Tsutsumi & The Art Of Giving

Today my eight year-old nephew had a birthday bash with the extended family. :D I just got back, and while I didn't do much but sit around enjoying the company and such, I'm completely tuckered out at the moment. :P I'm getting older and lame it seems. ;)
I had a great time though. The best part of the night had to be seeing my nephew open his gifts. It's so awesome to bask in the glow that generosity provides when you see the excitement, happiness and gratitude in someone's face when they open up their gifts. It's nice to be nice. And truly it's much better to give than receive.

Today was especially special since it was someone's birthday, and that meant that I would be able to wrap some presents. :D There are few thing I take more pleasure in than the art of gift wrapping. I immerse myself in the experience of experimenting with new techniques. About two years ago I got into Tsutsumi, the Japanese art of gift-wrapping. It's a truly detailed, precise, elegant and beautiful art. I've been hooked with it ever since I first began dabbling with it. Adapting its techniques to suit my own style and to help lend a personal touch to all my gifts. I wish I had taken a picture of the gift before I sent it off... but it was nothing special. Maybe I'll post some other samples in another post further on down the line. ;) Promises, promises. ;)

Okay, well that's enough from me tonight. Have a good one peeps... and don't forget to be nice and generous. Remember, "It's nice to be nice." ;)

DS333, folding & learning.

Indulgence

It's Friday! Well technically it's Saturday, but the main point is that it's the weekend! ;) And what's so special about the weekend besides being the weekend? It's the three days out of the week that I allow myself to go hogwild nutritionally. It should be known that I'm not a drinker, nor am I smoker and I'm certainly not a drug user. I've never even done the slightest bit of dabbling or experimentation, which is quite astonishing given that some of my best friends were users and I certainly had access to anything I wanted to research. But we won't get into my "straight edge" leanings right now, that's a rant best for another day.

I don't know exactly when it was that I decided to relugate my gluttony to the weekends. It's a fairly new addition to my routine. Something I added within the last year. It's probably due to my whole workout regimen I've been trying to keep to make ready for my battle with The Machine (again, a rant for another day. :P ).

The thing is, I'm not a particulary healthy eater throughout the week... I certainly hope I'm not considered a healthy eater 'cause that puts the term in a pretty sad state of affairs. :P But I make sure to drink tons of water to keep my metabolism plugging away and just to maintain a healthy complexion, kidneys, etc. It's just an overall smart idea to keep your water intake high... but y'know, not too high. ;)

So basically indulging on the weekends, for me, is all about giving the water a rest (not totally)
and sucking down some sugared goodness. And what does that mean? Well I have several lovers... right now I'm having some Jones Soda... mmmm. For the longest time... years; I was obsessed with Starbucks Frappuccinos. But that was back when they didn't get rid of all my favorite syrups. :( Ahhh... the good ol' days. ;) I give the Coffee Bean a go every now and then... but last weekend I got really fucked up on one of their drinks while I was out with a friend, which pretty much put me off on the place for a good while. Well.... maybe. :P Now that I started typing about it... I'm getting a craving. :P

I guess I'm not a good closer 'cause I'm not sure where I wanted to go with this post. :P Just thought you'd like to know what the weekend ushers in. Like everyone else, I indulge on the weekend. ;)

DS333, sipping, sucking, slurping, chugging and drinking. :P ;)

001.099.365

• Gee, I'm so close to my hundredth post. :D
• Still struggling to get on a "normal" sleep cycle. :|
• My little nephew celebrated his birthday "today"... ahhh, to be eight again. ;)
• Just finished watching "Death Proof" for my third time... god I love that movie.
• I need to rip an audio track from a DVD. Hopefully I'll have an easier time than I did with the "American Doll Posse" music DVD... damn PCM files! >:( :P
• I started using Quicksilver and I loooove it. :D
• Went to Jim's #1 today... another hamburger special #2 for me. ;)
• iCal came in in a pinch with it's e-mail notifier. I almost forgot about Björk's appearance on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien". By the way, she performed "Wanderlust". :D
• Hopefully I'll get to bed early tonight... well y'know, "early"... it's already past 4am. :P
• I looked killer today... tres sexy. ;)
• My neck hurts.
• I'm torn about whether or not to buy Mailplane... hmmm...
• I wanna brush my teeth now.
• I haven't tooled aroud with iPhoto since last week... I really need to get some photos up on Flickr.
• I think I should head out now. ;)
• G'night all you cyber kitties. ;)

DS333, meow.

Linkage ~ "Quicksilver"

Okay, this is my first official Linkage post so this is going to be a bit of an experiment. Bear with me. Because I was feeling lazy tonight I was thinking of just posting a few links based around a central theme and leaving it at that. But I think that's lame and I hate it when blogs I frequent post links with no explanations whatsoever. Although, I want I do want the links to speak for themselves... I'd like people to visit them. So I'm gonna be very terse.

• Quicksilver

Quicksilver is an application launcher for OS X. It's supposed to be the be-all & end-all of applications of this type. I was first turned onto the app by one of my favorite technologists, productivity guru and webmaster of 43Folders, Merlin Mann.



This is a short demo of Quicksilver given by it's developer, Nicholas Jitkoff (AKA a1c0r) at the Google Campus on August 30th, 2007. Runtime - 00:24:42

Finally here's a link to great and detailed tutorial of Quicksilver as a downloadable PDF.

• Quicksilver User's Guide

DS333, experimenting.

Explained, "Memory..."

This is a "feature" that I feel is long overdue. It's something I've been thinking about creating for some time, but I suppose I held off on it because I imagined the explanation would be a loaded one. I don't exactly know how to attack the topic. There's so much to say and I don't know how to get it all out there without turning this post into a chaotic, incoherent rambling. Which I guess wouldn't be much different from my usual posts, so what the hell? :P ;)

I really wanted a forum to share my memories. Memory of all kinds. Recent and distant memories. The trivial and the significant. Distinct and obscure. I don't know what you would call memory... a phenomena? Whatever it is, I've always been fascinated with it... few things I'm sure of, but I know I'm "obsessed" with it in a way that most people are not. I don't quite know why that is. Because I can't compare my experiences and memories with others in a deeply intimate way I can only assume I experience memory more intensely; more vividly. Though, in no way would I say my mind is a steel trap... my memory's not photographic. I would imagine having that kind of mind.... I feel my experience, my interaction with memory is more organic? More colored and emotional... but not distorted. I can capture a moment in a way that I feel is torturous at times. Because the moments are rich... the memory that is. Gee... I'm losing the thread here, I know I'm not explaining myself well. Of course, for all of us, memory is deeply profound and rich... I don't mean to say that I'm... I've just seen it. I've known it from speaking to friends and family that I lock onto and into a time and a place in a way that is all my own. A way that is vast and varied.

My experience with memory isn't important to relate I suppose. I just needed to let it be known why I wanted to create these posts, and that's because memory is very important to me. Plain and simple. Not just the memories themselves, but as I've mentioned before... the phenomena of memory. The Memory Construct. It's interesting trying to suss out exactly what it is that we take away from experience. Why we hold some things close and push others away. The vivid memory and the buried memory. How this things relate to our concious and unconcious minds. It's all very personal... our interaction with memory. Especially since memory is so closely tied to the idea of identity. Then you wonder what it means to lose memory? Surely you don't lose yourself when you lose a memory. Those suffering from degenerative brain disease are surely still themselves. The self is intrinsic to being, yet the loss of memory shuts us off from them. And I call to mind the idea of enchantment. The sleeping beauty. They're there, but not there. Awake, but not awake. And what role does memory play in this phenomena? What is memory? What does it mean? What does it do? I've thought long and hard about memory... all my life, so I couldn't go into it here. This place in merely a place to document.

So in the coming days, weeks and months I'll use this forum to archive my memory. All kinds of memories. From all different times and places. The inane and profound. ;)

DS333, recollecting.

001.096.365

• Again, thank the maker for these posts! :P
• I had the sleep of sleeps. The sleep of Gods. :D
• Today kicks off the true beginning of the new Fall TV season! :D
• It's going to be interesting trying to balance my enormous Net consumption with television. :P
• I watched "The Big Lebowski" tonight, and it totally lived up to every word. :D
• I'm so excited about watching the extended cut of Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof". I have it in my grubby little mits. :D
• I thought the season premiere of "Heroes" on NBC was fucking awesome. :D
• I have a calzone with my name on it. :D
• I've very happy today for some reason, I feel not altogether here... which I wouldn't say is a good thing, though in this instance it feels great. It's an intense happiness... cloud 9?
• I need to start typing in QWERTY again... I don't wanna lose it. :P
• Oh, there's so much else to be doing at this moment... life's too short for blogging. ;)
• Hope you've all had a killer day too! :D

DS333, floating.

A Lesson Learned

I'm so fucked up right now. I feel trashed. And it's all thanks to your friendly neighborhood Coffee Bean, both the storefront and consumable. :P Me and caffeine don't mix well apparently. We especially don't get along on an empty stomach with less than 2 hours of sleep the day before. I was low, then high and then in some psychedelic limbo. Right now I just wanna crash. And that's what I think I'll do... I'm surprised I typed this much. :P There's much to celebrate however... I got to handle all the new Apple goodies (I want an iPod Touch!!! :D :P ) and I bought a couple of movies: "Death Proof" (extended and unrated) and "The Big Lebowski". I've very happy. :D

DS333, happy and trashed.

Rain

Thank the maker! We've finally been blessed with rain here in Los Angeles and I couldn't be happier about it. I've loved the rain ever since I was a wee lad and so I find Fall to be the most blissful of seasons. Funny enough, we don't seem to get much rain in Winter... at least it seems that way to me. Anyway, while I lay awake in bed listening to the rainfall last night, I started to wonder exactly what it was about rain that intrigued me so. It's really hard to pinpoint a specific reason. But I imagine it's because it's the only change of weather we're afforded in Southern California. It's nothing but Sun, Sun and more Sun. We don't have any snow, obviously, nor do we have tornados or hurricanes, thankfully. It's a beautiful monotony. So rain is the only thing that really shakes things up. Initially, I have to imagine that was the main source of fascination as a child. It was something new... something different. Foreign. Alien. Romantic. Rare. Precious.

Although, now that's certainly not what holds my interest. I love the "physiology" of rain. I love the way it moves, the way it breathes, the way it sounds and the way it feels. I think it's the most sexy and sensual of conditions. :D When I look at the rain fall... I'm mesmerized by the way in which it moves across the land. Sometimes it falls in sheets, or sways in waves, or charges in chaotic disarray. It's wonderful! It's not at all hard to begin to anthropomorphize it when it appears so tempermental. Sometimes it's a him, and others a she. It's always more to me than it is to others. I love him.

If I were to go on at this point, I might find myself in trouble 'cause I have a naughty rain story. :P So I'll expound on the way the rain "breathes" and "feels" another time. I'll save my "naughty" story for a post in the future; sorry to tease, but that's just the way I'm feeling. ;) Blame it on the rain. :P

DS333, enchanted.

001.093.365

• I've been having the weirdest dreams lately!
• I received the October issue of GQ in the mail today! :D
• I'm still buried under old, unread issues of GQ. :(
• I'm planning to head over to the Apple store this Sunday to check out all the new hardware (the new iMac, iPod: Shuffle, Nano, Classic and Touch) and I'm beyond excited!!! :D
• It finally rained today! :D
• I looove the rain. ;)
• The lemon-flavored Limited Edition Halloween Jones Soda tastes horrible!!! Avoid it at all costs. ;)
• I'm getting a headache and I don't know why. :(
• I found out the other night when I switched my keyboard back to the QWERTY layout that I've practically forgotten everything about it. :P :O
• I need to practice typing in QWERTY more often.
• I'm really digging the "Jurassic Park" soundtrack I recently ripped into iTunes. :)
• I really should own "Jurassic Park" on DVD.
• There are a ton of movies that I should own on DVD. :(
• On Sunday I'm planning to try out that drink from The Coffee Bean Tea & Leaf that Shooby tweeted about some time ago.
• Hmmm... should I be putting hyperlinks in these Third posts?
• I need to start using Quicksilver I think.
• I'm still hungry... time for some spicy noodles. Yay, chopsticks. :D :P
• Ugh, my head's getting to me...
• Goodnight folks. ;)

DS333, "only happy when it rains". ;)

Projected Projects > "Uploading Photos To Flickr"

Pretty self-explanatory this time around huh? :P But I felt that it was worthy enough to chat about. So when I started joining web services earlier in the year to push out my whole "communication" initiative, Flickr was one of the sites that I joined. It's certainly one of the oldest and most well-known services around. For those of you not in the know, Flickr is a community-based site in which members share their photos and/or screenshots to the world, publicly and/or privately. It's all pretty straight-forward. I love the service. Though I might love it more if I had a Pro account. One of the down-sides of having a free-account is the upload limit you have per month. Thankfully... there's only an upload cap, you're free to save as much photos on their servers as you can. I don't take photos all that often, so the upload restrictions don't bother me at all. I have a hard enough time get my photos ready for the web. Which is what brings us to this post. :P ;)

The only photo set I have on Flickr at the moment is one documenting a family trip taken on Easter Sunday to Disneyland. Although we've taken another trip since then, to Arizona on Memorial Day weekend, I've yet to get those uploaded. :( :P As any professional photographer would do, I took a hell of a lot of photos on our trip. ;) Sure, they're not all winners but I want to make sure to edit them all incase anyone wants to browse my library. The photos I post on Flickr, however, are what I consider the best of the best. No one wants to see multiple photos of the same thing from different angles. So I'm very diligent about being a good editor. Anyway, I took near 300 photos on Memorial Day weekend which means I had a whole lot of editing on my hands. Really daunting when you actually get down to it. It's the most amount of photos I've had to edit at one time and that was one of the main reasons that it's taken me so long to get around to completing the project. Especially when you consider how I used to go about doing it (tee hee :P ). iPhoto is my main photo editor when it comes to my Flickr sets. And before I had iPhoto '08... or maybe I should just skip all that and just say that iPhoto '08 is a godsend! I've only now gotten around to finishing up the Memorial Day photos because of iPhoto '08.

The one feature that I can't live without in the "copy & paste" element in the Adjustment panel. Given that a particular set of photos were taken in the same lighting conditions, I can make the appropriate adjustments on one photo and paste them on the rest! It's so easy and automated. It's such a huge time-saver. And while I'm sure it's not a new feature, I'm almost positive I didn't find it in the older versions of iPhoto... I found a "condition" within the Smart Album editor for "not edited" photos. Before this addition, I used to have the hardest time keeping track of which photos I had and had not edited. Now I can create an album of unedited photos from any particular set, edit them at my leisure and once I do they get throw out of the album! Awesome!!! :D

So over the last few days I've been able to chip away at the stack of some 270 photos and whittle them down to around 90. I'm almost there! :D I'm very happy about that... not just finishing that job, but creating this whole new workflow. It should make uploading photos to Flickr a regular occurrence, which in great considering it's pretty much been abandoned since I uploaded that first set. :( But that's all looking to change. ;) I'm taking not just this blog, but this whole year-long project as a work-in-progress. Everything in evolving, finding it's place, grooving, growing, etc. In time, my Flickr account will be something to marvel at... at least in my eyes. :P ;)

DS333, The Consummate Editor. :P ;)

Projected Projects > "Setting Up The Nintendo Wii"

I was just in the middle of registering my primary e-mail address as a contact in my Wii's address book when I decided to come blog about it. I only recently got the Wii online, which I have to say was an extremely simple process. I have it on the wireless network now, but all I had to do to get it online was search for wireless access points and enter in the appropriate password information. Bing, bang, boom... it was that easy. I've been online for about a week now and I'm able to access the Weather, News and Virtual Console Channels. It's pretty awesome given how simple and basic the features are, I suppose the luster will fade in time... but for the moment I'm enjoying them. ;)

I haven't yet connected with anyone else who has a Wii via my Wii... but I plan on trading a few numbers tonight, and being the geek that I am, I'm very excited about it all. :P Just before I came on, I got my Wii Console number... and I also got a confirmation e-mail from myself from the Wii, which means I'm all ready to receive e-mails from myself on the Wii! :P The next thing I wanna do is buy the Internet Channel from the online store... I believe that's apart of the Wii Ware collection. I'm still very new to all this. I got the Wii on the first of June and surprisingly I didn't buzz through all the user manuals as I usually do when I receive a new piece of hardware. I was so anxious to start playing when I got the Wii that I let all the "research" fall by the wayside. But now I'm getting into it. I've gone through all the user manuals, but I plan to give them another read-through incase I glossed over any other cool features. I've also been meaning to fill up the SD Card that my incredibly generous brother and sister bought for me when they gave me "The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess". I basically need to go through my iPhoto library and pick and choose the pics I wanna add, but that's a whole other story. :P

Another thing I wanna do is get the Virtual Console going. I'm DYING to buy "Super Metroid", that gorgeous gem from the Super NES era. By far, it's one of the greatest games of all-time. But buying that means I'll have to pick myself up a Wii Points card (the Wii version of an iTunes card), as well as a Classic Controller. I might do this tomorrow? But I can't be sure. Once I get on that Virtual Console they'll be no stopping me. :P I know I also gotta buy "Zelda II: The Adventure Of Link"... it's one of those classic titles from the NES days that I've never played before. My brother's played it, and beaten it, I remember that. I also remember that it was very hard. Anyway, it was so long ago that I'm curious to see how well it stacks up now... mainly on a gameplay difficulty level. I'd love to say I conquered all the main Zelda titles. ;)

Okay, well I think it's time to get back to the Wii... I wanna see how the whole Mii parade thing is supposed to work out. I want them to be able to wander, I just wanna know if I can choose specific Miis to wander. I don't know that I want my virtual family running amok on the Net. :P Slowly but surely I'm getting the "KeeMachine" (the name of our Wii :P ) up and running the way it should. It'll be an object of envy in no time... well... even more so. :P ;)


DS333, configuring.

001.090.365

• Woke up late in the day again. :P
• Watched the second episode of "The Biggest Loser".
• Edited some more photos in iPhoto.
• Just imported some albums into iTunes: "Star Wars - A New Hope", "Jurassic Park" and "The Lord Of The Rings - The Fellowship Of The Ring"
• Listening to "The Lord Of The Rings - The Fellowship Of The Ring"
• Ate some cantaloupe.
• I've been loving the weather lately, I think Summer is officially dead this year. *knocks on wood*
• Sleepy.
• I wanted to go to bed early "tonight". Oh well, maybe "tomorrow". ;)
• I'm so psyched that the iPod Touch has International Keyboard settings. The iPhone should be getting an update soon to gain the same functionality.
• I think there are a lot of things to post in these Third posts, but I lose track of 'em when I get down to typing 'em. :P
• I want to paint some Chuck Taylors.
• I'm now dreaming of those gorgeous Corcoran boots.
• I want to buy some games for the Wii's Virtual Console, but I wanna buy the Classic Controller first.
• There's a huge thought in my head that's been lingering... but I can't pin it down right now. Has something to do with some sort of social phenomena.
• I think I should go to bed. ;)
• Goodmorning all you fellow Night Owls... won't you join me in bed?

DS333, leaving.

Experimenting With YouTube

So I've mentioned earlier that I planned on developing a "Linkage" feature to share my favorite links and such. But I watch a ton of video each week so I don't want to restrict Linkage strictly to hyperlinks, I want to include embedded video as well. Much like a lot of the early features on this blog, I've been wary to dive into creating posts that were too "rich" because I lacked the knowledge to include rich media. It's all very easy though... this is Blogger after all, it's quite accessible and automated. You'll notice that I've begun to include photos and links in my recent posts... so I thought it was about time to start experimenting with posting video.

YouTube, and all of the rest of these Flash video sites in fact, make it very easy to embed their videos. I assume it's as simple as it seems. I hope it's only a matter of copying & pasting. So here goes. (If it fails... I'll just include a hyperlink. :P )

PJ Harvey is one of my favorite artists of all-time. She's an amazing musician. Sadly, I haven't made it all the way through her catalogue, owning only her first four albums. I have much left to listen to. Though, this hasn't stopped me from becoming extremely excited about her new album which is due out here in the States on the 25th of this month. I've been keeping most of the news of the album at bay. I just know that the album is called White Chalk and is heavily piano and string inspired. I've also been able to gather that album is supposed to be a stylized take on 19th Century Chamber Music. Sonically and visually the album is a call back to the days of old. I'm very interested in the album, and just can't wait to have it in my hands.

So here's a TV appearance of PJ Harvey performing a new song from the new album. The track is titled Grow Grow Grow. It's indescribable. Pure perfection. You gotta watch it. Enjoy. ;)



DS333, experimenting.

"A Plan Is Forming."

Yippee!!! I've devised a nice little format for this blog. Slowly but surely everything is falling into place. So, I've mentioned before that on every third post I'd update the blog in a micro-blog fashion using the bullet mode. That's worked out just fine, I think it was a perfect addition. I think it creates a nice bit of structure and consistency. It really shakes things up and offers an alternative to my long rambling posts. I imagine the "Third" posts to be a back-log of all the Twitter & Pownce updates I never got around to posting in the last couple of days... I gotta vent somewhere don't I? :P

I only ran into a problem when I was trying to figure out what I should post about during the other days. So then I came up with the idea of putting up some sort of features. Now I have posts focused strictly on my artwork, movie reviews, etc. But I also wanted to reserve some space for random posts that were much too random to include within a "feature" and yet much too lenghty to include in a "Third" post. So I was having, what you might call, a scheduling issue. I wasn't sure how often I should I should post features, and how often I should post random updates. Now, I think I've come up with a perfect solution.

So, starting today (well actually a few days ago :P ) I've decided to pair features with other features and random posts with other clumps of randomness. Obviously this post in pretty random. So tomorrow it'll be followed up by another random post. Next will come a Third post, then a pair of feature posts, followed up by another Third and a couple of random posts and so on.

I'm very happy about this little decision. Adhering to a set schedule makes this blog seem more structured and orderly. And in the immortal words of Martha Stewart, "...that's a good thing." :P ;)

DS333, planning.

p.s. Can you guess what the inspiration for this post's title was? Now how could you ever forget that outstanding delivery by Danny DeVito as The Penguin in Tim Burton's "Batman Returns" (1992)? :P ;)

001.087.365

• I'm on a really weird sleep cycle these days. :P
• I need to get up "earlier". Though I'm not sleeping anymore than any healthy person (eight hours), so I guess I'm not too weird. ;)
• I looove my new Apple Keyboard. :D :P
• How long must you own something until it becomes old? Or rather, not-new?
  
• Ever since I got my Wii online, I've been dying to purchase the "Internet Channel"... though I'd much rather wait until I get a wireless keyboard I can use with it. Can anyone say, "The new Wireless Apple Keyboard."? :D :P
• I'm not as materialistic as I seem. I just love to love. ;)
• Hmmm... I'm recalling a memory from a dream I had last night. Don't know why... it's just coming. Something about me in a hotel. I see cowboy boots, a suitcase and some jeans... now a variety of women's blouses and a department store. I think it was a bad dream... or at least it "feels" "dangerous".
  
• I really need to start writing my dreams down as soon as I wake up. :P
• I really can't stand wasting food. I've turned eating left-overs into an art form. You gotta be aware of what you can eat, will eat, and how much new stuff you should make to accommodate all this crazy planning.
• I use OSX's Dictionary a lot. I couldn't remember whether "accommodate" had one "m" or two. :P
  
• I've been diving into iPhoto again. I found an "unedited" condition in the Smart Folder/Album options... I'm fucking over the moon about this!!!
• I love iLife & iWork '08. :D
• I should have my Memorial Day Weekend photos up on Flickr shortly. *LOL* Talk about "better late than never". :P
• I have over 200 photos to edit. *sigh*
• Ben Gold loves to tweet and blog and who knows what else that I'm unaware of. I detect a bit of loneliness in all his posts... I don't know why. *scratches head*
• Tonight I used OSX's slideshow feature that's built into Finder. Pretty fucking cool for a simple slideshow. ;)
• I always feel bad about watching a movie I've seen countless times before when I have the option to watch something new.
• I want to watch "In The Mood For Love", "2046" and "The Matrix".
• I've yet to watch "Pan's Labyrinth" and "Little Children".
• I need to get those Kurosawa DVDs back to Sis.
• Damn... October is rearing its head and I haven't made my Halloween costume yet, even though I said I would dress up this year. :|
• I need to make a mask.
• I'm planning to switch out my "Sad Mac" avatar on all my web identities for the week of my birthday. Or month? Again, October is rearing it's head and I need to come up with a more "personal" avatar.
• I'm having a bitch of a time regulating my body temperature tonight. :|
• My arms are cold.
• I'm been quite the good Seeder on Demonoid today. I got a 18.0 share ratio on one of my files. ;)
• I should head out... I'm boring you all. :P
• Goodnight all you meep meeps. ;)

DS333, quite happy. :D

Projected Projects > "The Black Book"

I've finally begun working on my Dream Journal. I've taken my trusty Moleskine along with me during my last three visits to Starbucks to work on it. I actually spent some time with it tonight, and I have to say that I'm incredibly shocked by how well things are coming along.

All along my fear about working in The Black Book was centered around adapting to a new medium. As I've mentioned before, this will mark the first time when I've made a concerted effort to work with color; colored pencils. I figured it would be a disaster compared to working with my trusty Bic pen. While working with the pencils is definitely new and different... it feels surprisingly natural. I'm very happy with the way things are coming along. In some ways I feel as though I'm capturing more of what's going on in my head, on paper, than I ever have before. It's pretty wild.

I never mentioned it before, but at the same time that I had formulated the "concept" for The Black Book , I was also turned onto the concept behind Akira Kurosawa's "Dreams". His Dreams was basically the cinematic version of my Dream Journal, an interpretation of personal dreams translated to film. At the time, I had no reference for a Kurosawa film in color. For me, his work existed only in black & white. The concept and the change in medium totally blew me away. It was very serendipitous. For me, it was a sign that I was on the right track. I needn't fear moving into the colorscape when all I had ever known was working in black & white. Evidently I was right. ;)

I make it a point to work with the most meager of tools. In my mind, that really makes the work pop... rather than the medium. As I've mentioned I customarily use a Bic Crystal ball point pen in my normal work, so I thought the best route for my colored pencil endeavor was to go with the old-school Crayola 12-set ("Preferred by Teachers"). :P They work really well on the Moleskine... though I'm sure that has more to do with the book than the pencils. :P Anyway, I'm enjoying the whole process... it's very new. Having to sharpen your tool is pretty wild... as is the idea that it wastes away in the process of creating. That makes a pretty powerful impact, somewhere deep down, on my mind. Best of all, unlike ink, the pencils don't smudge or smear. *happy dance* :P Yes... it's all working out quite well. :D

I never show sneak peeks of work that's in progress so I won't show you what I've been able to do so far, but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. If you're not, at least I was. :P ;)

DS333, plugging away.

Film Fetish: "High And Low"

High And Low (1963)
- directed by Akira Kurosawa


(Synopsis excerpted from IMDB.com)

An executive mortgages all he owns to stage a coup and gain control of the National Shoe Company, with the intent of keeping the company out of the hands of incompetent and greedy executives. He needs the same money, though, to pay the ransom that will possibly save a child's life. His resolution of that dilemma -- the certain loss of the company vs. the probable loss of the child -- makes for one distinct drama, and an ensuing elaborate police procedure makes for a second. (This synopsis written by levin)

Gee... I'm such a fan of the majority of Kurosawa's films, which makes this review such a tough one. :P Okay, I'll just go out there and say it... I didn't really like it. In fact, maybe I didn't like it at all. Given that it's touted as such a great piece of Film Noir, I was somewhat disappointed by the story... and certainly by the lack of stylization. But even judged outside the context of a proper Noir... the story just wasn't all that interesting. It wasn't anywhere near as gripping, intense or compelling as I would figure given the pitch. Though, I feel that maybe this is one of those classic films that might've had more of an impact back in its day. For instance, the police procedural portion of the film seemed horribly out of date and uninteresting. You find yourself more than a few steps ahead of the story at all times. It makes for a very bland experience. And the film's climax is nothing to write home about... in fact, it inches out of the zone of the disappointing and into the infuriating and frustrating.

4.5/10 I wouldn't even say this is worth the time to watch, unless you're a die-hard Kurosawa fan... and even then, be prepared for disappointment. :(

001.084.365

• Somewhat great sleep.
• Uneventful day.
• Getting this under the wire. It's 5:57 a.m.
• Playing a lot of "Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising" on the Game Boy Advance.
• Sleepy.
• Thank the Maker for these posts. :P
• Goodnight.

DS333, beep beep.

Entropy, You Whore

Disorder, how do I hate thee? Let me count the ways. :P There are a myriad of people on this planet whom I'm sure wouldn't hesitate in saying that my life is in total disarray. A total mess. I wouldn't exactly argue with them... though I wouldn't exactly agree with them either. Like most things in this world, it's really a matter of perspective. Having said that, I'm still not all that happy with the way things stand now. I'm in definite need of change, but change will happen whether I want it to or not. So... I suppose I want to control the change. The rate of change. The type of change. There's a lot to fix... to change.

I imagine my bedroom being a perfect microcosm for my life. It's a mess! :P I mean it's really pretty bad (my room! :P). I've always been partial to a little untidiness over clinical, sterilized order. Chalk it up to the artist in me... the bohemian... the mad scientist. But, in the last few months, I think my room's gone from charmingly messy to plain ol' repulsive. :P Okay... maybe I'm being a tad too hyperbolic, that's just me, but it's in desperate need of some tender, loving care. Again, much like my life. I have a vision for both... of something greater. Nothing particularly grand or extravagant. But perfectly suited for me. It's possible... achievable. I just need to change... I need change. Change is the watchword for the next few months.

I feel that I've been horribly reactive in the last year or so. More so than would be normal or healthy for anyone. I need to be more proactive. Let's face it... I'm different, so I'll never not be easygoing and cavalier when it comes to living my life. But there's a difference between "going with the flow" and living a reckless and disordered life. While I should be open to change... I shouldn't be unaffected by it. I need to be Water... well... maybe not Water exactly. I'm likening myself to a piece of driftwood, and I need to be a competent sailor. Which I'm not at the moment... but I can see it, I can feel it.

So maybe I'm not really bemoaning chaos and disorder with this post, but a certain mode of thought. One that ultimately lends itself to chaos and disorder. It's just a symptom of a larger problem. So here's to shifting out of neutral, taking holding of the wheel and driving.

DS333, revving. ;)

Disinterested

I feel bad on days like these... or rather, on occasions like these; I really don't feel all that interested in blogging tonight. Nothing's really stirring in my mind. There's certainly always something to talk/blog about... I could bust out a few Film Fetishes or any number of the other features I've created. But the fire's not here. I'm just not in the mood right now, and I don't want to half-ass my way through something that I think should be handled with a little more love or care. I suppose that's a good thing. What's not good is not being in the mood to write when you have a blog. :P So what I am to do? But to bitch about the situation and make that a post. :P Very lame I know... ;) But at least I didn't call it off completely... I don't think you'll ever experience any "blog fade" on my end... especially when I can make posts like this one. :P Nah, I'm only joking... I couldn't do this very often. Like I said, I feel bad about this... and not because I feel I'm short changing my "audience", but more because I feel disloyal to myself on some level. There should be something of substance here... no matter how minuscule. :P

I should be up and running at full speed tomorrow, so don't worry your pretty little heads. I'll find a more productive way to bore the hell out you and/or waste your time (hopefully both. ;) :P). Take it easy you meep meeps. :D

DS333, unapologetic.

001.081.365

• A really late night... and a pretty "early" wake up call... I was bombed today! :P
• I was trying my damndest to rip some DVD audio last night, but I failed... horribly. :(
• My brother, sis and the monkeys came over today! :D
• I didn't get to chat it up with my brother as much as I would've liked to today. :(
• After discovering the Nintendo Wii was wi-fi ready right outta the box, I finally got my Wii online! Woohoo!!! :D
• Watched some "Metroid Prime 3: Corruption" promo vids via Wii24Connect that got me sooo psyched for the game... still can't get over the "Aurora" video!!! :D
• I'm starving for some new media. All my podcast feeds have done dried up on me. :(
• Made a dent in The Black Book tonight at Starbucks.
• Working in color is such a wild experience for me, though more easier than I had anticipated. ;)
• The barista at Starbucks turned me onto a new flavor: a Raspberry White Tea Lemonade, sweetened. Tasted a bit like medicine, but I was cool with it. ;)
• Last.fm seems to be down tonight. It's been down for most of the day actually. Annoying. :P ;)
• Love that MailPlane has Growl support... I hope they don't charge an arm and a leg for this program once it comes outta private beta. :|
• God, I love this new barista... he put a hell of a lot a Java Chips in my frap. Daddy like. (Hmmm... that sounded slightly scatological. :P )
• Time for me to shut up methinks. ;)
• Happy hunting all you little tigers.

DS333, meow.

Film Fetish: "Seraphim Falls"

Seraphim Falls (2006)
- directed by David Von Ancken


Nearing the close of the 1860's, years after the end of The Civil War, two veterans of the war, Carver (Liam Neeson) and Gideon (Pierce Brosnan), find themselves locked in a vicious game of Cat-and-Mouse set against the American Southwest. Enlisting the assistance of four bounty hunters, Carver is dead-set on wrangling in Gideon and delivering his own brand of justice. But Gideon is far more dangerous, cunning and resourceful than he appears and will not give up when it comes to ensuring his personal survival. What is it that ties these two men together? What has spawned this tale of revenge? The answer is Seraphim Falls.

First off, I gotta say that the Revenge film is my favorite genre of film... hands down. And Seraphim Falls is a definite balls-to-the-wall revenge film. I loooved this movie! Neeson and Brosnan are two of my favorite actors and they certainly don't disappoint here. Aesthetically, this film is perfect. The way they're able to capture the ferocity, grandeur and beauty of the American Southwest is nothing short of masterful. The only down-side of the film lies in the mystery of Seraphim Falls, in this respect, you're left in the dark for much of the film. The audience is left wondering what possible sequence of events could fuel this fierce vendetta. Though, if you're a fan of the revenge film you only need identify with the character archetypes to keep yourself glued to the story.

8/10 As far revenge films go, this is one of the very best. It's a perfect meditation on vengeance, temptation and forgiveness. It's all tied together beautifully with great directing, cinematography, acting and some of the most memorable action sequences you'll ever see.



* Spoilers *

If there's any reason to see this film, it has to be for the film's climax. In it, the two men find themselves broken and weak facing certain death as they carry on their pursuit/escape on a vast, scorching desert playa. Enter Anjelica Huston in an amazing role as The Devil... 'nough said. ;)

DS333, overjoyed. :D

The Art - "Water Woodcut"

Water Woodcut

approximately 4" x 8"; ink on paper.


This is the thirteenth piece in my 70-part David's Book (AKA The Blue Book) project. Given my tenuous relationship with the book in it's early stages this is only the sixth piece to be "completed" to my satisfaction. Thankfully I've more or less worked out the kinks with the book, so every piece that I've begun working on from the tenth on is sure to be completed. :D

So watch should I tell you about this piece? Well first off, the idea came fairly quickly. I was playing around with the idea of creating an homage of sorts to Japanese woodcutting. I've always found them to be quite beautiful, as I'm sure everyone else does. I've also found it interesting the way water is depicted in those pieces. Water as power... mutable power; Water as Change. It's all so very striking.

During this time though, I had also wanted to play around with creating something that someone might use as a tattoo. People have requested it of me before... but I've never felt that any of them would be open to collaborating in quite the same way that I would enjoy. It would be more involved and lengthy than I'm sure most consultations are. That said, I still wanted to create something that I felt would make for an interesting tattoo, even if there was no one to use it.

Now, I can't quite conjure up the memory as well as I would like. All I remember is being near the water one day, at the beach. And I don't remember his face... or much of his body. But I remember being at the beach, near the water on a beautiful sunny day when I saw this man with the most amazing shoulders I had ever seen. For me, that doesn't exactly mean they were the most muscular and toned shoulders to grace the planet... they were just perfect. Something about the way the light caught them. Something about their proportion... their color, etc. It just hit me. Then I thought that would make a perfect canvas. If I were to create a tattoo for someone, I'd like it to grace something like that. Then everything else hit me... being at the beach; being near the water; seeing the woodcut form in my mind. That shoulder was the perfect catalyst.

So I went to work and knocked this out. I basically wanted to keep everything as geometric as possible to help allude to the idea of precision... which is one of those watchwords whenever I think "Japanese". At the time I was creating this piece The Brown Book didn't exist, it wasn't even a distant thought. So this is the only piece in David's Book to rely so heavily on rules and guidelines, which I really felt I needed to remain true to the idea of woodcutting. Having that thought in mind I thought I'd keep the piece rectangular, block-like... like a wood block. I also liked the shape because of how well it would work in the "field"... on this phantom shoulder.

Finally I just went ahead and thought about the different states of water. I used the bottom of the piece to communicate the idea of stillness and darkness. I thought of the Abyssal Waters, the Abyssal Dark. Up from this stillness and dark arises the energy... the energy that informs all life. This is the energy the creates the tides... and so I depicted this "wave of energy" atop the stillness. From then on I just went ahead and drew the tidal waves, the mist, the fog and the rain. All pretty simplistic. And for the subject in mind, I think apt and perfect. A great surfer's tattoo... perfect for the beach. I'm pretty happy with the way this one turned out. ;)

DS333, happy.

001.078.365

• Typing up this post using the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard layout again... fun, fun, fun... wish me luck. :P ;)
• I decided to test some formatting stuff with Blogger tonight, so bear with me. ;) Testing! (That's my Virb° profile) ;)
  
• Today was such a beautiful day! I had the greatest night's sleep. :D
• My mind's drawing a blank, I had a lot of things to blather on about. :P
• I'm still totally consumed with yesterday's Apple iPod news. :P
• I think I'm close to making a breakthrough with this new keyboard layout experiment... more than a few times lately I've felt like giving up, just as I'm getting better. My Shadow is doing all it can to sabotage me with these pathetic last ditch efforts.
• When I was at Michael's art supply store yesterday, I couldn't stop drooling over the Prismacolor coloring pencils. I fell in love yet again. *sigh*
• I'm planning to work in The Black Book tonight.
• I need to go through all my previous posts and tag them... I need better organization. It's gonna be a huge undertaking. *sigh* :P
• Bought some Pom pomegranate juice today, yum! In Mango and Cherry flavors... all new to me. :)
• I'm loving my whole social-networking kick. :D
• Can I say how much I love iScrobbler? Hmmm... that might make for a good "latest love" post! ;)
• I've got some movies here I gotta watch...
• I need to make some "Film Fetish" posts.
• I think I should head out... I've some energy to burn and I should use it artistically; not that these posts aren't artful. ;) :P
• I'm very excited for some reason... I feel goooood. :D
• Something's on the horizon.

DS333, expectant. :D

Latest Love <3 "The New Apple iPods"

So earlier "today" was the big Apple announcement, and boy did Steve Jobs deliver! By now you can find various detailed reports about all the announcements on countless websites so I'll spare you yet another round-up report. More than anything I just wanted to take this time to gush over all the new goodies! :D

New colors for the iPod Shuffle, ho-hum... I'm not to crazy about the new color schemes (I love the more saturated tones of the old one), but I'm still in love with the 2nd Gen Shuffle. But JoeyBot (my 1st Gen Shuffle) is still up and running so that's probably why I've never really been taken with the new Shuffle.

Apparently those recently leaked photos of the "fat Nano" had some merit... only thing off about 'em was the "old-school" plastic casing. While the new form factor has received it's fair share of bashing, I have to say that I'm in looove with the new design of the iPod Nano. I think it's gorgeous, which I believe has a large part to do with the aluminum enclosure... it's sexy as hell. It's so sleek. I'm really digging the tiny click-wheel as well, but of course the real selling point is the super hi-res and enlarged screen. I can't wait to see that puppy in person, I'm sure I'll die. The idea that it's more crisp and clear than the iPhone's screen is insane...I can't even imagine... :P

All the same praise can be heaped upon the newly named iPod "Classic". It doesn't have the tiny click-wheel of course... but it's just as sexy it it's own metal frame. Funny enough, I've never really been a fan of the true "iPod"... it's always seemed a bit too clunky for my taste, well only recently anyway. Back in the day I was absolutely mad about the heft of the fat and clunky iPod Photo... but that was ages ago, and I was so immature and unsophisticated back then. :P

Of course the real show-stopper was the new iPod Touch... *gasp* be still my heart. Have you ever seen a more beautiful piece of technology in your life? And yes, I'm counting the new iMacs... this new iPod blows that beauty out of the water. I'm absolutely insane about this thing. What's funny is that obviously when I woke up I read all the reports about the Keynote Address, but it wasn't until I actually watched the thing that I realized how much more amazing this new iPod really was. I had figured if they were to release a touch-screen iPod à la the iPhone, they would obviously chuck the phone capability and I thought the web capabilities. Boy was I wrong... you can surf the Net with this thing!!! *dying* I've never wanted anything so much in my entire life!!! *LOL* Okay, well maybe that's not entirely true... but this is pretty damn near the top of that list. Oh my god, and the fact that it's only $400 for a 16 gigabyte version.... wow, I'm floored. Obviously that's a lot of money... but I say "only" because it was only a few years ago when we were forking over $500 for that clunky iPod Photo I mentioned... and that was no where near as elegant and advanced as this Touch. I'm in love... *sigh*

Oh Envy & Desire... why must you plague me so? :P Anyway, pretty damn good day for Apple and Macolytes the whole world round. I know I won't be able to think of much else for the next few months. :P

DS333, swooning.

Tick-Tock

I've been such a bad boy today, what with waiting so long to get this post out... it's almost 6 a.m.! :O But I do have an excuse... well not really. :P The one thing that took a huge chunk out of my time tonight was "Kagemusha"... the latest rental in my Akira Kurosawa Retrospective, that was a whole three-hour affair... but more on that in another post. ;)

To be honest I can't write up a post right now! :P For one, typing with this Dvorak layout is craziness! It borders on the infuriating. :P But more than anything I just imported and tagged another Tori Amos show tonight, which I'm listening to right now, and I just wanna rock out to that. It's the first Santa show I've imported! :D

Also I can hardly think on the eve of yet another Apple announcement! I want tomorrow to come more than anything...

I want to take back time; I want to hold it; and I want to speed it up.

DS333, anxious.

001.075.365

• I'm giving this another go using the Dvorak layout. ;)
• Fuck was it hot today... over 100 degrees, 102° in fact. :(
• Did absolutely nothing this Labor Day... just the way I like to spend my holidays. ;)
• It was so horrible to not be able to go to Starbucks today. :(
• I finished "Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition" in Professional Mode today. ;) :D
• I'm dying to play "Metroid Prime 3: Corruption"!
• Ripped some Janis Joplin CDs into iTunes tonight... now I just gotta work on the album art (right after this post). :D
• Still haven't watched "Kagemusha"... I'm waiting for the heat to die down because I want the greatest level of comfort possible. ;)
• I'm loving the new features that were recently released on Pownce. :D
• Ate at Denny's today: club sandwich.
• This really cute guy was flirting with me at Starbucks yesterday *the vapors*. ;)
• I've recently been on the hunt for some circular stencils... I need one for my current Jerry's Book project.
• I'm not doing so bad tonight with this keyboard. ;)
• I should go, I'd stay up later but I wanna try to get as much shut-eye in the cool of the night as I can.
• Goodnight kiddos. :D

DS333, improving. :D

The Art - "Guardian"

Guardian

approximately 4 1/4" x 6 1/2"; ink on paper.


This is the first piece in my 21-part Jerry's Book (aka The Brown Book) project. There's a lot that I could say about this piece, though I fear that it might become rather redundant fairly quickly... so please bear with me. ;)

First off I should say that The Brown Book actually consists of 24 pages, but I decided to limit the amount of pieces to 21 because I was more in tune with that number on a symbolic level. I was all the more happy to limit the amount of pages after I had worked on the second piece and just wasn't "feeling it". So I scrapped that page, which brought me back to 23 pages... and at that point I just decided to take the opportunity to give myself some extra leeway and "remove" two more pages. It should also be known that the second piece I was working on on page two didn't get totally scrapped (at least the idea didn't)... I reworked the piece and completed it on the third page, which I refer to as the "second" piece. I know, this is all terribly fascinating... ;) I've just decided to let these art posts be as detailed as possible. ;)

So I chose the Guardian as the first piece of the book because I wanted to set-up this idea that the book would act as a sacred tome of sorts, and I needed a symbol that would act as a charm... a protective charm. If it's not readily familiar, I patterned the symbol after a bird... in my mind The Sun Bird. In keeping with this idea of sacredness I was relying on the heavenly connotation of the bird symbol to drive the point home. Although the symbol's fairly simplistic, there's actually a lot going on here...

The body of the bird is meant to feel mechanical. In some ways, I was hoping to call to mind the idea of a barrel... much like the barrel of a gun, because I wanted the idea of mechanism to play a part in the piece. I specifically thought this guardian, like all guardians, would not be soley concerned with denial... but also acceptence. He is a lock... he protects the door... he decides who comes and who goes. In this thinking I was drawing heavily from this idea of divine struggle and illumination... which is why the bird holds The Pair of Opposites in his claws. In her left: joy, life, pleasure, water, red, green, etc. And in his right claw: sorrow, death, pain, fire, white, black, etc. Those who are allowed to pass through this door must make no discrimination between the powers... all are the same powers working under different masks. This is why the "orbs" look exactly the same.

The birds tail is also meant to reference this idea of illumination... or at the very least the journey toward. The crosses are meant to reference the crossroads. The point between to places... in this language, a point between two thoughts. Heaven's path lies one side... and Hell's to the other... obfuscating the true path to illumination, the union of Heaven & Hell. The third cross, the middle cross leads directly to the heart of the beast... to the door's lock. There you find three holes... or keyholes. Two are meant to house Wisdom and Ignorance... at his shoulders, the Discrimination Principle. The central hole, which is connected to the third path houses the Indiscrimination Principle. With both principles in mind... the "three" powers in hand, the lock opens...

Again, it's hard to express exactly what it is I want to... I would like to go on from here to explain in further detail the "mechanics" of the symbol... but I don't want to diagram anything... it would just become too complicated... especially when I feel I've offered up the gist of the philosophy of the symbol. So there you have it... The Guardian of The Brown Book.

p.s. Unlike David's Book, the pieces in Jerry's Book are heavily ruled and planned out... which is why I offered up a cleaned-up version of the symbol, so as to offer the greatest impact on first sight. But I also didn't want to disregard the original entirely... which is why I offered up a thumbnail version of it with all it's guidelines and such. ;)

DS333, unlocking.

Explained, "Joey's Book"

Joey's Book is the final book in my three-part Books Of The Art project. If you haven't guessed or come across the info by now, you should know that I'm Joey. That's me and that's my name, nice to meet ya. ;)

Joey's Book (by the way, it feels kinda weird... and by "weird" I actually mean "douchey" to be referring to myself in the third person. :P Technically I'm not... I'm not referring to the book per se, but the title of said book. :P ) is also known as The Black Book. Like the other two books... my book's color has a direct superificial link, my book happens to be a full-size Moleskine sketch book... which is black. I have to say that I don't have any true loyalty to one type of book over any other... obviously. But I imagine I might stick to the Moleskine books in the future if only because of their interesting history with artisans of all kinds. That's immensely appealing. Maybe more appealing is the huge geek-cachet they carry within the geek/tech/web community. :P More than all of that though, I find the Moleskine books to be absolutely luxurious. But I've gone on about Moleskine before... so I'll spare you that rant. ;)

Funny enough, I recently watched Rob Zombie's remake of the classic Halloween and in it Dr. Loomis has this great little dialogue with the young Michael Myers about black's status, or lack thereof, as a color. It's a rant I've heard before (which I find somewhat annoying by the way. :P ;) ) and was actually one of the many reasons I decided to choose that color for my book. Although, the main reason I chose black is because it's so closely tied to the North. Traditionally, in a symbolic context, the North is representative of the dark... of dark energy. It's the Abyss... it's The Unconscious. It's a place of terror and personal discovery. A crossroads. The ultimate destination of The Hero.

This reference to the unconscious, however, was the main factor in my decision to choose black. The Jet North is a place of dream. I've actually mentioned The Black Book before on this blog, but by a third name... The Dream Journal.

There were so many reasons why this final book would be my own. A mixture of thoughtful design and divine serendipity. In some ways it was only by chance that my book would be the third in the series... but it wasn't by chance that I would link each book between myself and my brothers. What's interesting is how that linkage arranged itself. The first book, David's Book, is my oldest brother's book... who just so happens to be the first-born. The second book, Jerry's Book, was the second-born. And finally, I the third-born. The number three... and it's connection to me and my life is, in many ways, a profound one. Ways in which I don't know if I'll be able to fully explain, and if I could... if I should. It's curious though that it managed to appear in this fashion. That my book would be the third book. It has all the marking of the personal. Which is so apt. And why there is a reference to the Hero mythos in my decision to choose black. There's this reference to The Hero's Journey... and the left-hand path of the artist.

But more than anything, the book is tied to the idea of dream. Especially since my entire focus for the book is to document my dreams in visual form. David's Book is of fire, Jerry's of earth and mine of water. Water being another reference to dream... to the dream sea... the collective unconscious. Everything in my book is meant to be a mixture of philosophies from the previous books. At once, wild and tamed. Always in a state of flux... in between states. Not quite hot... not quite cool... not quite spontaneous and not quite planned. In my mind I imagine mist... steam. Water that's not quite itself... in transition... at it's most mutable. Smoke. Again tied to the idea of the dark... of the unconscious. I see smoke and images arising from the dark. I try to pin them down as they are... but I don't come close. My dreams come and go as they please... offering hints... and I do my best to hold onto them. I'm on the path of the beast... searching and hunting.

Another remarkable thing about my book is that I've decided to forgo my use of ink. More than that, I've decided to experiment with color. I don't know why... but it seemed appropriate. My drawings... the way they appear to me in my waking life, and the way I choose to render them... the rendering always falls short. I don't know that I've the talent... nor does there exist the medium to render them as I would like. My dreams are an even more elusive animal. There's no way I could... hold them the way I would like. So to help alleviate the situation... I thought I would use color as another point of reference, or elaboration. I try to imagine... an image being a word or phrase... and rendering them properly means being limited both by time and by vocabulary... but my decision to use color, is like adding voices to the choir. Maybe using color would help me to... get more out than is normally possible. But I don't know... it's an experiment. ;)

Anyway, that's my book... funny enough, I could still go more in depth about it... but I'm sure you've had your fill. ;) I haven't yet completed a single piece in The Black Book... which I suppose is due to a mixture of fear and a tiny bit of perfectionism rearing it's ugly little head. I haven't worked with color... so I'm worried about mucking things up; not expressing myself the way I would like. I want things to be perfect... and this uneasiness I'm feeling almost assures I'm going to fuck up, so I've just stalled. But I don't suppose that'll last long... I'll get to it quickly enough. This blog, oddly enough, I feel is helping that process along. I want to update this blog fairly regularly with pieces of my work... and if I'm coming close to having nothing to post, well that should light a fire under me to get things done. It's two sides of my OCD mind fighting against one another. :P I have a plan to post regularly which I won't let get interrupted... and I also don't want to create anything I'm horribly unhappy with... neither of these things are going to change, which just means I'm going to have to find a way to work more quickly and efficiently. I gotta operate in Hero mode... walk without fear. ;)

DS333, fearless.

001.072.365

• Tried to pull an all-nighter last night but failed. :P
• When you ask for extra pickles at Subway be prepared for a whole lotta extra.
• Boy am I sleepy. (-_-)zzZZZ
• I'm so excited about the Sept. 5th Apple announcement!
• I would die if Apple releases an iPod à la the iPhone, sans phone and web capability of course.
• I'm typing this post entirely using Dvorak... still very much a struggle. :(
• I recently watched "Red Beard" and Rob Zombie's "Halloween". :)
• I really wanna watch my next Kurosawa flick tonight, "Dersu Uzala", but I'm so tired. :|
• I think it's time to head out. ;)
• Goodnight all you lovable digital voyeurs. :P ;)

DS333, struggling. :|