#SSSS: Second Semester Senior Status

I may be prematurely calling myself a second semester senior as I will not be completely done with the semester until 4pm Tuesday afternoon, but I already feel like one. This semester went by so incredibly fast. I can't even imagine what it's like to be graduating right now because they're just done. That's it. No ceremony until May. I'm not one of those people who wants to stay in school forever, but I certainly don't want to miss out on the Senior activities that take place in the spring!
This semester I ended up really enjoying two of my classes. I had heard really good things about the social media class (which was new last semester) and it fit into my fields of study, so I figured why not. The professor is amazing. So good that I wish I had taken senior media seminar with her this semester (though it is very likely that I wouldn't have gotten in). And she is the main reason I am taking fashion and power next semester. I would say I'm not a huge social media enthusiast. I love using social media (duh), but I don't really think about the cultural concepts behind the usage. The class definitely taught me some really interesting theories about technology that I literally use every day. The second class I enjoyed was TV Nation. I've always watched a lot of TV, like when I was in high school, whenever we got any tv show's season dvd set, I would watch the whole season as fast as possible, staying up all night and telling myself "just one more episode." I kind of explained the concept of the class in my last post, so I'll just tell you about our final pitch. My group was Bravo, and we picked up a reality competition show about window dressing called On Display. The tagline is "whose dreams will be shattered next?" and the send off line is "I'm sorry, you're no longer on display." The host would be Simon Doonan, and the judges would be Nicola Formichetti, Scott Pask (Tony award winning set designer of Book of Mormon) and Sarah Jessica Parker. I didn't really like SJP as a judge because I didn't understand how she was an expert in the field, but I got my way with Simon Doonan as host, which I think was more important. Our team did really, really well. The class was overwhelmingly positive with the critique--many students even said they would watch the show. But, we ended up losing to AMC and their show Olympia.
Now that both the semester and my internship are over, I'm shocked with all the free time I have. I'll go from working 7 days a week to working anywhere from 2.5 to 5 days. Next week I'll only be working 2.5 days at my weekend job, so I'm still not sure what I'm going to do. Do a little research and see what exhibits are where, hopefully do more cooking, definitely want to go to Flushing with Xiali at some point, maybe a trip to Housing Works? The options seem endless!
Yesterday, I did go to the Open House New York Hello Kitty! Hello Art!, which is showing this weekend only. There was a lot of pop art inspired by Hello Kitty and other Sanrio characters. They also had a silver tinsel Christmas tree with all plush Hello Kitty ornaments. aka my dream. I had to get the coffee table book that accompanies the exhibit from the gift shop. I also took a picture (well, several) with these giant Hello Kitty light up Christmas decorations. Super happy I went, since I by chance found out about it at the last minute.
On a random side note, I am supremely surprised and disappointed by Blogspot's 1GB picture limit. I seriously had no idea there was such a thing, and I hate not having pics in my posts. I've kinda been considering switching to Wordpress, because it would force me to learn more of the technical stuff (yet another thing I want to learn!), but I've had this blog for three years as of 12/13! I have to keep it up at least until I graduate. I literally started this blog one night, at the end of freshmen year exactly three years ago (it was also Santacon Saturday!) really late at night when I was supposed to be studying in the library. Literally the first and last time I willingly studied in the library. My how things have changed in those three years, and I feel like this blog documented all of it. I don't want to give it up quite yet. Decisions, decisions.

Shanghai museum

Yesterday afternoon, my art class went to the Shanghai Museum, located in People's Square. We only had time to look at the Chinese Calligraphy Gallery and the Chinese Painting Gallery, but the museum is famous for their Ancient Chinese Bronze Gallery, according to my teacher. I liked the museum itself. Several people in my class didn't like the architecture of the building, but I like it, even though there does seem to be a lot of wasted space at the top. The museum felt very modern. I liked the placement of the escalators/stairs to create these V shapes, and the rich mahogany banisters. I would certainly like to go back and see the rest of the museum, especially the bronze pieces.

MOMA adventures.

I finished classes yesterday, and had no plans for today, so I decided to go to MOMA and check out their new exhibits. On the second floor, there is a wonderful performance art piece titled Performance 9: Allora & Calzadilla. Every hour, on the half hour, an artist plays the fourth movement of Beethoven’s ninth Symphony (Ode to Joy). However, there is a hole carved out of the piano, where the artist stands—forcing him/her to play both upside down and backwards! While playing, the artist simultaneously moves throughout the atrium!

I also really enjoyed the New Photography 2010: Roe Ethridge, Elad Lassry, Alex Prager, Amanda Ross-Ho exhibit. In particular, I enjoyed Alex Prager's work the most. I found his photographs to be very high glamor, even if the content was mundane. They also looked like advertisements, and bore a great resemblance to the Miu Miu print campaigns.

a still from Prager's short film Despair.

MOMA lobby

more performance art

incredible model of the NYtimes building, part of the architecture exhibit

oh what a wonderful day!

Today, I spent the best Saturday I've had in a while with my good friend Justine. Our plan was to go to the Murray Guy Gallery for my class assignment then go to Chelsea Market. Well, today also happened to be the launch of the Lanvin x H&M collection, and after seeing my roommate's goodies, Justine and I knew we had to see the collection for ourselves.
First we went to the gallery and saw an interesting, but somewhat creepy exhibit, and then we headed over to Chelsea Market. We each got two brownies from Fat Witch (pumpkin and turtle witches for me!) and then Justine got some breakfast treats from Amy's Bread. While we were searching for the gallery, we found that there's an Artichoke sit down restaurant at 17th and 10th ave! We shared the Artichoke and the Crab pizza.
Finally, we went to the Herald Square and 34th st H&M to see the Lanvin stuff. Sadly, all the accessories were sold out! But we each snatched up a dress. literally! The collection is easily completely sold out in Manhattan. too bad. I really wanted that pink necklace!

this year's birthday party dress perhaps?