Toronto

I left from Tampa, FL Wednesday morning. Sitting in front of me were some Tough Guys that were from Jersey, Seth's hometown. jk. I was going to Charlotte, NC and from there to Toronto. The flight went smooth. We arrived there a bit before noon. I was surprised to see fog still in the area that late. It felt a bit chilly as I got off the plane. I chilled until my flight was getting ready to leave. I talked to Marlow and he gave me some pointers. I had talked to mma and bby in the morning while in Tampa too.

As I made my way to Toronto, I sat next to a gay named Curnie. He was an electrician by trade but worked at some power tools company. He was taking a bottle of liquor to his friends in the Toronto area. He was going to stay for 17 days. I peeked at his customs decleration form. That's how I knew his name and how long he was gonna stay. I'm esneaky sneaky.

I got to Toronto a bit after 4pm. I was trying to figured a way out to get to my Radisson hotel, which was next to the harbour. I'm in Canada so I can spell it like that. I got out of the airport and felt the coolness of the evening. It felt pretty good. There was snow, but it wasn't snowing. I kicked it a bit. I asked how much a Taxi would cost, and it was $55. Forget that. I went back inside and got some bus ticket. A two-way trip for $28 Canadian. Not freaking bad. I got to my hotel at 6pmish. I walked 15 mins from where the buss dropped me off to my hotel. It was a nice walk. I was looking at the buildings and breathing the cold air.

I checked in and went to my room. The hotel was nice. It looked elegant. My room was sweet too. I had a king size bed and free net. TV was crappy but I didn't watch much of it. I felt awesome to be in Toronto for a job, feeling like a grown up. I unpacked a bit and got online to check email and all that. I showered up and went outside exploring for a bit. I did take pics but I won't upload them till I get home. I'm stuck at the Toronto Pearson Airport at the moment. Some silly snow storm deciced to mess things up. I'll write the rest of my trip later on, since I have to go to the rest room.

Ok. It's Saturday and I'm stranded here till Monday. I'll try to make the best of it.

So, when I got in Wednesday, I went exploring for a bit. I didn't go far. I put on my sweet wool coat and went walking around. I was also looking for food really. Anyways, I took some pics of the Harbour and some small park. I went looking for hole in the wall for good food, but I didn't find anything. I went to a sub place called Mr. Sub thinking it was an independent place, but found out yesterday it's a chain. I had a "spicy" sub which was ok. I got back to my room with food in hand and started to study some grammar for the interview.

I woke up early on Thursday, so I could have plently of time to compose myself. I got suited up like Batman and was out the door by 8:45am. I walked for about 15 minutes to the building where the interview took place. On my way there, I took a picture of a sculpture. Then as I cut across the "park" where it was out, I found some yellow snow. I secretly pulled out my camera and took a pic. I made my way to the ECC interview building and got there around 9:15am. I told them I was there for the interview and my name.

John Barrie conducted the interview. He looks like a cross between Toby from The Office and Alton Brown fron Good Eats. The interview went from 10am-5pm. The first half was reading over the ECC booklet. The other half was the test, 1 on 1 interview and mock lesson. I think I did alright on the 1 on 1 and test. I did good on the mock lesson. John said he liked everything I did, except when I said " up up!" He said it sounded too authorative, but yeah I did agree. There were 4 of us total; 1 girl, 3 guys. Katie and I were in a group, and Rob and Brad were in another. They were rather stiff and dry. I ain't tootin' my own horn but man, really. Anyways, yeah that's it. We find out Jan 9th to see if we got in or not. I hope I'm in like Flynn. If I do get in, I won't leave till Aug-Nov.

So I was supposed to leave yesterday morning. But the snow storm changed that. I'm stuck till Monday morning. That's the earliest US Airways can get me to Tampa. It's kinda cool in a way. I went to Chinatown today. I got lost cause of the sun placement and being up real north, my senses were off. I did find my way there. It was pretty cold. I had no scarf or gloves. I ended up buying gloves but didnt find a scarf I liked. They had "robber" masks. I should've gotten one of those. I stopped by King Noodle Restaurant in Chinatown. I saw ducks hanging in the window and knew this was the spot Marlow & Ant had gone before. I ordered some duck and a shrimp disk. The duck was good, the shrimp thing not so much. I sat in a big round communal table. Parties of 1 sit there I guess. I didn't talk to anyone. I didn't want to be rude. I also tried to eat with my chop sticks, and I did, except when I had to take the bones out. I dunno if I would "offend" anyone or not so I tried to be sneaky. I would've stayed longer in Chinatown but I had to do #2. I didn't take much pics. I didn't want to be killed by the Triads. I stopped at the Chinatown Mall for a bit as I was rushing to get to my room so I could go. I stopped by a shop before I got to the mall and bought some tea cups. They look cool, but I dunno what I'm gonna use them for. They were a CDN $1. Not bad. I want to go again, but I need to withdraw cash. On my way back, I almost busted my ass. I began to slip until I grabbed on to a handrail. Thank God, otherwise I would've died.

I need to buy some of those winter boots, so I can parade in the snow that hasn't been walked on. But F that. It'd be a waste. I want to make a snow angel before I leave though. Maybe.

The sun is weird up here. Sunset is like at 5pm. Right now it's 3:13pm and it looks as if it was 5 or 6pm. It kinda puts a damper on my mood. I think I might go to some Thai place to eat tonight. It's supposed to snow bad tomorrow. There's a 24hr store across my hotel which is like a small supermarket. It's pretty cool. So yeah, that's about it. Pics when I get back to the States on Monday.

Final Mission

I've been real lazy with the blog and taking pics of my work. Here is a crappy slideshow of something I'm currently working on.

Killzone 2 Beta

Just like I got into the Little Big Planet Beta, I also got into the Killzone 2 Beta! Sweeeeet!
This game was shown as a tech demo to see what the PS3 could do at E3 in 2005. Then when actually video of the game was shown, the public was let down. This has been touted one of the best games to be coming out for the PS3. We'll see how awesome it is. I haven't kept up on media regarding Killzone 2, but from what I've read people are impressed. I'm downloading the Beta in a few minutes.

go vote!

gears of war 2
banjo kazooie: nuts n bolts
resistance 2

BETA

I GOT INTO THE little big planet BETA! Currently downloading at 28%. And I didn't have to win one from a site, Sony e-mailed me a code. :)

WOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Due Dates

I have my Thesis rough draft due next Tuesday! I'm barely on the intro. I need to work on it. I also have critique again in 2 weeks. I need to have 2 paintings finished. I'm working on canvas for one and panel for the other. Ugh...gotta get going on these.

What a week.

Thesis class was sucking till we met today. Looks like the ball is starting to get rolling, and heads are going to fly. It's been a lackluster week. I'm looking forward to next week.

It's been 2 weeks since I updated.

I was going to post some pics of stuff I'm working on, but my brother's camera is dead. Anyways I just took some of the one I'm currently working on. I used my MacBook to take a pic of it. Here's two pics. They kind of look the same but whatever. Man I hope I can complete this one and the other Metal Gear Gekko I'm still working on. They are due next Wednesday.

been thinking

Lately, I've been thinking about Charlton Heston, the Wiimote, Ico (beautiful first gen PS2 game), gangstas, RoboCop, and Frogger.

I finally start painting today. I should be able to layout everything, I hope. I want to complete a painting per week, just working away. The worst part of starting to paint is actually starting it, laying out my paints and all that. I'm real lazy at times. Once I start, I get in "the fuckin' zone chief."

ok!

I think I know what I'm gonna be working on this term for painting. I want to look closer into game in art, society, and politics. I think it's gonna be difficult, but I'm gonna try to find ways in which games makes us ask questions about what we experience and how they influence our way of thinking. Right off the top of my head, is the Metal Gear Solid series. Absolutely brilliant saga born from the mind of Hideo Kojima. It has ideals, politics, and consequences to name a few. I hope I can create some interesting art. I hope to bring the gaming realm into a different, more intelligent perspective.

Yeah, that's right.

Games in Art

Every year, there's The Game Convention held in Germany, sometimes called Liepzig Games Convention. Anyway, an exhibit by Douglas Edric Stanley was on display showing the game Space Invaders with the Twin Towers in them. Here is a video:



After watching the video, I think it's rather nice. People have their opinions before actually seeing the video and just form their thoughts when they read Space Invaders, Twin Towers and 9/11.

A major gaming blog Kotaku wrote an article about the exhibit, which I think was a great read. However, the comments left by readers and stories from news outlets was less than thrilling. It was what you would expect. I left some comments on the Kotaku site. There were two articles written by the staff at Kotaku which I will provide links to:

Hands-On: Losing The Twin Towers With Invaders!

Taito Considering Legal Action Against 9/11 Invader Artist

I'm happy to see games play a role in art these days. I think as games become more mainstream, we will see more game related content integrated in art.

I woke up at 7:45am.

I woke up pretty early today, considering I went to sleep at 3am after watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I'm reading Alan Noon's blog. He worked on the Street Fighter: The Movie game for the Saturn back in the day. He still works for a game company. It got me thinking about me and my games. These days, I rarely beat games anymore.

The last game i finished was Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. I'm currently playing Turok on the 360. The game is frustrating at times. Few games really excite me these days, but I still want to play games in general. The feeling I used to feel when I was a kid about up and coming games is gone. I guess I'm not wowed anymore. I think that's because of the Internet. I read up on news every single day about the gaming world, from rumors, announcements to seeing video about X game. So it's hardly a surprise these days. It's hard not wanting to find out about what interests you. Sometimes I avoid any news about a game when it's close to coming out, so I can be marveled. I no longer subscribe to game magazines.

I'm looking forward to games on the 360 (Gears of War 2, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts) and PS3 (Little Big Planet, Killzone 2) this holiday season. The Wii is ok. I haven't played it since May. It's great for Nintendo games. Few 3rd party games shine on the Wii. I'll be bringing my 360 and PS3 to Japan with me, but I think I'll leave my Wii behind.

New Semester

Since this is my last term at USF, I'm going to try to update my blog on a weekly basis. It can be with digital mock-ups of what I'm doing for painting class or video game related stuff amongst other things. With that said, I'm going to post an image of what I'm going to paint.

hey

yo

I'm still alive

I'm still alive. That's all. Been busy doing nothing. Actually I have some photoshops done for paintings, it's just that the summer makes me feel lazy. That and working full time, taking a math course, and trying to get my TEFL certification done.

Work for this term

I finally decided to get the pics from my brother's camera. Here you go:

Unfinished Dante & Vergil in Hell: I got fed up with this one. It's sitting in the house in this state:



I have this one completed, but I haven't taken a picture of it yet finished. So here is a WIP that was for R:


This was the first one I did for this term. My friend Marlow came up with the name, which is cool. Ryu-ssance:

Kevin

Last night, I found out a friend committed suicide. I honestly couldn't believe it. I never thought he would end up in that situation. I checked his myspace to make sure my friend Jesse wasn't kidding with me when he told me the news. I saw the comments people left behind on his profile. It's crazy to think that something was bothering him so much he had to do what he did and couldn't get help. One of my goals in life was to attend E3. Because of Kevin, we were able to get into E3 in 2004. On his myspace profile under best vacation, it says: E3 2004.

Rest eternally.

April

It's been a while since I posted. I stopped working on the DMC painting cause I wasn't happy with it. I have started working on 2 more paintings. One of them, I'm 90% redoing. It's a Rambo battle scene. There's too much to do and I don't have enough time. So I'm going to concentrate more on the central image than on the ensemble. The other painting I'm doing for a party theme show at Centre Gallery. I'm using the cam on my Nokia N800. Sorry about the quality. Here are WIPS for "One of dem parties": they are in reverse order






I've worked it more, but I haven't taken pics. For the next post, I hope to have some other pics of stuff I've done this term. I'm just too lazy atm to get the memory card from my brother's camera.

Painting WIPs

Here are some pics I took of the painting in progress. I wish I could've started taking pics as soon as I got started. I'm no photographer, so deal with the glare. :)










It's gonna be a bitch trying to complete this in a week.

Hiii

I decided to get my own blog after my homie Marlow and friend Mike created one. I'm currently working on a Rambo painting and a Dante & Vergil in Hell painting as well. I'll post the D&V WIPs soon. I should start documenting my paintings from beginning to end. I think it'd be cool to see how they evolved.

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