Way Of The Shadows- (Blog Post #2)

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Author: Brent Weeks
Publisher: Orbit
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: October 2008
Cover Artist: Calvin Chu

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The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks is a book that was found by total accident, but one that I am quite very grateful for. If I had the time to talk to an author, describe what I liked most in a book and then said, “Give me a story that you know will be something I would like,” it would be quite realized here in this book.

This story involves some of my favourite elements in fantasy: assassins, intrigue, battles, magic, and magic-items. So-far so-good, but let's talk about characters, and storyline all without giving away any spoilers to ruin it for the rest of the readers.

This gigantic book weighs in at over 640 pages and what I found interesting at times is that it may have been underwritten from the point of fleshing it out. Some parts go by a little too quickly for my preference.
This is where the publishers probably came in. I am sure Brent Weeks could not have handed in a book over 1000 pages, or more, but yet I think if he had I would have enjoyed it a little more.
Weird, I know. I actually stopped and thought to myself, “Wow... He is really packing it in there!” as I cleared page 300-or-something.


Picture done by Midnight-Spectrum on DeviantART
Click Here!! <- To See Their AMAZING Gallery

If I was forced to pick the weakest part of the book, for me it would be the
world-building of the world of Midcyru. It sputters to get started in the early-going of the book, before actually coming to life.

I started to get a feel for Azoth and Durzo’s city, Cenaria, around the middle of the book. The saviour for me is once you get to that point in the book, it is no longer an issue as Weeks brings the city to life. This is a gritty story with a fair amount of adult situations and language, but it fits the story at hand. Also the magic in the world of Midcyru is interesting and while not very well 'advertised', there is more than enough to go around to satisfy.

This book was filled with inspiration for me, as both an inspiring Novelist and Graphic Designer, because you get such a rich feeling of what the characters look like and how the city is built. As a Novelist, one day I would love to be able to describe my characters and settings like Weeks has in his novel.
However, as a Graphic Designer, I would love to take these visions of characters and their towns and cities, and draw them into life.

I also have quite a bit of admiration for the artist Midnight-Spectrum, who drew the picture above of Kylar Stern/ Azoth. They took their own idea of Kylar and breathed life into it. For this I am truly both jealous and in awe.

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To Read The First Chapter of The Way of Shadows, follow this link here

Look!! :D

Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad (Blog Post #1)

Yukio, known by his friends as "Koyuki", is a regular 14-year-old Japanese boy whose boring life is changed when he saves an odd-looking dog, named Beck, from some kids. Beck's owner turns out to be an emerging rock musician, Ryûsuke Minami, who soon influences Koyuki to start playing the guitar, and even gives one to him.

The story focuses on the trials and tribulations of their rock band named BECK, and Koyuki's relationships with the members of the band, in particular Ryûsuke and Ryûsuke's sister Maho.



Now this anime, BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad- (let's just call it BECK)- inspired me to begin expressing myself through song and music.

During my time watching BECK, I got to learn the songs and even started singing along whenever the band would play a song. The music always got me up and dancing, singing and sometimes a scene would even have my crying.

The Theme song is HIT IN THE USA by The Beat Crusaders
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xClFjEe0SBw


In this anime, BECK, even the animation itself is AMAZINGLY WELL DONE.
And I mean, really well done.
The details on the people, backgrounds, scenery... It's all very amazing.
During the series, the character Ryûsuke Minami gives Koyuki a guitar. The name and brand of the guitar escape me at the moment, however I clearly remember that the guitar looked exactly like the original one in real-life.

The hands as well, are breathtaking. Now, you would not imagine one to go on and on about hands, however the animators who did the anime obviously put in everything they had to make this show perfect.
In usual anime, if a character is playing an instrument the shot will pan out and scan over a crowd or even just have simple finger movements playing these complex strings.
In BECK, the shot of the screen zooms in to look at the hands playing the guitar or bass. The hands playing the instrument look real, the moevents are beleiveable and just breathtaking.

BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad was what really inspired me to start music and art, and to pursue art professionally.

I would definitely recommend this anime to any and all music lovers. I truly admire the animators who put in so much time to make this show amazing.

For next time,
Tomo <3

Who Is El Anatsui?

Recently I found out about a very exciting thing! My Artwork is going to be featured beside a very big name; El Anatsui!
Here is my chance to tell you a little bit about this amazing artist.



Who is El Anatsui?

With his breathtakingly beautiful sculpture pieces, El Anatsui is an artist in a world of his own. Coming from Ghana, El Anatsui has brought a new style of art.

El Anatsui was born in the year 1944, in Anyako,Ghana. He was trained formally at the College of Art and University of Science and Technology in Kumasi,Ghana.

Much of his career has been stationed in Nigeria, where he taught at the University of Niagira, in 1975.

El was also a part of the Nsukka group; a group of artists in Nigeria working to breathe life into the practice of Uli art and mix it into contemporary art.

Anatsui's art has been exhibited all over the world in places such as New York, and even Paris.




What Does His Artwork Look Like?

Above is a picture of one of El Anatsui's recent work that is sending many into a frenzied admiration, and inspiring many artists to create works like El's.

El Anatsui discovered that local factories in Nigeria were forming mountains of liquor bottle caps when the bottles themselves were recycled. He took such a hard, ugly, ordinary object and turned each bottle cap into beautiful flowing quilts.

Anatsui uses many different types of media in his artwork such as wood, clay and paint. He is known for using objects around him to create unique pieces of art out of ordinary things. His metal cloths are just one example of this. El Anatsui has created three-dimensional pieces out of evaporated milk tins, rusting metal graters and old printing plates.

El Anatsui takes what was once 'Ugly' and has turned it into something 'Beautiful'.
However, Anatsui presses that what he does is not actually Recycling.




What Is El Anatsui Communicating Through His Art?

Throughout an amazing forty-year career as a sculptor and professor, Anatsui has addressed a large range of social, political and historical concerns. He has grasped an equally different vocabulary of media.

Anatsui uses anything from chainsaws and welding torches to this difficult and yet calm 'sewing' process. He has shaped materials ranging from graters and railway sleepers to driftwood, iron nails and eviction notice printing plates.



My Connection To El Anatsui's Art

To me, El Anatsui is an amazing artist.
At first, after hearing about his pieces I was a little uninterested. I thought to myself, "bottle-cap clothes? That's silly."

However, after seeing his works and learning more about El Anatsui, I can honestly say that this artist may very well be one of my favourites.

The connection that I hold to El Anatsui's work is that I enjoy to to things like this as well. Whenever I have some sort of mold able material, I seem to go right into an artistic world and I just create anything I can.

I also quite enjoy the culture Anatsui incorporates into his pieces. You can clearly see the traditional works, and from afar his cloths look like actual pieces of cloth. Once you get up close, and see that Anatsui's work is actually bottle caps and other material as such, the work immediately holds a modern style.

I truly admire El Anatsui's work, and his art is very truly unique in a way that is his own.

~Haley

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My Research Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Anatsui

http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/gawu/about.html#SlideFrame_1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nsukka_group

Valentines Day

Hey Everybody!

I hope you all have a great Valentines Day, and a great Family Day as well tomorrow!

Did you know?
Nearly 60% of Canadians have a holiday on the third Monday of February, wich goes along with the US holiday Presidents Day. The holiday is called "Family Day" in most provinces, and "Louis Riel Day" or "Islander Day" in Manitoba and Prince Edward Island.

Cool Huh? :D

Bouncing Ball!!

I am creating a Bouncing Ball in Flash MX right now!!
Once I figure out how to post it, I will.

Here's a neet tutorial that helped me!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9FldZkcLPI

Commentation On My Blog

Recently I got several comments on my Posts.
Thankfully I moderate them and check for anything Explicit.
In the posts mentioned above, I received a link with each of them.

These links were to a Pornography site.
I do not tolerate Pornography and do not appreciate being sent links to sites of that kind.
Please do not send me a link as such.

I am addressing this matter because over the past year I have been receiving more and more links to such sites, and, again, I do not enjoy such websites.

Thank you
~Kaze

I'm Back!

I can't beleive that it has been a year since I have updated this CyberARTS blog!!

If you remember my old blog, it was not so appealing to the eye.

And so, after an hour of wrestling with Google to remind me of my password, I am back.

If you've noticed, I threw together a new banner, Updated the Template for my Blog and now I like it quite a bit more!!

Hope to see you around during this next Year of CyberARTS!!

~Kaze