On a more art related note I went to the beach. My cousin, who complained last time we went that we went to the beach but never went on the beach, finally got his wish. He also collected too many crab 'shells' along the way. They're still in the car.
My highlight would have to be going to see Ripley's Believe it or Not in Newport. I love it and wished I could have seen the Wax Works, as well. However, we were pressed for time and money. So yeah.
Okay, so maybe this blog update isn't so artsy related.
But what can you do when everything is breaking?
Including your computer which takes 10 minutes to load when you fire it up?
AFTER WASTING AWAY MUCH OF MY 3 DAY WEEKEND ON AIRPLANES I'M PLEASED TO SAY I HAVE COME BACK ALIVE!!!
This three day weekend I went to visiting MCAD (Minneapolis college of art and design) and SCAD (Savannah college of art and design).
I first went to MCAD and, to be frank, wasn't very pleased about the location. I felt depressed there, actually. Even though my best friend attends that college it was just so cold but deceptively beautiful. (It was seriously clear with sun but really COLD!) But what really made me depressed was the fact I felt trapped. I didn't feel comfortable wandering anywhere outside the college campus. One street might be student friendly and the next you could be mugged, raped, and killed. (IDK BUT THERE WERE REALLY SHADY STREETS) And one thing that really bothered me were the dorms. Sure, they were the LARGEST dorms you would probably ever have. The unfurnished cheapest ones, where my friend was staying, had big living room, two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen. The problem was it was SO RUN DOWN. I might have my room in shambles but there's a difference between messy and simply run down. The bathroom was the worst. I have this thing where a bathroom must be clean. Okay, not to the point where there can't be a toilet ring or gunk in the sink or some soap scum. I tolerate those. However, this was awful! The floor's grout was disgusting and the corners had mini filth mounds and, worst of all, the shower was chipped, stained, and dirty. Apparently it was found like that but... seriously... it was just... I couldn't relax in the bathroom. I guess that's what happens when you pay only 3k ish for the year. According to my aunt there are worse apartments but... a motel looked better. One of those skanky ones too.
As for the actual facility it was nice and clean. There were nice rooms and it looked modern, aside from the staff building. However, that building was older.
But it was a small campus. I felt trapped in a small enclosure and it really bothered me.
Breaking it down... I suppose: Cons:
Disgusting bathroom
Small campus
shady streets
trapped
cold cold cold cold :C
Pros:
National accreditation
All but 7k of my tuition paid
Offers animation/ illustration/ comic making (I'm interested in all of those)
Cheap dorm fees
My best friend attends that school
Mall of America is apparently 10 minutes away from the campus
Then there was SCAD. Oh my goodness, I now understand why who I talked to praised it. Mrs. McBride likes it, my relative said she really wanted to go there and now I want to! At first I was a bit shifty because the campus is spread out around the historical district of Savannah. I wondered "How am I going to get around?" and etc. I guess they have student and staff only transportation to different campus'. So that's so cool! Not to mention they offer a lot of programs. Their animation studio is considerably larger then MCAD, but MCAD has a 800 max students as opposed to 9,000+ at Savannah. They also had the screens you draw directly on! I SO WANTED TO USE THOSE! aslkjfklasjklfjlkasjdfklasjdflksdjkfj But, I guess on the downside, the stop motion room is quite small. MCAD has a considerably larger stop motion studio. Also, I guess you're not required to buy a computer, unlike MCAD, because you can just use SCAD's. But meh... I do homework in my room. Not some lounge or library. Not to mention I don't know if I could always use a computer in their animation/ game design building even though it's open 24/7. But... alksjdfksakdjdf I can't begin to say how much more I like SCAD. I don't feel like I'll get mugged, except on the outskirts of the area, and there are parks and stuff and I just don't feel trapped.
So... breaking it down: cons:
NOT nationally accredited :C They have some other thing and... I'm not sure how not being nationally accredited will affect me.
3 quarters (does not go by semester) Therefore 3 FINAL EXAMS.
gnats
sometimes areas of the city smell like pee but I think that's because of the horse drawn carriage tours... (that's logical right?)
smaller stop motion room
I have no clue how much I'll have to pay because my FAFSA doesn't come until the last week in APRIL D: WHEN MY TUITION IS DUE MAY 1st!!! (but my scholarships were 2k short a year, I think, in comparison to MCAD) (I'm a bit iffy about one because it said 8k but I don't know if it's per year or for all 4 years...)
Pros:
Nicer dorms (but in the 6k- 7k range a year, but that includes a meal plan)
Not trapped
Larger facilities
4 story library... it totally pwnzed MCAD's by over 9,000
I won't freeze (/no more stocking cap/ scarf/ hoodie?)
Draw on monitor tablet *__*
Offers animation (one promised pixar internship but it is a competition), comic art, illustration, game design (works with EA games)
A lot of DA artists I admire go there
Water parks? Pools? yes, yes there are.
So yeah. Anyway. That's what I have to say about this. Please give me feedback and/or if you plan on going to one so I'll know more of my fellow artists are congregating in these locations.
So I watched How to Train Your Dragon, this weekend.
In fact, I saw it two times.
One in 2-d and another in 3-d. Not that it was so fantastic I had to see it two times in a row or anything... I kind of saw it with the family and then, low and behold, my boyfriend's family decided to watch it when I came over. It was cute. But that's what I call a lot of kid movies these days. Kids movies are either terrible or cute to me.
However, there was some like-able qualities. Mainly, the character design. There's nothing like 'not ideal characters' being the focus in this movie. I mean, the vikings are pretty meaty, even the women. I kind of liked that, for a change. I can't remember the last kids movie I saw where the majority of characters were meaty. There was even a peg leg. And, for once, the main character didn't do something amazing and walk out with dirt on his face. He walked away with a peg leg... when he should have been dead... but I accept the peg leg over a dirty face.
