103 Swashington New Year's Eve Party!
My old roommates from Baltimore and I are throwing a New Year's Eve party in Philly this year. If you'll be in the northern east coast area for the holiday season, you've got to check it out. Mike and I will be providing the live musical entertainment (the projected lineup includes Pour Some Sugar On Me, Straight Up, Yeah, Forgot About Dre and Like A Prayer). There's also an extremely good chance that we might see some onstage appearances by the original Okay Samurai guys! Tammer recently bought a house in Philly, with plenty of room to party well into 2006. So you're all invited. Check out the invitation here.
Monday, October 31 at 9:04 PM
Happy Halloween
Another Speak Up illustration; this month's theme was "quick".
Sunday, October 30 at 12:16 PM
OKSMM TV?
The New York and Yeah Acoustic movies have been revamped using Flash 8's new video tools...in other words, they'll load much faster. After graduation, I'm thinking of doing a heck of a lot more with video on this site. Possibly a monthly Okay Samurai interactive TV show with interviews, movie/music/game/site reviews, new acoustic songs, and video journal entries. If any of the other samurai (or any of you reading this) own video cameras, we could even have special correspondent updates from around the world. I'm excited about the possibilities of how this idea could evolve.
Saturday, October 29 at 9:41 AM
Spiral Notebooks
In fifth grade at Terra Centre Elementary (go Tigers), an author came to speak at one of our assemblies. The only thing I remember from it was his advice to keep a journal. So I began writing in my Dick Tracy spiral notebook daily. There are some classic entries there, like the day my hermit crab died and the first time I ever played a Super Nintendo at Brandt Lubratich's house (a fateful day indeed). The daily entries lasted about a year, but the Dick Tracy journal was retired in sixth grade. I didn't start back up again until creative writing in 11th grade, when we were forced to write everyday as part of our grade. This blue spiral notebook lasted a little longer, chronicling everything from my big high school breakup (the teenage drama goes on for like ten pages) to first drafts of some Second Nature song lyrics. And then I heard about this Blogger thing in 2000, and kept a private online journal for a couple of years before starting up this public one.
It's entertaining to read through all of these today - the ups and downs, the normal days, the watershed moments - everything. Yeah, we do the same with photos and videos, but nothing seems to capture our voices and thoughts as well as writing. So if you've never checked out Blogger, which is really just a nerdy way of saying spiral notebook, click here. Make it private or public or whatever - just freakin' make one. It only takes like two minutes to set up, it's endlessly customizable, it's free, and you'll be hooked immediately. I like writing before going to sleep (laptop in bed, Carrie Bradshaw style)...it's always a nice way to end the day.
Thursday, October 27 at 9:31 PM
Big Fun at Henle's Loop
This past saturday was a fantastic day. The samurai (minus Dave) all met up for Dim Sum at Jeff Chin's touted "China Garden" in Rosslyn. Many tasty treats were consumed with my favorite again being the bor-lor bao (pineapple). The crew then headed over to my apartment where we played approximate 6 hours of video games. Many classics were brought out on the Super NES including Mario Kart Battle Mode (stage 4 obviously), Tetris Attack, Super Tennis, and Andrew introduced us to some craziness called "Dance, Dance, Revolution". In my opinion it involved way too much physical exertion, which is an oxymoron to video games and defeats the entire concept of sitting on your butt and being lazy. But anyhew. We then ordered $6,000 pizzas, what the heck, Papa John's totally ripped us off. The guys headed out around 7 or so and I was so tired that I managed to pass out at 8:30pm and slept 12 hours. It was ridiculous, but I felt great on Sunday. Had a great time guys, we definitely need to start hanging out more!!! Anyone up for a jam session? Eh? Dave, are you coming home for Thanksgiving? If so, we should have a reunion in the Basement of Doom. Flights are so expensive to Tucson and Maine I might be sticking around. Let's catch up soon guys. PEACE!!!
at 5:41 AM
Coldlanta
It got cold here over the weekend - we had to crank up the heat here at the Alamo. But that's just weather small-talk because there's not much else new to write about. Quite a few friends are heading up to New York during these next few days for a portfolio review in hopes of snagging some sweet jobs. Special congrats to Howard for accepting at BBDO and J-Ma for accepting at Abercrombie (designing for their Hollister brand). A site OKSMM recently finished for PC photography instructor Peter Hobbs should be live soon. The 103 Swashington guys and I are throwing a New Year's Eve party at Tammer's place in Philadelphia, with musical entertainment to be provided by some of the samurai; more info coming next week.
Wednesday, October 26 at 10:34 PM
Final Portfolio Checklist
The final portfolio is shaping up to include about fourteen projects. All killer no filler, I hope. Here's all that is standing between me and a Portfolio Center graduate tee shirt:
* Logos: various logos in all sorts of styles for a pizza place, church, maintenance company, caribbean dance troupe, ranch, construction company and maybe a few more.
* Wine Bottles: Those blue ones with the musical notes from fourth quarter.
* Chair: The 150-pound metal chair "Impact" from fourth quarter.
* Brinker International Annual Report: An online annual report with a cookbook theme.
* Saint Petersburg, Russia Graphic Identity Manual: An interactive brand strategy and guide for a city identity system.
* Self-Image Book: A collection of stories about female self-image, directed to challenge current social standards.
* Wachovia.com Redesign: Something to replace the crap they have up there now.
* Kennedy Center Brochure, Postcards and Poster: Printed pieces from fifth quarter about the Kennedy Center in DC.
* Illustration Book: An interactive collection of illustrations created over the past couple of years.
* Teach For America poster: A different take on the same concept as the red chalkboard poster from fourth quarter.
* Cadence of Seasons: the often delayed and over-hyped interactive novel that started in fourth quarter.
* Ad Campaign: Not sure exactly what yet...maybe the American Institute of Architects ads from fourth quarter. Possibly some magazine and motion graphics stuff.
* New Interactive Symphony: An interactive music piece similar to the Concert World and Miyamoto games.
* Portable Coffee Machine: a futuristic product design based off the artwork of Feng Zhu.
Monday, October 24 at 4:21 PM
Graduation, Bull Roast, Claire's Goodbye Party
Friday night was PC graduation (for my friends...still one quarter left for me), and everyone met up for an after-party at Apres Diem. We closed the place down without getting into too much trouble. Kate, Anne Marie and I ended up at Waffle House at 4AM...yeah, it was one of those nights. Then on Saturday evening, Ashley and I went to a UVA Atlanta Alumni event called the Bull Roast. A free bar, all-you-can-eat buffet, and an insane band wearing matching metallic silver suits made it a night to remember. Later on, everyone streaked across Piedmont Park. Or maybe that was just me. Or maybe I'm just making that up. Anyway, tonight we had a going away party for Claire Danielson, part of the PC staff. I did a little guitar serenade action, complete with a rose in the mouth. So overall it was a great weekend, and now I'm paying for it with a long night of work ahead. Oh well, it was worth it.
Sunday, October 23 at 6:34 PM
It Must Have Been Love, But It's Over Now
This Friday is graduation, which means most of the people I came in with are leaving Atlanta within the next couple of months. Pretty sad, yeah. No more J-Ma or Paris. At the same time, it's going to be exciting to see what everyone ends up doing in the next few years. There will always be conferences and symposiums and brouhahas in the future for us to get back together; the design world is so small. The fact that every other creative peep has a website/blog should make keeping up with everyone that much easier. A few predictions of where some of my friends will be in five years:
*Steve: Becomes the world's first Professional Shirt Un-Buttoner.
*Erik: Designated poster child for an anti-whipping-abuse organization.
*Dave O: Teaches a university philosophy class, but makes up all the theories and facts on the spot ("Dude...Pavlov hated Eskimos").
*Josh D: Powers third-world countries with breakdancing and solar energy collected from his teeth.
*Howard: Writes the great American novel, Howard's Hill, a story of a valet parking attendant in a time of love and war.
*Craig: Host of the hot new dating show Do You Have a Sister?
*Jeff B: Designs custom x-treme whitewater rafts. So x-treme, you don't get wet; the water gets you.
*Abby: Starts an entire plant/kitchen product line based on her Tulip Blender. The Poision Ivy Spatula is a bestseller.
*Margo: Directs her first indie film, a touching drama entitled Tiramisu Martini.
*Rusty: Starts a bar somewhere in the south. Shots are always on the house.
*Dayle: Buys out Michael's, Total Crafts, and Utz's Crab Chips division.
*Matt: Is always seen in public, for some strange reason, permanently holding two cases of beer over his head.
*Jeff M: Launches his third clothing line, MAdern Man.
*Alison: Crowned as Hollywood's next It-Girl. Dates Wilmer Valderrama for a week...just because she can.
I'm probably like 93.8% right on these...mark my words.
Wednesday, October 19 at 7:19 PM
Two Years Later
Just wrote a new entry on the Portfolio Center site.
Monday, October 17 at 11:13 AM
Downtime
I'm really sorry for anyone who tried to visit the site today...our entire hosting company was down. I'm switching to a more reliable host with more storage space for the movies soon anyway, so hopefully this won't be repeated. How perfectly timed with the new site launch. To make up for it, here's some fun stuff: amazing sand paintings, electronic paper and invisibility cloaks.
Saturday, October 15 at 1:53 PM
Okay Samurai Multimedia Version 5
Today marks the launch of OKSMM's fifth incarnation. It's been updated in preparation of a life after graduation. So what's new?
* Brand New Design. The journal updates are still the most regularly updated feature, so the layout and type have been cleaned up for better readability. Gotsta stick with my brand colors of red, black and grey. Each individual post has its own permanent page now in addition to the monthly archives. There are also new random Flash headers (one with old Okay Samurai concert footage) and featured projects.
* A New Cardboard Box. I really wanted our archives to be entertaining and visually-driven instead of the usual crappy sitemap directory (but there's still one there if you enjoy being boring). Every movie, comic, drawing, entry and song we've put up here since 1998 is now easier than ever to find.
* RSS and XML Feeds. Well it's about freakin' time. Now you can subscribe to our journal entries on news feeders and mobile devices, so you'll always be the first kid on the block to know about the latest updates.
* Secrets. Want to find the time I got published in Nintendo Power magazine and use it as blackmail? That photo and a few other secrets are hidden throughout the site.
There are also links to friends of the samurai, a new mailbox, some new dedicated pages for things like the TFA Chronicles and Okay Samurai music, and promise of a final portfolio on the way. Since the entire site was reformatted, the journal archives are still missing a few pictures and links, but they should be fixed shortly.
Hope you enjoy the new look. Since day one, this site's main purpose is stay in touch with family and friends...thank you to everyone who continues to visit. No matter where I end up after graduation, you can be sure that there will be plenty more stories, movies, music and adventures yet to come.
Friday, October 14 at 2:55 PM
Woah.
Holy crap, that "You Belong To PC" movie got around quickly...I definitely didn't foresee this kind of reaction. Great, now the Creative Circus probably hates me...oh well, it's about time we started a prank war with those guys. Thanks so much to PC, Paris, AIGA Atlanta and SpeakUp for linking to the song.
Something cool is coming here on Friday...
Wednesday, October 12 at 3:01 PM
The Warp Pipe Theory of Interactivity
In the original Super Mario Brothers game for Nintendo, you could play the game straight through normally and be fully entertained. But once you discovered that you could press down on certain pipes to enter entirely new areas, it added a new dimension to the experience. Nintendo games still carry secrets today; there is always a hidden cave, racing shortcut or unlockable character somewhere.
The feeling of reward from finding these secrets is a satisfying sense of accomplishment. It's something that should carry over into interactive experiences more, whether it's for a website, DVD, museum kiosk or whatever. There's probably some economic law about the diminishing returns of secrets...but I'll just call it the Warp Pipe Theory of Interactivity™. Just like the first time you made Mario go down that warp pipe, secrets can add new layers and depth to interaction, but they are not necessary to the experience's success. They are the icing on the cake...well, probably more like the hidden marshmallows inside the cake. This goes beyond what some people call "easter eggs", which seem to have the connotation of being pointless with very little reward involved.
The advertising industry is infatuated with guerilla and viral marketing right now. Burger King's Subservient Chicken was an overnight success, but what gave it lasting power - the reason it has over 396 million hits today - were its secrets. Bloggers, email forwarders and communities everywhere were sharing keywords like Taco Bell or Crispin. Whether it actually helped sell Whoppers is debatable, but there was definitely depth to it. The campaign would have been nowhere near as successful if they had just put in a drop-down menu with 25 actions. The fun was in the discovery.
This is an idea I've tried to implement often. When drawing Second Nature in college, I hid a small star in every comic strip, and only explained it once. But people looked for it, and I would get angry emails if I forgot to draw it in one day. So even if the comic wasn't funny, at least you could find the star. Waldo is hidden on that treasure map poster from fifth quarter (if you're a PC student, go into Tania's office and look for him), there's a secret warp zone if you click on the green eye behind the sword in Miyamoto, and all sorts of small details are hidden in last week's robot illustration.
This isn't to say that Citibank needs an invisible question mark block on their retirement FAQ that gives you a 1UP (although that would be pretty sweet). But what if you clicked on the umbrella in the logo on the top of the page, and it took you to a video explaining the history behind the symbol? It's not necessary to the experience, but would be satisfying and rewarding regardless (as long as it doesn't interfere with the navigation or detract from the brand quality). The site would be that much richer, deeper, and more interactive.
If PC had a thesis program, this probably would have been mine. Either that or The Effects of Caffeine and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts on Sleep Schedules or Why Does Howard Hill Rock So Hardcore?. Those probably would have been more interesting. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going down the South Colonial Homes Apartment sewers; I heard there's a secret tunnel to the golf course.
Monday, October 10 at 11:19 PM
Brand Alphabet
How much has branding affected you? Find out here. I'm 14/26.
Friday, October 7 at 6:34 AM
Religion
I finished up my Blockbuster Online stint with A.I., What Dreams May Come and Schindler's List...light viewing all around. All three movies deal with the theme of existence in different ways, which is as deep and complicated a concept as there is. It's stories like these that make you reassess your own life and wonder where your individual potential lies. I was raised Catholic; Andrew and I were altar boys and went to CCD (weekly religious education classes) through high school. We were fortunate to have an incredible pastor at our hometown church; Father Martin is the man. Like most people, while growing older I've questioned the church and sought answers for individual issues of morality, and this has often created conflict with the Roman Catholic doctrine. But there's no religion out there that is always going to fit 100% perfectly with all my personal beliefs, which have changed with age, education and environment.
The story of Schindler's List was an extraordinary situation, but the fact remains that Schindler's actions were responsible for saving over a thousand lives, which has multiplied to four times that today throughout family generations. All religion aside - holy crap, that's an incredible way to spend a life. Sort of makes you feel guilty playing Mario Kart and watching a Laguna Beach rerun.
I don't know what's in store for me after death. The end of my existence, the start of eternal life, or another adventure altogether. I can't comprehend any of them, and it scares me if I try to. I do believe in God. I've seen the best (parishioners building homes for the poor in Haiti) and worst (a priest embezzling church funds for a vacation home) of organized religion at the very church I grew up with. Whatever the case, I want to live my time here to the fullest potential. And yeah, Mario Kart has a place in that picture, because it's making me happy, and sometimes keeps 1-3 other people happy if we're playing battle mode. Life is made up of individual experiences that continually change and shape us, hopefully into a better person than we were yesterday. The failures and the successes each have value.
The high demands of Portfolio Center have disciplined me into more of a workaholic than ever before, but I also feel that I've created and accomplished more here than ever before in my life. That includes a heck of a lot of necessary failures. I hope that every remaining day of my life challenges me to become a better person and somehow make the world a little bit of a better place, no matter what the final outcome of life.
Wednesday, October 5 at 7:42 PM
Someday...
Someday, when Dave is a rich and famous rock star/graphic designer/puppetmaster (ala John Malkovich), I will be his nerdy scientist friend, hanging out backstage and telling all the groupies that I once rocked out on drums in a little dive heavy metal bar in Baltimore with THE MAN and played Paula Abdul while goth chicks sang along. And perhaps, if we're lucky, Dave can get Let it Die to open for him. Yeah, that will be awesome...
Oh, and for those who enjoy a good laugh (this eliminates my principal from Baltimore School #80), check this out, and turn the volume up (it's not dirty, don't worry): http://yourethebest.ytmnd.com/ Dave, that's the site I was talking about the other day. It is from the same people who gave us the memorable Yourethemannowdawg.com http://yourethemannowdog.ytmnd.com/
Oh man, I just realized that this is a huge site! There's a ton of stuff for wasting time. The base url is www.ytmnd.com, but another funny one is: http://ualuealuealeuale.ytmnd.com/. It's no Spongemonkeys, but check it out. Aight, peace from PGH.
Monday, October 3 at 9:56 PM
You Belong at Portfolio Center
Click here to watch the 3-minute customized rendition of Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" from this morning's student orientation. It was well received, and the new class seems very cool. I've got Shaun Brasfield (the instructor I did that Rene Magritte painting for back in 2nd quarter) and Melissa Jun (who just finished helping me with the female self-image project) as graduate advisors...so my final quarter here has officially begun. Hope you enjoy the song.
at 5:22 PM
Mariah, You on Fi-Yah
Another illustration for Speak Up; this month's theme was "blah".
School starts back up tomorrow, and I'm putting on a little performance at the first quarter orientation in the morning. Most likely it will involve an acoustic rendition of Mariah Carey's We Belong Together. I'll try to film it and put it up here later (showtime is 9AM if you want to sneak in).
Sunday, October 2 at 12:20 PM
Okay Samurai Multimedia is Dave Werner's personal site. I'm currently working at Minor Studios in San Francisco. Thanks for visiting! (more...)
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