A Child Of Atom

Bar Karma

2011-03-05T21:31:00.002-05:00

In case you aren't aware the last project that I worked on before leaving the firm where I spent the past few years was the permanent set for a new TV show called "Bar Karma." It's on the Current TV network, and they have described it as "Cheers" meets "Twilight Zone."

The basic concept is that if you're fate, or karma, is about to put you into direct conflict with the time stream... if some act you are about to make puts the future in harm's way... you might get pulled out of time and into Bar Karma, where you'll be helped to understand the choice you are about to make, and possibly dissuaded from it. Part of Current's format is that they pull a lot of content from the internet, current news, etc. so in keeping with that Bar Karma is being written by crowd sourcing the scripts. The idea is put up on the internet and the community at large gets the opportunity to not only critique it and suggest ideas... but to actually write the script. An interesting concept, no?

And... all the scenes shot in the bar? (about 80% of each episode.) Well... I designed that. Technically I, and Scott Tedmon-Jones, under the direction of Michael Hotopp designed it... but, whatever... that's my name on the credit scroll, damnit!!! Look at that! My first national level project!

Tonight, Your Weight Is...

2011-02-15T23:35:00.002-05:00

So... I'm kinda chunky. I'll admit it. 8 years ago when I left grad school I was topping out at my heaviest weight ever: 215. In the grand scheme of America, not as bad as it could be, especially considering that I'm from the South... so... you know... fried. Yum.

I've never really had an exercise routine, unless you count PE, which I don't, for various reasons. I've had one of those sort of blessed metabolisms that meant that even though I didn't exercise, and I ate like crap... it didn't really matter. That was of course until I turned 30-ish, and like most people with that blessed metabolism my body threw on the brakes and I started taking on the pounds.

Grad school was a bit of a nightmare. Crappy hours, stress, and for some reason not a vegetable to be had. (Seriously, as an aside here to parents who have or are considering sending a child to UConn... have a look at the dining halls, the healthy options are fairly non-existent, and the local eateries are worse.) By the time I left I was fairly large.

New York City, by dent of being New York City helped me lose some of that. Just the massive increase in walking that was added to my daily routine meant that I I was back down to 200ish within the first year, and I sort of hovered there for the past few years. I've always sworn that I'd never let my waist size exceed my inseam (34) but for a while now I've been suffering from Dunlap's Disease.

In September I decided to do something about that. As I've mentioned Kid Flash is a runner. I've sworn, forever, that I'm not a runner. I've always said that the only way I would ever run was if something was chasing me, and even then it would depend on how big it was. I even warned Kid Flash about that when we first started dating, that he shouldn't ever expect me to run with him.

Turns out I'm a liar.

I've slowly been creeping up in weight again, owing to domestic bliss, or whatever... and something had to change. So I started the Couch to 5K program. The idea there is that anyone, no matter the basic fitness level, can do the program and within 9 weeks run a 5K. It took me about 12 weeks, owing to various events, but in December I ran a 4 miler (slightly more than the 3.1 mile 5K.) And you know what... I kind of like it.

The weather's turned bitter, and I hate the winter, which means that other arrangements had to be made... so last week I did something else I thought I'd never do. I joined a gym.

The good news though, is that my metabolism is up, and my weight is down. As of yesterday I weigh 193. A far better cry that the 210 I was at in September. And the morning gym trip has been great at "normalizing" my day now that I'm back to freelancing and setting my own hours. I went 4 days out of 5 last week.

If nothing else being ~~unemployed~~ a freelancer is doing good things for my waist line.

The Freelance Life

2011-02-04T23:46:00.002-05:00

And thus ends week one of unemployment.

Wait... my first week of returning to freelancing. Yeah. That's better.

It's been an interesting week. I've cleaned more than I have in months, which probably makes Kid Flash happy. Besides the basic household stuff like laundry and dishes I emptied all of my shelves of supplies and then put it all back on again. I completely rebuilt my work table, etc. etc. but it was really a defense mechanism/way to procrastinate, and I know that.

One unexpected thing I've discovered is that I need a social outlet. Other than a trip to the comic shop, and a production meeting at the Children's Theatre, I haven't been south of 145th street all week. And frankly if a friend hadn't given me a guest pass to a gym and taken me there twice... I probably wouldn't have gone out as much as I did. If I really am going to continue in the vein of freelancer, I'm going to need to figure out some reasons to get out of the house.

I have a standing bi-weekly movie date with Mark. And presumably once things get rolling I'll have meetings and things again, but... yeah. I need to get out more.

365.1: 002

2011-02-02T22:19:00.002-05:00

303 Days Later

2011-02-01T21:43:00.004-05:00

Nope. I don't know what happened.

Nope. I can't promise it won't happen again.

Yep. I'm back.

So what have I been up to?

I learned to snorkel, and actually enjoyed the beach for the first time... ever.
I completely redid a year and a half worth of a work in 8 weeks to rescue a project.
I designed a couple shows.
I was offered a teaching position, which I turned down.
I assisted on the set for a television series.
I started running and completed a 4 mile race.
I've had four months of running (roughly) 2 to 4 times a week.
I lost about 10 pounds.
And last week... I was laid off.

Yeah... that last one probably deserves a bit more of an in-depth look. After 4 or so years of working for the firm, they've hit a few financial snags, and... I was laid off. I had been considering going back to freelancing for a while, to get back to my own work again, but of course I probably would have gone about it in a different way.

So... today is the beginning of my return to freelancing. For now at least. Which means, a redesigned website, a return to paying attention to the job listings... a lot of things.

I also have a few other interesting projects up my sleeve, a potential Etsy store, and some returns to a few past, currently ignored, projects. We'll see how it goes.

I'll keep you up to date.

365.1: 001

2011-02-01T20:15:00.001-05:00

Coming Soon

2011-01-25T15:34:00.002-05:00

You Have The Ability To Overcome Great Fear

2010-04-04T23:01:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I did something that I haven't done in over 2 decades. Something that I have listed as being my greatest fear in life for nearly that long. I placed my head entirely under water.

I know that doesn't seem like much to most people. But for me this has been a deep seated fear for as long as I can remember. I've mentioned it here before, but I have a pretty complex relationship with water. I don't particularly like it, I can be comfortable in a pool as long as I feel in complete control but the presence of a stranger, a strong wind... just about anything that I can't control puts me off that and I get nervous about being in the water.

This of course means that I can't swim, I'm not particularly comfortable on boats, and all of this has led me to hate the beach.

Well... flash forward to this month when some friends invited Kid Flash and I to join them on a trip to Culebra, Puerto Rico. A tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic, that you have to take a ferry to get to... as you can imagine there isn't much to do there except... well... the things I hate to do or am afraid of. After some lengthy discussion with Animal (the friend, who invited us, I didn't choose the knickname she did, it's her derby name) we came to the conclusion that maybe with some effort I could snorkle. She suggested getting a float to lay on, and simply putting a snorkel mask into the water, I wouldn't have to even actually be all the way IN the water to get some enjoyment out of it.

This weekend we coincidentally were planning to spend the night in a hotel suite as part of a birthday celebration, so we made sure to get a room where there was a pool (on the roof of a 45 story building with a fabulous view of Central Park even!!) so that we could test my ability to faux snorkel.

It turned out much better than that. Animal gave me some very kind and patient lessons, starting with simply blowing air across the water, then going in up to my mouth, then blowing air under water, etc. etc. step by step... until I was actually able to place my entire head under water, without even wearing the mask!! It was amazing! By the end of two hours I was floating face down, with my mask on and essentially snorkeling!

The biggest and best piece of advice from Animal? Humming. As simple as that. Animal pointed out to me that as long as I could hum, I would know that I was moving air. Plus the act of humming is naturally very comforting to us, the sounds, and the vibration in the chest. And that very small act really did calm me down and help me keep my head from freaking out.

I'll admit that I still had to pinch my nose, even through the mask (we didn't have a nose clip) in order to feel comfortable, and I still mentally freak out a little bit after going under in the mask and have to force the first breath... but with the right equipment I think I can actually do some snorkeling in Culebra! (maybe, being in the ocean may be a far different experience, but I'm looking forward to it.)

So after 20 years... maybe I'm NOT afraid of water? I dunno. Maybe I should try a banana tomorrow? Maybe I secretly like those too after all the years...

What A Year Looks Like

2010-03-29T17:51:00.002-04:00

365 days, 365 photos. I started this last year on my birthday, and end it today, one year older and one year later. This is what they look like as a group. So what have we learned?

Well... I dislike photographing people obviously. Less than 10 photos in a year contain a person, and when they did they were usually obscured to the point of anonymity.

I like numbers. 12 photos where numbers were the primary subject.

I am attracted to the color red. 12 photos where red is the dominant color.

I spend a lot of time on trains of various types.

An object or subject in an otherwise plain field (like a wall) attracts me. 11 photos fit that description.

I clearly have some favorite subjects. 5 sunsets. 5 neon signs. 12 flowers. 6 lamps or lights. Most surprising to me... 3 wigs.

I took nearly identical shots of the Met Life tower on Madison square during nighttime and daylight. I did take two basically identical photos of the architectural lights on a building.

This was a good exercise in discipline for me, even when I was wasn't posting here I kept up with my photos.

361-365

2010-03-29T14:18:00.000-04:00

361

362

363

364

365

356-360

2010-03-28T17:16:00.002-04:00

356

357

358

359

360

351-355

2010-03-27T16:20:00.002-04:00

351

352

353

354

355

346-350

2010-03-26T15:41:00.003-04:00

346

347

348

349

350

341-345

2010-03-25T12:16:00.000-04:00

341

342

343

344

345

336-340

2010-03-24T21:05:00.000-04:00

336

337

338

339

340

331-335

2010-03-24T00:45:00.003-04:00

331

332

333

334

335

Getting Old Sucks

2010-03-22T23:56:00.002-04:00

Tiny bit of TMI to start your week... I officially spend more time grooming my nose than I do my beard these days... what is it about edging ever closer to the end of your 30's that suddenly makes your hair grow like kudzu in odd places? I will say that I AM looking forward to getting those big bushy wild looking eyebrows old men get though. I see those guys on the train and they are AWESOME. Small critters could nest in there. Do you think they comb their eyebrows? Do they cultivate the eyebrow equivalent of "bed-head?"

326-330

2010-03-22T23:16:00.003-04:00

326

327

328

329

330

321-325

2010-03-19T22:57:00.002-04:00

321

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316-320

2010-03-17T22:29:00.002-04:00

316

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Looped: Fire the Graphic Designer

2010-03-17T17:11:00.004-04:00

I know it's supposed to be Tallulah Bankhead... and that they're doing a hand tinted photo look as a way of dating the image or whatever...

But seriously... all I can see when I look at it is this:

FIRE THE GRAPHIC DESIGNER!!

311-315

2010-03-16T20:12:00.002-04:00

311

312

313

314

315

306-310

2010-03-15T12:00:00.001-04:00

306

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309

310

Is it 1983?

2010-03-15T11:50:00.002-04:00

Tron.

Karate Kid.

We Are The World.

Clash of the Titans.

The A-Team.

Teen Wolf.

Dirty Dancing.

Nightmare on Elm Street.

Friday the 13th.

Short Circuit.

Am I going to be forced re-live my WHOLE childhood this year?

American Royalty

2010-03-13T23:40:00.003-05:00

Another rainy, nasty day in New York City, but I didn't want to waste my day so I decided to go down to the Library and do some genealogy work in their research room. I love going to the Main Branch on 42nd street. It's such a grand old building, full of high ceilings and sweeping marble staircases and arches and wood. It just FEELS like a place you go to do some serious learnin', you know? I'm also constantly surprised at what they have available in their genealogy section. This New York City institution has things like the book I was looking at today: a history of a relatively obscure and overlooked county in eastern North Carolina. Why? I have no idea, but I'm happy to have such easy access to it.

I have several branches that all came from Anson county, NC, so the biggest work today was sorting through the aforementioned book for references to my family. Now... I've made some interesting discovers about my family, a man with 40 children, a ancestor who claimed "benefit of clergy" in a murder case in Colonial Virginia (one of the very few times that ever happened in the United States), a member of the Virginia House of Commons, one of the founders of Hartford, CT... but no one really famous or historically important yet. I also know that once you get more than 8 generations back the lines become so numerous and convoluted that you can claim descent from just about anyone (yes, if you can find the right combination of ancestors you ARE descended from Cleopatra!)... but I still find the discovery I made today fairly titillating.

It seems that I share a common ancestor with royalty. Well, American Royalty. In fact, the King himself: Elvis Presley. In 1720 John Valentine Preslar came to North Carolina. He had 4 sons. I am descended from one of those sons, and from another came the line that eventually led to Elvis. So nearly 300 years ago my family and the Presley's were one. Pretty cool, huh? Think I can get in on some of the estate?

301-305

2010-03-13T23:38:00.002-05:00

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March 12 of 12

2010-03-12T23:44:00.005-05:00

A little something different for my 12 of 12 this month, 12 short videos, 15 to 30 seconds or so... just little "moments of Zen" from my day. No camera movement or editing, just a sort of moving photo. 12 little appetizers. To see the other 12 of 12 participants check here at Chad Darnell's blog.

Something a little abstract to start off with... the way I start my morning every single day: the view out the window of my subway car.

It was a rainy and wet day in the city today, not a ton of people out. This is the corner just a bit down from my office. In two months we're moving to a smaller space, and I'll have a whole new neighborhood to photograph extensively, since I feel like I've just about exhausted this one!

The ride up to the office in the elevator.

A little fresh air break on the fire escape.

This is what I look at all day. Stretch this into 8 hours of designing, drafting, rendering, and you have my work day. This is a desk for a show that we are designing for ESPN. We designed a new studio space for them last year and they are adding a second show to the same studio, so a new desk to go with the new show.

Headed out for lunch. I didn't actually eat "street meat" today, though I occasionally do. This is a gyro and falafel cart a few blocks away.

Headed home. My day/week is over.

Waiting on a local train headed home, since I want to make a stop along the way.

Stopped off at 40th street on the way home. Andean pipe buskers in the subway station.

Just off the subway at my home stop. I like the romanticism of the swinging lantern and the blinking sign.

My typical Friday night, a Duvel or two for me, wine for Kid Flash at the wine bar around the corner from my apartment.

Stopped off for some Orange Flavored Beef and Baby Bok Choy with Garlic on the way home.

And that's what my day looks like. Hope you enjoyed the little experiment.

296-301

2010-03-12T23:32:00.001-05:00

Due to my own... ineptitude... I'm over 50 days behind on my Project 365. I've been taking photos, but (obviously) not posting. Rather than overwhelming you with pictures I'll be posting 5 a day until I catch up, which will be just about time for my birthday, and the wrap up of the project! Wee!

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Feb 12 of 12

2010-02-14T21:47:00.007-05:00

I'm late posting the 12 of 12, (see the other participants here) and I apologize. Life sucks a bit right now and I am working to get some equilibrium, but I'll get through it soon enough! For now... let's see some 12 of 12!

See... THIS is why I hate snow in New York City. That's a 3' wide 6" deep slush puddle. Every SINGLE corner in NYC looks like this right now. It's hideous, (though the color in this shot is nice, huh?)

The bodega by my office is geared up for V-Day, in fact every other corner I passed this morning had some sort of Valentines display up. Gee... roses seem popular this year. Is that some new trend?

A little mid-morning snack at my desk. We got a case of honeydrop oranges from a client last week and we've been eating our way through them since.

Lunch! I actually ended up having soup, but the sandwich display was prettier.

On the way back to the office I passed the former Radio Shack down the street from my office. Yesterday it looked like this:

(Not my photo!) The whole neighborhood was sirens and traffic all day, not to mention the rumors and panic up and down the street. In the end it was a manhole explosion which happens with semi-regularity in the winter here (melted snow mixed with street salt, gets into the manholes, corrodes the electric lines, etc. etc.) though it usually isn't this bad.

After work I spot a tropical display... that like everything else around here is covered in snow.

I'll admit that in the right circumstance the snow CAN be pretty.

After work a quick run to the fabric store to scout out some stuff for a show I'm costuming. I was in a panic for a few minutes because my favorite fabric store was boarded up! Turns out it just moved a few blocks down the street though, thankfully!

While I was in the hood I swung by the theatre to drop off my purchases. This is the wall in the tech offices, the most inefficient hardware storage system I've ever had to deal with, but they like it, so who am I to judge?

After the theatre I'm headed uptown to meet some friends so that we can....

make-fun of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics (and drink a lot of wine). And let me tell you what... Canada delivers! From what I am given to understand from the opening ceremonies, Canada was created by a giant bear from outerspace, then destroyed by blue whales... right... so then they were invaded by tattooed kilt wearing tap dancers whose boots were on fire... got it... and a giant glowing vagina gave birth to the mountains near Vancouver and then there was promptly a war between the red skiers and the black skiers for dominance... but they were defeated by beat poetry.

Wow. I TOTALLY understand the history of Canada now, and I LOVE IT!

Then it was off to home, a minorly late night considering how much I have on my plate at the moment, but it was a fun time, and a nice way to end up the week. See you next month!

Bad Bookeeping

2010-01-19T20:57:00.003-05:00

Jeez... December and January is an AWFUL period for me! In these two months, besides my normal expenditures, I have somehow arranged my life so that I also have renewals on 2 magazine subscriptions, my flickr account, the domain registration on 3 different websites, two support memberships, and two website memberships... how the fuck did I ever decide to stack all this into one time period... so soon after the holidays?! Bleh!

295

2010-01-17T20:56:00.000-05:00

Food Oddities

2010-01-16T20:48:00.003-05:00

Have a look at these:

Hormel Hot Dog Chili,

and Tasty Bites Madras Lentils.

Two vastly different foods, from far flung corners of the cuisine world, as different as I could imagine based on just personal knowledge of the two recipes...and yet somehow (as I discovered to my great disappointment) they taste very similar?! What the hell goes on in the prepackaged food world that that is possible?

294

2010-01-16T20:47:00.001-05:00

293: Photo Phriday: Phake

2010-01-15T20:46:00.000-05:00

292

2010-01-14T23:40:00.000-05:00

291

2010-01-13T23:37:00.002-05:00

Moving day! My brand new work space! Taking some serious adjustments, but I'm managing okay in the end. For about 2 years I've shared a 10'x40' space with two other people, now there's just the two of us, plus I went on a serious cleaning frenzy... it's so empty in there now.

Jan 12 of 12: 2010 Panoramas

2010-01-13T00:51:00.004-05:00

Moving into my third year of the 12 of 12, (see the other participants here), sometimes it feels like I've taken the same photo over and over, especially when you factor in the Project 365 that I have been working on since last March. Especially when I am spending another day in the office... So today I decided to see if I could broaden the focus a bit, and find a new way to show my environs. Using Photoshop's "Photomerge" command I took several photos of my surroundings today and merged them into a single large panorama for each. Maybe it will provide you a stronger NYC sensory experience...

My home subway station, on the way in to work. This was 24 photos merged. Some of these merged more successfully than others, and I did very little tweaking beyond what Photoshop did for me. Most of the merge process was automated.

Stepping out onto 6th ave for lunch. (Check out a similar view from over 100 years ago, of the same building.) I would have been underneath the train tracks in that photo 100 years ago from my vantage point here. (23 photos)

Buying lunch at "Green Cafe." They have a couple locations in town, my favorite is the North Carolina Chicken Sandwhich, barbecued chicken and slaw on a kaiser roll. (15 photos)
My office space, for a few more days. One of my co-workers recently left the firm so I am shifting over to a new space as soon as I have an afternoon that isn't packed with other obligations. I'll go from working 10' from my office mate to about 30' but I'll have a faster, better computer, and more room. (22 photos)

One of the views that I know I have photographed more than a few times. The view off the fire escape at the back of my building. I come here a lot to use the phone, and to get some fresh air and be out of my chair for a few minutes. (24 photos)

The main area of my office. Long ago and far away when people in my profession made models everyday, and my firm employed 20 or 25 people (about 8 times what we have today!) this was probably a bustling area. Today it is mostly used for sorting the mail, and doing the occassional bit of photo mounting. (27 photos)
On the way out in the elevator. I wanted to test what Photoshop would do with a more confined space. Interestingly this was one of the panoramas that it had the most trouble with. (9 photos)

Broadway and 17th, on my way to the subway. It was a cold clear night in the city. One of the colder that we've had recently actually. (24 photos)

The office subway station. Pretty empty this time of night. (36 photos)

Back in my own neighborhood. Not the most scenic view in the world, I know, but it's where I live. (25 photos)

I stopped off for a jar of tomato sauce for dinner, and few odds and ends. Kid Flash tells me that the veggie mascot guys on top of the case to the left there used to sing and dance. I don't know if I am sad I never saw that, or happy that I don't have to live through it. (19 photos)

Home again, home again. I managed to get my entire family into this one. Both kitties, Ted over on the left (he's black so he blends into the window a bit) Sarah on the right, and there's Kid Flash in the front room. And there I am in the mirror. See my roman shades on the left there? I made those just before Christmas out of a Sari. I've actually made new curtains for most of the house at this point. Just the bedroom is lacking.

Thanks for stopping by!

290

2010-01-12T23:37:00.000-05:00

Eggs Al Forno

2010-01-11T22:50:00.002-05:00

This, ladies and gentleman, is my new favorite Sunday breakfast, Eggs Al Forno, it is such a simple dish you that barely call it cooking, but it is packed with flavor and looks fancy enough to be impressive.

This is one of those "whatever you have on hand" type dishes, very little about it is set in stone.

This works best in a monkey bowl, but could be done in any oven safe dish with a flattish bottom, like a small casserole, a large shallow ramekin, or Corningware bowl.

First cut a piece of nice bread, a baguette, or some sort of rustic loaf, (we used a hunk of a semolina loaf) to the general shape and size of the bowl. Rub a little olive oil on the bowl to keep the bread from sticking, then lay the bread in and drizzle a tiny bit more oil over it.

Here's the "what you have on hand" part. Cube some cheese, and medium bodied cheese will do. We used swiss, but you could also use Fontina, edam, even cheddar I suppose. Anything that will hold a cube shape , and melt nicely. Sprinkle a good handful of the cubes (they should be on the smallish side) around the sides of the bread. Top that off with some grated parmesan.

Over that sprinkle whatever else you like: chopped onion, chives, garlic, or any fresh herb you have around. Even some chopped ham, or (cooked) bacon or proscuttio would do nicely. We used some yellow onion and fresh rosemary.

Crack one or two eggs (depending on what you want) and lay the eggs over the bread. Top with just a pinch or two more parmesan and salt and pepper.

Put the whole thing into a very well pre-heated oven at 500º. Bake for about 8 minutes, then begin checking to see if the eggs are done to your likeness. 8 minutes should leave avery soft eggs, with a runny yolk, and each minute after that will firm it up more. About 12 minutes will give you a yolk the consistency of a boiled egg.

Easy-peasy, pretty to look at and delicious to boot. Make it for your next one-night-stand.

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2010-01-11T22:49:00.002-05:00

288

2010-01-10T22:42:00.000-05:00

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2010-01-09T22:23:00.001-05:00

Fire The Graphic Designer!

2010-01-08T23:22:00.003-05:00

A common subway poster, pretty ubiquitous, for an associates degree college, again, fairly standard on the subway. But take a closer look and see if you can figure out why the graphic designer out to be shown the door... Don't see it? Here's a closer look....
Notice anything fishy now? No wonder that goldfish is jumping out of the bowl... The Nothing is coming!

Fire the Graphic Designer!

286: Photo Phriday: Phractal

2010-01-08T23:16:00.001-05:00

A Little More About Avatar

2010-01-08T12:22:00.002-05:00

Another thing... there have been all these articles praising Cameron for the meticulous world building research that he did, that he answered every scientific question, and that he considered every species on the planet down to the smallest plant, blah blah... And that is pretty accurate. The animals all have homologous structures, 6 limbs, (4 up front, 2 in the back.) 4 eyes, (two large ones, and two small ones.) Breathing holes at the base of their necks in the area of the trapezius muscle on humans. That external spinal cord USB port thingie. Obviously they all evolved from a common ancestor.

Oh. Wait.

Except the Na'Vi. Who are humanoid, have only 4 limbs, and 2 eyes, and breath through a nose located in the center of their face... just like us. But they still have the USB port so obviously they are related to the rest of the planet but did a pretty heavy evolutionary divergence at some point? Weird. And not really how evolution works.

If you aren't sick of it you should also read this article on "Project 880" which was the original tile of the movie. It breaks down the script that Cameron had before he so obviously neutred it to create the movie we actually got. It is much, much better, and explores the nature of identity (is a person still the same person if he is in a different body?) gives us a much broader sense of the stakes for the humans in this fight (Earth is dead and Pandoran resources might be able to revive it,) and actually accomplishes a lot of the stuff I asked for previously. Sad that more of this didn't make it past the network execs.

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2010-01-07T23:30:00.003-05:00

Avatar: A Review

2010-01-07T22:11:00.003-05:00

James Cameron's Avatar. One of the most expensive movies ever made, and certainly one of the most talked about. Even before it was released it was being praised and panned all over the internet by the usual geek squads, Cameron was raked over the coals, the story has been shredded and compared to Ferny Gully, Dances With Wolves, and Pocahontas by various people (btw, if you've seen it definitely check that Pocahontas link). And it made a Billion dollars. And it was awesome... mostly. Kinda.

Here's the thing. They're right. It IS Dances with Wolves, and Fern Gully, and even Pocahontas... and At Play In the Fields of The Lord, and Alien, and about a dozen other movies, and I think that's where it suffers.

Everyone is also right that it is a visually stunning movie, and a turning point in the way that movies are going to be created. There are points in this movie where even a trained eye will not be able to discern what is real and what isn't. I can honestly say that the created reality of this movie is so fully realized and so awesomely detailed that it astounded me. I'm pretty good at picking out the CGI from the soundstage stuff, and there were points here where I'd be hard pressed to even begin that. They are incredibly close to getting CGI humans right, they have finally began to emerge from the uncanny valley, and soon a mix of CGI and actor will be perfectly seamless (to me the hands are the failing here, they are still pretty stiff.) The animals are already past that point. The ability to create and integrate unreal species has been achieved here. This will be the new point of comparison for every visual movie going forward for quite a while.

The problem is the story. Those apt comparisons to Pocahontas and Fern Gully? WAY too apt. Don't get me wrong, the story was enjoyable, and held my interest, but it was not much above the level of a good young adult novel. It was so simple, and straight forward and incredibly black and white. Corporations=bad. Aboriginals=in touch with nature. Military=evil. Margaret Meade analog=caring. The evil guys act evil. The aboriginals are kind and giving and mystical under their gruff exteriors. The corporation sells out its PC research wing in search of greater profits. Everyone acts exactly the way you'd expect them to. The plot proceeds exactly the way you'd expect it to. There is no one and nothing in this movie that is in any way surprising. I mean... out of a thousand military troops only ONE felt that what they were doing was bad enough to fight against it? Other than the two scientists that went rogue and left the compound NONE of the scientific team made an effort to sabatoge the military, or contact the corporate higher ups, or speak to the media? Thousands of Na'Vi on the planet and the corporation hadn't figured out a way to corrupt a single one of them? (No "firewater" or $26 in trinkets on Pandora?) At no point during this movie was the outcome in doubt, it was all just a matter of watching how the cards got played out.

Formula movies are formula movies, and I guess they have a place in the entertainment culture, but for $500 Million... can't we have a few twists and moments of genuine storytelling rather than just some rearrangement of story cliches? Is Hollywood incapable of not making a remaking, even when they aren't trying to make a remake?

If I wanted to get really nit-picky I could start to question the whole premise of the movie... Why did they need the avatars? So they could breathe? Why couldn't they perform scientific research while wearing those breathing masks that the military used? Because the gravity was different? Obviously not so different as to prevent long term stays on the planet. Why were the humans on the surface at all? If they were all operating avatars from a space station, then sure... but everyone was planet side. If they were trying to blend into the native population unnoticed that would also be another thing, the way Next Generation used to portray their away teams, but again, they told the Na'Vi who they were, even to the point that the Na'Vi knew their real bodies were elsewhere "dreaming" of being with them, so what was the point?

In the end... I enjoyed it. I might even see it again, which is rare for me. But was it a slam dunk, best-movie-I-ever-saw, awesome? No. I have some serious questions about how watered down our entertainment has become. Is this like District 9 where (I'm told) I didn't get it because I wasn't the intended audience?

Oh! And my other question... are we so Puritanical a society that even made up cartoons of alien species who have no breasts and aren't even mammals have to wear bras?

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Resolutions: 2010

2010-01-05T20:03:00.001-05:00

I'm not making this mistake again... yes... all four resolutions from last year, (Carry lunch, exercise, draw more, blog daily) all still apply. I'm 5 days in... I've already failed at the daily blogging... I've carried my lunch the second day, but not the first... I haven't lifted a leg to exercise any more than I normally do... but I have drawn just a bit... (there are some new ideas bubbling in there...) I refuse to call them resolutions though. Maybe, a wish list? Short term goals? Just... general goals? I don't know. But I do know that I need to do these things. I need to get a creative life back underway especially. That is the most important of this list. So, let's go... 2010. Let's get it on.

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2009 Resolution Check In

2009-12-31T16:56:00.003-05:00

Here were my New Years Resolutions for 2009. Let's check in and see how I did, shall we?

1. Stop buying lunch and start brown bagging.
Mixed success. Not counting the period during the summer when I was away for summer stock, I probably carried my lunch to work 40 or 50% of the time.

2. Another run at a blog a day.
FAIL. For the second year in a row this one fell apart, being away from the city for the summer, and not having real net access really damaged me and I never quite recovered fully.

3. More sketching
FAIL. I haven't sketches on the subway more than a dozen times since returning from the summer, and I haven't even posted those.

4. Exercise
FAIL. I tried running while away for the summer and HATED it. Of course there was no flat area nearby for me to use, and Kid Flash tells me that hills running as a first start is a bad idea.

In all? FAIL. Not a good year for resolutions.

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Too Modern for The MOMA?

2009-12-27T21:53:00.003-05:00

Today Kid Flash and I took his family to the Brooklyn Museum of Art to see the James Tissot exhibit (which is AMAZING and if you are at all interested you should definitely see it before it goes back into their vaults. They own the whole collection of this work, 350 pieces, but haven't displayed it since the 80's.) While waiting for the rest of our party to show up we had a latte at the little Illy stand in the lobby. Behind us at the table were two older couples who were clearly art afficianados, they had a deep discussion of pottery glazing in its various forms, and they were discussing the various exhibits that are currently up in town. The most interesting though was that one woman spent quite a while expounding on how silly she thought it was that the MOMA had an exhibit of Tim Burton. She found it insulting that this "cartoon guy" was allowed to be shown in such an important institution. Of course, she acquiesced that she "supposed" people of a "certain generation" may think of him as iconic, but that she just didn't understand how he rated an exhibition.

Here is a museum who states their own mission as "helping you understand and enjoy the art of our time." Yet somehow it was patently offensive to this woman that Tim Burton, one of the more unique artistic voices of our time was being recognized. I find that sort of hidebound attitude in art to be spectacularly bizarre. Yes, I would probably balk if Tim Burton was being exhibiting in the Met, or perhaps even the Guggenheim, but isn't that the whole point of MOMA? MOMA has always been on the cutting edge of art exhibition, even to the point of being accused of being communist conspirators in the 50's when the art world was under fire from McCarthy. They've shown graffiti artists, questionable installation artists, and every objectionable art figure from Maplethorpe to Warhol to Haring. Is it just that Burton is part of Hollywood, or that a portion of his work is child centric? I've tried all day but I just can't figure why he had upset this woman so deeply. Any ideas?

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Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T21:46:00.002-05:00

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2009-12-19T21:40:00.001-05:00

Video Vriday?

2009-12-18T22:57:00.003-05:00

I present... my Christmas tree! This is my first time attempting to use blogger's video capabilities, so let me know what you think. I had fun creating it that's for sure, both the video and the tree.

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December 2009 12 of 12

2009-12-12T20:46:00.000-05:00

The last 12 of 12 of the year! Welcome to the 12 of 12, Chad Darnell's photo journalism project, 12 photos to capture the 12th day of the month. To see the other participants check out Chad's Blog.

Most of today was devoted to Christmas shopping and gathering materials for various projects that I have underway. First stop was the fabric store in Chinatown, and the art stores that are nearby to pick up some balsa wood.

A lamp shop in Chinatown. I always wonder how little stores like this stay in business and keep their leases in today's market. Are they the store equivalent of stabilized rent?

Off to another section of town. (Not on this E train though... have to wait for the A.)

Something about these Christmas candles seemed so forlorn...

It isn't often that I catch a section of town where a shot like this is possible, with no other buildings cluttering the skyline. I loved the contrast of the building color and the sky color.

A bit around the corner and after two different stores, a moving LED advertisement that not only goes up the building but across the sidewalk.

Stopped off in Central Park on the way home to scout a new cache location, this is emerging from the subway.

Down in the park, twilight was just setting in.

A while later I headed out again. A friend of Kid Flash's was having a small birthday party so we went over to the East Village for that. In the subway station this family was drumming on plastic tubs. It was really quite deafening up close, but was an interesting sort of natural soundtrack from a ways away.

Spotted this refugee from SantaCon wandering around the subway. SantaCon is an illegal parade, 1000's of Santas and Santa's Helpers converge on a spot in town that is kept highly secret until just before the event. I was really hoping to bump into them this year, to get some shots like this, but never saw them. Turns out that there wasn't a start point in Manhattan this year... sad.

The birthday party was at an Ethiopian place. (A very dark Ethiopian place, which made it hard to photographs the actual food, or any of the interesting stuff, sadly...) It was awesome food, though the idea of no utensils certainly takes a bit of getting used to.

On the way back to the subway to head home, I do love neon.

And that's the end of the year. Thanks to all the 12 of 12ers for your readership, and your own participation over the last year. See you in the new year!

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2009-12-11T20:36:00.000-05:00

365: Catching up on December

2009-12-11T12:05:00.004-05:00

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365: Finishing up November

2009-12-11T11:52:00.005-05:00

Buddha on a bike, I really let that get out of hand didn't I? Alrighty, let's see if we can fix things a bit...

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Christmas Spirit

2009-11-19T00:19:00.003-05:00

You want to now the quickest way to KILL what little burgeoning Christmas spirit I already had built up? Have me decorate two Christmas trees.

Really, it wasn't the decorating, it was the atmosphere. From where I stood all day I could hear the following things: A sound loop of ice skating sounds punctuated every 6 minutes by a child's laugh. Sleigh bells (constant). A sound effects loop of a train. A children's choir that sang just 7 songs in a continual loop. The score of the Nutcracker. A loop of vaguely Christams-y "classical" music, (I never got an accurate account of how many because they were fairly generic.)

All those sounds and songs? Playing at once, at a volume I couldn't control. Over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over... for the 9 hours I spent there yesterday and the 5 hours I spent there today. It was like a hellish Christmas torture chamber.

I get to do this all again in two days in another city... hopefully that won't stomp my last remaining spark of Christmas spirit.

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2009-11-19T00:17:00.003-05:00

Yes, that's me under there... the first time I've ever posted a 365 shot that someone else took, but it really did sum up my day perfectly. I spent over an hour underneath there trying to hide wires, attach bolts to the floor and connect various electric bits...

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Vegetarian Options

2009-11-15T22:46:00.001-05:00

Since living with Kid Flash I have become probably 75% vegetarian again. I am always on the look out for good meat substitute vegetarian options. Most of the commercially available ones are pretty bland, and the texture is very weird. I've made some great discoveries, like the May-Wah Vegetarian market on Hester street, which has the best vegetarian Orange Flavor Beef that I have ever found. It is in fact the best vegetarian product I have ever found, it's amazingly meaty and delicious. Of course they also have Vegetarian Squid... which I have never tried, and never will. I've tried variations on sausage, bacon, chicken, hamburger... but this weekend I found the single most unexpected vegetarian product that I have ever seen: Vegetarian Scrapple. For those unfamiliar Scrapple is called by several other names, Livermush in the South, Pork Mush in the northeast... it is basically a pudding made from cornmeal and buckwheat cooked with spices and pork organ meats. That is then formed into a brick, which is chilled, sliced and fried. It's a populat breakfast food where it is served, and delicious with eggs. But about as far from a vegetarian food as I could imagine... yet, here it was, and you know what... it was actually pretty tasty. We bought two bricks to bring back to NYC and cook up for Christmas morning breakfast. I guess you truly can have everything, and not have to hurt an animal to get it...

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229: Photo Priday: Philosophy

2009-11-13T22:43:00.000-05:00

Nov 12 of 12

2009-11-12T21:31:00.002-05:00

It's the 12th (sort of) so, time again for Chad Darnell's 12 of 12. !2 photos to photo document the 12th day of the month. View all the participants here.

This morning I was greeted by this. The management company of my building loves to refer to the building as a "living gallery." The halls are full of... we'll let's be charitable and call it art. A lot of it is portrait photography of the people who live there, most of which is fine. But there is the random Elvis poster, or scary "inspirational image" that seemingly came from a thrift store, and gets thrown onto the walls. Our hall, the last curve of the top floor seems to get the oddest of the lot. Here's a bonus close up of what these actually are:

Charming, huh? 5 shots of a striper in on an acid trip... I have no idea what these are supposed to be, how they are considered appropriate for the building.

At work, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. We're doing a dozen display trees for a major retailer, and the whole studio is swamped with boxes of ornaments. My favorite part is that this is a high end retailer that we are working for, someone who is the very heart and soul of Christmas in New York City, and all th eornaments came from Sam's Club and K-Mart.

It amuses me.
On my lunch break I ran down to the floral district to gran some stuff for the second half of my day. These stores are literally packed to the rafters and are tiny to begin with. They are fun to shop in though, you never know what you will find.

On the way to rehearsal.

At the theatre, my second job for the day. This was the state of the set at about 5:30, when I arrived.

While rehearsal is going on I am haunting the local dollar stores and discount places looking for some snowflakes to use on the set.

Rehearsal in full swing.

After rehearsal the crew attacks the painting that needs to get done. The set is in pretty decent shape, but we open on Saturday and there is still quite a bit to get accomplished.

More painting. I'm glad I'm not doing all this alone.

While the paint is drying I am doing the set dressing on the various units.

At the end of the night (or the beginning of the morning, depending on how you look at it) this is one side of the revolving flats.

And this is the other. Whew! I did a lot of work. I won't tell you what time of the morning this actually is... just suffice to say that it isn't the 12th anymore by this time, technically.

See you next month!!

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2009-11-10T21:27:00.000-05:00

Catching Up: 218-225

2009-11-10T02:26:00.003-05:00

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Gay Indoctrination

2009-11-02T15:11:00.001-05:00

Who exactly is Mattel making Barbies for these days? Meet the Barbara Streisand Barbie, and Palm Beach Ken.

Ahem.

At least he isn't wearing a cockring on a thong around his neck like the last "Gay Ken" that they made...
In case you are wondering, yes there is a Palm Beach Barbie as well... not that she is any less gay than the Ken version.

100 Things

2009-11-01T21:38:00.002-05:00

The small business blog at the NYTimes has published the first part of 100 item list of things that Restaurant Servers should never do. Having been on both sides of the apron I have to say that I agree with just about everything on this list so far. In fact some of them are pet peeves of mine when it comes to eating out. Especially:

7. Do not announce your name. No jokes, no flirting, no cuteness.

18. Know before approaching a table who has ordered what. Do not ask, “Who’s having the shrimp?”

32. Never touch a customer. No excuses. Do not do it. Do not brush them, move them, wipe them or dust them.

What is interesting is that in reading this list a good half of them are things that wait staff at places like Applebee's do ON PURPOSE.

The aforementioned #7 and #32 which they do because they think it increases their tips. #18 which they do because the waiter is almost never the one who delivers your food, and they haven't been trained how to write down an order so that the food runner can consult a check and know who ordered what without asking.

"3. Never refuse to seat three guests because a fourth has not yet arrived." Which they do to control their turnover time on tables.

"17. Do not take an empty plate from one guest while others are still eating the same course." Which they do to cut down on bus time later.

"10. Do not inject your personal favorites when explaining the specials. " and "43. Never mention what your favorite dessert is." Which they do because they are trained to upsell us.

But because all of this sort of thing is routinely done at these mid-range places we are now taught to expect this sort of stuff.

Bleh.

I'll be curious to see what the next 50 items are.

PS. Of course we then come to comment #1 after the article, which yet again proves that Yankees don't understand manners, which I've discussed before.

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