Tufts Blogs

Last weekend, I got in too deep. Didn't know if I'd make it out alive. That's right. I got caught in a Veronica Mars binge-watching marathon vortex the likes of which few have endured and lived to tell the tale. I should have known she'd be no good for me. I have a fairly compulsive personality, and Veronica is a wily, cliffhanger-filled vixen. I once thought I was a comedy television only type of girl. And while the sitcom is still my wheelhouse, I also have a very large place in my heart for the attractive teen drama. Such shows typically have plenty of time for jokes in their hour-long runtime, so I'm not missing that. And there is often an absurdity in the excess drama that appeals to me. But most of my love stems from the fact that soapy, overdone drama about teens played by extraordinarily attractive 20-somethings is very appealing. At the end of the day, be it the rom com, the sitcom, the drama, or even the crime procedural, if I'm watching it, I'm mostly there for the romance, and Veronica Mars does not pull any punches in that regard. So when I was looking for something to play in the background while I animated last weekend, I was debatably too successful in finding V Mars, the current love of my life. (I have a new love of my life every couple of days, so this is not that big of a development.) Because Veronica Mars is my perfect binge-watching show. Attractive teen drama with the added bonus of a one hundred percent increase in Kristen Bell charm. What's not to fall for?  Unfortunately, it was supposed to be a fun bonus to my animating, not a life-consuming hurricane that has kept me in my room, up at all hours, an anti-social shadow of my former self forever jamming to this magnificent song (the Veronica Mars theme song.). (My friends who have watched the show have been getting reaction Snapchats all week-- I've been handling the characters' break-ups poorly.)

As a rule, I try to make art in some way while I watch TV, so that I feel somewhat productive while I procrastinate (inspiring my upcoming post on productive procrastination, my greatest vice). This means I can draw, I can play with clay, I can animate, anything that makes me feel like I'm producing something. Last weekend, I had no business picking up a new, very good TV show, all the seasons of which are available through my mom's Amazon Prime account. I had three fairly involved animation projects, and one editing piece that needed to be finished, on top of my academic work. The outlook for the week was grim. Sleep seemed like a faraway memory. SO rather than buckling down to do it all in as efficient a way as possible, I decided that if I were going to do it all, I might as well watch Veronica Mars while I was at it. I often watch TV while I animate, as I am someone who functions under the illusion that I can do two things at once. I cannot, and I typically have to pause to formulate what exactly I want to draw, and push play while I am in the act of drawing, having done the harder thinking part. While my pace is much slower, I am probably enjoying myself more, and watching TV that I would eventually watch anyway. Last weekend, I successfully watched an entire season of Veronica Mars in some 27 hours (a Herculean task for which you can congratulate me in the comments (minimal sleep was involved)) while completing the following animation (among other assignments). 

The assignment was to animate an animal using the animation principles of squash and stretch. It started out innocently enough, with some fat bears. However, as I can do nothing in a small way, I was soon as consumed by the fat bears as I was Veronica, and I filled multiple pages of my sketchbook with them. Family and friends received Snapchats of "fat bearsssssssssss." I was in a dark, fat-bear-filled tunnel. 

And all this, the bear-drawing, the binge-watching was endured to lead to my Mona Lisa-- my greatest triumph. Smushy Bears. Enjoy! I'd love to hear your thoughts on anything and everything in the comments!