SPEED * EFFICIENCY * FRIENDLINESS
Going on RIGHT NOW: Kelli and I have planned a trip to EPCOT. It's gonna be awesome. We haven't been since we were kids. Also gonna see th' Animal Kingdom thing, despite the fact that it will be (as a friend of mine put it) "The most expensive zoo we'll ever visit". Just as well, since after our trip to Florida, we plan to spend a couple of days in DC and compare/contrast to the cheapest Zoo we'll ever visit. As a general position, I LOATHE amusement parks, but I Love Love Love me some Epcot. Dunno whether it's because I have fun memories of th' place from Childhood or whether it jus' caters to the little-boy "Raguns an' Rocketships" æsthetic with which I'm so enamoured, but yeah. Should be good times.
Additionally, we're plannin' for a visit from Kelli's mom. We always have a good time when she visits, but we never have any idea really what to do. The woman's agreeable to a fault, and seems genuinely incapable of providing a strong opinion regarding activities, dining, etc. Hopefully we'll come up with fun things to do. We wanna be good hosts. Her trip up here was a birthday present, so we wanna make it special. Hard to get 'er up here from down Atlanta way, 'specially seeing as how the woman doesn't like flying.
Related to the mother-visit thing, we have recently seen and Wholeheartedly recommend "Passing Strange". It's essentially a stage musical about a young musician trying to find his place in the world, but it's FANTASTICALLY well done. Resonated harmoniously with alla my artist-friends. Has a lot of great beats about learning who you are as an artist, expressing yourself vs. Marketing yourself, what it's like to love someone without understanding them... Just a lot of great themes. And badass music. It's a thing. And it's on Netflix, in case that's useful.
Work is awesome and continuing apace. Terrifically frustrating to be working on SUCH a massive, long-term project. Everyone I know just loosely understands that I'm working on a video game of some sort, but it's hard to appreciate how busy I am when folks ain't gonna see the fruit for a good, healthy while. I can't imagine how some-a them Imagineer folks handle it, busting ass on Amusement park concepts that won't see the light of day for like, a decade.
So I got another tattoo yesterday. Sort of a graphic, simplified version of the Vault-Tec Logo. Got it tramp-stamp style, on the lower lumbar. I'll post pictures in th' next month's Flickr. Though I think the concept of a "tramp stamp" is funny, my artist informs me that the type of lady that used to get those is now self-conscious about the "tramp stamp" term and concept. New hotness for the ladies of questionable repute? The Skank Flank. Or so I hear. Anyway, my PRIMARY motivation for the piece isn't the fact that it's kinda target-looking in a lulzy location... That's actually pretty much the best location for the work, compositionally. The idea for it came from all th' Fallout 3 I've been playing (Still, I know), and thinking about how, despite the fact that it's been putting meals on my table for over a decade, I don't have any tattoos relevant to my love of games, gaming, and the games industry. Sure, there's all kinds of great shit in the Fallout universe, and many good bits about the Post-Apocalyptic fictions that I love, or nonlinear RPGs, or whatever, but I like showing my colours as a games nut. In thinking about the piece, I recognized that my tattoos as I've currently got 'em all represent loves. Love of the artistic process and Doing the Thing, Love of myself and my professional identity (BRANDING!), Love of Gender subversion (or, if one doesn't wish to get too complicated with the symbolism, jus' love of "Rockets" as a graphic element), Love of Music and nostalgia for adolescence... Lotsa love. So yeah. I reckoned gaming ought to get props. Otter Props. Mmmmmmm Otter Props.
Another interesting bit about this latest tattoo of mine. First piece I got? I was 18. Then 22, when I got married, then 26, when I was living in Northern Virgina. After gettin' that one (my Leg-Rocket, in case anyone's keepin' track), I realized I'd been getting them in four-year increments. That seemed like a decent enough pattern, so as I was coming up on my 30th, I reckoned that I should be thinking about my next "four year" piece, and came up with the hand-arrows. By that timetable, I sholdn't be due for a new mark for another couple of years, but part of me likes the idea of breaking patterns as much as I like holding onto them. I'm a fan of tradition, and I like for things to be as I expect them. I like stability, and I like patterns. That bein' said, it's kinda liberating to not be beholden to the patterns, either. These things are simply what we make of them.
Speaking of Flickr, I've been shitty about LiveJournalin' the updates! Did I mention the March Update? The April Update? Been a lot going on! Hopefully I'll mention it when I post May. Coming up in this month's update: New Tattoo, couple of great new 3D Prints, and Nipple Shackles!
Red Dead Redemption! Man O Man. I'm enjoying it quite a piece. I keep thinking of my dad, Wild West nerd that he is (homeboy CASTS HIS OWN BULLETS. That's kinda righteous)... The game's note-perfect in so many æsthetic bits. Night-time looks SPOT-ON like old crappy western "Day for Night" with the blue tint, harsh shadows, etc. It's wonderful. Seein' the puffs of locomotive smoke rising up over the hills as the train goes by in the distance, shooting the shit with random cowpokes around campfires... it's a hell of a thing. One thing that impresses me a lot about the game is that it's not a completely shit-ridden universe of evil. The first time I saw someone on horseback coming up on a trail, I got my gun out ready to return fire, but he was just a dude. You can actually be good and make honourable decisions, and the game rewards you. Shoot pistols outta people's hands, lasso 'em up, stuff like that. It's kinda neat. The motion actors are quite good, even though there's STILL some of that creepy wooden mannequin effect one tends to expect from contemporary OMG-REALISM games these days, but it's not overly distracting. The dialogue is well written and the story stuff has been fluffy but quite entertaining so far. Good time-sink.
Matter of fact, I reckon I'll go play s'more of it, now that I'm talkin' it up s'much.
-343
Additionally, we're plannin' for a visit from Kelli's mom. We always have a good time when she visits, but we never have any idea really what to do. The woman's agreeable to a fault, and seems genuinely incapable of providing a strong opinion regarding activities, dining, etc. Hopefully we'll come up with fun things to do. We wanna be good hosts. Her trip up here was a birthday present, so we wanna make it special. Hard to get 'er up here from down Atlanta way, 'specially seeing as how the woman doesn't like flying.
Related to the mother-visit thing, we have recently seen and Wholeheartedly recommend "Passing Strange". It's essentially a stage musical about a young musician trying to find his place in the world, but it's FANTASTICALLY well done. Resonated harmoniously with alla my artist-friends. Has a lot of great beats about learning who you are as an artist, expressing yourself vs. Marketing yourself, what it's like to love someone without understanding them... Just a lot of great themes. And badass music. It's a thing. And it's on Netflix, in case that's useful.
Work is awesome and continuing apace. Terrifically frustrating to be working on SUCH a massive, long-term project. Everyone I know just loosely understands that I'm working on a video game of some sort, but it's hard to appreciate how busy I am when folks ain't gonna see the fruit for a good, healthy while. I can't imagine how some-a them Imagineer folks handle it, busting ass on Amusement park concepts that won't see the light of day for like, a decade.
So I got another tattoo yesterday. Sort of a graphic, simplified version of the Vault-Tec Logo. Got it tramp-stamp style, on the lower lumbar. I'll post pictures in th' next month's Flickr. Though I think the concept of a "tramp stamp" is funny, my artist informs me that the type of lady that used to get those is now self-conscious about the "tramp stamp" term and concept. New hotness for the ladies of questionable repute? The Skank Flank. Or so I hear. Anyway, my PRIMARY motivation for the piece isn't the fact that it's kinda target-looking in a lulzy location... That's actually pretty much the best location for the work, compositionally. The idea for it came from all th' Fallout 3 I've been playing (Still, I know), and thinking about how, despite the fact that it's been putting meals on my table for over a decade, I don't have any tattoos relevant to my love of games, gaming, and the games industry. Sure, there's all kinds of great shit in the Fallout universe, and many good bits about the Post-Apocalyptic fictions that I love, or nonlinear RPGs, or whatever, but I like showing my colours as a games nut. In thinking about the piece, I recognized that my tattoos as I've currently got 'em all represent loves. Love of the artistic process and Doing the Thing, Love of myself and my professional identity (BRANDING!), Love of Gender subversion (or, if one doesn't wish to get too complicated with the symbolism, jus' love of "Rockets" as a graphic element), Love of Music and nostalgia for adolescence... Lotsa love. So yeah. I reckoned gaming ought to get props. Otter Props. Mmmmmmm Otter Props.
Another interesting bit about this latest tattoo of mine. First piece I got? I was 18. Then 22, when I got married, then 26, when I was living in Northern Virgina. After gettin' that one (my Leg-Rocket, in case anyone's keepin' track), I realized I'd been getting them in four-year increments. That seemed like a decent enough pattern, so as I was coming up on my 30th, I reckoned that I should be thinking about my next "four year" piece, and came up with the hand-arrows. By that timetable, I sholdn't be due for a new mark for another couple of years, but part of me likes the idea of breaking patterns as much as I like holding onto them. I'm a fan of tradition, and I like for things to be as I expect them. I like stability, and I like patterns. That bein' said, it's kinda liberating to not be beholden to the patterns, either. These things are simply what we make of them.
Speaking of Flickr, I've been shitty about LiveJournalin' the updates! Did I mention the March Update? The April Update? Been a lot going on! Hopefully I'll mention it when I post May. Coming up in this month's update: New Tattoo, couple of great new 3D Prints, and Nipple Shackles!
Red Dead Redemption! Man O Man. I'm enjoying it quite a piece. I keep thinking of my dad, Wild West nerd that he is (homeboy CASTS HIS OWN BULLETS. That's kinda righteous)... The game's note-perfect in so many æsthetic bits. Night-time looks SPOT-ON like old crappy western "Day for Night" with the blue tint, harsh shadows, etc. It's wonderful. Seein' the puffs of locomotive smoke rising up over the hills as the train goes by in the distance, shooting the shit with random cowpokes around campfires... it's a hell of a thing. One thing that impresses me a lot about the game is that it's not a completely shit-ridden universe of evil. The first time I saw someone on horseback coming up on a trail, I got my gun out ready to return fire, but he was just a dude. You can actually be good and make honourable decisions, and the game rewards you. Shoot pistols outta people's hands, lasso 'em up, stuff like that. It's kinda neat. The motion actors are quite good, even though there's STILL some of that creepy wooden mannequin effect one tends to expect from contemporary OMG-REALISM games these days, but it's not overly distracting. The dialogue is well written and the story stuff has been fluffy but quite entertaining so far. Good time-sink.
Matter of fact, I reckon I'll go play s'more of it, now that I'm talkin' it up s'much.
-343