Prom

Prom was amazing. Everything went very well. People stayed until around 11pm, which is wonderful considering how early everyone left last year. I think everyone had a great time. Although I wasn't able to get there early to help set up, I was happily surprised. The plastic martini glasses were at everyone's seat filled with poker chips. At every table there was a pack of cards. Dinner was all set up and ready, and the DJ was playing good music. There were "Bond Girls" and "James Bonds" walking around and offering to take pictures. One complaint I had, which I did not know how to plan for in advance, was the fact that we only got one free drink (a soda - no water) and for the rest of the night, we had to pay for drinks. This was unfortunate because the room in which prom was being held was sweltering and water costed 500 a bottle. 

Despite water costing an absolute fortune, the night went off without a hitch. Prom King and Queen were crowned, as well as "Q" and "Bond Girl". We also had lotteries (which I did not win) that everyone seemed to enjoy. Overall, it was an amazing night.

I'm very proud of Prom Committee and how hard we worked to accomplish our goal of throwing an amazing prom. Our hard work really paid off. People stayed late, they enjoyed the food, and there was a lot of dancing. This shows that dedication and commitment really do have phenomenal results.

Inspector Hound Update

Getting the costumes organized and finalized was no easy task, but it was fun and doable. Finding Sydney a costume was difficult. She was playing Felicity and she needed to be in a white tennis skirt and a white shirt the whole time. Lydia and I decided to add a sweater tied around her neck to make her look more "preppy". This is her finalized look:

Working with most of the cast was fun, but it's also hard to please everyone at the same time. So, we bumped heads a couple times, and had to change things per request of Ms. Hargreaves, which almost always improved the costumes. Working with someone else while designing costumes or set or even makeup, is always challenging because of differences of opinion. For example, I may have wanted to have Sydney wear a green sweater when Lydia wanter her to wear a red one. But eventually, we must all work together and coincide - therefore Sydney wore a grey sweater.

Beatrice had only one problem to fix and that was her cleavage, which I nearly forgot about until about five minutes until she needed to be on for opening night. I just pinned the inside of her dress so that the safety pin wasn't showing and it still covered her cleavage while still having the desired effect of a seductive woman. Here is her final look:

Mei was easy because all she needed was a LOT of makeup to complete her look:

Xan had to wear A LOT of clothes. He wore a dress shirt, a sweater, a cravat, a jacket, dress pants, and dress shoes. His character was meant to be very smartly dressed and also be the "romantic interest" of the play, so we wanted to give him a romantic feel.

Luke and Jared (playing Moon and Birdboot - theatre critics) were dressed similarly, with Jared dressed a little fancier than Luke, who was a less dignified, serious character. Jared wore a suit, with an older jacket to make him look a little stuffy, and Luke work a dress shirt, a tie, a jacket, jeans and dress shoes. They both looked great (in my opinion).

Garage had to look like an old man in a wheelchair, so we dressed him in dress pants and shoes, a dress shirt, an older grey sweater, and a scarf. He was very convincing.

Nandi's costume was a bit more complicated (she was Inspector Hound). She wore brown pants, a brown belt, rain boots, pool floaties, a tie, a jacket as similar as possible to a trench coat, a slightly baggy dress shirt and a construction helmet. It turned out well though.

I was very grateful to have a backstage experience instead of being on stage. Although I love acting, I think it's important to explore every aspect of theatre as to get a getter understanding of how everything works. Now, every time I go to a production, I'll be thinking of how much hard work gets put into costumes, makeup, set and lighting as I experienced it all during rehearsals and finally, performance night.

Photography Club Update

Like last year, the photography club has decided to make another calendar. As one of the heads of photography, I think that it's such a great project and it's worth doing it again. Last year we made a calendar for the 2012/2013 school year. This year I'd like to make a 2014 calendar, I think it will be more successful. Making a calendar is always a very challenging task when working with a lot of people. Our main priority is to reserve months for the seniors who are not going to be here next year as this is their last chance for such a large project in the ISK Photography Club. However, it's always important to try and make everyone happy by assigning months that they are partial to.
As one of the heads of photography club, the most important job is sorting through all the images and making appropriate suggestions to the artist. Many of the images submitted by the photography club members won't be up to par to appear in a calendar. Editing will most likely be needed and if the image simply isn't salvageable, then the photographer will need to select another one of their images. It's very exciting to be working on this project again - especially as one of the co-heads because I get to make decisions and give advice, which I always love. It's great working with several committed people on this project because seeing everyone get involved is awesome. Photography Club isn't ALWAYS the most exciting club to be a part of because of the fact that some people don't take as much responsibility in the club as they should. However, when people get involved, it's really great. Seeing the amazing work people at a high school level can produce it breathtaking. It's a little sad when it's simply someone's hobby, when it's clear they could be a professional photographer one day. I've very excited to see how the calendars turn out and I can't wait to sell them at the PTO picnic next year. Hopefully they'll be worth buying!

Prom Update

Although Prom planning hasn't been the most exciting thing in the universe, it's getting there. We're almost finished receiving all the decorations and we're getting a sign up sheet ready for Grade 11s to begin signing up to set up on the day of Prom. Because of personal reasons ( I have some special people coming into town on that day) I won't be able to set up, but I really hope people start to get involved. We've actually sold quite a few tickets, which is fantastic. I was really starting to worry because it didn't seem as though any of the seniors were very interested in going to Prom this year. It may have something to do with that fact that it's a week before IB exams begin, but I though that that was the whole point of Prom - to let loose right before exams and stop studying for one night. However, it seems as though they've begun to see the light and we're making quite a headway on sales. Last year there was an issue with people leaving really early and it made Prom committee very sad as they had worked very hard to put the whole thing on and then have everyone leave right after dinner. Prom Committee this year has decided that the reason was most likely that after Prom King and Queen were announced, people left. So, we've decided that this year, we're going to announce King and Queen later in the evening and not right after dinner. Hopefully our plan works! I'm very excited about Prom this year, because I think it'll be very fulfilling to see all our hard work pay off. I've posted some pictures of what decorations are going to look like.

The prom is 007 Casino Royale themed, so we've used posters like this one for our advertising campaign.

We'll have cardboard cutouts such as these at Prom.

Each table will have a pack of cards.

We will also have poker chips at each table.

We'll also have plastic martini glasses at each place setting. (there will be no alcohol of course!)

Costume Designer for the Play

Recently, I took on the job of costume designer for the high school's spring play, "The Real Inspector Hound" with Lydia Spilsbury. Although it's hard to fit another thing in next to everything else I'm doing, it's actually quite fun. Today, I drew designs for all of the characters in the play. I also raided my closet and found the perfect outfit for Sydney (who plays Felicity in the play). Lydia and I were previously having a hard time trying to figure out what she could wear. We did spend a lot of time up in the costume department and we picked out a wonderful cocktail dress, however Sydney's character is meant to be in a tennis outfit the whole time. The maid's costume is almost done, all we need is a bonnet, which I fashioned out of a headband and some white cloth I had lying around. Beatrice plays a very flamboyant woman with a whole lot of sex-appeal, which makes her costume very important to her character. Luckily enough, Beatrice's mother had a red cocktail dress with black beaded mesh lying around, so we simply agreed to let her wear that. The men in the play are much simpler. Birdboot and Moon (played by Luke R. and Jared) are two drama critics watching the play being staged (so it is as if the real audience is watching two plays in one). Dressing them will be quite easy. All we need are ties, jackets and nice pairs of dress pants. Major Magnus Muldoon (played by Garage) doesn't have any specific requirements regarding dress code, but I was thinking about having him wear a jacket and a nice pair of pants and having an old blanket covering his legs (as he is in a wheelchair for most of the production). Simon (played by Xan) will be wearing a pair of dress pants, a collared shirt and a sweater. Inspector Hound is a different story entirely. His outfit is meant to be quite ridiculous. He (being played by a she - Nandi) will be wearing a trench coat, rain boots, a pair of baby floaties, and maybe a pair of rain pants and a nice collared shirt. Working so closely with actors and the director (Ms. Hargreaves) while at the same time not being involved in acting in the play is quite odd, but I've found it enjoyable as well. I like watching as my piers find themselves in another piece of theatre. Having artistic direction is also very fun. I get to dress the actors as I see their characters develop onstage. This allows for some changes as the characters become more and more thought out. I've put some images for thought and what I got my inspiration from, below.

1920s Cocktail Dress

1920s Cocktail Dress

A photo o the entire cast (-Simon)

Slightly similar to what Beatrice will be wearing (Cynthia)

The entire cast from a showing of the play

Another version of the play

Cast photo of what looks like a high school production of "The Real Inspector Hound"

Birdboot and Moon watching the production

1920s Tennis Outfits

Cast photo of "The Real Inspector Hound"

1920s Tennis Outfits

GISS Conference

Participating in the GISS conference this year was phenomenal. I hosted two students from Maputo, Mozambique and I got to meet a lot of very interesting people. Meeting Spencer West was probably the highlight of the conference (in my mind). I even got a picture with him (above). I think the magic of the GISS conference is getting to meet so many peers who are just as interesting in the same kinds of issues as I am. And, we get to have great discussions and even argue over controversies.
So, the Key Note Speakers were probably my favorite part of the conference. Apart from Spencer West, I also got to meet (and hang out with) Cassandra Lin, who is truly a phenomenal person. Justin Bedard's activity was also really interesting. Although I would've liked to get to know why he was so active in the Jump! Foundation instead of getting us all to bond. The Kenyan Panel wasn't that great, in fact, they were quite boring, but that's probably because I already knew a lot about what they were talking about.
The service day was great because we got to go out to a beautiful area and work with a project called Plants for Life. It was fascinating because this one man (the owner of the area) had bought this land 15 years ago, torn down all the eucalyptus trees growing on the property and planted trees and plants indigenous to Africa. He took us on a tour, and his knowledge of every single plant on his property was truly remarkable. So, after he gave us a tour, we got to plant trees and contribute to the beautiful landscape.
Meeting people like Cassandra Lin, who's only 14 years old and has already gotten her home state of Rhode Island, to make it a law to recycle cooking oil so that it can be turned into biofuel, is truly inspiring. It's also a but of a bummer. As an 18 year old, I feel like I haven't accomplished anything. But that's the beauty of the GISS conference; it give you hope that you can and will get somewhere in like and change the world in one way or another.

Marich IC Trip 2013