Since the appointment required me to travel over to “the city”, I decided to take advantage of the fact San Francisco has many more and many better food choices than Oakland or Berkeley combined and visit a small Japanese curry shop recommended by a friend. Japanese curry is a different style than what most Americans think of, usually relating to Indian styles…it’s not quite as rich or thick; perfect for my palate. I ordered it extra spicy and they totally delivered; you can probably make out some of the bright orange specks on the dish. I snapped a couple photos and had a lovely time trying to transfer them to my computer from my phone without the built-in bluetooth of my laptop.

Full circle.

Check out the view from my new bedroom window (click to enlarge):

Polished off the final exam for my third semester of Japanese language last night… やった！

listening to:
Recovery
Eminem

thanks to my clumsy hooves for hands, my site’s presentational theme was accidentally deleted from the server yesterday. i’ve been able to restore about 80% of the style elements, and most things should be functional. please bear with the sawdust and scattered nails until i can get things repaired.

It’s been a good two months since my last post; much of that time has been spent attending events like E3 in Los Angeles, working on personal projects, working to secure a job, and then deciding that I want to return to university life and improve my mind the old fashioned way—which has meant spending time researching programs and schools.

After having separated with my last job, which was fun, paid fairly well, came with almost unbeatable benefits, greatly grew my experience and creative diversity, and then moving literally halfway across the country during an economically depressed period of seven months afforded me plenty of time to evaluate a great number of things, the least of which were my available opportunities.

Those who have known me well enough over the past few years to have a frank discussion about my views of advertising, marketing, etc. know that I’m not exactly fond of perverting my creative talents to liberate consumers from their hard-earned cash and buy crap they either don’t really need or can’t really afford. It’s one thing to crave an audience; but its another to stage a crowd with smoke and mirrors while your business associates pick their pockets in their distracted state. I’ve been told that such an anti-entrepreneurial sentiment is the trademark of creative folk, but pardon me for having any sort of human conscience or ignoring the perceived importance of the almighty dollar.

Many people also know that for the past 3.5-4 years I’ve been volunteering countless hours on a popular gaming news and community web site. While it’s technically not paid a dime (yet), I have met countless wonderful people and it has opened doors to many new opportunities and horizons, many of which have roots here in the San Francisco area. During my months away from the workforce, I’ve had a chance to explore these options to a greater degree and have enjoyed it enough to consider officially working within the video game industry in some capacity. Many young people interested in games seem to be interested in pursuing a career in editorial capacities, which I can attest is a very exciting field, but not one that is likely to bear lifelong careers for anyone unless they have other skills that can be parlayed into much different roles within the industry, particularly in business or other managerial duties; things I have little interest in directly, so I will need to look deeper into the job well.

Last fall, my volunteer efforts with that gaming site landed me a very rare opportunity to travel with a game company to Japan, an experience that really opened my eyes in ways I could have never imagined. It’s one of those things you have to see or do for yourself to understand, not unlike parenthood—so I hear. Ten years ago I would have ignorantly written off most foreign cultures as bizarre, unnecessary, and irrelevant to my life and goals. For me, Japan specifically was perceived as a place of such other-worldly oddity that I could only laugh at the stereotypical wacky TV programmes and assign them as the single thumbnail of the whole country and its cultured history. As it turns out, that naivete has ironically become the defining factor in the goals I have now set for myself.

I am and will always be a creative person and a child at heart. Originally, my college education was intended to put me into a career making video games, albeit from a production standpoint versus creative, but it turns out my mind wanted a greater say in the matter than my technical skill with computers, and the trajectory toward being an Art Director/Designer was set. Does it mean I am tethered to a career in visual design? Nearly as long as I have loved drawing so too have I loved writing creatively, be it poetry, opinion/editorial, or just waste-basket lining such as these blog entries. All things considered, a career that could benefit from my experience with visual design, creative writing and my more recent interest in bridging cross-cultural gaps is the most appealing prize. As it turns out, the gaming industry is multi-national, so there’s hope that I can mix that experience into the dough as well.

What it means is that I have set my heart and mind upon this new horizon, and have begun taking the first steps toward that destination. An easy goal it is not, and the decision to leave behind many of the luxuries I have grown fond over the past ten years is equally difficult. It has taken me roughly half my life to get this far; it could very well take the other half to get back to this point when starting fresh with a whole new language and culture. But a life without goals, dreams and growth is not much of a life in my opinion, so it’s a task worth undertaking.

The question that remains is: am I crazier for essentially leaving behind what I’ve worked hard to achieve thus far, or for pursuing such a far-fetched and potentially imaginary treasure at the end of a transglobal rainbow? Status quo or dreams? Maybe it’s the creative soul inside, but impossible dreams are often the winner; they make me tick, and ticking is something I’m not quite ready to quit doing.

On a different note entirely, new art will be posted very soon!

listening to:
21st Century Breakdown
Green Day

Spent my internet-free day tinkering in Flash, mostly with my banner image atop this site. Looks pretty good for a start and for a first time project in the application, but even as 100% vector, it will need some heavy optimisation for the file size to be small enough to replace my static header!

listening to:
Blinking Lights And Other Revelations
Eels

After attending a media event hosted by EA Sports last week to check out some of their new, unreleased games, I came to realise that while most of the sports they had on display were within my realm of understanding, the number falling into the completely unknown far outnumber those that do.

That had me wonder if I couldn’t use that fact to some benefit as a feature here on my blog: to write and describe popular sports in as much detail as possible, except from my perspective… a sports half-wit using only my observational skills to deduce the rules and premise. Look for my first entry soon!

listening to:
Light Grenades
Incubus

thought of the day: is it any coincidence that the difference between “fitness” and “fatness” is one pot-bellied character?

Yes, that’s a wholly underwhelming thumbnail, but the mysteries of its cropping reveal the secrets of… well, not much. A peek at the business card design our outlet will be using from GDC 09 forward; until they run out or I do something better. Info side is matte, red side is a beautiful glossy finish. That’s all for today.

listening to:
Everything to Everyone
Barenaked Ladies

…that’s about it.

however, i have been busting ass to visit seattle, do my day job as an art director & designer, and then come home and do my ‘other job’ of helping GoNintendo run. i really need to spend more time relaxing and enjoying the life all my busy-work affords. anyway, as the seasons dosie-do here in minnesota, a few lines pencilled a few months back in the swelter of summer seem fitting, especially since they’ve not yet seen prime time on the site.

Under the Cold Stare

keep tuned for a few game-related stories in the near future.

listening to:
Blackout
Britney Spears

while i’m having trouble getting my xbox360 to properly display in 1080p–which according to microsoft’s xbox website it should be able to do with their HD a/v component cables after last fall’s system update–being able to run 720p or a pseudo 1080p (1080i which the tv de-interlaces) is still truly beautiful. and it should go without saying that the ps3 running native 1080p over HDMI is even better, both game footage as well as blu-ray movie playback. this tv’s black levels are something to behold; i’ve never seen a tv of any sort with such deep black levels that it often looks as though parts of the screen are in fact revealing the abyss of deep space. the glossy, ipod-y black bezel of the tv looks great during day or night, and the black levels can often achieve the same deepness. the brights come close to simulating daylight in my rather large room when daylight is missing outside.

bottom line: the panasonic th-50pz750 is incredible, and quite a value compared to any of the next best screens available in the pioneer elite line. a slightly more consumer-focused model (th-50pz700) is available which omits a few higher-end, advanced picture controls and an HDMI port for 500$ less, but share the same screen. as well, 42″ and 58″ models are also available depending on your size and budgetary considerations. a definite must-buy if you’re in the market for a plasma tv.

since it’s been nearly impossible to find decent photos of this tv, i decided to take some of my own, along with a few video clips. below you’ll find a couple photos of my previous panasonic, and then a bunch of my new baby, including a few with me standing next to it for scale and size relationship (i’m 6′ tall). and yes, it’s summertime, so with a little warm weather or sun, i become a full-on silhouette, as you can see from the photos.. the walls are properly lit, and i’m still dark