Ethereality News & Weblog

NEWS:
It looks like I’ll be doing some work on the card game The Spoils. Tenacious Games had contacted me a few months back about doing the cards, but I was tied up with Spiderman 3 and Surf’s Up for Sony Pictures during those months. Now that my schedule’s opened up, I’ll probably end up doing roughly a dozen cards for them. I’ve done pen & paper RPG illustrations many years ago for R. Talsorian’s Cyberpunk: Pacific Rim, so this is kind of similar territory. A lot of my peers don’t like doing work for game cards and RPG manuals because these markets tend to pay less than others, but you could always negotiate a better rate to make it worth your time and effort (assuming you are worth the higher rate in the eyes of your client).

WEBLOG:
As a reader and a writer, I’ve always treasured the universal emotional truths that we all share as human beings. I’m not talking about emotions that are easily categorized like joy, pain, anger, boredom..etc, I’m talking about more complex layers of emotions that only arise from some form of dynamic interaction, not merely passive responses to the world around us. For example, the absolution of someone after being vindicated of a crime he did not commit, or the weight that dissolves from one’s back when he learns to let go of a hate that’s been the dark and destructive driving force of his existence, or rediscovering a long lost dream and rekindling the passion for making it come true. These are universal emotional truths unique to humans–ones that are far more dynamic than the simple emotions that even dogs can feel. They are the ingredients for great stories, and I’m drawn to them when I write or when I’m enjoying the works of other writers. I’ve seen so many aspiring writers that don’t understand this simple dynamic, and that’s the difference between a writer that has something to say, or a writer that simply tells a good yarn. Not that there’s anything wrong with a good yarn, but for me personally, if the story can resonate deeper than the basic entertainment appeal, then I become emotionally invested and the payoff is far more powerful. Unfortunately, there’s another category of writers–one that goes through the motion of fabricating these universal emotional truths in a manner that’s almost contemptuous of the reader/viewer’s emotional intelligence (or it puts to question the writer’s own emotional intelligence, or level of talent). Usually, when I’m experiencing the works of this type of writer, I feel either A) manipulated B) lost of emotional immersion due to the writer’s transparent execution shortcomings, or C) lost of interest due to the writer’s lack of emotional common sense. Sometimes I wish I had never learned critical analysis of creative works–be it art, writing, music, photography, or film, because when you’re less picky, you get to enjoy so much more. Even mediocre works can keep you immersed and entertained. Does all this sound very pretentious? It probably does, but that’s just what I’m feeling at the moment. Mind you though, I do enjoy the occasional cheese now and then if it’s done brilliantly (the British TV comedy Spaced comes to mind), so I’m not really as stuffy as my rantings suggest.

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I’ve been playing Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, and so far it’s pretty disappointing (I really should have read all the negative reviews online first). The people responsible for the writing of the game belongs to the third group I described above. If the gameplay itself was really fun,then I’d have been less critical, but it isn’t. I’m not even sure if I want to finish the game at this point. Maybe I should just hold out for Half-Life 2: Episode 2, as that’s the only franchise with a reliable pedigree out there these days.

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Oh My God. I never knew… (For all you fans of Oingo Boingo)

On a related note, I found out a while ago that Danny Elfman was commissioned by the Carnegie Hall to compose an original work titled “Serenada Schizophrana,” and it premiered in February of 2005. What’s also interesting was that Andy Summers (from The Police) performed on the guitar for another original piece preceeding Serenada Schizophrana. For those of you that haven’t been following Andy Summers’ career since The police broke up, he’s pretty much been immersed in the contemporary jazz scene (something that Sting’s dabbled in as well).

Have you guys noticed that the rockers of that generation tend to veer into the classical or jazz territory as they get older? I wonder what this generation of rockers will get into as they age. It seems that no matter what genre of music you start in, you’ll always gravitate towards the more conventional music styles as you age–probably because more conventional music styles have a richer history and tend to have greater musical complexity (at least according to conventional music theory). I personally have felt this as well, since the older I get, the more I gravitate towards composing orchestral works. This isn’t to say I’ve lost interest in the more edgy styles of music though–it’s just that orchestral works tend to be more challenging to compose and arrange. I’ve always been into jazz an classical even as a teenager though, so this is hardly a new transition. My greatest joy will always be hybridizing different genres though, and it’s something I’ve done for as long as I’ve been making music.

I remember distinctly back in the late 80’s, I wanted to combine orchestral and electronic music, but back then I didn’t have the necessary equipment to pull something like that off (high-end orchestral libraries were not an option back then as their cost was astronomical). When Hans Zimmer started to rise to celebrity status in Hollywood, I observed the hybrid style I had in my head become more and more popular, to the point where it’s the standard style these days for film/game/TV scores. Now that I have the necessary equipment to make that kind of music, it’s no longer something unique. I’ve always felt that being innovative and original isn’t necessarily the most important thing a creative person should strive for though–more than anything, simply expressing what resonates within you is the most important objective, and if you happen to be unique, then your work will be perceived as so. So many people mistake innovation and originality for “better,” and it couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve seen and heard and read plenty of very unique but completely pointless and atrocious creative works that used “being different” as a crutch and a gimmick (a lot of modern art comes to mind). But who knows? Maybe those people were actually “unique” and they did express what resonated within. It could just be that I’m the one that’s too mundane.

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I can’t believe it’s time to add more storage space to my rig already (I just ordered a 750GB hard drive from Fry’s, and a SATA 3GB/IDE133 controller card from newegg.com). Between my two machines, I will have almost two terabytes of storage space, plus 600GB of backup storage that’s off-line most of the time (I only hook them up when backing up files). The new hard drive will be taking over the sample libraries duties, but I’m a bit nervous about streaming all of my samples from one drive–it could lead to audio crackles and pops during recording and playback. At least I’ll be installing it internally though, so it’ll still be performing much better than an exterior option (which was what i considered at first).

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I was at the Palo Alto branch of Fry’s a few days ago, and it was such an appalling experience. For example, their DVD sections were grossly mislabeled, and their foreign section didn’t even have the DVD’s in alphabetical order! How the hell can anyone find anything in that condition? I talked to one of their employees about it, and he said they’ve badgered the manager about doing something, but the manager kept blowing them off, and upper management won’t listen to the little guys, as they always take the managers’ word for everything. He also told me that many have quit because the managers refused to listen to employees’ suggestions on how to improve the store. I talked to one of the managers, and sure enough, his eyes were glazed over as he fed me some line about “we’re looking into it.” They need to fire a bunch of managers at that store, because it’s probably one of the worst managed stores I’ve ever seen.

WEBLOG:
My bud misterdna suggested we all post our amazon.com wish lists, so here it is, my Amazon.com Wish List (click on the little picture):



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This is brilliant. Payback feels great (I actually worked as a telemarketer before briefly many years ago, and I hated it).

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Finally got to see The Departed, and I have mixed feelings about it. It is certainly a good film–one of Scorsese’s most entertaining in years (probably since Goodfellas, although some might say Gangs of New York, which didn’t grab me all that much), but I just have issues with remaking popular films from other countries when the original film really isn’t all that old yet. I never agreed with remaking popular foreign films because in most cases, the remake destroys all that’s great about the original by Americanizing bits that don’t need to be Americanized. So if filmmakers can’t seem to do a better remake (or one that’s simply just as good) and choose to walk all over the virtues of the original, the only motivation left that I can see is greed. This is where I have conflicting feelings; I respect Scorsese, and I have never thought of him as someone who would remake a popular foreign film that’s from just a few years ago. I almost wish I had never seen Inferno Affairs so I could enjoy The Departed even more, but that would be a bit too biased towards Scorsese, since the original film was really excellent.

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My Speedlite 580EX flash has been acting up on and off ever since I’ve bought it in June last year. Basically, when I have it facing forward (or the notch below), it’ll blow out the subject even with the flash exposure compensation dialed down to -2. I’ve done plenty of research online, discussed the problem in pro photography forums, talked to Canon’s support..etc, and no one knows why this is happening. I discovered a quick fix though–just flip the 14mm diffusion panel down. I might just keep on using that quick fix instead of sending it in to Canon for service because it’ll cost me at least $150 to fix, and if the quick fix is working, I don’t quite feel like parting with $150 (and possibly more) just for that. You can read about the discussion here.

NEWs:
Kitty Cat Diary updated (this update contains a quick tip on black & white conversion for digital photography):

WEBLOG:
Elena and I really need to get an exterior antenna for our GPS unit (Magellan Roadmate 860T), because whenever we drive to the city (that’s what we call San Francisco in the Bay Area–”the city”), the GPS gets totally confused since it can’t lock onto enough satellites with all the tall buildings in the way. Our nickname for the GPS unit is “Gou-gou” (”doggy” in Chinese) because it’s like our seeing-eye dog when we need directions, and when Gou-gou gets confused in the city, our positioning on the GPS map starts to “swim” all over the place, going through buildings and doing all kinds of impossible maneuvers. Holding it out the window helps, but that’s a terrible solution since you can’t really read the screen or hear the directions that way. Like all electronic gadgets, accessories for the GPS is expensive, but in this case, it’s probably worth it.

WEBLOG:
One of my favorite film composers, Basil Poledouris, has passed away at age 61 after losing a battle against cancer. I’ve loved his score for Conan the Barbarian ever since I first heard it as a kid. It’s one of the first cassette tapes I’ve ever purchased, and when CD’s became popular, I purchased it on CD too. Then I purchased it again when the collector’s edition was released with previously unreleased bonus tracks. To this day, I’ve yet to hear a more majestic and passionate score, and it remains to me one of the finest examples of the art of the film score.

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Elena is back from her trip to Fuzhou. I took her out to Manresa, one of the finest restaurants in the world, to celebrate her return:

Elena loved it, and gave the restaurant a 9.5 out of 10, while I rate it around 8.5 out of 10 (we always use the 10-point scale when rating something). We ordered a four-course and a two-course meal, which including tax and gratuity ended up at about $167, which wasn’t that bad for a restaurant that’s ranked in the top 50 in the world. Here’s a list of what we had (no wine, as we don’t really drink anymore):

The appetizer started with an egg shell with the top cut off, and inside was soft runny egg with multiple layers consisted of sweet maple syrup, sherry vinegar, salt, and cool cream. It was certainly interesting, but Elena found it a bit heavy while I found it a bit overpowering.

The first course:
Japanese summer bass, sashimi style, with olive oil and chives - I liked this one a lot–it had just enough flavor without overpowering the natural taste and texture of the fish.

Risotto “Biodynamic” - Elena loved this one–it was her favorite out of all the dishes. I asked the waiter about the “biodynamic” part, and he explained that the risotto is grown to the rhythm of the earth, following certain full moons, significant dates..etc–a bit of superstitious mystery that some people believe makes the risotto taste better. It all sounded very pagan, and it occurred to me that a restaurant with a pagan theme would probably do really well, especially if in a city like San Francisco.

Middle course:
John dory on the plancha, braised gem lettuce and onions, black trumpets - We weren’t all that impressed with this one. It was a bit plain, and tasted similar to dishes we’ve had at much cheaper restaurants.

Third course:
Roast suckling pig, Joe’s green beans and bacon frites , sauce civet - This one was a bit of a let down (also a bit plain), but then again, I’ve had the most amazing roasted pig ever when we lived in Malaysia, and nothing will ever compare to that (though I hope I’m wrong, as it’s unlikely we’ll ever visit Malaysia again).

Veal cheeks braised in apple cider, celery root and maitakes, roquefort - This dish was just amazing–I never thought that combination would’ve worked, but it did, beautifully. Elena liked the “falling off the bones” softness of the meat, but I don’t think the apple cider was her thing.

Dessert:
Chocolate marquis , cashews and roasted banana ice cream - This one was really good, and having dessert like that makes you never want to buy anything from the supermarket ever again.

So did we agree that Manresa is one of the best restaurants in the world? I personally feel that these “best of” lists are a bit like the Hollywood lists–they reflect popularity and trend more than anything else, but at the same time, you’d never make one of these lists if you didn’t have the chops to back it up. Manresa is certainly a good restaurant, and although not all of the dishes knocked our socks off, a few did give us those “eyes rolled up with pleasure” moments. I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a lot better than some of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco that’s never made one of these “world’s best” lists though (for example, Restaurant Lulu, Marnee Thai, Straits Cafe, Amber India..etc). There are still some top restaurants in the Bay Area we haven’t tried yet–Alexander’s Steakhouse being one of them (they have $100 kobe beef dishes). We’ll save those for special occasions.

WEBLOG:
The first English panel that Olivia Lufkin’s ever done–check it out! (For those that don’t know, she’s a singer/songwriter that’s established a career in Japan, but she’s half Caucassian and half Japanese, and English is her first language, which makes both her music and outlook very unique.)

You can find the other 5 parts of the panel by clicking on the YouTube logo in the screen. The whole thing was recorded by someone using a cellphone, so the quality isn’t good, but you can understand her most of the time, as she’s got a very clear voice.

I was already a big fan before (enough to have made a page about her), but after watching the panel videos, I now see her in a different light and like her even more.

Here are a couple of her music videos, for those that aren’t familiar with her:

Spiderspins - This is Olivia’s heavy rock side:

Into the Stars - This is Olivia’s softer side:

This video shows her backstage getting prepared for a performance. The little operatic vocal exercise she does was a surprise and really cute:

I’ve always been a sucker for singer/songwriter girls, because that sense of affinity I feel towards them. I don’t necessarily feel that way about musician/composer girls though, because I think the attraction come from the fact that singer/songwriters tend to express things that are very personal and emotionally cathartic–something that is different from composers/performers of instrumental music or simply just singing something that others wrote. Singer/songwriters have this unique ability to draw you into their world and make you feel what they feel, and I find that quality particularly hypnotic. I’m also very attracted to girls that are a bit shy or aloof (but not unfriendly/anti-social), soft-spoken with an angelic voice, and unpretentious despite being naturally beautiful–it’s no wonder I’m a fan of Olivia, since she’s all of those qualities rolled into one. The fact that she can go from heavy rock to ethereal trip-hop in her musical sensibility just makes her that much more special.

In the early days, she was still trying to find her musical identity, and her inexperience along with record company management really filtered out a lot of her special qualities. But as she gained independence and became more confident in her own musical direction, it became a joy to watch her take shape and control her own destiny. Her sister Caroline and her brother Jeff are also musicians. It must be awesome to share that passion for music and to collaborate on projects together. Here’s Caroline’s MySpace page. Caroline’s style is more electronic/ambient, and according to Olivia, Jeff is going to school for sound design, which indicates that he also leans heavily towards the electronic side (as evident by the work he’s done on some of Olivia’s tracks). I’m totally looking forward to anything these three siblings will be doing in the future.

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A couple of quickie film reviews:

Miami Vice - I’m a fan of Michael Mann, and I was somewhat disappointed with this film. First of all, the digital photography was grainy as hell–I don’t understand why they didn’t at least do a pass of noise-removal. It’s one thing to want a gritty look, but it’s another to have your film look like it was shot with ISO 3200 setting during all low-light scenes. The lack of character relationships (especially between the two main leads!) was also a let down–even the romance felt forced. The firefights weren’t very interesting either, and felt too staged and convenient. This might be the weakest Michael Mann film I’ve ever seen.

Mission Impossible 3 - I liked the first season of Alias, and I’m still interested enough in Lost to keep up with it (as is Elena), so I was looking forward to see what J.J. Abrams could do on the big screen. In general I enjoyed the film, and he incorporated a lot of the same approaches as he did in both Alias and Lost–in storytelling devices and also directing/cinematography. The ending lost me a little, although (do not read further–SPOILER AHEAD) I understood what he tried to do; he tried to convey the fact that Ethan Hunt’s wife is possibly someone who is a naturally gifted spy/secret agent, as it only took less than a minute of instructions on using a pistol for her to handle it like a firing range veteran. I mean, that’s a novel idea–that his wife could end up getting drafted into the MIF and work alongside Ethan Hunt, but as much as I like the idea, it’s just too much to ask of the audience in terms of suspension of disbelief. Then again, who knows? Maybe one day if my life is in danger, and I hand Elena a pistol and give her a minute of instructions, she’d kill two highly trained agents without breaking a sweat too.