well, headquarters received the shipment of wav issue 005 and i have to say - this is by far the best issue yet! the new printer we went with did a fantastic job, and are the nicest people as well. the color representation and paper stock is incredible, i am so pleased! now we're updating the web site and the media kit, distrobution information, marketing, etc. issue 005 will be hitting the streets shortly, stay tuned...

tonight its time for a couple of beers and some batman begins with some comrades. peace!

so it seems like its been about a month or so since i've really relaxed at home (or even got a solid night's sleep). so the last few days have been welcome, and i've picked up/ordered some stuff for good times. since nothing really eventful has happened for a couple days, i've decided to write about this material stuff.

a friend told me about metroid metal which comes at an extremely welcome time since i've gotten way into metroid lately. i played a bit of super metroid and have started metroid prime over again, with the intention of finishing it this time. so the tunes from metroid metal were very nostalgic and very well done / interpreted, and it pushed me to order a shirt which i love. it features a little metroid with headphones on! and it came with a free sticker!

i also ordered the two towers and return of the king extended editions since i was missing these, and henrik's been really into them lately. we started return of the king last night, and the extra scenes are actually pretty cool so far... the movie definitely feels 'different.' sarumon's death scene in particular was kinda disturbing. i also got batman begins which i'm excited to watch on the projector. i saw it in the theater and thought it was awesome - probably the best batman movie to date (and pretty damn sweet on its own). i think i'll have a viewing party on sunday eve....

i also got final fantasy: advent children, and took a peak at it (no time to watch at the moment)... the animation is absolutely incredible, some of the best i've seen, though i have a feeling the story won't be as impressive.

on a much lamer note, apparently someone has been withdrawing money from my account on some random ATM machines across the city. almost $600 so far... my bank is investigating. my only guess is that my card's info was recorded by a swiper attached to a machine i've used recently, and someone made a fake card using that info later. i'll post what comes of this later...

tonight danny, tanya and i went to see dan perform in "tape 39" (directed by cheolseung kim from the three chairs theater company) at the los angeles theater, downtown. i'm not sure what to say... dan was excellent, as was another bearded guy that we all liked, but i had no idea what it was about or what was actually happening. this made it difficult to feel for any of the characters or care what was going to happen next. it also made it difficult to be pleased, disappointed, or surprised by the plot. i was staring. after we left, i read the synopsis in the program and it made MUCH more sense. i should have read it before. :|

as i pulled out of the parking lot, i turned into a bus lane and got a ticket. immediately. that sucks.

i saw serenity tonight, and i definitely enjoyed it. it was somewhat moving to see all my favorite characters on the big screen, shot on film. it had a very different look than the tv series and in my opinion lost a bit of its charm, grit and western feel because of this. it also seemed a little more 'space-movie' like than the series, which is also odd because the intention of the show was the opposite. all in all though, i was happy to get one more adventure with the firefly crew. to avoid spoiling it, i won't write about the plot.

i also watched a few shorts from robot carnival, including franken's gear and cloud. these two shorts had a major impact on my life and its nice to watch them every once in a while. its one of those things from my childhood that stuck forever. for all my friends who wonder why i am obsessed with robots, just pick up this dvd and watch those... you'll understand. keep in mind it must have been about 6th grade, really late at night, on some random cable channel when i stumbled across it. i was floored.

in other news, talks of treasure hunting with nick have been filling the air, and i believe we're going to start our training with a basic diving class in san pedro/long beach that ends with an exam off catalina island. after that it'll be sailing training for me...

firefly is rockin' me. its very cowboy-bebop, but live action, and i love the characters. it reminds of the anime series that i get into because you can't wait to watch more, to dive into more mini stories. i can't wait to see serenity... almost done with the episodes.

this weekend carried a personal trial. one of my favorite lessons is 'the hardest thing to do is usually the right thing to do,' and for me the hardest thing to do was share a moment with a ghost. for a moment i thought maybe i could act content, candid, past-forgotten, "mature." but to me maturity is honesty, and i was honestly broken, betrayed. i cannot act. it seems that everyone has had the same advice - to forget; its in the past; ignore and move on. to me, this is dishonesty with oneself. i have difficulty with dates, street names, places, formalities and tradition. but when it comes to the heart - i never forget. and to me, this is not a weakness but a strength. i left the moment ultimately reminded of an unhealthy relationship that left the heart bruised, of what we both truly lost, and of what i am truly searching for. that is alot of "to me's"; this is survival. still... i was refreshed.

dave and twi, your love inspires:

my head was spinning and i had to clear it. there is nothing better than some true comrades, art and goofing off at, ironically, the monster show. right now it is raining and thundering, and i love it!

an unexpected package arrived today - a 2005fpw 20.5" lcd monitor. i have been wanting one of these for quite a while - they have amazing picture quality (same screen as the apple cinema displays, with a different backlight and electronics) - so you can imagine my complete surprise. i was staring at the box for a while, trying to figure it out, when i remembered that my good friends at techease mentioned i would be receiving a gift for a bunch of website/graphic work.

i'm blown away! i still can't believe it. its super sharp and crispy, and very vibrant. laying out double page spreads and photoshop work is like a dream on this thing. thank you so much techease! i'm going to finish watching firefly on it. :)

wav 005 has gone gold and is off to the printer! rejoice! to celebrate, i sketched more. i'm really digging alias sketchbook now... its so liberating to just use the tablet, no keyboard involved. there's a couple more illustrations i dumped in the art section.

lately i've been thinking about getting an acoustic guitar. its about time... i'd like to just leave my electric at the studio.

today henrik and i went to universal studios. i haven't been there in a while, and some stuff was gone, some was changed, and some stuff was new. i was kinda excited about the mummy ride, and it started off awesome, and remained awesome for about 20 seconds. then what happened you ask? the ride ended. i thought maybe our cart would turn around and get launched onto another track or something. nope. honestly, it is the shortest ride i've ever been on in my life. really weird... its like the designers never actually went on the ride after completing it.

henrik wants to see alot of sites before he has to head back to stockholm, sweden, so this was the first (local) trip of several coming up. we're going to hit up san francisco, las vegas and the grand canyon (which i'm really excited about) pretty soon. on the subject of trips, it looks like our japan visit will be pushed out a couple months. that's ok, it gives me a little more time to learn some japanese and the weather will actually be nicer i think.

i just wrapped up the final edits to wav 005, so to celebrate i actually had time to do a couple sketches. i've been trying out alias sketchbook pro, and i'm really digging it. it is way more responsive and fluid with the drawing tablet than both photoshop and painter. here's a tree and a chopstick woman:

my brother and i went to the los angeles natural history museum for their 'first fridays' show. these are a party of sorts that takes place within the museum. you can walk around and check out the exhibits, and there's drinks and live entertainment in different nooks and crannies.

but tonight... tonight was a special treat. the main hall was absolutely packed with everyone anxiously awaiting the performers. it was an odd venue - full dinosaur bones behind you, extinct animal exhibits in glass niches along the walls, and a full stage set up at the end of the hall. the first act was quetzal, and i was so moved by the violin phrases and solos. the violinist had so much expression in the notes... she was also really pretty! :)

after the opening act, son de madera, a jarocho band from veracruz, mexico, took the stage with special guest zach de la rocha. this seemed like a rebirth of sorts for zack. it was amazing to hear him playing guitar and singing (pretty well) with the band (who were incredibly talented). but when he busted out his notebook and began passionately and angrily flowing, it was spine tingling. his lyrics were charged and relevant, and you could just tell that he's been cooking stuff for a while. his familiar raspy delivery and intense focus was inspiring.

to me, zach has always been a symbol of integrity; someone who's foundation runs deep. to see him up there smiling and dancing after a few years of solitude was so comforting. the performance was real and raw and i'm hopeful that he'll be releasing material and performing more in the near future.

after meeting up with raymond from the lions den in chinatown to discuss some website work, danny, tanya and i headed over to dan and matt's (crazy) apartment to... have some tea and honey. and lazer stuff. anyway, here's my robot name, what's yours?

the wav 005 deadline-crunch-lunacy has arrived. extremely late nights of interactive layout frenzy. pretty bad tasting pizza. war crys, hollers and unintelligible speach patterns. courthouse devils. pieces of cars stacked in a parking spot. glowing apples everywhere. we're almost ready to print, and this is going to be the best issue yet!

the photo above is a view of the final production layout. view some more photos from the final days of production here. its incredible what a handful of dedicated night-owls can accomplish. i just realized on the 3:00am drive home that there's nothing i'd rather be doing right now, and that brought some peace to my heart. :)

the wav team is on full throttle - issue 005 is nearing completion. we've been tunneling through the mass of text and layout (see production board photo below) all weekend and its coming together quite nicely. the work is exhausting... luckily i have kirby's avalanche and guitar breaks. 84 pages, full color glossy and some very very exciting features (its a surprise). i can't wait until this hits newstands and stores. next up on the list: wav offices. we spent a full day working from wasim's video editing office at sunset gower studios (see photo below (yeah, that's the hollywood sign which is a bummer but the studios are actually pretty chill)) and the benefits of a dedicated space were readily apparent. we'll be looking into renting our own soon enough, that's gonna be awesome!

while jamming in the studio, marlin turned me on to a band that i'm really really digging right now: opus dai. give them a listen - its like a dredg/floater/mars volta smoothie! gosh! p.s. - they're in wav 5 too.