I think I'm....Moving to New York!!!

A fortuitous sequence of events...

A few weeks ago, I emailed my costume design professor Linda Ross, to follow up with her about a conversation we had had earlier in the summer about my career interested. Linda offered to put me in touch with some of her friends in New York to see if they had any openings. I did not hear back from Linda for over two weeks, and figured that nothing had worked out, and she did not hear back from anyone.

I followed up with Linda, and she wrote back to me saying that she had been very busy and had not sent out any emails. Although this meant that it was still possible that there was a job or internship out there who needed someone (maybe like me?), I was discouraged that Linda had not yet reached out to anyone, because it pushed back the date I expected to hear any sort of reply, either positive or negative.

Meanwhile, I have been continually applying to all sorts of jobs, all over the country, but the most interesting positions seem like the ones that are the most hidden away, and the ones you need connections to find...I was feeling discouraged, and anxious that the summer was passing so quickly.

The same day that I followed up with Linda, Linda wrote to her friends and colleagues. That same day, I got an email from Amela Baksic, who told me that they needed a costume intern for a movie being filmed in New York called Gods Behaving Badly.

So, I look up the film, never having heard of it (of course, it is still in pre-production). I was thinking it would be some sort of small-time film. And then, I recognized some names, and then some more names, and then I looked up Amela's work, and then...

I spoke with the Wardrobe Supervisor today (via my housemate's phone). She told me that they would love for me to come on board, anytime after August 10th! It is unpaid, but it is only about a 6 week commitment, and apparently all of their interns left with a paid position to go to next. I might live with the Kreiters during the internship...we're discussing.

In any case, what an incredible opportunity!! The lesson: always follow up with people, and don't get discouraged, because a lot can happen overnight. I have absolutely no idea if this is something that I want to pursue as a career or even something that I will really like doing. However, the point is is that it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, especially to work with such first rate actors and designers. I am very excited, and I am sorry I can't call anyone (see previous post, phone dead) but just wanted to let you all know!

So, as of now, it looks like I'm moving to New York in about a month!

NO PHONE!

Hi all,
My phone has passed on. I am hoping to have a new one by Wednesday, but until then please email! My phone is very old and has done lots of good work. So, I guess I'll let it rest. I'll let you know when I get a new one!

Cambridge Flavor

Just a photo I took a few days ago when we got dinner with Elizabeth and James at Border Cafe...

Everyone was stopping to look and was taking photos of this car covered in action figures. It got me thinking...what a great advertisement it could be! Automatically attracts people without being annoying but rather just being creative and interesting.

I didn't notice it until I looked at the photos later...but check out the license plate in the second picture bottom left corner.

Let's see, quick update: Evan just arrived from Tennessee a few nights ago. Woo! So glad to have friends moving back. Work is going ok. I am pretty sure that YouthBEAT is NOT what I want to be doing come September, so I am working hard on finding new opportunities. The resume and cover letter writing never ends...Looking forward to seeing a free movie on the Esplanade with Sharon, Evan, James, Elizabeth, and Amaro tomorrow evening! I think we're going to bring a dinner picnic for the showing of 'Despicable Me.' Have you seen it? Watched Harry Potter on Tuesday. The end of Harry Potter marks the end of childhood for a lot of people in my age group, it seems. People have been talking about it a lot, and how we grew up with Harry Potter, and how Harry Potter was about our age in the first book when it all started. People are already talking about looking forward to reading the books again with their children. It's pretty incredible the impact it has had on both fantasy fiction as a genre and excitement about books in general in the past decade. Realllly tired at work today, there has been a bunch of construction at my house (more on the saga of this later). Apparently a construction worker also sliced through my AC unit, completely destroying it...so I have to go talk to the company. The real world is hard! But I guess not having AC is a first world problem :p. Hope you have a good rest of the afternoon. Love, Makiko

Portfolio

Hi everyone!

So, I have been working on a portfolio on and off for about six months. I seem to not be able to decide for sure if I am really going to need one or not, for grad school / job applications and such, but I guess at the end of the day, it can't hurt to have one. Besides, a lot of my work is fragile and won't last forever...better photo-document it while it lasts! I wish I could be cool and carry around a huge black portfolio briefcase thing. Then I could really pretend that I'm a legitimate artist-type. Like playing dress up, but in real life. Too bad that particular dress up won't happen, because all they want is a link, a simple little link, not some monstrous thing that is going to knock their Starbucks off the table.

If you are at all interested in checking out my online portfolio at Coroflot, click here. It's a work in progress, and that's not (necessarily) an excuse, just letting you know that it is actually progressing!

First Week!

An update on my first week of "Five Week" with YouthBEAT research at Berklee...before the next one starts!

This first week has been much better than expected. Although there is the usual down-time, and I actually have had to do some transcription, it has been much less terrible than before. I am assigned three classes to observe: Musicianship, Theory, and a New Orleans-style jazz ensemble. For each of these classes, I sit in a corner, try to be relatively invisible and furiously take notes on just about anything. It has been challenging because we have been given relatively little direction on exactly what we are supposed to take notes on, and we also don't exactly know how our notes are going to be used in the research project as a whole. I get that it has to be somewhat "scientific" (aka dry, fact-based), but I feel like sometimes the best way to describe things are with metaphors and similes. Think about it: how exactly would you describe the way a tall, gangly drummer boy moves while he drums?

Well, I decided to take a slight chance, and turn in observation notes that had some colorful metaphors. Imagine comparisons between teenage boys and various types of squiggly sea creatures, especially an particularly dextrous octopus. I knew that if it was at all inappropriate / not scientific enough, I could always edit the notes and resubmit them. Besides, I was sure to back up all of my "claims" with "evidence," so I was hoping for the best. A few days later, I get an email from my principle investigator. And lo and behold, just when I thought I was going to get scolded for sure....

Re: your write-up of Russell ensemble

Thu, Jul 14, 2011 at 1:34 PM

Hi Makiko,
Your write-up of Russell's ensemble class was a scream to read! I love that you captured so much of George's humor in this report! Really really strong detailed notes. I felt as though I were there in the ensemble as I read your notes.
Great work, Makiko! Hope you are enjoying your work this summer!
Kate

In any case, I guess that there can be an art to science. Who knows, maybe a metaphor that aptly describes a situation in a way that no single SAT word can will have more of a chance of finding its way into a paper that Dr. Camara will write and publish. One can only hope that someday, when reading about the benefits of music education, amidst a sea of psych-paper babble you will come across something that says "and he played the drums like a squirming squid...." Yes, one can only hope.

So, the observations are going well. They are very tiring, because you can't ever stop being fully engaged. What? The student over in the corner is texting! Oh, now the girl in front of me is talking to her neighbor who is half asleep. Crap, now the teacher has gone on to a new subject. Everything is supposed to get written down, especially the nonverbal / body language behavior that happens amongst students.

I really like going downtown for work. I like commuting with people. It's like the great commuter migration ritual. Every morning, every afternoon, the same sounds, the same woosh of trains, the same half-asleep bodies with mismatched socks walking onto the platforms. It's like a migration because it's not as if people are really actively choosing to commute every day, it just sort of happens, because it is supposed to. Birds get cold, they fly somewhere else. People get a job, they commute. Maybe there is a similarity, maybe there isn't. In any case, I like to watch it happen.

I usually make a smoothie in the morning, and also usually have no time to drink it, so I pour it into a red plastic cup, the kind you see at college parties. They must have been left over in this house from last semester. I take it along with a neon straw to drink on the train. Classy. Oh well, maybe I'll buy myself a thermos when the cups run out. Or wake up earlier. Then I'll be a real grown-up.

Suneri Work

A lot has happened with my work in the past few weeks. I have started a second job at Suneri, doing blogging, photography, online e-commerce listings, and general marketing implemetation help with them. I work full days Mondays and evenings on Wed and Thurs, or a few hours on the weekend. It is nice that it is a small business, so I get a good amount of creative freedom that I probably would not be given if, say, I worked for the Gap. The photographs below are some snapshots that I took of a few pieces that arrived in the store last week. Such a beautiful conglomeration of urban / industrial pieces, such as rubber, pewter, and glass, put together to make a unique piece of wearable art. All of them are by Anne Marie Chagnon.

A bit of what I have written about the artist for Suneri: From chunky bracelets to industrial-modern neck pieces, all pieces are created with a mixed-media approach allows the artist to "shape materials instinctively while achieving a playful harmony of form." Anne Marie Chagnon is a graduate of visual arts from the University of Quebec in Montreal, and started her own company in 1995. She is known for wearable works of art that "playfully push boundaries and showcase familiar materials in an all new way." In 2003, she partnered with Cirque du Soleil to create a special collection for their Dralion show, and has created an exclusive collection for Cirque du Soleil every year since. She favors raw materials in unconventional combinations, including materials such as pewter, wood, resin, gold, and glass.

Today is the my first day of classes at Berklee....more on that later!

Cape Cod

I have been lucky enough to get to the Cape the past two weekends! Here is a photo journal of the essence of Cape Cod.

How does one photograph essence?

Fourth of July

I spent my Fourth of July weekend on the Cape. The Fourth of July parade in Chatham, above and below.

On the evening of the fourth, I traveled back to Boston by bus. I saw many fireworks while on the bus, and also made it back to Boston in time to see the Boston fireworks over the Charles with Amaro! We had no plan, but just drove straight from South Station where I got off the bus towards the river. We ended up finding easy parking and just walked towards the crowds. Although we were not close to where the pops were playing, we were out with the crowd and I was able to see the Boston fireworks for the first time! They had such interesting colors!

happy friday, happy july, happy three day weekend

It's Friday! I'm looking forward to a lovely break on the Cape this weekend. Looking forward to seeing family and relaxing :).

Some final pictures from last weekend's trip to D.C....

Monuments at sunset...

A simple, beautiful red velvet cupcake from Sprinkles in Georgetown. Not the absolute best I've had (still reserved for Sweet, in Cambridge) but still delicious! I know it looks brown in the photo but really, it is a deep red. I'd like to try to make red velvet sometime from scratch- apparently there is a chemical reaction that is supposed to happen in the batter that makes it that color?!

Amaro and I left D.C. just in time to hit New York traffic...so we decided to pull over and rest a little instead of sitting on the highway. We stopped at this cute french bistro in Rye, New York. We had no idea...just got off the exit and there was this adorable little town! Isn't it the best when that happens?