ZeitGeist Movie

In looking for images for this post I came across this - I find it hilarious that someone had the time to spend on this... couldn't they have done something more productive? ANYWAYS...

The latest buzz-word is viral marketing. Well it got me again and it was intriguing. I've received THIS LINK from a couple people now and I'm posting it here for whomever cares. Zeitgeist Movie is a 2 hour long commentary on things our society has accepted as truths. I watched it on my Wii on the TV with AJ. YAY, Nintendo!

The movie goes in three parts.
Part 1 speaks on Christianity and history as we know it.
Part 2 is about 9/11 and the media. (like a certain Michael Moore movie, but less dramatized)
Part 3 is about the Federal Reserve Bank, steering the public and war for profit.

I don't know if it's right or wrong, but I find it interesting to think about. Some things make sense to me - mostly the idea that one should always question rather than simply accept. It's good to think.

So watch and think.
Tell me what you think.
Tell someone else what you think.

Ratatouille

I insist that you go see Ratatouille.

This movie is undeniably one of the funniest, most beautiful movies PIXAR has ever made. The world they created is amazingly complex and deep, yet appropriate for the characters and really pulls the viewer into the reality of the world. It is nigh flawless. The animation is impeccable. It was subtle at times and extravagant at others. I was in awe.

The plot as a whole was slightly predictable, but I didn't mind. The voice acting sometimes left a little to be desired - American actors doing French people speaking English is... a stretch. PIXAR ought to command enough of the world's attention to be able to cast the best English speakers of any country for added immersion in the film.

The last movie I saw was Spider-man 3 and I only saw it because I didn't have to pay. I almost swore off movies altogether based on that movie, but it didn't really seem fair to companies like PIXAR whom although tied to the monstrous hip of Disney, actually care about the story over the buck they will make.

I don't really like going to the movies; people kick your seat, talk through scenes, rustle wrappers and generally make movie-going unpleasant. Top onto that the hefty $10+ cost of the ticket alone and it's really not worth it. The exception is going to see kids movies. I can forgive kids because they aren't supposed to adhere to social mores yet and you get a much better feel for the emotional state of the movie through their unfiltered reactions.

I want to work in games, but after seeing this movie, I almost want to work in film... well, at PIXAR specifically. LOL

Again I reiterate - you must go see this movie. Don't wait for the DVD.

Resume writing

It's a funny thing when you have to update/rewrite your resume. OK - not really. (What's actually funny is when headhunters call it a re-ZOO-mee. But that's another story.)

I'm not sure if it's standard or we're just told it's standard to keep your resume to two pages. Is this because it's generally accepted that a human will become bored after reading (skimming really) two pages or is it to try and keep the verbose people tamed down? I like making lists and that means that one whole side of the page is open, but lists get long and boring... how am I supposed to know if I'm over two pages if my resume is in HTML?

Resumes are weird. You don't know who is going to read them or what they like - you get too generic and you don't seem special, but if you're too specific then people will be lost. It's all words in the end and if you try too hard to be a word-smith you seem transparent. Which makes me wonder if I need a degree in psychology to write a resume.

Which leads me to the graphic layout of resumes. Having a history in visual communication I want to spice it up a bit, but I'm told I need to use certain fonts at certain pt sizes (Times Roman at 12pt) which seems really bootleg to me - I don't like serif fonts and have decent enough vision to see 10pt - I mean, going down to 8pt would be a bit much I suppose. Anyways, I'm sticking with Arial at 10. Well, 11 in some areas for you challenged readers. If I go too standard, you'll just pile me up with all the other resumes. In the trash.

How about having your name on both pages? That seems like an utter waste of space to me and if you can't keep the two pages together then I don't really think I want to work at such a disorganized place - but maybe that means you NEED me there.

*sigh*

What's FUN is trying to code indents and bold type in HTML - talk about visual noise! It's like a pile of < / crap >.
Yeah - I'm a bit wonky.

Check out this crazy resume - WOAH! Do you think he has more of a chance to get hired because his personal logo looks like Jesus?!?! The text balloons remind me of a disemboweled body, lungs, heart and kidneys there...

spaceJASE.com v2.0

YAY - I've updated my website!
After the events of a couple weeks ago I was pretty down and knew in order to move on I was going to need to redo the 2 year old look and feel of my portfolio website. (as well as put up some new material) I went over to my buddy Chu's place and talked about what I could do. He had some great ideas and gave me a skeleton layout to start with. Well, now it's live and swanky. Take a look!
Will it help me get a job? I sure hope so! Stay tuned...

Mike & Ike, Target and Consumerism

Sometimes when you're trying to save money you get this burning desire to spend some. Is that the consumerism bred into us by American capitalism? I think it probably is. And like Don Hertzfeld says in "Rejected" - I AM a consumer whore.

In a weak attempt to get my "fix" we went to Target to get some minor staple household goods. (Cat-litter. Amazingly enough, Target sells the eco-friendly Swheat-Scoop brand at a much cheaper price than pet stores do... but that's another story.) Whenever we go to Target we take a peek at the clearance section on the ends of random aisles hidden back by the bathrooms. It's bootleg, I know. However, yesterday the jackpot awaited my ever miserly self and I stocked up on...
That's right. They had Mike & Ike candies for 0.46 cents a box!
(They were marked down from $2)

YAY! Consumer needs satisfied with cheap consumable flavored candies!

The game development industry

VGA out.
There were few of articles that popped up yesterday and today concerning my company.

They happen to be pretty relevant to me - so I think you ought to read them.
Here are the links.
Gamasutra article
Kotaku blurb
IGN
GameDailyBIZ
GameSpot
NextGenBIZ
Nintendo World Report

So, I am not alone in my plight - cross your fingers for all the peeps out there!

Now things get interesting...

Video Game Artist out.

Back and Busy

NO that's not my desk-space.

We're back from our trip.

We had an awesome time. We spent 2 days in Joshua Tree national park, 2 days in Wickenburg Arizona (G&M wedding), 2 days in the Grands Canyon, 2 days in Zion National Park & 2 days in Las Vegas.

I will post pictures sometime this week - I hope. After we got back, we decided we don't really like the layout of the computer room. Since AJ will be spending more time in here working on school stuff, we went out and bought a few pieces of furniture to better organize the room. I have spent the entirety of my free time after work building a desk, bookcase, TV stand & file cabinet and attempting to organize all my computer, art and game stuff.

Yup - my space is being taken over. I think I'll be moving out to the garage.

LOL - just kidding. Now AJ will have a reason to be in here with me!