Posted 5/31/08
So what has been going on, now that I've finally decided to make an effort and update this page? Let's see. I've been working in San Francisco for the last four weeks, at a company called Ubisoft, helping to create packaging artwork. The work, good. The pay, good. The commute, not so much. But as Meat Loaf once sang, two out of three ain't bad. I'm there at least another week, quite possibly longer.
My previous wishes for seeing the Flyers (previous post) fulfill the impossible dream proved to be impossible after all. The Penguins took them out in 5. But considering they were the worst team in the league last season, I'll call the conference finals progress and be satisfied with that.
The local baseball teams have been better than everyone thought they would, though still not exactly world beaters. That should keep this Summer interesting, at least.
I'm getting almost no exercise these days, so weight control is an issue. Just not enough time and energy after the long work day. So far I've been "holding the line" just above three bills, but this last week was tough. I may have slipped a little more. There will need to be some "correction time" in the not too distant future, when I can shake free of work for a while.
Everything else, same as it ever was. Continue on accordingly.
Posted 5/5/08
I have famously--OK, let's face it, obscurely--observed that the last sports related item I truly care about, at that deep emotional level, is the eternal quest to see the Philadelphia Flyers win the Stanley Cup for the first time since childhood (1975, if you're counting at home). The Flyers dispatched the Montréal Canadiens over the weekend, and now stand in the Eastern Conference finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins, only 8 wins away from the goal.
I am not foolish enough to think it's really going to happen. The Penguins are clear favorites in this series, and even after that the Flyers--one year removed from the league's worst record--will be heavy underdogs against either Western Conference team. But it's nice to see them make some real progress towards being a relevant team again. I will hope, but not too strenuously. "Always expect the worst--then you can never be disappointed."
My rebate "check"--direct deposit, actually--arrived over the weekend. Six hundred big ones. I can feel the stimulus already.
A late entry from a few days ago:
I saw this headline on sfgate.com, the web site for the SF Chronicle on Saturday: "Immigration raids at 11 El Balazo restaurants - 63 seized"
Ah, Taqueria El Balazo. I have, shall we say, a history with ol' TEB.
Back in the day, about 4 years ago, I was fishing around for works to add to my portfolio. I decided to do a spec redesign of the TEB menu. They had these incredibly shitty-looking, typewritten, over-Xeroxed, barely legible menus on the counter at the local Lafayette store; they seemed like a good, "go-getter" project for a hungry graphic artist. I put together a nice looking design--you can see the results on my Online Portfolio (fish around a while)--and dropped it off at the local outlet, explaining that I put this together as a sample, can you give it to the manager, and if he's interested, we could do some business.
Never heard anything. Oh, well, at least I have a self-promotional piece.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I decided to go get some Mexican for dinner. I had some coupons from one of the local solo mailers, and figured I'd get a good deal on a good meal. (I freely admit--El Balazo always has very good food.) It was when I looked at the coupon sheet closely that I noticed something: the font used for the name "El Balazo" looked awfully familiar. In fact, it looked EXACTLY like the font I used on the spec menu. (The typeface was a major part of the design.) I pulled the old samples out of my portfolio, and sure enough--an exact match. Some elements were different, but that very prominent design for the name? Identical.
Did they steal my design, without any credit (or paying me, for that matter)? Hard to say. I didn't make up the typeface; I used a commercially available font. But I've seen their advertising in a lot of places over a lot of years, and never saw a design close to that anywhere. (They used to advertise with the company I worked for, so I've seen a lot of their ads.) Their name was always set in a variety of different typefaces, all quite different from my design. It wouldn't hold up in court, but it's suspicious.
Of course, that's not all of my history with TEB. Their restaurant is the place where my conviction was solidified, that Mexicans in general are, shall we say, not the brightest bulbs in the marquee. I've had any number of ordering problems there: not being understood by the help, not being charged correctly (including some legendary problems paying with a gift card), having to watch the preparer like a hawk (lest I get something on my burrito I don't want)--all those things you love to experience at a restaurant, those things which make ordering dinner into a baffling ordeal. Hence, the fact that I rarely went to Taqueria El Balazo, despite their proximity and (admitted) excellent food.
So when I saw that headline on Saturday, a tsunami of Schadenfreude swept over me. 'Cause maybe some Americans would have known how to accept the gift card. Maybe some Americans would know not to put sour cream on my burrito. Maybe an American would not have decided to take advantage of someone else's work. Maybe, for the expensive prices they charge--there's a reason I wanted the coupon--they could have hired some young Americans to handle those tasks.
And maybe their asses wouldn't have been busted by the U.S. ICE.
Made my fucking day.
Posted 5/3/08
I demand that you watch "An Engineer's Guide To Cats"
We've been heading towards this point for a while, and I guess now is as good a time as any for me to weigh in on this matter. What do I think of the Presidential election? It goes like this:
If John McCain is elected*, it will be an unmitigated disaster.
If Hillary Clinton is elected, it will be an unmitigated disaster.
If Barack Obama is elected, it MAY NOT BE an unmitigated disaster.
The analysis here is pretty simple. It should be self-evident that McCain--a.k.a. "McSame"--will be a disaster, because he represents no significant change from what has happened during the last eight years. We don't need to repeat this abortion. Whatever difference may exist will be subsumed to placating the same groups of self-interested parties who created the current disaster. End result: a few win, the rest of us get screwed. Again.
From a policy standpoint, there actually is little difference between Clinton and Obama. But the Clintons' centrist, self-focused politics will do little "down ticket" for the strength of the Democratic party as a whole; she could achieve the White House, but wind up standing alone with no strong party standing around her--in Congress, the state legislatures, or the governorships. Hillary would achieve her personal goal, but be impotent when it comes to making things better for you and me. And Clinton carries extraordinarily heavy baggage. Any number of policy initiatives during a potential Clinton administration will be opposed by the Fascist skunks solely for the sake of thwarting the Hated Hillary. There will be no cooperation in Washington with Hillary Clinton's White House.
Obama, in comparison, does not bring the same defect to the table. Fascists in the Senate and House would have a much harder time being obstructionist against Obama policies without appearing to be so. What they could get away with against Clinton--because so many in the "core" hate Hillary as much as they do--would not fly against the relatively clean and decidedly charismatic Obama. They would be too exposed in their ploys in such a circumstance--a condition that would threaten their own status in seats of power. Thus, Obama not only has the right policies in his platform, but the ability to get at least some of them done when in office.
Given these potentialities, I say our best bet is to hope that Obama wins the office. I feel especially uplifted in that assessment because of the extraordinary effort that the corporate media is making to see that that outcome does not come to pass. (The actions and reactions to the Wright absurdity shows how willing the corporate media is to seize upon anything that will get their darling McSame elected.) There is no guarantee that Obama will make a good President, but it's a damn certainty that the other two won't.
Vote for Obama, if you actually give a damn about the future.
*I use "elected" in the traditional, pre-Florida putsch meaning of the word. I don't take it for granted that there really is such a thing as a free and fair election anymore.
There's another of those Chronicles of Narnia movies coming out shortly. In honor of that event, I thought I'd revisit one of my old commentaries, one with a Narnia theme, and repost it with minor edits. A Nation Of Gingers is all spiffed up now, ready for your reading pleasure.
Spent last weekend in LA, as it was time yet again to haunt the footsteps of my muse and favorite, Renee O'Connor. She was attending the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation relay again, and last year was such a delight I figured I'd give it a go.
Well, it was a roasting hot day last Saturday--temps in the inland LA area were near 100º--and after a mildly interesting time walking around the LA County Arboretum for about an hour and a half (sweating it up in my jeans the whole time), I cruised over to the fire station in Industry to check out the chick. Alas, she did not stay long, only about an hour or so, and she spent a bunch of that time being interviewed by a couple proxies for one of the fan websites. Mostly I just hung around nearby and watched her work her crowd. It wasn't a bad time--and I did get a good lunch from the tacos, chili and hot dogs they were giving out there, for the cost of my donation--but not nearly enough time, not nearly enough of a social situation, for my taste. But I like the 'adventure' of going out of town once in a while, and I enjoyed the drive and hotel stay, so I guess I can't complain. Still, it was the first charity event she did since the previous year's relay, and she may very well not do another for another whole year. I don't think a full day, as one day out of the entire year, would have been too much to ask. But it is not for us little people to complain, of course. (Shrug.) You get what you get, I suppose.
This page last updated on 7/4/08