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.