Jun 8th, 2009
blogging is for suckers. The future is VLOGGING!
Nov 14th, 2008
I think I'm on a once a week schedule.
So, finally had some downtime. Lots of things are going on including two (or three) solo shows for 2009, plus numerous group shows. Also, i'm more involved with new game projects which are really exciting.
I've been watching the stock market and the housing market obsessively lately. It's really amazing to watch because with these wild swings we've been having, the markets are spreading around 900 points, give or take. I've been watching the housing market because I'm obsessed with that as well and I've noticed that prices for apartments are beginning to fall, as are prices for house purchases. It seems like everyone is tapped out, with no savings, and no hopes of a raise in the next few weeks so we're seeing a consumer retrenchment and with that things getting cheaper.
I think economists call this the specter of deflation.
I just, for the first time in my adult life, bought a TV and a blueray DVD. It's strange because I've been involved in media and entertainment for so long but never bothered to get a tv, or cable, or internet connection. It's not because I'm a ludite but it's because I'm cheap. So anyhow, I go down to bestbuy, buy the tv, install it and now i'm in a tv induced stupor.
Nov 8th, 2008
13 hours to texas
12 hours back via Vegas...
sigh....
could have been a 3 hour trip.
Nov 7th, 2008
Everything in Texas is big.
Everyplace in Texas is flat.
Vegetarians don't do so well in Texas.
I'm meeting with Terminal Reality today to talk about a new project.
Nov 6th, 2008
So I was sitting on the plane today talking to a guy, who had lived in the United States for the past 30 years. He was from Valenzuela but was an American now. We were talking about the enormity of Barack Obama and how that would change things in America.
Hopefully.
It has taken a little bit of time for me to really understand it. But it's finally sunk in. We were part of something that changed history. Of course all elections change history (just look at G.W. Bush) but this feels like something bigger and more substantial.
Nov 1st, 2008
No! I don't think Blogging is dead!
Obviously.
A few interesting notes to remember. First, it looks like I will be heading to Texas to meet with some developers for a project I will be helping out with. This was totally last minute and also unexpected. It's wierd when that happens. I went in for a meeting, which was much more of a status check and meet and greet, and walked out with a ticket booked to Texas next week. The world moves very fast sometimes.
Also, it was very recently my birthday and I was absolutely humbled by all my friends. Not friends here, but facbook friends. I guess this is that social networks are supposed to do, which is make you feel closer and more connected with the people in your life. So, anyhow my birthday rolls around and I start getting these emails from facebook saying "X posted a comment on your site". I log in and it's everyone wishing me a happy birthday.
A few things I know...
#1. Yes, I know facebook reminds you of when peoples birthdays are.
#2. Yes, its super easy to do this
#3. People dont need to see me or call me or even physically interact with me to do this.
But, it was nice anyway. So, go facebook! You did something right.
In other news, this month was extremely busy regarding shows. I have a group show up in the city right now, one group show up in Korea, and bunch more things occuring in december and the spring.
For more info on the Korea group show you can visit www.mushroomarts.org. They have one of my wall pieces on their homepage.
Oct 21st, 2008
Is blogging dead?
I've been working with Cut&paste for a while, helping them to coordinate a new program that they're doing with design schools. As part of this process i've been doing a ton of research on new technologies and existing technologies for blogging and screen captures.
Anyhow, in all my work i've noticed that there seems to be a trend where the death of blogs is being proposed over and over again. I don't know if this is the case. What i do know is that emerging technologies always challenge the status quo. What the newest talk is saying is not that blogs are dead, per se, but that the amount of time it takes to produce a blog that is good enough to actually compete with a professional blog like techcrunch.com is too difficult for the average blogger to handle.
I certainly have a hard time with the project but then again I am exceptionally (ridiculously) busy.
Btw, for those of you that don't know, cutandpaste.com is a design contest for the best and brightest designers in the world. There are scheduled to be (I believe) 16 contests next year all over the world. No, I am not doing one. No I am not a judge.
I am involved with them though. More on that later.
Oct 21st, 2008
Also, a new group show in Korea! and two local shows in new York.
Oct 5th, 2008
Wow, what a few crazy weeks.
In interesting upcoming news, there are several things happening.
First, I will be part of a group show at the Cheekwood Museum in Nashville and they've decided to use my art on the invite. This is neat and I hope to see the show if I can swing down to Nashville in the next couple of months.
Reverse Angle: Emerging Video Artists
October 11 2008 - April 12 2009
www.cheekwood.org
Also, I just wrapped three spots for Grey working on a project for Thermacare. This was a lot of work in a very short time including two virtual all-nighters, which was fun to do (every once in a while).
Like everyone else I've been obsessed about politics lately. Obama? McCain? The Economy?
Sep 20th, 2008
This is Atmosphir
http://atmosphir.com/
Atmosphir looks to be a free, downloadable video game creation tool that lets users design and playtest simple 3d games.
I've been using Unreal Editor for about five years and like it for it's complexity but also loathe it for the same reason. Using Unreal as a rapid prototyping and playtesting tool is doable but the results are generally geared towards FPS types of games. You can switch views from 1st to 3rd view and change to an isometric camera without too much work, but in general the games you'll make with UT3 are all shooting games and the overhead is very high.
The thing that looks interesting about Atmosphir is that it seems intuitive and easy to use and the game types seem to be more kid oriented and based on classic game models (pitfall, mario brothers, zelda, etc...). Not that shooting games are bad but I like the fact that this tool can be used to create fast, rapidly playable and testable games and that an average user can make something that isn't necessarily about blowing things up.
Sep 19th, 2008
Group Show opening tonight at LMAKprojects Brooklyn. I am friends with many of the artists in the show and love the work and idea.
-----------------------------------------
COLORING BOOK
An Exhibition for Kids (and the kid in you)
OPENING FRI, SEP 19, 4-9 pm
SEP 20 - OCT 5
LMAKprojects, Williamsburg
60 North 6th Street, Brooklyn, NY
www.lmakprojects.com
Press Release:
LMAKprojects is pleased to inaugurate its new program at their Williamsburg location with Coloring Book, an exhibition for kids (and the kid in you). Inspired by their daughter Olivia-Sophie and her attraction to colors, LMAK's Bart and Louky Keijsers Koning have assembled a coloring book, which will feature the work of 10 artists: Gonzalo Fuenmayor, Carla Gannis, Tamara Gayer, Mitchell Marco, Thomas McKean, Alexander Reyna, Carlos Roque, Molly Schwartz, Federico Solmi, and Jim Stoten.
The artists selected one of their favorite drawings of which they made a coloring page. Children are invited to color these pages. These and the originals artworks are on view till October 5.
Sep 17th, 2008
A few thoughts about today
Thought #1
What a busy day. Here's how it went down.
wake up, hang with the kid while I prepare for a lecture I gave at Bloomfield College in NJ
Take the kid to preschool
Come back home, answer email and prepare until 10:00 at which point I realize it's impossible to jump a train to NJ but instead decide to drive.
At this point, I think "let me kill two birds with one stone and go to the studio and see if I can reframe a drawing for a show that opens tomorrow night"
Bad Idea. I get stuck in traffic coming back from the studio traveling one mile in :30 minutes.
Get to the Battery tunnel and gun it for NJ.
Get to NJ on time, do the lecture, eat some pizza, have a nice time.
Nice place, nice faculty, sweet kids.
Jump back in the car, drive back into the city and park the car in a garage.
Walk over to a frame shop and drop the piece off, beg, plead, flirt (whatever it takes!) until they promise to frame the piece today or tomorrow
Head over to SVA and get ready to teach a class, work on syllabus and lesson for the day (edge detail and light wrap!).
Teach from 3-6.
Head over to the frame shop to pick up the piece ($100.00), run into the parking garage ($27.00 for three hours!), drive over to Chelsea to drop off the piece.
Get to the gallery, talk a bit, jump back into the car.
Take the Battery tunnel back ($12.00 because I also took it into the city!) and get home at 6:50.
Eat dinner, bathe kid, put her to bed.
Thought #2
I need to outsource more.
It's impossible for me to do everything even though it's so much cheaper. I need an assistant and I need a personal expense account because the amount of things I need to get taken care of for all these shows, projects, people, and classes is too much to deal with. Of course, I don't really have a choice. It needs to get done so it does but it would be so much easier if it got done on someone else's time.
Sep 17th, 2008
Here's a thought for you...
When did corporate welfare become an acceptable form of government handouts.
Here's another thought for you...
Why is it that corporations so rabidly privatize profits but so gleefully socialize loss? Why is my conservative, pragmatic, thoughtful income being used to bail out Fannie, Freddie, AIG, Bear Stearns, and all the housing gamblers out there?
Sep 15th, 2008
I think part of the interesting and odd thing about choosing to live your life as an artist is the realization that the thing you thought you were going to become turns out to be very different from what you have dreamed or intended. For example, as a kid, I lived in a very supportive situation with a mother who was very artistic and a father who also had deep skills and intuition about art. I was encouraged and my latent talent nurtured to the extent that my father would tell me that the trait our family shared, our coat of arms, was a drive towards creativity. While other fathers mused over baseball and business, my dad gave me books on Rembrandt and drawing tools in my Easter basket.
Reyna's are Makers he would always say.
After a very long story, and a long divorce, I ended up living with my father who had to hire a fulltime person to help with raising his three sons. The person my father chose to be my caretaker was an artist and he would go on to live in our attic and take care of me and my brothers until we were teenagers. For me, what this did was give me a picture of what the artists life was like. Remember that this was rural New Hampshire and the cost of living was very low. Without getting into the explicit details of how and when, I will say that the picture I had of how this artist lived was skewed and realistic for only that explicit situation. In other words, if I were living in a different place, or a different situation, the formative experiences I had of what it means to live the artist life could have shown a different reality. Remember though, that these impressions were made when I was a child and before the reality of trying to survive in the real world worked its way into our experiences.
PRO: The Good
Aware of Culture
Freedom
Recognition
Sexual Promiscuity
Stylishness
CON: The Bad
Lack of Money
I think the most important aspect of being an artists that I saw when I was kid (besides the sexual promiscuity) was the sense of freedom that I believed artists have. In other words, while I was at school or doing homework or dishes, there were thousands of artists around the world who were diligently working on their projects. Some of these were in their studios, some were sitting at coffee shops talking intelligently about high minded cultural notions, and some were taking naps in the grass at a park somewhere. Regardless, the thing that struck me most was that the artist life is about time (making time, having time, finding time) but especially it's about a time that is defined by the artist. In other words, the real upside to the artist life is that you choose explicitly how to exist. There are no time clocks in the art world.
The downside I could see, and this was especially farsighted of me, is that artists don't have a lot of money. But to me this didn't seem like such a problem because there had to be many people like my father who were willing to give some sort of arrangement so that artists could continue to survive and work without the constraints of the 40 hour week. My experience was that even if you didn't have a lot of money, you always had enough, and also someone would make the arrangements for you and help you thrive.
Now, many years later, I can chuckle and think about my naivety. Who could have blamed me-this was all I knew. I had seen the artist life and didn't see any severe downsides. Who could have thought that the choice to be an artist would lead to such a tricky life to life
A funny thought:
By the time you're wise enough to gain insight into life, you're too old to change anything about it.
Sep 14th, 2008
A few things...
First off, I'm going to see Beck in concert on October 9th, which is very exciting for me. It's been a long time since I've been to a concert (I think the last one was Yo La) and even longer since I've seen Beck. Maybe I've never seen Beck?
I'm totally getting into the new album Modern Guilt and I very much like it. The thing that's funny about Beck, and especially this album, is that he grows like an artist as his works matures. Obviously there are similarities and differences between music and visual art but the best of both genres grow and evolve as they get older. I remember Beck when he was a kid (basically) and heard him on MTV with Loser and thought it was weird, and kind of interesting, but spoke to me. Maybe I'm a loser? I certainly put enough loserness into my work to qualify.
Anyhow, Beck has been with me for many seasons. Courtship was Mutations. When I got married, Sea Change was the album. My child is Guero, and now preschool is Modern Guilt.
And Beck keeps growing and changing, as I grow and change and make new work. Even though I don't know him personally I wonder what my Beck soundtrack will be the day I go bald, develop a paunch, and slump into my fifties.
On another note, how can I get Beck to let me do a music video for him. It literally would be the happiest project I've ever done in my entire professional life.
Sep 14th, 2008
New news!
I just found out about a group show I will be part of in Seoul Korea in November and a 3 person show at a gallery in Spain in the spring.
I have so much work to do.
Sep 13th, 2008
Why is there no undo button in life?
I suppose since i've been working with digital tools for a really long time that I've gotten used to the idea that I can control+z it all the way past all my mistakes and start over again. I'm especially fond of Maya's undo because it can be set to infinite which, in theory, can keep undoing all the way to the beginning of your object's existence.
The reason i'm writing this is that having this undo button makes me fearless as an artist, but also a little foolhardy. With the undo, I can change a composition, try out something dramatic and potentially disastrous or just play with a piece. And, the best part is that there's very little realworld repercussions to my gaffs, mistakes, trial runs, or random visual thoughts expressed as strange ideas put into drawn form. If I don't like it, I can remove it.
Today, I wish I had an undo button for the analog world. Long story short, I've been making a new series for the past five months which will show at a few places as part of Miami Basel in December. This work is also committed to Spain in January and, in theory, another venue in November. The problem is that while the work is sexy and fun to make and fun to look at, It's not perfect. The real problem is that to make it perfect will take a lot of time and a lot of fixes and is something that, has I forseen, I would have done differently when I started the pieces. But, because the work is analog and not a digital image, I can't just change it like that. Real world materials have properties that make repair or repainting more complicated than just filling an area with color in Photoshop. The new work is too big, too complicated, too ambitious, and silly to attempt but guess what I did and now I really want my undo button (for at least some of the parts).
Sep 11th, 2008
Just a thought for the moment.
I have great students this year. Every year you get a different mix of students and every year you spend a large amount of time trying to work with your students to understand their needs and get a sense of what they're trying to do as artists.
For the first time, in a long time, the mix of students is excellent and the work I've been doing with them for (in some cases) the past three years is beginning to pay off. I'm teaching juniors, seniors, and graduate students but in some cases I've had a group of these kids since they were sophomores so it's exciting to see them turn into exceptional artists.
By the way, a lot of my "friends" are my students and they're put up their reels in their page on my friend's list so if you want to see work that will be very well received in a few years, and get a sneak peak now, take a look and dig away.
You may be able to get them on the cheap now
Sep 10th, 2008
A few interesting things happened lately. First off I just found out that in addition to everything else I will be in a group show at LMAK projects in a few weeks. This was a last minute announcement but welcome addition to the fall lineup.
Also, I've been working with a few design agencies on larger projects (including pixelplume.com, cutandpaste.com, and 4mmgames.com) on a variety of different initiative and everything seems to be nicely coming to head. Pixelplume does design visualization and motion graphics, while 4mmgames does games (duh...) while cutandpaste does design competitions. These are all pretty disparate fields but all related to design and technology in some manner.
I'm especially interested in 4mmgames because their project seems to be where my stylistic and aesthetic heart is.
I also went to lunch recently with an old colleague from Mercy college who is now the chair of Graphic Design at Pratt and that program looks pretty interesting too. Or at least what he wants to do to it seems interesting. For me, I'm always surprised at the dearth of programs in the city truly dealing with the intersection of art+technology+design. The Parson's Design and Technology program is great and there are some luminaries there, while the BFA/MFA program at SVA is good too. Pratt is coming along. But, I'm still left with the feeling that there is a gap. And, this gap deals explicitly with using technology and media to intersect with art. Syracuse has a transmedia program which I think is the only local program which seems to be heading where I think things could go.
Why am I getting at this? I guess part of me is still split between the act of teaching and the act of doing. It all feeds into what I do as an artists and I very much enjoy the work but, you gotta wonder if I'm doing too much?
Is it possible to be a successful artist and be a teacher and be a designer and be a parent and be a husband. I guess I'm just lucky (or stupid) that I have a lot of energy. And passion.
Oh, and I now do family day one day a week, which is an absolute joy.
more soon.
Sep 10th, 2008
My second thought for the day (like I shouldn't be doing something more important than this...) is as follows:
ART
=
DESIGN
=
ART
A lot of times I wonder about the incongruity about how people perceive artists as compared to how people perceive designers. Artists have the stereotype of being poor, being dirty, being debaucherous (now there's a word for you) and hedonistic. While designers are thought of as clean, stylish and trendy. Maybe both smoke cigarettes and drink booze but the designers certainly drink better booze.
I'm working simultaneously in both worlds, and while I define myself primarily as an artist, I'm not afraid to wear the designer hat or to comment on it as well. For me, it's a pretty simple distinction with some underlying truths.
First, art and design are fundamentally similar in how they are both using beauty (or in some cases novelty) to sell. I don't mean this in the most banal base sense of selling a product (although that is certainly part of it) but mean it instead in the sense that art is selling an idea of something while design is selling the thing itself. Despite this little distinction, both design and art use the same fundamental tools to create a type of meaning that contains value.
When I'm in my studio working on an art project, I'm using the same tools that I use as a designer. Both require composition, shape, line, value, color, negative and positive space. Both benefit from the accident, the mistake, the undo, and the open ended sense of flow that can develop.
It's weird because as far as I can tell, the only real difference between the act of art and the act of design has to do with the client, and even that could be a subtle distinction if you're thinking about a client like Saatchi. For art, the client is always the self, while for design the client is usually a corporation. This is not always the case and there is some cross over (for instance, I am open to art commissions) but in general this seems to be the case.
So, if you boil it down according to this line of thinking, art is ultimately a narcissistic pursuit, while design is ultimately about serving corporate capitalism.
Is this why designers generally make more than artists (except the super famous ones)? Is it that capitalism rewards narcissism (which can be super idiosyncratic and destructive) less than it rewards service towards the greater capitalistic good?
Sep 8th, 2008
Today was a good day and it's one of those days where I feel good about being an artist and the work that I make.
So, stayed up late last night working on the syllabus for motion graphics for fine artists II, after a brief freak out where I realized how much insane amounts of work I need to get done this week and ensuing panic. Today, got up early, got the kid off to preschool, headed over to the studio and worked for about three hours, headed into the city and taught two courses (game design I and motion graphics for fine artists MFA) for the first class, came home and ate dinner, played with the kid, gave her a bath, read a story, headed to the studio for two more hours and now at 10:00 I'm sending out emails and posting on this here blog.
This is a good day. Oh, also, my good day might be related to the fact that the piece I was concerned about in the studio seems to be better than I supposed it would be. Looks like hurricane Hannah (or whatever it was when it hit us) only temporarily warped the collage elements.
On that note, I'm planning to make four or five new pieces and approach some corporate sponsors for commisions.
Sep 7th, 2008
A few things while I'm sitting here not sleepin but instead thinking:
#1. http://www.beautifultv.co.uk/acceptandproceed.mov
This is the most gorgeous example of simple effective 2d/3d animation I've seen in a long time. I suppose it's easy to do this if you know how (and I do, thanks for asking) but the part I like the most is that the artist who put this together clearly understand real world analog drawing and encorporated this into their work.
#2 http://www.vimeo.com/1644397
The artist here claims that he drew 6000 drawings or rotos with his cintiq. While this is amazing to think about, it's also amazingly beautiful. It's a real pleasure to watch.
On another note, the new pieces that I'm working on are more sensitive than I though in regards to humidity. When the remains of Hannah came through I noticed a bit of buckling on the surface of the pieces. Would you notice it? Probably. It's quite frustrating because I've spent the better part of this year making these pieces and to see them potentially damaged like this is quite a shame.
Sep 5th, 2008
The real question from last night (there are actually two of them) is as follows:
1. How do you deal with the overwhelming demands of a night where there are literally a couple hundred openings to go to, and a couple hundred friends to see?
2. How do you maintain a sense of proportion about your own career after the avalanche of invites, announcements, and promo materials thrown in your inbox leading up to the opening week of the art industry.
For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about here I can only say you're lucky, in a way. The art industry is an amazing place with many great people, some great art, and a lot of free booze. Not that any of these ratios are a bad thing. The way this bacchanal works is similar to an academic calendar in that it swings into action in September and whispers to a close in late June and July. And justifiably so, the first weeks of the new school year (the new art season) are filled with just about everyone opening up shop from summering in the country (or in Newark), throwing a new coat of paint on the wall and selling new work.
It's fun. It's great to see old friends and to see new things and ideas but all the excitement is balanced by the sense that this will, in fact, continue unabated for the next 10 months and, even if you try to avoid it, you will be offered much free booze, some good art, some great people, and the occasional schmoozer looking for an angle almost every night of the week, if you want it, unless you decide to hide in your studio and avoid the industry or get a day job which gets you out of the system but makes you desperately come running back to Chelsea every Thursday night at 6:00 without fail.
As far as number 2 (how do you maintain a sense of proportion), I was talking to a friend of mine last night about this and she was wondering when "we" , collectively, would be showing at Andrea Rosen or Barbara Gladstone. In a way she was bemoaning the fact, and I don't really blame her because if either of us were showing at said galleries then our future paths would be much clearer to navigate that the murky road we're on now. But, in the end, the important thing I try to remember is that I PUT myself on this path. I chose (somewhat stupidly and before I knew any better) to become an artist even though my mother told me over and over again that I would starve. But I didn't starve and I did find a way to make it work.
I choose this life. I chose to not be an architect, or an aeronautical engineer, or a lawyer but an artist with the associated freedoms that come with it and the associated risks as well.
So for me, in the end, it's not about showing at Barbara Gladstone next month (but if she were to call I would pick up the phone like every other schlep in the art world) but about making a sustainable career for the next thirty to forty more years. Showing at a blue chip gallery now might change that, but also taking that Director of Animation job at MTV which was mine for the taking last year would change it too.
I just want to be able to keep producing, buy nice groceries at Fairway on Sunday mornings, and dictate the terms of my life as best as possible.
Sep 5th, 2008
Update for tonight (Things I recommend):
http://www.christopherhenrygallery.com/ 127 Elizabeth Street, New York NY
http://www.lyonswierortt.com/ 175 Seventh Avenue, New York NY
After parties and schmoozing optional...
Also, calling people back who call and leave nice messages.
Sep 4th, 2008
Teaching, teaching, teaching. Making art, making art, making art, writing, writing, working.
This is what I do every day.
I've gotten a fair amount of friends so far (it's like 34!) but I feel like I need to tweak the website to make it work a little better. Still no comments and some people need (well you don't have to) fill in their information a bit more.
The interesting thing I've noticed is that there really is a split between the internet(s) exhibitionists and the internet(s) voyeurs. By this I mean that most people in general and before the advent of things like blogs or social networking treated the internet as a way to get information and/or find things. It was a one way pipe running from the server to someone's personal computer. Now, with blogs, facebook, and all the available media, it's much easier to publish information and get it out there. So, in a way the model has changed from a dumb pipe delivering data to a consumer of said data to a two way network.
The interesting thing about that, for me, is that it begins to tease apart the people who want to only receive and the people who receive but all give. Not that there is a difference or one is better than the other.
Sep 3rd, 2008
Tomorrow is the big day. There are a million openings at a million different galleries to go to. My short list includes a lot of friends who are showing at places such as :
Carla Gannis @ Jenkins Johnson Gallery, 521 West 26th St., 5th Floor, NYC
Sarah Trigg @ Cristinerose Gallery 508 West 26th Street, # 5A, New York, NY
The Form Itself @ Priska Juschka, 547 west 27th street, New York, NY
The beginning of the art season always leaves me a little terrified because it's daunting, overwhelming, and a reminder that being an artist is not always about going to the studio and working.
Sep 2nd, 2008
It's officially welcome back time. The summer is totally over and I'm wondering where it went.
Today is also the first day of school and the first day where I'm thinking about the fall, fulltime. My plans for the day include grappling with a new piece that's been torturing me in the studio lately. The problem is that the new work is huge (4' x8'), heavy, plexiglass and very fragile. I already broke one of the pieces as I was moving it so now I'm terrified of breaking another. Apparently my impetuousness is not so great with a material that breaks like glass.
Long story short with the new work is that it is work based upon logos taken from a bunch of different companies, combined with downloaded pictures which have been painted or drawn, and overlaid on top of laser cut plexiglass panels. It's beautiful (or at least I think so) but also quite fragile.
On another note, I'm working on a proposal for a grant to begin work on my next video series, which is a multichannel HighDef project. Wanna commission me?
Oh, another unrelated post in my quest to explore every virtual world in existence is:
http://alternativaplatform.com/en/alternativa3d/
This is a gaming and virtual world platform built by a Russian company. I've been following them for about a year but with the advent of Flash 10, the technology really works great. The idea here is realtime virtual world which can support possibly 5000 polygons, streaming over the internet with no download.
The way I see this working is by combining virtual worlds like The Sims with social media but with the penetration of Flash. There's a lot of companies doing this (and I've done some of this too...) in a variety of different formats but when I saw this for the first time it left me floored. When I saw it with Flash 10 performance it left me very floored.
Like I said, there's a million companies doing this but once a major player like MySpace or AOL jumps on board (if ever) it will change the game.
Sep 1st, 2008
It's Labor Day, and here I am in the studio working on last minute things for the website, and for updates about future shows, and on course work for my fall classes, and on concept work for an undisclosed project. All in all it's been an exciting summer, after a nice month in Maine, but brutal in getting back to the reality of fall, NYC, and the rest of this year.
Just one random thought. Why is it that when I go on vacation I always return more stressed than when I left?
If you're new to the website, you can become my friend pretty easily. Clicking on "login" on the far left will do this for you, or you can click on "join now" in the Friends panel. Also, I've noticed that some early friends have not added profile pictures to their accounts. I've added the ability to do this (hit edit while creating your profile) but if this seems not obvious,let me know as well.
This site has been in development for a while and it's sort of in BETA so things will change. I appreciate the feedback enormously and will try to get the little problems sorted out in the next few days and weeks.
Sep 1st, 2008
I really love Coffee. It's an amazing substance.
Maybe I love it too much?
Just a thought.
I also love chocolate, especially dark.
Aug 29th, 2008
This is my four year anniversary of getting arrested for doing nothing while on a bike near the Republican National Convention in 2004 (they misspelled my name).
http://www.villagevoice.com/2004-08-31/news/the-honor-roll/2
Aug 20th, 2008
A little caveat-When I say "vacation", I mean simply that I've moved the base of my operations from NYC to someplace new. In this case it means Maine, to the summer house on the Lake, but unfortunately and much to the chagrin of my wife, it doesn't mean no work. I guess I'm the type of person that's not built to stop. I like what I do, although I do need breaks from it at times, and don't really understand the mindset of someone who sits around and does nothing on vacation.
On another note, it has been raining on vacation for about two weeks solid. We went to the local mall and the guy working there said that he's seen fourteen straight days of it. So, today when I woke up and noticed the sun shining for the first time I got very excited and decided to head out someplace nice with the wife and kid. We attempted to boat out to a few islands but didn't get where we wanted to go so we settled on an Aquarium in BoothBay.
Aug 15th, 2008
10 years in NYC and here I sit at the summer house outside the city. How fitting.
Aug 11th, 2008
I've been following OToy for a while.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/11/liveplace-to-launch-photo-realistic-virtual-world-rendered-in-the-cloud/
There's a lot of speculation as to what this application can really do and some commentary makes it seem too pie in the sky for the time being. Granted, ten years ago the best video game out there had graphics that are laughable today. The thing is that technology is quick and innovations that we dont see may be right over the horizon.
For now, this tool seems pretty amazing. Massively Multiplayer Online Social Networking in virtual spaces. Kinda like Sony Home + Facebook + Second life. Great idea but only if the technology works.
It makes me very nervous if it's real.
