Pixar reminds me of something. Sometimes you'll watch a sport and it'll be really exciting cause' the competition is so good and everybody is pushing themselves to the limit in order to stay at the top or very much near it. Then comes along some crazy genius who just plain dominates. I mean, nobody can touch em'. They'll win 5 rally championships in a row (Sebastian Loeb) or they'll have an immaculate professional MMA record (Lyoto Machida). Pixar is like that. Their films are just too good; nobody else can compete.

Up is an amazing film. I mean, Pixar knows what they're doing. They have a film that kids will love (they'll laugh particularly hard at the Snipe or Doug the talking dog) and adults will love it just as much. Seriously, Pixar knows how to bridge that nexus between children and adults so that they feel connected somehow. Their films are always very poignant. Beneath the very kid-friendly facade, there are real human moments that, at times, resonate more powerfully than many live action films that are basically primed to be Oscar-winners.

The characters are fantastic. You really feel for everybody in this film. Even the villain, crazy and obsessed though he may be, is somebody you can sympathize with. The Pixar team knows how to capture every detail, every idiosyncrasy, every nuance of human behavior. They know how to make people move more convincingly than a great number of actors. An old man moves like an old man (with some liberties taken to keep the pace of the film exciting), a dog behaves like a dog (many hilarious moments come to mind), and a couple smiles at each other so endearingly that you can't help but shed a tear of happiness.

The backgrounds become characters themselves. The colors are vibrant and beautiful and the locations and props feel very meaningful. There's nothing in this movie that is just merely there for show. Everything contributes to the big picture that is Up.

Man, I could go on and on. This movie is simply great. I wanted to cry on at least two separate occasions. When all was said and done and the credits began to roll, I clapped with feeling. If you weren't planning on seeing Up, I'd seriously reconsider if I were you!

Yea, I updated my blog with some sketch stuff. I have a lot of it. I feel bad considering I haven't posted for more than a year.

Anyway, I start school next week. I'm taking two classes with Aya, which is awesome. She's a cool chick and she's totally into me. Her sister is also cool and very much into Kuritarou. I don't know where Alice and Andy stand. Nobody tells me nuthin'.

So, yea. More drawings uploaded soon in blog. Weekly, I promise. Stay cool, ya'll.

It just now occurred to me that it's 2009. Happy New Year!!!?

I've been drawing but most of my stuff is in my sketchbooks. I've been trying to hit the zoo once a week to improve my animal drawing skills which is very much in its infancy. Drawing animals is tough.


I went and saw "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (possible spoilers ahead) which I didn't really care for. Everybody complained about the movie being long and, well, it was. But it wasn't the length that crippled it, really. For instance, Das Boot is long, and it's a very good movie that isn't hard to sit through. The Curious Case had a promising start in which many interesting characters were introduced, but they almost all end up being very inconsequential. Button's mother comes to mind as a character who has a very strong presence and who ends up passing on very, very unceremoniously. Brad Pitt is a very good looking man but I simply didn't find him suitable for this role. People laud his performance and call it "subtle and powerful." I found him to be simply boring, like watching a superhero movie in which the superhero has no discernible weaknesses. Benjamin never looks upset or moved, and with Brad's model-esque face, I can't help but feel I'm watching an extremely long GUESS commercial, only I have no clue as to what's being sold. Overall, the film feels like Forest Gump with better looking actors and a very, very silly conclusion.

On a brighter note, Sergio Leone doesn't disappoint with "Once Upon a Time in the West."

I don't really have much else to report. Hopefully everybody's starting out the year on a good note and, if not, hopefully things'll improve soon.

So I was driving home from work the other day, in the Miata, wearing recently installed Falken tires of the Ziex variety after being stuck with some non-descript Bridgestones for far too long (the difference between all-seasons and summer performance tires is significant, I just never realized HOW significant), and I was getting angry. Angry for a variety of reasons. To make a painfully long story more tolerably short, I was getting angry cause’ I wasn’t getting my way. And it’s not like I was asking for anything particularly fancy either. I just wanted to get from point A to destination B within a reasonable amount of time. I don’t really care to get into much detail, but for whatever reason, that was asking for too much. So I got home angry. As I was parking my car, I was uttering all sorts of obscenities and cursing Southern California at large. I started thinking about how hopeless things were and how America had definitely seen better days and how it seemed like most people only cared about things that concerned them directly. Pretty morbid thoughts, actually.
I got up to the apartment gate and reached into my pocket to find the gate key. A Korean lady was standing on the other side of the gate and near her, a little Korean girl, presumably her grand-daughter judging by the age differential. I took out my keys to unlock the gate, but before I could wrestle them out of my pocket, the little girl opened the flippin’ gate for me, and said in the most amiable of tones, “there you go!” I said thank you with a smile and began ascending the stairs. After no more than two steps, she said, “good night” and waved with a darling smile on her face. I was moved to semi-tears (I tend not to cry, for whatever reason) as I had just witnessed what I felt to be the most sincere, veritable kindness I’ve witnessed in quite a long time. I thought it was beautiful and I felt like sharing.

Also, after playing a bit of Metal Gear Solid 4, I began thinking about MGS2 and Raiden and how a lot of people seemed to hate him merely because he was the playable hero and Solid Snake wasn’t. I remember thinking to myself that Raiden wasn't all that bad and seeing the legendary Snake through the eyes of a rookie who was trying to live up to be like Solid Snake was the entire point. I’ve played through MGS 1-3, and still feel MGS2 to be the most successful. By successful, I refer to the game’s ability to leave me feeling satisfied.

If you’re interested, this guy has some really excellent insight on what I feel MGS2 is all about.
[link]

You know, I used to be one of those people who subscribed to the notion that Rap=crap. That’s what happens when you’re at a stop light and an Acura RSX is next to you and it’s full of retards pumping out whatever’s popular at the moment and the bass is totally drowning out the rapping which is probably really bad to begin with. Now, I’m no connoisseur when it comes to rap, but there’s this thing called flow that I’m just now becoming acquainted with and that rappers like Abdominal clearly possess. It’s kinda’ cool how they don’t always rap about gangs and whores all of the time. I can’t stop listening to “We Know Something” by DJ Format and Jurassic 5; who cares if it’s ancient.

School is continuing to kick my ass. I’m drawing a lot. I need to work on my values and getting a good range of lights and darks. THE END!