Jenny's Black Heart

Yeah

2011-03-26T14:13:00.000-07:00

Best Games of the Year: 2010 Edition

2010-12-19T21:55:00.000-08:00

A month late, but here it is. Drumroll, please!

(game titles are links)

__________

Best Twitch Platformer

Super Meat Boy

Super Meat Boy is brutal and pretty much perfect. Excellent level design, a unique cast of playable characters, and plenty of grin-inducing nods to the classics (including mini Triforces stamped all over the backgrounds) keep you playing through death after grizzly death. The audio deserves special recognition for being able to withstand the repetition of replaying levels dozens of times.

Best Music Game

lilt line

While the motion control is a nice touch, the soundtrack to this racer slash rhythm game is the true star. A different dubstep track forms the basis of each level, and getting a high score requires coordination between hand and ear. Soundtrack by 16bit.

Best Japanese Puzzle-Based French Animation-Inspired Game

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

The Layton games are notable for amazing music, charming art direction, and, of course, puzzles. Unwound Future delivers what players have come to expect from the series, with the addition of new side-quests and mini-games.

Best Cinematic Gameplay

God of War III

Sure, the mythological cameos are neat, and sure, it's fun to hack through hordes of bad guys, but what I love most about GoW is the transitioning between cinematics and gameplay. The developers did an excellent job of creating a game that keeps the story flowing smoothly. Since game developers discovered cinematics, we gamers have had to sit through hours (and days and years) worth of poorly animated polygonal clumsiness, and God of War's seemlessness is beautiful and refreshing. And it makes you feel pretty fucking epic.

Best Game You've Never Heard Of

Cave Story

It's Mega Man, Metroid, and Earthbound in one game. It looks like your childhood. As soon as you start playing you feel a nostalgia building, and you know you will be replaying this game ritually along with Final Fantasy VI and Link to the Past. It has an amazing soundtrack. And it was made by one guy. If you have a Wii or a DSi, snag it. (It's supposedly getting a 3DS remake.)

Best Time-Sinking Roguelike

Desktop Dungeons

First of all, it's free. You have no excuse not to play it. Second, as a warning, this game may destroy your life. Each session lasts 10 to 20 minutes: this is dangerous. This game will distract you from your responsibilities. I just played for an hour in between this sentence and the last.

In the spirit of roguelikes such as Gauntlet, you choose a race and a class, and enter a dungeon to clean it out. DD gets progressively harder each time you win, opening up complex styles and strategies. Tons of fun. They even squeezed in a Super Meat Boy reference. Also, if you search for DD videos, you will be witness to the extremities of geekdom; this game is a nerd magnet, for reals.

Best of Show

Limbo

Yeah, Denmark makes games. Limbo is absolutely amazing. Atmospheric and surprising, with almost disorienting use of depth of field, this game's designers should be given MacArthur grants. You take on the role of a small child, and the minimal sound and visual scheme enhance the smallness you feel in this brutal world of traps and Lord of the Flies extras. Best played in the dark. I really can't praise this game enough.

Honorable Mentions

ilomilo: Cute two-player puzzle
Bioshock 2: Pretty, but I've been there before
VVVVVV: Awesome, but the controls can be frustrating

Best Games That Weren't Published in 2010

And Yet it Moves: This is why motion control was invented
Braid: Play this without a walkthrough, I dare you

Lifetime Achievement Award

Zoo Keeper

I play this nearly every night as I fall asleep. The more delirious I get, the stranger the words "zoo keeper" seem.

Best Game I Didn't Play

Minecraft

Yes, I know any aspiring game designer worth his or her salt is pretty much obligated to play this game. I'll get around to it.

And there you have it!

Returnage

2010-11-29T20:33:00.000-08:00

I made really good soup out of this giant fowl carcass. I was standing there with my hand in an enormous pot full of boiled bones and meat bits, and perhaps interestingly, I felt pride, like, "yeah, my hand's in a pot of bones and meat bits."

I pulled out something which looked impossibly like a beak when I knew there was no beak in the turkey I roasted. But finding a beak, even an imaginary one, allowed me to get to know the turkey I was making soup out of. With it naked and tucked on the roasting pan, there wasn't much of a need or desire to think about the turkey as an individual.

This beak I pulled out was all, "hey." It didn't really say more than that, because I wasn't sure if it was mad that it grew up on a Butterball farm expressly for the purpose of me making soup out of it, or if it was happy that there was this native thing going on where I used every bit of its physical being in exchange for thanks, or what. But me and the beak had an understanding.

There's this interesting thing: our genes are driven by selfishness to be better equipped for survival than any other genes in the pool. They try really hard. It's not about survival of the species, but of the individual, the gene. At the same time we are granted this amazing consciousness, the ability to acknowledge and consider our genetic purpose. As we understand it, no other animal has this ability. Some of our genes are like, "go to school and get a job, then buy a cool house and a boat or something, maybe a gardener and a pool boy or whatever." And some of our genes are like, "GAAAAAAH. UBBBBBBBBDUH." These genes assume the role of parasites, which, genetically, makes them no better or worse off than the boat-having genes.

But we have this consciousness. Does a gull recognize its loseriness when it steals your garbage? Do the people with UBBBBBBBBDUH genes recognize what they are giving up by forfeiting the glory and responsibility of having consciousness, of being capable of philosophy and reflection?

I'd rather be a turkey.

Gorillas in the Mist

2010-10-06T23:19:00.000-07:00

...(where can you find a place
to keep her, with all the huge strange thoughts inside you
going and coming and often staying all night.)

said Rilke

--------------

I told Rilke you do not keep her:

Somewhere else the sun exposes the heavenly origin of all things
(it is true we are all made of stars)
throwing sparks from the ordinary
igniting, and in a sweep of relentless
-don't call it duty, it's a gift but a charge as well-
In a sweep of relentless expulsion of divinity
igniting the atoms of every
/thing/
until the planet's cold latitudes burn with galaxial possibility.
Until men are Gods
for one morning.

Right now (maybe just right now) it is dark here,
but I can see the sun's fire
and a memory is enough for me to feel just a little warmth.
My body feels a bit unstable,
unmoored, heavy enough but not anchored.
It could flicker, discharge enough energy to release
(just for a fraction of a second)
and appear somewhere else
a field in the universe's womb,
sprinkled with amethyst and ether, glowing with primordial potential.
In a fraction of a second I expand until I fill every pore of all there is
(I am he who is called "I am");
in a fraction of a second I am here again.

But I don't think I am here at all
(or that here is anywhere)

2010-09-16T22:24:00.000-07:00

It is very foggy today.
My life feels congested.
I very easily feel isolated lately.
Not a very good analogy is that I'm playing Tetris and all the blocks are cascading too fast to place and they're piling up near the ceiling. At this point it doesn't matter if you get the golden long block because there's no where to put it and too many holes where things didn't align right- there's really no way to clear a line. You've got to wait for game over and start again, nice and slow.

That was not meant to sound suicidal. My mind just always runs on game references. I guess a safer way of putting it is that I need to shake my Etch a Sketch. Or maybe it's more like I have a really intricate equation, but instead of starting at the head, I started three quarters of the way in. I need to do my math. From the beginning. Solve each bracket in turn, pull them out of the way, create some empty space around the real problem.

What do you do with all of that? What if some of those equations are poisonous to you?

Ripe New Age

2010-08-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

In 12 days I will be 29. It's coming. Can you smell that? That's original thought. According to the NBER, 29 is the average age for your first great idea.

"The age represents the optimum combination of education and energy levels required for great ideas to emerge."

We'll see, 29-year-old me. It is interesting that this past year has been notable for a narrowing of focus; my cone of vision has become less obtuse, in a geometrical sense. While the angle contracts, it pushes all of my contained knowledge together, like one of those fair-ground shoveling games, and I hope (I think) a payload is about to drop.

So, having pointed to the bleachers beyond the outfield, let's see if I rolled high enough for this called shot. Maybe combining sports analogies with a penandpaper joke will net me some pity from the muses.

Don't hold me to unrealistic standards, now; I've still got ten years to achieve true genius.

[edit] I said "load".

Take it Back

2010-08-24T20:07:00.000-07:00

Today was an et tu Brute kind of day.

As Josh and I were driving home, we saw a van skate into a power pole at 40 or 50 miles per hour. It spun around in a circle, the doors were stripped off, smoke was billowing out of the engine. Fuck, it just about evaporated. It was unreal. I still can't shake the vision of it.

Posturing and the Attention You Receive: Inflammatory Comments About Video Games and Art

2010-08-19T01:12:00.000-07:00

While I first read of Roger Ebert's absurd declaration that video games would never be art several years ago, his recent article about the subject, and a conversation between friends tonight, have made me revisit the subject.

My initial reaction to this statement was disgust. My secondary reaction was dismissal. After reading his Chicago Sun-Times article from April, I felt it necessary to comment on it.

Let me attempt to defend my craft coherently. As a gamer since early childhood, it had never occurred to me that video games weren't art. Being able to define art with a sentence by no means constitutes the limits of art. I had never considered that because Okami wasn't a painting or a sonnet it was somehow devoid of artistic merit. I knew otherwise because my senses told me it was. I felt it was a piece of art; it had the same emotional impact on me that great novels and films have inspired. That feeling, that instinctual recognition of transcendence, is the only true judge of art there is.

We're not just arguing the extent to which games are art, either. While Ebert name-dropped Nicholas Sparks, the works of one terrible writer do no invalidate literature as a whole. Ebert originally claimed that games could never attain the status of art, which he later ammended by adding "...no video gamer now living will survive long enough to experience the medium as an art form."

To understand games as an art form, you have to play them. Games are an interactive medium; remove the interactivity and they cease to be games. What seems the most insulting about Ebert's "article" is that his condemnation of games comes with no understanding of what he is condemning. His argument is based on a talk given at USC by Kellee Santiago; her summaries of three games are his sole references. While he argues the merits of the games she references, those references are inconsequential. For me to argue that literature is not art, based on a synopsis of Tropic of Cancer, would be woefully ignorant. It would be equally absurd if the novel in question were Bergdorf Blondes.

The experience of playing a game is where its artistry lies. True, a video game relies on traditional art forms (painting, writing, music, composition) to help convey its meaning. Just as a film relies on these elements to achieve the same effect. A video game does not rely solely on those elements to attain a level of art, however. As the player interacts with these elements, the masterpiece unfolds around him. As someone who has experienced this, it is like standing on a marble floor as a gallery is built, from the ground up, right around you. As this cathedral is assembled, the architect ceases his work, hands you a level, and tells you to finish the construction.

That being said, sure, sometimes the building turns out to be an outhouse rather than a cathedral.

Here is an excerpt from Ebert's article in which he comments on the game Flower, which I believe is a great example of why games are art:

"We come to Example 3, 'Flower' (above). A run-down city apartment has a single flower on the sill, which leads the player into a natural landscape. The game is 'about trying to find a balance between elements of urban and the natural.' Nothing she shows from this game seemed of more than decorative interest on the level of a greeting card. Is the game scored? She doesn't say. Do you win if you're the first to find the balance between the urban and the natural? Can you control the flower? Does the game know what the ideal balance is?"

Ebert's series of questions reveals just how little he understands about the nature of games today. He sounds as though he's contemplating Space Invaders as art. Flower's artistry comes from playing the game, not responding to a screenshot of it. As a petal falls from a plant in a windowsill, the player is tugged along behind it. The player ceases to be the player, an individual rooted in physical space and time, and becomes the petal. As you, the petal, are taken from a barren urban cityscape, to an open field dotted with flowers, you feel the swelling of joy. The feeling is palpable, unmistakable, identifiable. You have felt this in relation to other works of art before.

As you experience the liberation of riding the winds, collecting more petals as you swirl and swoop through landscapes, the game amends your perception of the purpose of your exploration. The landscape grows hostile, choked with power lines and clotted with dark clouds. When you come into contact with the power lines the controller vibrates. This translates to you as danger. You as the flower are frightened, and you as the player are suddenly stricken with the poignancy of the statement the game is making. All without dialogue or text. With only a simple tilting control scheme and some subdued music, Flower has made you feel sorrow at the thought of the natural beauty of your world being overtaken by the concrete footsteps of humanity.

It doesn't matter if you "win." It doesn't matter what balance the game suggests. There are no "points." The experience is the experience is the art. I could never write about Flower enough to make Roger Ebert understand the feeling of experiencing a game as art.

The very nature of a critic is cannibalistic. A critic exists, not to inform an audience of the merits of a work, but to create a false sense of the critic's knowledge of the medium he criticizes. For a critic's survival in the field, his opinion has to mean something to his audience. It seems to me that Ebert's statement is merely a vehicle to amplify the volume of his voice. I do not propose to know enough about film to make any statement about its entire history of works, so it follows that Ebert's puerile comments about my passion are, well, just silly.

Read the article:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/04/video_games_can_never_be_art.html

Zeppelins.

2010-08-14T09:43:00.001-07:00

"Just like old Poop Face"

2010-08-04T09:35:00.001-07:00

Championships

2010-07-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

The batons of philosophy and science, which we pass to our young, are meant to be tossed aside.

Just run.

There is no knowledge worth knowing which does not reside in the self.

We remake existence new with each day; we awake to a new universe each morning. If time is really limited, as scientists are currently theorizing, if there is only so much of it left, run.

It's a race now.

Life Imitates Art

2010-07-21T23:04:00.000-07:00

Creepiest thing to happen recently: coming home after seeing Inception to find that someone has been in your house without your knowledge or approval. On the drive home, you're just talking about the subconscious, and what the ending meant, and when you walk in the door there's a package ON YOUR KITCHEN TABLE. What does it mean? Is it gaslighting? Or is it just an invasion of privacy?

It's a Trap

2010-07-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

Facebook + David Fincher + disgusting Radiohead cover = much sadness.

I watched the trailer for the new "Facebook movie" today. The first thing I wanted to do was comment on Facebook about how sick it makes me.

Do you see?

I thought, "I should immediately delete my Facebook account. This is so gay."

But how would I stay in contact with all of my friends?

The truth is, Facebook is an incredibly powerful machine. Everybody wants to go viral, to have some idea of theirs spread through the world community like herpes. Do we need social networking sites? No. Are we slaves to them? Yes. They provide quantifiable evidence of the most basic human need: self-importance. How many friends do I have? How many people commented on this picture of me? Statistics proving that you are alive, and known, and popular.

I'm planning a "business venture" with a few friends, and the first thing I'll do when our Etsy shop is open and our Comicon booth is secured is post it on Facebook. And tweet it. And blog it.

I wish I could log in to Facebook right now and delete my account. It would be the right thing to do.

But I need it.

Daw

2010-07-14T10:32:00.001-07:00

Tree of Knowledge

2010-07-10T09:48:00.000-07:00

When we're born we're given a Pandora's box, not of evil, but of everything the universe contains. The first thing most of us do is open it. We spend the rest of our lives trying to figure out if we're in trouble.

Neat

2010-07-08T18:56:00.001-07:00

Super Mario Bros. from Surfap on Vimeo.

Color

2010-07-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

A new place

2010-07-01T00:42:00.000-07:00

My new art blog: Incredible Indelible

Generally, I will post recent works here as well, but I wanted a nice, neat framework purely for art. It's currently under construction, but so far I'm really enjoying Wordpress.

Time, the hero

2010-06-30T23:59:00.001-07:00

One more reason vacation is awesome: I have time to draw. And not just doodles while I'm sitting through lectures.

This one's a self portrait. I downloaded a new 64 bit driver for my tablet that works with Windows 7. The sensitivity of my stylus is amazing now. I'm getting vector-quality linework in a raster program. Now that we have sufficient ram (oh do we), I can run CS4, and I am quite impressed with it. I know, I know, CS5 is out, I'm talking old news here, but the selection tools in CS4 blew me away.

I'm almost afraid to start the color process, this turned out so well.

Vacation time, suckas!

2010-06-29T09:06:00.001-07:00

It is beautiful.

We started off with some simultaneous Link to the Past action (Josh on emulator, I on GBA).
There have been peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies.

Yeah, son. Yeah.

Animated Logo

2010-06-17T10:41:00.001-07:00

First full-production piece. All modeling and animation was done in Maya 2010. Music from Balloon Fight for NES. :D

Animated Logo from Jenny Graf on Vimeo.

Hostile Landwrap

2010-06-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

For today.

VY Canis Majoris

2010-06-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

If the universe is so big, why does it feel so small?

And how is it fair that I spend 40 hours a week digging through boxes of mold, cat piss, and dog hair when I should be floating in outer space, naming stars?

I gotta get out of the machine.

And the universe whispered "it was all a dream..."

2010-05-24T14:38:00.000-07:00

I think the universe, she still loves me.

I was beginning to expect otherwise after my entire savings account was zeroed out due to car problems, purse theft, and dental work.

But all things come in threes, and I'm on the backswing.

The highly wonderful Linda from Parks and Recreation called my dad to inform him she had found my purse. It sounds like the expensive stuff is gone, but my passport is still in there. Which was really the saddest thing to lose.

I ate my first meal of solid food today: macaroni and cheese. The wisdom teeth came out Friday, and on the way home apparently I let the world know this via Twitter, which I don't remember. Josh says I asked him about five times how I got in the car. I also took this picture (which, again, I don't remember):

Stole my idea

2010-05-13T21:11:00.000-07:00

"MegaMan"-Fan Film from Eddie Lebron on Vimeo.

Oh hell no.

2010-05-08T09:11:00.000-07:00

FUUUUUUUUU
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

What distracts you from the sounds of action

2010-04-17T10:34:00.000-07:00

I recently read a post on Kotaku titled "10 Unforgettable Video Game Songs." Here are 10 of mine, in no particular order:

Zelda Overworld Theme

Final Fantasy Prelude

Contra Jungle Theme

(This vid gets a hearty handshake for using the Mario Paint music composing program)

Super Mario Theme

Tetris Theme

Katamari on the Rocks

Castlevania- Vampire Killer

(This kid gets points for the fangs. Let's not forget that, before Twilight and Anne Rice effed things up, vampires were cool. Gary Oldman ftw...)

Parappa the Rapper- Stage 1

Professor Layton's Theme

Street Fighter- Ryu's Theme

Recent Work

2010-04-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

Funny: I go to an art school and haven't had a traditional art class in almost two years...

To compensate for all of the time I'm devoting to other studies, I've begun a project of my own. I wanted to do portraits in brush pen of my literary heroes. It's gotten bigger, and so far I've done William S. Burroughs, Hemingway, David Lynch, Questlove, Erik Satie, and Jelly Roll Morton. Kerouac didn't turn out so well.

Jelly:

Satie:

The Lynch and Jelly Roll were gifts, and unfortunately I forgot to scan or take a photo of the Lynch before he left me. Trust me when I say he was the best of them.

Prince Among Cats

2010-04-14T10:30:00.000-07:00

In space, no one can hear you scream

2010-04-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

In the dream there was a spider crawling down the banister.

what is love? asked data.
hahaha, laughed geordi. he smiled at data in that leave-it-to-beaver way.
i believe i am a cuckold, said data.

the instrument panels clucked.

wereme

2010-03-31T05:54:00.000-07:00

under a velvet hood
whirring symbols of geomancy spool out
get got in the mess and
fall
the earth flies up to catch them
and they shatter
delicate knives of spun candy
glowing
less, then gone.

someone thinks to lay a blanket over them
and cover your face with folds of familiar alien skin.

Light Years

2010-03-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

This is what it looks like in Shinjuku Gyoen right now:

Haunting the Quark

(I)
if you can’t scientifically explain it
dawkins says it has no value – some hope
inside the mechanical framework of a guess
(as far as any fact can truly grope)
doubts roam – mere looking can’t attain it

twentieth-century science perceived that mess
the more you probed the inner – more the scope
for chaos (uncertainty) – no mind could drain it
tie it to a marriage it must elope
clarity of thinking must make worse the stress

the artist looks at truth and has to feign it
stirs mud makes shapes (gives up) disturbs old rope
what’s not there’s there (says who) – such wantonness

(II)
revelation comes in flits and starts
each one’s a bundle of the genes’ loose ends
there’s a sparking deep down in the dark
that (come to light) can’t find its plain amends
can’t sport a price-tag in exchange and marts

who wants mathematics in a singing lark
(oh it’s there all right – it’s not what listening spends)
the mystic truth lies somewhere in the heart –
lies (you see) - all best truth has the bends
it’s blood not thought that asks the muse to heark

no artist helps – no doughty horse but cart
receptacle for undeciphered legends
science hunts (it’s art that haunts) the quark

-Rg Gregory

What Sprouts

2010-03-09T09:55:00.000-08:00

"My roof is covered in pigeon bones.
I do not disturb them. I leave them
Where they are, warm
In their beds of feathers.

At night I think I hear the bones,
The little skulls cracking against the tin,
For the wind is blowing softly, so softly,
As if a cricket were singing inside a tulip..."

Last night I dreamt our house was surrounded by strange new life. There was a hive of twelve inch hornets, nests of flying poultry. Everything was green but there were no leaves on the trees. A giant bird was laying a nestful of eggs. I watched one drop from her, and as it fell to the nest, the shell split apart in mid-air; yolk spilled out, coating the other eggs, the safe ones.

It is spring. The world rebirths herself.

Massive Immersion

2010-01-29T16:28:00.000-08:00

The past couple of weeks have been intensely satisfying. Following a period of hectic work-on-school action, this quarter has so far proven to be a blessing.

I have been absorbed in nearly every hobby, interest, and love that fulfills me. Art, literature, music, film, gaming, exploring, and human interaction have reached peak levels.

Art:

While we were in California a couple of weeks ago, I found some exquisite brush pens at Meltdown. They allow for excellent line variation, incorporating the fluidity and drama of a brush with the control of a pen. This discovery has prompted a mini-Renaissance for me artistically. I am drawing a lot, returning to life drawing after a lazy hiatus.

I've been having lessons with Josh fairly regularly as well, at his request, which is more of a compliment to me than I think he knows. He is a good student, eager to learn, and improving consistently. We went to Tacoma Art Supply, Utrecht, and the U Bookstore to load up on supplies.

The first meeting of SAC (Sequential Art Club, known briefly as Graphic Novel Club, and alternately as Jenny Graf is Awesome club (my suggestion)) was a success, and I'm excited to continue.

Seeing the Giant Robot exhibit in LA... Man. Inspiring, sure, but seeing the works of James Jean in person was one of the holiest experiences of my life. I am lucky to be one of those artists who is not discouraged by others' greatness, only fortified by it, bolstered, filled until I can think only of the beauty in the world and how much of it I can try to capture.

Literature:

I've been reading a lot again. Oscar Wao, Scott Pilgrim, Maps & Legends, Project: Romantic, Henry & June, Crumb's Kafka, Johnny Hiro, Tesla: The Modern Sorceror. I've been writing a lot, too, mostly due to necessity (an Interactive Storytelling class and English Composition). But it still feels good. Even the "scripting" of my first SAC entry (which contained no words).

Music:

Listening to new stuff and old. Dengue Fever, DJ Krush, Madlib's Sound Directions, DeVotchka, M. Ward, lots of Doom lately. Lots more. Funny, every artist I listed has a "d" in its name. So for variation Matmos and Mono. Also learning and reading about music (Josh got me some great books on hip hop for Christmas). Buying an ukulele today!

Film:

Sita Sings the Blues, Thirst, Twin Peaks, Paranoia Agent, Cowboy Bebop, Akira, Chappelle's Show, Sherlock Holmes, Limits of Control, Naked Lunch tonight.

Games:

Aaaaahhh, games. It is rare that I get to really dig into a game these days. It's strange to think that going to school to design games means I have less time to play them. There's nothing quite like hearing the door open, signalling the return of your boyfriend from work, and realizing that you haven't moved in four hours. I've been playing Dragon Age mostly (rogues ftw), but have also had time to play LoZ: Spirit Tracks, Mario Bros Wii, Left 4 Dead 2, and Crystal Defenders. I also bought Mass Effect 2 yesterday, cuz how could I not? Josh and I reserved the collector's edition of Bioshock 2 and I'm looking forward to those Rapture adverts. Oh yeah, and Final Fantasy XIII comes out in March. Yeeeeeeeyah.

Exploring:

California mostly. Meltdown Comics is easily the coolest comics retailer I've been to (sorry Fantagraphics). I thank Rick a million thanks for that recommendation. They had all of James Jean's recently published stuff, Juxtapoz: Dark Arts, a Kozyndan book (what!?!?!?!?!), The Aviary (double what!?!?!?!?), and dozens of other titles I'd never even seen in a store. Which reminds me of why I love Amazon so much.

The first thing we did in LA was visit a Japanese marketplace (Chinatown calls to us wherever we go) and hit up the GR show. Major success. The receptionist complimented me on my pin (five years of service to HPB... whoooooooo?).

Amoeba Records (jawdrop). The San Diego area in general. San Diego Zoo. Best Zoo Evar. I was impressed with the meandering quality; instead of a huge concrete slab of animal cages, the SD Zoo is crawling with wooded trails which wrap around all of the exhibits. It feels like a trek and you feel like less of a tourist visiting. And they have giraffes! Plus, we were there the day they allowed visitors to view the new baby panda! I also got to visit Josh's grandparents and meet some of his family for the first time, which was most excellent.

We've done exploring here at home, too, and enjoyed success on a local level.

I hope everyone can find time and motivation to engage in rewarding activities more. Whatever it is you love to do, do it, and never stop doing it. It is criminal we all have to have jobs. Criminal!

Krush Tuesday

2010-01-26T09:58:00.000-08:00

It's Krush Day!

Preempting the Jumpin' Jenny Variety Hour

2010-01-20T16:32:00.001-08:00

Good ole Skullface Johnny.

California

2010-01-20T16:22:00.001-08:00

Got around to posting some pics from the recent vacation. For your viewing pleasure:

RUN

2010-01-14T10:17:00.001-08:00

This was too terrifying to not repost:

Adventure

2010-01-03T00:33:00.000-08:00

Word.

2009-12-17T11:49:00.000-08:00

Adults Go Wild Over Latest In Children's Picture Book Series

HA!

2009-12-14T20:11:00.001-08:00

In a battle of wits that has been raging for months, I figured out how to get photos off of my phone!

To celebrate, here is the best picture I've ever taken, in all of its low resolution glory:

A shark fighting a bear-wolf? Check. One mean, tough looking Josh? Check.

PS: why aren't I a professional tattoo artist?

One of those old fashioned blather posts

2009-12-06T10:25:00.001-08:00

Partially in response to Josh's blog: I like blogs.

Blogs are unobtrusive. They just kind of chill there in the ether, ready for you whenever you're ready to read them, quiet, patient. For people like me, they are the perfect dose of familiarity. I probably won't call you on the phone, or email you, or ask you questions about yourself; I'm generally not very interested in you. Well, most of you. But once in a while, I'll read your blog, and I'll find out something about you that interests me (or not) without having to go through the trouble of talking to you. I like that.

I don't like being assaulted with you vulgar revealings via Facebook or whatthehellever social networking site you're using. I don't care what you think about politics, or sports, or anything, really; I don't want to read a fifteen word sentence about anything you did (this sentence will be boring and self-congratulatory). You are base, and boring, and unessential.

Okay, whatever, I think I'm over it for now. If everyone did more blogging and less Facebooking the world would be a better place.

Okay, whatever, whatever. Blah blah blah. So, like I said, this is one of those old fashioned blather posts, and I don't feel bad about it, because if you know my blog exists and are actually engaged in reading it right now there is a 100% chance that you know me personally and, if you're reading this, and haven't given up on reading this post, maybe you're interested enough or bored enough to keep reading. Point is, there's no gun to your head. I'm bored, we might as well be bored together. Eh?

So right now I'm streaming the soundtrack that Nick Gurewitch (Perry Bible Fellowship) created for a fake Wes Anderson movie called The Cloud Photographers. You can too!

Hopefully anything you engage with via the internet has something to offer you; since the beauty of the internet, this series of magical tubes, lies in its connectivity, its ability to transport you to some bit of information you would never have access to through print or any other medium, hopefully that is what you aquire through it. Sites like Facebook are the internet equivalent of using a magic wand to beat your dog. You have this incredibly powerful, awesome (the true definition of awesome) tool, you can do anything with it; anything, unfortunately, includes playing Farmville.

Oh yeah, so the internet is super cool, and I also found this.

In other blathery news, Josh and I went to Seattle yesterday and enjoyed the Brian Despain stuff at Roq la Rue. The whole pop-surrealism/lowbrow movement is mostly awesome but kind of hit-or-miss; Brian Despain is one of those awesome guys. We went to the SAM afterwards for the Michelangelo exhibit. Lots of remarkable stuff, including some great black-and-white photos of Calder and his work (and a video with music by John Cage). I have to admit I was a little underwhelmed by the Michelangelo installation; the few original sketches they had were super super cool (especially the shopping list he drew for an illiterate assistant), but most of the displayed works were either prints/reproductions or pieces by his admirers. Still very, very cool.

Farewell for now, for I go to the land of homework and broken cars, but come back any time you like.

Some New Work

2009-11-25T15:53:00.000-08:00

Model sheets for class (I will also post renders of the character once he's modeled):

Gasp!

2009-11-19T15:57:00.001-08:00

My blind eyes can not see (in) the dark

2009-11-16T21:24:00.000-08:00

Faith:

*
"...have I felt so blind, and still I foray, guided only by a tenuous strand of ether, which may be actually anything at all, but which I hope to be a beacon."
*

**
"...will you once more into the breach? Your eyes are closed, you have nothing to lead you..."
**

***
"'It is true, you are alone; but would directions lead you better?' '...' 'Only you know where you're going...'"
***

Faith: firm belief in something for which there is no proof.

Foray: to make a raid or brief invasion.

Q: Is faith an unshakable truth? Can there be variations of faith? As in: "Faith: trying to believe in something for which there is some proof."

Q: Does a foray always imply hostility? Can you not foray, as in venture, into a territory, which represents an unknown, which will always represent an unknown, and which may always contain the potential of threat?

****
"...and the trees were known to sway only by the sound of their creaking. The sound of her voice shook the trees, made them tremble, a tremble which was audibly evident in the falling of leaves, papery kisses. And sometimes, when she was not shaking herself, she could feel their draft..."
****

they arch like ventricles

Jamie Tanner

2009-11-16T20:01:00.000-08:00

Jamie Tanner (I'm a fan) was recently mentioned in
Drawn! in relation to his fundraiser.

Check out Mr. Tanner's space, purchase The Aviary, and enjoy.

AdHouse, I'm sure, would also love your patronage. You will not be disappointed.

I like this

2009-11-09T19:56:00.000-08:00

From Olly Moss:

My new resume template

2009-11-09T19:46:00.000-08:00

tied with twine strung with string

2009-11-03T22:18:00.000-08:00

don't look at her face

Read Beartato!

2009-10-27T20:35:00.000-07:00

This comic is one of the best things I've ever read. Boisterous and sometimes heartbreakingly sweet, it reminds me of all the people I love... especially that one guy. ;)

The artwork has a tendency to catch me off guard sometimes with how craftily adorable it is. Dig around at http://nedroid.com/ to see what I mean.

GR B2

2009-10-21T18:48:00.001-07:00

I have got to find a way:

In addition to the big names like David Choe, James Jean, Souther Salazar, and kozyndan, on the second floor you can find work by Edwin Ushiro.

So, for Christmas, I will be accepting donations to the "Jenny's going to LA" fund. Make it so.

Souther Salazar:

The Wealth of Delicate Wisdom

2009-10-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

Whirled, whirled, a glorious spasm and convulsion, stardust collecting in a windspun funnel. One 'illion points, endless eternal glittering pores, Ouroboros: the tail the mouth, the brain the heart.

On the waves cresting and breaking time-long and invincible, not a question, but agnostically rides, a whisker spearing the tortoise shell and derobing the canvas.

Forcible it beckons glaring eyes but no anger, just impatience. Too quick for you to keep pace, keep time instead. That which you keep, invisible to the eye, a construct of panic anyway; must remember, must remember: I was here.

It whips along without you without purpose. The truth of universal laws, unavoidable, being only that which your being implies and isists. It can do no better and you can do no worse, both on a rail, a track, an unbreakable path.

While you were remembering you were there, you were there, and it shot through the trees and marked all the landscapes with its knowledge. It ripped the wings from butterflies and was merry, merry were the butterflies as they sifted to windblown grasses littered with dust of wings.

The waters were coerced into dancing. When they tired they ran back into thir mold, from which nothing can break, and remembered forever the time they danced, while the wind forgot and animated something else.

Art Fix

2009-10-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

Stealing from Drawn today:

A series of He-Man characters as hipster fashion models:

Prolific!

2009-10-07T19:39:00.000-07:00

Real Life Video Games:

Not quite as lazy.

2009-10-07T17:29:00.000-07:00

this one is particularly relevant to me:

Lazy.

2009-10-07T16:01:00.001-07:00

http://www.27bslash6.com/overdue.html

Glorious Dawn

2009-10-04T13:23:00.000-07:00

If you haven't seen it...

Pix, y'all

2009-09-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

We had a terrible time.

image is a link to my flickr. find more pictures of our awful vacation there.

I HATE AIRPORTS NOW

2009-09-19T09:54:00.001-07:00

Josh and I missed our flight today. Here's the amazing story!

Security checkpoint: they ran my purse through the scanner and "found something." A guy took it to a table and proceeded to spill out its contents. He runs the bag back through. Something is still showing as fishy. The guy comes back and asks me if I have a knife in my purse. "Absolutely not!" I say. He feels around and finds a hard rectangular spot in the lining of the bag. He scans it again. He comes back with my bag and another security officer. They proceed to slice the lining of my bag open. At this point, it's 8:00am and our plane leaves in fifteen minutes. I ask the guy if he can contact our gate and let them know we've been detained. He says "oh, you'll be fine."

When they cut open my bag, they actually find a folding pocket knife inside. It's labeled "Exxon Billings", and I assume it must have been my friend's (she's from Montana and gave me the purse a few months ago). They confiscate the knife and let us go.

We get to the gate at 8:08am, and the doors are closed. The stupid attendant lady tells us we just missed the flight. I yell "fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck" and tell her it wasn't supposed to leave until 8:15. She smiles and sends us to a desk where they give us tickets for tomorrow.

A: Why wouldn't the security jackass contact the gate for us?
B: Why did the plane leave early when we had checked in and checked our luggage but were not physically on the plane?
C: Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
D: Why was there a knife in my purse?
E: Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.

Departure

2009-09-18T20:36:00.000-07:00

I will be up before the sun rises
I once travelled to a land where the sun never set
In that place there was only darkness once-
It yelled to me "you are home!"

I wonder:
In a land of orange and red and violet and yellow bloated sky
Is there a new voice to hear
If my ears cock and listen

Nerds are Beautiful

2009-09-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking yesterday how great it is to have nerds as friends, and specifically girl nerds as friends, because they're crafty and awesome. Which is why I own a crocheted Prince and a felt Dark Link.

Here's more evidence of this.

This is a life-size papercraft Link... paper... craft. *zzzzttt*

He may not be a girl, but he's a cute asian guy, which is good enough.

Uhn, yeah, uhn

2009-09-13T11:06:00.000-07:00

This week of Birthdays has been glorious.

Fishing was an overwhelming success, and actually eating one of the catch (a 12 lb silver) at the Price/Cox family feast was a triumph in itself. Josh and I mushed out to Northgate yesterday, and I was finally able to secure a swimsuit. Bring on the 82 degree tropical waters, son! I also bought goggles, cuz why the heck not?

Played Beatles Rock Band for the first time yesterday (didididope), amassed goodies for birthday festivities, received many awesome gifts (Kindling! A crocheted Prince from Katamari Damacy! A felt iPod pouch with Link stitched into it! Jim Mahfood! Giant sidewalk chalk! A book of Japanese street slang! Harry Potter on Blu Ray!), ate much food (spumoni cupcakes FTW), and sat on blankets outside with a big fire going. So good.

I love everyone and everything. :D

?

2009-09-04T08:45:00.000-07:00

serpent waltz a tail coiled around itself no tail left just a knot. serpent's diamond head weaving towering meters and meters above a fray. an endless fray, today today, tomorrow yesterday. a tongue hung loose, a tongue flick flick out spear a thought. spit it out. what is the magic of the snake. is it glintier than the leaves that fall to camouflage its hide. it flits out darts like a bolt shoots from underheel so fast, did you see it!?

bought tickets for hawaii

Zzzzzt

2009-08-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

The sound of my brain fuse blowing.

Three Frames

HYPNOTIZE

2009-08-23T22:56:00.000-07:00

I am obsessed with what happens at about 0:37...

Dance, you will be mine.

*edit* also, 1:14.

fanfare

2009-08-23T12:46:00.000-07:00

My birthday's in a couple of weeks. Party will happen. In honor of me being 28, I give you this:

Stalling... homework calling... aha!

2009-08-08T13:18:00.001-07:00

5 Fives
(In no particular order)

5 Things You're Excited For:

1. Siegfried!
2. Birthday fishing!
3. Hawaii!
4. Fall and its unavoidable stew eating!
5. Josh's birthday!

5 Favorite Meals:

1. Stew!
2. Turkey noodle soup!
3. Chicken cacciatore!
4. Pollo asado!
5. Spaghetti rolls!

5 Things That Make You Happy:

1. Being wrapped in blankets
2. Frequent adventure
3. Josh going running and bringing me home flowers
4. The pursuit of knowledge, internal and external
5. Knowing I'll go back to Japan someday

5 Memorable Moments:

1. Sitting on a park bench next to a Brazillian guy and learning about the world
2. Looking out at a dogwood at 3:00 am
3. (Recurring) Every time I create something I'm proud of, something I didn't know I had it in me to create
4. Seeing the Roots live
5. Fishing with my dad and brother, letting a small one go, and seeing an eagle swoop down and *grasp* it out of the water within 10 feet of us

5 Things About Yourself:

1. I am down to do just about anything
2. I have a strong sense of what is good or bad for me
3. I love just about everyone I know
4. I have been given many gifts
5. I often sit for long periods of time, just thinking, and have been wondering recently if this is a form of meditation

*Bonus 6 Random Things!*

1. I love giraffes!
2. I am very fussy sometimes but like sitting in dirt too!
3. I wish I could be a rogue in real life and make poison and steal things!
4. Video games are very fun and they teach you things too!
5. There is a lesson to be learned in everything you do
6. Rainbows!

Loving the new Fables iGoogle theme...

2009-08-04T13:26:00.001-07:00

I would wear the shite outta these...

2009-08-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

if you can talk you can sing, if you can walk you can dance

2009-08-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

Where did this guy get this suit?

2009-07-31T08:49:00.000-07:00

Damn...

My Childhood

2009-07-19T12:54:00.001-07:00

All that's missing : Labyrinth, The Sandlot, and Night of the Living Dead.

Hollis Brown Thornton

Raquel Aparicia

2009-07-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

Total Score.

2009-07-13T20:30:00.000-07:00

So Saturday I got to see one of my childhood heroes throw salmon mitts into an audience of poorly dressed, overeager, completely endearing nerds.

But before that, Josh and I finally managed to stop by the elusive Uwajimaya, which sent a calming wave of homeyness through me, and where Josh was able to procure some Pocari Sweat. I somehow did not know there is a Kinokuniya branch there... but now I know. Ah, yes, now I know.

After we ate (damn Beard Papa's not taking debit...) it was time to head to Benaroya, where we sat ten rows from the stage; seats so excellent... so perfect... that Nobuo Uematsu himself (HIMSELF) was sitting two seats directly behind us. Swoon, swoon, swoon, *SPLODE*. The show was amazing, with a remarkable performance of the opera from Final Fantasy VI, and a finale of One Winged Angel in which Noby-san actually sang with the choir.

So, yeah, nerderific good times, whoop whoop.

Wake Up

2009-07-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

I meant to go outside, but when I came to the screen door I saw a green blurry funnel hovering around the butterfly bush. I didn't have my glasses on. I had no idea what it was. My movements were arrested, I could hear a buzzing, then the flitting thing came to a bloom nearer to where I was, and it was a hummingbird. It seemed to somehow be reduced to normal speed, delicate instead of frantic the way hummingbirds normally seem to me, and its buzzing became a purring to my ears. It flew away.

I also found ants, pinecones, and a ceramic thing that looked like a top but wasn't.

There is a stool in the treehouse and I wonder what it's for.

A little late, but...

2009-07-06T10:47:00.000-07:00

Exorcise

2009-06-25T00:06:00.000-07:00

Just a girl... experimenting with opacity.

Josh on Josh

2009-06-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

Look with your eyes...

2009-06-12T20:16:00.000-07:00

Eh, just some stuff I've done recently...

gaijin samurai / cloud cover (done on the flight to japan)

taffy taffy (in class)

In completely unrelated news, we went to Watson's a couple of weeks ago for, well, plants and stuff. The dahlia I bought was harboring a fugitive caterpillar. He has devoured most of the blooms and has coccooned himself up in the few remaining petals. I can't figure out what he's gonna be, but I can't wait for him to emerge! His name's Cooter, by the way, in honor of turtles apparently.

Bah!

2009-06-09T17:33:00.000-07:00

I'm about a hair's breadth away from quitting school.
Okay, maybe not really, but yeah, maybe.

*sigh*

Bureaucracy.

Oh, but good news, I got to draw taffy today.
Wow.

Works in Progress

2009-05-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

If you could see one historical or fictional figure as a pinup...

I'm going to do a series of these starting with Hulk Hogan and James Joyce. Somewhere along the road will be Guy Montag, Paul Atreides, HP Lovecraft, Faustine, Ivrian and Vlana, and eventually the Grey Mouser and Fafhrd. Maybe some SoIaF peeps too. Who knows. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

Before that, I have to finish (ahem, start) the final covers for Rick's film. (Sorry Rick...)

Lucky Winner

2009-05-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

I got a message in my Flickr inbox a couple of weeks ago about having a photo selected to possibly be included in some online travel guide thing. Turns out that same photo has been included in the 7th edition Schmap Vancouver guide- here's the photo as a link if anyone gives a poo!

Brought to you all the way from the Orient

2009-05-21T21:02:00.000-07:00

Finally got a selection of photos up from our trip to Japan (although that saucy Josh beat me to it). Check 'em out if you dare.

All photos are links to my Flickr.

A taste of what's to come...

2009-05-17T02:57:00.000-07:00

Back from ole Edo...

Day One

2009-05-09T15:50:00.000-07:00

Quick update:

Flight = awesome
Hotel = awesome
Epic train station win
Mega epic Ghibli win
Fell asleep at 5pm Tokyo time
On to Harajuku

Peace

It's caaaaallin me

2009-05-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

Leaving on a jet plane- toodles!

Bettie in Color

2009-05-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

Turned out alright...

It's cooooooomiiiiiing...

2009-05-06T09:59:00.000-07:00

We leave tomorrow, son. I'm just one work day and one airplane away from the mothaland.

Just a little somethin somethin

2009-05-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

Homework

2009-04-28T17:40:00.000-07:00

School stuff, nothing too exciting...

Matte painting in Photoshop...

Sculpting a batfish lady...

Suspended Animation

2009-04-23T20:29:00.000-07:00

I'm sick, and my brain's complicated, and I am pondering vision and appliance, and I just looked through a hundred of James Jean's sketchbook images, and my hands know I'm good but my brain knows I'm lazy. Japan (two weeks now!) will be a test of sorts.

This man knows something better than anyone in the world somehow.

I think some people (artists?) think that because they see beauty, and can sometimes create it, that they somehow invent the concept. Like before you said, "That is beautiful" it didn't exist to anyone.

To some people That is mundane, will not even register on their radar, but it still lives, even when you're not gloating over it. And I can't think of a single thing to make it more beautiful.

Also, I've probably never written anything more pretentious in my life.

Behold

2009-04-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

Congratulations

2009-04-11T10:36:00.000-07:00

From the back of Nobody's Baby But Mine, by Susan Elizabeth Phillips:

"Genius physics professor Dr. Jane Darlington desperately wants a baby but doesn't want her child growing up as she did, feeling like a super-intelligent freak. So Jane needs someone... well... stupid to father her child- someone like legendary Chicago Stars quarterback Cal Bonner. But this good-looking good ol' boy is a lot smarter than he lets on- and Cal's not about to be used and abandoned by a brainy, baby-mad schemer."

Boo!

2009-04-06T21:28:00.000-07:00

Comicon was rad (due in no small part to getting my Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser book signed).
BBQ action: check.
School tomorrow: boo.

Here's another kind of boo:

My feet are blurry cuz they wiggle.

Magical +1 Wireless Network

2009-04-02T12:24:00.000-07:00

RIP EGM

2009-04-02T00:09:00.000-07:00

So apparently this is old news, but it's new to me...

Ziff Davis sold EGM (that's Electronic Gaming Monthly to you) to some dickweed company by the name of UGO/Hearst, and those wretched, whorish, capitalist fucking cuntbags pulled the plug on my favorite and most trusted source for game info.

Since I was a kid I've read EGM. Remember when mags used to do envelope art? The adoring little squirt I was sent in a drawing of a Snowboard Kid getting shot in the head (the clever title = Sniper Kids...) and actually managed to get it published in - excuse my boner - the Squaresoft (before Enix!) comes to America issue.

This magazine was more to me than Nintendo Power, generally the fav of the kids I knew, because of its great writing and - excuse my pretentiousness - its journalistic integrity. Reading Nintendo Power is like watching a Nintendo console give itself a blowjob; you'd be hardpressed to find any criticism in that mag. Also, I don't exactly need a heads-up to buy the new Zelda game.

Other mutli-platform mags like Game Informer aren't much better. Think the Nintendo Power analogy, only the PS3, 360, PSP, and whatever else - fucking Nokias for god's sake - are watching and jerking themselves off.

And since 1up was part of the deal, the site I used in between issues is also ruined. Fuck you very much, Hearst.

I'll miss Seanbaby most of all.

Spill a 40 for my dead homies, and then go here, the ridiculous fucking excuse for a replacement Hearst thinks I'll buy into (as if I needed my gaming news source to also provide me with Lost trivia and subcategories for pictures of hot chicks and sex), and call someone's mother a whore for me.

Thanks to the internet and the beauty that is rapidshare, I managed to find a cbz file of issue 108. Here's the cover:

And here's the Letter Art page, with my long lost submission! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Binomial Nomenclature

2009-03-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

"...because men that are free, well-born, well-bred, and conversant in honest companies, have naturally an instinct and spur that prompteth them unto virtuous actions, and withdraws them from vice, which is called honour. Those same men, when by base subjection and constraint they are brought under and kept down, turn aside from that noble disposition by which they formerly were inclined to virtue, to shake off and break that bond of servitude wherein they are so tyrannously enslaved; for it is agreeable with the nature of man to long after things forbidden and to desire what is denied us."

Indeed.

Although "brought under and kept down" implies that this restraint of man is external. I would argue that the constructs commonly enslaving man (work, duty, relationships) have to be submitted to and, thus, are self-inflicted rather than imposed in an inescapable sense. Admittedly I would be arguing with the above statement and not Rabelais himself, who understood these cages of ours better than I.

Names have great power to me, and it seems that they are the first form of bondage (this time truly external) we experience. From infancy who we are and how we will be addressed by everyone we ever know is chosen for us. I've personally always felt oddly disconnected from my name, like it doesn't belong to me. It also occurs to me that Josh and I almost never use our birth names when addressing each other.

I think everyone should try to learn their true name.

Who am I kidding?

2009-03-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

Chronicles

2009-03-18T17:56:00.000-07:00

New to Flickr:

First image will take you to my photostream.

Well, okay.

2009-03-18T09:23:00.001-07:00