A random present to myself

So last weekend I walked with some friends over to CVS. I ended up buying a pint of cherry garcia ice cream with the goal of eating it all in one night because I don't really have a good freezer. 

(I got about 3/4th of the way through before I was sick of ice cream, and very disappointed in myself that i couldn't finish a measly pint. Anyways!)

 I saw a pencil case that I really liked. But didn't get it because I already have a pencil case (ok actually 2 one for my desk and one for my backpack) but I don't need a pencil case. 

But I kept thinking about how cool it was,

 and since I have a certain number of "Pioneer dollars" (our schools money system) I have to use before the end of they year I figured I would just buy myself a present for surviving the first week of college. 

So here you go. This bag is my, what do the kids say these days?, My ascetic.
Awesomeness, and black and coppery and shiny.

BTW there was matching pens too. I figured I use pens for nearly everything these days so one can never have enough pens? I use them for art, and journaling, and note-taking, and outlining textbooks....
So why not add some pizzazz with some coppery joy.

So now I will review these joys.

The pens have adequate ink flow. They work fairly well with the occasional hiccup of not-putting-ink-down. But I always look super snazzy writing with them

No matter what. Period.

The bad is good. It is a little small, but that makes it more portable. Although rummaging through it looking for you favorite pen at the very bottom, is only a slight issue.

Also there is a plastic lining inside the pencil case so any ink leaks or graphite chards can be easily cleaned.

All in all I really like my snazzy gift to myself.

Although I  feel a little weird reviewing a random generic pencil case and pens....

Internal Monologue

Hmm, So I've written a post today I just saved it as a draft to be published on another (special) day *wink wink. (Ok, its not that special don't get excited, its actually only two lines...)
But that counts as my post-for-the-day right?

Uhh, no I suppose not....

I don't actually know why I'm complaining about this....
I do enjoy having a blog, despite it maybe being a abnormal thing, or potentially "nerdy" thing to do (not that I have ever been ashamed to be called a nerd)
And it's not like anyone really reads my blog except when I forcibly share the links to me amigas.

But for whatever reason I still won't tell anyone about my corner of the internet for feat of being "weird".

Basically its all societies fault.

Ok just kidding.

Anyway today was just me venting a problem to the internet.

Because the best ways to deal with problems is to

1. Ignore them until they go away
2. And rant about them on the internet

Right?

Nothing will go wrong....

Tomorrow we will be back to our regularly scheduled programming of random pictures, and college shenanigans!

but since i have a random blog, I though why not use it to release steam....

DOOR!

One of the doors on the baptistery of the Duomo in Florence Italy.

Well....

I have nothing to say today.
But I kinda wanted to put up a post every week, I haven't made it a week so this is NO time to give up!

Alas, I have a human biology test tomorrow,
and don't feel like spending an hour thinking of a witty post.

So have a nice day,
Get a good nights sleep,
Pet a dog.

"Freak the Geek" Art

So in English class last year. One assignment was to teach the class about a short story of our choosing.

There were certain requirements about the story we had to choose, like it had to have "literary merit" 

Sounds boring right? Usually (there are some exceptions) but "literary merit" means to have some deep unhinged meaning, and again usually is slightly depressing.

The only redeeming requirement was the author had to be alive.....

In the Library we received big heavy, scholarly books filled with various short stories. 

They were long and not all that fun to read.....

(At least not my kinda thing)

But behold a book called Geektastic

Fantastic

And in this book.

"Freak the Geek" by the one and only John Green

So our beautiful project became illustrating the scenes of the story into a type of comic

Mainly so we didn't have do much talking in the presentation...

Anyway, I did have two other partners, so it's not a complete comic, just my parts.

"Freak the Geek"

I suppose this may be what can be called "Fan Art"?

Really it was a school project I spent a short while on I just wanted to get it done with and not completely embarrass myself when the entire class saw it. I don't think it came our half bad.

You can tell the first one I spent a longer amount of time than the last one....

"The whole world of mischief and malfeasance is available to you, and you pick paint balls?"

I thought the book, although not a highly symbolized, or complex tale, it was a very easy read, light and enjoyable. (Especially because I thought we were going to read some heavy material)

It was all about accepting yourself and taking pride in geekdom.

Plus the one girl used Shakespearean insults which is just simply amazing, if you have never looked up Shakespearean insults I highly recommend it. 

Of course it may be that I like them because I am a geek...

Unfortunately, (or fortunately for no spoilers) I did not draw the ending scenes....

So if you are curious about how the story ends you'll just have to get it at the library or something!

The story is about a girls boarding school, where traditionally the students pick two girls to basically harass and intimidate in a ritual called "Freaking the Geek". 

Can you guess who is chosen? Our two lovely main characters.

Basically it goes as well as you could expect, whose fault is it? What to do? and it becomes a story of self-acceptance.

Genuinely a pleasant easy read.

Digital Art #1

So my senior year of high school I started to learn (and by learn I mean I started to mess around with sketchbook) and I wanted to learn Digital Art. Because personally I think drawing digitally is a lot of fun, and potentially gorgeous.

Now this was my first major project using a drawing tablet.

So its not amazing

But I did improve, and I hope to get the opportunity to practice with digital art again

Stay tuned for some of my better projects.....

But for now, here is the picture I just stumbled upon on my computer.
Currently I shudder a bit at the perspective on the desk....But I still do think the concept is cool, and the chalk looks fairly decent.

College Adventures full of Hair?

OH Hi!

So I wanted to straighten my hair the other day.....

But obviously as a lazy college student/anti-socialite couldn't be bothered to go into the shared bathroom.

Unfortunately I do not have a mirror in my room. SO being the fantabulous problem solver I am I used my web camera on my laptop as a mirror.

Now as I was staring at the camera for the long process that I was straightening my luscious mane of hair. And documented the process.

Now in retrospect I realize that I made the same face in all of the pictures....

Also, the quality of the picture is questionable (this is a laptop camera so, not an amazing DSLR).

And the lighting is terrible, sorry I was merely sitting at my desk.

I didn't want to put the burning hot straighter on my wooden desk, so here it is in a coffee mug.

Here I just look funny with half a head of straight hair and the other half a glorious mess.

Again though with the pursed lips and wide eyes, really Ally?

See, using a web camera worked Amazingly!

 I feel I am a proficient adult now and should just be handed a college degree.....or at least a scholarship award....sigh

Judith and Holofernes

A sculpture by Donatello

This was one of the statues I really enjoyed when we took a trip to Italy this summer. There a mock version outside the Palazzo Vecchio (a previous home of the Medici family in Florence, Italy) standing in one of the statues original places.

It is a bronze statue by Donatello in 1460. The real statue can be seen in the Hall of Lilies (Sala dei Gigli) in Palazzo Vecchio.

This piece of are depicts the woman standing, named Judith, assassinating the Assyrian general Holofernes. It is based off of a bible story. One of the reoccurring themes in Italy was a religious undertone. Which makes sense considering the head of the catholic church is in the Vatican, which is in Rome.

The legend goes that King Nebuchadnezzar of Nineveh ordered his general Holofernes to defeat the Jews, his enemies. Judith (meaning Jewish woman) was a beautiful widow who snuck into the Assyrian camp late one night and seduced the General. Then when he is drunk she cuts off his head and brings it back her people, the decapitated head her trophy. The Jews then are rallied to raid the Assyrian camp and push them away.

Judith is a symbol of justice, weak defeating the strong, liberty and victory.

This is one of the earliest free standing statues in Renaissance statures. It was commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici to stand in the garden next to the statue of David. Originally it was guilded, but now the only guilding can be seen at the top of the sword blade. Supposedly the statue pedestal was inscribed with "Kingdoms fall through luxury, cities rise through virtues; behold the neck of pride severed by humility." and possibly other inscriptions, but today the only thing left of the pedestal is Donatello's signature, this is one of the only works of art he signed.

If you notice the wallpaper behind the statue, I think this was beautiful. The top of the room was crowned in elaborate golden decorations, but the walls had columns painted so realistically they seemed practically three dimensional. 

*All the pictures above were taken by Ally McAlpine

For More information:

https://worldhistoryproject.org/1460/donatello-sculpts-his-judith-and-holofernes

http://www.artble.com/artists/donatello/sculpture/judith_and_holofernes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_and_Holofernes_(Donatello)

http://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/tools/image-gallery/j/judith-in-art-donatello.aspx

The Black Hole that is Facebook

This is what happens every time I go on Facebook

I get caught up in the black hole that is Facebook and can't stop going on, stalking *cough* I mean seeing what my sorta friends are up to

But....

Sooner or later

Crippling regret hits me, and I realize how boring my life is, or think "Why on Earth did I ever think that this was a good idea to put online?"

Here is a picture of me with crippling regret hiding under a blanket drinking vanilla honey chamomile tea.

And the worst part (especially with someone with chronic indecision) is that any tiny little action taken on Facebook is broadcast out to any ole friend of mine to see. So I can't change a million things or take back what I did 20 seconds ago without these friends seeing, and possibly getting annoyed if I change a million things a million times.

And I use friend loosely, these include distant second cousins I've met once, people I knew when I was in fourth grade, and people from my high school that I have never actually talked to.

So if I post something people who knew me would understand, but not these other "friend-posers"  two days later I can't just change my profile picture again, when I realize what a stupid idea making my Facebook picture a stone statue of Michelangelo is.

Sounds cool right? Well, I thought so until now I have to message someone about a club at my college and want to appear semi-normal/cool. I am at least attempting to make friends at college.

And I can't change it because some random people from my high school have liked it (why I will never know I originally wanted a random picture that I can casually leave from months while I am MIA on Facebook I didn't think anyone would actually click the LIKE button!) so now I know it was noticed and it would probably be annoying to change again.

Plus, I tend to get annoyed with close up pictures of my actual face. 

I changed this picture just yesterday

and already regret my life.

And yes I am aware people should "accept you for who you are" Yeah well, this is a first impression I'm trying to ease them slowly into my interesting sense of humor

Can you tell I'm overthinking this?

No one else seems to understand my pain!

But I suppose that's what all people say...

Moral of the story is: Be yourself and Forget the everything else?

Nah,

It's "Ally you should delete your Facebook while you are still semi-sane"

But we all know that's not gonna happen

So stay tuned in about 5 months when this mental crisis happens again!

Describe a drawing challenge

Grab a piece of paper and a writing utensil and follow our 
directions to see if you can match the original drawing!
Last video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47y9l...

Which one of us do you think gave the best direction?
First to give directions: Ally
Second: Christine
Third: Lauren

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