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If all twitter users were forced to write in haiku, I would probably be more interested in twitter.


Speak easy,
Neil

The Most Lamentable American Tragedy of Neil Everett

Right now I am working on a terrifically difficult friendship bracelet for a dear friend of mine. It is composed of fifteen strings and is taking quite a bit of time to construct. Just figuring out how to keep the strings separate and organized was a herculean text in and of itself. Hopefully it will be completed within the next few weeks.

The whale animation is going pretty well. All in all I predict it will be about 3-5 seconds in length but I'm sure I will tie the animation itself into a larger project at some point in the future. I am saving the progress of the animation itself every so often so that I can post it up here and show you the process.


It would have really helped if I knew going into the project (1) how a whale is supposed to look, and (2) how a whale is supposed to move. It has been a logistic nightmare as far as redrawing and retroactively altering the look and movement of the creature (but you will see that in time). Drawing some sort of character design sheet would have helped. Overall, I think the whale is a lot cuter than I had originally intended, which I suppose is a good thing.

Playlist:
To Whom It May Concern (or my favorite songs at the moment)

1. The Books feat. Jose Gonzalez - Cello Song (Dark Was The Night Compilation) (Nick Drake Cover)
2. Grizzly Bear vs. The Knife - Heartbeats/Knife Remix
3. Anathollo - The River ([Engine] Glow)
4. Joanna Newsom - Peach, Plum, Pear (The Milk-Eyed Mender)
5. Carla Bruni - Quequ'un M'a Dit (Quequ'un M'a Dit)
6. Velvet Underground - After Hours (Velvet Underground)
7. Cloud Cult - Lucky Today (Advice from the Happy Hippopotamus)
8. The Streets - Heaven For The Weather (Everything Is Borrowed)
9. Dan Deacon - Pink Batman (The Spiderman of the Rings)
10. Joanna Newsom - The Book of Right-On (Walnut Whales)

Embedded youtube links for your navigation convenience.

Speak easy,
Neil

P.S - The title is a reworking of the complete and original title of the Shakespearean play Titus Andronichus, for anyone that would be curious.

Devices

I've spent more time animating whales this semester than I have doing my homework, although I'm sure this statistic will change over the next week. Earlier today I bought a round trip bus ticket to Boston, where I will be spending my weekend.


These two images were born from me playing around on Adobe Photoshop CS3.


Speak easy,
Neil

La Fabuleux Destin

There was a huge poster sale going on today in the Cape Cod Lounge here on campus. I stopped by on the way to my English 300 class. Within thirty seconds I found this Japanese movie poster for the French film La Fabuleux Destin D'Amélie Poulain (or Amélie) which I immediately fell in love with (a phenomenon described by the French as "coup de foudre").


After moving out of the camp this summer I decided to take as little to college as I could get away with. In turn, I neglected to bring any posters from home (sans two small movie posters and a British Flag). I bought this Flight of the Conchords poster the other day to fill some of the empty space on my side of the room.


Here is a picture of my side of the room (just about finished settling in).

In other news, I bought this glass and this tea pot at a yard sale the other day. Definately worth the combined $2.50 that I payed for them. I also found a copy of Salinger's Franny and Zooey for 25 cents.


Finally, I am toying around with the idea of doing a whale themed animation project (now that I have a sufficient Wacom tablet). Here is the first sketch of what should prove to be a very long and labor intensive project.


Speak easy,
Neil

Mount Bosavi

Sobering news from the other side of the world! An area in Papua New Geunia, previously undiscovered by the western world, has revealed to us at least 40 new (new to us anyway) species.



I think that it is great that we are still discovering new things that we didn't know about our planet. It makes me wonder what else there is to find on this, our blue planet. Sometimes it feels like I have discovered all of the music or films or books that I will ever enjoy and then one day I happen upon something truly outstanding that I never knew existed and get incredibly excited about the other potential gold mines there are just waiting to be plundered. Anyway, here are some pictures of my favorite animals nearby Mount Bosavi...





...In other news...$205 for a French text with a bundled work book? And softcover at that.

Speak easy,
Neil

Tattoos

I got lost on the way to Purgatory today. There is a national park area in Massachusetts named Purgatory (which might be because people died climbing up the cliffs). My cousin Brad, his friend Sequoya, and myself spent a good two hours climbing over rocks and crossing rivers.

If I believed in tattoos, these are the tattoos I would get...

1. The main character from The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein.



2. Jiminy Cricket from Disney's Pinocchio.



3. The Lorax from The Lorax by Dr. Suess.



4. Linus Van Pelt from the Peanuts comic strip.



Each character means a great deal to me, all in their own district ways. Within their given works, they all represent different ideas or conventions that I keep very close to my heart. I suppose I've also had a lasting relationship with all of the characters, in some way shape or form, since I was very young.

Speak easy,
Neil

Cupid

Of all of the statues that I came across in Sarasota, I was most intrigued by this stone gentleman. I forgot to catch his name (or the name of the person he was based off of). The rest the shopping plaza in which Andrew, Dan, and I frequented was crowded with smooth, stone renditions of Roman gods (cupid and venus pictured below).


Although I am thoroughly enamored by all that the stone gentleman represents, at the end of the day I would much rather look at the female statues. They really do portray beauty in a very pure and classic manner.



I ran into this copper toned family when I was making my way from 2nd street to 11th street. Sarasota is very easy to make your way from one place to the next because it is all based on a simple grid system. Within the next 10 years I how to somehow because as comfortable and content as the bronze man appears to be.

Last night I arrived in Rhode Island, where I will be spending a few days until I have to move into my dorm room. This semester I am going to be rooming with Lev again (which is great because a good roommate is hard to come by).

Movies I've seen recently in theaters:

(500) Days of Summer
-Sweet movie. Saw it again this afternoon. Interesting cinematic elements as well as a new twist on the romantic comedy.

Inglourious Basterds
- Everything that I wanted Valkerie to be. Oscar worthy acting from Christoph Waltz (the antagonist). Compelling, smart, and - at times - thought provoking. A little quiter than the trailer would lead you to beleive, although there is still plenty of violence, detatched limbs, and dead nazis. Good movie to see in theaters.

District 9
- One of the most interesting science fiction fiction movies I have seen in a while. Cool and intriguing, with some social commentary thrown in the mix (although it doesn't get preachy like Happy Feet does). Not a film to pass up by any means.

Up
- If you haven't seen this film already, go see it. It's not often that I cry during a film, especially during a childrens film (especially during the first 20 minutes of a film). Possibly my favorite Pixar film thus far.

Speak easy,
Neil

Ode To Bug

Over the summer I ran three or four poetry programs (two of which proved to be fairly successful). My friend Taylor asked me to write a poem for a bug that was crawling over my guitar case. The photo above is what I ended up with.

Speak easy,
Neil

Hedgehogs on Clipboards

Every counselor at the summer camp I worked at is issued one clipboard (which holds all the important paper work and schedules, which one would be entirely helpless without). This summer I painted three clipboards - one for myself, and two for friends of mine. All of them included this little hedgehog character (spikes based on Sonic, head shape based on Crayon Shin-Chan, and body type generally based on the Kodama from the film Princess Mononoke).

The character is named Urchin (i.e. hedgehogs curled up into a ball look kind of like sea urchins). He is an excellent swimmer.


For my good friend Christopher Barry (his idea to write "Chris Barry Rocks" in honor of his website). It combines a few of my all time favorite things - hedgehogs, penny farthing bicycles, big hats, and 19th century gentleman outfits.

This one is based off of Tetris, one of my all time favorite puzzle games. The clipboard was painted for my friend Chris Burns, a counselor in training. I went into it wanting to do something fun, colorful, and cute. Every time I look at it I can't help but worry about how the one in the lower left is going to escape from the confines of his tetris pieces.

Speak easy,
Neil

The Execution of All Things

This summer has been pretty eventful but there is too much catching up to do in one blog post. Camp ended last week and between then and now I've been staying in Sarasota, Florida. My plane landed in Logan less than 24 hours ago and now I'm sorting through all of my stuff, getting ready to move back to college. A few weeks ago I applied to study abroad in England (Manchester, to be more specific) for Spring 2010.

My flight to Chicago was delayed for an hour or so. In that time I started reading the Great Gatsby and wrote this list of the best free stuff that I experienced in the last week.


Below is a picture I took while flying over Sarasota (if memory serves), awkwardly leaning over Andrew and Dan to capture some of the beautiful scenery (I had an aisle seat).


My plan is to start blogging on a daily basis like I did last school year. :)

Speak easy,
Neil

P.S - Puff died while I was at camp.