kazoobie’s new favorite toy…

my cat is absolutely going NUTS over what is (and if he could talk he would clearly exclaim) the BEST. TOY. EVER*!

Did it cost lots of money? Did I have to look long & hard & ponder over how much he might like it? No. It’s a silver rubberbandy thing that came wrapped around a jewelry box… so because it was tied in a bow around the box, it’s a loop of rubberbandy goodness he can easily swat at and it goes flying up in the air! He picks it up & carries it around. He gnaws on it for awhile & then swats it across the room again to chase it. My Fuzzy Pants is a happy little camper today! Every couple hours I hear him making all kinds of commotion, jumping up and down, meowing at it.. swatting it across the floor & then chasing after it again…. getting it stuck under the couch and then feisty-ly retrieving it again. Oh man, it’s so cute!!

*It should be noted however that if he could talk, and I asked him if it was really his favorite toy ever… better than his favorite mice? He’d say no. He loves those mice! But this is a close 2nd!

adobe lovers rejoice!

I’m so stoked on the new Adobe CS2 release! Live trace especially! WOOHOO!

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Sorry I haven’t posted much, I’ve been working around the clock! Remember how I said I wanted to do all that fun stuff last weekend? Ya, well…

Friday night: Stayed home & worked.
Saturday: Stayed home & worked a full 10 hour day (till 9 when I showered and went to a show* for 2 hours & then came home & crashed!)
Sunday: Went for breakfast with Lyne (2 photos here), which was nice – but I really shouldn’t have as by the time I got back home & working, I was then up until 1:30am finishing up stuff and had a 9:30am meeting downtown the next morning!
Monday: Worked out (woohoo! my calves are still sore! RAD!) and then worked all day into the night, even cancelling going to Deerhoof w/ Jem cuz I was so tired & had more work to finish up.

Basically it’s been this way for a few weeks, and I knew it was coming. I was telling people in February how much I was enjoying the ‘calm before the storm’ and the storm has arrived! All the projects I knew were coming, and then of course my consistent clients all came out of the woodwork at the same time (isn’t that always how it goes!?), so it’s been quite the juggle!

BUT I would like to say right here & now that I am not complaining! If anything I’m just giving myself a big huge pat on the back. :) It’s honestly hard to work this hard, and by yourself, for yourself… so yay for me! I’m loving every bit of it and truly get off on making several clients happy all at the same time. And considering the hunk of money that just went out to the Federal government, thank *insert miraculous being responsible for all the unknowns in our world* for me being busy as all can be!

I should be less busy come May 15, at which point I’ll be in Toronto & NYC & then ready to take on a whole new slew of projects at the end of May… a lot of which are in the cooker right now. Also, in case you’re reading & considering me for some work (I actually get a lot of work via frequent readers, which is so great!) please don’t think I’m this busy all the time. I mean, thankfully I always have stuff going on, but this current crazyness will actually be a lot less even come May 1 as I’m wrapping up several things by then.

Anyway – let’s hear it for working your butt off & feeling great about it! :) I love it. And the to-do list fanatic in me is having a hay-day. hahhaa I’m workin so fast and hard, I’m crossing stuff off left & right and then makin new ones. yeeeehaw!

*Rob Crow (Pinback & Thingy) and his band now called “My Band is a Mess”, opened for Adam Green and I really enjoyed them. Here’s a song of theirs I’m really digging: Helicopter

Adam Green was entertaining as always – and it was adorable to see Jem & Tania get so excited about seeing him, and hearing them sing along. I could only stay for a few of his before I lost my attention span & realized I was fried & needed to go home. But it was nice to get out and see the girls and have a beer (I can drink beer again! woohoo!) (not sick anymore for those of you like whu?)

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So, sorry to be all “sorry I’m just so busy working” boring blah blah on you. But that’s about all there is to talk about cuz that’s all I’m doing! So there! And I’m proud to say I’m working out again this week finally.. (again after being sick for so long). It feels good & I’m hoping to stay consistent so I can be feeling great for my trip to Coachella and Toronto/NYC! I’m ready to sport some VLC baby!

bay area local? want lasik?

I just got something in the mail – should any of you be googling & finding/reading this – The place where I got my lasik done just sent me a coupon for $250 off for me to give to someone I know. Email me if you want it: willo at willotoons.com – it says it’s good till June 10, 2005.

UPDATE: Apparently if you say that you were referred by me, you get a greater discount than this coupon can offer you. Best wishes to you all!

thursday night made the "funnest night ever" list!

How lucky am I to have 2 really super fun nights in a row!?!? Thursday night officially *ruled* in my book and kicked The Walkmen show off my funnest nights ever thus far in 2005 list (but it still remains on the top 10 best shows of 2005 thus far!).

Chris Georgenes is a fellow illustrator/flash animator who I have emailed & IM’d with forever, and finally we met! He’s a phenomenal animator and has basically crafted this “2.5D” style with Flash that has him speaking all over the place, not to mention an impressive client list. He inspires me to stick with my illustration and actually start animating my characters more (something I haven’t done in a long time!) and just overall he *slays* me with his mad talent! And on top of it all he’s SUCH a nice guy!

When we found out awhile back he was going to be in town speaking at this years Flash Forward, we knew we’d definitely have to match up while he was out here! (He lives in Boston) So as it worked out, he joined us for a night on the town Thursday, first to EVB’s Art show & then over to 111 Minna to see Adrienne Yan’s show! Darren, Lyne, Jim & Scott came out, too & we all had such a fun night!!

> VIEW PHOTOS (Chris has a few that are really good, too – I’ll see if I can post those when I get em ADDED! :)

As I’d mentioned, I’ve been a fan of Adrienne Yan‘s illustrations for a long time, which was our main reason for hitting this 111 Minna show. I’d emailed her probably a year or so ago, but since then she’s been quiet & hasn’t updated her site, etc. So when I got the announcement she was in a show with the Ultra Mega art collective at 111 Minna I was stoked! Later on in the night I had a guy help me find her & introduced myself & she remembered me! She’d seen me on the mailing list and was hoping I’d get it & be able to come on such last minute notice… I was so pleased she remembered. She’s awesome (pic of us!) and her work is fantastic and inspiring. Move to SF, Adrienne! :)

So – not only was it great to finally meet Chris, then get to see my friend Jason at EVB, and then finally meet Adrienne at 111 Minna AND have all my awesome friends around me, but to top it all off the art was great, the beer was yummy – and we DOODLED!

“What?!”, you say. See, when I get together when another artist – I just want to sit down & doodle! Hence why I love the Monster Drawing Rally – because you can actually watch other artists CREATE their art – which is the coolest part!! So after getting back from talking to Adrienne, Scott had a pad of paper they’d found with wine spills on it (that he was creatively turning into SPILLISTAN). So, when I suggested to Chris we draw together, he recommended we play a game where we each draw a little of a person, and then fold the paper down so the next person can’t see what you drew but just knows you left off at the neck (for example) and then it keeps going. So me, him, Darren, Lyne & Scott played that a couple times and the results were hilarious! It was also so fun just to see Chris & I’s different drawing styles and actually be able to watch each other draw in person! SO FUN!!!

It was a great crowd and energy at 111 Minna and I swear, sitting around and drawing with good friends, good beer, and good music – that is like my dream night! :) It was awesome.

The next morning I got up early & Chris got me in to see his Advanced Character Animation session at Flash Forward, and then I hit his Q & A afterwards. I was pleased that I knew most of the things he talked about, but I definitely gleaned a few great tips.. things like how he does his gradients… and how he assembles his timeline. De-selecting “sync” in the properties box to use a different symbol on the same layer (oh my god that is awesome!) and just to overall see how he approaches the animation. VERY. COOL!!!

He’s mad talented and a super nice guy and I’m stoked to have finally met him. And, you know when someone comes to town and you want to show them a good time? Well Thursday night could not have gone better – we had so much fun. :)

all the things I want to do this weekend, starting TODAY

Holy cow… if this isn’t motivation to work my butt off, I don’t know what is… I just realized that there are SO many things going on this weekend that I want to do! Can I work my butt off & get all my clients taken care of AND hit some of these fun – and totally creatively fulfilling – events?

I was planning to work through the weekend, anyway – but now it’s become an overdrive plan as I’d really like to fit all this in!!

TONITE:
Adrienne Yan is showing in the UltraMega show at 111 Minna opening tonite!! I *love* her illustrations sooo much, and she totally disappeared in the last year and now this! I’m SO THERE!!!! I’ve written her fan emails and everything. :D I can’t wait!

– While I’m downtown I want to stop by my friend Jason‘s studio for the EVB Art Show!

– I was going to see Clem Snide @ GAMH tonite, too… but I haven’t bought a ticket – and as much as I really want to see them.. I’m up in the air with it. But both Lyne & Lucia were on the fence about going with me, so if one of them pulls through – I’m there!

FRIDAY:
– Catch my friend Chris (Illustrator & Flash Animator extraordinaire!) speak at Flash Forward on Advanced Character Animation, and hopefully meet up with my friends Brendan & Cody who got sent there by their companies (*luuucky*) Yahoo and Antenna Audio, respectively.

– Friday night, Poketo Art Show @ Cowboys and Angels (salon), curated by Capsule 9. I LOVE Poketo!! And I know Omar and am totally stoked to go out & support him at this opening. yay!! Anyone wanna join me for this!?

– Friday night, go see Tussle play at the Hemlock! My drum teacher Warren plays some sick ass drums in this band that I’ve heard rave reviews about & need to go check it out for myself! Plus, I love the Hemlock!

SATURDAY:
APE is back! Darren & I went last year – and it was fun to read back on that post because since then we have totally completed silkscreening and button making art dates! aww yaaa US!

– Hit the Ghetto Metro show at Lola Gallery before it leaves! Sirron Norris & Merikay MacKenna’s Animal heads (that we saw last year) & I have a giraffe!) are showing!

– Saturday night, Jem & I are going to see Adam Green @ BotH!

MISC (besides loads of work):
– Have some girlfriends over for coffee & cinnamon rolls?
– Re-pot my poor plant that is dying as we speak because I haven’t re-potted the poor baby yet! :(
– Drum lesson?

UPDATE: Things I’m missing –
Beerfest Saturday night. Last year was SO. MUCH. FUN!
Garbage, Sunday night @ The Warfield. I would love to seem them live, but $31? No thanks.

hijack the disco w/ send for help + the otherside

Lastnight was one of the FUNNEST (which should *so* be a real word!) nights I have had this year!!! (see full list in the previous post)

First of all, it was the first official Bagel Radio Presents show, and it was a total success! I got there around 8:30 (rushing from being at BAM in the outer Sunset), hoping I wouldn’t miss the opener. And I didn’t.. I got there when they were just finishing up sound check so it was great!

Ted was already there, and Misty showed up moments later…. and all their friends (who I love! and I’ve met most of them between Ted’s Bday and the PNYE 80’s Prom) started funneling in. Then a few of my friends showed up throughout the night (Hai, Scott & their friend Sarah – who *small world* knows Dan Wolf too! – and then my other friend Mat, who brought his friend Mitch(?)).. and some other people I know through the indie list, like Tack and Anthony (Loquat‘s bass player – who is just down right adorable and AWESOME!). And, of course, Taylor, who is Hijack’s keyboardist/vox Mike’s brother (and I grew up with their cousin Molly Fletcher in Steamboat!) AND an incredible artist. He just started this sweet Animation Mentor course, so that was cool to catch up with him as always. I felt good because I had at least contributed 5 people to the whole event and upon leaving I even got ‘thanks’ from them for turning them onto such a great show! yay!

OH! And then – get this! The cute guy (Todd) I met at the Walkmen show (which unfortunately was followed by a bit of a post-noisepop downspiral – and yes, he’d read that. hi!) was there, and knew Gavin who knows Ted & Misty! It was good to see him… he is pretty cute, and very nice. Cool to talk music with, too. He owns Honey on Union Street, check it out.

OK – so the music! My history with Hijack the Disco thus far has been a sweet one, both in terms of making some incredible new friends – and discovering an awesome local band that is definitely on the way up! I had turned Ted onto Hijack the Disco… giving him their mp3’s and then he finally saw them play at Thee Parkside back in February and loved them, and got a station ID and started playing them more. NICE!

Ted had given me The Otherside‘s EP and I had liked them, but really honed in on it (out of my gazillion GB’s of mp3’s) even more after realizing that the bass player, Mark, is good friends with my friend Jeff. So it wasn’t long before I was loving their EP, and it made me so happy to see that they were on the Bagel Radio bill, as I’d been dying to see them! And they did not disappoint!! They were absolutely incredible lastnight!! The only thing I wished is that they’d been flipped with Send for Help, because too many people missed their set! They were *so* good, that I’m completely stoked on them now and look forward to seeing them again. They were even passing out free CD’s lastnight, which is such a good move, especially considering so many people missed them. But the buzz was in the air, and I think they’ll do really well. Ted has a great summary on how they’re like so & so with so & so on (insert instrument here). I wish I could do that… Ted’s the man! Anyway – as you know my show reviews are on a scale from dont mention them at all, to “they were ok” to “Awesome!” with maybe some notes on the fashion or excellent drummer here & there. hahaa :) Well these guys are AWESOME. Their level of rockin-ness sorta reminded me of a Stills Show. Where you think it’s going to be mellow, but then it totally rocks your socks off. AWESOME! And the lead singer kinda looks like my friend Rob. :)

For some reason I couldn’t get into Send for Help. I don’t know what I was doing during their set, but I wasn’t watching them I don’t think.. I guess I was talking. Whatever they were doing, wasn’t exactly pulling me in. But I’d give them another chance, cuz I’m nice like that. And I like some of their mp3’s.

Hijack the Disco KILLED IT. Nailed it. Were on fire. Blew me away. Rocked my socks off. I LOVE THOSE GUYS!!!!! Trevor, their drummer, is AMAZING on the drums. He’s like this crazy power drummer – that if you could hear me imitate would be like a machine gun on the drums. Totally powerful and yet he’s up there makin it look eaaaasy. DAMN! And the guys, Mike & Dave, have SUCH incredible voices and kick ass energy while they’re up their singing and playin guitar/keyboards. They’re truly so good, and such nice guys – and I’m so stoked to see them do really well! xoxooxoxoxoxoxo And like a big nerd I wore their t-shirt out to the show. REPRESENT!!! :)

Overall it was *such* a fun night. Seeing so many friends out – I literally knew like 30 people there!! – combined with a rockin show… I smiled myself to sleep lastnight.

p.s. Right at the end of the night as I was saying goodbye to Ted, he introduced me to this adorable guy sitting near him at the bar. Who I had recognized and sure enough turned out to be Jason, the lead singer from The Red Thread. Hilariously *just* yesterday I had happened upon this post I had written about seeing their show last February and so it was so funny to not only see him again, but get personally introduced. He is soooo adorable! oh my gooooodness! :) So, because it was so fresh in my mind – and I had so apparently chickened out at the first chance – I told him all about just re-reading the post and how I had wanted to tell him how cute he is. heheee! He said to send it to him, which I’m totally embarrassed to do, but just might because it is pretty funny… and great to full circle it here a full year later. SUCH a fun night!!!

top 10 shows of this year

I had one of the BEST nights lastnight! Seriously it had me smiling the whole way home and thinking about how it is most definitely in my top 10 favorite shows of this year. (I couldn’t get it down to 5 – I see a LOT of shows!!)

In no particular order:
Hijack the Disco + The Otherside @ The Makeout Room (full post to come)
Arcade Fire @ GAMH
Death From Above 1979 @ The Independent
Hot Hot Heat + Louis XIV @ GAMH
Ambulance Ltd. + Autolux @ The Independent
The Walkmen + 20 Minute Loop + Film School @ Bimbos
Hammell on Trial @ 12 Galaxies
The Futureheads @ Slims
Communiqué + The Joggers (when they opened for Ted Leo at Noise Pop) @ GAMH
David Byrne + the Extra Action Marching Band @ The Fillmore

Heavenly States + Continental (@ BotH) gets honorable mention, because HS are great every time and that show was really fun.

Also, why I was thinking of this list, I was thinking of Top 5 *funnest* nights ever so far this year, and so here’s that list:

In no particular order:
Hijack the Disco + The Otherside @ The Makeout Room (full post to come)
PNYE 80’s Prom
Cameron, Jenna & Devin coming over for Scattegories and drinks
Hot Hot Heat + Louis XIV @ GAMH
The Walkmen + 20 Minute Loop + Film School @ Bimbos

Honorable mention goes to the night our band practiced and we actually played a song the whole way through! woohoo! :)

p.s. I snapped photos to most all of these events if you wanna take a look. Missing are the Arcade Fire in January (I think I was camera-less at that time), and there’s no pics from the night Cam & Jenna came over, but it was SO FUN.

2005 KICKS ASS SO FAR!!!