Decisions on April

New layout for the new project.  I feel it communicates my seriousness, for I am as serious as a dead fish (or many).
As for the new project....
I'm not sure why this was such a difficult decision, but here it is: 30 Days, 30 Post-Its.

This, by the way, as a way of kicking off the month of April, is the monster that assaulted me in my bathroom not 3 hours ago as I tried to wash my hands.  While I'm fairly certain he was whispering horrible things, he was not actually saying "30 Post-Its."  Creative license.

Oddly similar to March's project, you say.
Yeah, well, forget you.
No wait, come back.  I was just teasing.
It is similar--sounding, anyway. This project is entirely sketches and drawings however.  Everyday I draw something up on a Post-It (and this time I'll put my foot down and say ONLY ONE POST-IT).  This is my Taking It Easy project.  I promise come May I'll up the ante.  Though I figured if manage any additional creative endeavors this month, I could include them on here. 
Also I'm not a great artist.  You've been warned.
As far as the monthly research question is concerned, I have yet to think up a good question.  I suppose it's not crucial for it to begin promptly on the first of the month, so we'll just say whenever I do come up with a good one, I'll launch it then.
*I almost forgot to mention:  On the subject of Post-It note drawings, you should check out, if you haven't already the Don Kenn Gallery.  I love his stuff.  Kind of Edward Gorey-esque, but he's got a really neat style.

Linus.

Here it is, folks: the final project of my first 30 Day Experiment.

Ok.  Blogger has once again put this the wrong way.  Close enough.
So last night I had a dream about work (I work at a museum).  It was pretty boring aside from the beginning where there was this computer wired to a sink that kept spitting up colored water (first yellow, I think, then red and blue) because M&Ms had been tossed down the drain.  Naturally my museum in the dream was not the museum as it is in reality.  But for whatever reason that dream museum was crystal clear in my head.  Even after I woke up, I could see it perfectly--so I sketched it out real quick.  It was still so fresh in my head later on that I decided to draw it out a little more nicely.
Now that I look at it, I think my subconscious more or less stole the general layout/style of the big open space outside the new Americas Wing at the MFA.  Way to be original, subconscious.  Though my dream museum layout is a bit less practical I feel.  A for instance: why is the video screen not facing the seating area?  Another for instance: why is the front desk so far from the actual entrance and in the opposite direction of the actual galleries?  I do not know.  I just draw what I dream.
So.  This has been perhaps the longest month of my life.  And that's only in part because of this thing. 
I still haven't decided what I'm going to do for April.  I had settled on the itunes shuffle writing thing, but since I've been a little bit stressed of late I thought I'd go with something less demanding (writing everyday would be very demanding for me).  But now I can't settle on anything at all.  Nothing's really grabbing me.  Luckily I've got all tomorrow to figure it out.  Go, Brain!  Go!
And farewell, March!

Eve.

I guess I'm stuck on origami, but there are some nifty things you can make.
Behold my happy origami family!

This happy family consists of....

A monkey (whose face I sort of messed up).

A fox (easily my favorite--look at that face).

And a mouse (a little worse for the wear, but he's the scrappy one).
Only Linus left now.  WOW.

Michelle.

Michelle makes me think of the Olsen twins' character on Full House. 
Action shot!

See that blur?  Exactly.

Look at that baby.  Total stealth bomber.  And nothing whatsoever to do with the Tanner family.  Yeah.

Helena.

I may be a total shoe.
I was sitting here at my desk wondering, What should I do for my project today, and staring at my post-its and feeling somewhat minimalist.  So I think, What about something with dots?  Dots placed in an aesthetically pleasing arrangement--how bout that? 
So I'm playing with this idea when I think, Oh, what about braille?  Braille consists of dots.  And I'm thinking, Well I can't really make functional braille, but I could use its alphabet to make a poster.  But what to write?
So then I'm downloading and installing braille fonts on my sister's computer, looking through my old stories, cutting and pasting, shrinking and enlarging text, coloring this and that, when my sister asks, Is today Helen?
I say, Helena, yeah, and I'm wondering, That's weird that she knows that.  She must pay more attention to this project then I thought.  How touching considering she just had a baby.
And she says, Yeah, I figured that's why you were doing braille.
Oh dear me.  I never thought of that.  Or did I think of it subconsciously? 
But really and truly, this has nothing to do with Helen Keller.  Or it does, but I didn't mean it too.  Oops.

The first is a scan that really didn't turn out all that well and the second is (if you can't quite tell) a picture of the printed out poster.
The text consists of the first and last paragraphs of a short short I wrote with the spaces and punctuation taken out plus the title (The Kodiak) in red plus the words "a story by Kaitlin Bliss of Mass" because that happened to be enough characters to fill in the last line. 
I think it looks pretty neat.

Lucy.

This was a cooperative project today.  Peter and me.  Peter and I.  Peter person and me person.  Whatever.

Crazy crazy cranes flying around.  All crazy like. 
And yes, description-wise that's all I got today.

Jacques.

Like so many I have a love-hate relationship with money.  Mainly because I never have very much.
So here are a few things that could be/would be bought for me with lots of money (i.e. more money than I have).
And don't worry: none of this is real money.

First and foremost: my love and happiness.  That could most definitely be bought with more money.

This is a picture of nothing.  (Technically it's a picture of a wall.) This is my debt.  Or not having any more debt, hence the nothingness.  This is probably the first thing I would spend money on which I think is a very mature attitude to have.

A graduation cap = more education.  Despite the fact that I've already spent most of my life in school and that is in fact how I've accumulated most of my debt, if I had more money, I'd probably go back. 
I also considered burning some of this fake money (as a way of demonstrating the hate side of the relationship) but I thought inside an apartment that might not be the best idea.

Jacob.

Maybe I am dying after all.
As evidence I submit this diagram that accurately represents the proportions of various matter in my head.

Although my brain has the most mass, this pie chart clearly shows snot as coming in a close second. 
I find this most distressing.

Matthew.

The last time I saw my buddy Matthew we were discussing space things.
This is for you, Matt.
Though I will say that I'm not very satisfied with the photos.

I took the polaroids from Jonathan, drew the planets (you'll see I included Pluto--ooh controversy) on them, then pinned them to a cardboard box with a piece of an old hoodie duct taped to it.  For Matthew's sake as well as my own I looked up the size ratios of the planets using Jupiter as the base.  So there was an attempt to make the scale somewhat accurate, as accurate as one can be free-handing circles and using a ruler on one's phone.  I tried.  I think that's the important part.  I do admit that I did not try in the least to replicate to scale their relative distance from one another.  Fail on that part.  I just wanted their arrangement to look aesthetically pleasing.

Seth.

Turns out I'm not dying. 
Also turns out Mable creeped just about everyone out.  What can I say?  I was at the will of a woman who had just given birth to a 10 pound baby. 
Use a glove, she said. 
Who am I to argue?
Speaking of the aforementioned woman, I had to venture to CVS for some drugs for this lady which meant going to my least favorite place: Linden Plaza.  I get disgruntled every time I have to go there.  Hence today's project.

I don't have great cursive.  The letter reads: Dear Women of Wellesley, You  (read your actual body, your SUV, your expensive bag, and your nonfat latte) are in fact the worst.  Sincerely, K. Bliss.

The lovely women of Wellesley will be receiving an equally lovely hand-made envelope made using a stencil type thing my sister got in Japan and gave me.

Henry.

I think I may be dying. 
Death by snot.
At least I got to meet my nephew Max.

I have no idea what this is.  But it's paper.
Farewell.

Mable.

 

Peter here, filling in for Katie and Mable while they keep her recently un-pregnanted sister, and the aforementioned Maxwell company at the hospital for the night. I find this a little creepy, but maybe that stems from my chronic case of Hospital Discomfort (which I hear is a rather common affliction). Here it is, in the order I decided they should be posted in without any clues as to the intended sequence.

Enjoy...

Felix.

Sometime tomorrow (actually today now that it's after midnight) I should have a new nephew.  Congratulations to me!
Here's a paper bag I cut stars out of and put over a lamp.

Another idea that requires more work from you!

I had this idea for a 30 day project, but I quickly realized it wasn't something I could do everyday, and yet I still really liked it and didn't want to scrap it entirely, so I modified it slightly and came up with something to do once a month in addition to my 30 day project.
What am I going on about?
Well, let's go all the way back to the beginning: Bear vs. Shark (the book not the band).  I was reading this book about a form of American entertainment whereby a computer simulated bear and shark duke it out.  At one point in the book, the author (as himself more or less) mentions that he sent emails out to various people who would be informed on this topic (e.g. scientists, professors, etc.) about who they thought would win in a fight, a bear or a shark.  Apparently not that many people got back to him, but he went ahead and shared those responses.  This reminded me of two things: 1) a particular instance from when I was in high school and "writing a novel" about film critics at the New York Times and had something of a correspondence with A. O. Scott that pretty much consisted of me throwing lots of questions at him and him very politely answering them; and 2) how, in general, it always amazes me at what people will tell you if you ask, especially if you ask about something they really care about.
I enjoy doing this.  Asking people about things they care about.  It's fun to get people talking.  And so I thought, what if every month I have a question and I take the time over the course of the month to ask various relevant people what they think about it, maybe survey the average Joe about it, then compile everything I've discovered and present it to you all.  Obviously the questions can't be something too straightforward and google-able.  But I don't suppose they necessarily have to be subjective either.  The bear vs. shark one is good even if it is a bit silly.
So once again I ask you to give me suggestions.  What are some questions that you might want investigated?  I wish I had a list of examples to get you going....but I don't.  I haven't been able to come up with any yet.  Shoot me an email/message/post/whatever if you think of anything.

Jonathan.

Jonathan = Jonathan Safran Foer = Everything Is Illuminated = various mementos = photographs
And fair enough, they probably weren't using polaroids in WWII, but that's what I felt like making. 
I give you post its on paper colored black with a sharpie and then photographed on a white towel with the negative effect business on my phone.  Voila.

Just one pic today.  I think the fumes from the sharpie may have gone to my head a bit...

Nora.

Alright.  Confession: this project isn't exactly complete. 
Gasp!
I know I know.  I've got pictures, but what I really need is video.  Alas, it's after 11 and my nephew, who is in the room next to me, is asleep and would most certainly wake up if I were talking into my phone right by the wall, as it happens, that our rooms share.  So I'm making out an I.O.U. to everyone for one explanatory video.  I promise I shall add it soon.
So: Nora.  There is only one thing that should leap to mind for any cultured individual.  That's right.  Nora Charles of Nick and Nora Charles of The Thin Man series.  Classic classic cinema, folks.  But with all that screwball comedy, all those hijinks and martinis, who has time to keep up with the plot?  (Everyone, K. Bliss, actually since Nick very neatly lays it out at the dinner party.)  That's why I've made this lovely visual aid that would be oh so easy to follow with a handy video (coming soon I SWEAR.)

Each post it is a character (or a little drawing I made for some flare) and the string represents a relationship.  I was going to have different colored strings for different kinds of relationships (e.g. romance, family, employment, murder, etc.), but the only string I had (which isn't even mine, it's my sister's) was too thin to really differentiate from one another.  And then I thought about putting labels on the strings that explained the relationships, but they didn't stay up very well....
Oh the high hopes we have for ourselves that we fail to meet.  So that's where the video comes in.  Watch out for it.
In the meantime, enjoy Jonathan tomorrow.