Dear International Cinema,
I miss you.

International Cinema is something they've been doing at BYU for years, I've probably talked about it before but they play foreign films ever week during the fall and winter semesters, there's usually 3 movies each week to choose from. The best parts about International Cinema are that the movies are edited to BYU standards and that it's free.
I went sporadically during my time at BYU although one semester I went just about every week. It's very interesting to get a glimpse of different cultures through their movies, or maybe just to see how movies differ in different parts of the world. I've found that happy, conclusive endings are not something that always happens...I've also found that I prefer happy, conclusive endings. I saw movies at International Cinema that I never would have seen otherwise, either because I wouldn't have heard of them or wouldn't have wanted to watch some of the things they would contain unedited. I've seen movies from Japan, Italy, Germany, England, some volitial Middle Eastern country which I don't remember at present....
One semester they showed some American movies and the foriegn films that they'd been based off of.
If you're ever in Provo you should check out what's playing at International Cinema.

I really enjoy landscapes but for one reason or another they aren't aren't featuring much in my art work at present. I am a lover of natural beauty though and as I have probably mentioned previously, a big fan of mountains and sunsets. I've been working on taking more pictures lately and trying to make the pictures I take a higher quality. I've never had any training in photography and I don't intend to ever do photography professionally but I guess I've been inspired by a lot of people around me. A fair amount of my friends and relations are into photography and pursuing it professionally. I'm coming to realize that unsurprisingly there are some direct correlations between painting/drawing and photography. While it's very important to have working knowledge of design and composition in making a piece, you'll be able to make your work all the better for using quality materials. I had a hard time accepting this in school, as any poor college student might, but I finally broke down and bought myself some really good brushes and I'm here to tell you nothing you find at Michael's can compare to them, they were not cheap but they are quality products and the difference is very noticeable. Getting back to my point in looking at these pictures I took, they don't accurately portray the sky because of my camera. They could have been a lot better with a higher quality camera...and also if I'd had my camera with me when I first noticed the sky instead of several minutes later. Oh well.

Joy

I've been thinking about joy today. I'd like to do a piece about joy for a serise I'm working on, however I'm not really sure how to express joy through a painting. I was looking at various deffenitions of joy to see if that would help me out. I found a little more than I already knew; mostly joy is pure and scerene happiness. I guess I ought to look at art work and see if there's anything out there that could help me. I know I've heard joy expressed musically, and I've probably seen it visually as well, I'll just have to keep looking. I keep thinking of the scripture, 2 Nephi 2:25 Adam fell that man might be, and men are that they might have joy.

Reading List Update

So this is my original list. X on the list means it's read and / means I'm reading it now.

X Timaeus by Plato
The Royal Tombs of Egypt by Zahi Hawass
Red Land, Black Land by Barbara Mertz
X The Four Color Person by Max Luscher
X The Luscher Color Test by Max Luscher
X The False Gods We Worship by Spencer W. Kimball
My Life's Review by Benjamin Franklin Johnson
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Jesus the Christ by James Talmage
/ Approaching Zion by Hugh Nibley
Grimms Fairytales by the brothers Grimm
Hamlet's Mill
/ Leonardo's Notebooks by Leonardo da Vinci
Introduction to water gilding

I'm adding some new items to the list now.

A Beginners Guide to Creating the Universe
Introduction of Color by Joseph Albers
The Alchemy of Light

Also I thought I'd share a piece of music that I really love, Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin.

More Thoughts

Today on the radio someone was talking about a piece of music inspired by the Roman circuses and shows near the fall of Rome. The colloseum and other such arenas were the home of blood sports, galatiator matches, etc. for the Roman's entertainment. It was pointed out on what I was listening too, that we too are a society devoted to entertainment and that violent shows and reality tv, perhaps our new form of blood sports, are the most popular shows on hundreds of channels. It worries me to think about what was implied in this.

thoughts

I've had some thoughts swirling around in my mind and some of them are running together and in and out of one another. A few years back in Washington D.C. a writer for the Washington Post performed an experiment, they had Joshua Bell, the world famous violinist, perform a concert in the metro station. Bell appeared to be just any other street performer. The experiment was to see if people would realize they were hearing Joshua Bell, if they would stop and listen, if they would throw money. You'll have to read the article for the full details but people did not realize that they were hearing a former prodigy playing extremely difficult pieces, and he only made about $32 dollars.
We live in a day and age of technology where information is at our finger tips, where we are used to and even demand instant gratification. For all our advances and accomplishments we feel privileged and rank ourselves above past generations, but I find myself wondering: what good is it? If we cannot appreciate beauty, if we cannot even see it before us, what good does it do us? Now I will admit that had I been in the metro in D.C. for that experiment, I too would likely have hurried past and never known that I had heard a great.
It worries me though, we are all so busy, for what ends? Are we happier for our business? Have our lives perhaps become too convenient? When the sun sets do we notice the beauty or just that the sun is in our eyes?
Beauty is very important, there is no joy without beauty, there is no hope either.
I absolutely do not believe that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I firmly believe that the requirements of beauty are real and that they have been established for at least as long as there has been an earth and quite likely before.
As an artist I strive for beauty, I am responsible to help the earth become a more beautiful place. I'm wandering now and loosing my train of thought, but I wanted to share these thoughts. They are very important to me. Make time for beauty, work for beauty. I don't know that anyone was ever sad for something truly beautiful.

Happy Valentimes Day. I hope everyone out there feels loved. Note: while it's certianly nice to have romantic love, it's not the only love out there. My freshmen year my next door neighbor introduced us all to her celebration of Love Week, and it's stuck with me. I haven't really ever celebrated Love Week in the way that this girl did but I have come to love the idea of just celebrating love. We can all love and be loved, family, friends, roommates, significant others, etc. The famous Beatles song is quite true, "All you need is love" Life without love would be flat and sad. I hope you feel loved today and make others feel loved. Making this day a day of love and not of exclusion or depression starts with you and me. Spread the love. And remember, you are never unloved, there is always someone who loves you.