Ethereality News & Weblog

WEBLOG:
Home studio construction is still killing all my brain cells. Simply trying to find places that sell the right glassfiber panels has been an uphill battle. I’ve been trying to put everything down in exact details so there would be zero mistakes–especially ones that will cost money to fix. Part of that process involves producing 3D mock-ups of what I’ve got in mind. Here are a couple of examples:

This one was done in Sketchup, a free 3D software that anyone can download and use (google purchased Sketchup a few years ago):

For the Sketchup image, all the assets you see in the scene were downloaded from the huge archive that all Sketchup users can upload to and share their stuff. I wasn’t about to go and spend a lot of time I don’t have to model all those pieces from scratch, since this is just a mock-up to show the contractors what I’m after, not some 3D art piece. There are still a lot of details I need to put into that 3D mock-up, such as protuding support beams, soundproofing walls, where I’ll put all my guitars and basses and amps and bookshelves, and also the rest of the acoustic panels. Hopefully I’ll have it all done by the time I post the next blog entry.

This one was done in Wings3D, which is also a free 3D software:

For this one, I actually did the modeling (if you can call the simple crap I did “modeling”) because I don’t think there’s any ready-made isolation boxes in 3D out there to download and modify. I’ve been using Wings3D for years now and it’s the first thing I boot up whenever I need to do something fast in 3D. So what the hell is it anyway, you might ask? It’s basically a computer isolation box that you put your computers in to get rid of all the computer noise like spinning hard drives, fans, vibrating chasis…etc. If I’m going to spend the time and money to make my studio as quiet as possible, it wouldn’t make sense to then put a bunch of noisy computers in the studio, right? So, my solution is to put them in an isolation box. This design is already outdated as I now have newer ideas I need to model, but it gives you idea of the direction I’m taking.

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I’ve been working on the score for Storm Shadow, the sci-fi film project I mentioned before. I have pretty much total freedom to do whatever I want, as that’s what the director told me, but being the kind of person I am, I still went ahead and sent the director detailed spotting notes (spotting for those of you who aren’t film scoring geeks, means going through the film and deciding where to use music, where to not use music, what style of music, how it enters the scene, how long it stays, and how it leaves…etc).

When I begin a project like this, the first thing I do is to spot the film, and this could be done by me alone, or with anyone that has a say about the film’s music (director, producer). Then I would import the video into the sequencer (in my case, Sonar Producer Edition) and proceed to insert a ton of markers that mark every possible start/stop of cues, or important moments that need emphasis (for example, a character gets thrown out a window in slow motion, and I need to change the pace of the cue to match that moment).

Before I even write a note, it’s essential that I communicate with the sound designer in order to make sure I won’t be composing against the sound effects, and that the music blends in nicely and neither will drown the other out during significant moments. A lot of this is decided during spotting, but many details need to be worked out. For example, let’s say a character betrays another character by shooting her in the back in a dark and empty warehouse. We see a shot of the smoking shell from a bullet being ejected from the gun, hits the hard concrete floor, and bounces a few times in slow motion. A shot like that would probably be ruined if you put loud music to it. It’ll work much better if you simply hear the clanging as the shell hits the floor, and that clanging is treated with emphasis by the sound effects guy so that it really resonates and connects the audience to this act of betrayal. If I was asked to write music for that moment, I’d probably do it in a subtle manner, something dark and dense, maybe with the string section. So the detail to be worked out would be, at roughly what frequency range should I stay out of as to not compete with the shell clanging effect? If the clanging effect has a lot of reverb (it’s in an empty warehouse), and I’m mixing the cue to sound fairly dry (lets say it’s orchestrated for a smaller chamber sound as opposed to huge Hollywood action orchestra), would the contrast of very wet sound effect and very dry underscore sound odd together? These are the kind of details I need to discuss with the sound designer and the director.

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I often get told that I’m overly critical when I write about China, and I know I am, and it’s something I’m trying to change. I can write a whole book on why I feel the way I do, but what’s more important is that I try to see everything in a more positive light. If I feel that majority of what I see here are negative, then I need to try harder to notice the positive, and when I can’t see any, I’ll go out of my way to unearth them. I refuse to believe that I cannot find true kindred spirits here in the largest country in the world with the largest population, regardless of the cultural difference, the remaining effects of the Cultural Revolution, or the hypersonic speed of a capitalistic greed gone out of control. If I’m to live a fulfilling life here, I need to do better than I did the last time I lived here (from winter of 2001 to summer of 2006). I think one of the main problems is that I live in Fuzhou, and it is not nearly as interesting of a place as first tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shengzhen, or even another Fujian province city like Xiamen. I bet if I lived in a cooler city I can find like-minded folks to befriend and hang out with. I dunno, we’ll see. I know there are some local bands here in Fuzhou. I need to go search them out and befriend them.

Speaking of bands, I found this awesome website that is all about the underground music scene in China, and it’s all in English! Basically the people behind it are all western expats living in China and involved in the music industry. Check it out! They even have podcasts in English, so that’s a great way to learn about the underground music scene in China.

There aren’t many Chinese musical artists I like, and out of China, Dou Wei is by far my favorite. His unique sound marries the east and west, and you can hear western influences like Cocteau Twins and Bark Psychosis, while hearing influences of traditional Chinese melodies and instruments. He’s been on a jazz improv kick for the last few years, and I wish he’d return to writing more concrete songs as I think he’s a very strong songwriter. The jazz improv stuff is only occassionally interesting, and I like Dou Wei’s lyrical content a lot, so I prefer to hear more straightforward songs out of him. Most of his songs are either criticisms of human nature and society, or self-introspection with a surrreal and psychedelic angle. His first two albums (Black Dream and Sunny Day) are my favorites.

Oh yeah, some of you might know him as the Faye Wong’s first husband. You can clearly hear his influence in the music she recorded during that time, as he wrote some of it and performed on some of the songs. AFAIK he was the one who introduced the Cocteau Twins to her, and it changed her singing style forever (before that she was doing a kind of half-assed R&B thing). I think it was Dou Wei who pulled her into the more alternative side of music, because before his influence she was just another pop singer who sang the same canton pop that everyone else did.

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I recently finished reading Waking the Dead by Scott Spencer. It’s basically a story about how the love between a couple endures after one of them dies can have a profound effect on one still living. The premise of the story involves an upcoming politician running for congress, and as the race heats up he starts seeing his dead girlfriend, who was killed years ago in a politically motivated car bombing (she was a hardcore left-wing that volunteered at churches and helped smuggle political prisoners out of Chile). The film version is one of my favorite films, and the book was quite good, although it contained a lot more negative details about the characters and I kind of prefer the more idealized versions of the characters in the film. I was moved to tears more than a few times in the film, but the book didn’t move me that much, except the last sentence, which managed to pull out some tears (it’s the same ending as the film). Overall, I think my main problem with the book was that I never got a sense of what Sarah saw in Fielding, whereas in the film, it was a lot more obvious that they loved each other equally. I preferred the ending of the book though, as it left no doubt if Sarah was real or a ghost. The film tries to mess with you and let you decide for youself, and that kind of drives me crazy.

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Quickie film reviews:

3:10 to Youma - One of the best westerns I’ve seen, starring two of the best actors of their generation.

*BEGIN SPOILER*
Elena felt the way Wade shot his own people in the end was too forced and unrealistic, and I disagree (and I think this is where we divert in the way we watch films–her being a very casual movie watcher, and me being a PITA film buff. She tends to not see the stuff between the lines that the writer and director hopes more discerning viewers would, and I tend to pick up on those things as soon as they’re introduced). I feel that Wade’s action was completely logical and the entire film was building up to that act. Throughout the film, Wade’s outlaw nature was constantly constrasted against Evans’s character’s upstanding sense of morals and values, and more than once we were hinted that Wade was not as bad as he wants the world to believe he is–he’s simply a man who learned to take what he wanted an be ruthless about it, but there is a line somewhere, just that we don’t see it until the end of the film. Having gotten to respect and sympathize with Evans, and also witnessing the courage of his son and their bond, along with seeing a good natured doctor die for his sake, something clicked in Wade’s mind when seeing Evans gunned down, and that something is simply this:

The people Wade surrounds himself with are a bunch of jackals–the worst that society has spawned. All of them together aren’t worth of the life of one decent and upstanding man who he’s come to respect and admire and empathize with. To see a good and courageous man like that die in front of him, killed by people he knows are nothing but scum of the earth made him snap, and his first and purest reaction was outrage and the desire to avenge the death of a noble man. That was the moment we see Wade’s good side surface and a line drawn, and the tragedy is that it was too little and too late. Wade could’ve called off his people before but didn’t–he was still riding high on his sense of superiority over the “common folks,” and it wasn’t until when it’s too late did he realize Evans is anything but a common folk. Evans was the kind of man that could’ve been Wade’s salvation–to steer Wade away from evil and bring him into the light, and in the end, Evans did, but at the cost of his life.
*End SPOILER*

Dan In Real Life - Another charming indie flick for Steve Carell. It’s kind of hard not to like these types of indie films as they are for the most part harmless and tries to tell heart-warming stories without the typical Hollywood clichés. I was surprised to see Juliette Binoche in it, and even more surprised when she spoke, as her English has improved a lot. I dated a french girl that kind of looked like her many years ago, so whenever I see Binoche I’m reminded of that girl.

Dragon Wars - I had to see what the buzz was about–the whole “most expensive Korean funded film ever made” hype. Huge mistake. It was all special effects, and the writing was so bad that it actually made the typical Hollywood blockbuster crap look good. I simply cannot believe a grown man could write such horrible trash–it was like something a middle school boy wrote while being bored sitting in class. Man, I hate to end my quickie movie reviews on a crappy film, but I guess that’s just how it goes sometimes.

NEWS:
I was contacted by someone from deviantART that someone who called himself “Richard Chang” had been stealing my artwork and posting them at deviantART as his. This person even took what I wrote in my “About Me” section on my site and pasted it over my photo. I had no idea why anyone would do that because he’s basically posing as me, but he was so confused that he mistakenly thought my name was Richard. Then I was told he was probably trying to sell prints of my work and it all made sense.

As someone who spends his life pursuing creative endeavors, I have strong feelings about artistic pride and personal integrity, and I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone would do such a thing. Is it really worth it to steal the works of others and call it your own? Does it ever turn out to be a positive thing in one’s life? Where does one shove the feelings of shame and guilt when doing such a thing, and how long can you push those feelings aside? Maybe some people are just incapable of feeling shame and guilt, and they somehow manage to delude themselves into thinking they have done no wrong, and in fact pat themselves on the back for being so clever? I guess considering the world we live in have spawned war criminals, rapists, child molesters, murderers…etc, it really shouldn’t surprise me at all that lesser crimes exist.

Anyway, I have gone ahead and uploaded my stuff to DeviantART. They offer a printing service there, and if I start getting a lot of request, I’ll probably go ahead and do the print thing as well. Now with an actualy presence there, I hope there won’t be any more imposters.

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My next music project is to score a sci-fi action short film. It’s kind of Matrix-y in style and should be a lot of fun to score. The director wants the music to really hit hard and be very dramatic, so I’m thinking a hybrid orchestral and electronic/industrial score should be just about right for this film. Can’t wait to get started on it.

The last score I worked on was also sci-fi action, so I have a feeling I’m going to be longing to do something more cerebral or emotional after this short film.

WEBLOG:
We are now in China staying at a temporary apartment, while trying to finish the construction on our new home. It’s an interesting experience to go and shop for construction material, picking out every little thing for your future home such as tiles to be used in the kitchen and bathroom, the most comfy toilet you can find, soundproof windows so you can sleep in as late as you want, to water filtration system for the whole house. My main concern is the recording studio which will be built into the second floor (our new home is technically a loft apartment, roughly 2,200 square feet), as professional quality recording studio construction is a very obscure thing in Fuzhou (it’s not a big city like Beijing or Shanghai afterall). In fact, after consulting numerous construction companies–even those that have done some kind of soundproofing or acoustic treatment jobs, I quickly realized that I actually know a lot more about the subject than they do, although my knowledge is not from experience but from books written by studio design and construction experts such as Rod Gervais, Jeff Cooper, and Mitch Gallagher. The biggest challenge is to find the appropriate construction materials here, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up having to ship them from elsewhere to get the job done.

Here’s a photo of what I have in mind for the studio:

Here’s what the apartment looks like from the outside:

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I just put together a new DAW (Q6600 Quadcore 2.4Ghz, 4GB RAM, WinXP Pro, separate SATA drives each for OS, audio/project files, and sample libraries), and I’m still in the middle of installing all the necessary softwares (it always takes forever to install and configure) before I can really put it through its paces on a serious project. I chose to not move up to a 64bit OS because some of the softwares I use aren’t compatible with 64bit yet, so I need to wait until 64bit becomes truly universal before upgrading. The main drawback is that I can’t use more than 3 GB of RAM in any given software in 32bit, and that’s the price I have to pay.

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One of the worst things about living in China is the driving. I’m probably going to shoot a video one of these days while I’m in a taxi so you guys can see how absolutely insane they drive here in Fuzhou. Taxi drivers constantly pass cars in front of them by CROSSING THE DOUBLE YELLOW LINE, and you sit there and watch the cars from the other direction coming closer and closer and you just pray that your car makes it back to its side of the traffic before you die in a head on collision. I keep telling the taxi drivers to not do it and they just laugh in my face. If I don’t take taxi’s here then I’d never get anywhere because I’d then have to deal with the crappy public transportation.

The second worst thing would probably have to be the unsafe food. If you are not careful, you will end up eating food that was prepared in a manner that can only be described as shockingly disgusting, using material that can only be described as unholy. Some are so bad that the people who produced them used nothing but cheap chemicals to make something look like food and then cover up the strange taste with seasoning, but will probably kill you if you were unfortunate enough to have bought it and ate it unknowingly. I once had severe food poisoning a few years ago from a carton of milk that was basically all chemicals with artificial flavoring to make it taste like milk. For all I know, it could’ve been dilluted glue. Thank God I didn’t die from it (although I was very sick for several days). The only way to remain safe is to only shop from reputable large supermarkets, and never from small street corner grocery stores or stalls.

The third would have to be the people in general. Although like anywhere else in the world there are the good and the bad, in a country like China, the bad far outweighs the good. Lies, corruption, unprofessional conduct, backstabbing, greed, apathy, selfishness, appalling work ethic, low standard of quality, ignorance, hubris–the list goes on and on. When the Olympics roll around the corner with the whole world watching, we’ll see a lot of this stuff blown wide open for the world to see. People from around the world will be documenting what they see in China with videos, photos, and words, and although people have been doing it long before the Olympics, the media attention because of the Olympics will intensify the frequency and hopefully, most recorded materal will make it out of China without being confiscated. I think that being as full hubris as China is, it’ll need to be shamed into facing its problems before willing to take steps to make a serious effort to change things for the better.

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My friend Patrick, who worked as a cook in Shanghai, visited me last week. He’s in the middle of backpacking through Southeast Asia, and after that he’ll try to get a job in New York, continuing his ascension in the culinary world. I actually met him years ago on some Xbox hacking group that was trying to extract all the 3D assets from the Dead or Alive games, and we’ve been in touch ever since, although neither of us has touched a Xbox for years now (he’s concentrating on food, and my Xbox was stolen). He’s currently trying to apply to Per Se, the sister restaurant of French Laundry (for those of you that are into fine dining, you’ll know what that means). It would be so awesome if he gets in.

Speaking of fine dining, my brother Dennis and his wife Liz treated us to Michael Minna’s in San Francisco before we left the States. We had the tasting menu and it was pretty good, but not mind-blowing as I had hoped. On the whole, Elena and I liked Manresa’s food more. One of these days we have to go try the French Laundry just to see if it’s really head above shoulders better than the rest.

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I’m currently in the middle of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. It’s a fun game just like the previous ones, but I always wished that the CoD series could be more emotionally involving, instead of focussing strictly on the visceral. The “Death From Above” part of the game had me laughing because it came directly from a real video that was uploaded not long ago and circulated around the internet, showing an American military plane on a mission. Even the dialogs in the game were almost exactly the same as that video.

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Quickie movie reviews:

Gone Baby Gone - Excellent directorial debut by Ben Affleck. I was never a fan of his acting (particularly after that embarrassing monologue in Jersy Girl, but I suspect it was more Kevin Smith’s fault), and I hope he’ll stick to directing more from now on. This film was a bit of a relief for us because Elena and I had watched a few stinkers in a row and finally got out of the funk with this thought-provoking film.

*SPOILER*
We both agreed that we were on the side of the cops when the film ended. I know plenty of people who could’ve turned out much better had they been given a decent, loving home, but because of the horrible environment they grew up in, their fate was sealed before they even had a chance to walk away from all the misery and chaos. We do not believe that all human beings have the same rights, because some people are just so poisoned by their own demons and ineptitude that they end up poisoning everyone else around them–especially the helpless and the innocent. How many children are physically abused or have died accidentally because of their drunken or junkie parents? If you can’t get your act straight, you should not be allowed to raise children. Although I partly agree with the protagonist when he said that instead of taking the child, she should’ve simply been sent to a foster home of some sort, but I would venture to say that Morgan Freeman’s character displayed the kind of moral ground that I feel is much higher than the average foster home parents (I have heard plenty of horror stories about foster homes).
*END SPOILER*

Diary of the Dead - What a disappointment. People who know me well know that I’m a huge fan of zombies in general, and I have never disliked any zombie films from Romero, but this latest one just blows. Horrible acting, horrible directing, and horrible writing. If I didn’t know it was directed by Romero, I’d have thought it was done by a skilled fanboy who’s trying his hand at directing for the first time using local community theater actors. Maybe it’s time for Romero to hand over the torch and retire (as much as it breaks my heart to say it).

The Kite Runner - A film about friendship, betrayal, and redemption. On the whole it worked, but I think the film lacked the kind of dramatic tension it needed to really shine.

Charlie Wilson’s War - When a film about politics and war is done with a sense of humor, I tend to feel it is an inappropriate approach unless it’s from a perspecitve of optimism and idealism (the TV series West Wing, for example), otherwise, I can’t help feel that the humor takes away from the gravity of the subject matter. Very few writers and directors can pull it off, and David O. Russel’s Three Kings is one of few examples I feel not only worked, but worked brilliantly. Charlie Wilson’s War didn’t pull it off in my opinion.

Bug - This was an interesting film, although Ashley Judd’s character’s descent into schizophrenia seemed a little too quick and too easy. I find films that use very limited number of sets fascinating because it requires the cinematography to be spot on to get away with it.

10,000 BC - I don’t know why I bothered with this one. I guess I punish myself with this kind of crap because in the back of my mind, I tell myself I’m involved with the entertainment industry as an artist and composer, and I should watch all the big blockbuster films because it keeps me up to date on what the mainstream style is currently like. But man, the writer/director part of me just wants to lay down and die when I watch crap like this.

Nation Treasure 2: Book of Secrets - I really have no excuse. Sometime I watch a movie just to relax, and as long as it’s not painfully bad, I’ll sit through it and switch off the inner critic.

NEWS:
A long over due Kitty Cat Diary entry:

And the Lisa session I mentioned before:

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I uploaded a few new clips I composed for the Galactic Melee score. The game is currently on hold as the project ran out of funding. I have no idea if Kevin will ever put more money into it to get it out there. I certainly had fun composing the score for it, and in a way, it was the catalyst that made me start thinking seriously about a career change again (more on that later).

Here are the new clips:

Galactic Melee - In-game Combat 3 - For this combat cue, I used evolving pads and percussions to build up a sense of mystery and tension.

These in-game combat cues loop throughout the various levels in the game. Since the game is more about strategy and teamwork than about pure action, I wanted to go for a more hypnotic and introspective atmosphere for all the combat cues as opposed to the typical in-your-face aggressive approach that most shooter games use

Galactic Melee - In-game Combat 2 - For this combat cue, I established a persistent drum groove that drives the mood and propels the strategic action forward.

Galactic Melee - In-game Combat 1 - For this combat cue, I used a square wave tone for its main melody to convey the feeling of piloting a small spaceship in the vast open space.

Galactic Melee - Credits - Since Galactic Melee has no narrative premise and is really just a fun multiplayer experience, I wanted the credit music to be more uplifting and optimistic and not dark like the rest of the score. My intention was to end the game with a feeling of “Now that the fighting has ended and we’ve all had lots of fun shooting at each other, let’s just put our ships on autopilot and enjoy the beautiful view as we cruise the galaxy together.”

WEBLOG:
Our apartment currently looks like a warehouse, with most of our stuff already in boxes. Just thinking about shipping my music gears (roughly $40,000 worth) across the ocean makes me nervous. I would be very upset if any of it was damaged along the way, since there are some pieces that are no longer in production and will be very hard if not impossible to replace.

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The fact that art isn’t my favorite among the things I’m passionate about is not a mystery among those that know me well. This isn’t to say I don’t love art, just that I’ve been working as a professional artist for so many years that I’m ready for a change. Throughout the years, I noticed that my love for music, film, writing, and even to some degree photography, has often eclipsed my love for art. The simplest way to describe why I feel the way I do, would simply be this:

Music, film, and literature can move me to tears and evoke feelings of such intensity that art cannot (although when art is paired with words like graphic novels, can, but I left the comic book industry behind many years ago). Photography as a medium communicates in a similar way to art, but what I like more about photography is that it’s just so much more fun than sitting there drawing and painting all day. Photography forces you to get up and interact with other human beings, animals, and nature in an active manner that is much more exciting than sitting at an easel, moving a Wacom tablet pen around, or pulling vertices in a 3D software. Although video games, animation, and film special effects can all be very exciting, they usually are only that exciting to me when I’m experiencing them as the audience–working on them don’t really give me the same enjoyment as I get when I’m composing/arranging/performing a piece of music, immersed in the story and characters I’m writing about, directing a scene and seeing magic happening right in front of my eyes and sharing that sense of excitement with the cast and crew, or being in “the zone” when a photo session is going very well and everyone’s just having a great time.

So, now that I’m leaving my current art directing job, I’m looking to my future with the intention of making a career change. I’ve tried to do this before and I couldn’t make it stick because it was just easier to find a job as an artist (many say it’s because my artwork is the most impressive of all the creative things I do. I don’t know if that’s really it). I’ve worked as a writer/director in animation and that was the only full-time job I’ve ever had that I really enjoyed. I’ve done professional work in music and photography as well, but neither could pay the rent full-time when I did them. Now, I’m going to try and see if I can make music stick this time around. While doing that, I’ll still be writing my screenplays and novels, and continue to shoot photography just for fun. Maybe I’ll continue drawing/painting too, depending on if any compelling projects come my way (that reminds me, I’m still a member of the Black Mesa MOD team. Maybe now I can contribute more concept art to that project).

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Mini movie & TV reviews:

There Will Be Blood - I respect this film, but I found it hard to sympathize with a main character that was so absolutely ruthless and lacking empathy for others. The score for the film was very unique, and certainly one of few notable ones I’ve heard in recent memory.

Babel - It took me a long time to finally sit down and watch this film, and it wasn’t as bad as I had feared it would be. It certainly didn’t deserve all the buzz it received though, as I felt the attempt to link the characters and situations together had no meaningful purpose to me, and made no profound statement in the way that I feel it should have to have deserved such critical acclaim.

Entourage - I have been hearing about Entourage for a long time now, but never got around to watching it. Now that I have, I can see what all the fuss is about–it is a very entertaining show, especially if you have an interest in the entertainment business. It has the ability to let you live vicariously through the lives of the characters, and it feels like watching something real unfold as opposed to knowing that you are watching fiction.

WEBLOG:
If you do anything creative at all, you should care about the Orphaned Works bill that will decide whether or not you own the rights to your own work. The past rights you have to your work will be lost–even if you can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you’re the original creator. Read up on it and take action!

Article detailing what’s at stake for you.

Podcast discussing the bill and its ramifications, with links for taking action to preserve your rights.

(EDIT: I just got an email from Mikeal (http://www.tattooeddad.com) telling me that the Orphan Bill is some kind of a misunderstanding and that there is no such thing. He sent me this link to read up on.)

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Life’s been hectic as we’ve begun packing for our move back to China. I can’t believe we’re moving back after just two years in the States, but this time it’s all business so we go where our fortunes could be made. Obviously we much prefer to live in the States, but you’re only young once, and if you don’t grab every opportunity that comes your way, you might just miss out on a better life later. I’ll try to keep my bitching about China to a minimum this time, since the last time I was more or less forced to stay there, and this time it’s of my own choice.

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Have you ever wondered how much ink is really left in your printer’s ink cartridge when it tells you you’ve run out? This is how much is actually left (I used a pair of pliers to squeeze the remaining ink out):

And if you swirl that around around with your finger:

That’s still good for a lot of pages. Not the most efficient design I must say. I understand the current design requires that the ink doesn’t run completely dry, otherwise the printer could be damaged, but there must be some other way of doing it? I suppose you have to think of it as you’re not actually paying for the wasted ink–you’re only paying for the usable portion.

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Jeremy Lipking finally released his DVD and art book. I’ve been waiting for years for them and it’s about time. The book was more sparse than I expected, concentrating on mostly the more recent figure paintings. I wish it was a more comprehensive collection of all his works to date, but I have a feeling he’s saving that for later.

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I’ve been on the hunt for good tracking headphones, since the headphones I have are not quite appropriate for that purpose–they’re either open-sealed (will bleed into the mic), ear-pad styled (uncomfortable for prolonged sessions), or IEM (In-Ear-Monitors) that’s a hassle to insert/remove quickly. So what does Rob do when he’s on the prowl? He spends hours at pro audio shops testing out gears. I did a 3-hour listening test of headphones at a local pro audio shop, and here’s a mini review of the ones I tested:

ATH-M50 - By far the best of the bunch. Sounds very similar to my sennheiser HD555. In fact, if it was open-back, it would probably sound just like the HD555. Nice and warm, lush, no harshness at all. No boosted or scooped frequencies, except the highest highs are just tiny bit rolled off for the warm sound (this is essential for me, as most headphones tend to be too harsh).

Equation RP21 - Very good for the price. Slightly harsh at the high end, but everything else was great. The ear-cups don’t fit as comfortably or securely as other headphone with full-sized ear-cups.

Beyerdynamics DT770 / DT880 - Sounded similar to each other, with the DT880 a bit more accurate. Both have that slight harshness in the highs that I don’t like. These are very comfy though–I wish the M50 and the RP21 had velour ear-cups like these.

Sony MDR-7509 / MDR-V600 - I have always disliked the Sony headphones due to the shrillness of the high end, and it’s still the same this time. Absolutely couldn’t stand it. Talk about listening fatigue!

Sennheiser HD280 Pro - It’s OK. Nothing to write home about. The bass is a bit anemic, and the overall sound is a bit limp and lifeless. At the same price, the RP21 sounds significantly better (although the HD280 doesn’t have that slight harshness in the high end).

Sennheiser HD202 - for such a cheap price, it’s quite good. Bass is hyped, and lower-mids are recessed. Tiny ear-cups the just surround your ears are a bit weird–like someone’s hugging your ears.

M-Audio Q40 - Second best of the bunch by far. Almost like a middle ground between the M50 and the RP21–the harshness in the high end is almost gone–just a tiny hint that’s barely there. The rest sounds remarkably similar to the M50. The ear-cups are a more secure fit than others, but some might prefer the looser feel of the M50 and the RP21.

Some Samson headphone (can’t remember which model) - CRAP. Don’t bother.

So, my final decision was:

RP21 - for the singer to wear during tracking.

M50 - for me to wear during tracking.

I could have swapped out the RP21 for the Q40, but since someone was selling the RP21 and no one was selling the Q40 used, I jumped on the RP21. I like the Q40 better, but I also like the fact that the RP21 will give me a different perspective as an alternate take on my mix, whereas the Q40 is so similar to the M50 and HD555 that I really don’t need 3 very similar sounding headphones. Besides, I love that vermillion color on the RP21–a bit of that retro cool vibe.

…

Headphone amps are something I’ve been wondering about but never took the plunge, because in the back of my mind I keep thinking that they won’t add much benefit. My critical listening is done on my near-field monitors, and I only use headphones when tracking or if it’s really late at night. I’ve read people’s buyer’s remorse from getting headphone amps stating that the only thing it did was make things louder, instead of the flowery ravings of better clarity, tighter and more defined bass, better stereo imaging…etc. I don’t want to end up like one of those guys and then turn around to sell mine off on ebay.

…

Preamps are a hot topic in the pro audio community, and I’ve been researching on what preamp I’d like to get to round out my studio. The ones I’m seriously considering are:

Great River ME-1NV
DAV BG-1
Summit Audio 2BA-221
FMR RNP
Grace Design Model 101
True Systems P-Solo

I’m leaning towards the DAV at this point, but I’ll have to research a bit more to reach a decision.

…

I’ve also been looking into maybe getting a premium AD/DA converter, since I’m monitoring on a pair of monitors that cost close to $7,000, and it doesn’t make sense that the rest of my signal path are not of the same premium quality. Maybe I’ll go for products from Benchmark, or maybe something a bit more modest in price like the products from RME or Apogee. These high quality AD/DA converters are certainly not cheap–no matter what you’ll be spending about a couple thousand of dollars.

…

Mini movie reviews:

Stranger Than Fiction - I didn’t feel that the novel being written in the film by the author was anywhere near what anyone would call a masterpiece, and for the characters in the film to continually refer to it as a masterpiece that would prompt someone to give up his life, just felt a bit like telling instead of showing.

Cloverfield - Although the style is the main thing anyone would notice about this film, and I’m the type who typically does not like it when style becomes more important than substance, I enjoyed this film due to the realistic depiction of what would really happen in a crisis. During some scenes it became hard to believe anyone would try that hard to hold on to a video camera let alone keep on shooting while trying to stay alive.

Atonement - Enjoyed it, but it wasn’t quite as moving as I had hoped. Knightly is a breathtaking beauty in certain angles, that’s for sure.

Superbad - Good fun, for people who like raunchy humor involving unpopular high school kids.

Harold and Kumar Goes to White Castle - My brother Dennis kept telling me I had to see this, and he was right. Also good raunchy fun, with an Indian and a Korean guy as the two main leads, which is something of a novelty for an American comedy film. Can’t wait for the sequel–Harold and Kumar 2 Escape from Guantanamo Bay, which will be out April 25th.

Alien VS. Predator: Extinction - I wanted to like this because the two brothers that directed it are members at cgsociety.org, where I’m a Forum Leader, but it just wasn’t a good film in both screenplay or direction. I just watched it a couple of weeks ago and I already can’t remember much about it–that’s how forgettable and disposable it was.

The Golden Compass - I was disappointed. I found the film neither emotionally moving nor viscerally thrilling–not even interesting enough to appeal to my inner child, which is not that hard to please when it comes to fantastic premises. A colleague (Linda Bergkvist) worked on the film as a concept artist, and I’m guessing the witches were her handiwork, but I couldn’t tell if anything else were obviously her designs.

30 Days of Night - One of the better vampire films I’ve seen in a long time. Atmospheric premise and some excellent camera work. Also really liked the way the vampires were depicted–just human enough but not nearly enough to be bad poetry reading tortured types.

Stardust - I had read the book years ago and the film’s visuals were similar to what I saw in my head when I read the book. I tend to think of Clare Danes as an actress who’s very limited, and she’s sometimes cast in roles that require her to be more physically beautiful than she actually is. There are actresses who can pull that off (Cate Blanchett comes to mind), but Clare Danes is not elegant or graceful enough to play roles that are more attractive than she really is. I am a big fan of her first role as Angela Chase in My So-Called Life though.

Shrek the Third - I turned it off before I finished. A complete waste of time. These sequels are nothing more than attempts at money-milking a franchise. Pixar they are not.

The Mist - One of the best horror films I’ve seen in a long time. Focusing on the characters was a great choice, but the religious fanaticism aspect of the story was way overboard. I would think a lot more people would’ve resisted the crazy woman, and that as soon as she started demanding blood, some of those who followed her would’ve snapped out of it and realized things have gone too far. If the writer has simply included a scene like that then it would’ve made the film a lot more believable. The ending was also out of character, and felt too forced.

Enchanted - It’s annoying cute on purpose in the first half, which might turn some people off, but if you stick it out, the second half of the film becomes a lot more interesting–when reality starts to sink in and everything becomes more grounded.

Appleseed: Ex Machina - I liked the smoother cell-shading rendering this time more than the last film, but I think they squandered an excellent sub-plot that could’ve been a lot more intense dramatically. The main plot itself is quite derivative and not worth mentioning–even the action choreography was lackluster compared to the previous film. Overall, I enjoyed what little they did explore with the character sub-plot, but wished they could’ve done more.

WEBLOG:
I’ve been feeling kind of blah lately. Of course, Elena being away for so many weeks is one reason (she’s on a business trip again in China, and also scoping out construction companies for the interior modeling of our apartment and my recording studio), but it’s also the lack of free time to do the things I really want and need to do. I’m one of those people that’s got a huge “To Do” list at any given moment, and it never seems to get any shorter year after year. To give you an idea of how extensive that list is–here’s an excerpt:

Short-term
-Get all medical appoints out of the way
-Finish processing latest photo session
-Finish all freelance work
-Finish current concept art tasks for Black Mesa
-Finish business plan (can’t talk about this yet, I will once things pan out)
-Write a new song and record Carol as the vocalist
-Get Tenacious Games to pay me the money they owe me for the coloring job on The Spoils.
-Test out the Shure SM7A
-Chase down the guy that sold me the Variax Acoustic 700 for the missing cable and manual.

Medium-term
-Finish ripping the rest of the CD collection into mp3’s,
-Finish archiving old out-of-print cassette tapes
-Finish digitizing old out-of-print/personal VHS tapes
-Find ways to finance a Musicman Bongo Stealth 5-string, a Zendrum ZAP, and a Parker Fly Deluxe
-Sell off as much stuff as possible before the big move
-Build a new DAW and an isolation box for all computers in the studio
-Build shipping cases for all instruments before the big move.

Long-term
-Finish writing screenplays and novels that’s been on hold due to lack of free time
-Get up to session player level on all instruments I play (drums, guitar, bass, keyboards)
-Finish up all unfinished paintings
-Finish up all unfinished music

That list is just a fraction of the actual one I have in a Word file. I predict some of those tasks and goals on that list will still be there by the time I retire. That’s a pretty depressing thought, because I’m only thirty-five.

…

My friend Lisa (from when I lived briefly in Kentucky) came up from L.A. to visit. We hung out and did a fairly casual photo session of her with just makeshift household lights and window light. She’s also a photographer and currently still shoots film,. I’ve been trying to convince her to give digital a try for years now, but she’s pretty attached to film. I showed her my entire digital workflow–from shooting with the Canon 1D MarkII, processing the RAW’s, editing in Photoshop, to organizing with ACDSee Pro. If that couldn’t change her mind about digital, then nothing ever would. Once I’ve had time to finish processing the photos from that session I’ll upload them. For now, here’s one image I did process:

…

I have been adding a lot of gear to the studio in the last few months. All the gears were carefully researched, very practical, and none were impulse buys or luxury items. Here’s a list of the gear I’ve added to the studio in the last few months, with brief comments about each:

yamaha BC-3 Breath-Controller (for my Kurzweil PC2X) - I was quite disappointed by the lack of sensitivity and control with it. Fading in volume is fine, but the fade outs are almost impossible to control smoothly–it tends to just drop out once you start to ease up on the breath pressure.

Yamaha FC-7 Expression Pedal (for my Kurzweil PC2X) - Not much to say. It does the job.

Kurzweil Ribbon Controller (for my Kurzweil PC2X) - Pretty good. I taped no-slip discs under it so it won’t slide around when placed on top of the PC2X.

Line 6 Variax 700 Acoustic Guitar - I think this is probably the best product in the Variax range. It feels great, plays great, and has some killer guitar models. The ethnic instruments are a joke, but I got it mainly for the various acoustic guitar models and the mandola.

Line 6 Variax 700 Electric Guitar - Nice build, sounds pretty good, and not much to complain about. The acoustic models on it are not nearly as good as the ones on the acoustic Variax (that’s why I got both).

Line 6 Variax 700B Electric Bass - I got this mostly for a few of the models like the Thunderchief, the 8 & 12 string models, and the Precision Bass model. The rest are ok, but nothing to write home about.

Line 6 Lowdown Studio 110 Bass Amp - This little guy delivers some serious power for its size–enough so that I can’t really use it in the apartment or the grumpy guy upstairs will freak out and call the manager on me.

Audio-Technica 4033 large diaphragm condensor microphone - Pristine sound. No complaints.

Shure SM7A dynamic microphone - Still waiting for the package to arrive.

Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor pedal - Works like a charm. Took the hum right out of my Fender Strat.

Warwick Rockstand (7 slots) - Spacing is too tight–you’d knock your axes on each other if you’re not careful. But I can’t complain since it freed up so much space in the studio. It takes up about the amount of space as two to three regular guitar stands, but holds 7. What’s to complain about?

Line 6 Toneport UX2 audio interface - I’ve been fairly happy with this, but I think it’s lame for Line 6 to charge for a separate VST version of Gearbox. The headroom on the preamps, the output, the headphone..etc are on the low side–you’d have to crank everything up to get decent volume. There’s also no auto-wah in the Gearbox that comes with the Toneport. You’d have to pay for extra tone packs to get auto-wah. How lame is that? Stability wise, it’s been pretty good thus far.

…

I have a number of books and DVD’s on drumming, but for some reason, most dwell on hand techniques and don’t go into depth about foot techniques. I’ve been trying to get my foot to be able to play fast bass pedal rolls of up to as many notes as my foot can handle, and I wish there were really good instructions on that subject out there. I scoured youtube and found some, but none were in depth. Jojo Mayer obviously can do amazing things on a single pedal, but he has not gotten around to teaching it. I took a look at the Dualist bass pedal and it’s pretty clever, but I want to learn it the “right” way before I start using special gear to cheat.

…

Factor One was an industrial band I was in back in the early 90’s. Dean, the founder, recently tracked me down online. He’s still making music–you can check out his stuff here.

I played a couple of shows while in Factor One–one was opening up for Sheep On Drugs, and the other one was opening up for Voice Farm (they had an amazing show on Halloween). Factor One had also opened up for heavy weights like Frontline Assembly, Red Flag, but that was before I joined the band. We almost got to open up for Nine Inch Nails and Consolidated at some point, but those gigs fell through. I played mostly keyboards in that band, and a little bit of guitar and drums. I was never into playing live, since I’ve never been much of an instrumentalist–more of a composer/songwriter. Now that my playing has gotten much better on all the instruments I play, I wonder if I’ll enjoy playing live more.

…

I finally sold off most of my action figures/dolls on ebay. They’ve been just sitting in boxes all these years, and even after getting them out of the storage, there’s still no room for them anywhere in the apartment. I was tempted to keep all the special forces ones because they are just amazing in detail and quality, but I think my days of being a military nut is over. I’ve been back in the States for well over a year now, and I still haven’t had a chance to play a single game of airsoft. I mean, if you can’t even find time to play in California, the best weather in the whole world for playing airsoft, then your airsoft days are probably over. I’m keeping all my airsoft gear though–even if just for home defense. At 400 FPS, my upgraded rifles will draw blood and break a few teeth if some idiot decides to break into our apartment.

…

I’m currently using the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-150 to digitize my old VHS tapes, and it’s working fairly well. The bundled softwares are a joke–usable, but extremely limited in features and clunky to use. The Hauppauge is actually the second product I tried–the first was the ADS Tech DVExpress DX2, and it was DOA. I exchanged it and got another DOA unit. I made sure to try both units on four different computers, all the USB ports available, and finally gave up and returned for a refund (newegg.com rocks, BTW. I do all my computer-related shopping there).

…

Elena and I have tried quite a few Thai restaurants in the Bay Area, and so far Thai Pepper in Sunnyvale is still one of our favorites. If you live in the Bay Area and love Thai food, then you owe it to yourself to give it a try. The Curry Duck is our favorite dish there, and their various salads are also quite good–not to mention their menu is priced quite low. The only other Thai restaurant that we think is very good in the Bay Area is Marnee Thai in San Francisco–they even have a charming clairvoyant owner who often walks around giving out free advice. Too bad both restaurants are 30 minutes from us now that we live in San Mateo.

…

Resident Evil 4 is the game I’ve been playing for a long time now (since I have so little free time, I try to sneak in a short session here and there while I’m eating in front of the computer) and to be honest, I don’t see what all the fuss is about (it’s gotten rave reviews across the board). Sure, it improves upon the crappy camera and control of the previous RE games, but it’s got it’s own list of problems that all the reviewers seemed to have overlooked (or didn’t care about). Now, I’m not saying I’m not having fun with the game–just that I expected it to be better from all the hype.

Here’s a list of issues I have with the game:

-Ridiculous vendor character that waits by the save checkpoint. What the hell is that all about? It feels like lazy game design, and it’s such a dated concept that I wonder why they bothered to use it for this “innovative” twist on the RE franchise.

-”Notes” taken by various characters left all over the place for you to read. When System Shock 2, F.E.A.R., and Bioshock did it, they made sense, but the notes in RE4 were just stupid, in both why anyone would write down some of these things, and how they’re just casually laying around in various places. Many of these notes are like journal entries giving away important secrets about the mission the characters are on. Who the fuck goes around jotting down journal entries about their secrets and then leave the pages everywhere while on clandestine missions?

-Lack of bonding and interaction with important NPC’s that you spend so much time with. The only time Ashley talks to you is during the pre-rendered cinematics, or when she’s calling for help. They should have given her lots of in-game dialog so she can make comments according to each situation, or even just chit chat, instead of being this mute AI you lead around each level.

-Arbitrarily made up puzzles that are just silly, and campy characters like the midget villain. I guess it’s just a Japanese thing–they love throwing campy stuff into gritty stories (Metal Gear Solid for example).

-Horrible camera/controls that are more often frustrating than fun.

-Antiquated game design elements like blocking paths with obviously breakable items, or things you should easily be able to climb/jump over. I know this is a hard one to address, but it felt like they didn’t even try to make it feel more logical–they just put random stuff up as barrier.

I guess the only real saving grace for this game are the “not zombies.” They way they gang up on you in open space is intense, and that’s where most of fun is–shooting the “not zombies.”

BTW, the Logitech Rumble Pad 2 works very well (I imagine identical to the console experience)–that’s what I’m using to play RE4 on the PC. Beats the hell out of trying to play it on the keyboard/mouse.

…

I try to get reading time in whenever I could–on the train and on the can, otherwise I’d never have time to read anything. Here are some of the stuff I’ve read recently:

The Road (novel) - My brother Dennis got me this for my birthday. It’s a very good book (won the Pulitzer Prize), with an unconventional prose style that took a while to settle into. It’s by Cormac McCarthy, the author that also wrote “No Country For Old Men,” which is now a critically acclaimed film adapted by the Coen Brothers. The book is essentially about a father and a son’s journey on foot in a post apocalyptic world where almost every living thing was wiped out. It depicts the father’s selfless love for his son, and how he tried to protect him through all the hardship and despair. Definitely recommended.

Sanctuary (graphic novel) - I read the first few volumes many years ago, and never got around to finishing it. I finally did and it’s quite engrossing. Maybe too idealistic, but I enjoyed the passion and the conviction of the characters. It’s not everyday you see a hard-boiled political/crime thriller comic book about idealistic young men trying to change the future of Japan by reforming the government and the organized crime.

Love and Rockets (graphic novel) - I left off the series at the Wig Wam Bam collection, and I just picked it back up (I bought all the collected volumes after Wig Wam Bam, but only the Jaime stories–I’m not really a Gilbert fan). The tone is exactly the same, and if you like the earlier stuff, it’s just more slices of the various characters’ lives. If you’ve never read L&R, it’s essentially a slice of life drama about lesbian punk rockers, Mexican Americans, love and hate, heartache, and lovable losers.

Already Dead - A vampire novel by Charlie Huston that was entertaining, but didn’t have any emotional substance so I didn’t like it too much. If you like mysteries and warring vampire clans, then you might like this, but if you want to care about the characters and their relationships, then this is not that kind of book.

…

Quickie Movie reviews:

No Country For Old Men - Excellent filmmaking, and certainly has Coen Brothers’ trademark approach for building tension and depiction of characters that are just “a bit off.”

Juno - One of the best indie dramedy I’ve seen in a long time, with witty dialog and great acting. Ellen Page was just adorable in this film, and Jennifer Garner was surprisingly funny as well. I didn’t realize Ellen Page played Kitty Pryde in X-Men 3–I should have, since I remember watching X3 and thinking Kitty Pryde was super cute. For some reason I keep mixing up Jason Bateman and Nathan Fillion, because to me they look very similar. I should be embarrassed since I’m a big Firefly fan.

American Gangster - Good film. Didn’t feel too much like a Ridley Scott film, but then again, I’ve discovered that often as a director matures, he’s able to go beyond his normal voice and do something very different.

Invasion - Quite enjoyable, but fell just a little short of expectation–maybe not as epic as I had hoped it would be. Nicole Kidman is always a pleasure to watch. I used to think she was some stone cold fridget pretty face, but having recently seen her on a few talk shows being quite warm and genuine, I’ve warmed up to her a lot. Now I can enjoy her beauty without feeling a chill down my back.

Cabin Fever - Silly fun, and not as scary or gory as I had expected based on its reputation.

The Kingdom - Overall enjoyable, and the final gun fight was great. I think that realistic and gritty action style is pretty much the norm for movies these days, whereas in the 80’s and 90’s it used be the stylistic approach that was less about reality and more like a caricature of real life.

Ratatoulle - This film had the least amount of character development and character relationship dynamics than any other Pixar film. I would’ve been disappointed, but that final scene with the food critic was just so utterly brilliant that it made up for the rest of the film.

The Reaping - I find Hilary Swank a bit hard to watch at times because she’s like the classic example of a “butterface.” The story was pretty silly, and the reveal at the end felt more like manipulation than a revelation. The little girl in the film (played by AnnaSophia Robb) has these amazingly piercing eyes–creepy but beautiful.

Premonition - Convoluted and frustrating. I don’t think I’ve ever liked a Sandra Bullock film.

I Am Legend - Quite different from the book, and I think they should have kept the dog and the woman part of the book, as they really made up the emotional core of the story.

And of course, I’m going to sneak in a bit of TV stuff too:

Breaking Bad - One of the best shows on TV right now. Absolutely brilliant writing, acting, and perfectly cast as well.

Two and A Half Men - This one has overtaken How I Met Your Mother as my current favorite sitcom. Biting humor, hot chicks, funny kid, and Charlie Sheen playing a parody of himself–what’s not to love? Melanie Lynskey, who plays Rose on the show (a very cute but psycho chick) is just adorable. Those big brown eyes can melt steel.