Subway Derailings, and the Ensuing Fun Thereafter
I think the MTA was trying to stop me from getting to work today. I usually take the G to the A to the F. So two transfers, but they're directly across the platform so it's never a hassle. But this morning when the usual G train came down the usual tunnel on the usual track in the wrong direction, I knew something was up. They were down to one track so the G was running back and forth on one line, making things a little crowded. And when I finally got to the F transfer stop, an F train had been derailed so they closed that track too. I know how incredibly fascinating this is to everyone, so to make up for it you can go play this Google Image Search game.
Tuesday, May 31 at 8:53 AM
The Saga Ends June 13th
Just a reminder that May's New York movie won't be up until Monday, June 13th in order to include these final two weeks of work. This movie will probably be the biggest and baddest, covering a trip to the Statue of Liberty, the Nintendo World grand opening, a visit from Hank, the Indiana wedding and plenty of teary-eyed goodbyes. Time permitting, a new photo gallery section might get thrown together in the meantime...check back again next weekend.
The new Ben Folds Songs for Silverman album rocks.
Monday, May 30 at 2:35 PM
Snapshots
Before starting each year of college, I would put together four pieces of posterboard and make enormous collages to decorate my dorm walls. They were scotch-taped collections of photos, menus, tickets, and various odds and ends from the previous years' adventures. Those 16 posters, when spread out across the long football field room I had in Baltimore, were a pretty good visual summary of my college experience (although my roommates mentioned it made me look like a serial killer with all those photographs...so I poisoned their Pop Tarts). Now with the digital camera, I go crazy taking photos and movies and have amassed a fat library of old stuff on my computer. It's so great to go back through it all every so often.
One takeaway is that my favorite photos and movies are the improptu ones. Never the ones where everyone gathers around, looks at the camera, and smiles or are too cool to smile (like about 94.3% of all band publicity photos). And then sometimes people will try to hide their face or run away from the camera or make excuses or whatever. I've never understood that. As a visual learner, a lot of my more vivid memories have some sort of photo or movie somehow attached to them. Kids have it right. They're so spontaneous and unpredictable, and their photos always rock (this one to the left is of my cousin Lisbeth's daughter, Katie, taken at last weekend's wedding).
So that's what I'm thinking about at 1AM. if you don't have a camera, get one and take more pictures than ever thought humanly possible...who cares if the photos are good or not. If you're one of those people who backs down when someone breaks out a camera, stop complaining and jump to the front of the group...who cares if you're photogenic or not. In 25 years, the memories, yours or others, will be completely worth it. (...cue the chimes and cut to the shooting star with the "More You Know" logo.)
Thursday, May 26 at 9:54 PM
Who Writes This Stuff?
Here are some of the search terms that visitors entered in May to get to okaysamurai.com: unique rooftop experience multimedia, final fantasy songs for harmonica, my child told a student he was fat and got suspended, hats with secret compartments or pockets, craplousy, is dave werner married, its okay to put dragons in the jungle and tears on a tiger, chart of ringtailed lemur population, positive responses for frisbee throwing, samurai history in 30 seconds, daschund pilot hat, shoot the dementors, karaoke chiuaua, what samurai am i?, antigravity fish tank, pictures of lord of the ring theme song on trumpet for beginners that can be printed and i need hydraulics for my friend andrew.
Wednesday, May 25 at 3:15 PM
Adobe Honorable Mention!
Hooray...I received an honorable mention in the 2005 Adobe Design Achievement Awards for the Broadcast Design category (my entry was the Cartoon Network snowman promo from last quarter's projects.) The prize is a free copy of After Effects Professional and a trip to the July awards ceremony in...New York City. I've heard it's really nice around this time of year.
at 12:47 PM
Hadoken Kings
The last of my cousins got married this weekend in Muncie, Indiana. The ceremony and reception went off without a hitch, and it was nice to spend time with our extended family. Now this leaves me next in line to tie the metaphorical knot...but my metaphorical flip-flops don't have any metaphorical laces. Anyway, Andrew and I managed to squeeze into a pre-wedding Revenge of the Sith screening, which lived up to expectations. According to a Rotten Tomatoes article, it's gotten the best reviews of the entire series. Only three weeks left to go in New York! Audible sigh. The last movie will be a little late in order to include stuff from the beginning of June.
Tuesday, May 24 at 3:24 PM
Nintendo Revolution Unveiled
This week is the massively hyped E3 Expo in Los Angeles, and if you're still reading, then you've probably heard the three next-generation systems: Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's Playstation 3 and Nintendo's Revolution. Even as a lifelong Nintendo fan, I'm optimistic with almost everything I've seen or heard from all three companies so far. Every system will have online play, wireless controllers, and some sort of backwards compatibility. The graphics are looking incredible, with PS3's Killzone looking especially jaw-droppingly awesome (to the point of people wondering if it's really possible). According to the slow leak of technical specs, the Revolution looks like the weakest and the PS3 the strongest, on paper.
But you know where my loyalties lie. We still haven't seen game footage or controllers for the Revolution, but the big announcement today was that the system will be able to play every Nintendo game ever created through an online download system. That's 20 years worth of stuff. The mention of a new, online Smash Bros. game at launch didn't hurt things either. Unfortunately, that's all they really threw out there in the typical secretive Nintendo fashion. When stacked up against what the other guys showed, it was a little underwhelming. Hopefully there are still some big secrets to reveal; they haven't proven what's so revolutionary yet.
Overall, I'm excited for this next wave and might finally buy a non-Nintendo system if one console can prove to have enough creative, exclusive titles. Less of the first-person shooter clones, more of the innovative experiences and stories that redefine what a "game" should be. Video games are well on their way to becoming as mainstream as TV, movies, and the internet...and I'd argue that they're starting to combine the best elements of those three.
New Cadence of Seasons sketch here.
Tuesday, May 17 at 8:30 AM
Goodbye Pencil and Paper
This Wacom tablet stuff is incredibly fun. I purchased it last weekend with the intent of gradually breaking through the learning curve so I could focus on production (s'about time) of Cadence of Seasons. Whereas before I was testing simple vector animations (like the bird that sometimes appears at the top of this page), it never felt like a unique style that I was satisfied with. Now the focus has shifted to less about animation and more about illustration, interaction, and the story. The goal is to have chapter one completed by the end of 2005, and bring on chapters two and three in 2006 and 2007 respectively. I hope this outlook can survive my ridiculously short attention span because the end result could be pretty spectacular if it gets pulled off halfway decently.
The Nintendo World grand opening was pretty fun; almost everyone waiting in line had some sort of Game Boy. Pikachu was there and (get ready to be alienated, 93.7% of you) I complained to him how cheap Ferenczy's Smash Bros. lightning attack was. Then he got stuck in the revolving door. Also caught the movie Crash (A) this weekend, and it's incredible - every single actor and actress does an outstanding job (my favorite was Michael Pena's locksmith character). Go see it.
Sunday, May 15 at 3:19 PM
Borrow Money From Uchenna
I just bought a Wacom Intuos3 6x8 tablet and am excited to see what this puppy can do. This means I'll be drawing directly into the computer instead of penciling, inking and scanning in sketchbook drawings. Special thanks to Clay (former Cav Daily comic artist and the creative mind behind the hilarious Rob and Elliot) for all of his technical help. In New York news, Hank visits Pentagram tomorrow, and this Saturday marks the grand opening of a Nintendo concept store in Rockefeller Plaza...I won't be satisfied unless I get my picture with Pikachu.
Wednesday, May 11 at 2:08 PM
Goulet!
This week is devoted to Broadway; last night I saw La Cage Aux Folles starring the one and only Robert Freakin' Goulet, and this weekend I'll check out Avenue Q. Outside of editing the movie, this weekend was insane. Thanks to Chinatown for the free bottle of wine, that swanky wedding reception we crashed for the champagne, and that cab driver for driving in reverse for two blocks.
Thursday, May 5 at 9:45 AM
Sunday, May 1 at 10:43 PM
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