When Hell Freezes Over

   At the beginning of this this month, I was listening to the 1st Movement of Vivaldi's 'Winter'. When I first heard the piece, I felt the maddening and almost maniacal desperation in many of the notes. The constant bowing of the strings and relentless speed continues to take hold of me.

   So, I decided I should take the craziness to a whole new level...and began to write a Piano Solo transcription >:D

   For those who may not be familiar with the piece, here is a video the work.

   I cannot recall who made the recording I first listened to, but it was much faster than the one in this video. Despite my need for speed, the tempo performed by Daniel Phillips is accurate to the score and the time period this was written.

   Just yesterday I finished writing my transcription (or version of the piece). However, I am currently adding in the fingering notations and writing down what techniques need to be utilized. Keep in mind that I am using a free music composition software (MuseScore) so the audio may be a bit mediocre.
   But without further ado, here's the audio of: Transcription of Vivaldi's Four Seasons- 'Winter': "When Hell Freezes Over" by Justin Schmidt.

On the Forefront of Avant-Garde

   My closet has an very wide range of styles; I switch my style daily and sport styles such as: Dutch Minimalist, American Rocker, French Avant-Garde, American Grunge, British Teddy Boy, Contemporary, Neo-Goth, Scottish, and Russian. Although I often prefer to go out in what's comfortable (sweatpants, tank top, et cetra), dressing in the Avant-Garde mannerism is easy as pie.
   Without further ado, here are some of the outfit and accessories I have made within the style:
        

 First, I'll start with an outfit I'm particularly proud of. The look is comprised of: cropped leather jacket- Rick Owens, oversized T-shirt- Billy Reid, elongated long-sleeve shirt- Rick Owens, gloves- leggings cut to make fingerless gloves, cargo

Source: http://www.style.com/
slideshows/fashion-shows/
fall-2012-menswear/
rick-owens/collection/28

shorts- Levi's, leggings- Underarmor, black socks- Vans, shoes- Puma, wishbone necklace- Forever 21, magnetic horn gauge- made by yours truly from Sculpey, ceramic paint/varnish and neodymium magnets.
   When I received the Rick Owens jacket, I was totally and utterly enthralled. It's a modification of one of the pieces seen in the Rick Owens Fall 2012 Menswear show (as seen in the above right

picture). The quality of the piece is utterly stunning. The leather is an thick calfskin that has been aged for quite a while (the age marks can be seen by the indentations) and the zippers are made of silver. Another testament to the quality of Rick Owens apparel is the tall long-sleeve T-shirt. From a distance, you can see the tattered raw ends of the shirt. This isn't the only gritty aspect of the piece as the fabric has been thoroughly aged as well. This is shown by the below left photo; the transparent quality also lends itself to a super soft touch.

   Considering that the sleeves of the jacket are super slim and the silhouette is completely unique, you have to compensate for the exaggerated crop with a lengthened toro. I did this by layering two oversized shirts and tied them together. This made for an long slim torso. 

Had to have a
PG moment :O

  If you imagine a high-crop tight fitting jacket with a large baggy shirt underneath, it isn't quite flattering (I would provide an example but I'd feel a bit self-conscious, haha!).
  And finally, the accessories. Since the outfit is within shades of black, I wanted to add some contrast and bring out the shine of the silver hardware. So, I went with a silver-tone necklace; I chose a simple pendant with a simple design to tone down the outfit a tiny bit. I also thought that a wishbone would go with the dark appeal.

 To further blacken the aesthetic, I pulled out my magnetic gauge. Oh by the way, if you want to read further into the earpiece you can go to my 'Aesthetics' post and follow a link on how to make them! My philosophy on the way I dress is: I do it for myself, to express my creativity and to make myself feel confident. Despite this, I was a little unsure when I was walking around and heard a couple of gasps from people passing by, whoops!

          

 

     

     Considering the scarcity of avant-garde apparel in mainstream retail, there's been many times where I've had to make my own pieces.

  The "knuckle duster" to the above left is a modification of a chain wrapped   bracelet (which I bought from Hot Topic). I was partially inspired by Alexander McQueen's 'Knuckle Duster' ring (seen below to the right). The ring got it's debut in the Fall 2009 trunk show. As someone who thoroughly enjoys Punk Rock and a smidgen of British Anarchism, this immediately appealed to me.

 

Source: http://marisworld.co.uk/
index.php/2010/12/09/
alexander-
mcqueens-knuckleduster/

 But getting back on topic! To get the feathers into the chains required some thought; feather stems are rather fragile and I needed to find a way to strength them and fit them into the chain openings. I scrounged through my crafts box and finally found what I needed, head pins (see the picture below to the left). To strengthen the feathers, I poked a hole into the feathers stems with a needle and put the

Source: http://www.
gossamerwingsdesigns.
com/Jump-Rings-
Chain-Maille-20-
Findings-4.htm

head pin in the hole. Finally, I had feather sticks (so to say) and all I needed to do was stick them into the bracelet.                                                   And voila! It can be worn as a typical bracelet around the wrist but I prefer to wear it around my hand.

   My friend Josh commissioned me to make an earpiece for him. He said he wanted something flashy but a little Punk-y. Luckily, I had some safety pins left over from one of my projects and armature wire from the hat I made (to see the oversized fur hat go to my 'Carpet Baggers' post).      I fitted the wire to my friends ear and I made sure it would sit properly, considering that the wire would become heavy with embellishments I didn't have to worry too much about it falling off. The next step was

preparing the embellishments before I super glued them on to the frame. You can see this better in the picture to the left, but the top is made of white safety pins, the middle of silver and the bottom of black pins. After I made this dégradé pattern, I put beads in the safety pins and closed them. And finally, I covered the back of the piece with torn up aluminum to give some extra shine.

So, this is just a taste of what I enjoy doing with styling. And I'll end this post with some more pictures in the style.

           

Well I hope you enjoyed this post and feel a little more daring! ;D

Photographic Diary of the Traveler

     

     Though I'm only 21 years old as of now, I have done much traveling in my life. With each experience, I became more enriched and accrued many photos. In this post, I'll be showing the latter along with some descriptions pertaining to the photos.

     Enjoy!

     Naples, Florida

     I took these photos in my early teenage years when I was visiting my grandparents out in Florida. Thankfully, my Dad let me borrow his Nikon D300 camera for the trip; after seeing all the nature and wildlife in their backyard, I knew there'd be some great photos to look at afterwards. 

    Cannes, France

   In high school, we had a week called 'Project Week.' This is when we got to choose from various trips to go on and make a presentation summarizing what we learned. At that time, I had no idea what to expect when I arrived in France. But when I did, I felt like I was in a totally different world. Thanks to the Nikon D300, I was able to capture some amazing photos and memories.

France
(Location names have been forgotten since)

Paris

   When my class and I arrived in Paris, the first thing we did was ride the subway. This took what seemed forever and many of us were asking our teacher, "are we there yet?" as if we were younglings going to Disneyland. However, our teacher had a surprise in store for us. Amidst our whines of anticipation, she kept quiet. 

   We walked up a set of stairs, probably the 7th set we had to go up. She said, "Alright guys we're almost there." We all groaned, but when we reached the top of the stairs we gasped. To our most pleasant surprise, the Eiffel Tower stood in the distance shining above all the other buildings. To be quite honest, I melted a little bit as the shock value made it one of my most memorable experiences ever in traveling. 

Arizona, United States

   I used to live out West in Montana (I'm saving the photos I took there for another post dedicated to my time there). Considering the immense miles of road in between towns, I was in the car an awful lot. As I traveled from town to town (and in the context of this picture, state to state), the bare land was hypnotizing. With absolutely no technology or sign of manmade structures, the mind has no choice but to focus on the universe. 

   Living in the city, I am surrounded by technology and mental stimulation. The human cognition can be overloaded in such a setting, but out in the middle of nowhere the mind is free to wander on it's own accord.

Seattle, Washington

   Much of my fashion has been influenced by grunge; the apathetic and near-aggressive form of self expression has an appeal to the part of me that loves watching UFC (mixed martial arts) and. 

   One of my most favorite bands, The Blood Brothers, originated here. Their music was considered Screamo, but their style and mix of consonance and dissonance completely made them unique. To my dismay, they separated long before my visit to Seattle. Yet the grey clouds above and rusted vintage architecture showed me the origin of the grunge attitude.

 

Wisconsin, United States

   About two years ago, I lived in the Loop in Downtown, Chicago. Back then, I was part of a collegiate community (a group of people comprised of teachers/education majors and college students who room with each other. The purpose of this group is to help each other succeed in academics). During our school break, we planned a camping trip in Wisconsin. As we told scary stories around the campfire, school was the last thing we thought about.

   Just like my travels out West, my mind was free to wander on it's own accord. It wasn't until I got back to Chicago that I totally forgot about an essay that was due in three days...woops!

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this post!