Friday, April 12, 2013

Weekly Wrap-Up: 1st Week of April

I meant to make this post earlier, oops.  Oh well, at least I'm making it at all!  In an effort to post on this blog more, I decided to start making "Weekly Wrap-Up" posts talking about the interesting or important (in my mind at least) things that I did or experienced each week! Kind of like a visual and text Internet diary.  Let me know what you think!

This week I: 
Got some new makeup over the weekend:


This is Kat Von D's "Liquid Lipstick" in  "Outlaw".  I have to admit, it was better than I expected.  It's claimed to go on liquid, like lip gloss, and dry to a nice matte instantly, and I was happily surprised to find that this is actually true!  It's great if you're like me and have a hard time finding that perfect red matte lipstick.  It's also claimed to have an amazing staying power, lasting all day.  It did last better than I expected, but I think not as long as it's advertised to.  I wore it for a few hours and it stayed great without smudging or fading, but if you eat or drink anything it comes right off and needs to be touched up.  Overall I'm really happy with it, I would give it an 8/10.


I also got Urban Decay's "Naked Skin Beauty Balm".  I am a big fan of Urban Decay, an heard great things about this beauty balm. (Beauty balms are becoming so popular now! For those of you who are unfamiliar with them, they're a foundation-like makeup, very similar to a tinted moisturizer.)  Unfortunately, I was really disappointed with this product.  It comes in only one shade that is supposed to match to your skin tone, but I found that it was wayyy too dark for my porcelain skin and made it look like I was wearing self tanning lotion.  It smelled nice, but didn't feel all that moisturizing, and worst of all, had absolutely no coverage at all!  Even less than most tinted moisturizers and other beauty balms I've tried.  Other than making me look fake tan, it didn't make my face look any different than it does without makeup.  I was very disappointed, especially for the price ($27).  I would give it a 1/10.

Saw a new horror movie in theaters with Hunter on Friday:


I'm a huge fan of the Evil Dead movies (and horror movies in general, especially Sam Raimi's).  Evil Dead 2 has been one of my all-time favorites since I saw it when I was 11 or 12, so when I heard there was going to be a modern re-make I was skeptical, and excited nonetheless.  On Friday Hunter and I headed to the movies to see it, and all three shows had almost completely sold out, but we got tickets right in time.  It's hard for me to say whether I liked it or not.  Without revealing any spoilers, I'll just say that it was way gorier, and overtly scarier than the original.  I also thought that it lacked a lot of the humor that the original had, which really disappointed me because that was the best part about it, in my opinion, that it didn't take itself seriously.  This movie seemed like a completely different one, that only incorporated a few similar elements to the original Evil Dead movies so that it could keep the association.  As a stand alone horror movie, I liked it.  As a remake of Evil Dead, I didn't.  Hunter didn't want to see it at first, and ended up liking it.  He had never seen the original, so we watched it the next day and told me that he actually like the remake better.  Overall I would recommend it, if you're not too grossed out by really graphic gore, and I would give it a 6-7/10.

Cooked Cajun chicken breasts with these awesome spices:


My Mom and I got these at Saturday Market when I was in Portland over Spring break.  They were $7 a piece, which seems expensive to me for spices.  We originally got them thinking my Dad would like them and want to cook with them, but he's extremely picky so we had our doubts.  In the end, my parents and I split them half and half so they could cook with them (my Dad did like them!) and so Hunter and I could cook with them while I'm away at college.  So far we've used them to make Cajun chicken breasts a few times, and it's been great!  They're really tasty and a very good way to spice up (pun intended) what would otherwise be plain chicken.

Had another appointment with my neurologist on Friday:


I had my third appointment with my neurologist this week, still trying to figure out the reason for my frequent migraines, and I got the results of my MRI back!  Everything is normal and I got to keep the photos, which are pretty cool.  We still don't know why I have headaches so often, but I've been getting migraines less and less and have found some medication we think will help make them go away, or at least be less frequent so this visit was a success! 

This week I also: On Monday I sat in on the seminar class I want to take for next year, and got approval from the professor to switch in, yay!  On Tuesday I had my sophomore portfolio review (with my critique professor Marcia Lippmann, and two of my professors from last year, Josef Astor and Gerald Slota).  It went pretty well, I got some interesting feedback and suggestions that I'm definitely going to use when I'm working on my series of 4x5 landscapes this summer.  On Wednesday I met with the chair of the photo department, Stephen Frailey for the first time.  He was really nice, and he exempted me from the classes I didn't want, and was also nice enough to offer to lend me a 4x5 camera over the summer so I don't have to buy one, I'm so grateful and excited!  I also finished my first final, a paper about Nan Golding for my contemporary photo history class.  On Thursday I saw part of the documentary film Grey Gardens in my nonfiction class.  It was also my Dad's birthday!  I'm sad I didn't get to be there for it, but we'll celebrate it when I get home.  

Over the weekend I helped my friend Brett who needed reference pictures by doing a studio shoot with some models/friends for a movie poster he's drawing, assisted by Hunter.  It was a film noir style, inspired by the film Double Indemnity (photos by me, editing/post-processing by Brett):



I also shot some 4x5 in Union Square, assisted by Hunter, for my urban landscapes/NYC postcards series:


 

And I had Shake Shack for the first time in forever, there was a short line.  I should have gotten a picture.

That's all for this week, I'll be back next week (later this week, really) with another Weekly Wrap-Up!

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