Loud Liberals?!

Last week I had the very distinguished privelage of representing ECU as an alumni for Mater Dei Highschool's College Fair. So, I go over the materials, study the common Q&A's, and do my best to appeal to these youngsters and their folks. You know, like "We have a strong liberal arts program with a student body that consists of about 25,500 students, 18,000 of which are undergraduates. Class room size averages 28 students per class, which the largest classes being approximately 150 in lecture hall for Biology/Psychology." And I can go on and on with these numbers and facts I didn't know a lick about while at the school. But was I prepared for what folks REALLY care about? "What're the sports programs like?" ....er..
Well, let's face it. Shenanigans if I've kept up on that. Let's see. Haven't seen the school competing in any championships on TV. How often do you hear about the ECU Pirates in national sports? Yeah, that's right. You're asking me knowing that we ain't got a shining star of a sports program. Go ahead. Step over to my right, where DUKE is set up. Thaat's right. Dookie. I was in the Liberal Arts Program, okay?
Anyhow, a pretty nice experience I'd repeat. Here's some pics of me being informative and my best Robert Ebendorf pose.

ZOMG

Oct. 10-11. Blizzcon in Anaheim, CA. I was there.
"What? You play WOW?" No. But it is something to be respected. Blizzcon celebrates and gathers the fans of Blizzard's gaming projects which include Starcraft, Diablo, and yes, World of Warcraft. Now, you'd expect to find an overwhelming gathering of geekdom and the likes of gamers donning WOW threads stained with Doritos and Mountain Dew. But you'd be wrong(though these folks might clean up well for events such as this). Blizzard succeeds in creating indepth PC games that cater to hardcore gamers, but, within their consistent system of 'easy to pick up, difficult to master,' there is mass appeal. That's how we have 'Mom won't give me allowance this week' 25 year-olds and well-to-do white collars who can play together. Attendees ranged from all sorts of types of people, but everyone could discuss Death Knight DPS Talent Trees to the point where it no longer sounds like the english language.
Anyhow, I found enough enjoyment in discussion panels, beta testing, aweing at costumes... It's all a little slice of the passion this niche community has. I applaud it. And it looks like it'll be getting me back into Diablo.

Saber Tooth Tiger!

(Also found on myspace)

Okay. Where exactly this notion stemmed from I don't know, but I've spent an hour on the net rekindling my memories and learning more about....

The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.

Yeah. I should be working. And yeah, it's kind of silly. But damn. I mean, hot damn. You've got it all: epic battles, giant mecha, mythology, undertones of deliberate stereotype castings, and..the pink ranger. No wonder it's had such an impact on pop culture.

Anyhow, I discover the tradgedy that Thuy Trang, actress as the first yellow ranger, passed in 2001 due to a car crash. Her ashes are located in Whittier, CA(Thanks, wikipedia). Obviously a point of interest we've gotta take if you visit me. Trang left the show season 2 due to monetary conflicts, and in the character's last episodes, she appears by use of all editted stock footage. Shady. And ever wonder why the yellow ranger didn't don a skirt like the pink ranger? The original alter ego(from Japanese version) WAS A DUDE. Yeah, SHADY x10. It's okay. You can blame those fantasies on teenage hormones.

Well, somebody please hit me up to watch the first movie. Maybe I should host.

Featured!

Well, it's a good thing I've already said fashion's a point of interest to me. Because this would have come outta left field. (What exactly does that mean?)

One of my illustrated designs was featured on Bravotv.com's site. An online challenge for Project Runway was to "reinvent the business suit" and I had something to submit.

Definitely nice to have a little illustration shown on their site. And hey, I get a Tresemme package? Thanks!

Fashion Week

Okay, okay. I should come clean.

I've cited that I'm into all things visually/conceptually interesting, and yes, that does include the world of fashion. And why not(Cue: Male defending an interest in fashion discussion). Clothing IS a vehicle to expression. It's a process of choices and assembling to express a style and idea, andso; an art form. There's a concept and there's the skill to materialize it. I think my interest stems from the process of character-designing:Characters on paper need a memorable, iconic look to be distintive. Fashion designers strive to produce the same.

So, a noteworthy showing from NY Fashion Week for me was Christian Siriano. The kid's in his 20's a crazy prodigy.

http://allprojectrunway.blogspot.com/2008/09/christian-siriano-at-fashion-week.html.

Labor(ous) Day

I fill my days with work. And at the end of the day, I...I'm cramming the last bit of work in. One day, I'm gonna learn better.
It's Labor Day. So today I experience the joy of waking up at 2 in the afternoon. Not a joy I hope to return to frequently, but kinda nice none the less. I've got to close the Fedex Kinkos store at 10 tonight, and miraculously I'm out by 10:28pm. Typically, I'd still be helping that last customer or finishing up that last job....but hey, maybe I am learning.
And then I realize there's work to be done for Home and Body Co. Hmmm. Well, I'd better down this 5-Hour Energy and get to work. Just when the end of the day was so close....

Here Comes A New Challenger!

So, I've bought the tourney recordings and talked about going for years, and finally- My first year at Evo. A little bg info on Evo; this annual worldwide fighting game tournament formed in 2002 and today gathers the best players of the world to battle in such franchises as Tekken, Super Smash Bros., and Street Fighter.

I was knocked out of the competition early. It's only given me to aspiration to train and make a mark next year. My biggest gain was experiencing the event: Seeing a shared respect among such different people. Race, age, body type--defined no one. It was all about skill and technique.

Celebrating Street Fighter III, a piece of art I've created of Urien:
seen here kidnapping a student of Chun Li, causing her to return to the fighting scene.