Croc Shoe

This is a scan of a small acrylic painting I did for my advanced illustration class. My instructor assigned an anthropomorphic shoe project, that is, we were supposed to illustrate a shoe made to appear human-like, or have human qualities. I drew several concepts before I settled on creating a croc skin shoe anthropomorphized to resemble an upright, walking crocodile.

Count Chocula, Hellblazer, and that Creepy Cat

I wrote this post in my 1up.com blog shortly after Superbowl weekend, after seeing some of the most written about commercials on iFilm. This entry is dated February 7, 2005.

I've heard some people remark, half-jokingly, that they watch the Super Bowl for the ads. Because I was busy playing Rome: Total War, I didn't see the game yesterday. So when I checked my feed reader today, I noticed several sites had articles about the ads which aired and didn't air yesterday.

So I went over to iFilm.com and watched the ones which seemed interesting. I liked the "Mascot" variation on the Mastercard "Priceless" ad. I liked some of their choices, like Count Chocula and The Pillsbury Dough Boy, but one of them just looks like he doesn't belong(two guesses who it is), and another just doesn't look very much like herself at all.

I then checked out what seemed to be the most derided ad, Napster's To Go spot. While I thought the animated commercial was just okay, I can't say the same about the costumed "cat" TV spot. He's just plain creepy. Having said that, I think the subscription plan seems to be an interesting proposition. For 15 clams a month, you get to fill up your compatible music player to capacity, 15 songs or several thousand, doesn't matter. As long as you pay up, you get to listen to your selection.

Several things come to mind though. Let's say I have several artists who have a permanent position in my playlist. In order to enjoy their songs when I want to, I would have to pay a recurring fee-as opposed to me buying the songs or album digitally or on CDs outright. In effect what the subscriber is doing is leasing the Napster library, which is well and good if you have eclectic tastes and would appreciate the variety, but the cost may become less appealing if your tastes are limited to a few favorite bands or a particular genre.

Am I considering subscribing? No, not because I think it's an unsound idea, in fact, I do find it interesting-but because my primary system is my PowerBook and my music player of choice is my iPod, which are not supported by Napster.

I also checked out the Constantine trailer, having read several of the Hellblazer graphic novels before. When I first found out that they cast Keanu Reeves as John Constantine, my first reaction was "Why?" Keanu isn't blond, doesn't have the look of someone who has died and cheated the triumvirate of Hell to come back to life, plus, he's not english. But on second thought, he just might be the perfect choice. He was The One, who could argue with that? He also had a run-in with the Satan himself in "The Devils's Advocate" and encountered the paranormal in "The Gifted."

Anyway, I'm glad to see Rachel Weisz (The Mummy, About a Boy) is in the film, which I think is a smart move, because I will go see Constantine despite my reservations about Keanu if only to watch her play the damsel-in-distress and maybe kick some hell spawn behinds, something which isn't the trailer and isn't hinted at by the way, just something I'd like to see. (I am also reminded of the cover Rachel shot for Esquire which, incidentally, casts her as Eve)

The special effects shots shown in the trailer looked great, and one sequence in particular, when Constantine reached for something as he rose up in the air reminded me of Hieronymous Bosch's iconography.

Hopefully, this adaptation of Hellblazer does justice to the source material. We'll find out soon enough, and you might get to read what I think about the movie, provided I am able to get over my usual trepidation over blogging-as I seem to have been able to today.

Wrestling with Security

I've known about security problems currently plaguing users for some time now, and that creating a secure password (or pass phrase) is one of the things people could do to avert computer disasters. However, I've kept on using the same, insecure pass phrase for many of my accounts. It's mainly because I've gotten so used to typing the same password over and the fact that it's so easy to remember. I also haven't had a bad experience so far on my occasional online shopping excursions-so the need to protect my information wasn't really a priority.

Still, I thought it was better to not get burned in the first place, so I've meant to change my pass phrase for at least those accounts that have access to my financial information, like my Amazon and eBay profiles. I finally got to actually changing my pass phrase to a more secure mixture of numbers, symbols, and characters a couple of months ago. While I do feel more protected from data traffickers, and have no plans of reverting to a shorter, simpler pass phrase, I sometimes make a mistake entering the characters that I feel inconvenienced by the added security.

When I find myself getting peeved at the "incorrect password" message most websites return, I just remind myself that my occasional mistake is just something I have to put up with if I am serious about securing my personal information. While I think that going through all the trouble to protect myself on the Internet sometimes borders on the absurd, I also know that the web's very nature makes it difficult to completely prevent viral epidemics and identity theft. So it's up to us to try to do what we can to secure our own computers, since the authorities and current information technology companies can only do so much to secure the network, short of re-architecting the Internet.

Knights of the Old Republic Once and Twice

I finished Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic-The Sith Lords a couple of days ago, and despite my initial reservations, I like it better than the first one. I was not quite certain that a KotOR sequel made by someone other than Bioware wouldn't suck, and after learning that the game was built on an enhanced version of the original KotOR engine, I felt that The Sith Lords might very well be a glorified stand-alone expansion pack.

I believe what won me over was TSL's story. While the game's plot twist was nowhere as momentous as KotOR's, its premise—that a Jedi has suffered amnesia—seems easier to believe than the original's "reprogrammed" scenario. I also think the Sith Lord's ending is an improvement over the original's corny "After Show" with republic ships
whizzing overhead, although I admit TSL's conclusion seems to be a little abrupt.

Graphically, The Sith Lord has the same feel as the original, with a few improvements. The game's environments, for instance, no longer have the "Fog of War" effect that the original sported (which may have been used to obscure geometry for performance). I especially liked the interiors of the Onderon Royal Palace, its open halls with mosaic floors and stained glass windows were welcome respites from the mostly industrial look of the other planets.

I am looking forward to the next Knights of the Old Republic game. Hopefully, it will allow gameplay after the main story arc has ended and feature a modding tool so that the community could add playable content to enhance replayability.

Missed Opportunity

Wednesday last week, as I was working on some rough comps on a school Mac, one of my design instructors from last semester sat next to me and asked me if I spoke spanish. I thought that Bob was approached by someone looking for a student to freelance on a project and asked him if that was the case. He said no, what he actually had for me was an opening for a designer with our local newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, that Mr. Rodgers, who we met last semester on one of our field trips, was looking for someone to fill the position.

As you can imagine, I was really disappointed because here was an opportunity that presented itself and I could not take advantage of it. I told Bob that I appreciated the heads-up and thanked him for thinking so highly of my skills that he came to me with the information even though I am at least a semester away from graduation.

The upside of the experience, I guess, is that now I at least have someone I could include as a reference in my resume when I do get out there and start looking for a job.

Blog Post Backlog

It's been a week since my last posting, having fallen behind on my journaling efforts because of other more pressing concerns like a couple of design projects and several revisions of a personal essay. Now that I have a little breathing room starting friday, I am going to try to make up for those "lost days" and log the entries that I've been meaning to write and have taken down notes on.