7/28/2006

Nerdy WoW humor!

It had to come up at some point :p

Blitzenslayn: ok, I was wrong. with the auctions successful, I'm at 74 gold right now.
Me: dude
Me: that's still insane
Me: I'm impressed you can budget so well in WoW but so poorly in real life
Blitzenslayn: it's easier to make money in WoW than it is in real life. *grins*
Me: touche, touche
Me: lol
Blitzenslayn: I can legally sell herbs to people and make a profit in WoW, in real life, the moneymakers tend to be illegal.
Me: lmao
Me: oh, true that, true that
Hngg....

The last four panes of this comic make me laugh :p

And soon - off to Austin again!

7/27/2006

Pic-a-tures

As per usual (sometimes), it's figure drawing Wednesday, and when I go and actually get even a single decent sketch, I like to post them up. Nothing really special this time around, but a few decent ideas strewn onto paper. More of experiments this time around than anything.

While emptying the camera w/ the pics on it, I came across a picture that I took a few nights ago that turned out pretty awesome.

I think "World in Motion" would be a good title for it. I love how everything seems to be swooshing by while my buddy is totally in focus.

Hopefully that will be one of the last of those type of pictures from my point 'n click camera, since my SLR should be in the mail as we speak. (or as I type, I suppose). Anywho, onto the sketches:

Just an interesting shape
The start of something that may have been beautiful
A pretty composition, for some reason
Playing with harsh edges
Experimenting with wacky proportions and harsh edges

Overall, I think they all have something interesting, but the first and third are the ones that I look at more than once.

Anywho, it's late. I should really be sleeping more. Yoi yume o.

7/25/2006

Holy multiple posts, batman!

4 posts in one day?! I must be crazy >_<

If you're bored, check out these movie trailers one of our artists found after coming back from a comic con if you're in the mood for some crazy stuff:

Pan's Labyrinth

New movie from Guillermo del Toro (director of ‘Hellboy’ and ‘The Devils Backbone’) All Spanish language big budget insanity. They apparently showed a subtitled 10 mins at Comic Con this year.

The Fountain

Darren Aronofsky, Director of ‘Pi’ and ‘Requiem for a Dream’. He left Batman Begins to make this.

Children of Men

No idea who made this, but it looks incredible.

The Prestige

Chris Nolan (director of Batman Begins) re-teams with Bale to make this in between the Batman sequel.

Interesting stuff, no?

Also, it sucks to have old injuries surface. I think I tore a muscle - like, 3 years ago or so. I always thought it was just a bad stretch, and that it would loosen up once I started to work out again, but sure enough, it just hurts like holy hell a lot :( So much so that it started to bug me a lot this weekend, and even more during my workout today - boo!

Also, also, the artists in our studio are freakin' talented. Got to see a bunch of new ideas from them in the last couple days, and holy crap do they look good. It's like they have been able to crank out inspiration like it's on an assembly line. lol. Wish I could get that effect every once in a while :p
Cute attack!



Matt's kitten, Innocent, c/o leximancer
Arty smarty post?

Whoever decided that it was a good idea to bundle over a hundred games of Sudoku into Brain Age for the DS was a freakin' genius. The first few times I tried it, I totally sucked at it, but once I got the style of game, and some of the patterns down, it's a fun little thing to do when just chilling out at home, or watching TV. Totally nerdy, but fun :p

I've started to develop a taste for a few wines. Not very many, but after going to a cozy little wine bar here in Dallas and trying a decent variety of bottles, I've found a couple that I like. (Although the cool guy who ran the place moved back to Cali, which is kinda sad) There are 2 red wines that I definitely enjoy, and I can totally see how they would go well with certain types of food - most obviously, a good cheese plate :) Methinks it's time to start making some more fun meals at home for the wine to go well with :p

Stumbled across a very very cool interview with Yoshitaka Amano this morning on 1up.com that goes pretty deep into a "day in the life" and shows his office, inspiration and personality. Definitely an awesome read, if you're interested in an artist and his work (obviously more interesting if you're familiar with his work). It's very cool to see a lot of the pieces I've seen from him in sketches around his office, and to hear about his inspirations and passions, and where his ideas came from. Even more than that, it's awesome to see how genuine of a person he appears to be - definitely awesome. He's on the top of the "people I'd love to meet someday" list - it's a shame I don't speak Japanese. I would absolutely love to own an original piece by him someday - because I enjoy his work, but also because when you see that and have an idea behind the person that made it, the pictures speak volumes more when you see them.

Tiny snippet:
1UP: So it's like perspective, how art is to one person can be entirely different to another.

YA: So video games say something different to me too. I could just express something, in a game world in a different way. That's why I like working in games too. I think it would be interesting if I could express something from a painting in a video game.

While reading that, I came across a reference to Neil Gaiman, and Amano's work with him, so I poked back over to Gaiman's site (I've been reading a few of his books recently) and totally remebered again why I like his work - he's an awesome writer and just has some crazy ideas. That and a wacky sense of humor - there were some stores in Smoke and Mirrors where I actually laughed out loud because of the pictures he painted with his words. It's also very cool that he blogs - always provides an interesting read. That and one of the pictures (in a random set) on his blog is of him trying to write and his cat totally interrupting him - don't know why, it just makes me laugh :p He's also on the top of my "people I'd love to meet" one day list. Just to see what kind of a person he is.

And... ARRGGHHH! They're remodeling the floor beneath us - like, RIGHT beneath us, so there's the occasional FREAKING LOUD DRILLING beneath our office - so loud that you can actually feel the ground shake. It's either going to be a long day, or a very short day because I might go nuts and leave early.
Fuck dude.

Man, internet radio is the best and worst thing ever. It's the kind of thing that you turn on while you're folding laundry and the next thing you know, you've gotten into a productive groove and it's 1am when you're finally done and you're blogging and you should totally be asleep since you barely slept over the weekend. Weird. But then there's some songs that you just can't be still during, like Dani California. :p

People can be absolutely fascinating sometimes - especially when you learn new things about them - it's amazing the scope and impact the events in our lives have, and more interestingly, how they compare and appear next to those in our own lives. I feel like I'm constantly given reasons that remind and amaze me of this. Guess its another level of reflection from our surroundings, neh?

Got lucky enough to make a shotgun trip down to Austin to meet up with a bunch of work buddies from there, the ones that moved over to BWA. First of all - got to spend the whole day on Lake Austin, which was awesome, because it's been ages since I did that, and was also a welcome relief after the sauna of a ride there from Dallas on the bike. (which was also a lot of fun) That and even had a big BBQ at Roy's palce and got to hang out with all the guys I used to work with and catch up and drink some beers - man, that was a trip back, and also a blast. I had forgotten how funny they all were :p And holy crap - I ended up riding the Waco to Dallas trip back at night - it's been a long time since I saw so many stars in the sky. On the streches of road between the little towns, even through my shaded visor, I felt like I could see hundreds of stars in the sky - absolutely beautiful. Also reminded me how nice riding the bike could be (which I had forgotten after riding in the 107 degree heat...)

Also got the oppurtunity to go to a BBQ over the weekend with a bunch of people here (actually in the apartment complex I lived in when I was first here) and played water volleyball for almost 4 hours - until the sun went down and, get this, it actually got cold! (was mostly from the wind after getting out of the pool, but still). Made me reminiscent of the sand volleyball days back in High School. Oh man, was it a good time. I'm hoping to jump in on one of the indoor teams up here for the fall season. :)

Also, I'm a weak, weak man sometimes. I've been craving getting a digital SLR for years now, and recently started looking again after Howard showed me his, and Sherman starting talking about his. After reading about a bajillion reviews online, I settled on one, a good solid one that I really liked. Prices weren't looking so hot, so I was hoping to wait until a sale came up on one of the various online stores. Until what happens? Announcement comes that they're not making that model anymore! WTF! So I ended up caving a buying one from one of the few stores online. I spent a whole freaking lot of money today because of the camera, all the accessories and an extra lens. But ooohhhh man, am I looking forward to getting it (it's the D50 on the Nikon website) :D

Speaking of people and events, I got the "family update" from my mom today. One of my cousins (Raji) just found out that his wife is pregnant - which will be their fourth baby! They're gonna have a whole army of them soon! And on the opposite end of the spectrum, another one of my cousins who was pregnant (Sharon) recently miscarried :'( which makes me really, really sad. They have two boys and were looking forward to their first daughter :'( Love you guys!

Sometimes you should really just listen to your gut. And now it's time to blow out the candle, put away the feather-tipped ink pen and retire to bed. g'night.

7/13/2006

Sometimes...

... friends are very smart. Thanks dude.

7/11/2006

Jounetsu

Just a warning - this whole post is going to be exceedinly random. Just a train of thoughts all being typed up.

I recently really started to miss teaching. I don't really know why, but one day last week on the way into work, I really missed the feeling I got when teaching karate classes back home. My only guess is that since my heaviest excercise was karate for years and years and years, and tied very close to that was teaching karate classes, there's a mental tie between the physical act of working out and the mental feeling of teaching - of passing on information - and more importantly - the feeling you have when you see one of your students learning, and happy about it. That's a really amazing feeling - one that I'm missing a lot now. How strange is that?

It makes me so happy to see Matt enjoying his new kitten - Innocent XIII. The weekend he came up here, Matt, Mike and I spent practically the whole weekend in the upstairs just playing with him - probably the cutest thing in the world. It's absolutely amazing to just sit and watch him run around, in a totally new place - full of energy, passion and curiosity. What's truly amazing is the childlike innocence (no pun intended) of this little animal. He would run around, perfectly content to crawl around and stumble up every little stack of things, learning from each mistake. But more beautiful was how he acted around us people - none of us could resist picking him up and playing with him, and occasionally having to spray him with water if he was doing something bad. But the amazing part is that regardless of what would happen, he would continue to happily explore, sit and sleep on all of us - he would never let the little frustrations he got of us holding him (occasionally) or spraying him do anything at all to him. Happily he would go along his way, finding joy, finding happiness in every little thing he stumbled upon, and letting each of the bumps he came across melt right off, while still learning from them. Really beautiful to watch.

Apparently software engineer is the best job in the nation - hooray for me, I suppose :)

The figure drawing class from last week was one of the more bizarre ones I've been to. I went into it pretty excited, because throughout the day I had really been in a mood to draw, even though (or possibly because of) I was operating on little sleep that day. But for some bizarre reason, when I sat down in front of the blank newsprint, conte pencil in hand, totally ready to go, I couldn't. I don't know why, I just couldn't. I tried to draw what I saw from the model gesturing different poses each minute, but all that came out was bizarre lines and shapes that only vaguely resembled the human form - and of those that did, they were more lifeless and emotionless than I had ever seen. I tried softer strokes, abstract strokes, even harsh definition of the form in front of me - but nothing worked - nothing captured anything I saw from my eyes or in my head. Never, NEVER have I wanted to draw so badly and just couldn't. I finally ended up leaving after a mere hour - out of frustration or confusion, I'm unsure. But I stopped nonetheless.

Can you possibly believe that my hair is 33 inches long? How crazy is that?

So one of the fascinating things about my job is the team size. Only a little over 20 at the moment. Last week we had a meeting discussing a fairly serious topic that affected the game on a fairly base level. Turned out to be a long meeting, but about halfway through it, I realized what I was really experiencing around me - I didn't have a bunch of people arguing about their job, or the project they're working on, or have management come down and make demands, or have bitterness arise from differences in opinions. Instead I looked around and saw a room full of people who were all passionate about what they were here for, and could discuss the problems and concerns everyone had in a manner that would allow a happy conclusion to be met. It was astonishing to watch and experience. Not like a bunch of coworkers, but like a difficult discussion between family or close friends - with the goal of solving. It was amazing how being there, and hearing some of the words out of their mouths drew direct parallels to the struggles we go through. So much so to a literal extent, even. And even then, as time passed on, I found those reminders again and again. From out drinking wine and listening to the past and present pains of the company, to talking in depth with a friend by moonlight about problems gone and resolved and fears now gone. Astonishing how different and diverse we all are, and yet how similar our struggles become. Perhaps that's how we get through them. Not only by ourselves, but also through each others resolutions. Past, present and future.

7/10/2006

It points...

Went down to Houston this weekend - I was excited about the trip because I was looking forward to taking the bike down there - been far too long since I've taken it out for any real amount of time. And then the weather came... crazy thunderstorms all weekend! (which ended up being totally true, it was like someone dropped an ocean on the city). So turns out it's good I didn't take it back, but I finally realized why a lot of motorcyclists call other vehicles on the 'cagers'. When you really want to ride, to feel the wind, to just be outside, the car feels like a cage :( Thankfully I took the bike out tonight - nothing like riding towards the sunset, turning around and following the moon home. Cool feeling after a bleh work day.

While down in Houston, I ended up seeing Pirates of the Caribbean 2 - I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting a pretty fun and simple movie, but it was better than I thought :) Definitely had some of the funniest scenes I've seen in a movie in a long time. Johnny Depp is a freakin' genius - even funnier than in the first one :) Sometimes I wonder how the writers came up with this stuff (like the choreography in the last fight scene - holy crap!). It was a beautiful combination of slapstick comedy, action and special effects thrown together to make a bunch of fun in the theater. Definitely recommend it :)

I love how only a handful of our friends can totally take over a place. lol. I think Saturday night was proof positive that we can make any place with any number of us a lot of fun. :)

Oh, and to Shannon and Reece - Congratulations! I saw a picture of Shannon after the wedding - you looked breathtakingly gorgeous! :D

And just to finish it off with randomness:

- Pat, you brought up a crazy good memory over the weekend - Flame on!
- Half price books + Mike's employee discount == lots of books for nearly nothing :)
- Mike, you were totally on fire Saturday night (must be the English major in you)
- Mel, you managed to shatter my poor mind to the point of irrecoverability >_<
- Irony's a bitch
- Mike was on fire, but Pat still wins for quip of the night :p
- Shell, you and your parents may just give me a death by chocolate
- 10 hours of driving in a weekend takes a lot out of you
- My sides still hurt from about 8 hours straight of laughing

Oh yeah - we totally need to get a group together to see A Scanner Darkly this weekend :)