"Project X"

I have decided to start pre-production on a long term After Effects project called "Project X". I'm currently planning out it's design but will probably be something I'll keep working on for a good couple of months.

Keep an eye out in the far future for this one.

Time to get outta bed soon.

I'm yet to leave my bed and just finished watching the documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America. I started it up last night before I slept and finished it up this morning.

 It's interesting seeing how this whole gang war thing happened from the post civil rights movement and how it all was rooted from racism, broken homes, and the prison industrial complex. Very informative, and I also love the After Effects work they did.

I've also been browsing Erwin Sales' Tumblr. He's an artist and one of my best friends. Here's a typography he did that I'm amazed by. See if you could figure it out.

and this one titled "Mountain Man"

He has some pretty weird stuff, but I guess this is why we get along so well.

On another side note, I've been thinking about repainting my bike sometime soon within the summer. I'm looking to paint it with some deep red or maroon.

This bike caught my eye from a forum not too long ago and I'm just in love with the color scheme give or take less yellow and a different saddle. Slap on a UN SPACY decal and I'll call it done!

I love how this post is a series of unrelated topics. Well, time to start my day!

Little Tokyo random.

Thought I was going to have just a normal Thursday, but thank God for random adventures.

I went to The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA in Little Tokyo with Jess and checked out the "Art in the Streets" exhibit for a report she had to do. We got there an hour before it closed but good thing it's free every Thursday (what a luck!) and we were able to do a quick lap around the whole thing. I'm definitely coming back and I'm glad its there until August.

Check it out here for more info.

Found this in Granada Hills while I was out working. Definitely would not want to be a kitty in that alley.

Free tequila based flan courtesy of the Camarena Tequila Truck (double what luck!). The flavor caught me off guard not because of the tequila but because it was savory and not sweet. It's different but something really worth trying out.

Daikokuya's Speciality Ramen. Definitely one of the better ramen joints out here. My clothes still smell like ramen MMM.

A bachelorette party me and Jess witness come into Little Tokyo's village area sober and leave plastered drunk. They were leaving the same time we were and they sounded like a stampede of drunken horses because of their heels.

I'm enjoying this care free week. I've just been biking everywhere, catching up with old friends, and spending time with people close to me. I don't want to get used to this though, and I feel I need to be working on something.. I'll do that next week.

Hmm, it's already Thursday? Time goes by pretty fast when you don't have much to worry about.

LAX Ride

It's been awhile since I've last posted. I've been super busy with finishing up this semester, which I feel I ended it on an anti-climactic note. It's okay though because what I'm more excited for is to know I'll have mostly, if not all, film related classes next semester instead of GE's. I can't wait to finally be surrounded by people who are in the same field as me and to work on things I'm actually interested in.

Just to catch up on things, I've decided to finish the "Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes" project this Summer seeing as I now have a lot of leisure time. My "February DSLR Project" is at a current crawl until I can fix my mini DVI to HDMI adapter for my display (I broke it and the context of that includes a lot of alcohol. That's as far as I'll tell).

Other than that, I'm going to be messing with other projects that I will probably reveal in the future. Maybe even some super secret projects that I'll have cool code names for like "Project X" or something.

But besides project related stuff, i've decided to take in my free time and bask in a little traveling. My friend Miguel and I decided to take a bike ride to downtown LA, to Venice Beach, then to LAX, and back home, and boy was it quite the adventure. 

Here's a couple of shots I took along the journey.

My Mercier Kilo TT.

A scrape I got after trying to wedge between a bus and a driveway.

¡ Muy delicioso Shrimp burrito from La Fiesta Brava, a small ma' and pa' Mexican restaurant that lets you BYOB !

"We're gonna rock down to Electric Avenue!"

View from bike path in Marina Del Rey.

Taxi fleet near LAX.

A cowboy going to China.

Those super cartons on top are XBOX HUGE (you know, like the first Xbox).

It was about a 40 mile bike ride, the longest I've gone on so far.

Let's hope this will turn out to be a good Summer and I hope for the best in Fall '11. 

P.S. - I sometimes feel I can't get too personal on this blog since I'm trying to keep it at an even surface. I'm going to start writing like I used to again. Keep an eye out. Oh, and you know you guys know where to look ;3.

Hung OVA

Thank you, Atmosphere.

Oneday

Uyama Hiroto - Oneday (Prayer for Love and Peace)

Uyama Hiroto comes from Hydeout Productions, the same record company as Nujabes, and it shows. Hiroto is to the sax to what Nujabes was to the flute.

The song was created as a prayer to those affected by the Tohoku region quake that shook Japan earlier this year.

I just wish this song was longer. It's like I can feel there's more to it. 

P.S. I wish they can put out more unreleased Nujabes tracks.

Mother's Day/Pan's Lab

Happy belated Mother's Day! I haven't been this full since Christmas.

I think this was the first Mother's Day I actually went out and really did something for my mom. It feels good to see her happy and makes it all worth it even for just one day.


I just went through the whole DVD commentary of "Pan's Labyrinth" for a presentation in my English class, Literature in Film, and I must say, I've come to really appreciate Guillermo Del Toro. The guy is really serious about his directing. Almost everything done in the mise en scene has a purpose. Del Toro even goes as far as to direct actors/actresses by a "Take 3 puffs of your cigarette while taking 7 paces to the mirror.." style of directing.

I believe great directors are those that can properly envision their ideas, even to every piece of blocking. Del Toro is a genius and surgical when it comes to directing.

Another thing I've come to really appreciate/become amazed by was Google Docs. Did you know you can do a live creation of a slide show presentation (just like PowerPoint) with a collective of people online? Fucking technology.

Take me down to Motown!

Thanks, Jeffrey, for this cover of Daft Punk's "Something About Us" by Balance and the Traveling Sounds. You know I love me some good Jazz.



On a side note, I'm missing out on the fight tonight. I'm working 7 to 1 in the morning. Pacquiao fights are one of the only sporting events I actually look forward to watching. I honestly think he's an amazing fighter and an even better sportsman. He's never cocky, always smiling, modest, and the best part is he shuts up other fighters who run their mouthes faster and harder than they can punch.

You also gotta admit you love the post fight commentaries he makes.

I've never missed a Pacquiao fight, but I have a feeling I'll be getting some good tips to help get some mother's day gifts tomorrow, so that should justify it all.

Speaking of mother's day, I feel super nervous. That is all.

2-D Design Class.

Just finished a David Hockney photo collage project for my 2-D design class.

Thank God for 24 hour Kinko's.

..and my hellish week continues with 3 papers, 2 exams, finishing a novel, and a final art project.