NFL Mock Draft 4/25/2013

All right so here it is, my final mock draft of 2013. The NFL draft is probably my favorite experience in all of sports; it truly is where superbowls are won and bottom dwelling teams created.  Who can forget Aaron Rodgers waiting till the 24th pick to be taken by the Favre-led Packers, or Al Davis selecting Darius Hayward-Bey 7th overall, or Matt Millen selecting a wide receiver in the first round for three consecutive years. It is the moments like these that we both cringe at yet love to watch. Of course the ridiculous hype that now surrounds draft has grown increasingly irritable over the years, but can you really blame the media for catching onto this unusual sports gem. There is no game, live action, competition, big hits, tailgating, cheerleaders, or refs to blame, just pure statistics and football nerdery, and boy do I love it. Anyways onto the mock, no doubt this will prove far from accurate:

1. Kansas City: Eric Fisher, OT, Central Michigan

2. Jacksonville: Dion Jordan, DE, Oregon

3. Oakland: Sharif Floyd, DT, Florida

4. Philadelphia: Lane Johnson, OT, Oklahoma

5. Detroit: Luke Joeckel, OT, Texas A & M

6. Cleveland: Dee Milliner, CB, Alabama

7. Arizona: Chance Warmack, G, Alabama

8. Buffalo: Ryan Nassib, QB, Syracuse

9. NY Jets: Tavon Austin, West Virginia 

10. Tennessee: Ziggy Ansah, DE, BYU

11. San Diego: D.J. Fluker, OT, Alabama

12. Miami: Xavier Rhodes, CB, Florida St.

13. NY Jets: Star Lotuleilei, DT, Utah

14. Carolina: Sheldon Richardson, DT, Missouri

15. New Orleans: Barkevious Mingo, OLB, LSU

16. St Louis: Alec Ogletree, LB, Georgia 

17. Pittsburgh: Jarvis Jones, OLB, Georgia 

18. Dallas: Sylvester Williams, DT, North Carolina 

19. New York Giants: Tyler Eiffert, TE, Notre Dame

20. Chicago: Justin Cooper, G, North Carolina 

21. Cincinnati: Kenny Vaccaro, S, Texas

22. St. Louis: Cordarelle Patterson, WR, Tennessee

23. Minnesota: Desmond Trufant, CB, Washington

24. Indianapolis: D.J. Haden, CB, Houston

25. Minnesota: Manti Te'o, LB, Notre Dame

26. Green Bay: Datone Jones, DE, UCLA

27. Houston: Deandre Hopkins, WR, Clemson

28. Denver: Bjoern Werner, DE, Florida St.

29. Atlanta: Justin Pugh, G, Syracuse

30. New England **TRADE** Philadelphia: Geno Smith, QB, West Virginia 

31. San Francisco: John Cyprien, S, Florida International 

32. Baltimore: Robert Woods, WR, USC  

Picks, Picks and more Picks

Well just another year, just another bracket eh? Simple enough to me. Anyways I'm gonna try to keep this short cause I got a lot of picks to get to, just so you all can see that I'm really a pretty poor prognosticator, however I once did have the ability to pick the future in sports (Rams over Titans in like 2000, before the season started no joke), but this ability decimated once I had a Bar Mitzvah for reasons not entirely know anyways onto it (and no, I do not consider the "first four" an actual round).

round of 32:

Ohio St.

George Mason

Clemson

Kentucky

Xavier

Syracuse

Washington

Long Island (in the biggest upset of the tourney)

Duke

Tennessee

Arizona

Texas

Missouri

Uconn

Penn St.

San Diego St.

Kansas

UNLV

Richmond

Morehead St. (another significant upset)

VCU

Purdue

Texas A & M

Notre Dame

Pitt

Old Dominion (this my squadd)

Utah St.

Wisconsin

Gonzaga

BYU

UCLA

Florida

Round of 16:

Ohio St. (but be weary)

Kentucky

Xavier

Washington

Duke

Texas

Uconn

San Diego St.

Kansas

Richmond

Purdue

Notre Dame

Old Dominion (that's right)

Wisconsin

BYU

UCLA

Elite 8:

Ohio St.

Xavier

Texas

San Diego St.

Kansas

Notre Dame

Old Dominion

BYU

Final Four:

Kansas, BYU, San Diego St, Ohio St.

Championship:

Kansas over Ohio St.

Recap: I went way more chalk than usual this year, but hopefully that will me there actually are a lot of upsets (for irony sake). I don't really care how my bracket does I just care about the madness.

It's all done but the crying

Well since digital processes has come to a dramatic end (not really, it was actually pretty anticlimactic) I now must once again find meaning in myself, life, and food portraits. Overall I can't say I'm disappointed that I will no longer have to be frequently chewing and gluing tiny pieces of food to pizza box, but it certainly did happen. The biggest problem I faced throughout the whole project was probably a dearth of glue sticks, which I was ultimately only partially able to overcome. I will however dearly miss the 'quest for the apple,' or playing snake regularly in hopes achieving unparalleled success, but this will actually likely continue. The most disappointing aspect of the whole project was probably the way I died in the one epic snake game that I video taped. i really thought I was gonna break through and just fill up the whole screen, and then bam I'm dead, unbelievable. I actually have scored better games then the one shown in the movie, but I don't know if I have ever had a better set up and feel that deep in, not to mention it was probably the largest snake I have ever achieved. Now I know this all sounds like it's all about masculinity (what with Magic Johnson, over-sized snakes, naked men next to beer can walls, and werewolf Bar Mitzvahs) and maybe it is (I mean I do love masculinity, and know no one more masculine than I), but I think the larger reference transcends gender. It does not really matter who you are, we all want the apple (whatever it may be) and it's almost always impossible to capture.

Rich Dadd, Kirsten Boehm, and Me: Wer'e all a Little Crazy

So I had a pretty event filled week, this past week. I learned about the infamous Richard Dadd, and caught a something of a glimpse into the future in hearing Kirsten Boehm speak in multiple formats. Specifically neither of these to artist tied directly to the work I am currently creating, however generally I think the both apply rather appropriately. I too, will soon exit college with little resembling a formulated plan. I'm not really sure I now have any clear answers, but it was nice to get a relative perspective. In terms of me and Rich Dadd, I think that we both liked to think outside the box a little bit--now this is not to say that I think I am possessed with the spirit of Osiris. While Rich Dadd painted fanciful fairies, I am creating metaphorical fairies?? But really it seems quite easy to be considered unusual in this two-partied world we live in.

Anyways, Malcolm Chex is officially underway; I now possess six different types of Chex as well as fifty new HOT glue sticks. The size will be about 150 % larger than the Mahatma Candy. Seeing as I will continue to be quite busy I will now depart.

Yea, Yea Whatever

Ok so this is a little late, I forgot to blog before the Student Employment in the Arts conference, because I was just so damned jazzed for it. I also felt a little stressed out after driving back home in swarming blizzard with a bunch of window wipers that just sucked. Actually I think this makes a nice transition into what I want to talk about with my art. I think its possible that by forcing myself to play snake so frequently I have begun to develop super human qualities of hand eye coordination, thus allowing me to steer clear of snowy ditches and exit ramps. Ok, so this is mostly false, but I do feel as though I have grown (backwards?) as a person because of snake--take it how you will. Anyways, Muhatma Candy is near completion, it has taken me a lot of time, I will also start to record some snake games today for the final video. And of course everything is in line for a very large pizza to be ordered tonight, and thus the backdrop of Malcom Chex will be created. I think my product ideas may have taken a bit of a sharp turn, but I can't really divulge without giving to much away. So alas I end this post--as hope to end this class--in somewhat ambiguous fashion, have a great Sunday everybody.

The Internet.... is great!!

This week I read a few stories about... the internet? Well, maybe, probably, I mean really it's tough to say. One story by Jorge Borges (which by the way is quite a name, but then consider the full name, Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo) was about a forking garden of sorts and the other by Bill Viola was about a porcupine and a car. When you read The Garden of Forking Paths it seems very obvious that Borges is indeed alluding to the internet, but alas he wrote it before 1950, how can this be? Alas perhaps the thing we know as the 'internet' is actually a metaphor for something else that has all ready existed, but what then? Perhaps this garden refers to 'knowledge', or the infinite history that both precedes and proceeds us. Or maybe Borges is simply referring to the perplexing infinite nature of our universe? Or--and this is my favorite theory--Borges was the smartest man ever and invented time travel, traveled forward in time, observed the internet first hand, came back to 1944 and explained it in the most poetic yet understandable way possible. I mean seriously he's talking about the internet, crazy. Like Borges, I too have experienced the internet, and continue to experience it on a very regular (regimented?) basis. My current project of combining both my food portraits, obsession of snake, and likeness to Magic Johnson, is heavily reliant on the internet. But how you ask? Well for starters I often use the internet before making my Magic Johnson PowerPoint presentations. I also use the internet to get my images for my food portraits, but most importantly I use the internet as a platform for snake playing. Now you say "oh, well you could just play snake on your computer or cell phone." But I respond as such: first of all cell phone snake sucks, lets not even go there, second of all I need to play snake online so I can compete against everyone else in the world playing snake thus proving my worthiness as both snake player and college student. So the internet is great! For now, but it may only be a matter of time before the freedom we now enjoy becomes a.) extremely regulated, or b.) the power that will eventually enslave all humans. Certainly we seem to be playing Russian roulette here with our abuse of technology, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't living it up. Considering the internet is as fast, virtually cost efficient, and vastly encompassing as it is, it almost seems to good to be true. So I say get it while it's hot, before something implodes.

Ray J. and Mary J: My way or the MJ

Compared to the recent artist I've covered here, Ray Johnson's work seemed to have a particularly appealing visual aspect to it. I think his work was very much conceptual, but it was also meticulous and exciting in the visual sense--and this is a bit of relief. I think my final project idea is also somewhat similar to Johnson, in that I am in part the piece (more specifically my snake playing, I guess it's tough measure how much consciousness I actually retain during these sessions though--this is enough on this for now), I do not plan on committing suicide, however, but the ending might ultimately be similarly hopeless. (By the way I have officially began construction on Mahatma Candy, hopefully it will soon be finished).

In terms of Mary Jane Jacobs, I found her readings, lecture, Q and A, to be somewhat engaging, but at times a little to fast and reference-filled to follow. In general I really don't see my art in the way I think she was trying to accomplish it in. I think that other people could probably do a better job helping with the community than my artwork could. I think it would really be compromising some part of myself, though I'm not entirely sure what. The idea of working with art to help the community, in one way is like ethanol; because we need of one thing (oil/community projects) more than the other (corn/art), and we have a surplus of the other thing (corn/art), does not necessarily mean converting corn/art into fuel/community projects is truly efficient. I also feel that these projects do not necessarily break down the barriers of the 'white cube', but rather disguise them and make them more propagandistic; most of these projects are selected by those in the curatorial fields (like Mary Jane Jacobs) are often similar to everything else shown in museums, only now they are forced upon the public as the standard of 'decent' and/or successful art. In all honesty I think what Mary Jane Jacobs does seems very successful and well though out, I don't think I would ever be able to do it (I don't think I can plan that well), and I don't know if it is really breaking down that many barriers.