i was rushing to meet a friend, but i was late. i seemed very young and everyone was outside ready for the competition to start. i found my friend and met up with him to watch the game. then i saw her, on the other side of the court. it was difficult because i haven't seen her in a long time. she walks with a new man now, and he was standing beside her. for some reason, they both looked very skinny. she saw me and then quickly turned away. she continued to look elsewhere. after a few minutes, i had to leave. when i got to my car i woke up.
i've been thinking about this all day and its weird - it made no sense in the morning but it seems to make perfect sense now.
site news: i did manage to clean up the photos and art pages... the thumbnails are much more enjoyable to navigate and i got rid of (well, hid actually) that flash presentation of the images.
health news: i've been exercising daily for a while now and it feels great. i can feel the results and i'm definitely stronger. what am i preparing for? i dunno. but today we started up basketball and while i was stronger, i definitely need to work on cardio. i think we're going to put together a team and compete in a league... can't wait!
we headed over to G4 TV's studio today to record the WAV segment for attack of the show. the place was really cool (at least to me). lots of people running around, video games everywhere, everyone seemed hip and full of energy. and the offices were filled with toys and figures. and the carpet was video game controllers! what a sweet carpet.
after waiting in the green room for a while, we went into the studio during wav's block. i took a bunch of photos during the taping (it was live) and i think wasim did a great job of covering the important points. the host commented on wav's layout being 'some of the best he's ever seen,' (!) which made me feel great.
wav magazine is going to be on G4TV tomorrow afternoon at 4:00pm. they'll be doing a segment on the mag, its roots and the people behind it (us) on "attack of the show" so be sure to catch it if you want to see my bro in front of the cameras. pretty exciting! i can't wait to check out their studio.
another studio image for good measure:
yesterday we were treated to a full-fledged pirate for figure drawing, and the task was to complete a full rendering in our 3 hour slot (poor model!). personally i believe i screwed up my decent foundation when i got to shading it, but it was still good practice - a challenge to take into account all the folded clothing as opposed to the nude form. here's the pirate:
then we went to the arsenal to meet up with some old friends... it was fun for the most part, just a little difficult to actually talk to people who are too drunk. that makes catching up not so fun. we almost didn't get in because we weren't 'dressed well enough.' but the bouncer 'let us slide this time.' thanks for letting us in pal, so we can walk around 100 guy and girl clones all dressed the same. then we basically got ditched when we all left. oh well, so it goes.
speaking of weapons, the new tool album seems to be getting closer and closer with their official page posting some studio photos as well as adam jones' myspace page. i'm so excited!
tonight we went to see a couple bands play at the nucleus. the first band was kite operations, and they were pretty interesting. they're from new york and tonight's show was the last of a little west-coast mini-tour. we had dinner with them later and they seem like good people.
the second act was a one-man show called the moscow coup attempt, and i really dug this. it was a guy on a powerbook with some external hardware, synths and a midi controller and the music was synced to projected visuals that gave the impression of... well... a moscow coup attempt. the music was really cool and fit the archival footage well.
then we headed out to hodori with a table of about 20 people, and chatted with the band and company. all in all it was a good night at the nuc. below are a couple of videos from the performances, and there's a bunch of photos up in the gallery.
since i make so many random sketches that i don't really flesh out or render, i decided to make a new sketches section on the art page to drop them. here's the first one.
we're just starting to pick up the pace on trips to the practice studio. it feels so good to get the musical streams flowing again. not sure what we'll end up with, but its starting out a little spacey, which is ok, and its in a prime spot ripe for gigging locations. here are a couple photos:
have you ever had one of those days where you talk to alot friends, family and good people and just generally hang out with everyone... but then for some reason feel really sad at the end of the day? i don't know why, but it happens occasionally. its hard to place it, but it seems like a feeling that is related to somehow missing these people. almost as if the feeling foreshadows missing them in the future, if that makes any sense. i took this photo about a week ago at the nucleus, and it somewhat captures how i feel. its beautiful, but makes me sad at the same time:
boy, i sucked it up in figure drawing today. actually one pose was ok, but the rest i just struggled with. its weird, somedays i can flow easier than others. i'm still trying to get used to the 'right' way of holding the charcoal pencil, and drawing large with my arm instead of small with my wrist. anyway, here's what we focused on today... (from my instructor's lecture demo):
in other news, i've been helping ben work on the new web site for the nucleus, and its coming along nicely. we should be ready to launch it within the next few days. there are a few exciting shows coming up, including two bands playing live next friday night, and the girl show (which will be huge) on september 3rd.
today i bought craig thompson's 'blankets.' once i started it, i couldn't put it down. this is one of the most honest stories of faith, love, innocense and fragility (and beautifully drawn). its reminders of falling into (and out of) love are so vivid its almost like reliving them. some of it was hard to read, but also so touching and nostalgic at the same time. so much of it reminded me of my own life... my childhood with my brother, my displacement from organized religion, and my first love. my heart goes out to you craig, for managing to capture these emotions in this wonderful package.
one of my new favorite things is the midnight drive from santa monica to pasadena, through downtown LA, with the matrix soundtrack singing through the speakers. the lights are spectacular and the freeways are empty. and the tunnels are sweet. its an explosion of awesomeness...
today i saw 'wedding crashers' and 'march of the penguins.' although they were both love stories, i enjoyed that latter more. maybe its because i love penguins, but for some reason the love was more believable in that film. those awesome beings show so much trust, determination, focus, will and care. so much love! take some time to go see it, its a great film.
MRS. HIDE
press your ear to the surface
you can hear them wailing on the other side.
one pause, one breath - too late
they'll eat you, mrs. hide.
down, down
weightless under the black.
its over when they grip your shoulders
you stood too close, mrs. hide.
its ok to cry
as you're eaten alive.
its not your fault.
its not your fault, mrs. hide.
it has been a subdued birthday and i think i enjoyed it this way. i spent half of the day hiking in temescal canyon with my brother and a couple friends and the second half just hanging out with one of my best buds (who finally has some free time to catch up). i didn't entirely want to celebrate it, so i'm glad i didn't really plan anything. a quarter of my life has passed... its been fun and filled with lessons and i can't imagine what is in store.
firegun: happy birthday - i hope the world is bringing you peace and health.
lightning bolt holt: happy birthday - i wonder what you are up to. i will look you up when i go to japan and hopefully we can catch up.
update: here is an intelligent read on video games, violence and their nature as a medium.
yesterday turned out to be an action-packed, fun-filled day of madness. i attended siggraph 2005 at the LA convention center, and it was pretty cool to see all the visual effects / art / rendering technology out there as well as some cool live demos. the wacom 21" cintiq tablets are amazing! so amazing that they are $2500! oh well. the show was a blast and it was really cool to hang out with everyone there. i put up a bunch of photos in the gallery, and there's a little video snippet i took of the motion-capture girl doing some motion-capturing (above).
