DDR in Taiwan

I named the blog thoughts and doodles, but recently at least, I have been filling up the pages with images and very few thoughts. This is partially because I have nothing interesting to say. After all, all I ever do is memorize Chinese characters. Once something exciting happens with modeling I will be sure to analyze, but that is yet to come. But Taiwan is an interesting place, with a rich culture, and good food, and I know people and do things (occasionally....) so I ought to write something. Recently, for example, my life has been filled with DDR, which I have traveled far to play and spent much money on in the last month or so. And brings back wonderful memories from college, oh...

Dance Dance Revolution... is not popular in Taiwan. I must find a machine that is not 30 minutes away on the MRT. This fact explodes my previously held stereotype, that all people from Asia must love and be fantastic at DDR. (But it is confusing, because in Japan I found DDR everywhere... and Taiwan is so highly influenced by Japan, except, I gather, for the dancing video machine way) Rather, they seem to be too cool for DDR, and if they do play, I beat them, which is pathetic because I'm not even very good. Instead, it has been replaced by a drumming game, which is exactly the same as DDR, but with drums, and therefore not fun and doesn't make you sweat. I am in favor of an arcade made solely from DDR machines. A friend suggested a gym... I think this is genius.

IF Superhero

I added this guy to my giant painting on my wall... which is beginning to look more and more like 我發瘋了. But I love it, it is making me really happy. I was thinking of writing Super-Mann on his cape (because my last name is Mann)... that might be corny but I would like it. I guess right now he is Camoflauge Mann.

work in progress

Last year, artistically, was defined by creating great big grids on my walls filled with hands. And this year, at Tai Da, I just haven't had the artistic gumption to do anything of that level, which was depressing, but now I find this second semester I suddenly have so much more energy that I've started on another huge grid. No more little quirky doodles... or yes quirky doodles, but alongside the larger, more difficult piece. This is not done and hopefully won't be done for a long time. I want it to grow, I want to fill the entire thing in with color, I want it to be an explosion of weirdness, a real landscape finally. This piece is taking the themes that I became interested in last year (disembodied hands, quirky blob like Taiwanese things) and trying to be a little more mature with them than I was last year. The piece still has a lot of problems but I'm excited. Whole piece and detail.

IF 80s

2 more for I.Friday. These are part of a larger grid of small paintings that all add together.. Hopefully at some point I will post the other ones, too. Thoughts? Oh, and click for larger.

if phoenix

For I. Friday...not a phoenix, but the idea of the phoenix is the idea of change and renewal, and this is trying to capture that. Also the dragon is the masculine partner to the phoenix in Taiwan... yin and yang, dragon and phoenix, masculine and feminine.

children in fiji

Children in Fiji. I visited my family in Fiji for 2 weeks but now I'm back in Taiwan. Away from the sun and the clear blue sky and back to rainy, grey weather, people in screaming fights over my head, and, tomorrow, more characters to memorize....