Brasil

So today I learned that the Tropicália movement in Brazil (which we've studied in Brazilian seminar) is related to Hélio Oiticica's piece "Tropicália" (whom we studied in Photography). Learning makes the world go round?

THE Week?

This week went beyond expectations in terms of stress, but that's behind the scenes. Highlights were the Falala Cappella Holiday Concert (complete with 'All I Want for Christmas is You') and the Hanukkah dinner at my house (complete with latkes and... matzoh ball soup). Finished up my last photography project and my last projects for every class but one.

The Staff

Makeup time before Laura's big break

ALSO, put up a Christmas wreath today, and had latkes (again?!) and Maneschewitz for dinner tonight. Festive.

                                                                             Ho ho ho


As the most stressful week of my semester came to a close, it hit me that 'it's' almost over- in a strange, I'm-not-sure-I-like-this-feeling kind of way. Although my mind is busting with questions like 'what's next?', for the moment I'm content... to write my last paper and take it eeeeeasy.

Operation Beautiful

After WLC's first big event of the semester, we filled out post-its for Operation Beautiful- an organization on a mission to "end negative self-talk" through anonymous acts. Those at the event wrote a little message on the post-it, like "You're beautiful (yes, you)" or "Love your body" (shown below). I made a Library West trip even more productive by placing them on doors or bathroom mirrors, and the occasional car. Here's Nicole doing her good deed for the day.

Afterward I submitted the pictures to be posted on their blog.

Happy post-it writing!

www.operationbeautiful.com

Walks of Shame

In my latest photography project, I wanted to bring an interesting take to a discussion on gender roles. The black and white series depicts women in the act of a "walk of shame" (often a gendered term), and the color set depicts men in the same act. The women's series includes the reflection as a symbol of judgement, whereas the men's series is more dead-on and lacks the same feeling. The women's walks are meant to be obvious, but the audience has to take a closer look at the men to deduce what is going on. Both sets are meant to encourage feelings of isolation, contemplation and regret through the use of characters' body language and/or facial expressions. Although the color set may be taken as humorous in comparison to the black and whites (especially with my Mike Grog joke), the self-satisfaction on the face of the woman in color [ignoring the call] attempts to bring it full circle. 

Thanks to Nicole, Michelle, Elise, Jasmine, Nate, Elliott, Danny, Jabari and Monica for being good sports! Happy looking.

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FL/GA

I spent my Halloweekend in Jacksonville, for the annual FL/GA game. If there's anything that's bloggable, it's this thing. Dubbed the world's largest outdoor cocktail party, it is akin to an open-container collegiate free for all. Oh, and there are no cocktail dresses involved. We tailgated by the stadium for a bit, ate overpriced chicken fingers, drank Natty light, and got sunburns. 

AND

Tom came to visit from Jersey :)

 We decided to finish the game at the Landing, which is like a huge mall-esque venue where everybody decides to situate during this weekend. I'm not sure I really understand the appeal, but I go anyway. The Gators were close to losing again in a suspenseful overtime. The entire place (below) was quiet during the last minutes, then we won!... and chaos ensued. Seconds after the victory, the loudspeaker announced free drinks for ladies within the next five minutes. Needless to say, we ran (in the direction of the bar).

Seconds after the win. Georgia fans are unhappy. hah. Gator Bait!

We dressed up every night. Go big or go home! At least while you're in college.

Girls + fan club

I was basically a blue wig girl both times. To end a memorable weekend, I was allowed to drive a boat home. And I lost the wig.

Transitions

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aarevalo/5105439174/

More to come.

Lemons and such

Overdue hang-up of my photograms leads to the old lady being wary of the citrus takeover in the Sedoc house.

Saturday done right

Trying my luck in the blogging world.

This weekend was the most relaxing I've had in a while. Decided to opt out of happy hour on Friday, and stay home instead. Best decision of the weekend... because I awoke Saturday morning (to the sound of no alarm) ready to have fun.

Side note: I love when there's an away game during football season. Is that wrong of me? Maybe a little. I didn't even watch the game.

My roommate Laura and I got dressed to conquer the day (crown of flowers for her, dress for me). As I put my hands in the pocket of my dress, there was still sand from Barcelona in it. Damn nostalgia. We went to places like the arboretum and Hogtown creek and I shot some film of the sites, plus Laura. I happened upon a log cabin on the street next to ours, so of course I knocked on the door of the house by it to ask if I could take some photos. Out walks an 80 (or so) year old man, surprised but clearly thrilled to see us. He took us into the log cabin, which he now uses as a workshop, but used to live in when he was ELEVEN years old. He's been all around the world, but is now back where he loves to be, I suppose. He was maybe even more thrilled to see my film camera than he was to see me, and told me of the times when he would use 12 speed film in black and white. I thought my camera was from back in the day (1982?) but he was REALLY talking about back in the day here.

By the time I had hit a few more streets, I had already shot 2 or 3 rolls of film so we decided to take a permanent break for the day (...Florida heat). We went to George's Hardware to check out their new records, of which they had received 500. We met some other older men, who were impressed that we "do vinyl", because their daughters can't get into it "for the life of them". I bought three records and Laura bought 8 or so... but they were used so its a good deal. You can't really beat $1-$2.

After my very retro day, I went home, had a diet coke, burned a candle, and listened to records. A Saturday done right.

Pictures to come once I develop and make prints!