Tuesday, October 25, 2005

A Blog From Japan

Greetings!

Okay here's the problem. I may be able to write here but I can't understand the interface. The damn page is in Japanese.

Yes, I'm in Japan. Since Sunday. Until Saturday.

People in China and Japan are mostly thin despite all the great food here because of on simple reason:

A really good public transport system.

Subways, trains and other trams. Lots of steps to take, few escalators. Everyone is also in a rush so people still walk while on the escalator. Hence more calories burned. What they eat gets used.

Not like I. I eat, drive to work, take the elevator, sit on a chair for a total of at least 8 hours a day, then take the elevator down, drive home, and sit again. Sad. For me.

But there is still hope. I hope.

Anyway that's all. Just wanted to try blogging from another country.

Out.

Friday, October 21, 2005

That's Not Right

That's Not Right...

I saw this ad a few weeks ago and I just had to have it scanned. How can you trust an advertisement that looks like this?

Jesus H. Christ.

Out.

Monday, October 17, 2005

Thoughts on Whatever

First off...

RIP Jason Collier. The Atlanta Hawks reserve center who passed away a few days ago due to, supposedly, cardiac arrest.

* * * * *

Anyway I just realized it but there are a number of people I know who celebrate their birthdays on September and October. Not too many on other months, except July, maybe. But oh well.

* * * * *

Haven't blogged anything worth $hit lately. I don't know if its because I've got nothing to blog about or I'm too damn lazy to blog anything of significance. Or maybe I'm not as angsty and depressed as before.

* * * * *

I wish I had cash. Lots of it. That way if I had lots of money I'd be able to buy a couple of condo units and rent them out. Then I can buy a second hand Vitara and have it "pimped". No, wait. Pimped is not a good term. Better yet, fixed.

Nothing wrong with pimped out rides. I used to enjoy watching MTV's Pimp My Ride. But lately interest has waned. Drastic drop in interest. Used to enjoy watching it. Even replays. Now? Can't even finish it even if its the first time I see that episode. Why?

Simply because the pimping West Coast Customs do are getting too extreme for my tastes. I mean, whats the point of owning a pick-up if the back is turned into a) a pool table or b) a huge multimedia container? Where do we put the things normaly placed in the rear of the pick-up?

The best Pimp My Ride episode, for me (and I am declaring this with infinite bias) was the VW Baja Bug eipsode. Nothing too flashy. Just some monitors and lava lamps. They even fixed the engine and added a roll cage. Now if Pimp My Ride were to go back to the simple ways they used to have, still keeping the car practical, then I'd start enjoying it again. But now, where every possible space is used up for trinkets, no thanks.

Which brings me to my next topic. American Chopper. This is the TV show I love to watch. My father and I watch this every Sunday. Its an amazing show and we love watching them build the motorcycles from scratch.

Anyway. I'm bored. Maybe I'll try to blog again some other time.

Out.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Random Thoughts, Baby...

Okay. It's currenty around 1:24am, Wednesday. Gotta finish this animation so I can start rendering and go to sleep.

Yeah that's right. I'm at work. Revising revisions. Learning to animate. Learning to stand on my own two feet. That's right. Two. One. Two. Left. Right.

Got two headphones on right now. That sounds weird, I know. One's from my iPod. Listening to Steppenwolf, Rolling Stones, Yardbirds, and War right now. Grooving to the beat. Drowning out the outside world. Focusing. Fighting sleep.

The other's the bigger earphones. Over the other one. Work earphones. Gotta sync dialogue to motion. Gotta create motion. A digital puppeteer in a digital age.

Tired. Sleepy. Been a long Tuesday. Longer Wednesday. Wonder if I can go straight no sleep?

Body breakdown. Sick. Nope. Just tired. Need rest. Who doesn't? Still haven't fully rested from the previous overnight. But that's my job.

Slave to the grind. Bad to the bone. Pedal to the metal. Rambling. On and on and on...

Can't drown the outside world. Too many intrusions. Losing focus. Gaining distractions. Balance the scales. Increase the volume.

More Stones. Louder. Stronger. Full stereo. Classic rock... rocks. For lack of a better word.

Get back to work. Finish it. Sleep. Can't sleep. Work. Play. Get paid.

Life, death, taxes. The three sure things in life. You live, you die. You pay taxes.

Life's a bitch, then you die. Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and you look like shit.

Wish I could write more but I don't want to tell you anything.

ENOUGH!!!

Gotta work again.

Out.

Monday, October 10, 2005

Jacque Attack, Sato Strikes, and Other Ramblings

If ever you get to watch F! on Star Sports you'll know of the term "Jacque Attack". It was coined by one of the commentators there because of the way Jacque Villeneuve drives. I wouldn't call it wreckless but for lack of a better word, wreckless it is. Well, Jacque is a driver and hje's paid to drive and win. But still. Some of his tactics are somewhat strange. But there's a new threat to F1.

Takuma Sato.

Over the past few races Sato's caused the DNFs (Did Not Finish) of a few drivers. Most notably Michael Schumacher (a few GPs ago) and Jarno Trulli last Suzuka. I don't know what's up with Sato but he rear-ended Schumi and ended his race. And at Suzuka he smashed the side pod of Trulli's Toyota. Now I've never been a Sato fan. And I still think he's an idiot. So... Never mind. I've got nothing to say in defense of him. I think he sucks as a driver. I think Ralf is better. Hell, I think Alex Yoong is better than Sato. But they both suck anyway. So there.

Sato has been driving like he's in a demolition derby the past few races. Maybe as an outlet to his rage? He doesn't have a drive anymore next year, after all. So maybe he'll take out a few other drivers. After all when he rear-ended Schumi the latter did slap his helmet. And so, without further ado, I present to you my new nickname for Takuma Sato. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Japan's own answer to the Jacque Attack...

The Sato Strike.

* * * * *

Anyway I've played the new NBA Live 06. GM mode seems nice so far. I just can't win with the Lakers. I've traded for Shaun Livingston. Kwame Brown's becoming a presence and still I get losing seasons. Sigh.

As for the gameplay? It sucks. Guys looking for a very realistic game will be disappointed to find out that scoring is easy here, even with the sliders set low. Sadly. Plus with the superstar gimmick you tend to rely on one player only. I guess even in the NBA that's true. Specially with the Lakers. I still haven't finished a game in NBA Live 06. After the first quarter the score's around 40 each so I just quit. I want a realistic game.

Plus collisions suck. Sometimes when my player gets too close to a teammate he gets dragged by that teammate. Sigh. Simulate it is. No more playing.

So right now I'm not playing anything on my PS2. Gran Turismo's on hold since I'm still sorta addicted to GM mode of NBA Live. I just wish I would win. I've built a great team. Ah well.

* * * * *

Last Saturday I went to work to attend a meeting. In one of those amazing spur-of-the-moment things I decided to pack my Metal Gear series gashopons and take them home. So now my shelf is sorta bare. Well, not really. My Guyvers are still here. And so are the Star Wars I got from Jollibee. Plus the Ford GT is still here.

I might even add a Stingray here or another Ford GT. Or two GTs. Who knows?

* * * * *

Too much rambling already. Can't get a coherent thought in my brain. Oh well. It's almost 9am anyway. Gotta work now.

Out.

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Ang 'Di Inaasahan

"Careful what you wish,
you may regret it,
Careful what you wish,
you just might get it."

- "King Nothing", Metallica

Ang mga salita sa sikat na kanta na ito ang patuloy na naririnig ng utak ko habang sinusulat ko ito. Dahil itong mga salita na ito ay angkop na angkop sa nangyayari sa akin ngayon.

Kung maaalala ninyo, matagal na akong gumagawa sa game. Iyon ang pinagkakaabalahan ko ngayon dito sa opisina. Kasi yon ang binigay sa akin na gawain. Ilang buwan na yan. At natural lang na ma-miss ko ang pag-gawa ng commercial. Kasi medyo paulit-ulit lang ang ginagawa ko sa games.

Hindi sa ayoko ko na sa games. Masaya pa rin doon. Ibang skill set ang natututunan at nagagamit ko sa games at iba rin sa commercial. Kaya di rin naman ako talo kahit ano gawin ko. Basta maka-gawa ako sa 3D at mahasa ko pa sarili ko.

Ngayon ako ay matutulog sa opisina. Matagal ko na itong hindi nagagawa. Ayos lang naman. Akala ko matatapos ko ang pinapagawa. Kaso di ako masaya sa gawa ko kaya nilinis ko pa. Ginabi. Sira pa naman ang Mazda. Kaya matutulog na lang ako dito. Magpapadala na lang ako ng damit bukas sa aking ina pagpasok niya sa opisina.

Natapos ko na ang dapat ko gawin ngunit yung para sa game ay itutuloy ko na rin. Matapos ko magsulat dito. Bakit? Ayoko na gabihin mamaya (ang oras ngayon ay 12:52am kaya ibig sabihin Huwebes na ng umaga... madaling araw) at gusto ko rin naman magpahinga at maglaro ng PS2. O kaya'y manood ng DVD.

Marami akong natututunan ngayon. Dahil nga sa commercial. Kailangan magaling ka talaga sa diskarte pagdating sa commercial. Kasi kung hindi malalagot ka dahil sa mga deadline. Parang ngayon. Kaninang mga 4pm may binigay na mga revisions ang direktor ng commercial na ginagawa ko. Tinanong kung puwede ba bukas ng tanghalian matapos. Kaya naman, nagkamali lang ako sa paghula kung anong oras ko matatapos.

Pero ako rin may kagagawan nito. Kasi kanina ang dami kong maling nagagawa. Hindi ko alam kung dahil sa pagmamadali o katangahan o complacency. Kaya minabuti kong bagalan ang trabaho ko. Sinigurado ko na tama ang ginagawa ko.

Kaya ayan, andito ako ngayon sa opisina. Dito matutulog. Pero anong masama doon? Oo, di nga ako makakatulog ng mahimbing. Pero ayos lang. Ako rin naman ang naghanap nito e.

Out.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

In the Zone

Whenever I'm working there comes a point everyday when I enter... The Zone.

What is the zone? Why does it exist? How do I enter it of my own will?

Well for me the zone is basically a point in time during office hours when I my focus will peak and my productivity will be really high. It can go on for as fast as 30 minutes to as long as 4 hours. Because there was this one time I had to do this project and was so focused and in to it that I didn't realize that four hours had passed, and that I was freezing my ass off.

Four hours straight work. No jacket. No break. No talk. Just work. When I finally came out of the zone, I had goose bumps from the cold. I was feeling very cold. My bladder was about to burst. But my work was amazing.

Why does the zone exist? I don't know. Maybe because I make it exist. Because I focus so much that I become super-productive.

How do I enter it? I don't know. It just happens. In fact I'm so sure that I can enter the zone everyday if only the factors were right. One factor could be direction. If I know what I have to do and that thing is finalized I can get in the zone. But if its really an unsure thing no zone.

Anyway. Enough of that. Got Live 2006 yesterday and tested it out at the mall. It worked. At home? Nope. So I'll try getting a copy from another store today. If it still doesn't work I'll have the former replaced tomorrow. And if that still won't work? I dunno.

Out.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Back in Business

You all know about getting the monkeys off my back. And you all know that right now I'm mainly working on a game. But yesterday I got assigned this other test for another client. Got supervised by my officemate/mentor/master and he approved of my work.

My word! I'm actually back in advertising. And I can't believe I've missed a lot of things about it. Like the fast deadlines and the pressure to improvise to achieve your goals. Not that I'm dissing the game I'm working on, but its basically repetitive. Model, model, model. Or you just animate what they've rigged (because they have to follow a specific rig for the character). I'm sure there's a lot more to games but right now I miss the fast-paced action of commercials.

Its more pressure but why not? At least I'm having fun. So far. Because there's still no problems with the project. But hey, what better way to improve than this, right?

Anyway this new thing I'm working on is pretty simple, actually. So far its just a test of how we model something and how we animate it. After that if the client likes it we get to do the actual commercial.

What's great about being back in ads is the fact that I'm not so constrained anymore by polygon count. In games we were basically limited to around 1,500 polygons per model for characters and significantly less for props. But for the test I'm doing already the first model I've made has around 10-15k worth of polys. Nice.

Anyway I'm a pretty happy guy again. So far.

Out.

Monday, October 03, 2005

Disclaimer

When reading this blog please remember the following:

1) This blog is written by me and me alone. Most of the thoughts here are mine unless otherwise stated.

2) This blog is meant to be an outlet to my thoughts, frustrations, joys and whatnot.

3) This blog is not meant to be slanderous, treasonous, or any other "onous" or negative thing towards others. Unless otherwise stated.

4) This blog is open to anyone who wants to read it. I am not forcing you to read it, unless I asked/begged you.

5) Re-writing or copying of any of my thoughts here without my permission is wrong. Even if I don't find out that you stole my work I hope your conscience bothers you for the rest of your life and beyond.

6) Any complaints or suggestions can be dropped in the comments section where a response from me may or may not come.

Getting Monkeys Off My Back

Finally. After x number of months, two commercials I worked on have finally aired.

Two monkeys off my back.

You see, even if I never showed it, not airing those two commercials severely affected my confidence at work. My officemate Portia gave me some good advice when I told her how much it bothered me. She said something like, "You gave them what they wanted. You did everything they asked. They haven't complained about what you did, its in their hands now."

And she was right. But still. It bothered me. Usually commercials take us one to two months to create then it airs a few days (to a few weeks) after we make them. But not these two. One of them was from last year. November to December. Got put on hold. February to March I had to work on it again. Finished it in the deadline they wanted. They accepted and all. Never showed. And this was a project which was mine. I wasn't helping out anyone. It was given to me. I handled it and made it.

The other one was a group effort. But it was my scene which had all the revisions. Two months worth actually. It was going around in circles.

Stuff like that can ruin my confidence. Is it something about me? Is it something with what I've created? I did as the director asked. I followed my officemates' suggestions. Everything was great and yet revisions kept coming.

Damn.

And once the online got finished they didn't even air them. Months passed. Sure I've forgotten about them and moved on to the game. But I've been afraid of doing commercials since. What if it gets held again? And that happened. Again. To this test we were supposed to do. I did as asked. I passed it. Its up to them now, I guess. What bothers me is that it seems that every commercial I've recently helped out in gets held. Is it a jinx? Or is it a problem with the ad agency and their client? We're just "suppliers" who give them what they want. They need a 3D plane? Butterflies to pop out of a mug? A dragon tossing a pretzel? You got it.

Now why won't they air it at once? I can understand one of the reasons. The new packaging wasn't done yet and the labels they gave us were the new ones. But the other two? One was supposed to be released during the first weeks of summer and the other was just a test, dammit!

Oh well. I've found solace in games. At least the deadlines are weekly. And the client has always approved the work Kem and I have done. But lately I've been "longing" (for lack of a better word) to work on a commercial again.

And if it gets held again, tough. Another monkey'll just climb on my back.

Out.

Eating Out

Last Saturday my girlfriend and I decided to have dinner in Heaven N' Eggs Glorietta. So after hearing mass and walking around a bit we decided to go there. Bad move. There was a long queue and we had to wait. Fine by me. The place was packed. Maybe because the food was good, maybe because it was the "in" restaurant right now, I don't know. Anyway we waited around 30-40 minutes there. I really didn't mind waiting since the food does look good and because its a new restaurant. But ultimately we decided to leave since I was getting real hungry and because it seemed like it would take 20 minutes just to seat a group, and we were 14th in line. You do the math.

So we moved to Avenetto. At least we got seats. We even ordered already. Maica ordered eggplant parmagiana and I got this calzone. Waitress says calzone takes 35 minutes to cook so fine by me. Just bring the pasta out first, aight? Aight. So we sit. Chat have some jokes. Calzone arrives in fifteen minutes. Huh? Oh well. Eat some, chat some. After thirty minutes the pasta still hasn't arrived. Maica's getting pissed. Says to either cancel it or bring it now. Finally it arrives. So we eat some more. Ask for the bill. Wow talk about pronto! Get the change. Wow, talk about pronto! It seems the only time the service got fast was when we were going to pay already.

Okay so maybe it was bad timing on our part. It WAS Saturday. Everyone was out. But still. Avenetto's food was great. The service could be better. But the food was great and worth it. Would I eat there again? Maybe not. How about Heaven N' Eggs, would I try to eat there again? Maybe when they're not the "in" thing. Or maybe when they're about to close and they're desperate for customers. But in the near future? No. I wouldn't eat in any of those two places anytime soon.

Or maybe it was because they're both relatively new restaurants in the area and their staff aren't veterans yet. But still. Friday's serves better. No, wait. Don't get me started.

Out.