Jan29

#FollowFriday @heykim @tylerconium...

Posted at 4:52 PM • Comments

Okay, I flip-flopped. I said last week that I hate doing follow Friday because it leaves people out or that people get mad at me for not including them. The truth is, the thing that bothers me the most is that people never tell you why to follow a certain person. New idea…I’m going to blog every Friday about a few people to follow, and really recommend that you do. Here are my tweeps this week:

Kim, @heykim (Somewhere in the U.S.)

Sometimes I learn about news from Kim before anywhere else! I started following Kim when we were helping Veronica save her brother #eric. She was one of the first people to reach out to Veronica and help here. Obviously, an everlasting friendship grew via Twitter. Who would have known? Kim tweets a lot about NBA basketball, social meda and breaking news. Although she’s a Blazers fan (and I’m a Lakers fan) we get along quite well. Kim is one of the most loving people whom I’ve never met. Follow her

Tyler Conium, @tylerconium (Toronto, Canada)

http://tylerconium.com

Honestly, can’t remember how I started following Tyler. Definitely my most favorite Canadian on Twitter. If you like sports, Michael Jackson, comedy and film, follow him. I love the fact that he hates Brett Favre and the Pittsburgh Steelers as much as I do. I think he kind of looks like Sam Worthington too. Take a close look. If you get easily offended or don’t take the effort to watch 24 real-time, don’t follow. If so, follow him. Would love to meet up with you someday, friend.

Daniel Hoang, @danielhoang (Davis, CA)

http://danielhoang.com

He’s my older brother, of course follow him! But seriously, if you like statistic, consulting and numbers, he’s your guy. Really excited to have him back in Seattle soon. Follow him

Sarah Vela, @orchid8 (Austin, TX)

http://sarahvela.net/twitter

I met Sarah at the #140tc in Los Angeles this summer. Without even knowing us, she generously gave @raid5 and I a ride to the conference. We easily could have murdered her, but thought she was way too nice. I soon found out that she works on Featured Users and was so happy, as I’m an avid fan of Friend or Follow. She is the fearless leader of Team Hot Salad Dressing. Follow her

Ryan Welsh, @dharmansible (Seattle, WA)

http://mevers.us

I’m always going to feature the fifth Tweep as a Seattle person. Ryan (along with @dimhalo, who I’ll write about some other day.) were some of the first tweeps that I met in real life. The funniest thing was that it wasn’t on purpose. We randomly ran into each other at…wait for it…Zoke Coffee! Ryan really loves Star Wars, nerdy things, motorcycles and many other things. If you’re looking for someone who tweets about what they really feel, then follow Ryan. Also, he’s really become a really good friend in real life, checking in to make sure things are okay when I emo-tweet. If you meet him in real life, check out his tattoo. I did the design for it! Follow him

End game

So that’s it for this week. I actually like doing this a lot; gives me some time to really think about why I follow someone rather than autonomously doing it. Please do not ask for me to write about you; that’d really upset me, and be rather vain in my opinion. If you have a suggestion of someone else, I’d love to hear it.

Happy #FollowFriday


Jan28

New York, New York

Posted at 8:42 PM • Comments

New York…I can’t believe I haven’t been. This needs to change, soon—preferably before April 28.

What’s so special about that date? That’s the last day of the Tim Burton Exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. Besides making art, I can’t think of anything else more exhilarating than traveling to see artwork, especially a huge inspiration like Burton. That was why I went to Italy and France in 2005. I was spoiled with Bernini, Giotto and Neo-Classical paintings.

Really, is there anything better? Traveling and looking at art? Maybe I’m a hopeless romantic, but I seriously can’t ponder a better time. My BFFF recently suggested the movie “Before Sunrise” to me, and I really enjoyed it.

Something about doing something because you love to: no agenda, no explanation, just doing it.

On a personal note, I’d love to go to NYC in honor of my friend whom I lost this past year. He was a huge Yankees fan, and it’d be a great way to honor him by going to see Yankee Stadium and watching them play.

Maybe when I return from Asia in March, I should spend a few days in New York City.

The question I ask myself…why not?

Jan28

iMoses

Posted at 8:32 AM • Comments

iMoses

Jan27

Apocalypse then

Posted at 8:47 PM • Comments

St. Michael the Archangel

Seeing previews of The Book of Eli and Legion (although Legion doesn’t look that great) made me think about my fascination with apocalyptic stories and religious narratives—keyword being “narrative,” not necessarily religion. I grew up with these stories and have always wanted to do my own adaptation of it.

The image above is an ink sketch I did in college of St. Michael the Archangel, armed with a Desert Eagle instead of sword. I wanted to portray Michael as an antihero; my favorite kind of character. Examples of some of my favorites: The Punisher and Venom. My heroes have a blend of good and evil in them, seeking justice to the point of killing someone. Pretty odd to portray an angel as that, right? Something about portraying a saintly character with un-saintly characteristics interested me.

I wanted this to be a graphic novel, but never wrote it. Perhaps on a rainy day—which Seattle has many—I will write a comic and illustrate it myself.

Jan27

Happy birthday @raid5!

Posted at 8:24 PM • Comments

Happy birthday to my friend Adam—aka @raid5! I’m going to keep his age secret for his sake, but we’re both getting old. Adam and I have been friends since sixth grade, and still going strong! It’s amazing when you consider most people lose contact with their friends in high school.

We played football and basketball together up until high school, but one thing we always shared was our love for many of the following:

  • Sports
  • Jones soda
  • Seafood
  • Coffee
  • Vino

But the most important thing…computers. We were both computer geeks growing up; from playing Command and Conquer: Red Alert to chatting it up on ICQ. Adam was always a huge inspiration for me in developing my skills, and encouraged me to learn coding. At the time, I was really resistant to it and just wanted to design. Thank goodness I listened to his advice. If I didn’t, I probably wouldn’t have the awesome job I do now. I’m not sharing my paycheck with you though, Adam!

He’s probably my number one fan, traveling to every art show I’ve had…except the ones I had in California, but I can understand. He’s a great travel buddy and we’ve gone to San Diego to see our friend Zac and the 140 Twitter Conference in Los Angeles. I think both our dreams were fulfilled when we got to meet ijustine!

Check out the project he’s been constantly working on: mapwith.us.

So happy birthday, my friend! Here’s to many years of traveling and coding together :)