How To . . .

have you ever found yourself in this situation? you've got a bunch of angy people with a cause together, and you're off to your protest on your protest bus, but how do you get these people impassioned, inflamed and ready to GO!?

well, luckily, Wiki How-To is here to help. they have a complete list of helpful how-to's, from captaining the protest bus, to talking to that attractive member of the opposite sex you find your self in proximity to on your local public transit, to tieing your shoe (hey, lets be honest, you mix that up sometimes too in this, the age of the slip-on revival)

so, shoot on over there, and get a little help, goodness knows you need it.

milk. a bunny. mayonaise

way to go, nike.

i'm watching you . . .

http://www.google.com/analytics/

Chocolate Chip Cookies, Diet Coke and True

soooo . . . first of all, i have to say that the Chocolate Chip Cookie/Diet Coke combo is deadly. it struck at me twice today, while at work. luckily, i was able to defeat it, by devouring the cookie and drinking the coke . . . yes, i did this twice. yes, i love diet coke and chocolate chip cookies. yes, work gave them to me. yes, i will probably get fat at my job. which brings me to an important point: why i need a new road bike. when i get one, i will be able to ride it easily before work, and not get fat. . . or, at least, stave off the fatness for as long as possible.

which brings me to a quandry. why do i always see ads for TRUE, the dating service which, apparently, has so many hot women that they will probably explode if all of us nerdy guys dont sign up immediately. apparently, she's out there, just waiting . . . for ME! i cant believe it . . . in fact, i cant believe it so much, that it makes me a little tired . . . remember the one True ad with the not very cleverly airbrushed topless chick, who's back was to us, holding her breast. yeah, that one was dumb. but, apparently affective, because i still remember it. would it have been as effective if i had only seen it once, instead of, oh, 700 million times? would an image of, say, a tree, be just as effective if i saw it 700 million times? maybe, if the tree had boobs. i see these ads mostly on myspace, where i have to assume that they are showing me chick ads because my profile identifies me as male. do chicks get TRUE ads about all the hot dudes, just waiting for them out there in cyberspace? maybe the ads arent that smart. maybe chicks have to look at the same ads that dudes have to look at. i hope not, for their sake.

and, lastly, so that i can finnish this thought on a high note. my little brother has been experimenting with the recording of musics. you should check out what he's doing. he's 17.

Drew and Johanna got married

last week, dan and i went to Tucson, Az, where we met up with shaun and katie and went to drew and johanna's wedding. it was an excellent affair, in drew's folks back yard. there was a wonderful jazz band playing at the reception. and, one dirty hippy who thought the things he had to say and sing about were more important to me than not hearing them . . . which i would have preferred.

the day after the wedding, dan and shaun and katie and i went down to Tombstone. famous for . . . being Tombstone. it was . . . disapointing. i dont know what i expected, but not the dirty half-assed tourist trap of a town that i got. oh well, it was still fun.

on the way down, we stumbled upon the airplane grave yard (and here), which i wish we would have had time to tour. but it was still cool to see all the planes anyways.

other than that stuff, the highlight of the trip was discovering that, apparently, the fine citizens of Tucson, AZ are single handedly doing their part to preserve the market share of the long neglected RC cola. we first made this nearly archeological find while dining in a barbeque restauraunt of unreasonable terribleness (which still haunts me), but soon found it (the beveradge) to be nearly ubiquitous among the southern parts of AZ. Diet RC is relatively tasty . . . although i dont know if i'll ever sway from by true addiction to Diet Coke. i know that Diet Coke is true. amen.

we also found a dairy queen, in a middle-of-nowhere type of town, where i got a tasty cherry chocolate blizzard. why is it that dairy queens always manage to make it in those small towns? the DQ is definately a small piece of americana.

later in the day, after getting back from our old west adventure, dan and i hung around Tucson. we cruised through most of the city. failed to find an open motorcycle shop, perused the U of A, and finally landed in a small nameless retaurant/bar, where we got some wings, nachos, popcorn shrimp, and, of course, Diet RC. and i have to say: maybe i didnt see the better parts, but, all in all . . . Tuson is boring.

Toshi Gets A Sax

so, yesterday toshi looked up from his computer with the face of childlike glee. he immediately dropped his blue bunny drumstick icecream, ran . . . somewhere, returning with a medium sized cardboard box . . . which contained - a SICK black saxaphone! he's about to take some lessons, and i'm sure, in no time, he'll be totally SICK at playing it - just like Rob Lowe in St. Elmo's Fire. "Lets Rock!" SICK.

Why My Job Rules, Valentines '07

well, yet again, my place of work proves itself to be artist-centric and a lot of fun. today, for valentines day, not only did we have a wonderful lunch as always, but there is a big Happy Valentines sign, made by the girls who take care of us, paper hearts on the walls, pink and white m&m's everywhere, heart candies of various chocolate varieties, a valentines oreo cheeze cake, personalized boxes of candy hearts (thats right, it has my name on it) annnnnd - if that weren't enough - AN ICE CREAM TRUCK! thats right. there was an ice cream truck parked in our little parking lot distributing frozen confections to the masses, compliments of Asylum. I had the Pink Panther cherry flavored novelty ice cream bar. it was awesome. Thank you, Asylum.

The Whizzer!

gonna go check this out on sat. pretty stoked, seeing as its one of the coolest things i may have ever seen. . . it's here, at the Solvang Vinatge Motorcycle Museum. gonna ride my bizzike up there . . . my moto bizzike, that is, not my peal bizzike. oh, what was that? you want to know the history of this fine machine? well, thank YOU Jack Backstreet for putting it together for us.

Slideshow! Boosh!

some people have wondered why my gmail status message says "Slideshow! Boosh!" well, hopefully this will clear it up. actually. no, it wont. because that phrase didnt appear in the series till about episode 11 or so. however, this is a good introduction to the seriese Frisky Dingo, and perhaps my fave episode - episode 2, our first introduction to Awesome X. so, start with this, and then you can get to the rest. BOOSH!

ep2 pt 1

ep2 pt 2

I Love Flickr (have i said it enough)

yeah, thats my pops in the center, with the sweet brown suit

if i haven't said it before (and i'm sure i have) i love flickr. flickr helps fulfill the biblical prophesy that in the last days the hearts of the children will be turned to the fathers. for example: today my father posted pictures of his mission in switzerland, from 1974. aaannnnd, they're amazing. suddenly i want to know more about my dad, again. what questions haven't i asked? what dont i know? what happened to the stylish young man of the early 70's to turn him into the anti-style king of the capital beltway? and, perhaps most importantly, why havent i seen these pictures before?

also, it helps when friends post pictures of things you've done. for example, the art show which i reported about the other day, andy totally posted some pictures from it here. thanks again, flickr. what am i going to do if flickr ever blows up? i dont like to think about it . . . so i'll just look at the pictures. . .

Finally, a List i can USE!

so, last night my roomate andy and i gave a 5 minute presentation on places to find live music in Los Angeles. in preparation for this, i populated a list . . . then, looking at the list, i realized that IT'S THE LIST I'VE ALWAYS WANTED! a simple list of venues in LA, with links to their websites. well, i made the links, and HERE IS THE LIST world. i hope somebody finds it as useful as i am sure i will.

shareef don't like it. rock the casbah.

The Frozen North

so, two weekends ago i went up to Ut to give a couple of lectures. "but, mike," you may be saying to yourself, "what sort of lectures? . . . and to whom? and . . . what - since when are you the kind of guy that gives lectures anyways?" well, funny you should ask. my siblings would readily tell you that i'm the kind of person prone to the giving of lectures on any of various topics. and, it is true that i have never been accused of talking too little . . . but these lectures may be a little bit different.

i gave a little presentation to the students of Utah State Unviersity and The University of Utah on getting into the business of animation. i hope i was able to answer some questions about how to make the transition between school and work, as well as bring a little reality to their quests, and maybe even a little bit of inspiration.

luckily i was able to fill the lecture with plenty of videos, including this hi-res version of the Halo 3 teaser that i worked on, so it wasnt so bad.

the question is, really, though . . . should i go to UT to do a masters of some sort as an excuse to make alot of animated stuff? . . . the answer: geeze, i dont know.

The Hunted

(not an image from the show, but a good one anyways)

On Sat, i went to the opening of an art show for one of my favorite "LA underground" artists, Blaine Fontana at The Lab 101 Gallery. i really enjoyed the show, wich was mostly a collection of smaller works (about 12x12) with a few larger paintings and 2 sculptural instalations. i like to go to openings, because the gallerys are open late, and i actually get to see the works, as most gallerys close early, and i never get to see them, because of working.

the theme was about hunting, and i'm not going to read too far into any potential message, probably because i like hunting, and i dont want to think that Blaine may want to argue with me about that in his art, even if he does. ( i couldnt say, i'm avoiding the topic) . but i enjoyed the images none the less, and bought a print.

i was most impressed with his use of pop cuture images (like a truck with a camper cab, targets resembling "Target"), old photo material (pictures looked like they were taken in the 50's), and an apparent silk screening of images and colors. i always enjoy Blaines use of line in his paintings, and his illustrative quality. all in all, i thought the show was great, and i enjoyed seeing a bunch of work in the same place, as i'm used to seeing maybe just one piece as part of a larger colaberative show.

Blaine is way better than Buff Monster, who's show i also went and saw, last week at Gallery 1988, and seemed to be based more around porn than quality art (though i know that is debatable in the world of "what is art" anyways). oh well, Buff doesnt claim to be otherwised influenced, so i'm not complaining, just wishing there was more substance to his work too . . .

AN IMPORTANT (re)DISCOVERY!

a while back, i discovered a link to about a billion tv shows. it alowed me endless hours of time wasting, and i was able to catch up on the Venture Bro's . . . however, much to my dismay, one day that link stopped working . . . BUT! i have just discovered on the Lost Boy's blog, that the TV LINKS LIVES ON! Now i can continue to waste my life with such classics as He-Man, Johnny Quest and Power Rangers. thank you Lost Boy . . . thank you.

also, speaking of power rangers, check out this sweet Japaneese commercial. thank you Toshi.

Tears of the Black Tiger

second of all, i want to see this movie . . . realy bad.
(trailer)

Last week in a whirlwind and a blur. . .

hello blog, i'm sorry i neglected you . . . first things first: