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| October/November/December 2006 | |
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December 30, 2006 Saturday 10:46 AM I added another video podcast. This one's about the concept of video journaling and how I'd like to do much more of this in 2007. History in the Making I've made no secrets about my disapproval for this war in Iraq. But yet, I can't deny that this man was pure evil. I can't deny that justice has been served. I just hope and pray that this doesn't stir up that bees nest in Iraq even more and create an even more hostile environment for our soldiers over there. I wonder how long before images and videos of his execution surface? In this day of the internet, it won't take long. Will that savage part inside of us all, inside of me, want to see them? It's funny how this story is unfolding as so many Americans are currently fast asleep. The world at large is happening in the wee hours of this American night in front of me on CNN and I don't want to turn it off. |
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December 24, 2006 Sunday 6:38 PM Currently listening to: Sarah McLachlan - Wintersong |
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Catch Up Take care and have a happy X-Mas!! |
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December 24, 2006 Sunday 9:15 AM originally posted at MySpace So today. U2 released another version of the video for Window in the Skies. It's a very cool effect they use, kind of spotlighting the history of the band. It really seems to reflect the sentiment of the U218 cover as well as the concept behind the U2 by U2 book. The movement of the camera really adds to the song. Here's the video: |
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What do you guys think? At the moment, my mind is slightly blown by the similarities of these videos!<br><br>Anyway, I need to get my dead-ass motivated and start doing some X-Mas stuff today. The onslaught begins. Happy X-Mas!! (War is Over if you want it!) |
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December 18, 2006 Monday 11:45 PM originally posted at MySpace I added a new video to my profile for the song "Window in the Skies" by U2. The video is an amazing accomplishment of editing as well as acknowledging some of the greats, past and present. It's also cool to do a "Where's Waldo" with the band. Yep, they're in their too. The song was recorded at Abbey Road studios, and the Beatles influence really shines through. The more I listen to it, the more it really grows on me; I can feel it digging in deep. This is a nice compliment to the Beatles "Love" album that I've been listening to non-stop since since about the time I first heard "Window in the Skies," coincidentally. I had a shitty day today, so finding the video and seeing that it's gone viral, is quite the pleasant surprise for me to end it with. "Oh can't you see what love has done..." |
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| 6 Weird Habbits/Things About Me December 10, 2006 Sunday 10:57 PM originally posted at MySpace Each player of this game writes about "6 weird habits/things about themselves." People who get tagged then write their own blog, including their own "6"... and restate this rule clearly. Then, choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a message or comment saying they've been tagged and tell them to read your blog. 1. I get oddly obssessed with movies/DVDs. For about the past year, I've been obsessed with the tv show the Office. I bought all the episodes on iTunes, have all DVDs. I watch them almost every night. I listen to the dialogue which makes me laugh, but also relaxes me after a stressed out day and helps me sleep. Before The Office it was the Lord of the Rings movies (for about 2 years), Stars Wars a New Hope for about 6 months, Chasing Amy and Clerks for about the same amount of time, and Family Guy Seasons 1-3 for almost a year. I can't tell you how many times I've woken up to a tv screen playing a looped theme song stuck on the DVD menu. 2. I love living alone. I've lived alone since I was in my early 20s, only having a roomate 2 of the 4.5 years I attended college, with only a year or so of moving back in with my parents after college. Whenver I've had a roommate in college, or even a friend staying with me for longer than a day or two, I get anxious and just want my space to be my own. I am a very social guy, don't get me wrong, but I also very much enjoy having things be on my own terms. As I get older, of course, this is leading me to get more and more stuck in my own ways. 3. I get very obsessed with music. I am constantly searching out new music. Not necessarily new artists, but just artists who are new to me. Once I "find" them, I submerge myself in their catalog. When I was in college, I was introduced to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles. Within a year after that, I had their entire catalog. It's an amazing discovery, finding hidden gems by arists that aren't radio hits. Most of my musical obsessions then last about a decade or so. Once they mellow out, those arists still hold a huge spot in my heart but they get slightly cast aside for the next big thing. The musical obsessions of my life thus far have been: Michael Jackson, The Beatles, and U2. Yeah, I know. Michael Jackson. 4. Music and movies convey a weird time stamp on them to me. When I hear an album or see a movie from the past, I recall weird things like smells, and a general "vibe" from when that work made its mark on me. Just the other day I was listening to some Beatles songs that brought me back to college. I could almost smell my dorm (I've been out of school for 13 years), and I could just "feel" that time. My sense of memory is odd that way. 5. I love sleeping on couches. I probably sleep on my own couch at least 1/2 the time. If I stay over night at somebody's house, I prefer sleeping on their couch vs. a guest bedroom. I don't know why this is. I think it has something to do with the security i feel when I lay toward the back of the couch, vs. feeling wide open on a big bed. 6. I am circus-freakishly double jointed. I can bend both of my arms in ways that make people sick to their stomach. There was a time in high school when I was a a bit thinner (like only 140 lbs) that I could even wrap both legs behind my neck. I can bend all of my fingers at least 90 degress back. Luckily, the circus rarely comes to this part of the midwest. So those are 6 weird things about me. This was harder than I thought. And now...a few of you have been tagged! Tagged: Heather, Abbey, Bryan, Tom, WAT, and Guilermo! Have fun!!! |
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November 9, 2006 Thursday 10:23 PM originally posted at MySpace So here's a picture of my Halloween costume this year. I'm actually wearing it this Saturday for our Splatterfest gorey movie festival which we're premiering our zombie movie. The fest has turned into a costume party so I'll get more use out of it. Also, the week before X-Mas, my sister and I are ringing the bell for the Salvation Army in front of Bay Park Square Mall in Green Bay. I think I'll get out the ol' costume for that too. I didn't realize dressing up that I'd created be a multi-holiday costume! And for the record, it's embarrassing as hell asking the women who work at Walmart "Where can I find pink tights in my size?" I decided to go there cuz i don't give a shit what they think at Walmart! LOL Anyway, enjoy and Merry Christ..er...Happy Halloween! Currently listening to:Vince Gill - These Days |
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| Coast November 2, 2006 Thursday 8:55 PM photo date 10/2/06  Tonight I decided not to post one of the drawings that I've been doing of the zombies for our little movie project, nor am I going to post my Halloween picts. There will be time for that later. Tonight, I just want to relax my mind for a bit or "set a spell," as my friends from the South would say. I feel like all that's been on my brain for the past few weeks has been Halloween and creatures of the night. Tonight I'm taking a break for something a little bit lighter. So what to talk about? A few of my work friends will say to me "I'd never have anything to write about. Nothing interesting ever happens to me." My response to that is that there's always something that goes on each day worth mentioning, even the smallest thing. Today if I had to pick one thing to talk about, it would have been the weather. Today was a very cold and gloomy Wisconsin late fall day, with even a few snow flurries in the air. But for some reason, I really enjoy a day like this once in awhile. I finished a project at work on Tuesday morning, and although I have three other ones nipping at my heals, I always try to take a day or two to do some file management, organize email, clean up my desk, get all my eggs in a row for the next batch of work, etc., and just take it a little bit easier and reward myself for another successful project that will surely bring in more money to the company. If I don't allow myself days like this, I'd go nuts. My ever-increasing workload will never stop. It's a nice way to still be productive with things, but not feel so stressed out all the time. And during my slightly more casual approach to work the past few days, at least half of our office is in Vegas for a convention, so things have been very quiet, which is an extra bonus. There's something about a quiet day at work, when it's cold and grey outside but nice and warm inside, and I'm getting lots of work done without feeling the slightest bit stressed out. I can find a sense of satisfaction in my workday day as well as somehow see the beauty of a harsh fall day. I know this wasn't the most eloquent post I've ever written, but once in awhile it sure feels nice to coast just a bit! I think we all deserve it. How was your day? The above photo was shot about a month ago. I was very sick and took a few days off of work. I had to leave the house to get some water and medicine at the grocery store. I went outside, and the sky was one of the most intense orange colors I've ever seen, maybe only once or twice before in my life. I drove across the bridge near my house and pulled over at the bottom just to look at the sunset over the river. I watched the sky change colors for about five minutes before I hopped back in my car, zipped back up to the house, grabbed my camera and snagged a few shots before the fleeting sunset disappeared. This was the first and my favorite shot of that night. I felt lucky to have left the house to get cold medicine at that very moment. I hope you enjoy the photo! If you want a larger version of it, just let me know and I can email you the hi-res version of it! |
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| The Holiday Spirit October 30, 2006 Monday 9:32 PM sketch date 10/15–10/30/06  I'm going to try to make this quick. I had a busy-but-fun Halloween-filled weekend. I'd been working for the past week or so on my costume, and it turned out better than I'd hoped. I'll post what I was and images of it on here in a day or two. For tonight, I just wanted to post my final drawing that I just finished coloring for our zombie movie. Between getting a Halloween costume ready the past few weeks, carving multiple pumpkins (I'm getting quite good at it, I must say), and doing all of these creepy themed drawings -- zombies, dragons, dungeons, ghouls, pools of blood, and monsters breaking through doors, I'm definitely in the Halloween spirit, that's for sure. I've always loved Halloween. It's my second favorite holiday next to Christmas. But this year I definitely feel absorbed in it and the macabre. I have to admit, though, I'm done with zombies for a while! It's time to reign in this inspiration that's been coursing through my veins. I'm pumped to start working on some ideas for an online comic book, but this one is going to be more about light, destiny, and heroes and less about death, blood, darkness, and things that go bump in the night. Enjoy the dungeon drawing that I just completed. I did the pencil sketch a few weeks ago and saved this one until the end to paint in Photoshop. I think I have a little over four hours of just painting this one alone. I knew it was going to be a doozy. The challenge was to somehow get a little color in there, still indicate that it's dark, as well as try to give off the feel of it being damp, dank, musty, moldy, and a place where a lot of bad things have happened in the past (It's almost bothersome how good I'm getting at painting blood stains!!). I'm extremely pleased with the results and think every hour I worked on it was well worth it. I'm pretty stoked how this turned out! Let me know what you think! I'll post my Halloween costume photos in the next day or so as well as maybe talk about some of my Halloween activities. For now, though, I just need to relax and enjoy an hour or so of non-creative time and just veg out (if the politicians would stop calling me!! After 9:00 even!!). Happy Halloween!!! Monday's playlist: 1. The Killers - Sam's Town 2. Snow Patrol - Eyes Open 3. Under the Influence of Giants - Under the Influence of Giants 4. Passengers - Original Soundtracks Vol 1 5. U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb 6. Madonna -Jump EP 7. Justin Timberlake - SexyTracks: The SexyBack Remixes EP |
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| Whirlwind October 25, 2006 Wednesday 11:32 PM sketch date 10/22–10/25.2006  Between colorizing these final graphics for our movie, working on my Halloween costume (late into the night last night -- but more on that and who I'm going to be later), plus a few extremely busy/productive days at work, I feel like I've been swept up in a creative whirlwind. The ideas, inspiration, creativity, solutions, and colors keep presenting themselves to me, although I'm not exactly sure where my energy is coming from for all of this. But for now, I'm taking it. Enjoy my latest drawing above. It's about a two hour pencil drawing I did over the weekend, scanned in, and then a spent few hours tonight painting in Photoshop. My direction for this one was "A dungeon door buckling as the ghouls behind it howl with a blood lust." I think I did alright and really love this one too. I'm pumped! Enjoy! (Note: If you haven't logged onto these pages in a while due to my absence, there's another kick ass graphic posted from a couple nights ago if you just scroll down) Today's playlist: John Williams - Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith |
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| The Reanimator October 23, 2006 Monday 9:22 PM sketch date 10/21/06  Yeah...I'm alive. Or perhaps undead...Somehow, my little break turned into a hiatus which turned into a sabbatical. I've been extremely busy the past few weeks, since about the time of my absence on here, churning out drawings like crazy for our zombie movie, Chaotic Evil, that my friends and I have been working on all this summer. The goal is to have it done by around the week or so after Halloween -- we're getting close. My friend Mitch, who was the videographer and director on the project, is also the editor. He's been working around the clock finishing this thing up. Meanwhile, my final contribution is a dozen or so drawings that are going to be used as kind of an animation type of thing at the beginning of the flick. I initially do the drawings in pencil, scan them in, and then paint them in Photoshop. The drawings have been turning out better than I could have hoped, but are also taking a lot longer that I'd planned too. Adding the layer of color to these things has made all the difference though, so it's well worth the final result. So that's my excuse this time for my absence on here. I've been drawing zombies, dungeons, and dragons like a madman for over the past month. I've done so much research on dungeons, torture chambers, zombies, the undead, etc., that it's actually been effecting my dream life. I've had some incredibly vividly horrifying dreams lately. But on the other side of things, pushing myself artistically like this, and reaching new levels with the addition of color, has been ultimately satisfying and quite inspiring as well. I draw comic books. That's what I do. That was my dream in college and I've realized doing this little project that it's time I got that dream back in one form or another. This project reanimated a dream that somehow faded into the corporate world a.k.a. making a living. But now I need to do something with this fire in my belly and pursue this passion that's been brought back to life. So enjoy the above drawing which I drew and painted over the weekend. This little bad boy took me about six hours to complete, but, man, am I happy with it! On an unrelated note, today is the five year birthday of the iPod. It's amazing how one little device has changed the world. I couldn't imagine my life without one. That's all for now. I have lots of catching up to do. Monday's playlist: 1. Snow Patrol - Eyes Open 2. U2 - Achtung Baby 3. U2 - Zooropa 4. U2 - Pop 5. U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind 6. U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb P.S. Be sure to check out the September archives. When one door opens..... |
