Zen Ken

Moving my Blog.

I'm moving my blog. Having had 3 successive blogs (2 from SixApart) with different companies, it's time to take all of them and 1. put them in one place and 2. host them myself so I can keep the information myself and 3. control the look and feel myself. I'll keep this up for a while until I've gone back and cleaned up most of the media links pointing to TypePad servers.

You can look for me over here at zenkentopia.com. See you around!

Something Artistic and Light-hearted

I read about some tidbits about a game called 'Sword and Sworcery' so I checked it out on my iPad.

Here's a look:

It's very isoteric, using a sort of pixel/retro game/lego approach. It's also got a very distinct touch interface and audio soundtrack. All in all, it's a refreshing change in the way you play a video game. Except for the small fight sequences and wandering, it felt very little like a game. It's also very tongue-in-cheek, at nearly a 3rd grade level. Characters named Girl, Logfella (for the lumberjack) and Dogfella (for the dog that leads you around occasionally) and objects named Megatome (for the book/internal twitter app). It has a meta feel about it: it uses modern language and snarky comments, but it doesn't try to take away from what you're doing. Rather, it reflects what you'd normally be thinking if you've played enough fantasy RPGs.

Is it worth the $5? It was when for the time I was immersed. Try it out.

What to write about - Reactors?

I often consider writing about something and then give it a day or two of thought. Normally there are plenty of other people willing to write up a storm with little information or insight.

There's plenty of good information and bad information in equal parts about the Fukushima reactors in Japan. It's important to remember that the plant took a 9.0 Richter event and subsequent tsunami. It was rated for earthquake 1/3 the intensity it faced.

While it's a travesty, it's not a disaster by comparison of the lost lives and displaced Japanese. We're spending too much time debating the effects of a highly dispersed particles and pounding the fist over how bad nuclear power is. Let's worry about the people first and use a wide angle lens to get a bigger picture.

How sad is this parody close to reality? How many people claim to understand the effects of the reactor damage but can't name the Prime Minister of Japan? There are some great websites that talk about the disaster in expert terms, but it's not a news outlet. Knowledge is armor against ignorance.

Donation

I am not always able to give my time to relief efforts. In this particular instance, I was asked to go and I turned it down. I donated to the American Red Cross (my company, being Japanese owned, is matching employee donations).

Donation and giving should feel altruistic, though I feel a personal obligation, or perhaps investment, in the people of Japan. Should it feel any different? I guess that's just navel gazing at this point. I am fairly confident in the ARC to be an effective crisis response organization.

I guess it's time, not money. I wish they could have both. Aaaand I don't write enough about these sorts of things, mainly because I feel the news and internet flogs disaster memes enough as it is.

Unfortunate series of events

I got a request recently to volunteer for Reserve assistance for the disaster relief efforts over in Japan. Unfortunately, since I'm deploying later this year for a long stay overseas, I really can't afford to take any time away from my job as it is.

Sadly, I wanted to volunteer very badly. Had I not been selected to deploy I would have jumped at the chance to do something meaningful.

Eh. Back to mediocrity.

Perspective

I work for a North American arm of a Japanese company. Though their facilities in Japan were not affected directly (they are in the south, the earthquake in the north), they are impacted by the devastation in a lot of ways.

I received two emails from similar management from a manager - one expressing sympathy and cancelling any current meetings; the other asking what the impact is to their project.

One has perspective, the other does not. You're going to understand the impact without having to ask for it. Just take a step back and actually look beyond your Outlook Calendar.

Gravity's Rainbow

I started GR last summer. It was so dense and the writing style so difficult to follow that I had to read a companion book to translate it.

I finished my first JPME course over a week and a half ago, and I saw this one book sitting on my desk. Since finishing open projects is my theme this year, I wanted to get this off my mental list. I also thought perhaps that my initial thoughts on the book would change and I would gain a better appreciation for it.

My initial instincts were right. This book is a terrible read. The subject matter is unengaging - spending a lot of time with stream-of-conscious writing, riffing and obsessing over sex, drugs and crap (literally, not crap = unimportant junk).

What I do appreciate is the intensity of his research. Newspapers, advertisements, music, film, military layout, rocket research, language, religion, events, and time were just a few things he delved into to create this book. Unfortunately it was too much and the story itself devolved into a lot of navel gazing (or in this case, a lot of time spent on genitalia and the rectal inferences).

The book attempts to be circular in it's pattern, but all it ends up doing is... nothing. You get the the end and think: Well, what just happened? NOTHING, because he doesn't tell you what point of the entire book was - and you don't even get it even if he did tell you. You're so lost by the time you get the last page that you don't care if the book is circular. I don't agree that it's circular. I think it's more like a crayon scribble on a large piece of paper that just happens to end at the the beginning of the scribble. There's no point or revelation to this book. You don't feel satisfied in any way finishing it, except feeling relieved that you don't have to read any more.

The characters are completely unmemorable because they all have the same problem: they are doped up on something, they have a sexual fetish, and they spend a lot of time doing nothing but floating from frame to frame. Female characters are as interchangeable as the male ones. Some characters donned guises (like the main character and a few of the background characters), but at that point you really don't care because they don't ever DO anything but run around Europe and spout random 70's riff style b.s.

I think a lot of people imagine this book to be existential. It's really just navel gazing, or better yet, sphinctor gazing. I initially liked the detached writing of someone who's under the influence. They FELT detached, unfocused, and in a dream-like state. But the entire book is that way, and it's a completely unappealing result.

I thought Ulysses and The English Patient was bad. Please avoid this book. It's a great example of what not to write.

Resolutions - Late

I've been overly busy since the beginning of the year, between work, JPME and deployment preparations. Despite that I'm going to make a resolution post anyway.

Here's my list from last year:

Finish the first draft of my first novel.  (Deadline February 6th- in time for the next Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award submission; whether or not I submit, it should be done by then).

Not done. For 2011 I've taken time to start this and I'm about 10% of the way done (about a week start on it).

Now that I'm done running, put on 15lbs of muscle.

Done. I average about 150 now, and it's mostly lean muscle mass.

Take a trip to Hawaii, Italy and somewhere else new this year.

Done. Went to Maui in October.

Write the final book to my trilogy.

Done. I can't say it is really finished, but I got to 55k. I was much better organized than Book 2, which I'll have to completely rework.

Draw, ink and color 2 complete short stories.  I love to draw, but I never put goals for my artwork.  I will this time. [Minimum 1 complete; also fill a sketchbook with drawings]

Partially done. Filled a sketchbook plus some, but never finished a story.

Take formalized art classes.

Done. I wish I could take more, but NYU doesn't offer much more in the way of digital painting.

Blog at a minimum of three times per week for this year.  More is better; facebook and twitter updates do not count.

Not done. Ouch. I didn't even come close to this one.

Make Lieutenant Commander in the Navy Reserves.  (I hope this will be a done deal; I'm already in zone and must promote status).

Done. I was promoted in October.

Streamline my time management work processes (so I can get more done, find things easier, and keep tabs on those little items that slip through everyone else's cracks but mine).

 Done. I've found a great time management program that fits my style. Basecamp. If you haven't tried it, take a look. If you manage a lot of projects, or there are a lot of aspects to your job that you have to manage, this is a great way to collect all those things in one place. There's always room for improvment, but I have eeked out efficiency.

Have more fun this year (no, really, THIS year).

 Done. I can say I had a lot more fun this year. Though I can't say the same of this upcoming year.

That was a lot of resolutions, actually. And I've achieved my 7.5 of 9 goals. That's pretty good, in my estimation. On top of these, I've applied to and have been accepted into the JPME program and NYU Stern EMBA program.

I'm going to codify my goals a bit more this year. Major goals vs. Minor goals. It'll tell me what's important this year, and what can be easily achieved. And I'll stretch to 10 goals.

2011 Goals:

-Leave my job and state of affairs in good order before I deploy. This is a minor goal.

-Complete all the projects I have given myself to do this year. This is a major goal.

-Project 1: First draft of Book 1. This is a major goal.

-Project 2: iPad project beta version complete. This is a major goal.

-Project 3: An art project. Since the previous projects are well-defined for me, I'm going to leave this one open ended. This is a minor goal.

-Complete JPME. This is a minor goal.

-Blog at a minimum of three times per week for this year.  Let's put down 52 weeks x 3 blog entries/week = 156 blogs for 2011 (this will make up for being 2.5 months behind in my blogging). More is better; facebook and twitter updates do not count. Since this is a carryover from last year, it is a major goal. I hope access to internet will allow me to do this later this year.

-Manage to complete nanowrimo this year, despite being deployed. I'm not sure what my demands will be, but I'm going to try. This is a minor goal.

-Maintain physical fitness. Train to run sub 10 minute 1.5 mile while maintaining strength training weight. 9 min would be better, but consistent sub 10 is good for now. This is a minor goal.

-Visit friends, see family and take one foreign country trip before I leave for deployment. This is a major goal.

So there I have it. 5 Major goals and 5 minor goals. That means I should easily achieve 50% by doing the minor goals. We'll see how many of the major goals I do achieve. I've left off reading, as I do that normally and my JPME has been taking up the bulk of my reading time. I'd like to put in a goal that's altruistic, but it would feel like I'd have to do something rather than want.

An Object In Motion

I found this quote on a blog the other day:

“Until a man selects a definite purpose in life, he dissipates his energies and spreads his thoughts over so many subjects and in so many different directions that they lead not to power, but to indecision and weakness.

With the aid of a small reading glass, you can teach yourself a great lesson on the value of organized effort. Through the use of such a glass, you can focus the sun’s rays on a definite spot so strongly that they will burn a hole through a plank. Remove the glass (which represents the definite purpose), and the same rays of sun may shine on that same plank for a million years without burning it.“ - Napoleon Hill, The Law of Success

I've definitely been feeling this way these last couple of months. I'm pulling myself in a lot of directions, feeling like I want to accomplish something and yet getting nothing done. I need to focus and get one of these projects to 'done'.

One of the things I'm dealing with at the moment isn't something phenomenal or profound or earth-shattering, though it does turn things a bit topsy-turvy for me. I'm being deployed overseas this year. I think that is what is making me feel rushed to try to finish things. I've postponed my MBA work until I return. I've put off a project I started a couple of weeks ago. And I've primarily focused on working on my JPME* work at the moment. I have a few personal projects that are up in the air, and I just need to drop them all right now, finalize some preparations and pick one of these projects to work from start to finish. Otherwise I'll just drive myself crazy shuttling between indecision and incompleteness.

Priorities are in order - work, get affairs in order, JPME work, and ONE project to complete. Since my first NaNo novel is 50-75% complete, I'll work on that to get it from rough draft to first draft quality. While I can say I've 'written a novel' I can't really say I've completed nor published. I need to get to completed.

The immensity of my reading has gone up these last couple of months, trying to drill through my JPME material. One class is nearly finished, leaving me 2 more to complete. I hope I have time to finish one more before heading out. I can't neglect getting affairs in order though, and that will start to ramp up as I get closer.

An object in motion remains in motion unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force. I'm not at rest, but my vector has changed. As I'll be writing more, there'll be more to follow.

*Joint Professional Military Education

Can we just stop being stupid?

I haven't gotten around to my New Year's Resolution yet; it's just too busy.  But I can't help but think about the Saturday shooting of Congresswoman Giffords.  In particular, I'm not Left, Right, Republican or Democrat.   What I am now is Anti-Mass Media.

As soon as this has happened, all I've been reading and seeing are the air sirens of bullshit flying from both sides (whatever friggin sides they are) and especially from people who are watching from the sidelines and just hop onto the nearest wagon to play their own little compressed airhorn of outrage.

I am not outraged.  I am not paralyzed by hate and fear.  I feel for the Congresswoman and the people shot.

1. I do not blame anyone but the person involved (there aren't enough facts to support any theories so far).

2. I do not blame gun laws or Second Amendment.

3. I do not demonize people for using 'gun related rhetoric' or any sort of malicious propaganda that's been used for centuries.

Who I do blame is everyone who makes a grandstand out of tragedy.  It's not inspiring rhetoric that will drive iron will into stunned people (as FDR did on the attack of Pearl Harbor).  It's not even rhetoric.  It's divisive monkey shit slinging and I'm just sick of it.

Let's face it for what it really is: a singular violent act against our elected government.  It's not a case of revolution.  It maybe considered terrorist if you apply the definition of terrorist to an individual.  Certainly you can apply it if the means used cause the government to react accordingly.

There are some real tragedies here.  I hope Congresswoman Giffords recovers, and if capable, I hope she shows some iron resolve and continues her elected duty.  If she chooses not to continue, she has her reasons.  We should respect that, and no one should fear for protecting themselves or reacting positively in the face of fear.  Policemen, firefighters and servicemen do this every day.

What is the real response we should have?  Should we have more gun laws?  Should we troll the internet looking for these kinds of people?  Should we increase security around our elected officials (putting another layer between them and you, the people)?  Should be give our government more control into our lives?  I don't know.

Let's accept it for the tragedy for what it is and see that the judicial system execute due process.  We should decide for ourselves what the REASONABLE and RATIONAL thing to do in the face of IRRATIONALITY and stop listening to the newscasts.  News outlets are NOT in your interest.  Cable news needs ratings for money.  Internet news sites need site hits to justify ad revenue.

We need to be aware of what is happening around us and use our own mental faculties to weigh the situation.  Let's be serious about the situation and not try to paint it into something it is not.

The Secret of Kells

Watch this movie.

 

 

National Novel Writing Month is over

For me it's been over for about three days.  I got to 50,000 words on Saturday and just kind of dragged anchor at that point, though I knew I was only halfway through my novel at the very least.  My own lessons learned:

1. I paced myself this time, though I was almost as loose structure-wise as I was in the second book.    In the second book I wrote for a few days and didn't touch it for 20 days and had a mad as hell three day dash to 50,000, writing nearly 40,000 words of garbage to get there.  I'm even afraid sometimes to read that book as much of a trainwreck as I felt it was.  This time around, come hell or high water, I wasn't going to let the word count get behind.  I was relaxed and though I didn't feel I had a great handle on the story, it flowed pretty well compared to sweating to the end.  I liken it to the difference between undergraduate (book 2 dash) and graduate (book 3) level of effort.

2.  I joked about trying to get to 75,000 or even to 100,000.  Most days I pushed myself beyond the 1,667 word daily count to get to 2,500.  There were a few days in November where I just didn't have time to write, and the extra word count helped.  I knew in my head that 50,000 was my goal and when I hit it, I pretty much stopped all real effort in writing.  I did enjoy pushing myself beyond the limits to get my word count high early on.

3.  Having all the time in the world is an out and out fallacy.  I had the entire week off last week just as I had last year and the year before.  Yet I found myself struggling to dig in and find the will to write.  It's a normal problem, and something I struggle with work.  I hate being idle and once I am, I find it hard to get things done.  When I'm busy I can move mountains and be extremely productive.  Idle time is terrible time.  Thousands of people quit their jobs to write the Great American Novel and thousands end up going back to work not writing anything of substance.  Creativity is Work - albeit enjoyable work.  You have to put boundaries on yourself and put your nose to the grindstone.

Things I'll do next year:

1. Plan a complete novel from beginning to ending.

2. Write 75,000 words.

3. Schedule and plan my idle time.

Next year will be a new book and a completely new effort at writing a novel.

 

Cowboys & Aliens

 

I want to see this.  :)

Close to halfway

I'm at 20,000 words already.  Things are moving along in my novel.  I'm doing my best to start wrapping up the threads that have been around since the first and the second novel.  It's causing me to hop between character POVs, and that's fine.  It's something that can't be helped, though for the most part I wanted to tell the story from the third woman's point of view.

I feel I'm being a bit obvious in parts of my story and I'll have to tone them down a bit on rewrite.  Don't want things to feel that obvious, but it's currently working for me because the story is moving forward.

I have been avoiding the NaNoWriMo forums, for the most part.  Honestly, I just find that reading about other people's struggles and stories to just be... boring.  They have stories that have extremely flat plots or characters that seem interesting but that's about the extent of their writing acumen.  I'm just not a group player when it comes to writing, I guess.  It's just a lot of posting and reading when I could just be thinking and writing my story.  Some people seem to be really prolific - here it is 11 days into NaNo and they are past 100k.  I don't think NaNo is really for them if they are able to bang out 100,000 words in 10 days.  They need an editor.  100,000 words is about 350 pages of writing, give or take.  That's quite a bit, and I feel that though I'm juggling a lot of plot threads, I'm leaving a lot out that I am not including.  My new research list is growing longer by the day.

Last year I went to a write-in.  It was not what I thought it would be, and I find that I do work best on my own.  I don't want to be distracted by other people talking about their stories.  The people I was with didn't do that, but I just didn't feel the need to go any more to feel like I'm writing a story.  It confirms my theory that I'm not a group writer.  I don't need a committee to tell me where to go in my plot.  I'll either figure it out myself, or change it all on rewrite.

Finally, I find that writing the final book to a trilogy really leaves you with a lot of material that you had skipped over in the first two books.  Heck, I think my second book is terrible and my first book, though better, skips a lot in order to race towards the preconceived ending.  Writing the end to a story is a great way to go back and fix the beginning and try to get the middle to bridge them.

I think I have 75,000 words in me this year.  Possibly 100,000, but I'm going to stick with a number that is realistic with my writing capacity and time.

Ben Kenobi, Private Jedeye

 

Wow

Jeff Bridges young digital self is a little off, but the rest of this video is awesome.

 

Nordstrom's Employee Handbook — short and sweet - (37signals)

For years, Nordstrom’s Employee Handbook was a single 5×8” gray card containing these 75 words:

Welcome to Nordstrom

We’re glad to have you with our Company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them.

Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use best judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.

Please feel free to ask your department manager, store manager, or division general manager any question at any time.

During this time, Nordstrom had the highest sales per square foot performance in the retail industry – by almost double.

via 37signals.com

What a great handbook. I want to make one for my company.

Software Project

A really good idea hit me for a software project today.  It's going to be focused on the iPad platform at first, but I'm sure I can port it to other platforms as time goes by.

First steps:

-Research, research research.

-Design.

-iPad coding structure and concepts.

I'll try to keep some semblance of progress here on my blog because something like this is what I've been wanting to do for a long time -- just waiting for a good idea to hit me.  And now it has.

Gearing up for NaNoWriMo and What I'm reading

Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow is a slog.  I don't know who can read that for enjoyment.  I'm over halfway through it, but I need something more inspiring for NaNoWriMo.  So I'm reading this:

 

It's pretty riveting, not because it's Star Wars, but because it's based on material and interview written just AFTER Star Wars became a hit (late 70's).  The ideas, concepts, progress and efforts were all fresh in everyone's minds.  It's coffee table sized, but dense with information.  It also describes each iteration of the script from the beginning, and it changed A LOT.  Ben Kenobi as a character only showed up in the fourth draft.  It's pretty inspiring to read just on the creative process and effort alone.  Since Lucas was writing something completely new, he was free to throw away ideas and rearrange parts and roles until he got something that because a solid story.

I think perhaps that might be the failing of the prequels.  So much had been made after (the 3 movies, countless comics and novels) that the story was probably set in stone with not a lot of wiggle room.

Writing a story is a lot like that.  You write something and you feel that you have to keep it because you wrote it.  But don't be afraid to throw garbage out and keep only what's important to the story.

NaNoWriMo is approaching fast.  I'm considering setting a higher goal for myself than the typical 50,000 word limit.  75,000 or 100,000 seems pretty lofty.  What do you think?  Should I do it?  :)

As my mentor used to say 'Limits ARE goals.'  Don't be afraid to take things to the limit.

Oh, and I'm reading this via audiobooks:

Also interesting.

Going it alone

It looks like I'll be doing nanowrimo alone this year.  My friend C. has moved onto bigger and better things, and I really can't convince anyone else to pursue writing for a month.  Either they have no interest in writing, no ideas for writing, or feel they're too busy to write daily.  It happens.

And most of my friends, quite frankly, just aren't interested in either writing or bothering to know what I'm writing.  Maybe that means I write crappy...?  Stick to what I know, I suppose.  I don't want this to be the last year I do nanowrimo.

USB Typewriter Keyboard Royal No 10 by usbtypewriter on Etsy

USB Typewriter Keyboard -- Royal No. 10

via www.etsy.com

I kinda want one of these. What a great mix of new and old technology!

Also

I hate the word webinar.  Yes, it's a collision of web and seminar (which comes from Latin, meaning 'seed-bed'; so is it now a 'web-bed' or 'seed-web'?). Seminars are supposed to be where ideas are expressed, examined, deconstructed and new ideas formed or restated.  All the webinars I have been too are NOT this.  They are lectures and sales platforms.  Not that it is a bad thing, but the two are not the cousins (seminar & webinar).  Maybe it should be webture, lectweb, websentation, or webpitch.

Plus, it sounds like a villain name from an 80's cartoon and you know how bad those were (I've made up worse names as a kid, too).

Overused words

There are a couple of words I'm getting tired of hearing/reading.  'Literal' was something I wrote about before, but the latest gatling gun barrage is 'genius' and 'brilliant'.

It's not 'genius' to do something derivative or that someone else could've done.  'Clever' is a better word.  This is clever:   

It is not genius.  Genius (in my mind) is doing something that's beyond current human knowledge and thought.  Mastery of a technique can present genius.  'Brilliant' is in the similar vein.  Posting a clever video on YouTube is NOT brilliant.  Solving a problem in a unique way is brilliant.  Solving a problem in a particularly simple way is also brilliant.  'Clever' and 'ingenious' are much more appropriate.

Maybe it's just me, but having journalists and bloggers evaluate something as 'genius' and 'brilliant' does nothing for me.  If anything, I find it does the opposite.  By and large, today's journalists and bloggers are not experts, nor are they even well-read or well-versed in a topic.  They see something shiny and declare it 'genius' and 'brilliant' without explaining their own thoughts.  It may be obvious if you examine what they find.  It usually isn't, though at best it might be 'entertaining'.  What do you think 'genius' and 'brilliant' mean?

By the way, most people exclaim that Albert Einstein and his Theory of Relativity were 'genius', though at the time, fewer than a handful of people actually understood the theory. It certainly is genius, though very few of the journalists of that time knew it, either.  Maybe it's just the internet messing with Zipf's Law and annoying the hell out of me for it.

Writing habits

I have a tab on my browser now that lets me immediately blog something.  And since my last post this week I've had a tab open to my dashboard.  I sit down to type something, and I find not that much pithy writing to share.

Work is busy (which is always good).  My Navy Reserve work is moving along, since I'm now a Lieutenant Commander.  I should be starting Joint Professional Military Education Phase 1 training, if I get put into the billet.  That'll mean a bit of distance learning along instead of going to drill.  I'd certainly like that for a change. My EMBA applications are almost done.  Just a couple more essays and hit submit.

My dad and brother are coming into town for our 2nd annual Illinois football outing.  This year it's at Penn State, so they'll have to come out here for once. It should be a good time and a chance to show my dad around a bit.

It's been a busy month.

Gravity's Rainbow

 Has anyone read this? I'm about halfway through it, while reading the GR Companion side-by-side. I find the immensity of research and detail to be fascinating, but the writing style to be absolutely lacking. In fact, I find it much like Ulysses by James Joyce, if you take out the fascinating detail. You're left with a badly written book. Of course, that's my opinion. He should have read more Hemingway instead of studying under Nabokov.

It's Tuesday...

and I still can't shake this cold or whatever it is I got while sitting on the plane for 10 hours with 150 other people. I've got a Physical Readiness Test coming up this weekend and I wish I were still running for it.  I hate being under the weather for more than a day, much less three.

I need to finish up a couple more EMBA applications by the end of the week for early deadlines.

I've dug out a new pocket notebook at the start of vacation in order to jumpstart writing and ideas for my next couple of projects (namely my third nanowrimo book).  So far it's coming along nicely, trying to write just a little bit every day, and mainly it ends up being questions on how the story proceeds at this point.  Hmm, a trilogy is hard to wrap up, but it gives me a lot of material to go back and weave into the first two books that's really been missing. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm also trying a new experiment (well not new to anyone, but new to me), wherein I digitize my entire dvd collection so I can stream it anywhere in my house. Admittedly, I don't have a lot of dvd movies. I just don't find value in buying something to watch unless I know I will -no kidding- watch it at least ten times. A majority of my watching content comes from the web (usually on Netflix or iTunes), so I don't need a large standing library. I digitized my cd collection years ago, and I haven't looked back. If anything, I am wondering why I keep boxes of cds from move to move. I'm assuming that once the streaming home theater is done, the dvds will go the same storage route.

Scrivener for Windows

If you don't have a Mac and/or you're trying to do nanowrimo this year, they are releasing a beta version of Scrivener for Windows (final release early next year). I did nano both times with the Mac version though like anything it's primarily a writing tool. I find it suits me very well. Maybe it will suit you too: http://bit.ly/av9dLx

Scrivener 2.0 Mac is coming out prior to nano as well. I'm looking forward to the upgrade.

Well I'm off to find some lotion. No matter the amount of sunscreen I've managed to burn every part of my body a little bit except the bottom of my feet....

One year before 40

Well here we are - 4 years after my first post on the soon to be defunct Vox and 1 year before my 40th birthday.

I don't think I will have a midlife crisis since by nature I am a kid at heart already. That said, maybe there are a couple of things I'd like to get done before I make it to 40.

I wrote a couple of novels for National Novel Writing Month these last couple of years. I think I'll finish the third book and make the first ready for publication.

I'd like to start my MBA. Well see when that occurs (possibly as soon as January or as late as fall o next year). Beyond that I don't have many other plans beyond my normal annual resolutions.

What do you guys think I should do before I'm 40?

Asses on a plane

Just about to leave for Hawaii. Why is there always one person who tries to fit a steamer trunk into the overhead bin? They throw their hands up in the air like they can't visualize the volumetric capacity of the 3rd dimension. This is basic stuff you learn as a toddler - fit the round circle in the round hole, etc. I always wondered why these sorts of spatial thinking questionnaires are on IQ tests. Now I have a reasonable idea. These kinds of people probably also badly estimate other things - like distances between cars while parking, how many jelly beans are in a jar.

A couple of thoughts

I find it odd that people who aren't working (and I don't mean people who are in need of work, those that choose not to work) are the first ones to say 'TGIF'.  Why is that? It's not like they had a harrowing work week and are relieved to be at the end of it. Every day is a day off. And what about people who work through the weekend. You don't see them typing 'TGIM' if they have Monday off. They just leave.

Secondly, I'm exploring/applying to start an MBA program. Most likely it will be an EMBA program, but there are promising part-time programs out there as well. I'll be a Lieutenant Commander soon, so I'll have to move forward on some reserve career decisions as well.

Finally, I'm off for a trip and won't be back for a week. I should be able to post while out and about, so we'll see how that goes.

For all the things that SixApart did to kill Vox, I'm very wary of having them for my new blog. I may move to Tumblr or Posterous. I'm not too fond of WordPress - I am not sure they will ever have the communal atmosphere that Vox once did.

Goodbye, Vox

So long Vox.  I started blogging there in 2006 on my birthday when they had it as a beta program.  Now, nearly 4 years later the site is going down.  SixApart did a lot of things wrong by Vox, so much so that I am not sure TypePad is a good place for this blog.  Honestly, after the first couple of years, Vox lost it's shine and things have been a bit busy for me.  I made some good friends over there and some of my neighbors are over here.  It does have those bright points.  We'll see how interested in posting while I'm over here.

Quick work

From start to finish took a couple of hours.  I thought I'd practice a bit.  Enjoy.

Face Final

Class work

More work on the Rae image.

Rae 7

Here I added a background mainly to have a backdrop.  I just googled around for some texture and this came up rather nicely.  Rae's shirt has been painted and her skin has is darkened where the light doesn't touch it.  It came out well that the lightest part of the shirt is still darker than the darkest part of her skin.

Rae 8

Here's I've taken the edge off the wall and floor and started to colorize the line art.  I'm not sure I like it that way.  I rather prefer the lines to be defined.  I've started to darken  the pants a bit more to make them seem a little more leather like than vinyl.  Let me know which you prefer: dark line art or color.

New art update

I've stopped work on my previous piece, having more or less gone through all of the ways to digitally color art.  To that end, I decided to do a few more things.

1.  I moved to vellum bristol paper.  It's thicker and a really fine drawing surface.  It's great for going from sketch to final drawing.  I don't like to ink my sketches for two reasons: I feel like I lose a lot of texture and feel when my art is inked and I like to have a paint like feel to my art, which inking doesn't give.  Pencil, ink, color is a comic process.  I prefer to go from pencil to color.  I might take an inking class to see if there is any value that I'm missing.

2.  I started a new sketch to work on.

Rae 1

Initial sketch in 4B and 5B pencil, scanned into Photoshop.  I discarded any color information and adjusted the levels to get the lines to be fairly black.  I removed any stray marks.  Rae is older here.  She has a little more curve, but also quite a bit more confidence in herself.

Rae 2

This is the initial flatting of the image with a general color scheme I like.

Rae 3

Here I rough out a general lighting scheme.  Yellow light coming from the left and blue light from the right.  I don't like the way the shirt is initially shaded, so I've removed that for now.

Rae 4

Here I've darkened her pants to a black and desaturated the top to a more muted color.  I've worked the boots, finding a nice metallic shine to the brace hinges on the grav boots and the star shaped belt buckle.  The goggles have been layered to be a uniform color so that I can shade the face beneath them separately.  The original color palette is dotted on the right side of the image.

Rae 5

The boots are refined now, and the lighting shaped for the pants using a combination of hard round brush and custom brush.  I'm liking how these are looking.

Rae 6

At this point, the belt has been painted and some refinement of the legs and gloves.  The ray gun has had some work done.  I've also added some glow effects to the gloves and boots, but I'm not sure I like them at this point.  The face is shaded slightly and the eyes are done, though you can't see it clearly under the tinted goggles.  The hair has been painted as well, but it's lost under the thick lines.

To be done: Skin, shirt and the gun for painting as well as line art separation/coloring.

Critique is welcome at this point.

Latest progress

Starting to learn to vary my color scheme a bit and use textures underlaying the color.  It's almost to the point (at least on the T rex and rockface) that I can forego the line art in favor of the painted material.

The Chase 6

The Chase 6 no line

I'll need to vary the color more.  Shading I got down, but COLOR is where I need work.

A bit more refinement as I go along.

The Chase

Quick upload

I'm not at my home computer to show some of the steps of my artwork, but here's a quick showing of 1. what I started with for a drawing and 2. the digitally colored result so far.

The Chase

The Chase

Enjoy and more updates soon!

Spacecows

I was on vacation with my sister, twin nieces and nephew last week.  We showed them a lot of the tourist trap areas of NYC and a whole lot more, since they were there for more than a couple of days.  While sitting on the train on another trip to NYC, I asked my niece Anna about spacecows (something we made up earlier that week for no other reason than it sounded funny).  Here's what she thought about them.

Spacecows have antenna instead of horns.

Girl spacecows are pink.

Boy spacecows are light purple.

Spacecows have rockets instead of hooves.

Spacecows eat rocks and belch a lot.

Then there are also spacepigs (which are green...).

It's fun to let your imagination run wild.

The Third and the Seventh

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

The Third and the Seventh

Pretty amazing when you consider it is COMPLETELY CGI.

Working out in the land of NJDB

If you don't know me by now, you know I'm a regular work out person.  I won't say athlete, because I don't really compete or try to win a marathon (just finish them with good times).  But it's been ground into my psyche from early military days to be fit, in shape and ready in case of any sort of crisis (ever have to carry an unconscious person out of a smoke filled compartment or fight a fire in firesuits and you get the idea).

I lift weights, I do plyo- and isometric exercises and I run on the treadmill.  I have developed some pet peeves about the gym.

NJDBs live around me.  NJDB (coined by my friend P. when he heard I was moving to NJ for work) means New Jersey Douchebag.  The kind you see on Jersey Shore or Growing Up Gotti, but toned down quite a bit where I live.  Actually I think I work out around their parents.  These guys talk constantly like they are 1. hard of hearing, 2. that people really care about what they are talking about, and 3. think whatever they are talking about is the most important thing in the world.  Yes, I know a few people at the gym and I make my usual hellos and greetings.  But I don't care about how your prostate is or how your daughter pissed you off by doing some usual thing that kids do or how you're going to another gym because you like to throw your large, but unimportant weight around.  I. Do. Not. Care.  I also do not care that you answer the phone when you're working out.  I need that flatbench, so stop talking to your girlfriend about her yeast infection or your newest summer bromance.  Take it outside.  I also don't quite understand the random machine user.  It could be that they are new to the gym, or they have some weird workout routine where they only use a machine once, but when you stand up from using a machine, it doesn't mean I'm done with it.  It means I'm in between sets.  Sure I'll let you work in with me on it, but a little etiquette is needed.  I think it's a neophyte thing.  You grow out of it usually.

I sometimes think it's better to put together my own home gym, but right now I like the ritual of going to the gym, like going for a run.  You put on your clothes, you get there, you get ready.

QotD: First Day of Summer

Summer is officially upon us. What fun things do you have planned for the next couple of months?

Art class and trying to spend as little time at home as possible.

I am most likely planning a trip to Hawaii this fall to see friends and celebrate my own birthday.

Some travel here and there for work and the Navy, but nothing exotic (unless you count VA beach as exotic).

Out of the Loop, In the Groove

It's been quite busy for me lately.  Doing Reserve Annual Training, then drill weekends and work is busy busy.  I'm taking an art class on digital coloring, so I hope to post some of that work on here for you all.  Even if it turns out to be pretty mediocre.

I started writing a script for Script Frenzy, but I never finished it on time.  However, since it's been a script that's been rolling around in my mind for at least four years, it's finally caught hold and won't let me think about much else until I've finished it.  I find that I love writing, but like most things it takes a while to find your groove.  You write two or three pages of crap until you settle into the act of writing and start turning out something decently readable.

I'm trying to keep up on some summer reading and fiddling with a bit of computer code.  I've got to keep my personal projects down to something manageable timewise, otherwise none of them will get to 'done'.

I hope you all are enjoying the summer!

RIP Frank Franzetta

I loved your art.  It was beyond fantastic.  It had energy and vibrancy I have never seen before.

Ffcolr29

You can see a lot of his art over here.  I hope his art gallery opens back up in PA soon.  I'd like to see some of his work up close.

Belated Happy Mother's Day

I've been spending the weekends 'off the grid' so to speak.  So, happy Mother's Day to all you Vox Moms (Vox Matra? Matrivox?  My Latin is imprecise, at best.)

Weekends without skimming rss reads and news feeds is nice.  You get to spend them doing things (or opening your mind to the ideas that don't quite fit when you're busy reading other ideas).

I saw Iron Man 2 on Friday.  It was very entertaining and appropriate for the beginning of the summer blockbuster season.  Look for Stan Lee's usual cameo.

Page 6

A new page is up here.  A few of my friends say it's getting better.  M. says she never thought I could do backgrounds.  It turned out well and I'm improving my process.  It took me quite a few hours to put my sketches together on a page the first time.  Now I'm down to about 2 hours or so.  I'll keep improving and changing my processes (hopefully for the better).  Word balloons will probably turn more organic as I go along.  The borders and lines need to be a bit thinner.  I need to make my own kind of font.

And a new design is finally needed, now that I have more than 2 pages put up.  If you like it, let me know.

As promised from my last post, here are the larger images I resized for page 5.

Rae

Rae & Erik run

Erik

Rae & Erik Jump

New Page

Alright, the new page is up.  I'm not too happy about how it turned out, but when I drew it, I was still figuring out how to best lay out each page and get a consistent look.  It seems to be getting better, though I'm still mostly relying on my hand drawn sketches.  I haven't quite gotten to moving over to digital.  It's just easier to pick up a pencil and work out the sketch by hand.  The art of the two kids running are far more detailed than the background, but I scaled them down just a bit too much.  I'll post the originals tonight so you can get a sense of how they were drawn originally.

In Dallas

No new comic page (yet).  With drill this weekend and a back-to-back trip to Dallas, I didn't have time to scan in the art to get it posted.  It's going to be a busy week, but I'm rested now, so I can do a bit of catchup as I go along.  I'll post a bit more soon.

Just about caught up.

Another page posted.  I'm definitely faster with cleaning things up.  I just wished I could produce art faster than I do.

The weather has been phenomenal these last couple of days.  It's great to get a chance to go outside for a few hours and just BE.

I have plenty I can blog about, but I'm not sure how much of it people want to hear about.

-Books read

-My in progress movie script (anyone want to read some?) for Script Frenzy

-My iPad (yeah, I'm THAT guy)

-Stuff in general

In other news, I learned how to break the facebook app on my phone.  I don't plan on changing anything, so I'll just wait until the app is fixed.

Three hour lesson in frustration

Okay, the new page is up, for anyone who wants to see.  I think the fourth page would be up by now, but I spent three hours chasing down a problem that I thought was either wordpress or host server related.  Turns out it was Adobe Photoshop.  Whenever you save a file in Photoshop previous to versions before CS4, it would save it in the format it existed in, UNLESS you changed something to the file (adding a layer, which would automatically make it a photoshop file).  Now, Adobe will save it in Photoshop format, but KEEP the original extension (.jpg in this case).  The weird problem was that wordpress would not generate thumbnails (because it could not read the file format), but Safari could display the file, because Webkit can read the .psd format.  Fortunately, I think comparing the files side-by-side in PS finally found the problem.

I should have worked backwards to the only thing that may have changed: the file itself.  I should've went to bed and slept on it.  I'd be well rested AND the problem would've been solved in the morning.  You know how frustration goes - you don't let go a problem easily, nor do you solve it quickly.  You just waste time.

The lines are cleaner on this page.  I spent time refining them a little by hand, then cleaning things up digitally.  I liked a bit of the dirtiness of the first two pages, but I like that it feels a little more professional as I go along.  I think I'll just go with it.  More soon.

3 Weeks with Steve McQueen

A bit late for what would've been his 80th birthday (March 24th), but Steve McQueen is still cool.

Steve McQueen