Today I was one of three judges in a local district on the spot poster making contest here in San Pablo. I do this regularly once in a while because they seem to think I'm qualified to do it. It was pretty tough to judge because there were lots of entries that were really good. But inspite of that, I saw only ONE that could possibly be the winner.
And my #1 choice didn't even make the top three of the other 2 judges. I was flabbergasted. This entry was quite impressive in many ways. Number one, it fulfilled the theme of the competition very well. Admittedly, the entry was quite depressing, but it was a depressing theme. And I thought that this, of all entries, made the theme very immediate in the eyes of the viewers. Number two, the artistry was very impressive for a high school student. The colors were admittedly somber, but it was the perfect color scheme to fit the concept of the piece. The entry that eventually won had colors that were very strong and so very attractive to the eye, but it had a very uneven composition and it exhibited some structural errors in the human figures. The one I wanted had excellent composition and exhibited a very professional rendering of color and layout of human faces and figures.
Oh well, I guess that's why they have 3 judges to even everything out. Still, this kid deserved something because the work was very, very good in my eyes. I expect to see this artist do something great one day.
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I was able to buy a new edition of Anne Frank's diary. Of course, I had read this book many many years ago and I love it to death. For those not familiar with it, it's an actual diary of a young Jewish girl during World War 2. It tells of her life before and during the time they hid from Hitler's nazi Germany. It's a very moving diary specially in the light of it being absolutely true. She of course, didn't survive the concentration camps. She died along with the rest of her family, with the exception of her father Otto.
Otto had the diary of her daughter published, but held back certain chapters because they were perhaps too volatile and critical of her parents and other people. This version of the diary which I got, which is being called "The Definitive Version", brings back those chapters and they total nearly 30% of the diary now. The reading is quite fascinating because the omissions that were brought back paints a rounder and more human picture of Anne and it makes her story even more moving as a result. Read it if you haven't.
