youtube music & weekend shopping.

I've found someone else on YouTube whose music has started to grow on me. And, even though I'm always months (sometimes years) behind on music, I figured I'd go ahead and spread the love while I was at it.

Her YouTube name is KokoKaina. (I think of Brendan Frasier in Bedazzled when I read her YouTube name aloud). Her voice reminds me a little of Norah Jones, and her songwriting is sweet and sincere.

I was browsing for a specific search term when I happened upon her, actually. I'll definitely be subscribing soon.

Also, in response to my previous post about the Twilight feature in the latest EW magazine...I opted to read the online version instead of picking up a hard copy like some crazy obsessed 14-year-old. I prefer to play the role of the cool, semi-obsessed twenty-something that I am, thankyouverymuch.

The article was decent, and I learned a few things I didn't already know...
But I wasn't a fan of the photo shoot. It was ultra-glamorized, super shmoozy, Bram-stokery and I suppose I'm being so cynical because come on, these are high school kids. Then again I can err on the side EW as it's their job to Photoshop everything to a pulp nowadays. I can see the art director now -- "He's not pale enough! Make him paler! And his eyes, make them more brooding!"

This weekend has been another big purchase weekend. A new piece of art for my kitchen. Two new bar stools. A new mirror for the bathroom. New vases. The chances of me purchasing anything out of explicit entertainment purposes are growing slim.

Read: I may have to pass my on-line designing of those super-fancy Chucks I've been dreaming up in my head.

Then again, there's always next weekend.

oh, sigh.

For crying out loud. They're teasing me.

paint me in your sunshine.

I'm one of those types who, once they find a song they like, play it over, and over...

And over and over again. You would never want me to be your radio DJ. Ever.

I recently came across Marie' Digby on YouTube, and have taken kindly to her music. She's a bit of Vanessa Carlton, a little bit of Ingrid Michaelson. I'm a sucker for sweet and charming music.

Below are the lyrics to Paint Me In Your Sunshine. It's that song I'm playing over, and over, and over again.

Paint Me In Your Sunshine

Paint me in your sunshine
Wake my sleepy eyes
Round me in your comfort
Stay with me for all of time

Reach your hand,
I'll follow
Darken clouds for your rays of hope

So paint me in your sunshine
Walk with me, stay by my side
Fill my head with stories
For love and war and glory

Reach your hand,
I'll follow
Light the path that will lead me home

Oh, oh, Home

One day the world will grow colder
Everything we've come to cherish crumbles
And only then will we turn back and remember your glow

Paint me in your sunshine
Leave the part of you behind
Tell me where I'll find you
And send me off to another day
Till we meet tomorrow

Reach your hand,
I'll follow
Hold me close till the day that I grow old

twilight.

It's been an embarrassingly long time since I've posted, I know. I could go on all day about why: because of work, because of extracurriculars, because of projects at home, because of friends, but I won't. I'll just spare the details for now.

While this post will mostly be dedicated to its title, let me preface to say that this entry (not unlike most of them) will mostly be shaped by my own personal history and bias. Read: this is a personal post. You've been warned: it's going to be a doozy.

First, a little back story into my penchant for reading and writing.

I think it officially started when I was in the 4th grade. I'd enjoyed books up until then -- I was a part of the Book It! program, I volunteered in the library reading to first graders, so on and so forth. But it wasn't until I entered in the Young Author's Contest (I lived in Illinois back then) that I realized that I could actually enjoy writing. Young adult adventures were my favorite. There was excitement, newness, not a lot of internal dialogue, and it stirred my imagination. It reflected my personality at the time; I was easily curious about anything and everything I didn't know about. This included, but was not limited to, trying to find Big Foot tracks, analyzing baby birds, and breaking into vacant houses.

So there's the brief back story. I ended up getting an honorable mention that year for my short story, "The Bad Dream." And while I felt as though my brief, young writing spirit had been crushed, it didn't stop me from writing in the following year's contest. I won that year.

Fast forward several years, and you'd find yourself watching increasingly more and more frames of time spent writing -- my love for the adventure genre had evolved to now include romance, mystery, and sci-fi. I read a lot of the same stuff: X-Files, Dean Koontz, various trashy romance novels, Stephen King, Bruce Coville.

But during my sophomore year of high school, it all came to a halt. I simply wasn't interested any more, or my priorities had changed. I stopped reading, and the only writing I did consisted of poems or brief, inconsistent journaling.

Fast forward again to this week, where I picked up the book, Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer. My first recommendation was from my friend, Lauren, who divulges in reading as a hobby. I was curious as to why she brought up this book, I knew she read, but she hardly ever recommended anything to me, so I decided to look into it. I realized later that while the book was new to her, that it was in fact, pretty old -- 3 years old. I also learned that it was going to be displayed later on the silver screen at the end of the year.

Three days ago, I decided it was time to pick up the book. I opted to buy it, instead of checking it out from a local library. I started that night, around 11:30PM, intending on reading it for half an hour until I got sleepy. But I stayed up until 1:30AM.

Then finished it within 24 hours.

I know, it sounds dramatic. To think that a nearly 500-page teen romance fiction novel could hold my attention for that long. For starters, I'm not the target demo. I'm simply not a vampire junkie (although I did enjoy the Buffy film). And I hadn't read a fiction novel in years.

I'll start with the basics, I guess. (There won't be any spoilers) The story revolves around Isabella "Bella" Swan, a new permanent transplant to the town of Forks, Washington, where she spent various summers with her father. Her parents had been divorced for years, and she decided to permanently relocate when her mother remarried and wanted to travel with her new husband. The 17-year-old Bella struggles to fit in at Forks High School, where she happens upon the Cullens, the family that purposely outcasts themselves from the rest of the high school. They're all different, they're beautiful, and they're vampires. She takes specifically to Edward Cullen, and the rest of the story revolves around their affair -- the internal and external pressures of the dangers that surround their relationship.

There are several reasons why I was fascinated with this book. To say "I loved it" simply wouldn't be enough. There are many poignant scenes throughout this book that drew me back to them as soon as my eyes skimmed over the last few words of the epilogue.

I'm a helpless romantic at best. My personality wouldn't allude you to believe it, but the handsome hero in this book made me melt into a puddle of goo. There, I said it. But it wasn't as though Meyer described him as "hot," "rippled," "cut," or "amazing." She used other words..."Beautiful." "Dazzling." We see through the eyes of Bella that he's enchanting, that his scent is breathtaking. And of course, that half smile, the crooked smile. Seriously, who uses words like this? And how is it that they have such an effect that they make me want to absorb each and every description?

I listened to the first episode of Three Chicks and a Mic's podcast after finishing Twilight and they mentioned that one of the things they disliked about Bella's character is that she doesn't stick up for herself, and is pretty much a pushover. While I do agree with them, I felt that every time this weakness was displayed with Edward, it made him all the more attractive and alluring. Today's heroine is strong, smart, beautiful, and unique. Bella is not. She's awkard. She trips over herself and likes to hide behind her hair. She's terrible at sports and hates playing in snow. For me, it made their relationship and connection all the more meaningful -- this dark romance that seemed kindled for all the wrong reasons made perfect sense.

It's not a sappy love story by any means. The back of the book describes this element well, a story of "secret love and hushed affection." But this is not to say that the book did without suspense. It holds romance and suspense in a pretty even and healthy ratio, which also kept me flipping pages. This could be the naivete talking, but the fantasy element of the Cullens abilities as vampires was epic for me. Okay, epic might be too strong of a word, but it certainly helped. It was intriguing, the different powers each of the vampires have, and I'm curious to see how this plays out in the movie.

I haven't read a good share of teen romance novels, but I'd be surprised to find if Twilight handles stereotypes in a similar way to other teen fictions. At Forks High School, there aren't any cliques (save for vampires). There aren't jocks, snobs, or geeks. The others are just...there. The background characters supply subtle color to this book, but nothing bright and overpowering. A lot of the narrative consists of Bella's internal dialoging -- her fearless and inquisitive thoughts aren't annoying or meaningless, and compel the reader to learn about her as even she learns about herself.

I really could drone on for days, and days, but like I prefaced earlier, this is my personal take on Twilight. It's hard for me to articulate the fact that it's awakened me out of my imaginative coma. The book is an easy read -- no pretentious words, no confusing plot lines. And yes, there are predictable moments, not unlike most books in the same genre. Lastly, I'm not particularly excited about the movie, as books always seem to take us deeper into characters and stories than film ever will. I've grown to understand that they're two completely different mediums, oftentimes with differing agendas.

In closing...I do have expectations, mind you. I have high expectations in the physical and personal characters of Bella and Edward. Throughout the novel, Meyer describes Bella as unconsciously brave, unaware of her own frailty. This can be pulled off onscreen. Edward's eyes are smoldering -- I expect to see the glowing topaz and a lot of character expression; the book almost revolves around this entire physical feature. I think if they did away with the rest of his body in the film, fans would still be appeased as long as his eyes were in there somewhere.

Although that might be a little creepy.

render time.

I haven't posted in a while, so I figured I'd drop a line or two.

I'm currently waiting for this family reunion video I'm working on (for mom-in-law) to render and figured this was as good an excuse as any. ;) I'm feeling mentally tired but my legs are bouncing up and down due to a wonderful pot of coffee Kyle made.

A few things have happened, particularly in the job arena that I won't go into much detail about, but know that there's some moving and shaking going on there. Good moving and shaking.

I keep thinking of funny things that have been said over the past few weeks that I'd like to blog about, but I can't seem to do that without being random. And since I'm tired and it doesn't matter anyway, because I can post random things at 12:47 AM, I think I will.

When we went to go see Indy 4 several days ago, we saw a trailer for M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening." Funny comments were made, such as:

"So what's the prequel? 'Finna Happen'?"

and,

"The sequel is going to be 'It Happened.'"

I thought those were really funny. And I bottled it up inside for several days without sharing it with the entire world! =)

Okay, render is over, and I'm out.

memorial day.

One of the first things I check when I open up my laptop is Digg, particularly the top 10 items on the homepage. The picture isn't there anymore, but one of the top articles was a moving, bittersweet image of a young brother hugging his older brother as the older brother went off to fight in the war in Iraq, and another picture of the same younger brother kissing his brother's coffin when he came home. The sacrifice our soldiers have for our rights and our country blows my mind - I hope that on this Memorial Day, everyone has spent some time to reflect and remember our fallen soldiers.

happy mother's day.

Normally it's pretty tough for me to celebrate Mother's Day. Since my mom and I are separated by the Pacific Ocean, normally it's celebrated by sending off a sappy card (and it must be sappy, because they're her favorite), mailing her a gift, and of course, a phone call 13 hours before actual Mother's Day. Y'know, since Japan is 13/14 hours ahead.

Mother's Day doesn't seem as significant to me when I miss my mom all the time. I miss everything about her: her laugh, her adorable demeanor, the way she talks, her cooking, her smile, her advice, the list never ends. She was always the first to take in all my friends, and send them all home with leftover food in Tupperwares. (Well, Rubbermaid containers - those Tupperwares were 'spensive!) She was the one who knew when something was wrong. She was overprotective in a lot of arenas, but she was always supportive.

This post is dedicated to my wonderful mom, who I continue to learn more about and love every day. The little subtleties that make her unique are so dear to me. We share the same DNA - from our obsessive cleaning to our flat Filipina noses. But we're also different. For example, Mom will probably never see this post - she's not handy with the computer at all, and it's almost like pulling your hair out to get her to jump on Skype.

If you're familiar with HappySlip's videos, you'll see my mom in them. No, not literally. There are a few videos where Christine Gambito plays characters that represent different stereotypical Filipino family members, and the "Mom" fits my mother to a T.

So, for those of you who've never seen my mom, here you go.

Happy Mother's Day!

a different job.

I was browsing one of my favorite websites this morning and thought to myself - man, there are so many other things that I'm good at, maybe I should quit my job!

Okay, not really. Besides, a lot of these things that "I'm good at" wouldn't pay me a dime, but it's still fun to think I could make a full-time job out of some of these hobbies.

So, if they handed out college degrees for the following occupations, I'd probably be one happy, lazy, fat college graduate right now.

10 Other Jobs I Wouldn't Mind Having Right Now

1) Professional Web Surfer
Some people only hit up Facebook, MySpace, and Amazon.com. I hit up 10,000 other websites. You should see my bookmarks. It's embarrassing.

2) Professional Eater
I blame all the yummy food in this world.

3) Professional Smack Talker
No explanation necessary.

4) Professional Chapstick Hoarder
Or, if you want to be all PC about it, "Lip Balm Hoarder." I don't discriminate against any type of lip balm.

5) Professional Time Waster
I'd particularly like to employ watching movies, surfing the web and goofing off with Kyle as my favorite professional practices for this career choice.

6) Professional Receipt Collector
I'm really bad about doing this. I really should just be saving the earth and global warming and all that other hippie tree hugger stuff, but I find it more useful to save my redundant receipts from the Sam's gas pump.

7) Professional Over Reactor
No, not a nuclear reactor. They already have jobs. Far more important than a professional over reactor anyway.

8) Professional Target Clearance Aisle Shopper
Oh, don't even lie. You can't pretend you haven't been lured by those red price stickers.

9) Professional Trash Taker-Outer
Every Wednesday, like clockwork, I remove all the trash bags from every corner of the house to put them in the garage. (Kyle is the one who actually drags the giant trash bins to the curb) It's one of the few normal people things that I do, actually.

10) Professional E-Mail Addict
At least 20 times a day (discounting weekends) I check my e-mail. Okay, I'm sure there would be a lot of other people qualified for this job, too. Well, come to think of it, I'm not sure it's a job. I'm pretty sure it's more of a mental disorder and I probably need to seek professional help.

*EDIT*

A friend of mine pointed out that #9 is actually a real job: a janitor. Thanks, Garrett. You apparently need to be pre-screening my posts from now on. ;)

a little blurb from work.

I can't lie about it, I enjoy it when my boss and producer are on the road and out of town. The office is peaceful, quiet, and the lack of drama puts me at ease, especially on this particular Wednesday.

Not a ton of changes have gone on in the past few weeks, but some are noteworthy:

1) I can now park my car in the garage. Hooray.
2) Ultimate Frisbee has started up again. We're two weeks in, and it's awesome. Good friends & fun times.
3) I got my hair cut. I now look like Sabra Johnson's distant cousin.
4) Kyle has just left for Boston. It's my first time home alone in our big house.
5) I've started watching Social Brew on Revision3. I'm obviously attracted to show's content, but the graphics and music mesmerize me. I also like Irene from the Real World.
6) I'm really really really looking forward to seeing OneRepublic at Riverfest.
7) I want to go on a vacation. Really, I do. Somewhere that's fun and tropical and in the US. With no crazy kids running around. Wish me luck on that one.

There's the monthly update. Embarrassing, huh? I just now realized I've had this blog for over a year and have posted on average, once every millenia. Sad.

fitting, no?

I bought Kyle a shirt from Threadless while we were in Las Vegas last week. I remember trying to order him the same shirt several months ago, but they sold out. And now, they're sold out again.

I thought it was fitting. (No pun intended)

i quit, too!

This is how I was greeted by my computer this morning.

Happy Tuesday!

viva las vegas.

Every time I think of that cheesy jingle, I think of the more annoyingly cheesy "Viva Viagra" commercial.

Anyhoo.

So last week Kyle & I spent a wonderful, busy week together in warm & sunny Las Vegas, along with about 100,000 other people who were there for the same reason: the NAB Show. We were educated through speakers and sessions and amazed by ground-breaking technologies and innovative & creative visionaries. Okay, not visionaries exactly, I was just trying to throw some big words in there.

My favorites were Anthony Zuiker (creator of CSI series), Stu Maschwitz (a VFX guru & filmmaker), and the faces behind JibJab and Ask a Ninja (okay, not literally the ninja, that would have been awesome). Many other panelists and speakers had insightful things to say and got my mind gears turning - I have pages and pages of notes from all of the sessions I attended. I felt as if I were in school again, and it wasn't a bad feeling. I felt actively engaged while listening to speakers from my line of work - both refreshing and humbling.

The exhibitions were a blur. I have so much content to sort through, it's unreal. The FCPUG SuperMeet was great, although we didn't win anything at its insanely awesome raffle. The RED demo reel showcased by its team was...jaw dropping. I'm really excited about Final Cut Server and the endless workflow possibilities it can bring the company I work for. But, to quote a testimonial from a video I saw last week, "Workflow automation is only as good as the people who follow it to a T."

Here's the thing...workflow automation, efficient productivity, organization - these are my fortes. Of course I'm nowhere near perfect, but I have this weird side of me that loves it when things follow a pattern. I don't like having to use a desktop search program for trying to find stuff when I should know where they are in the first place.

Case in point: whenever I'm away from my computer, and there's an emergency where someone needs to edit a project I'm working on or work from my computer, it's easy for me to walk them through what they need to do because I always set up my projects the same way. Kudos to Cliff, who helped me become an advocate of tidy assets management. =)

Oh, and before I forget, NAB used a sound byte from a short interview that Kyle & I did after we walked out of a session last Tuesday. Click here, then click on Tuesday's Show Highlights in the iNABPlayer. Kyle's sound byte is at about 1:07. Heh. Proof that we were there. =)

And here's an abridged version of the gazillion pictures of Las Vegas eye candy we took.

There are a few more thoughts about Las Vegas in general that I'd like to post about, but for now, I'm going to call it a night. I only got a little bit of sleep last night, and I really don't want to be crazy in the morning. =)

just because...

Wow, I never seem to get a break long enough to write a semi-interesting post. But I felt the urge to hop onto Blogger and post something. A link. A picture. A tiny bit of humor...

I've got nothing.

hey! i can see my house from here!

Okay, not from a helicopter or from an airplane, but from Google Maps' Street View. Not sure exactly how long it's been live here in Arkansas, but pretty cool! (And slightly creepy) Go ahead, type in your address 'n give it a whirl.

why?

Why, oh why, would anyone want to make their own Twinkies?

the new firefox rocks.

I'm blogging at work during my frequent, yet short, render times. (Though this last one was a doozy, 20 minutes!) I downloaded the latest Firefox, still in beta, but it's currently giving Safari a run for its money on my Mac. For benchmarks, see Ars Technica's take. Granted, I haven't been surfing on any media heavy websites, but it's blazing through all my Google Apps as of right now.

Okay, so what are you still doing reading this post? Go download it! Download it right now!

hoola hoops are fun.

And 7th grade boys that look like zombies. They're fun, too. ;)

(Special thanks to my friend and model, Lauren - I love this picture)

before i forget..."new" music...

It normally isn't until I'm forced to sit down and relax (see: "being sick") where I actually let my mind wander and explore websites/iTunes for music I might be interested in. Otherwise, I normally hear about good music from a friend, or at times, via my coworkers (who know some of my musical tastes pretty well).

Well, yesterday while I was bummin' it at home and trying to recoup from the nasties, I happened upon some new-ish music that's currently made a move to my iPod. When I say "new-ish," you've got to keep in mind that I'm mostly 6 months behind on "new" music. Well, at least 6 months is better than a year.

1) Leona Lewis: "Bleeding Love"
Like I told the few people I text-messaged when I found out about this 22-year-old British pop sensation, she could quite possibly be an illegitimate love child of Mariah Carey & Whitney Houston. She's got some pipes. And what's more, my beloved Ryan Tedder wrote/co-wrote the song. Swoon.

2) John Mayer: "Say"
I'm seriously a sucker for ballad-y, music-scoring, sentimental-y type of guitary ooze. Thanks, John. Oh, and I also like Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Two extra points.

3) Carrie Underwood: "All American Girl"
Now, I can't exactly vouch for country music being my favorite genre, as it normally doesn't make its way into my play list very often. (Yes, I do realize I'm still in Arkansas) I'm not even sure I remember how I discovered this song, but I saw the music video first and loved it. It's a simple, sweet, fun song, and as an All American Girl, I totally dig it. It just makes me smile.

4) Juanes: "Gotas de Agua Dulce"
My favorite Colombian. First it was "Camisa Negra," and now this. I've watched the music video a few times, and for the life of me I can't figure out if those camera pans and tilts are in-camera or all post-production. Hmm. Anyways, the song is entirely in Spanish, so if you're a fan of Spanish-speaking people or Colombia, then you'll enjoy "Gotas de Agua Dulce" (translation: Drops of Sweet Water)

5) Backseat Goodbye: "Technicolor Eyes"
It's a sweet, simplistic ballad. Almost as if someone was talking and decided, "Hey! I should play a guitar to what I just said! Sweet!" It reminds me of my junior high days and summertime.

As you can see, my list is rather short. Until I'm sick again...

going down with the sickness.

It seems like everywhere I turn there's some friend or family member that's coming down with something. I'm no different, I suppose. Currently I'm typing this as I'm propped up in our bed, covered in 3 layers of blankets and a robe, while it's a mere 67 degrees outside.

I don't like being sick.

It wasn't exactly the happy ending I'd been expecting after returning home from a 3-day trip, either. From the moment we left for Mississippi I was gobbling up cough drops. Our shoot-week was wrapped up not as a pretty red bow, but as a fever that developed in my co-worker's Explorer on the way back from Arkadelphia.

Have I mentioned I don't like being sick?

--Fast forward 1.5 days--

I started this post over 24 hours ago, and I'm too lazy to start a new one, and I'm technically still sick, so nyah. I thought I was up to par today, and decided to join my small group's volunteer efforts at our church's carnival this afternoon. A short hour later, I found myself absolutely winded as a human ring toss element (I wasn't being tossed, I was a target!). So I guess I'm not up to par. I retreated home, and now I'm not in bed, but going back and forth between laundry and our big red couch.

I took a few pictures, not as many as I'd like, but probably won't post until I get my model's permission. I have a particular favorite in mind that I'd like to share. Stay tuned. ;)

in sickness and in health...

Kyle's been down with the flu this week, and he's miserable. For the most part, I've been rotating between keeping to myself and tending to him, all while trying not to catch the nasties since I'm going out of town next week for work.

For example, I'm typing this on my laptop within the guest bedroom. The room I'm in is across the hall and diagonal to our bedroom, where I can see Kyle watching a movie in clear view. Drumline, to be precise.

But what brought me to post tonight was the very fact that even in the midst of his sickness, my Kyle still manages to keep his sense of humor pretty healthy. He was on his laptop watching last weekend's episode of SNL, and said that since I couldn't watch it with him, he'd put it on his thumb drive so I could watch it.

Right before handing me the thumb drive, he offers a smile.

"Make sure you scan this for viruses, since it's coming from me."

Cute.