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onemuseleft:

I want to write an action movie about some older retired government agent who’s married and settled down. He’s started to let his guard down. And that’s when the past comes back to haunt him.

They come for him while he’s home alone and he’s resisting their interrogation techniques, refusing to betray whatever or whoever they’re after. Except then his teenage daughter comes home early.

And the baddies send one of their henchmen out there to deal with her. And RetiredActionDad is all “Don’t you touch her! I’ll kill you! Rar!” But the baddies just laugh.

Except they realize, after a little while has passed, that the one guy never came back from dealing with the daughter.

And then go outside and find the missing baddie floating face down in the pool.

The rest of the movie is the teenage girl calling in favors and running around following the baddies to save her RetiredActionDad.

So Taken, but in reverse.

It should be called The Liability.  

I would watch the hell out of this.

And then in the sequel, the daughter has joined the FBI, following in her dad’s footsteps. But the brother of the villain from the first one wants revenge. So he kidnaps her mother. She and her dad head abroad to find mom in the villain’s secret lair…while mom has already escaped has been busy hiding in the air vents and stabbing goons with knitting needles. Turns out she was a Russian spy who defected and married her government handler forty years ago, and can handle herself. 

somehow it got better

Hey all. It’s Sunday afternoon Monday afternoon here and I’m just taking a break from some work-work.

I don’t usually post just to chat about life, but I’m in the middle of something right now, and I wanted to talk a bit about it.

I’ve been working on a big illustration job for the last few months. It’s an art book – but not about travel sketching or watercolor or any of the things I usually talk about here.

It’s about my old life as a video game designer.

I’ve been slowly retiring from game design for about five years. Other than sketching designs for the Dragon Age games made by old friends at Bioware, I haven’t been looking for this kind of work.

I worked as an art director and conceptual artist for about 20 years before that. When we moved to Montreal from San Francisco, a goal was to escape the bounds of commercial art and go full time with my own drawing and painting.

That’s sort of a silly thing to say, because game designer is a great job. It’s creative. It’s very rewarding financially, that’s for sure (in the corporate version – not so much the indy space). And you work with some really great people. It’s a highly sought after position, so everyone involved is at the top of their game. No pun intended.

But I think an artist can only work for someone else for so long, before the desire to be on your own becomes overwhelming. If you’re lucky enough to be in a position where you have creative control, you can get some satisfaction. But there’s always market forces at work. If you’re making entertainment, it’s driven by budgets, sales, and whatever was the most recent mega-hit.

The trick is to navigate all that without just pandering to the fans. It’s very easy to slip into a mindset of just making the goreiest gorefest ever. Or putting a scantily dressed young woman in peril. Peril she usually escapes by dint of cheerful mass murder.

For me – I always loved the storytelling and the fantastic characters in our games. But I liked making up the stuff in the world more than I liked playing the games themselves.

The thing that brought it all to a head for me was when I started drawing on location. Video gamers are not known for their love of the outdoors. But I accidentally discovered I liked it. Liked being on the road, discovering new places, and digesting them through drawing. When I draw a place, it’s like I’m consuming it and will carry it around forever. Eating it up and chewing on every fascinating detail. It’s a kind of sorcery that expands your experience of world.

For whatever quirk of my personality, sketching unlocked that rampant desire to explore. Before location drawing, you’d have had to drag me away from my comics and D&D books. After becoming a sketcher, I’m finding it hard to stay home for two days in a row.

But here’s the other side of the coin – I think I have a unique perspective to offer.

There are lots of books / courses / videos on digital art. Both 2D and 3D. But being the sketch artist – the idea generator –  it’s totally different from being the artist that makes the playable game content. There’s fewer places to learn about the thinking that fuels the whole process. And most of the books that do come out on concept development tend to be painting technique books disguised as design training. Teaching you how to draw well is not the same as teaching how to think for a living.

Concept art is a mindset. A kind of analytical hyper-creativity that isn’t about perfection, or skill of execution – but more like the polar opposite of artist’s block. You have to train the ability to be a fountain of ideas. A fire hose of concepts. There’s no such thing as ‘Sorry, just couldn’t come up with something today’.

You have to be able to produce a viable idea by the next morning, and keep doing it all week long, week in, week out. It’s hard work, but it’s also exciting. Knowing there’s a whole team of sculptors, animators, and programmers depending on you to invent something cool. And an army of gamers waiting to enjoy it.

So that’s why I have a video gaming book under way.

It’s written for students that are trying to focus their art school experience into this career. Or working artists that want to change fields from something more industrial, to something more creative.

Like my previous urban sketching book, it’s going to be very hands on.There’s much more doing, than reading. The goal is for anyone who actually completes all the work, to end up with a professional portfolio. A body of work that could get them started in the field. Depending where someone is with their drawing skills, it might take a bit longer. But there’s a kind of wax-on-wax-off learning that I prefer. If you just have fun doing everything in the course, you’ll discover you’ve mastered it without even trying.

But I didn’t start writing this entry to pitch you the book! I’m already regretting how much I have to talk about classes and courses in order to keep this blog alive :)

Mainly, I just wanted to say what was up with me. Because this is what I’ll be doing for the next few months.

The book’s completely written, and I have a publisher involved with the design and layout. So I’ll be spending the entire winter just making the drawings.

Unfortunately, that’s going to slow things down on Citizen Sketcher. Even more than it has for the previous months. I’ll still be talking to many of you in my Craftsy courses every day. And I hope to get out drawing at least once a month at our regular sketching group. Just to keep my sanity!

But if you feel things have been a little slow on the blog this fall – that’s the reason why.

We have big plans for next year’s sketching though! So let’s just get through the winter until painting season begins again. I can’t wait!

~marc

It usually takes a bottle of food coloring to put a Saint Patrick’s Day dessert on the table, but I thought I’d share a few ways to celebrate with something a little tastier than dye. Even if these sweets don’t strike your fancy, you can use the key ingredients (basil, pumpkin seeds, pistachios, and matcha) to add a last minute splash of green to your own favorite recipes.

Basil Pots de Creme

These baked custards get their color from a few big handfuls of fresh basil, ground into a pulp with sugar. Pair with a spoonful of strawberry or raspberry jam, or fresh berries when spring actually kicks into gear.

Pumpkin Pie Spiced Brownies

A handful of raw pumpkin seeds or pepitas will add a toasty crunch and bright dash of color, without any special effort at all. Skip the cinnamon and ginger for a more classic brownie, or keep the cozy flavor if you’re having a less than spring-like St. Patrick’s Day (it’s snowing in Kentucky at this very moment).

White Chocolate Pistachio h3. Gianduja

Cut or roll the chilled gianduja into truffles for dipping in chocolate, serve at room temperature over ice cream, or spread onto a slice of toast like Nutella. The nutty paste has a mellow creaminess from white chocolate, crunch bits and pieces of pistachio brittle, and pistachio oil for a deep, emerald green.

Matcha Macarons

The bitterness of green tea tames the notorious sweetness of plain macarons, while adding an almost herbal aroma. You can double up on green by replacing the almonds with an equal weight of pistachios, or use pumpkin seeds for totally Nut Free macarons.

There is trunk.  The trunk once belonged to Simon de Brienne, a 17th Century postmaster. The trunk is full of old letters, some of which have never been opened. The trunk was donated to the The Museum voor Communicatie in The Hague in 1926 and was recently rediscovered. 

Now there is a project, Signed, Sealed, and Undelivered, in the process of digitizing and archiving the contents of the trunk. Even better is that you can see items from the trunk. Clicking away on their website is like spending hours in the attic going through forgotten things. I am smitten. I am overjoyed by this. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the archive, but do go check it out yourselves.

A thank you to Jennie of Red Letter Day for her tweet about this!

Día de los Muertos is on Sunday and Monday, and as always the Mission will host the annual procession and funeral of altars on Monday, a hundreds-strong march of painted faces, costumed dancers, blaring trumpets, lights, skulls, candles, incense, and, more often than not, activists carrying anti-gentrification signs and making speeches on the changing neighborhood.

It’s tradition, and this year promises the same excitement and celebration as years past. Check out some of the events in the next few days commemorating Day of the Dead:

Saturday, October 31st

• Come out to the Mission Dolores Cemetery from 12 p.m. till 4 p.m. to create all you’ll need for Dia de los Muertos. Face painting, paper flower making, “yummy cultural treats,” — and all ages welcome and free.

Sunday, November 1st

• Come to the Redstone Labor Building at 2940 16th St. to commemorate the passing of Jovana Luna, a famed transgender activist in the Mission who died unexpectedly on August 16. Her organization, El/La Para TransLatinas is hosting a fundraiser and show from 6 p.m. till 9 p.m., hoping to raise money to support their work with transgender Latinas.
• Join the Red Poppy Art House from 6 p.m. till 10 p.m. (and again the following day at the same times) for an unveiling of the exhibit El Mito Contemporáneo de Más Allá (The Contemporary Myth of the Beyond), with food — tamales and champurrado — and live music. On Monday night, the art house will participate on the procession beginning at Alex Nieto’s memorial site on Bernal Hill, with a discussion on police violence to begin the march and live performances to honor victims at its end.
• And join Casa Bonampak for face painting and sugar skull making from 12 p.m. till 3 p.m. For $7 you’ll be able to make your own sugar skull with a fifth generation artisan from Mexico — and then stay for DJ Calavera Crooner Ron Obregon from 5 p.m. till 7 p.m. for some live music. Also join them Monday night from 6 p.m. till 10 p.m. for their  Dia de los Muertos fiesta, featuring more face painting, DJing, and pan de muerto.

Monday, November 2nd

• Drop in at Asiento for face painting and body art by two pros, in time for the procession later in the day. Audette Sophia and Vanessa Plumina will be painting from 4 p.m. till 7 p.m. for $15, though private bookings go till 5:30 p.m. so drop-in after that if you don’t have an appointment.
• Go to Pops Bar at 5 p.m. for a night of music, drink, and dance with DJ Slopoke, with proceeds from face painting and food going towards Precita Eyes, according to organizers.
• Then, head to Galeria de la Raza for a night of poetry, drumming, and Afro-Puerto Rican bomba. From 6 p.m. till 8 p.m. people will gather outside of the gallery on 24th and Bryant for the annual Dia de los Muertos event, and it’s free and open to the public.
• Join Fogo Na Roupa, Ron Obregon and professional face painters at Casa Bonampak on Valencia Street from 6 to 10 p.m. for music, food, and more from 6 to 10 p.m.
• Check out the opening reception for the Mission Cultural Center’s ongoing exhibit The Bones of Our Ancestors, on display from October 16 to November 20. From 6 p.m. till 11 p.m., the center will be serving free hot chocolates and pan de muerto — with the purchase a $7 ticket. The exhibit is a protest of the canonization of Junipero Serra last month, and the center will also be showing a trailer to an upcoming documentary on art and revolution.
• Finally, the main event of the evening, the annual Dia de los Muertos procession and festival of altars. Starting at 4 p.m. at Garfield Park by 25th and Harrison, the organizers invite you to create an altar for a lost loved one, joining the hundreds of other altars that will decorate the park. Then at 7 p.m. on the corner of 22nd and Bryant, the procession will begin, featuring 13 bamboo standards to the Aztec god Miquiztli — the god of death, symbolized by a skull — and to Tecciztecal, the old moon god. The procession will make a circle in the Mission, moving from 22nd and Bryant down to 24th Street and across to Mission Street, before going up to 22nd Street and moving down 22nd towards Bryant for a closing reception where the march began. The organizers kindly request contributions — the event has had no city, state, federal, or corporate funding for three decades to maintain its independence — and reminds people that the procession is drug and alcohol free and open to families.

From the still-excellent Letters of Note, a scan of Mark Twain's first correspondence typed on the Remington typewriter he bought in 1874. The note, written to his brother, expressed Twain's hope that the machine would allow him to write more quickly in the near future.

I love that the first line is just a bunch of gibberish -- "BJUYT KIOP N LKJHGFDSA:QWERTYUIOP:_-98VX5432QW RT". Twain (or his two-year-old daughter Susie) likely was just testing out the keys and instead of wasting the paper, started his correspondence below.

In a dictation taken in 1904, Twain recalled seeing and then buying the typewriter.

Nasby and I saw the machine through a window, and went in to look at it. The salesman explained it to us, showed us samples of its work, and said it could do fifty-seven words a minute -- a statement which we frankly confessed that we did not believe. So he put his type-girl to work, and we timed her by the watch. She actually did the fifty-seven in sixty seconds. We were partly convinced, but said it probably couldn't happen again. But it did. We timed the girl over and over again -- with the same result always: she won out. She did her work on narrow slips of paper, and we pocketed them as fast as she turned them out, to show as curiosities. The price of the machine was $125. I bought one, and we went away very much excited.

At the hotel we got out our slips and were a little disappointed to find that they all contained the same words. The girl had economized time and labor by using a formula which she knew by heart. However, we argued -- safely enough -- that the first type-girl must naturally take rank with the first billiard-player: neither of them could be expected to get out of the game any more than a third or a half of what was in it. If the machine survived -- if it survived -- experts would come to the front, by-and-by, who would double this girl's output without a doubt. They would do a hundred words a minute -- my talking-speed on the platform. That score has long ago been beaten.

Update: In the letter, Twain states he paid $125 for the typewriter, which, according to this inflation calculator, is about $2600 in 2014 dollars, or a couple hundred dollars more than the starting price of the 27-inch 5K iMac. I would love to see the first letter written by Twain on one of those. (via @spsheridan)

Inktober Day 25 - drag me down

Inktober Day 24 - character design from random prompt generator

A 25-year-old male was grazed in the head by a bullet at Rolph playground on 26th and Hampshire streets Friday morning. The victim was waiting to meet someone at the playground when he was approached by two men in their 20s at approximately 11:50 a.m.

One of the suspects shot the victim with a handgun, and the men then fled the scene in a dark colored sedan. The victim’s injuries were not life-threatening, and he was transported to San Francisco General Hospital. The suspects remain at large.

Burglary 

A burglar broke into a Hancock Street residence between 18th and 19th streets between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. on Saturday. The victim, a 35-year-old man, woke up at 9:00 a.m. and found one of this windows open — a rope was attached to the window ledge.

The burglar stole the victim’s laptop, but left fingerprints on the window. The crime scene investigation unit is currently investigating the break-in.

Seven Robberies

At about 11:00 p.m. Friday night, a man in his 20s was hit on the back of his head and robbed while walking along 19th and Capp streets.  The victim fell to the ground and lost consciousness. When he awoke realized that his wallet and backpack were missing.  He was not able to identify any suspect, and was treated at San Francisco General Hospital for minor minor injuries.

Just a block over, a 34-year-old man was robbed while walking along 18th and Capp streets at 4:50 a.m on Saturday morning. The suspect, a 25-year-old male, pointed a knife at the man and stole his wallet before fleeing the scene on a bicycle.

A 33-year-old man walking home from a bus stop on 24th and Bryant streets at 11:00 p.m. Sunday night was approached by three males who demanded his money and cell phone. One of the suspects, who is in his 20s, threatened the victim with a taser. The men stole the victim’s property and then fled westbound on 24th Street — the victim got away unharmed.

Ten minutes later, on 23rd and Hampshire streets, a 24-year-old man was approached by three men in their early 20s who told him that he would not be harmed if he did not resist. The men searched the victim, stole his sunglasses, smart phone, wallet, back pack and ATM pin number, and then told the victim to turn off the tracking capability on his phone, before fleeing the scene.

At the same time, a 37-year-old male and his coworker were walking along Mission and 20th streets when they were approached by three male acquaintances of the coworker, ages 18-20. The suspects attacked the victim and began to beat him up, causing the man to fall to the ground and hit his head on the concrete.

The three suspects fled in a grey vehicle, and the victim suffered from gash above his eyebrow and minor injuries.

A 35-year-old male was robbed at Studio Shotwell, between 19th and 20th on Shotwell Street, at about 10:00 p.m. on Monday night. He was sitting down and playing with his tablet when approached by two males in their 20s, who demanded his property. When the victim refused, the suspects beat him with a bottle and stole his belongings. No arrests have been made.

At approximately 4:00 a.m. on Tuesday, a 33-year-old man was standing at 25th and Mission Streets when approached by a grey van. Three men, ages 25-30, jumped out of the van and punched the victim in the face. The man attempted to defend himself, prompting one of the suspects to draw a handgun while another procured a knife. The suspects stole the man’s ID card and money, and then fled eastbound on 25th Street in their vehicle.

Arson

At 1:30 a.m. on Monday night, a 39-year-old male lit a crate on fire at 17th and Mission Streets. He was arrested after a witness called the police.

Crime is trauma and the county offers different services. Here is a link to a page of services.

Victims of violent crime can also contact the Trauma Recovery Center at UCSF.

Autumn is here! Ready to drink gallons of pumpkin spice lattes! :D

malformalady:

Lizard nestled in a rose

Photo credit: Cmycherrytree

huffingtonpost:

Clever Octopus Vanishes Into Homemade Quicksand

This little guy is giving Harry Houdini a run for his money.

... Read the rest of oat and wheat sandwich bread on smittenkitchen.com

© smitten kitchen 2006-2012. | permalink to oat and wheat sandwich bread | 189 comments to date | see more: Bread, Freezer Friendly, Photo, Sandwich, Vegetarian

laughingsquid:

8-Bit Animated Versions of the Iconic Vehicles From ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’

Maybe using the word “astonishing” as an adjective for the following artificial limbs was not the smartest choice, since when a person has an artificial limb usually implies that he or she was involved in an unfortunate event.

But if we manage to take the best from the worst situation, these artificial limbs are definitely pieces of art that will bring a drop of joy in the life of suffering people.

The designer of these limbs is Scott Summit, a designer with 20 years old experience in the field.

He used 3D printing technology to create one of a kind artificial limbs for each of the patients. Even more, he allows each patient to bring their own ideas on how they can customize the shape or the design of the prosthetics.

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jerkinglattes:

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Citrus fruits are weeeeird

The lighting in these is fantastic!

This made my mouth water