Friday, January 9, 2015

The Problems with Frozen

Anybody who knows me knows that I am a very big lover of Disney movies, especially the classics. Anybody who knows me also knows that I have a HUGE opinion when it comes to movies, basically to the extent of a critic's (a side effect of studying visual storytelling in college). Last, but not least, anybody who knows me knows that there are basically 3 movies that will send me into a rant; Sucker Punch, Avatar (blue people, not last airbender), and Frozen.




Now let me get something straight before I continue. The reason I feel so passionately about these movies is because they had SO MUCH POTENTIAL and then they just crashed and burned. I did not go into these movies hating them, I went into these movies excited, which is why it hurts. Sucker Punch had all of the concepts I love to write about and draw, but it became a man's wet dream with no rhyme or reason; Avatar was Pocahontas with blue people and I predicted EVERYTHING from the first 2 minutes, by the 5th I wanted to leave; and Frozen. Frozen is my lengthiest rant, hence this post. I feel I have been silent long enough.

Note this though, I respect everyone who worked on this film and all of the hard work and talent that poured into it. Not only that, but Disney is one of my absolute favorite studios. So know that my thoughts are in no way personal, but are strictly about the work itself.


Now that that's said, let's begin.

As you may well know, Frozen was originally based on the 1844 fairy tale, "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen. This fairy tale happens to be one of my absolute favorites (and I am very into fairy tales, so this story is very personal to me). The tale is a long one, so I'll paraphrase it. But if you would like to read the whole thing in full, click here and just skip over my summary when you're done.


The story is told in seven segments and focuses on the struggle between good and evil experienced through the eyes of a little boy and girl, Kai (Kay) and Gerda. It goes as follows.

----------
An evil troll known as the "devil" has made a magic mirror that distorts what the mirror reflects on its surface, reflecting the subject's bad/ugly traits, making the subject look no better than "boiled spinach." The troll had a school of students who enjoyed using this mirror on everything around them. The troll and students had so much fun that they decided to go to Heaven to try to make fools of the angels and God, but the higher they went, the more the mirror grinned and the harder it became to control. It soon shook so hard with delight that it fell to the earth and smashed into a million pieces.

Some of these pieces ended up so small that they were no larger than a single grain of sand. The wind blew the pieces about, which got into people's hearts and eyes as a result. This either froze the hearts of the victims or turned their eyes into products of the mirror, therefore only letting the victims see the worst traits in people.

A long time later, a little boy, Kai, and a little girl, Gerda, are growing up together as neighbors in the attics of buildings that are right next to each other. These buildings were so close, you could go from one attic to the other just by taking a single step over the gutters between the two. Since the two kids had window-box gardens to play in, they were around each other all the time.


Then, one day, Kai's grandmother tells the kids about the Snow Queen, who rules over all of the "snow bees" (snowflakes that look like bees). She is essentially the queen bee and is seen where the snowflakes cluster the most. One winter, after hearing this tale, Kai looks out his window and sees the Snow Queen, who beckons him to come with her.



The following spring, Gerda sings Kai a song about roses and tells him that the roses in their garden-boxes remind her of her love for him.

On a summer day later on, splinters from the troll-mirror get into Kai's heart and eyes while he and Gerda are looking at a picture book in their window-box garden. Kai becomes cruel and aggressive. He destroys their window-box garden, he makes fun of his grandmother, and he no longer cares about Gerda. The only beautiful things to him now are tiny snowflakes.

The following winter, Kai goes out with his sled to play in the snowy market square and hitches it to a curious white sleigh carriage, driven by the Snow Queen, who appears as a woman in a white fur-coat. Outside the city she tells Kai who she is and kisses him twice: once to numb him from the cold, and a second to make him forget about Gerda and his family. If she would've kissed him a third time, she would have killed him. She then takes Kai to her palace.


The people of Kai's city looked and looked for him, and, after not finding anything, concluded that he died in the nearby river. Gerda, heartbroken, goes out to look for him. She offers her new red shoes to the river in exchange for Kai; but by not taking the gift at first, the river lets her know that Kai didn't drown. Gerda next visits an old sorceress with a garden of eternal summer. The sorceress wants Gerda to stay with her forever, so she makes Gerda forget about Kai, and makes the roses in her garden sink beneath the earth, since she knows that the sight of them will bring back Gerda's memory. But Gerda's warm tears raise one bush above the ground. It tells her that it could see all the dead while under the earth, and Kai wasn't among them. Gerda fled.

While she ran, she met a crow, who told her that Kai was in the princess' palace. So Gerda went to the palace and met the princess and the prince. The prince wasn't Kai, but looked like him. Gerda told them her story, and they gave her warm clothes and a coach.

While traveling in the coach, Gerda was  captured by robbers and brought to their castle, where she befriended a little robber girl, whose pet doves told her that they saw Kai carried away by the Snow Queen. The captive reindeer Bae told her he knew how to get there since it was his home.

The robber girl freed Gerda and the reindeer to travel north to the Snow Queen's palace. On their way, they made two stops: first at the Lapp woman's home and then at the Finn woman's home. The Finn woman tells the reindeer that the secret of Gerda's unique power to save Kai is in her sweet and innocent child's heart.

When Gerda reached the Snow Queen's palace, she was stopped by the snowflakes guarding it. She prayed the Lord's Prayer, which caused her breath to take the shape of angels, who resisted the snowflakes and allowed Gerda to enter the palace. Gerda found Kai alone and almost immobile on a frozen lake, which the Snow Queen called the "Mirror of Reason", on which her throne sat.



Kai was engaged in the task that the Snow Queen gave him: to use pieces of the ice like a Chinese puzzle to form characters and words. If he could form the word "eternity" (Danish: Evigheden), the Snow Queen would release him from her power and give him a pair of skates.



When Gerda ran up to Kai and kissed him, he was saved by the power of her love (Gerda wept warm tears on him, melting his heart and burning away the troll-mirror splinter in it). So Kai burst into tears (which dislodged the other splinter, the one from his eye) and became cheerful and healthy again.

He and Gerda dance around on the lake of ice so joyously that the splinters of ice Kai had been playing with are caught up into the dance. When they tired of dancing, they fell down to spell "eternity."

The Snow Queen never returned. Kai and Gerda left the Snow Queen's domain with the help of the reindeer, the Finn woman, and the Lapp woman. They met the robber girl and walked back to their home, "the big city."

Kai and Gerda found that everything at home was the same and that it was they who changed; they grew up and it has become summertime.

-----------

Great fairy tale, right? Now let's move on to the movie.

Frozen was an exciting new movie when it came out. It would be the first princess movie (supposedly) that would show that a woman could save herself and didn't need a man to be happy or to save her for her. It also passed the Bechdel Test (1) Are there 2 or more women with names? 2) Do they talk to each other? 3) Do they talk to each other about guys?), and defined the "true love" in the movie as sisterhood, as opposed to love between significant others. But it still had a bad message that it was sending out to little girls... the one thing that made Elsa special was her powers, right? So this is saying that the one unique, special thing about you is also shameful and dangerous and needs to be hidden. In other words, according to The Daily Dot, "girls are emotional time-bombs who can't be trusted to control their bodies or their minds." Not a great improvement, is it?


Then there's the plot holes.

Princess Elsa has the power to freeze while Princess Anna, her sister, is innocent and normal (which is weird because the movie never really shows or tells where the powers come from, which means the powers are just there for the story's sake and don't hold up in any sort of reality otherwise. This is because the entire plot hangs on whether or not Elsa can control her powers or not).


The sisters play in the winter wonderland castle with Elsa's powers until Elsa accidentally hits Anna in the head. So the king and queen take them to the trolls (Why trolls? Random.) and, after the trolls tell them that fear is their enemy and something worse will come from it down the road, the king and queen make the whole situation worse and become abusive (as opposed to counseling and careful instruction?).


They quarantine Elsa and Anna away from the world and Elsa away from everybody, which alienates Elsa from everybody in the entire world and takes Anna's sister away from her for no reason that she knows of. Then the parents go and die in a shipwreck for no reason and no destination once the girls are good and traumatized enough. This means that there was no actual point for the parents to be there but to move the plot forward by abusing the kids. There is literally no other reason for their existence. We don't even know where they're going or why when they get shipwrecked. They just needed to die.


Now Elsa and Anna are alone and Anna has no idea why her sister can't/won't talk, play, or even see her, and Elsa is confined to her room (what did she do in her room that whole time? No strange talents or hobbies were shown in the movie, so what? She didn't practice her magic, right? Because she was forbidden and scared). This happens until coronation day (Elsa's 18th birthday), when Elsa and Anna open the kingdom gates again. This begs 3 questions... 1) Who kept the doors shut after the king and queen died? Why?,  2) Who allowed them to be opened at the coronation? Why couldn't Elsa and Anna open them before?, and 3) Who ran the kingdom once the king and queen died? The kids certainly weren't functional enough and, even if they were, they never would've been able to run a whole kingdom from inside the castle gates.


But back to the coronation day. Anna's abusive background and need for acceptance lead her to get engaged to a guy the same day she meets him, leading Elsa to lose her cool (literally) and then banish herself to a mountain. By the way, the guy is evil just so the audience of young impressionable girls "learns" that you can't marry the first guy you meet (just get with the second guy, because the first guy is either the perfect one or the villain and if the first guy isn't perfect, the second one will be). There is seriously no other reason for him to exist. Also, when Elsa accidentally reveals her powers, notice how nobody is scared or angry (other than the old man, who also has no reason for existence other than to be evil for the sake of being evil). But even after the old man tries to start a mob, nobody is angry or scared, just extremely confused. So what the hell?


Anyways, once Elsa banishes herself to the mountain, she starts the song, "Let It Go." But there are problems with this too. First, if she had gone through the years of abuse that she did, she wouldn't be that comfortable with just using her powers, especially to that extent. She would be having a huge breakdown with even a little bit of magic and probably would be hyperventilating while she's at it, making the powers go more awry and creating a whole havoc out of nothing. Next, her powers wouldn't work that great. Magic, like anything, would take a ton of practice, and you're telling me that after 10-12 years of no practice, Elsa can build a perfect ice castle to scale complete with living icebots? Hell no! I call BS.


Then there's the whole transformation process. The power ballad is supposed to be freeing for her and is supposed to show her going from shy, abuse victim to powerhouse strong woman. The problem is that (a) a world-class makeover is the symbol for strong woman, and (b) the Daily Dot says it best that when she sings "'Let it go, let it go,/ Can't hold it back anymore' suggests that Elsa is prepared to rejoin the world and be herself, but 'Let it go, let it go/ Turn away and slam the door' negates that, with the imagery of shutting the world out."


Elsa doesn't even rejoin the world willingly like the song says she will. Her sister, Anna, has to pull Elsa back into the fray (and why won't Elsa tell Anna why she's scared? The secret is out about her powers, so what is there that's left to hide?), and this is after Anna meets guy number two, who ends up being the perfect one (sound realistic?) and helps her straighten everything out (so the sisters didn't exactly win the day on their own, they still needed a man). By the way, whatever happened to Kristoff's parents? How did trolls come into the mix? If he was around so many ice miners, who were the ice miners and why did the trolls get him? Did the other miners even know about the trolls? Did they even notice a little boy with a pet moose randomly coming in and out of their group? Who wouldn't notice something like that? 


There's also the small issue of the princesses being gone and Hans telling the villagers that Anna is dead (there's usually foreshadowing with bad guys, like evil glances or laughs or something to build the tension. But there's none in this story, so the evilness just comes out of the blue and isn't as fun for the audience) so he can be king (since everyone thinks Elsa gave up the throne). Why aren't people more worried? Why don't they go and look for her? She is their princess, after all. They gave up rather quickly.


When Anna is injured by Elsa again (accidentally as well), the trolls decide that THEN is the right time to tell them how to cure things, which is by true love. Why do they wait til then to say something? The trolls have no reason for holding things back like that. Then Hans has custom handcuffs that he puts on Elsa to prevent her from using her powers. Does something like this happen often? How are power-preventing handcuffs just lying around? It doesn't make sense.
 

Then the story just ends. There is no character development at all. The characters start out one way, go through the story the same way, and end up the same way (ie: Elsa is scared and sweet throughout with no personality metamorphasis). If there's no character development, why does the story need to be told? There's no purpose to the story, which means there's no point. There's no fun in a story with no point, it's not even a story. A story, by definition, involves change.


Oh yeah, and there's a stupid (literally stupid, has no brains sort of character) snowman named Olaf who serves as the dumbed-down version of the explainer character for the audience. Do the writers really think the audience is so dumb that they need a dumb character to break down everything that is happening for them? He's not a narrator, but he serves as comic relief to ensure that the audience laughs no matter what at any stupid thing he can do and/or say (ie: "Hah hah I have no skull, and no bones, D'uh...).


This character put me off so badly that he's the reason I walked out of the theater the first time I tried to watch this movie. Don't underestimate your audience. We're not brain-dead, you know. Smart movies will make money. That's why your classics are classics.


Also, why is Kristoff necessary? The message of the movie is to not marry the first guy you meet, right? And that's accomplished with Hans being evil, right? Then what is Kristoff doing there? Oh yeah, because Anna needs someone to kiss at the end of the movie, right? Then the message doesn't say anything, because she still depends on a man, which is what this movie is trying to work against.


Then there are the songs. Take a moment to think. What songs do you remember from the movie besides "Let It Go" and "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?"


None or very few, right? That's because the other songs don't move the plot forward and are not important to the story at all. They're fillers and there's a HUGE amount of them. It seems like every second another song is on. Now I love musicals, but when you KNOW it's a musical and you're annoyed by it as a musical-lover, then you know it's too much. Tell the story guys, don't run the clock.


My last issue with the film is that it is essentially Tangled on ice, character design-wise. Don't believe me? Look below.

Rapunzel

Elsa/Anna


Flynn Rider


Kristoff/Hans


The King/Queen of Frozen

The King/Queen of Tangled

Maximus from Tangled

Sven

Even though there are a lot of things I don't like, I do think this could've been a really great movie. That's where the ranting comes from. But anyways, I'll keep my fingers crossed for better movies from them in the future. You can't get every one right.

-S

References
  • "The Snow Queen." Princeton University. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Jan. 2015. <https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/The_Snow_Queen.html>. 
  • "The Snow Queen." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snow_Queen>.
  • Suarez, Ana L. "Community Post: 15 Questions Disney Forgot To Answer In "Frozen"" BuzzFeed Community. Buzzfeed, Inc., 16 Feb. 2014. Web. 09 Jan. 2015. <http://www.buzzfeed.com/analuisa1234/15-questions-disney-forgot-to-answer-in-frozen-fxd2#.ytg2QzGa2l>.
  • Swiz, Alicia. "The Problem with 'Frozen'" The Daily Dot. N.p., 23 Sept. 2014. Web. 09 Jan. 2015. <http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/the-problem-with-frozen/>.
 
Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Be a Freak--Short, but Sweet, Blog Post

This post is going to be short and sweet, since I'm a bit under the weather. But just because that's so, doesn't make the message any less significant.

I learned an important lesson this week that pertains to art, as well as anything. It's about my wedding.

(Engagement photo of Kyle and I. Photo courtesy of Laura Shepard Photography.)


For this whole planning time (which has been about a year) I've been wanting a winter wedding. Funny thing though, most everybody I talked to told me that it was a bad idea. "Why?" I would ask, and the answer was always along the same vein... "It'll be too cold," or "I don't want to walk in the snow," or "nobody will want to come because it's cold and it's too close to the holidays." Well, it took me a while, but a friend at work finally knocked some sense into me. "Your day, your way," and you know what? She's right.

 (Photo courtesy of http://www.2jsautomotive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Freezing.jpg)
 

It's a strange thing. Many people seem to want to control the way other people live their lives. Trust me, I know quite a few. But the thing is, they think about it for two seconds when you bring it up, then it's back to their life. It's not that important what others think. Every person is the main character of their own life and a secondary character in the stories of other people. Sometimes you need to be selfish. Don't let a two second thought about your life on their part stop you. They're not thinking about you the rest of the time just like you're not obsessing about their life every second. You're in charge of your life and do what you need to do to make yourself happy.

(Photo courtesy of https://humansareweird.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/selfish.jpeg)


I talked to family and friends about it tonight and it turns out that what they thought at the beginning of the whole process changed once I told them how much it meant to me. Just think, I've been tip-toeing around what I really wanted for the past year or so (whether I knew it or not) just because I cared about what people felt. Pretty stupid, right? Kyle (my fiancé) doesn't care what happens as long as I show up and we have fun, so it doesn't matter what other people think. So we're going to go ahead with it!


The same is true with art. Who cares what other people think? As long as you do what you care about and work hard at it with conviction, do it. Do what you want.


Life. It's weird. People judge people but don't often care how their life turns out, because you're not the main character in their life. So why care what they're judging you for? Move on and do great things. Be a freak!

End of story.

Mushy, I know.

So go out there, let your freak flag fly, and, as Neil Gaiman says, "Make good art."


-S
Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, January 1, 2015

9 Goals I Have for 2015

Happy New Years! Hope you guys are enjoying the first day of the year. Have your resolutions yet? I do. Mine are below.

1) Finish writing the book and start on the images and on the second novel.
I've been working on this book for the past couple of years and am ready to finish it, or at least the writing part of it. Then I can finally start on the sequential art and focus more on the second novel.



2) Plan the wedding/honeymoon.
I have no idea in hell how to plan a wedding or a honeymoon, yet I've gotta plan mine. Hopefully it won't turn out a total train wreck... that, and I marry the right shiny-headed groom (JOKE. Joke. It's JUST a joke). But seriously, this is him, right?


And that Kyle gets his passport on time, and that I don't book us in a murder-motel with scratch marks and blood on the walls.


 3) Go to the wedding/honeymoon.
I hate being stared at... I hate being stared at... I hate being stared at...
 
(Photo courtesy of http://i.imgur.com/taJVTWX.jpg)

Just get to the honeymoon... Just get to the honeymoon... (For TRAVEL you sickos. Ireland and Paris!) And don't trip (It's completely possible. There is no grace in me.)...


4) Become financially independent and possibly have extra money to save.
Hey... I can do it! No really, I can... Shut up.


 5) Stifle the rampant professional obsessions/ideas and figure out what I want to do/be.
I really wish I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do so I would know where to go and what direction. But alas, I get more clueless about it as time goes on and I'd like this year to be the year that I figure it out.

6) Get the dog to stop eating furniture.
SERIOUSLY. He is the reason we can't have nice things... and I really wanna have nice things.


 7) Be able to speak better French.
No matter how hard I try, it's always out of reach. When I get the opportunity in public, I freeze up. I'd like to solve that.


8) Lose weight/exercise/eat healthier...
This gym you speak of... what is it?

9) World Peace (not really accomplished by me, but eh).
I'd like everyone to drive smarter (and faster), hold hands, and sing kumbaya (not at the same time though).

What are your New Years Resolutions? I'd love to hear them. Now let's make one more. Let's try to keep our resolution plans for at least a month. Let's show those gyms and other places who is boss.

I mean, some of these I HAVE to keep (in a good way... *cough cough* wedding *cough cough* honeymoon), but maybe focus on your more important ones. I may have thrown the last 2 in for good measure, but I know early on that they're screwed.

Make sure your resolutions are (reasonably) achievable and go for them (and let the rest go to that shabby run-down tavern where all the resolution rejects go to die. They'll be loved another year).

Best of luck this 2015.

-S
Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Making Time to Write and/or Draw

I have recently been blessed enough to be able to work 40 hours a week at a GREAT successful mom and pop place in Portland. I'm on a break from school until mid-January, so I'm using the time to get acclimated. I'm usually better at being productive on a schedule, but after work, I am so beat that I just fall on the couch and lounge until bed. But slowly I've been getting much better at getting things done, especially within this tight schedule and prepping myself for school. This is my first official full-time job, so I haven't gotten to discover the little secret that I have until now.


I and many other people I know have little time for themselves due to school, work, kids, etc. But I've found out a great secret. LUNCH BREAKS. Lunch breaks are magical, especially if you have an hour or so off. It's great because you're still in a productive work environment and not off of the adrenaline of it enough to realize you're tired, so you can get a lot of work done in a short amount of time (although I'm not promising it will be pretty, but it's worth it).


 Here's what you do...

  1. Bring your lunch so you don't waste any time (or money, which is a plus). 
  2. Hole yourself up in a corner in the lunch room or an appropriate quiet eating area.
  3. Bring your computer, notebook, sketchbook, etc. with whatever supplies you may need (no matter how crazy you look, but the less prep time needed for it, the better).
  4. Set your alarm (in case you get pulled into whatever you are doing and forget about when you need to get back to work).
  5. Then eat your lunch and work on that time crunch (the short time allotted actually pumps more work out of you than unlimited amounts of time with no deadline but your procrastinating self).
  6. If you eat slower while you work, then save the rest of your lunch for a snack when you're hungry later.
Because of this, I've been getting quite a bit of writing done in the last few weeks (I need my Cintiq to do any art, and I don't want to bring something that expensive/clunky/sucks up all of my time to set up, so I write and sometimes sketch in my sketchbook). If you work full time, you should try this too and see how it goes. I love it so I highly recommend it. Also, when you get home, you can guiltlessly veg (unless you're in school too and not on break, which in that case, good luck).



Happy Holidays!

-S
Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Too Young for a Mid-Life Crisis

According to Forbes,  "The struggle to live up to our parents' expectations, define ourselves career-wise and identify what our real values are, as we move from our 20s into our 30s, has become known as the "Quarter-Life Crisis" (Ingham).

So it's Christmas Day and I'm working a 40 hour a week job (which I'm lucky enough to love, even if it's outside my chosen profession) and going to school part-time while trying to work on my book, my artwork, career, and brand. Then there's caring for the pets and keeping house with the fiance. Oh, and then there's the small matter of planning my wedding for next year. How is there enough time in the day? There isn't.



Honestly it's all so overwhelming. Since I've been so low on time, I haven't been posting artwork because it isn't up to my standards, and I haven't been keeping in touch with email contacts because I have nothing to share, and I'm feeling a little bit bad about that. Then there's the reading, or lack of, because I can't do it without feeling guilty, and as a result, very little writing has been coming out too.

I'm at a crossroads and I don't know what to do. My career goals are getting fuzzier and more out of reach, I'm not getting as much done as I thought I would or as I want to. I want to move to London but I want to stay here in Portland. I want to learn many languages, but can't even manage one. Hell, I'm having a mid-life crisis in my early 20's.



The Washington Post discusses this very problem with other people of my generation. According to specialist of emerging adulthood, Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, "it is a unique time of life when people are not entirely dependent on their parents... but they don't have a stable life structure with marriage and parenthood and stable work... They go in a lot of directions, change jobs a lot,  change love partners. They go through a long period of figuring out who they are and how they fit in the world." (Minnema)

If you're not sure you're going through a quarter-life crisis, try checking this list from allgroanup.com. If most and/or all of these are right, then welcome to the club, buddy!

(Photo courtesy of http://queenbeady.com/)

Now for most, Arnett assumes this period is a good thing. It is a period of growth and transition that people can learn from in an adventurous manner, but for some (like me), it's a tumultuous period that causes anxiety, stress, and a loss and/or confusion of identity. Most people, some 68.9 percent of more than 2,000 correspondents would or have moved back with their parents (Minnema). I chose not to do that because (a) my parents are not in a location useful to my career or myself and (b) after moving out for college and beyond, moving back with my parents would be a big step back.

If I had it my way, I would get my Masters. But since I don't know what I want to Master in, I'm going for my second Bachelor's degree part-time because one degree isn't good enough in this day in age. But I also have the problem, like many, of an insane amount of debt. I'm in $33,000 of debt plus credit card debt. The only savings I currently have in my account is under $20.


This is all so tough because I've always known what I've wanted to do, ever since I was in 4th grade and watched my first behind-the-scenes of a Disney movie (I wanted to be an animator, make movies, and change the world). I grew up riding horses and grew incredibly fond of them, so I figured I'd train and ride on the side.

But then college took away all the time from that. But something in exchange was that it did introduce writing to me and my (current) fiance, and I fell in love with both of them. Internships introduced me to comics publishing, life introduced me to languages, comics introduced me to France and Europe, and so on and so forth. Then I became obsessed with story (although I've always been obsessed with story, I just never realized it) and decided I wanted to direct. Now I want to do all of those things and more. But too many choices and too much time and too little money have changed things for me. If it wasn't for my supportive fiance, I don't know where my psyche would be.







Quarter-life crises, as scary as they seem, are normal, especially for our generation. This is rough, but rough is life and life tends to suck a lot of the time. I think the only way to get through it is to keep on trudging, and when you trudge yourself out of it (probably after a while, sorry), then Paul Hudson of Elitedaily.com has some advice to help. Here are 50 things to remember once we're out of the mud:


1. Crises are for the masses, not for you.

2. You don’t have too many real problems.

3. Life can get better with every day – as long as you want it enough.

4.There are many things in your life that you have no control over whatsoever.

5. There are also a few things in your life that you do have direct control over. The trick is differentiating between the two.

6. Sometimes your friends become more of a negative influence than a positive one.

7. At the end of the day you alone matter.

8. Happiness is a fleeting moment you shouldn’t try holding onto.

9.If everyone in the world were happy then nothing would ever get done. There would be no innovation, no progress, because there would seemingly be no problems nor motivation to create change.

10. Not everyone deserves to be happy, to live a great life. Some people simply haven’t earned it.

11. Life isn’t fair. But it’s how you deal with this fact that either makes you or breaks you.

12. If there is a god out there, she isn’t guiding you through life – you have to be your own guide, your own reason for being.

13. We each have our own journey to travel. Unfortunately, most people will never attempt to take that first step.

14. Even of those that do attempt to follow their dreams, travel that road of life, most will fail.

15. Most people fail not because they can’t cut it, but because when they realize they can’t cut it they accept it as final and claim failure for themselves.

16. There’s little in life that isn’t mutable in some way. This, however, doesn’t mean that you necessarily have what it takes to make those changes.

17. There always has and always will be those that are on top controlling the game and those below being used as pieces on a board. While you may not be capable of being a chess master, you can refuse to be a pawn.

18. Whatever you think you know, you know less.

19. There is little in life that is as simple as we’d like to believe it to be. The right answer isn’t usually the simplest.

20. There must be leaders in our world because most people choose to be followers. It isn’t necessarily right or wrong, it’s just the way it is.

21. Not everyone can or should attempt to lead. Whether leaders are born or made, most people aren’t capable of managing.

22. If you’re part of the rat race then, by default, you’re opting to be a rodent.

23. Your body is your temple and your mind your library. Both need to be maintained.

24. People will come into your life and they will leave. There’s no point in forcing them to stay. Instead, enjoy their company while it lasts.

25. Your life would be better if you had fewer people in your life. Most people are more poisonous than anything else.

26. Long commutes should be avoided.

27. Working a job you can’t stand is one of the biggest mistakes almost everybody seems to make.

28. The only things you actually need in life are: water, food, sleep, oxygen, exercise, and companionship. The rest you can refuse if you so wish.

29. You’re going to die and it’s okay. You will make the best with the time that you have and accept your fate when the time comes.

30. There is no better teacher than a broken heart.

31. Feeling great relies on a combination of physical and mental health – mainly the result of your diet, your exercise regimen, and your sleep cycles.

32. You’re stuck with yourself. You may as well make the best of it.

33. Material things weigh you down. Often, less is better.

34. Our current culture is drowning. We no longer consume information because we’re being water-boarded by it. Opting to stay clear of most of the things on the Internet and on TV is good for the soul.

35. Reading is the ideal form of entertainment.

36. Not everyone should have children. Sadly, most people who shouldn’t have children have too many and those that should don’t have enough.

37. Human beings managed to screw up the planet more than we yet know. But there are little things that you can do that can eventually make a big impact.

38. With all the wars going on and all the secrecy that the world’s superpowers have indulged in, right and wrong is more a matter of opinion than an objective stance.

39. The media exists not to give you information, but to sell you ideas.

40. A democratic country isn’t ruled by a president. Therefore, all the problems a country has shouldn’t fall squarely on his or her shoulders.

41. The United States of America is less of a democracy than it is an oligarchy.

42. You can’t – literally – become rich working for someone else. It’s actually impossible.

43. For the human race to survive indefinitely, we will either need to impose strict regulations on reproduction and consumption, or find another planet to expand onto.

44. The goal isn’t to sleep with as many people as possible, but to find that one person you want to sleep with for the rest of your life. No, it’s not easy. But yes, it is possible.

45. Never settle for less than you believe you deserve. You live once. Don’t settle for subpar in anything you do.

46. Those that matter most to us need to be reminded how much they matter to us.

47. Animals are sometimes more human than some people.

48. You have all the answers to all your problems. Stop making so much noise. Instead, quiet down and listen.

49. There are some decisions in life that are incredibly difficult to make. There isn’t always a pleasing option – sometimes you have no choice but to lose.

50. Your life only matters if you make it matter. You only matter if you decide that you matter.

Good luck guys. Hope you get out of this sooner rather than later.

-S


References
  1. Hudson, Paul. "50 Things Late 20-Somethings Need To Realize After Their Quarter-Life Crises." Elite Daily 50 Things Late 20Somethings Need To Realize After Their QuarterLife Crises Comments. Elite Daily, 03 Sept. 2014. Web. 26 Dec. 2014. <http://elitedaily.com/life/quarter-life-crises-realizations/738315/>.
  2. Ingham, Edmund. "Can The 'Quarter Life Crisis' Really Be Life Changing? Here's Proof That It Can." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 4 Sept. 2014. Web. 26 Dec. 2014. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/edmundingham/2014/09/04/can-the-quarter-life-crisis-really-be-life-changing-heres-proof-that-it-can/>.
  3. Minnema, Lindsay. "Hard Times Can Be Troubling Even for Those Too Young for a Midlife Crisis." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 11 Aug. 2009. Web. 25 Dec. 2014. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/10/AR2009081002317.html>.
 




Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Finals

I just finished my finals for my first quarter of The Art Institute and I feel great. My only problem is I've been in a rut with self-confidence issues and mulling over  just how much I haven't been working or how far from my art/writing goals I am.

So I'm going to display my final here and just explain to you that my art is in a major work-in-progress stage. I'm just making a bunch of mistakes to better it.

This is a cd album project, designing an album representing me as an artist. So without further ado, here it is.

The Inside Case

The Outside Case

The CD Disc Design (with Template)

Business Card Design (Front)

 
Business Card Design (Back)

 
That's all for now, folks! Feel free to let me know what you think and/or leave helpful feedback.

Happy Fall!!

-S
Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Sound Boards Experiment

Hey everybody,

So I'm pretty sure the hiatus is over, for real this time. Maybe sometime in the future I'll really get the hang of this blogging regularly thing.

School has been awesome. I'm learning a lot about animation and refreshing my Photoshop skills at the same time. Not bad for my first quarter Post-Bach, eh? I'm super excited about this set of storyboards I did. They filed into a pretty rough animatic, but the sound is what I'm excited about. This is my first time recording dialogue in Storyboard Pro and using multiple layers of sound effects at the same time. It was super fun.

I do need to work on my acting, but that will progress in the future. I acted as the forest sprite, and my fiancé, Kyle Stroud, put his brilliant natural voice acting talent to work as the pirate/viking character. The video is below.

 
Sound Boards from Sarah Steele on Vimeo.


I'll do my best to make more posts soon. Thank you all for your patience and happy fall season!!

-S
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)