Going gaga for kinetic typography

Just a healthy dose of my growing nostalgia for After Effects and late nights at the Smith Warehouse.

Edumacated but still the fool

This past Sunday, I received probably the most expensive piece of paper I own to date. Ah yes, I’ve graduated at last. I’m now home in the quasi-real-world, looking forward to a completely unstructured summer of spontaneity, wanderlust, and some (maybe a lot of) loafing around.

The past few days have been a constant whirl of packing, unpacking, and repacking. I leave for my Asia trip (Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China) on Saturday, which leaves me barely enough time to practice unhealthy nostalgia.

The past four years have been a mixed experience. I loved Duke but secretly couldn’t wait to graduate. I loved North Carolina but couldn’t stand to live there. Then again, I know I’ll find myself itching to return soon enough. People are always the hardest to leave, maybe because I never quite seem to know how to keep in touch with them, or maybe because I hate having to now resign to these small vignettes of their lives.

But I digress. This summer will be amazing. I have a to-do list, a signing bonus, and an enormous appetite (for all things amazing).

Ending on a good note, I recently collaborated with a very talented friend on a final project for my motion graphics class. Watch this full-screen in HD:

And a car commercial with other talented folks:

Mock VW Commercial from Lydia Yao on Vimeo.

Finally!

We play UNC at home tonight. Let’s hope five weeks of tenting finally pay off. Look for me on TV! Go to hell Carolina, go to hell!

[Edit: Okay yeah, let's not talk about it.]

School spirit to the absurdity

It’s 24 degrees outside, and I’m out currently freezing my poor face off sitting in a tent in Duke’s infamous K-ville. For those unfamiliar with the insanity of Duke basketball and likely baffled as to why tents spring up out in front of the Wilson Gym after New Years, here’s a quick breakdown of what K-ville is: the Duke-UNC basketball game is the most anticipated event of the year, and because of limited seats in the Cameron Stadium, students who want to see the game must form tents to line up for the game for sometimes as long as two months (because the game’s in February this year, I only have to do this for five weeks). Each tent is allowed up to 12 students and is given a number based on when they were able to set up (we’re tent #46). One person has to be in the tent at all times during the day, and eight people during the night. To ensure that everyone is abiding by the rules, there are line monitors and tent checks called randomly throughout the day and in the middle of the night; two missed tent checks means you lose your place in line.

To sum it up, it’s cold, miserable and altogether a terrible way to spend the spring semester — but still every year about a thousand students weather the elements to live, study, and sleep in K-ville sans electricity like it’s some rite of passage (might as well be). As for me, seeing how I’ve miraculously survived a week and a half of this lunatic ritual, and well, on the bright side of things, I’m sure seeing Duke completely demolish UNC this year will make it worth the otherwise tremendously tortuous experience… Go to hell, Carolina, go to hell!