Find the Buffoonery!

So, Talking Points Memo is having a contest. Comb through Dick Cheney's quotes and find the one that best illustrates what a buffoon we have sitting in the Office of the Vice President.

Of course, EVERYONE remembers that Cheney said Iraq would be a cakewalk AND that we'd be greeted as liberators. But what else? He seems to have batted .0000 and yet people still fear this snarling old coot?

Join in the fun! Go to Talking Points Memo with YOUR favorite quote that shows just how out of touch with reality Cheney is.

Be Afraid, Straight People...

This PSA had me rolling on the ground laughing my head off... I have NEVER loved George Takei as much as I do now that he's come out.



All you straight boys... be afraid. One day, George Takei WILL make love to you.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Another One Bites the Wii

Woot!!!

Writerboy just informed me that he and the little missus scored a WIIIIIIIII!!!!!

That means that we'll have his avatars parading through our Wii and vice versa. This is so cool - Bratworse and I have been waiting for our friends to get Wiis as well so we can start playing games over the internet with them. We're hoping that we can play doubles tennis over the internet with our friends.

So far, we only have one Wii Buddy and that's my little cousin and his wife and kids' Wii. But one thing about having an Asian Wii buddy? All of our Miis start looking alike. No shit! Bratworse was cracking up about the fact that one of our Miis - the only blonde among the group totally stands out.

I'll have to try and put up pictures of some of our Mii avatars. Writerboy's avatar on our machine TOTALLY looks like him.

Can't Help Myself

So, I heard from an ex-client this week, Rafael Kayanan and of course, I do a google search on him. I check up on old clients occasionally and in fact, I had googled Raf a few weeks ago and found his old site which looked like it hadn't been updated in a while. I didn't look much further and now I'm kicking myself because I just found his artblog and found some really wonderful loose brush work that I had never seen him experiment on before in the 8-10 years I worked for him. So I'm stealing it to show off here, and give him some other exposure. Hope you don't mind, Raf!

Rafael Kayanan was one of my first 4 clients, and he was one of the ones I'd say I was closest to, in terms of friendships. We never ran out of things to talk about and I loved every moment we spent on the phone, and in person. I promoted the hell out of Raf because he was easily one of the most reliable and talented and nicest guys around, with one MAJOR plus: he understood the world of business and how it's run.

Head over there and be prepared to be overwhelmed a bit. Raf's like a modern-day Renaissance Man - he has to experiment with his artwork constantly and he is as deeply into his martial arts as ever plus he's forever trying to merge the two in his life.

OH! One further thing? That scene in Nobody where she's working out with the martial arts dummy? Raf and I had a HUGE discussion about that while I was writing it and though Charlie did an admirable job with his rendition, it looked NOTHING like what Raf and I were talking about.

And the title of this post? I just can't help myself... I LOVE my ex-clients' artwork and can't help promoting them still.

So, art directors, comic book editors, fight scene coordinators, stunt people, anyone who might want a talented artist with a strong style and MEETS DEADLINES, go to http://rafaelkayanan.blogstream.com/. Thank me later.

Deaths in the Building

I just found out yesterday that a neighbor of mine, a lady who lives on the 2nd floor with a small brown poodle, had a heart attack while she was walking the dog. A day later, she was pronounced dead at the hospital.

I remember when this lady moved in. She had moved in about a year or so after I did and usually, I don't pay much attention to people who live on the 2nd or 3rd floors since contact between floors occur on the rare side. This lady, however, greeted everyone with a hearty hello from the day she moved in.

We ALWAYS greeted each other in the hallways, whether it was on the way to work, or she was out walking her dog. She was a nice lady and I wish her family peace throughout this troubled times. I'll miss her, just like I miss Perriam from one of the penthouses and Jim who lived next door to me.

Out of Mainstream

Okay. I must admit that I could care less about Britney Spears nor what she did to garner such attention over the weekend, but this post in Gizmodo (of all places) brought her actions to my attention.

What got me ISN'T that she shaved her head. What got me is that the action of shaving one's head (especially if one is female) CONSTITUTES A MELTDOWN.

WTF?!?!? I mean, SERIOUSLY, WTF?!?

I had a mohawk in my 30's, not because of any political statement, nor because of punk music but because after TEN YEARS of thinking about it, my hairdresser said, if it's hideous, wear a hat for 6 months. With that one sentence, he quelled all of my doubts and all that was left was, "Why not?" Without a good answer, I finally said to my hairdresser, "Let's do it."

I loved it. And I looked good too. But after 9 months of being stared at and having no anonymity in the world at large, (because no matter what crowd you're in, be it S&M or punk, or what not, people WILL stare at a mohawk) I finally decided to give up the mohawk and the ONLY quick option out of a mohawk is to shave one's head.

In fact, one of my coworkers and I have decided that if one shaves his/her head, the the other will as well.

Bratworse shaves her head and she looks hot. I looked great with a shaved head too. NEITHER of us shaved our head because we were melting down. SHEESH!

Yes! Ignore Them Please!

Through Crooks & Liars, there comes news of a public radio station in Santa Fe, New Mexicon whose News Director has given instructions to ignore any press releases that quote unnamed sources.

HIP HIP HOORAY! This was always the question I couldn't understand - why news organizations would give credence to press releases quoting unnamed sources when it's been proved over and over again that these little nuggets contain a shit load of lies.

Memories of Chinese New Years' Past

The run up to Chinese New Years was always chaotic and bustling. Dad would start taking over the kitchen, to start preparing his Baat Boh Faan. Mom would buy outfit after outfit, to make sure everyone in the family had new clothes.

The phone would ring constantly, I think for friends and family to coordinate visits. For 14 days of the New Year, friends and family would take turns visiting each other which is called "Bai Neen." Gifts of food would be exchanged, packets of red envelopes would pass from the upper generation to the lower generation with wishes of good fortune spilling forth from every pair of lips.

The kids would disappear, and show up only to sneak candied fruit from dishes scattered around living rooms. The parents would sit around, gossiping, exchanging good wishes and hopeful dreams for the New Year. Sometimes, visits would overlap and we'd run into other friends of ours who were visiting the same friends. Or after an hour or so, we'd hop back into the car and go visit another.

After I came to America, I found out that Southern Chinese practiced not washing their hair on New Year's Eve and New Years Day for fear the good fortune would be washed out. I started practicing that along with all my pals from college, the only one in my own family to do so.

Also another practice which is common among most Chinese is gambling the night away. If you won, that would show that you'd have good luck/fortune for the next year. And if you lost, well, you'd hope that the new year would go by fast. I personally would like to practice this one but Bratworse hates gambling.

I do miss hearing the "pow chyung", the firecrackers - I miss smelling gunpowder. I also really miss the lion dances and the thump thump thump of the accompanying drums. Maybe one year, I'll bring Bratworse over to the Far East to see how Chinese New Year's is really celebrated.

Sister Talks

In my lifetime, I don't think I've EVER talked to my sister as much I have these past four weeks. It's been very nice.

So thanks Dad. Not sure if you can still hear us, but while we're dealing with the aftermath of your death, you actually brought my sister and I closer.

I'll come visit your grave next time I'm down in L.A.

How Did He Survive?

I sat, poised to close my eyes at any second, because I have a tremendous fear of heights.

But my eyes didn't blink, and I watched the entire video.

A man's main parachute AND backup parachute fails. His helmet video camera records the entire fall, AND his subsequent meeting of the earth. Furthermore, his friend falling behind him records the entire descent and more.

I can't believe the guy lived.

Turtle Memories

I'm not even sure how events transpired. I just remember someone telling me, "Oh you're into comics? You have to come meet Turtle then. He's from Singapore too and he's an artist who draws comics."

I remember meeting Johnny Lau then. He had scraggly hair, very artistic-like, all skin and bones, and he talked fast. It turned out that he knew some of my old friends from Singapore and we got to talking. For the first six months I knew Johnny, I was very nervous around him, because he was a published artist - he had a comic strip running in a Singapore newspaper called with a turtle main character, hence Johnny's nickname. But in time, I learned to relax and trust him like a brother.

Ideas would spill out of Johnny, with his hand movements slicing the air and penstrokes dicing up the page. Watching him draw was literally watching a scene unfold in seconds before your eyes. I had the wonderful opportunity during college to watch two of the fastest cartoonists around - Sergio Aragones and Johnny Lau.

Johnny moved back to Singapore after college and well, honestly? I've a poor sense of belonging - I rarely feel that I fit in anywhere and so I tend to drift away from people that I hang out with. It's all projections of mine and I know it, but sometimes fighting the feeling is hard, especially with months/years of separation so I just give into the feelings and let the friendships drift. We'd lose touch after a while (because I'd stop keeping in touch) but Johnny has always kept an eye out on my projects and every few years, we'd either email or see each other.

Johnny "Turtle" Lau is a good person and a good friend. I'm glad he's my friend.

As for that picture above? That's revenge for telling the entire Asian Animal House that I blogged about them. :)

Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot?

In this case, it's a resounding no. After years of hermitude, well, what passes for hermitude in the internet age, I've been found by my old college gang - the Asian Animal House. So Hi guys! Welcome to my blog and say hi to Bratworse.

Back in U.S.C. during the early 80's, most Chinese students (as is probably the case now) were either business students (so much so that there was a club called the Hong Kong Business Students Association), computer science students or electrical engineers. Well our group of pals consisted of mostly architectural students, two electrical engineers, one civil engineer, one business student and one communications student. (Guess who studied communications - yup, yours truly, the sore thumb that sticks out.)

Our group of friends liked to study hard (one exception was me), eat (hmm I didn't like to eat either but I loved the company), be silly (ooh oooh, now that's me!) and we LOVED to dance (Johnny, I can't remember the dance steps to that song from Footloose. Does anyone remember?). And in fact, we started dee-jaying for clubs' dances so that we could get in for free and dance all night long. And that's where the name Asian Animal House came from - it was our dee-jay moniker - AAH. And Animal House? Well, we started noticing that some members of our groups already had animal nicknames.

The two hearts of our group had the nicknames Chicken Egg and Turtle. We also had a Dead Dog and a Flee. Within a short time, animal names were assigned each one of us. To this day, I still get hippoes for my birthday and Christmas and yes, Hippo was my nickname. I kinda think resigned idealist is a little more suited, don't you? lol

I tend to drop out of sight for a few years - as all of my friends have found out over time. I think there was about 3 years in there where even my family couldn't get a hold of me.

So, thanks guys! Thanks for keeping me in your thoughts and continuing to keep track of me. I think of you all often, even if I don't call or write or email.

And definitely, auld acquaintances and in this case, auld good friends should not be forgot.

Scotty from Brothers & Sisters

Bratworse got me hooked on Brothers & Sisters and last night, we watched the Valentines Day episode. Scotty makes an appearance again as a blind date set up for the gay brother.

Luke MacFarlane portrays Scotty and I am way impressed with this boy. There was a look he gave the brother when he left after a one-night stand. That look, that one look, managed to show longing, regrets, pain, love and sensitivity all rolled into one look.

Scotty, the character, acts and looks just like some of my gayboy friends, the ones I love so much and yet are just "hi" friends, the ones I used to bowl with on gay bowling leagues.

Watching the show last night, just made me miss the energy and fun of gay boys.

Easy

My co-workers and I were discussing this case of a cop ejaculating on a stripper after he pulled her over. We talked about the stripper's white BMW and one of my co-workers declared, "All strippers have white BMWs," and another then followed with, "Especially if they're kissing other strippers."

I just said then, "You guys are SO easy!" and one of them declared "I'd rather be easy than difficult." So I retorted, "Well, I prefer difficult," meaning I'd rather be with women than with a guy.

As he walked away, I started snickering to myself because I realized that these guys must all prefer difficult themselves, even though they might be easy. After all, these guys are straight and married AND they mock one of the ex-coworkers who did end up with a stripper.

Maserati - Model

This is a three quarter view of my vehicle model. It's a 1957 Maserati Gp. I'm really, really happy with it. I added a gearshift and pedals, which you can't view from this perspective.

Sound Site

Through Pharyngula, I found this cool sound site called freesounds. What I love is what Dr. Myers said:

One creepy thing, though, if you have squeaky mattress. You'll also discover that people are recording what their neighbors are doing late at night.

How to Cut Off Nose to Spite Face

I was just reading this article about Lutherans voting to expel a gay minister when this blurb caught my eye.

Parishioners at St. John's Lutheran Church, a 135-year-old congregation on the edge of Atlanta's historic Druid Hills neighborhood, have strongly supported Schmeling. Since he arrived as pastor in 2000, the congregation has grown steadily, while the ELCA as a whole has been shrinking.

Hmm let's see, the church is growing but due to a gay minister so of course! The minister has to go.

And people wonder why I left the church years ago and why I never went into ministry like I had wanted as a teenager.

No Friggin' Way!

CNN's breaking headlines is:

The head of Cartoon Network, Jim Samples, has submitted his resignation in the wake of the Boston bomb scare sparked by an advertising campaign.

ARGH!

Cartoon Network did NOTHING wrong. The Boston Mayor and its police force OVER-REACTED. There is NO reason for him to resign.

Dang it! How is this fair?

It's okay for Bush/Cheney to have NO repercussions for their misdeeds, yet the head of a network resigns because some idiots mistook a MOONINITE for a bomb?

I'll bet that the first time Jim Samples even heard of this publicity stunt was the morning that Boston overreacted, even though the stunt had been going on for TWO WHOLE WEEKS already.

I hate it when people responsible don't take responsibility and people who aren't responsible are left in the lurch. These people are called SCUMBAGS.

Naming People

So of course I got Burning Crusade for World of Warcraft. And of course, I created Blood Elves.

I named my guy Paladin, Gryssic, and I named my girl Paladin, Thiodra. (Short story as to why I created two blood-elves paladin is because I promised Bratworse I wouldn't play Gryssic without her and she's got no time to play, so I created Thiodra to play more.) BTW, Bratworse asked me how I came up with these names and y'know? I have no idea.

The thing is, I'm totally in love with both of these names. I'm now trying to find a story to revolve around Gryssic and Thiodra. Any ideas?

It Had to Happen Sooner or Later

Y'see, this is what you all get for making brown-skinned people and gay people sooooo very scary. Cartoon characters, even pixelated ones like this one

will start taking on proportions of a very very scary terrorist.

Don't believe me? Ask the city of Boston. They just shut down the whole city because LED lights were giving them the finger.

AND you want to know what's the topping to this absurdist theatre playing in the streets of Boston? A TV station decided that LED lights that imitate giving you the finger is soooooo very scary and so very real, that they had to PHOTOSHOP the finger out.

Yes, Virginia. America IS losing its collective mind.

Nurbs Anyone?

My first class working in Maya was last Friday. Our first assignment was to model a picnic table and various items on top of it, creating a scene. Friday I hated the program. Saturday I hated the program even more. Sunday, I started getting the hang of things and although I still hated the program, I was getting some where. On Monday, hours before class started I was able to crank out a decent chess set! The critiques went well, and because I had modelled all the screws that would be involved in putting a wooden picnic table together, my peers began teasing me with "if you were asked to model a city, you'd model the plumbing!" (which would be unneccessary since in the model you wouldn't necessarily see the plumbing)

Our next assignment was to model a robot, but we have until Friday (Feb. 2) to turn it in. Last night I was helping someone with concept art for his robot, and we were able to put together some really neat 'scout-type' robot. I didn't really think much about how my input was effecting the actual design, but when he was later asked about it, I overheard him comment that it was actually co-designed by me. Shortly after I overheard this, the person whom he was showing the design to came over and asked my advice on his design. We rambled on about a lot of possible reasons for what he wanted to design and by the end of the night he was telling the instructor that he was going to change his design, because he really liked some of the things that him and I came up with. If they are successful in modelling what was designed, they're going to have some really top-notch robots that'll possess the functionality and believability that some of the other robot designs in the class are lacking.

After aiding in the designs of their two robots, I am not as excited about mine, but as I've discovered modelling is HARD. I'm not sure I'd ever want to do it for a living. The three classes that I've had already have given me a new appreciation of all the 3D animation out there.

Last night I was prowling the 'best of' folder for my modelling class to get an idea of what can be done, and out of curiousity I also took a peek at the 'best of' folder for my previous class "Compositing." To my amazement, both my midterm and final for that class were in the folder!

On another note, not really about classes: I'm doing much better now that I've been able to get some sleep. I don't know how people who suffer insomnia manage, although I'm not sure what was going on with me was insomnia. The worst thing about it, was that I was conscious of what was going on and could do nothing about it. I was extremely angry one minute than extremely depressed the next, nearly sobbing for want of sleep. A friend was telling me about this new genetic desease that causes people to suffer life without sleeping (it's not insomnia, it's related to prions (i think)). Of course they don't live very long, but while they are alive, there conscious of what's going on with their emotions, and yet can't do anything about it.