From Paris With Love Review

Mastery of an art requires two things; talent and practice. Luc Besson, director of Leon and La Femme Nikita, has talent. Me? I have practice. Practice to catch laziness when I see it, and From Paris With Love is as lazy as it gets. What we do get is what's already in the title; it's filmed in Paris and covers a couple pathetically incorporated one-dimensional themes of love (love of the handgun, a married couple, and bro-mancing with bald Travolta). Throw in some excessive action with a highly implausible story and pointless dialogue and you have the most mediocre action movie ever made. 6.9/10.

Brooklyn This Summer

Did I mention I might be headed towards Brooklyn in August? If anyone wants to meet up in New York, I'll be trying to figure out ways to get there in the next few weeks. Holler, baby.

By the way, Nina - these After Effects are all for you. Every single motion blur. All. For. You.

Uffie Nightly Sketch

This is why I hate Illustrator. It makes sexy girls look like disgruntled men.

But I love the new Photoshop. It marries my new Wacom with weighted brushes that rival Corel's shitty Painter any day.

Anri Sugihara in Photoshop

Can't deny it. I love my new Wacom Tablet and Adobe Photoshop CS5 (and Anri Sugihara, of course). This one took me 1 1/2 hours.

I Think I'm Turning Kawaii

No, I didn't do the lineart, but I gotta start somewhere to learn some proper color theory. Here's a retro-neon palette done on this fantastic lineart by ArtGerm. 1 hour on Wacom Bamboo in Photoshop CS5.

PS: Some folks are saying she looks a little like Pepper Ann if she got a makeover, lost the glasses, and moved to Japan. Maybe... just maybe.

The Things They Carried

I'm making a list of 100 things designers carry in their bags. If you've got ideas to add, please share!

1. Main bag (everyday bag)
2. Laptop bag
3. Pen bag
4. Laptop
5. Tablet
6. Smartphone
7. iPod Classic
8. Portable Hard Drive
9. Thumbdrive
10. Point and Shoot Camera
11. Flipcam
12. dSLR Camera
13. Extra lenses
14. Extra SD Cards
15. Extra batteries (AA)
16. Tripod (Gorillapod?!)
17. Headphones
18. Earphones (IEMS?)
19. Wacom Tablet
20. Portable Wireless Keyboard
21. Portable Wireless Mouse 
22. Ethernet Cable 
23. iPod Cable 
24. Power Charger
25. Portable Surge Protector
26. Airport Express/Portable Router
27. Tupperware
28. Band-Aids
29. Tissue
30. Moleskine
31. Post Its
32. Planner
33. Bone folder
34. Scissors
35. X-ACTO Knife
36. Cutting board
37. "Scale" Ruler (whatever that is)
38. Tape measure
39. Screwdriver
40. Swiss Army Knife
41. Flashlight 
42. Lighter 
43. Wallet
44. Coin bag
45. Chain + Caribiner
46. Keys
47. Gum
48. Clif Bar 
49. Canteen
50. Lotion
51. Chapstick 
52. Floss
53. Toothbrush
54. Toothpaste
55. Bandana
56. Watch
57. Shades
58. Hat
59. Nunchucks 
60. Grenades (Too much?)
61. Pistol

Workarounds

After simple introductions, we began our usability test:

I asked, "So how do you log into your university e-mail?" What followed next would astound me in immeasurable ways for years to come.

She grabbed the mouse pointer and began actively jamming away at the keyboard. Her typing speed wasn't very impressive (she was utilizing the standard two-finger poke method), but she eventually made it the university home page.

Of course I thought to myself, "Wait, did she misunderstand my question?" I continued to survey this curious spectacle.

Click. Office of Student Affairs. Click. Contact. Click. Financial Aid Help. Click. How to log into my e-mail. Click. Student E-mail. Click. I was floored. Each click seemed to affirm my reason for being there, and so I had to ask, "Why did you decide to go to the university homepage to find your e-mail instead of going to the site directly?"

She happily answered, "Well, someone put the links there so I feel like I should use all of them."

Her answer reminded me of the baby boomer generation (and thus, my parents and many of my relatives) that came before me; they always seemed to discover the solution via trial and error, but to ask them how they got there was just begging for a mental facepalm.

But after some time, you'll realize that there's always a reason why people do things. To empathize, discover, and understand is key to learning a little bit about our humanity, even if it's just one interface at a time.

Wacom Bamboo vs. Abe vs. The 90's

Got my tablet in today. Had to sketch something. Decided Abe Lincoln with a boom box was a good idea. Kinda excited. Makes me want to listen to loud music. Like dubsteps, wah-wah, brrraaap!

DVS - Filth & Funk (MP3)

Poetry in Motion

And she was beautiful
Glimpse of a smile
Paired with forgetful company
She was undeniably brilliant
as she was resilient to judgement

Identity in Print

Been needing to overhaul my online identity for a while now. So I've decided to explore a few business cards ideas. I'm thinking of a minimal, sketchy, and highly personal design embellished with my logo. Whatchu think?

A Dirty Carnival Review

A Dirty Carnival is one of those films that kind of grip you by the neck and can't seem to let go. It's a film exploring violence and masculinity, gangster drama, and a strong focus on the characters. And while character may not be the most lovable (or calm) person in the whole world, it's his magnificent rise and fall that starts to bear on a strong remembrance to films such as Casino and Scarface. Add an underbaked love story and a few gimmicks (ie: movie within a movie) that actually turn out to surprise you rather than disappoint; interestingly enough, it's just enough to make my list of awesome gangster films of the decade. 8.4/10.

Fireworks are Legal in Indiana

Which means there's plenty of fail. Luckily for me, I've got YouTube and a bag full of of pita chips.