suicide notes, I came to campus today just to write to you.
How are you doing?
Are you loving life?
What's that smell?
I mean, you are about to wreck yourself. When is the last time you've checked yourself?
Do you like costume parties?
Why is the crotch cut out on this dolphin suit?
SO-tomorrow, I turn 21. I'm going to go to one of the local bars (the Brotherhood if you are so inclined to meet me there) that I've 'never been to before.'*wink wink nudge nudge* I am supposed to meet up with about 10 people there, most of them don't know each other. My roommate is also coming. This should be interesting.

Just discovered a new blog (I don't know how new it actually is) through my program website. It's interesting because each napkin is kind of like a frame in a comic book and that just happens to be what we're studying in class. I really like it and think i might copy it. I mean, I really love stealing people's ideas.

Also, what do you think? Would you buy this album if you judged it by its cover? (Like a book?) What kind of music would it be? Are you sexually attracted to it?

Down With The Sickness

I hope you all thought right then when you read the title that I was going to talk about going to a Disturbed concert or some random bullshit like that. If you were thinking that, thank Jebus that you're wrong. This is merely an explanation of my absence for the last 3 or 4 days. (I think)

Roughly a week ago, I came down with the sickness. (still not a disturbed reference) I didn't feel very sick at all for the last few days, just sick enough to want lots of sleep. It started out as 3 days of sore throatiness and so I was afraid I might've been getting strep. Once the first phase was done I started getting all coldish which was lame, but not so awful. Then the fun began.

Last Thursday I had to stay up all night finishing up my portfolio for class. (I'll have pictures of my stuff up soon, I just have to get batteries for my camera) I'm sure that didn't help with my illness and so I went back home around two pm. I then slept until ten am. I felt extremely wonky after all of that. I sat around the house all day Friday feeling wonky and not doing much of anything. I was going to go to a play my friend Corbin was in, The Book of Liz, that night, but instead fell asleep again.

The next day, Saturday, ended up being more of the same. Slept in late, but this time I was awake for the play. I walked outside and it was snowing. I was suddenly extremely happy. I got on the bus and my friend Claire was there, we chatted about making books and other important aspects of life. The play turned out to be really good, especially for being free. I got home and thought about doing productive things. I did not do anything productive.

I watched DiG! for the 10th time this year. (probably an exaggeration) If you didn't know already, I really like The Dandy Warhols, The Brian Jonestown Massace, and the rest of the bands that exist in the "DiG! Scene." Does that make me a 'scenester'?

Saturday was also the day I found out what I'm doing for my 21st birthday. My sister has offered to fly me down to California, get me hella sauced and fed down in San Francisco (emphasis on the 'hella') and then fly me back to Washington. Sometimes I wonder if my sister is into that whole organized crime scene, but not seriously. I also wonder if my Dad is going to try and match me in drinks when I celebrate with my parents. I feel like he's going to be all defensive of his drinking capabilities (he's 60) and I don't think I want to see him too drunk. Also, I'll have to hear him complain about being hungover for like a week after.

And now back from that tangent. I went to sleep Saturday night and woke up Sunday morning. I sat around all day Sunday, too. It started snowing really hard so I snuggled up with my cat Mooshu and watched the Discovery Channel. I got to see Bear Grylls drink his own piss and get stung in the face by a bee out in the Mexican desert. Talk about awesome television. Around 6 I decided to go to the party my classmates had put together, mind you I was still sick, and so trudged through the snow and ice to my friend Curt's house. It was a huge sausage fest until around 10 at which point the ratio still wasn't awesome. I got really drunk. (surprise, surprise!)At around 2 in the morning I walked home. It couldn't have been more than 10 degrees Fahrenheit outside. The thought that I might die crossed my mind a few times. I made it home by 3 and went to sleep.

I woke up this morning with a horrendous hangover and no access to cheap greasy food seeing as The Reef burned up. I went to Le Voyeur instead for some expensive greasy food and read the Volcano for the first time ever. Now I'm at the computer center writing in my blog. I don't know what I'm doing in the future.