March 2008

Dave Stevens has died of leukemia. Remembrances all over the comics blogosphere this morning. Here are a few: THE BEAT, Mark Evanier, Rob Ullman, Drawn!.

I remember seeing The Rocketeer graphic novel in the mid-1980s and being astounded with the intricacy and delicacy of the design and artwork. Dave was a consummate artist and he, and his work, will be missed.

I have some backlog stuff, as per usual. This weekend to catch up? I hope so.

Last night I went to the SIGGRAPH Los Angeles event held at the EA facility in Marina del Rey. Devon was supposed to attend with me but he ended up distracted by girlfriend. The Electronic Arts building, or rather set of buildings, was very nice—they had a little arcade, and a gym, basketball courts, and security all around. It actually reminded me a bit of the franchulates from Snow Crash, how hermetically sealed up from the rest of the community the place was.

The topic was digital acting. In brief, it examined the challenges of creating digital, directable animated charaters, in both linear media and in games. The emphasis on artificial intelligence was a bit of a surprise, I hadn’t thought about how much behavior gives a sense of “reality” to the world. And behavior is inevitably complex and hard to model. It was fascinating stuff and had me thinking about the challenges of making NPC (non-player characters) in a game.

I’ve been attending SIGGRAPH events in various places since the 1990s. In the presentations folks would indicate when their “first SIGGRAPH” was. Not that you’re interested, but mine was in 1995. On the nametag (which I still have) I wrote my occupation as “FILM/COMPUTER GRAPHICS STUDENT.” Mind you I was only toying with the web at the time as a consumer. I was learning PhotoShop and taking classes at UCLA Extension at the time. Out of all that curiosity about how computer graphics were done in movies, science fiction, computers, programming—I ended up in the web. And the rest, is history.

Even though my day to day life has gone more toward code and less toward graphics, I’ve kept up with local chapters of SIGGRAPH ever since that first SIGGRAPH.

Next month the topic is Automobile Visualization, and I wonder if my buddy Chris might want to attend that one.

The drive home was nice. I drove PCH. The big wide ocean is so large and so dark at night. The crescent moon shone down on it. I listened to danah boyd on an audio podcast from Harvard which had my mind racing over many topics.

There is an interesting intersection between games and social media and I’m not sure what that ends up looking like.

I have never donated money to a political campaign in my life, but last month I donated fifteen bucks to Obama. Next time we’re a bit flush I’m going to do it again. It’s time for someone with a different emphasis; it’s time to not elect someone because a family member of theirs has been President before. This is not a family business, it’s the Presidency. Nepotism sucks. Whatever happened to the ideal and goal of meritocracy?

Previously.

A colleague of mine here at work is in search of evidence of his biological father’s existence. Because he knows I’m a big internet data mining nerd he asked for my help, and in turn I ask you for help. Here’s the information he provided me:

During a Dodger game during the 1965, 1966, or 1967 Seasons, he was carried out on a stretcher, having suffered a kidney stone during the game. His full name is purported to have been Paul Ronald Ryan, though this is not certain. He would have been, 70 years old this year, putting his year of birth at about 1937. It’s possible this man is still alive, though this also is not certain. It was said that he was born in New York, again, not a certainty.

That’s it. His mother is not alive. My colleague has contacted the LA Times and Dodger Stadium but has not heard back yet. He has not sought out his father with any seriousness and now wants to. Please contact me via email or comment on this post if you have ideas or suggestions.

Please feel free to pass this along or crosspost this item.

The completely appropriate title on this post from over in Vintage Ads is “Banana Hell.”

Enjoy.

The Wire ended. It was awesome.

Some further reading: Heaven and Here: So Thiis Is How It Ends; The Wire: David Simon Q & A (long and really excellent); Undercover Black Man: The End of the Wire; and lastly Memo to Casting Agents: Please don’t waste actors from The Wire.

As Daniels says: “To be continued.”

Leah has been doing some painting and it’s pretty great. Here’s a set of paintings that are for sale:

From What Are You Destined to Be ? – Blog Maverick, Mark Cuban writes:

I’m also a big believer that financial debt is the ultimate dream killer. Your first house, car, whatever stuff you might want to buy are going to be the primary reasons you stop looking for what makes you the happiest.

Shades of Dave Ramsey. Loving that Leah and I have managed to put away about $18K in debt in the past year. Of course we’re adding more a big IRS bill coming up soon, but we’re moving in the right direction and kicking butt.

I saw Mark Cuban interviewed by Jason Calacanis many years ago at an event held by Digital Coast Reporter/Silicon Alley Reporter down at the Director’s Guild facility on Sunset Boulevard. Mark was great and surprisingly laid back. Inspiring, even.

That reminds me, that was also the event where I walked by Shaquille O’Neal. That guy is tall and makes other uses of the word “tall” seem silly by comparison.

Some Zevon this morning, from a live recording on the Internet Archive that’s pretty good, which I found via UBM:

I can saw a woman in two
But you won’t want to look in the box when I’m through
I can make love disappear
For my next trick I’ll need a volunteer

And more Zevon:

The moon has a face
And it smiles on the lake
And causes the ripples in time
I’m lucky to be here
With someone I like
Who maketh my spirit to shine

If like me, Daylight Savings Time makes you lust for the Summertime, as it does me, you can see some ocean, along with vital statistics thereto, here: watchthewater.org. I hate that it stops at the Los Angeles County line, because the beaches I like are actually in Ventura County. There is not a like service for VenCo. I’ve talked about my favorite beach (these days) before.

Water temperatures in my ocean are still in the 56-58 degrees Fahrenheit, so, no go yet. But I did swim at the Calabasas Swim Center yesterday. This morning, I’m achey as hell. I suppose that’s normal. Will I go again today? Perhaps. Though I’m a bit concerned about the etiquette required to swim laps properly.

By the way, I really love the California Flag:

If this whole Federal Government of the United States of America thing doesn’t pan out, I’m gonna stick with the state that borned me. It’s an inspiring design. Perhaps I’ll get a T-Shirt with it.

Aw heck, more Zevon:

I was gambling in Havana
I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns and money
Dad, get me out of this, ha!

Rock and roll is pretty awesome. Lots of power. Yes, it gets corrupted and co-opted and put on soundtracks and commercials—all of which sucks. But yesterday I was in the car with Tyler he was riffling through my iPod and yes, he found the Postal Service I have, as well as the Ben Folds cover of the song “Bitches Ain’t Shit”—regrettable title and lyrics, but at age 15 he’s heard it before. But I was also able to expose him to The Orb’s “Little Fluffy Clouds;” Pete Townshend’s “Let My Love Open The Door;” and even Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades.” We also had a nice conversation about Prince, of all people. He was wondering “what the big deal was with him” when he noticed how much of his stuff I have. I pointed out that as a songwriter and musician he’s amazing, some even consider him a genius. We played Starfish and Coffee, from Sign O’ The Times, then I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man and Controversy to emphasize his musicianship. Then I hit him with “Kiss,” which Ty did not know was one of his songs. Then the endpoint was that the guy’s been doing this for 30-some years. Pretty coherent argument. He and Tony still like a whole lot of crap nu-prog Rock/Metal, but it’s nice to contribute to some music education.

Speaking of which, I really loved the documentary Rock School. No, not School of Rock, though I enjoyed that too. There’s a new documentary coming out called Girls Rock!, via Jezebel:

Here’s the official website: http://www.girlsrockmovie.com/. Perhaps I’ll suggest we seek that one out while it’s in theaters down in L.A.

In other and more substantial news, we need to move by April 25th. Our lease it up. We’ve started looking, though Leah considers it too early to be taken seriously. This week I’m going to call our management company and see what might be done. I think the best possible things can and will happen. I hate moving. Everyone says that, and of course we mean it.

And here endeth the blog post.

Todays’ Email:

Dear Laurel,
Just wanted to ping you on a few great companies in the LA area looking for PHP talent. Let me describe the positions briefly, and I’ll include links to more detailed information on my website. If you’re interested, you can email your most current resume to [REDACTED] and we’ll see if we can get a match.

From March 5:

Hey Laurel,
I just stumbled across your resume in our database and was wondering if you were interested in this opportunity.

My reply:

Dear Recruiters:

I’ve gotten two of these now, and they both infuriate and entertain me. I am not named Laurel. My surname is not Springs. My first name is “Joe.” It matches the email address you have contacted me at: joe (at) artlung (dot) com. My last name is Crawford, not Springs. Perhaps you’re confused. In my resume, you can plainly see my name is Joe Crawford. Perhaps in another one I refer to myself as “Joseph Crawford.” Also, you can read that in 2006 I had a contract with Laurel Springs School in Ojai, California.

Sadly though, I did not become the owner of that august institution. Neither was I was inspired to change my name to match the school—that would be quite something!! I worked on web applications in ASP and SQL server there. I had quite a nice time working with very nice people. Also, Ojai is very pretty, though it does get warm in the summer.

I appreciate your email very much, but I hope you’ll understand that it’s very difficult to take you seriously when you and your database have failed so profoundly.

Sincerely,

Joe Crawford