Check out Crystal’s first article, Stepping Into the Future: Le Nouveau “Whitney”  for OUT OF ORDER Magazine!

Part B: Local Colour Painting

Three paintings in two days, these also are of my studio and also had a set of rules. To give us some colour to work with we put up sheets of paper on the walls.. I’ll have to find some more nice pictures to replace the ones I took down. They feel so February.

Anyway, Local Colour – this just means the basic colour of something as it is when it’s not effected by light. For example, I am wearing a red shirt, so if I was going to paint it I would paint a red shape with no tonal modelling, no shadows, nothing. Nil. Zip. Trust me, it’s harder than it sounds. Also got to remember to start in the middle with smaller shapes, use large brushes for large marks, finish each one the day it was started and don’t plan it out.

Needless to say, I found myself starting with big shapes at the edges, sneakily mapping composition, editing out small objects and, clever, clever Tia, I started two paintings at once but didn’t like either so I finished them after the weekend…       No one knows.

I don’t like these ones very much at all, but it is just an exercise, so it’s not really intended to look good.

My Lilac Space

Is that lilac? I know it’s a cool purple and I know what I would use to mix it but I still suck at colour names. Like mauve. Whatisthat?

The Golden Glow

My Neighbour Out to Lunch

This assignment is driving me crazy! It will feel revolutionary to get to choose what I paint again. Was going to limit my art supplies on holiday to one of these, which I’ll buy up in Auckland. Now I want to take everything I have so I can have some fun with my spare time!

Although the fabric of their landscapes is far apart, from Rash’s rural Appalachian Mountains to Mina’s gritty, mean streets of suburban Glasgow, they are connected by a strong sense of history.

According to Mina, Scottish people are obsessed by history; it’s a part of being poor. Rash’s Southerners are poor too,  less mobile than other Americans with roots running deep into the history of the place they live in, where something as long ago as the Civil War can be very near.

Both writers distiguished between local colour and regional writing. Local colour is concerned with what makes an area different, while regional writing is universal, looking out from the inside. We tend to think of things being neutral if they are set in New York or London, but that is exactly what they’re not. It’s not true that New York is never regional and that London doesn’t have an accent.

When I thought about books with a strong sense of place the first that came to mind was Winter’s Bone, set in the Ozarks and written by Daniel Woodrell, who happens to be a friend of Ron Rash’s. Woodrell’s Ozarks are a long way from suburban Christchurch and Ree Dolly may be moving through a very particular landscape, but what keeps her searching is universal – love for her family.

What books would you recommend for their strong sense of place?

Check out Ethik Clothing Co.

!

Taylor Shockley, a 22 year-old FSU student & upcoming DJ, drove home to Sarasota, FL this last Spring Break and, of course, booked a gig right off the bat. Oddyssea stopped by the Cock & Bull to talk with the jockey about his life, his set, and his passion:

Q: When did you start DJing?

A: November of 2010.

Q: Do you make your own beats and what kind of equipment do you use?

A: I don’t make my own music yet but Ableton when I’m trying. I use CDJ’s, Pioneer, anything above 800s, & Serato.

Q: Who are some of your influences?

A: Gesaffelstein, Brodinski, and my cousin Seth Cohen.

Q: What’s the music scene like at fsu?

A: In the past two years there’s been 50 world famous DJs coming through just because there’s so many kids from south Florida in Tallahassee, so I definitely think it’s one of the top three spots in the state where there’s a large EDM scene.

Q: How is it compared to a big city; is there usually a big turn out at your shows?

A: There is a big turn out but there are so many people trying to push for EDM in Tally that the market has become a bit saturated. Everyone’s trying to dj, which has kind of flooded the market but when it’s a good event and it’s put on right, it’s a lot of fun.

Q: What’s the most popular electronic subgenre in Tally?

A: I would say Dutch house and progressive house.

Q: What subgenre do you see yourself playing the most?

A: Tech house, deep house, and later on I’ll play progressive house, electro, and techno…and if the crowd wants it I’ll play some dubstep.

Q: What artists or specific song makes kids go crazy?

A: Artists like Aviici, Tiesto, Calvin Harris, and all the other artists with the catchy tunes. I like getting a response from people when I play shit they’ve never heard before or not very familiar with; I appreciate that.

Q: So, does the crowd respond to the newest stuff or do they really just seem to love the big names?

A: It depends on the people throwing the event and the venue that it’s at. There’s the more mainstream crowd, the kids that got into it more recently who like the cheesier stuff, i.e.: big room shit and Dutch house. Then there are the kids that know and like the obscurity of tracks and search deeper. That’s why there is a need for djs who don’t just push a button to play whatever is prerecorded on their laptops.

Q: Does your set depend on the crowd, as in, do you feed off of the crowd’s energy and that really decides what you’re going to play next?

A: It depends, I like to stay true to what I’m trying to push, but at the same time I consciously make sure that I’m playing a set that’s cohesive enough for the crowd to relate to. You always have to read the crowd but there’s a certain line you have to draw as well to stay in touch with what you’re initially going for.

Q: What’s your favorite venue or where do some of your favorite artist usually play at?

A: 2020 Nightclub is a good one, Coliseum is huge nightclub, which is the old Chubby’s– they’ve got a pretty huge stage. Excision and Liquid Stranger just came there with Lucky Date and a few others. As far as weekly events: The Warehouse, Potbelly’s, and Paradigm.

Q: What other artists do you collaborate with?

A: My buddy Mark Starr, Team Jaguar, Ryan Killinger (DJ RBK) ,DJ Crespo, The American, and Bleek n’ Coy to name a few.

Q: When/if you create your own music what type will it be?

A: Deep electro, techno, and ghetto tech (peek at Dirty Bird Record Label for reference).

To hear more from Taylor Shockley check out his soundcloud

Photo by: Michael O’Hara

Did I not press hard enough for submissions? Or give enough incentive? Was there some sort of magical formula that I could have used to garner writing from around the ether?

I grant that, on my part, there’s more than enough to preoccupy; I have to work out how not to get evicted from my humble abode, find work, and at least print a rough Issue Zero. I’ve also been recovering from a horrific brace of events, including two frustrating yard sale Saturdays, getting hit by a car (bruises and scrapes, but still traumatic), days in bed with a cold, and marking the third anniversary of my mom’s death day.

Still, I was hoping for some response beyond likes and vague happy noises. So imagine, if you please, my utter disappointment and frustration at the lack of enthusiasm–nothing, zip, zilch, nada, zero!

Now if I have to, I will go Little Red Hen and publish this as a chapzine. But I would have liked to read microwriting from other folks.

Time to regroup, I suppose. But I do mean to get Microlandia! off the ground, with or without other contributors.

So if anyone’s listening, and wants to leave their mark, stay tuned for a new deadline. But if this one falls on dear ears and numb hands, well, I’ll push on, all the same.

Details on a birthday cake.

As is fairly well established, I’m a fan of covering things fairly thoroughly. And before I get on to my absolutely wonderful trip, I wanted to cover a few activities that took place before I jetted east. The first event was a little Ukrainian class excursion, at the hands of Svitlana, our generous and dedicated teacher. Our class being only four people, we gathered on campus and headed out to where Svitlana lives, incidentally very near my grandmother’s house.

Sarah playing with Nastya's camera. Not going to lie, it's pretty fun. Apparently, Nastya is Ana in real life, but I only know her in Ukrainian. Similarly, I am exclusively Anya.

From Svitlana’s, we headed out, first to Hamtramck (pronounced ham-tram-muck), a Polish/Ukrainian neighborhood and home to the oldest of the city’s Ukrainian Catholic churches, Immaculate Conception, founded in 1913 in a much simpler building. The current building dates to 1942, when its groundwork was laid, although considerable work has been done in the time that’s since elapsed, as we were explained by their rather adorable Brazil-born priest, in Ukrainian. While I would normally draw a relatively hard line on (not) photographing churches from the inside (a more recent pattern, so there are many exceptions), they really encouraged me to take a picture of the nice iconostasis, so I obliged.

Left: the church from outside; right: the inside.

From there, we headed across the street to a small Ukrainian-American museum, which houses a small exhibit and archives of the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus on the first floor, and archives of various Ukrainian language newspapers and other assorted things above. We were shown around by the curator of the UBC, and then by the main person who works in the archives.

Clockwise: The outside of the Ukrainian-American museum, some framed embroidery, a view onto some of the archives, and the past costumes of the UBC.

From Hamtramck, we headed a bit north to Warren, another suburb with a large Ukrainian population. Within a block or two, you can find two banks, a cultural center, and a church, as well as a number of small shops, doctors’ offices, and the like.

While not an inspiring picture, you can clearly see the Ukrainian flag, a sign for the church, as well as one bank (the building with the gold-colored front).

Svitlana explained the general upward trajectory for Ukrainian immigrants: Hamtramck upon arrival, then an upward move to Warren, before ending up on the other, often wealthier, side of the city suburbs. She was glad to have started in Warren.

The class, in reflection. Sarah with her back turned, me with the camera, Nastya behind me to the right, Becca with the red hat.

From there, we returned to Svitlana’s house, for hearty Ukrainian meal. Wonderful all around.

Mmm, varenyky. And borscht. And hrechka, if you look hard enough.

A wonderful evening all around. February also marked a number of birthday celebrations, and I contributed with a couple cakes. First was Jacki’s birthday, although I did no baking for that one. Limited only to an extremely pleasant dinner among friends, we chatted until much later in the evening than I had ever intended on staying. Jacki got a fancy drink out of a coconut. Next up was an evening for Jessica, a friend in the Slavic department who studies this Ukrainian women’s performing group in Kyiv (if I remember correctly; I swear, Ukraine is following me around). Since I was already signed up for some serious cake baking that day, I contributed some chocolate espresso cupcakes with Bailey’s frosting (the second dozen of which went to Jacki, as an adult treat for her daughter’s birthday party). And finally, I agreed to make a cake for Ella, Jacki’s daughter, who was celebrating her 5th birthday. I was given three guidelines: chocolate, butterflies, yellow. And I think I rose to the occasion with a three-layer chocolate cake, covered in homemade yellow chocolate butterflies (and oreos on the side). Side note: special love for being able to make icing in my Kitchen Aid mixer. The end product is so much more consistent, so much thicker, and so much easier to work with, meaning the sides of the cake come out so much more even.

Jacki; me with Ella; Jessica blows out her candles.

Pretty much, the instructions were exactly the way I like to bake: with some loose inspiration, but general flexibility in execution. I consider cakes a creative process of internet research and careful thinking, planning, and execution. I had just enough guidance, with plenty of freedom. The detailing:

And with that, I pushed through my last four days of classes, wrote a mid-term and set off for the Eastern skies to start a wonderful 11 day trip through the German lands.

Thank you very much for reading.

Oddyssea (Crystal and Dagny) had the opportunity to interview Adventure Club at Royale Club in Boston a couple weeks ago. Needless to say, we went “cray” at the concert, head bang-ed, danced all night and when the show was over… Big Gigantic‘s Dominic Lalli came up to us and asked “Are you guys Oddyssea? Here are two ‘All Access’ passes, come backstage and hang out”. And so we went backstage, hung out, and partied on the tour bus…

Adventure Club

Big Gigantic

All photos are taken by our handsome Benjamin Goodman, check out his videos here.

Stay tuned for Oddyssea TV’s interview with Adventure Club! Coming up soon!

Click for more and check out EOTO’s Lotus Stage Debut and video from the show!

Oddyssea members, Crystal and Dagny appeared on Her Campus for their Fashion Photo Blog by L.Train! Check out the article: Emerson Style.

Wearing Vintage Headband, Skullcandy Headphones, Michael Kors Men’s Watch, J.Crew Necklace and Belt, Zara Basic Sweater, Zara Women Jeans and Pumps. 

Wearing LF Briefcase, Jones New York Coat, Scarf from Beacon Hill Boutique Shop, Urban Outfitters Shirt, Pants from the Tannery, Dolce Vita Booties

Check out Stel’s Spring 2012 Lookbook!

Shop Online at Stel’s or go to their store on 334 Newbury Street where our lovely Kelsey Bobbi, make-up artist & stylist can help you put together the most fresh and fashion-forward looks for Spring 2012.

All Photography by Kyle Beiermeister

View onto Lviv from St. George's Church after Christmas Mass. Blue skies!

Our lovely Christmas Eve was followed on Saturday (January 7) by a lovely, very filling Christmas breakfast, after which we were driven to town for Christmas mass at St. George’s (Jura’s) Cathedral.

St. George's Cathedral on Christmas morning.

And from there, we headed back to wander in the city, with no particular goals in mind. The very best kind of wandering. There was probably some coffee. I bought a copy of Harry Potter in Ukrainian. And we headed into a café that had made fantastic impression on me way back when. Café Fresca did not disappoint. Check out this spiced hot chocolate!

With cinnamon and chili.

Maki went a little more off the beaten path with a bit of a snack:

Salo (pork fat) with chocolate and decor. Certainly pretty. And allegedly delicious.

And some more wandering. Lviv is really a lovely, lovely city.

Full of all sorts of cafés. Now, I’ve long been familiar with the faux-Arabic Cyrillic, but I was kind of extremely amused by a café sporting faux Hebrew on one side street. Complete with a New Year’s tree in the window, taking me back to the exhibit in the Jewish Museum in Berlin, where (at least when I was there) they have a Christmas tree on display to talk about Jewish assimilation in the 19th century. But anyway, this is a New Year’s tree anyway.

Maki spied a small amusement:

Kharkivites in Exile! He was ready for it!

And more street scenes.

It was also quite evidently Christmas, as groups gathered to sing carols and celebrate the holiday.

Twilight set in.

And we headed to the square in front of the opera house, where there was a lively market and a Christmas concert.

And even some street performers (after, of course, we had ducked in for more coffee).

After which Maki got in touch with Ihor, a friend of his, who took us back to his apartment for another Christmas meal and excellent conversation, about language, history, and politics, and all sorts of other topics. It was the height of both my Ukrainian understanding and my ability to speak Russian coherently. Always nice to remember that I can, sort of do this (pretty sure that in the month and a half that has since elapsed, my Russian his gotten particularly hilarious (and Ukrainian-inflected)). It was a lovely, pleasant evening, after a lovely, pleasant day. A nice end to a lovely, pleasant trip. The next morning, we had a final breakfast and headed to the airport, making a quick stop to pay our respects to the enormous Stepan Bandera monument (hey, doing more of that a week from Monday). And with that, I checked in my bag, and caught my flight. Back to Detroit, back to reality. This time, with a dozen or so books and a pair of size 14 shoes, (not so small) small reminders of what I left behind.

(But in happier news: leaving again in eight days!)

Created by: Manuel Lavalle
Featuring: Micah Schure

Wax On Felt Presents: Get Felt Up

Valentines Day
Cabaret, door at 7pm

Featuring:
The Civil Slingers
Micah Schure
Syndey Manning
Curtain Cat
Ben Kling

Photography by a man of wonders, a handsome young fellow or should i say: Young Bull

We’re fans, so check out Benny’s tumblr!

This afternoon Alice (described on the invitation as my consort) & I went to St. Mary’s, Hadleigh for a service of celebration to mark the Queen’s accession to the throne some sixty years ago.
And very nice it was. The ushers weren’t sure whether we qualified for the second row from the front but in the end decided that we were. (The lady with the list not being “on seat” at the required time ”.
It was a well thought out service with something to appeal to everyone. Traditionalists got an articulation of the Privy Council’s accession declaration and the modernists got “You are My Sunshine” by a group of schoolchildren. We sang two verses of the National Anthem. Usually  we only sing the first verse. The thought occurred to me that even with two verses Her Maj was being short changed and that we were being prevented from wishing a dissing on the Scots and other foreigners whose knavish tricks required confounding. But only two verses are shown on the web site http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchUK/Symbols/NationalAnthem.aspx
Further research (http://ingeb.org/songs/godsaveo.htm) shows that there were six verses and two of the more interesting and sadly now ignored ones are as follows:

O Lord our God arise,
Scatter her enemies And make them fall;
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all!

Lord grant that Marshal Wade*
May by thy mighty aid Victory bring.
May he sedition hush,
And like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush.
God save the King!

*Wade was involved in the suppression of the Jacobite Risings of 1715 and 1745.

The table, laden with food.

Naturally, one of the highlights of going to Ukraine for almost two weeks immediately after Christmas is the fact that you then get Christmas not once, but twice. And this year, I had a very proper Ukrainian Christmas. The main meal, served on Christmas Eve, comes complete officially with 12 dishes, although how you count them changes from region to region (and from house to house). As far as I could tell, there were basically four things: the borscht/mushroom dumplings, fish times 100 (ok… at least five kinds of fish were on that table), varenyky of many kinds (potato, cabbage, cherry), and kutia, a wheatberry/poppy seed/honey concoction. To that, uzvar to drink, bread to eat, and so much more. All dishes are essentially vegan+fish, which is a little disappointing when you eat those homemade cherry varenyky, sans the sour cream.

Carp, of the cold variety; kutia; borscht with mushroom dumplings (amazing!).

I did my best to follow along, but as the first dinner started with a series of prayers and ended with a series of Christmas carols with no printed versions, I pretty much got to play the role of observer. But hey, at least I looked the part.

Uncle Josef, Maki’s great aunt’s widower, was quite the flirt.

Vasyl, Josef. SEE ALL THT FOOD?!

After we had been thoroughly stuffed and filled, it was time, naturally, for round II, as we headed over to Maki’s cousin’s (Sofika’s) in-laws, who conveniently live a 10 minute drive from her own parents. Already thoroughly filled to the brim, I eyed the table suspiciously.

Yep. More food.

Yep, pretty much just eating. And more eating. And then, not surprisingly, more songs. This time, a couple song books were located, which made things considerably easier for me.

Sofika’s father brought out the accordion, and little Nazarchik joined in on a harmonica (true story: in Russian, the word is the same for the two instruments, which caused me a little confusion at one point in my life).

More singing:

Needless to say, there was little about the traditions themselves that remotely mirrored my own Christmas eve. Though, clearly an appreciation for family (and so much food), which are a bit more familiar. Yes, a lovely, highly filling, but altogether wonderful evening.

With the tree.

Oh hi, Ivan Franko!

And here’s the bigger collection. Still only a small number of the total pictures I took.

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Oh hi there, Taras!

After a pleasant but uneventful stay in Kyiv, it was time to move on. And so, with a full day train ahead of us (10 hours, 11am-9pm), we stopped in to the grocery store to pick up the necessities. Reading a page out of my past life as a student/post-Soviet train traveler, I of course had to insist on a couple of basics. Namely, fake mashed potatoes and noodles. Both of which can be handily prepared with the on-hand boiling water, conveniently available near the conductor’s compartment. To which, we added bread, smoked cheese, and other assorted goodies. True story: it made me super nostalgic for living in Russia.

Mmm, nothing like fake mashed potatoes!

With copious amounts of sleeping (I believe I slept something like 7 of the 10 hours on the train (during the day, I repeat!), some trashy romance novel reading, and watching the Wire, we soon found ourselves arriving in Lviv, where we were met by Maki’s great uncle. Hello, Lviv!

Lviv's train station by night.

Vasyl took us immediately back to Briukovychi, the quiet suburb of Lviv where he lives with his wife, Orysia, and where we were going to be staying for our five-night stint in the city. The next morning, after a very filling breakfast, Vasyl took is into town, gave us a few directions, and set us off to fend for ourselves.

And so we did, wandering the streets of the city, and I was pretty much immediately struck by how much the city had changed in the nearly four years that had elapsed since my most recent time in the city, back in February 2008. The buildings, obviously, are the same, but it was so much cleaner, so much more organized, so much more ready for tourists, and had so many more options for eating and drinking and sleeping. We stopped into the tourist agency, located in the city hall, where we were so professionally helped by the employee working there and walked away with a nice collection of pamphlets and maps. Pretty useful, as not everyone seems to be huge fans of the city’s major map initiative, rendering so many of the theoretically helpful information maps less than useful…

At least this map is still largely readable!

Seriously, graffiti aside, this city is a real gem.

Various views of Lviv.

Above all, I was particularly struck by just how Habsburg the city seems, particularly as in the four years that have elapsed since my last visit, I’ve seen quite a few more Habsburg cities. But of course, with its own distinct post-Soviet flair.

The inventor of the gas lamp was from Lviv! And here, you also see various city scenes and even a second hand book market. I bought myself "Kukhnia narodov SSSR"--"Cuisine of the peoples of the USSR," $3 well spent!

We caught a late lunch at Mons Pius, a local microbrewery at a place locally known for its beer and for its meat, on the suggestion of Kate, my college roommate who had lived in Lviv off and on between 2007 and 2009 and had been back last summer to observe it in its most recent transformation. I had a lovely fish.

As we walked out, though, the weather–hovering around freezing–had taken a turn for the worse, and after a limited bout of wandering (and probably some coffee; I don’t remember–we were always drinking coffee, though), we headed back to the suburbs, where we were wonderfully fed by Orysia. Full and in good spirits, we were ready for our next Lviv adventures to commence the following day, at this point, January 5 (sigh, how did I get so far behind!?).

View of Lviv from the Vysokyi Zamok.

Vasyl had that morning off, and was eager to take us to various places around Lviv, beginning with a site of political repression. Never hurts to remember Soviet crimes. I know that sounds sarcastic, but I mean it in all seriousness.

Before heading over to the Vysokyi Zamok to take in views of the city from above. The Castle/Fortress from which it takes is name is long gone, but the views are wonderful.

But alas, it was cold and windy, so we headed back down pretty quickly, before moving on to Lviv’s Lychakiv Cemetery, where we took in the most important sites (as well as the grave of a distant relative of theirs), under Vasyl’s guidance.

The cemetery was wonderfully picturesque–there will be a separate slideshow of pictures in my next post–as we admired the graves of various Ukrainian luminaries, also stopping to note just how many Polish (and even German) names were mixed in among the Ukrainian ones. A clear reminder of the city’s colorful history. As we exited the cemetery, Vasyl returned us to the center and headed off to work. We, meanwhile, binged on internet, warmth, coffee, and “village potatoes” at McDonald’s (seriously, why don’t we have those at American McDonald’s?!), before a bit more wandering. We eventually landed at our destination for the evening, the requisite trip to Kryivka, a partisan-themed restaurant. I had been once before, back in 2008, but Maki had not, and it was on our very short list of must-dos for the whole trip.

Locals, at least the ones we talked to, tend to be very negative about the restaurant, invariably criticizing it for sacrilege, kitsch, or expense and noting that only foreign (and especially Russian) tourists really went. Still, the place is an experience and kind of a must-do. You recite the requisite partisans’ greeting (“Slava Ukrainy! Heroiam slava!) and must verify there are no Moskali (derogatory term for Russians) within your party. And then, you take a shot of medovukha to be admitted into the bunker, which is completely decked out in partisan artifacts, weaponry, and other assorted hilarity.

We enjoyed our meal and took shots at Beria before heading off to meet a couple of Maki’s acquaintances for beer at Kumpel’, yet another local brewery, this one preserving a very Prague-ish air. We sat and chatted for quite some time, eventually moving to another café and wandering through the city by night. We passed by (but did not go to) the Masoch Café, named for the person from whose name “masochism” is derived, yet another of Lviv’s many luminaries. If you look closely  at his statue, you can see a portrait of a woman (scantily clad, I might add) in his heart.

Can I just ooze again about how lovely and pleasant Lviv is?! Seriously, a wonderful, beautiful city.

As I’m already at some 17 pictures and no shortage of narration, I will end my Lviv narration here for now, to be picked up (after a brief foray into the cemetery) with the wonderful Christmas Eve festivities. But it was a lovely reintroduction to a wonderful city. Perhaps a reflection of the European-ness of the city and having a bit more time to really settle in, the trip was finally starting to feel like a real vacation (to say nothing bad of our previous travels, mind you). Oh Lviv, I do love you!