Found some film! Ummm... developed some film! Finally

I have had some B&W 400 ISO film laying around the house for awhile, staring at me, exposed and undeveloped. And when I say awhile, I mean awhile. Like this-is-embarrassing-get-it-out-of-my-sight long time. I wasn't sure what the pictures were from, and I kind of wanted to just TOSS IT as to avoid the whole "do I get it developed and then what.. get a darkroom? scan it? " thing. I kind of suspected it might be from when we went to Cambodia 2004 so I never threw it out. We brought our 2 megapixel camera when we went to Cambodia and those pictures are shit, because it was a 2 megapixel point and shoot. My color photos from my film camera turned out like shit, because I never learned to take great color photos with film in school and also because I had a commercial lab do the prints. But I suspected that I took some B&W, and I thought this roll might be it. Last week I found a place in the city that still develops B&W film, and will also scan it. Jackpot! pictures of Angkor what that can actually-gasp-be printed on 8x10 paper and not look like ca-ca. yeah! I am so excited!!

been busy...

Hi everyone! been real busy here and haven't had time to post much. so... to get you up to speed... We went to Ed and Ineke's for an after work BBQ and saw stars when the sun went down. In San Francisco. for those of you not living in SF, this is a rare occurrence because of the fog. We dubbed this day "best. monday. ever". We went to a very nice beach BBQ for Isaac's co-worker Malia, who moved to NY. It was beach. It was fire. It was nice.
Then we went camping in El Dorado State forest, near Tahoe, over memorial day weekend with a bunch of friends. more on that later, when I have time to look through those photos...

No one will play this game!!!

OK, so I saw this post on Kotaku and while this isn't the first time I've seen a game like this pop up, it for whatever reason spurred me to post about it.

There are Sooo many shite WoW clones being made.... when will people learn. If you want to copy or emulate an existing game... you have to at the very least meet the same level of quality... the only quality these guys will see here is spelled kwality.

Just because a game is "free" absolutely does not mean people will be even remotely interested in playing it. It just lowers the entry bar. If you have a fun game, people will want to play it. They may even pay you for it! But come on, if you have a shitty game, people, (like me), will point and laugh at you. Time for these "me-too" development studios to get a clue. This is not exclusive to games by any means. It seems so obvious. Pixar did not invent 3D animation in film, they just did it better than anyone else. CNN did not invent TV or web news casting, they just packaged it better than anyone else had. World of Warcraft did not invent the fantasy MMO, they just did it better than everyone else. Quality, quality, quality. Not kwality. Quality is not cheap or free, nor should it be, but in my opinion it is always worth it.

That is all. *Steps carefully off of his soapbox and gets back to working on a quality game*

eco-zombierific

I went to Rainbow grocery, the vegetarian co-op near my work, to pick up some groceries for dinner and also to carb up for lunch today. Generally I like Rainbow; even though many of the customers are eccentric(to say the least), it's not as expensive or showy as Whole Foods, and duh, I'm the kind of person who chooses to live in San Francisco. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Rainbow, My gay Joe once challenged another coworker to see who could find the first woman wearing lipstick when they went there a few months ago. they both lost because neither could find a single one.
so... Rainbow. ah, Rainbow. Everybody was a total zombie in there today. The crowd that does their grocery shopping at 11:30 am on a friday is normally kind of on island time anyways, but seriously. By the time I had the third person slowly shuffle into my path while looking straight at me with unseeing eyes and stop directly in front of me while they appeared to contemplate the meaning of life, I wanted to say "Duuuude. you're like totally in my way. Can you, like, chill over by the organic vegan pastries please?"
humph. (makes grumpy old man face).
ohh! someone just stopped their car outside my apartment and is blasting thriller-era Michael Jackson! Yay! more updates later.

two things

okay, two funny things to blog about today. The first is that we went to eat Pho with a couple that we are friends with, and the guy at the restaurant asked if we minded sharing a big table and we said "no". then we get seated at a big round table (probably bid enough for 8-10 people) with another guy, who was there by himself. this is always a little awkward for me, partially because I always feel bad for people eating alone (I hate it myself) and partially because American culture doesn't often put strangers at the same table unless it is at a counter. So I said "hi" to the guy, and he said "hi" back, but he seemed to be all about the pho and not wanting to join our group so that was all good. we proceed to talk amongst ourselves like the guy wasn't there (nothing inappropriate mind you, just acted like we were at tables next to each other instead of at the same table). and at some point in the meal I told the other couple that next time we travel maybe they should join us and meet up on the road, and they said they probably can't because they will be busy. And then they tell us that she is pregnant (note that they did not say "we are pregnant", which is a phrase that I absolutely despise. no, you both are not pregnant. she is pregnant, you two are having a baby). anywoo... I kind of saw the guy next to us change posture or something but I ignored it because of a.) I was surprised at the pregnancy news and b.)Isaac literally did a spit take with his soup and said "what?!". But when I got home I realized how funny/weird this must have been for the poor dude sitting next to us- he's already eating at a table with strangers and now he's sitting there while big personal news is being revealed.


The second thing was that I was sitting in the living room a minute ago and looking at the box of butt rocks kitty litter we just bought and it just looked totally trippy and bizarre. Then I realized I was a little drunk on sake. but then I thought that the picture I took was kind of funny anyways so I wanted to post it. sorry if it's not funny to you sober people.

old emails

I'm putting together a book of old travel emails from my family and found this funny exchange between me and Isaac. It's old but I thought I'd share. BTW, at the time we were planning on making some sort of preserved octopus display like one we saw at Paxton's Gate.
Kerry: What do you think of the jar I'm watching on e-bay? There is no embossing except on the bottom!
Isaac: Pretty sweet! We would have to cover the top, but will probalby want to do that in any event anywho
BTW, do you have Micheal's phone number? The window people need it.
Kerry:I don't sorry.
The jar comes with a cover, right?
Isaac: it looked like it did
Kerry: then what chew talkn' bout?
Isaac: about obfuscating the top, so it doesn't looksie likes a cuuntry jar :)
Kerry: that's an old timey octopus jar and lid!!! those are very rare

We got the jar and now it's sitting under our kitchen sink.

The ol' Photoshoppe

When I was just a boy I remember Pappy taking me down to the Photoshoppe for some 5 cent filters. If I had been especially good he would ask Mr. Smith, the shopkeeper, to let me touch the gradients. "Don't tell grandma, this is our little secret" he'd say with a wink. Years later I was driving past where the Photoshoppe used to be, and there was a big Walmart there. I guess you can really never go home again.

quit complaining

I am skilled in illustration, photoshoppe, and fashion critique. You can judge for yourself. Except that there will be no judging of this blog! This is Craftyk-o-vision and you will like it!!!!!!!!!

shortpants

I hate when people dress as if the two halves of their body are going to completely different climates. Today I saw a woman wearing teeny tiny shorts (Not obscene butt-cheek showing pants, but almost). She was wearing cowboy boots with white knee socks,and..... a winter coat and scarf. WTF? I mean really. She looked crazy. We Live in SAN FRANCISCO and it is always CHILLY here. Even today, which was sunny and more of a light jacket day than a winter coat day, was not a teeny tiny shorts day. I would be a lot less judgmental about the entire outfit if she had committed to the costume and worn a little tank top and flip flops. Then I would have wondered how she wasn't cold, and maybe chalked it up to natural body temp or something. But the winter coat and scarf were a dead giveaway that she was freezing. and a whore.


I have included a image I photo shopped of the bikini girl from American Idol wearing ski pants (to show the reverse outfit) as well as a picture I drew of the girl I saw today. I did not have my camera with me. But, as you can see, I did have some free time today.

I love a nice orderly line

What is it about lines that makes me want to get in them? And is it just me? I was walking to the farmer's market for lunch today, itself an interesting experience. Example: a man was handing out free samples of peanut brittle and telling people "try some, it could be your last chance at happiness" and he was so earnest when he said it, like he really believed it, and there appeared to be no one selling any peanut brittle at the farmer's market today. So perhaps it was a misguided attempt at socialization, or an art project, and not a "sample" as I first assumed, but I digress.
anyway, I had to walk past the Orpheum theater and saw a small mob of people descending on the ticket booth. There were about 40 people already in line, with expectant, eager faces. And I tell you, I was almost drawn into that line. never mind that they mostly show musicales at that theater, and I hate musicales. In fact, there was a huge banner advertising "Wicked" above the door, which was probably the only thing that stopped me from queuing.
This isn't the first time either, one time I passed a Mexican bakery that had a huge line at the door (never mind that I hate Mexican baked goods), and I almost got in that line too. My fist thought was "what are they selling that everyone wants?" and my second thought was "there's something in there that everyone wants, thank god I happened by!" I still don't know what they were selling, and it haunts me. Why can't I just let other people have stuff I don't have? I don't know. It's probably the smug look on the faces of everyone in line, like they know that if I decide to get in line they will be way ahead of me.
It's probably a good thing I don't have kids. Which is really quiet an understatement, if you know me well at all. But one of the reasons is I know, I'm sure, I would be one of those moms lined up at Walmart on black Friday at 5am to get the tickle me Elmo. I would be the one you read about in the paper, trampling some poor worker while I fight over the last doll. Hands off, fuckers. That Elmo is mine!