US Intimidated the USSR

So I've been doing some research with Michael Lung tonight on the US intimidating the USSR with the use of the atomic bomb. The best quote I was able to find was, "I'm going to make Stalin back down from what he got from Roosevelt. I'm going to force him to open up the ports in Manchuria to the United States and to other trading nations." Which was said by president Truman during the Potsdam conference.

My general thesis or prompt is that the US used their use of the atomic bombs in Japan to intimidate the USSR and scare them. During WWII, the US and the USSR were technically allies, but they were as close to enemies as allies can be. The USSR was a communist state, whereas the US was capitalist, and the US hated communism as a whole. When the US was in its war with Japan, the USSR stepped in near the end in hopes of gaining land in that area, and the US did its best to end the war quickly enough so that the USSR didn't get invested enough to claim land in that region of the world. This is one of the reasons the US used their atomic weapons, so that the war would be over and the USSR wouldn't take anything in that region. After Japan was done with, conflicts between the US and the USSR only heightened until the Cold War, when communism was going strong and Stalin was livin' large. During these times, the US and the USSR basically threw threat after threat at each other, hoping the other would back down.

Here are some of the sources I've gathered and used so far.

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=554125

http://revolution.allbest.ru/history/00003291_1.html

http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/70711.html

http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=23634

http://www.anzasa.arts.usyd.edu.au/ahas/bomb_historiography.html

http://www.essortment.com/all/presidenttruman_rywp.htm

http://www.philosophyparadise.com/essays/wastheuseoftheatomicbombmoral.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/truman/filmmore/it_3.html

Artistic talents 2

So we're done doing art now. I'm unhappy because I really had fun. Bummer city.
Remember, just because something is here doesn't mean it's the way I wanted it to turn out or that it's finished.
Your critiques help.


(Unfinished)

(I like this except for the big boot)




(I like that a lot)






(That is my favorite piece that I've made)



Any horizontal picture you see is not fully shown!
Strangely enough, many of the pictures were somehow partially covered by blogger, so if the picture is horizontal, then you may want to drag it into a new window or something because it's not all there.

Paints and Pigmints 2

As you may know, I recently wrote a mock article on Paints and Pigments. Now I revised that paper and just generally tried to make it better. I honstly didn't change much, but here it is if you'd like to review it.

Paints and Pigments 2

JK Rowling

A while back, I wrote some poetry in different forms and on different topics. One of which was a "Now" poem, in which I spoke mostly about JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series. In an attempt to take that poem one step further, I turned it into a painting of JK Rowling's face, but not her whole head, just her face. It's complete now, however I don't have any pictures of it yet, or the picture I used as a model. I'm mostly satisfied with my product, however it could definitely be better.

I'll have the two pictures up as soon as I can.

Artistic talents

Since I've been studying art and things that accompany it, I've been doing art myself. I've mostly been experimenting with watercolor paint, however I've tried other mediums. These are some of my favorite pieces I've done so far, however keep in mind that these aren't refined and aren't necessarily all that great.

For this one, I just sketched my hand and painted it. I don't like it very much. (Not fully shown)

Just drawing what came to mind.


A self portrait an interpretation of my good friend Hallie. (Me on the left, her on the right). (Not fully shown)

This one is honestly a little funny, because I drew the hair with pen, decided I didn't like it and that I'd kind of cross it out with this orangish color I'd made, but I ended up making it into a weird little person.

Lips. (Not fully shown)




Hahaha this one was drawn purely out of boredom during spanish class though. (Not fully shown)

I hope you like them, and any critiques would be welcome, I'm always interested in improving upon my art.

Strangely enough, many of the pictures were somehow partially covered by blogger, so if the picture is horizontal, then you may want to drag it into a new window or something because it's not all there.

Salvador Dali Essays

If anyone is interested, I wrote a positive and a negative review of some of Salvador Dali's work from the perspective of someone of the day.  

Salvador Dali Good Review.doc

Salvador Dali Bad Review.doc

(Those should work for downloading and/or opening the .doc files I wrote)

Salvador Dali: Kickin' ass from beyond the grave

Salvador Dali, who's long been an artist I admire, lead an interesting life.  I mean, come on, just look at the guy, how could he not be interesting.  

Well anyway, he was an interesting man, who made a lot of very interesting paintings and movies.  Right now, you may be asking yourself, "If he's so popular, what pieces did he make?" and to put it simply, he painted the picture that most people think of as "Melting time"  or some variation of that.  The one with all the clocks melting all over the place.  It's really called "The Persistence of Memory" or actually probably the Spanish translation of that, because Dali was a spanish painter.  

I was fortunate enough to be able to go see his exhibit in LA at the LACMA (Las Angeles County Museum of Art) which really blew my mind.  I got to see The Persistence of Memory in person.  When you see a lot of paintings in books, the pictures are only a maximum of about 7 inches by 10 inches, but when you see them in person, they're usually something like 3.5 feet by 5 feet.  Dali was not the case.  The Persistence of Memory was maybe a 12 inches by 7 inches, which is amazing because it has such intricate details, and it's so amazingly painted.  

I really hope I learn more about this coocoo painter.