SHOE REVIEW: La Sportiva Katana (VS)

Katana* (VS, size 42) by La Sportiva

*old version/design

Killian Fischhuber, world renown bouldering powerhouse, still competes with these guys for a reason (I'm guessing that he likes them).

Two Velcro straps, two Velcro circles, and the character for "Katana" in Japanese mark this shoe branding it with the responsibility for precision, deadly accuracy, and power of the katana.

I've had these sweet mature puppies for over a year. They got me through the dark ages of poor footwork. The features an asymmetrical toe that really helps out with concentrating those little toesies into a point. It has enough toe rubber for toe-hooking when needed. The toe box isn't too advanced, which is likely related to the fact that it isn't particularly aggressive (even though it's named after a sword! HA I JEST). I find this to be a plus. When toe-hooking in an aggressive shoe, that toe joint curling into the safe welcoming home of the toe box is above the rest of the foot, which leads to terrible pressure on a red-point on your toe joint. With the Katana, this toe-issue (a tissue) is not an issue (not a tissue). You are able to toe-hook with ease.

Sizing (the wide-footed-man's shoe)

It's wide. It's comfortable. But it leaves too much dead space for my slender high profile feet. Furthermore, its not very aggressive. High-grade boulder problems could result in many foot-caused falls with these guys. Wide low profile feet rejoice! You have a shoe that can do virtually any style of climbing with have to be squeezed into a tube of misfortune.

You can crack, sport, trad, and boulder with these hombres.

So get to it!

Rating (scale of 1 to 5):

Bouldering - 4.5

Sport Climbing - 4.5

Crack - 4
Comfort - 5

Til next time!
Kevin

The Hardships of a Graduate Student

Dear Interneters,

I have clearly abandoned my post on the blog for an extended period of time. I have missed the blogging world: the thrills, the chills, the water-on-my-keyboard spills. All of it.

But,

I have returned. I have been busy with my graduate program, my job at the wonderful gym that is Earth Treks, and my second job at the American University Counseling Center (got that sexy secretary vibe going for me... or so my girlfriend says).

BACK TO CLIMBING,

When I do have time to climb, I've been regularly hitting up some sick bouldering climbs. The Earth Treks Setter Showdown (post in the works) was a rockin good time filled with unique and creative climbs that provided me with a ton of amusement... and pain! The climbs are awesome, and putting my Muiras (that's right they are still working after 3 years!), and Futuras (Mmmm *drool) to good use.

I have been training at home with my Blank Slate trainer (review in the works), and my lulu lemon yoga mat.

Anyway,

that's where I've been,

I hope to post more soon!

Thanks,
Kevin

Rethink: Reggie

On Wednesday my Cultured Body class discussed the "invisibility of the poor" and today I experienced that full force and I really wanted to share what happened with you.

I was sitting outside of a Starbucks in DC when an older man approached me. He was slightly hunched over and very tentative when he extended his cup to me. All he asked for was the change from my coffee. As I don't carry cash I was unable to give him anything and he said that was alright and wished me a good day. I watched him walk up to the next woman who quickly started to busy herself with her toddler and then mumbled that she didn't have anything and quickly averted her eyes, flicking them up a few times to see if he was still there, as if she was embarrassed of her own response. Then he moved to the next woman, who happened to be on the phone. Without so much as even looking up she puts her finger in her open ear as if his gentle asking was as annoying as buses going by. I was immediately appalled at her audacity. To be someone with so much privilege and apparent financial stability, and still unwilling to assist others. And then I got that horrible feeling when you realize you've done something incredibly hypocritical. 

How dare I judge her, when I could have given and I did nothing? While I don't carry cash I do have resources: phone apps connected to my banking, a credit card. After catching up to the older man I told him that while I don't have cash I would be happy to buy him lunch if he wanted to go to Panera or one of the shops. He chose Subway and on the way I learned that his name was Reggie and that he was supporting his sister and daughter. His daughter is a full time student and he's very proud of her, all of the money he makes at his job on the Metro goes toward her school and he goes out to try to "pull" for his sister who's at home. He was extremely polite and careful with my safety as we crossed the road (he made sure a right turning car wasn't going to hit me). When we got to Subway Reggie ordered the cheapest thing he could and asked if it was alright order a cookie along with his sandwich. He hugged me quickly after lunch and thanked me, which really gave me something to think about: why is giving to those who are struggling such a big deal? Why isn't that the normal thing. 

Reggie didn't coerce me, guilt me, or anyway try to convince me to help him. He wasn't rude, he didn't abuse the help I was offering, and he definitely didn't take it for granted. People have so many little excuses for why they don't extend a helping hand, and that's not considered wrong. It's normal. This whole experience just really made me question why not helping is normal and accepted, and why helping makes someone a hero. Helping someone in need is an act of empathy, it's a human characteristic, why is acting like a human in specific cases such an amazing act?

Review: Kubler

I really appreciated Kubler's "The Shape of Time". I thought he went in to a lot of very interesting points, the first being his review of genius. It was really interesting to learn that adopted children of musicians and artists held a lot of their adoptive parents qualities. (Meaning that genius originated from nature, not nurture). I thought that was very interesting because my thought has always been that people were born genius, which is why they can be "discovered" later in life even if they don't get the training their talent requires at a young age (which Kubler briefly touches on). I wish he would have draw more of a line between genius and prodigy, because I think that it is possible that when Kubler says genius I see prodigy, which leads to confusion.

I loved his opinion on artists sharing techniques and methods. "The formal sequence thus might find its realization in several crafts simultaneously" (Kubler 1962, 44). I loved this because it reminded me of something that we discuss frequently in anthropology: the culture is borrowed and shared. This is how it is possible to have "romantics born in periods requiring classic measure" (Kubler 1962, 45). It's not that the artists were 'born at the wrong time', but actually that they were inspired from an third style from an earlier time, and this inspiration pushed the classical period into what we know as the romantic period. Artists borrow forms and styles from each other, which allows art as a study to grown and change.

I believe that this is why many artists collaborated and wanted feedback from other predominate artists of the time. Many artists value their peers and want to see how their work is received by other people in their field. However it's possible that some of the "rebels" that Kubler talks about used collaboration for a different reason (Kubler 1962, 47). If one wanted to break from the norm, they first have to identify what the norm is. By doing this they can create something new a different.

I disagree with one of Kubler's final points. He says, almost in passing, that "today the artist is neither a rebel nor an entertainer" (Kubler 1962, 47). I think this is wrong in two cases. Firstly, in the 1960s Salvador Dali was still alive and painting until the 1980s. Perhaps he wasn't new in the '60s, but he was still a predominant and influential painter, producing amazing a rebellious works. The second thing that I didn't like about this phrase was it's implication that art is would not be a rebellious force in the future. It's extremely true in today's world that art continues to be an extremely rebellious force. From the art of defacing other's art, to feminist art, to spray painted murals. There's are things that are breaking from the status quo and drawing attention from people around the world. Art, by it's nature is rebellious, and will always be entertaining.

Mid-Semester Review & Three Possible Artists

Review:

So far I am really enjoying class this semester. Art is something I did when I was younger, and then like so many adolescents, I put it on a shelf assuming I would come back to it. But as life progressed and I entered college it just wasn’t really an option. I knew I had to take an ART or TFMS requirement, so I always thought I would. But I pushed it off semester after semester. Art didn’t fit into my demanding two major and minor schedules, so I kind of ignored it. And now, in my senior year, I realized I had never taken my Art requirement, so I signed up for this class for both the requirement and a lower level requirement for my minor. I didn’t think this class would be something I enjoyed so much, but I really do.

I think my favorite part of this class is the variety of projects, as well as the fluidity within each project in terms of possibilities. We get to do so many different types of projects from advertisement redesigns to animations on the computer! And when we are working on these projects we can employ any type of technique or medium we want. I really like doing collage work, so I think that on Project 2 (comic) I’m going to use collage to build my characters. This way I don’t have to worry about my characters slowly changes shape by the end of the comic!

There really isn't a change I would like to make to the semester or the second half of it. I really like how we have a variety of things happening in class time: lecture, group work, games, and individual project work. It keeps class interesting and makes me want to go! The one part of the class that I'm struggling with is finding the time to go to the artist talks, because they are similar times and I have an obligation on Wednesday afternoons. However I wouldn't want this to change because I think it will be really fun and interesting to attend. 

Artists:

1. Claude Monet: He's famous for his amazing impressionist pieces, usually using landscapes as a subject. I have one of his paintings hanging in my room (The Water Lily Pond) and I would really like to learn more about the artist behind. In addition, because of his focus on landscapes and natural settings I would be able to stay close to my minor (Environmental Studies) and fulfill that requirement.

2. Vincent Van Gogh: Of course Van Gogh is extremely well known, but I have always loved his work, before I even knew its significance. I would really like to learn more about him, not just as an artist, but also as a man who went through so much tragedy in his life and still produced such beautiful work.

3. The Nature Artists: This is a group of conservationalist artists, who work to make political statements about the environment through their works of art. I'm not sure if this is even a possibility because it is a group of artists as opposed to just one, but I'm keeping it in the back of my mind!

Review: Scott McCloud & My Project 2 Storyboard

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud

I really liked how this article illustrated the length of time that can be found in a single comic strip box. In my project I probably won't be able to utilize this method because my project only has one action to follow in each scene. Having other things going on in the scenes (in my case) would be a large distraction, rather than adding to the story.

Something that I definitely think I will be incorporating will be the silent captions. They will be a perfect way to tell my story. I was initially planning on having no words or dialogue in the entire project because I think it would really challenge me creatively to produce images and a storyline that spoke for itself. However having a few silent captions will definitely help bridge the gap between myself and the reader of the comic in places where my artistic ability or the story fall short.

Lastly I focused on the section about movement and movement lines. I like the idea of movement lines and maybe I can use them to display wind or other natural occurrences, but I don't think that my project really warrants a lot of character movement, so I'm not entirely sure how I will apply them.

Overall I think this was a really helpful article/comic to read going into Project 2 and I think it gave me a lot of insight into parts of comics that I would normally overlook. For example I know that many times comic writers will drop the box and let the characters frame the "shot" on their own, but I never thought of this as an actual method to employ when creating my own comic.

My Project 2 Storyboard

I don't have a lot of solid thoughts yet for this project and I have no idea how to make a storyboard, so this is mostly brainstorming. I know that I want this project to focus on the environment, because I am taking this class for my ENST requirement. I was inspired by a Pinterest post about how to grow an avocado tree from a avocado seed:

I really want to incorporate this journey through time (as a seed grows) in my project. My current plan and what I am working on is creating a little character who, as a child, find an avocado seed and helps it take root, and then the two grow up together. I know that my project will definitely be a comic as a flip book wouldn't be able to capture this story the way that I want it to.

The first few slides will be the little girl first finding the avocado seed or receiving it as a gift. I think that having her receive it as a gift will allow for the ending to create a "back to the beginning" feel of my whole project.

After receiving the gift she places in it water until the seed begins to sprout, at which point she plants it and waits for it to grow. This portion should only take 7-10 comic blocks.

                    

The next 5 comic blocks will just be the timeline of the little girl and the seed growing up together, eventually leading to the little girl's harvesting of the avocado tree's fruit. After this happens the little girl (now an adult) will gift an avocado onto the next generation of growers. Hopefully this gifting will create a "back to the beginning" feel for my project.