| Tife and Limes: Summer in the City (Dirty, Gritty) |
[Dec. 23rd, 2009|10:52 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | daily | ] |
| [ | music |
| | KISS - Goin' Blind | ] |
-Xmas shopping was completed without much ado. Doing last minute shopping isn't bad anytime before noon. There are a million cars on the street but the stores aren't saturated. I'm glad the season is almost over because I'm sick of seeing twice the volume of full unhappy families dragging their brood around in public. I'm also going to dropkick a festive cheese kiosk if I hear Jingle Bell Rock one more god damned time.
-Hate packing. Ever-present sensation that I'm forgetting something. Not going home for long, wouldn't have anything to do up there but freeze if I lingered. Better to be down here (doing nothing, but marginally warmer). After I get back I am hell bent on cranking out some art. It's been a few months. I want to have another great prolonged burst much like the last great binge in August. Also going up sans internet, it's actually a relief to not impulsively check the same dozen websites every two minutes.
-FUCK IT'S COLD. Wait. FUCK it's cold and WINDY.
-I've always loved posters. Decided to poster the fuck out of my place, only primarily keeping it to inspirational figures- dancers, musicians, martial artists. The collage days are way over. Been buying frames like mad at Aaron Bros, they have consistent 40% coupons and have 50% off or Buy 1/Get 1 during this season. Man, everything looks better framed. Took me ages but I finally found a suitable Eleanor Powell repro (Born to Dance movie poster). It's been really difficult finding good posters of musical stars from the 30's-50's, 95% of the best images are no bigger than 8" x 10" photos. I'll settle for anything 11" x 17" or bigger. Also I am completely disgusted that there are no Lois Greenfield posters, just books and calendars. Are you kidding? Are you kidding?? Argh!
-Happy general & non-denomination-specific holiday wishes, y'all. Back inna flash.
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| Tife and Limes: DBL/KMWA |
[Dec. 20th, 2009|02:26 pm] |
-Phwugh. After two consecutive late-as-all-hell night shoots my body didn't really know what to do with itself after I got home from work yesterday. Around 4 p.m. I blinked, then I pretty much knocked out until 3 a.m. today. Eh. Been good, just did four loads of laundry and played four hours of Tekken (learned Wang & Lee, Baek or Marduk next). Nice day. Working out like a madman today, posting borderline obscene status updates on FB, eat my weight in angel hair later. I need a haircut.
Edit:
[17:17] Esco> I need to write a book
[17:17] Esco> "Body by Pepsi"
[17:17] Esco> it would be a million seller and wouldn't work for anybody but me
[17:18] dub> Step 1. Eat pizza
[17:18] dub> Step 2. Eat pasta
[17:18] dub> Step 3. Play Tekken
[17:18] dub> Step 4. Cthulhu Lats
[17:20] Esco> diet: cookies for breakfast, skip lunch, half box of pasta for dinner, scramble five eggs, drink three pepsis during the day
[17:20] Esco> get six pack abs
[17:21] p_d> i kinda hate you right now
[17:21] Esco> the last page will be like every ridiculous difficult as all hell one-arm/one-leg bodyweight exercise
[17:21] Esco> in the finest print
[17:21] p_d> HA
[17:21] p_d> do it!
[17:22] Esco> back page all "lol"
[17:23] Esco> they'll stock it in the humor section at borders
-Man I am NOT excited about Christmas shopping this year. Doing it at the last minute is not the issue (I always do that) and I don't mind spending money but I'm just so friggin' bored with the process. I'm a practical gift giver, I don't like giving people stuff that may just end up as clutter, but doing the giftcard rotation isn't a fun idea. I make an ugly face just thinking about it. I just don't know, man. I might bug out tomorrow and get everyone a big sack of canned goods and a llama or something. Edit: I just realized I can't because I'd have to check all that shit when I fly home.
-I bought a new garment bag and Amazon sent it in the largest possible box. The dang bag was only 3" thick. Look at this box. It's ridiculous.
-A few days ago I bought the I'm Rick James DVD. The more I listen to Rick James the more I love his music. I just keep discovering these incredibly bomb jams. His style of funk was so unique, it had a more upbeat party vibe but never sounded like disco. Shame people only pretty much know him for about three songs (Give It To Me Baby, Super Freak, Mary Jane). I have his Super Freak Live concert DVD which is a not particularly good show with badly recorded sound but it introduced me to several of my current favorite Rick James songs (Big Time, Love Gun, Fire It Up).
The Realness
I'm Rick James is a compilation of TV appearances & music videos from the late 70's/early 80's with a few interviews. It's kind of funny to watch stuff from the pre-MTV era, they have to lip sync their songs in front of a live audience as best they can. It's awkward when the track fades out at the end. But Rick exudes character at every moment and his entire band is a hoot. They're just the most hilarious & glittery bunch you ever saw. The keyboard player is also the worst lip syncer in the world, but I still love that guy. Even during a music video Rick will often perform so hard he'll be a hot mess with sweat flinging off of his braids in every direction. Dude was a hell of a performer. Thanks to this disc I now have Throwdown, Hard To Get and Come Into My Life in my current song rotation.
-Speaking of music video discs I re-bought Aerosmith's You Gotta Move and got Michael Jackson Live in Bucharest. I did a mini-review of You Gotta Move a million years ago and my opinion hasn't changed but the performances of Rats In The Cellar and Last Child (with the Sing a Simple Song riff) were just so hot I had to have them again. MJ Live in Bucharest is on sale at Amazon & Best Buy for eight bucks until mid-January (HIStory I & II, The One, Dangerous and Number Ones as well). The concert is heavily concentrated on the fanwank, WAY too many shots of the crowd freaking out and passing out and ripping out their hair etc., but it's still MJ and it's a great piece of history to have. He PUNISHES the stage during Billie Jean. It's especially worth getting at the current sale price.
-This Is It comes out Jan 26th on Blu Ray. All over it. Best Buy has a lame steelbook case pre-order, doesn't seem that any other place has a pre-order offer. Anyway, if you love MJ but missed This Is It in the theater then you are bad and you should feel bad. Come over next month and watch it. |
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| Tife and Limes: Gary Hashimoto |
[Dec. 17th, 2009|02:32 pm] |
Last 18 episodes part 6:
Heyo cop bonanza
-Speaking of, playing an NYPD officer today. Gonna be a night shoot, packing hella layers. Taking tomorrow off for sure, had to go til 2 a.m. yesterday. All the major network shows go on break after the 18th and don't resume until like the 2nd or something. Even still, I've had the busiest month ever since I started doing this. Pretty nuts considering most of my b.g. friends say they've had the worst/slowest year ever.
Been getting a rather surprising amount of overtime and miscellaneous bumps considering how productions have been cracking down on such things. 3/4 of my work this month has been straight 8's or less but with a lot more smoke/auto/wardrobe/mpv's and so on. Feels good man.
edit: Holy Jesus it went from 4:30 pm to 5:40 am. And I got recalled to do the same Friday night. Did you know it is goddamned freezing at 3 a.m.?
-Got the 100-page hardcover Tekken 6 artbook (normally packaged with the LE Stick bundle) on eBay for a dollar. ONE DOLLAR. Some dude put up like thirty listings of them at once on 3-day auctions and nobody bid. A steal. I've noticed that you can really get some excellent deals on ebay moreso than ever, just needs takes some scouring and some diligence. I make way less money using it to sell than I did even six months ago. It's oversaturated with Buy It Now sellers asking for incredibly illegal shipping costs to make up for low item prices (usually no better than what you can get on Amazon).
edit: looks like the same seller still has some up for auction ending mid-afternoon on Friday so jump on this shit if you want the book
-SF20: The Art of Street Fighter is seriously the best artbook I've owned for anything ever. 320 pages, goddamn huge and heavy (you could club someone unconscious with it), translated artist notes, character models from the animated movie, dedicated sections for Akiman/CRMK/Shinkiro etc, also ONLY $26.39 WITH FREE MOTHERFUCKING SHIPPING on Amazon. The best thing is that there are only 2 pages of Udon art, some of the CFE endings. So it's 99.4% Japanese art. I can't recommend it enough. I have the Capcom Illustrations Gamest Mook and Capcom Design Works and SF20 makes both of them obsolete in terms of SF content. |
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| Tife and Limes: It's SLIMMAZING! |
[Dec. 13th, 2009|03:18 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | daily, work | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Rick James - Throwdown | ] |
-Rain's over for now. We got it solid all week, I had to work in it twice. Monday I was in a short-sleeved cop uniform doing crosses in the rain all day (in the script it was supposed to be a warm spring afternoon), Friday I had to walk around in it in a business suit besides not actually appearing in any shots. Go figure. It was a great week work-wise regardless. Tomorrow seems to be continuing the trend nicely. Seriously nine times more productive than December of '08 and the month isn't even halfway over.
-It had been nearly three weeks since my last tap class before yesterday. Woke up late and really wasn't feeling it until I got there and did some drills. Just the fundamental feeling of doing drills made me happy. I'm kind of losing my zest for classes though, I do not miss the PAC for instance and I've been away from there for over two months. I really think this downturn has a lot to do with the weather. I just want to stay in bed all dang day if I don't have to go anywhere. Working out's harder, gotta be more careful about catching a chill, getting the mail is a ten foot odyssey of suck.
-Skipping gym today. After class yesterday I felt a mild ache in the front of my left lobe (funny how headache pains will isolate themselves) and I don't think exerting myself is a good idea. I want to remain able & unhindered. Some of my friends have been dropping recently, blitzed by hardcore colds and respiratory upheavals. I don't want none of that phlegmy particification. My right shoulder has been feeling raw regardless of whatever exercise (push-ups, handstand push-ups, pull-ups etc) and it just feels overworked in general. Think I'll just do everything with my left arm for a while. My left one-arms are SO WEAK jesus terrible
Suddenly, sheepdog
-If I hear Santa Baby ONE MORE GODDAMN TIME. HOLY SHIT. Christmas jingles are doing a number on my patience. Moreso than ever I am not looking forward to Christmas shopping either. All I want to do is work and save up and get some shit done next Spring. On the other hand I do kind of want to do something more interesting with gifts but I'm completely bereft of creativity at the moment. I'm just grinding, saving, alternately pining for root beer & fried chicken.
-For a long time I always said I prefer the cold to heat because it's easier to warm up than cool down (with no sweating involved), but I'm not so sure anymore. They've both got their ups and downs. But trying to be increasingly active it's just far better to always be warm and loose. Every minute in winter I feel my whole body is contracting and balling up because IT IS FREAKING COLD, MAN. Don't wanna move. Moving is for suckers. Staying fetal under a pile is where it's at. My drive is buried in the mud by the highway. Double ice backfire. Two pairs of socks. Screw this. |
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| Tife and Limes: u/f+4,3, 4, d,d/f+1~3,1, d,d/f+1~4,1+2, d,d/f+1,2 |
[Dec. 9th, 2009|07:42 pm] |
-Holy workload Batman. Finally got a day off today, reserved it for some errands and an excessive amount of push-ups. Whugh. Working tomorrow, times are great, checks are coming in, making plans (not quite fancy yet, just plans of necessity). Once I get my tax return in next year I am getting this god-damned wisdom tooth taken out. Been dealing with this vertically impacted fucker for long enough.
-Yesterday morning I'm glad I woke up 20 minutes early before leaving for work because I ended up needing those 20 minutes to run back and forth from the house pouring hot water all over my windows as they were FROZEN. No I don't got no dang ice chipper living in Los Angeles. I don't remember this happening even once last year.
-Spec Ops in MW2 is the greatest thing. I'd rather do that all day with a friend then run around in multiplayer getting worked over by dudes who play the game too much. Co-op is where it's at. Dub and I are very near to unlocking Echo. Still not terribly motivated to tackle Veteran on anything but one or two missions. The thing that really cracks me up is how one starts pretending to sound all professional and shit playing this game. Like we really know anything. Blah blah target acquired blah oscar mike blah on your six he's over there where's there give me a direction he's south-southwest I still can't see him he's on the RIGHT man *bang* BLEEDING OUT HALP
-Tekken 6 is also the greatest thing. Finally getting a solid handle on Julia juggle-wise, plus I found I've been leaving out at least five of her really effective moves (d+1+2, d/f+4,2,3, 4~2,1, 1~4/3, d/f+3+4). Getting better with Jin too, nerfed u/f+4 aside. Not all that interested in Bob after all. Every online session is a riot.
[16:33] Esco> I love the yelling at the character like it's your kid or your protege
[16:33] Esco> NO!! RAVEN!!! ARGH
[16:33] internet> hahaha
[16:33] Esco> rather, NO!! BOKEEM!!! ARGH
[16:33] internet> lmfao
KAZ. WHY KAZ. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT
[19:01] Kaz> 'cuz
[19:01] Kaz> I'm awesome
[19:01] Kaz> that's why
(note: reason does not compute)
[19:04] Kaz> that disaster of a lee is just even better than I ever could have imagined though
[19:04] Kaz> I wanted to make something awful
[19:04] Kaz> but I never thought I could make him THAT awful
Uuuugh. None of the rest of us could live with ourselves having a character dressed like that and using him as a main. Psychological warfare notwithstanding. Ryan's Law comes close in terms of matching as a disaster but at least it's not INTENTIONAL because it's his scenario character. Kaz's malice in crafting & using the rebellious gay raver son of Count Chocula is an unforgivable kind of evil. I will pick Asuka against him forever for this and commentate with my most nasal voice. |
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| Tife and Limes: OW MY SUPERMODEL FACE |
[Dec. 6th, 2009|08:18 pm] |
-Saw Kerry at gym today. Bloody freezing out. Fortunately I've been being more productive with choreography and have a bunch of fights that would all fit together within the same storyline, so hopefully this winter will be the genesis of something worth rehearsing a bunch. Kerry crashed his butterfly twist a bunch. Just like the old days. I think the last time I saw him land one successfully was about seven years ago.
-Ran through Modern Warfare 2's campaign on Veteran, got 100% already. Veteran was actually pretty disappointing compared to MW1 and WaW. Probably because the enemies don't spawn infinitely anymore. All the areas I thought would give me hernias (the favela, guarding the data download, the boneyard) took less than six tries at the hard parts because checkpoints were so frequent. Went halfway through Spec Ops last night with dub in about two hours, blazed through all of them on Hardened. It's a hoot. Neither of us are caring enough at this point to slog through on Veteran though. Still not getting into multiplayer although I'm getting lobby invites from other friends.
-Comics for ~*HOT STUDS*~ LJ. Exceptionally hilarious video game comics. I found this via her Metal Gear series, I highly recommend the Snake Eater adaptation to start with. Each MGS game is in about four parts, click the metal gear tag to see 'em. Other games are Ace Attorney, Persona, Zelda and Mario
-Chat's been a goldmine.
[20:44] Internet> i wonder so rectal why don't you do it with the ladies
[20:44] Internet> you seem like a nice enough guy
[20:44] Internet> you got that uh
[20:44] SDS> hahaha
[20:44] Internet> that uh
[20:45] Internet> that nervous penis there
[20:45] Internet> you got that nervous penis?
[20:45] dub> dick constantly on strong
[20:45] dub> out of anger
[20:45] Internet> can't perform when the time comes?
[20:45] * Kaz changes topic to '#nervous penis'
[20:45] SDS> the more you think about your penis the worse you do
[20:45] Internet> lol
[20:45] Esco> that should be the name of his hip-hop debut
[20:45] Esco> "You got that uh"
[20:45] Internet> hahaha
[20:46] Esco> you can already hear the chorus
[20:46] Esco> with a horrible southern twang
[20:46] Esco> DAT UH
[20:46] Esco> YOU GOT DAT UH
[20:46] Esco> wow I just wrote a soulja boy song
[20:46] Internet> hahaha
[20:46] Kaz> lmao
[20:46] Internet> i literally loled
[20:47] * Esco kills self
[20:47] SDS> nervous penis even kinda rhymes
Unrelated
[09:07] SDS> wait did tiger cheat at golf or with women
[09:07] Internet> women
[09:07] cka> golf
[09:07] Internet> women
[09:07] cka> golf
[09:07] Internet> women
[09:07] cka> golf
[09:07] Internet> RABBIT SEASON!
[09:07] cka> DUCK SEASON
-Gotta get up at 5 a.m. for work again. Working at Dodger Stadium. Supposed to rain from 5 a.m. to midnight. Bringing layers upon layers. Bleh. |
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| Tife and Limes: Bonkle Gong Y'all |
[Dec. 3rd, 2009|11:22 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | work | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Pee Wee Ellis - New Moon | ] |
-Holy nonstop work week Batman. I have been all over the place. Grinding is the time, because I am not about to be caught unprepared for a slow winter which is very well likely. Prepared am I. Dang and a half but November and December (so far) have been pretty great to me.
-Monday and Tuesday were short days with the notorious Solomon on the second to last episode of a show that's already been canceled. Funny. Why do cute girls gotta smoke? Dang, Bianca. What the crap. Also, I find that I get supremely irriated by women who think they're the shit just because they're cute but do not exercise, have zero muscle mass, and just do the minimum it takes to stay thin and nothing more. BOO and THUMBS DOWN and SUB-ZERO SHOULDER (f,b + LP).
-Tap class missed: Ninth in a row. Damned weekday class schedule.
-Managed to get 14 hours yesterday. Overtime these days is so rare that people speak of it like winning the lottery. I have worked a LOT of six to seven hour days in the past two months.
Julie Andrews & Nakatomi Plaza
-Yesterday was crazy-fucking story/drama day. One guy told us how growing up in South Central he was shot six times on four occasions, all by being in the wrong place at the wrong time:
-First time: High school sophomore taking his football team group picture, gangbangers come onto the field chasing somebody and fire into the group, hitting him in his right hip and shattering it.
-Second time: Drive-by. Shot in the left calf and right thigh for standing next to a gangbanger he didn't know.
-Third time: Shot in the back and leg by a guy who followed his sister and attempted to carjack her BMW when he intervened. He would've been killed had his friend's dad not come out of the front door and fired his revolver at the carjacker's car four times. He went on to say months later while he was having sex with a girl the bullet that went into his back extracted itself through his shoulder (as his doctor had predicted).
-Fourth time: Shot in the jaw while riding in his friend's car. Completely random drive-by. Bullet lodged in his jaw, they had to extract a tooth and pull it out of his mouth.
He had all the bullet holes to show for each story, thankfully we didn't see the big C-shaped scar from when they operated on his hip. Dude made living in California sound like the most dangerous thing in the world. That is until Mohammed started telling stories about his friends in Rio who got kidnapped outside of the front of their house and held for ransom until their bank accounts were drained. OH THE THINGS YOU HEAR ON SET. Better than small talk.
-What else happened. Dan keeps thinking I'm constantly a dead body (only twice!). Ross ditched a thousand-person call on a rush-recall (odds are with that many people nobody noticed). Everybody cursed heavily despite being within earshot of two children sitting at a table nearby; "Man, sometimes it's like you just fucking don't-" "LANGUAGE!" "Oh, whoops." "..." "...so after that I fucking..."
-A CAN OF "WHUP-HOSS".
-There's this dude Tony, who when I first met him like a year and a half ago was the most aggravating and caustic asshole I'd ever encountered. Got used to him fast though, you just had to Aegis shit back at him just as hard and everything was fine. Dude had no limiter on his sarcasm knob so he always sounded dead serious. Never smiled back then either. He seems to have really mellowed out since, I think a lot having to do with being a regular on NCIS LA and spending a lot of time with what's-her-face (I honestly can't remember her name). But boy did I ever get an insight into his behavior. When we were wrapped yesterday on the way back to the gate he dropped his wallet. When I gave it back to him he immediately started self-loathing SO HARD ("You IDIOT HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID") that I could basically see a cloud form over his head and thunderbolts flaying his back. Dude has serious issues but his good qualities become increasingly apparent the more I work with him.
( A list of every different show I've worked on since April of '08 )
-I am not cool with that person who comes to work and brings their acoustic guitar and subjects everybody to their personal brand of folk rock for as long as we're in holding. I am not a fan of that person. I would not hang out with them. That shit is super-gilded-ass-annoying.
-Life is great! It is COOOOLD. Night shoot tomorrow. I want some macaroni. |
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| Tife and Limes: I need - six eggs |
[Nov. 29th, 2009|10:20 pm] |
-It was a very Tekken weekend. Probably too much. The game is like crack x10 since they fixed online, especially playing with friends with mics. Pretty epic four hour rounds with net, Dan, Noz, Ryan (and FREY-ED). The best of times. I'm slow to pick up new characters because I feel like I have to stop playing it so often.
edit: I ran a train on ObiJay on Saturday. It hurt me to see his only followup to a launcher by King was a basic air throw. That does so little damage that it hurt me internally to see it done so often. It hurt me in HERE *marks heart area*. He got an initial win with Alisa and then I steamrolled him for twelve matches straight before he quit. Jay: LRN 2 JUGS, NGA
Spake-ing of games, bought Modern Warfare 2 off Brewce. It looks great and plays great from what little I've already played but I can still feel the lingering sensation of my burnout from Modern Warfare 1. So I'm enjoying it but I'm not too excited. Much reservations about jumping online. I want to get things done in December (and not gaining XP or unlocking weapons & perks). Enemy intel? Psh. Maybe later.
-Finally feeling some slow progress on the full planche. Everything in my back is starting to click together, so it feels. Still don't think I'm going to get planche push-ups by New Year's, not like that was a big deal really. Definitely have it by Spring, like ye olde one-arm pull-up. My left elbow is so friggin' weak. I'm doing a ton of one-arm negatives primarily with my left. Hard to really do it a lot though because at full extension it hurts like a mother. Want this damn thing to improve before I get any older, so more one-arm dead hangs and negatives through the next year. My one-arm grip sucks really bad if I'm just dead weight. Must improve! Save myself and hypothetical future wife hanging perilously off the side of a hypothetical cliff!
It's funny how taking a full week off can actually help me feel better once I charge back into working out daily. It's like having such a thorough rest period really solidifies my strength gain and lets everything settle (I guess). Works for me though. Just pacing everything out and allowing for long rests I think has helped to keep me injury-free, thank goodness for muscle memory.
-Sleep schedule's been screwed up all weekend since I drove my roommate to the airport at 5:30 in the morning on Thursday. It's just as well, I have to be up for work tomorrow at the same time. I've done this enough times that I don't dread it quite so much anymore. It'll probably be around noon or one where I'll want to just crash so dang hard. Gonna suck, but is okay. |
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| Tife and Limes: Noz> FJDISFJDPI |
[Nov. 26th, 2009|04:24 am] |
-Noz, Dan & I were playing T6 online for a little over 2 hours when the online patch was released. We immediately installed it (super quick download, like 2 minutes) to give it a go. Result: HOLY SHIT fast. What a difference. Before the patch sometimes it would slow to an absolute halt or resemble a powerpoint slideshow. Post-patch was super smooth with barely any lag (it helped that we were playing at 2 a.m. I'm sure). Pretty damn good for online, even better than T5DR imo. I was able to land Leo's d/f+2, d/f+1, b+2,1, d/b+2,2, d/f+1+2, 1+2, qcf+2. Juggle city all over the place. Before it was also more of hitting the buttons before the other guy did in hopes of stuffing his moves. Now we actually got tactics going on. Great times I tell you. Not perfect but a substantial improvement. We played for another hour and a half before crashing.
Noz's Red Riding Lili. He nailed the wall throw once (bottom right)
Noz only uses Lili. Dan used Lili & Alisa and several others, some for shits and giggles. Mostly it was Lilitown vs Lilitrain or Lilifest vs Lilipalooza. I used about eighteen people. Tried to sparingly use Christie against Noz because he currently has no answers against her. It's funny that I'm nearly using half the roster but on the select screen it feels like I only use a handful. My regulars are Eddy/Christie, Law, Feng, King, Armor King, Lei, Bruce, Dragunov, Jack, Lili, Kazuya, Heihachi, and Paul. Recently acquired Leo, Bob, Asuka and Jin. Working on adding Julia and Wang right now with Marduk and possibly Lee in the queue. The fun just doesn't stop.
-U.S. women's judo pioneer Rena 'Rusty' Kanokogi dies at 74. This woman was hardcore. In 1959, she posed as a man in the New York State YMCA judo championships and won, but had to give back her gold medal after one of the organizers asked if she was a female. "Her coach said, 'Don't bring any attention. Just pull a draw.' I guess she couldn't help herself, and she beat the guy."
-I have missed tap class for eight weeks straight because of work and realized I'm gonna miss today too because of bleedin' Thanksgiving. UGH.
-At work yesterday they gave me these incredibly heavy shoes and we were idling around these big concrete hallways for the longest time so I did a few hundred riffs and improvised a little. The resonance I got was super nice. I think I actually prefer tapping soft-shoe in heavy soles than wearing taps. Just walking 12-count riffs up and down the hallway for two hours, getting all sweaty in my jumpsuit. Felt good man.
-Speaking of Thanksgiving, not doing anything this year. Most of the family in the bay is preoccupied with something or other. I've missed one or two Thanksgivings before, it's never a particularly huge deal in our family. I had my party already. Never miss a Christmas though.
-Man who the hell has money to spend on Black Friday. Although the more I look at the sales the more I realize there really isn't anything I want to buy that isn't edible.
-MATS is closed, PAC's closed, bleeeeah. Guess I just have to stay in and exercise! *snap* Darn. What an unappealing concept. |
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| Tife and Limes: The Verge. Over there. Put on a shirt and sweat it up. Gym it down. Wag flex clench. |
[Nov. 23rd, 2009|02:24 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | family, martialarts | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Maceo Parker feat. George Clinton - Standing On The Verge Of Gettin' It On | ] |
-Funeral went well. First time pallbearer. Good mass, good summation, pretty rainy. Didn't actually get to lower the casket because of said crazy-ass downpour.
Anyone I told about the funeral pretty much projected their own relationships with their grandfathers onto me. Like Emily would give me the most pitiful/anguished face every time I mentioned it ("YOU TRY BUT YOU'RE JUST NEVER READY FOR IT") and my sister got bombarded with "STAY STRONG" and "YOU'LL GET THROUGH THIS :(((" messages. It's a natural assumption that a death in the family is bad or unfortunate but that's not always the case. It was clearly his time and he had been suffering. No need for other folks to tear up, as well-intentioned as they are.
Got to spend a lot of time with Erin (been like 15 years) and played a ton of Scrabble. Lots of great eats this weekend. Candy canes, Madeline Khan, Teri Garr, sourdough and Spongebob. The drive up and back with my sister was not so bad because we spent half the time talking about hilarious shit. Like how intensely catastrophic the mess would be if our roommates moved in together.
-Sooooo what with all the family business and me working so damn much in the past two weeks I have fallen off the workout wagon super hard. And boy am I feeling it (although I still look the same).
White Lotus was the first gym in like two weeks. Seems Loopkicks or Team Sideswipe or just a whole bunch of tricksters were there today taking up 80% of the floor. I did 45 minutes on the heavy bag and somehow DIDN'T bruise the holy hell out of my legs & knuckles this time. Feels good man. Did a bunch of floor maintenance, overall didn't do as much as I should've. Talked to Hans for a bit. Watching him I noticed he had really toned down a lot of his tricks. He said he'd been working on them less. He said "It's really hard on the body" which is not news to either of us but I guess he's had some nagging injuries. Neither of us are interested in being that kid crashing a 720 twist on his thighs & knees. He actually remembered the first time we hung out which was like eight years ago at Denny's in Santa Clara when he ordered a tuna melt and Tom Duong skipped out on paying his bill.
I NEED TO WORK OUT MORE. SO serious. Really looking like planche push-ups are not attainable before New Year's. Oh well. Back on the horse! Back on it I tell you! Full-body tension, straining, sweating, and collapsing in a pile! Sexily! Damn it!
I bought four pizzas and they are probably going to be gone by Tuesday. |
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| Tife and Limes: Revenge of Lili-town |
[Nov. 18th, 2009|08:14 pm] |
-Forgot to mention I played T6 at the party on Sunday for the first time with a live opponent. T6 is far more intense than DR. Even though damage overall is down, it really feels like one mistake will cost you harder than ever. Walls and bounds just make everything more high-strung. The game is fun as hell.
-"HAY GIRLFRIEND I LOVE THOSE SHOES OMG BECKY" Part 3 of 3 (Part 2 here)
( Motion blur, colorth, styleth, item moveth ) |
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| I still hate the word condolences. It's sterile and overused. |
[Nov. 14th, 2009|10:20 pm] |
1923-2009
-Yesterday Grandpa Wann passed. I'm glad I at least got to see him a few weeks ago. It was pretty tough to see how difficult his life had become. It had been several months of struggle since a difficult surgery, so I'm glad he's no longer under distress. He was a kind and gentle man. |
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| Tife and Limes: All cracks must form directly under John Cusack |
[Nov. 13th, 2009|06:46 pm] |
-Two days before Up was released on video I discovered an Amazon pre-order deal where if you reserved it you got $10 off another Disney Blu-Ray. Sadly the Incredibles is not yet on blu so I went with Bolt which was a pleasant surprise of '08. So each movie ended up being about $16. Up is a blisteringly good-looking movie, although I was surprised to find it came with FOUR discs. That's the movie on blu-ray, the special features on blu-ray, the DVD, and a digital copy. Even I think that's excessive for a $20 film (still is $20 on amazon), I would never ask for or need the last two discs.
-Saw 2012 this morning. The special effects bar was set so high it's now on the moon. Only problem: it was 20-30 minutes too long and the crises are so by-the-numbers that you already know what's going to happen and don't care about any of the characters. By the last two or three life-threatening problems I was drumming my fingers and just wanting it to be over, all JUST GET TO IT ALREADY after 2 and 1/2 hours jesus. You know who's going to live and who's expendable and it hits all the beats and sentiments when necessary. Still, good theater experience. You need that bass shaking the floor for the full effect. The CG is staggering. Glad I saw it, probably won't see it again unless it gets real cheap on blu-ray someday and I have substantially better speakers.
edit: Here's something that always happens and I don't understand it. Wake up, pee, don't drink a damn thing, go to the theater, still don't drink a damn thing, and by the end of the movie I have to pee a half gallon. WHAT the HELL.
-Worked me bleedin' arse off this week. Spent Monday tackling a rather overzealous bg protester all afternoon until he was halfway to a cardiac (darn method actors), Tuesday listening to Solomon's tales of college debauchery and orgies at U of Kansas (incidentally I think one of the stand-ins and her grip boyfriend were doing it in the bathroom during lunch), Wednesday wearing a horrible tweed jacket & Prada shirt and feeling completely out of place, and Thursday being mistaken for a 22 year old while looking at awkward dog photography and then eating my weight in mashed potatoes before getting rained on and standing on New York Street until 11 dressed for Christmastime. A great week, it was.
-Finally learned Leo. Just had to get a staple juggle for her main three launchers and now it's a matter of remembering all her other tools. There are a bunch of 3-4 move strings that don't seem practical enough to remember, I'm sticking mainly to pokes and counters and abusing her odd 1+4 and 2+3 moves as shenanigans. So many of her punch strings are similar, it's hard to see the necessity of certain moves. Another round of custom pics is forthcoming.
-I ALMOST bought Modern Warfare 2 today. I know everyone's playing it, everyone's raving about it, but it's not like it's going away anytime soon. I don't feel the urgency. It is GOD DAMN HARD ENOUGH trying to get anything done around here, self-distracting as I am. Being online all the dang time getting experience points and unlocking weapons is not going to cut it this winter. Also I am not about to spend friggin' $60 on a dang game right now. I'd rather spend money on a new frying pan.
-I am totally getting a new 10" frying pan asap. My trusty Calphalon lasted a good five years with near-daily med/high egg frying. Best non-stick pan I ever had, but it's definitely done. I am so excited to get a new frying pan. I don't think you know how excited I am. I cannot even manifest a gesture what establishes clearly enough the measure of my excitement for said pan.
-I can't believe I got rained on last night. It was really coming down for all of about five minutes. At least it actually feels like fall. |
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| Tife and Limes: Welcome to Lili-town |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|11:10 pm] |
-Working my ass off this week. Quick post to show orff the xmb screenshot function in T6. Tried to make them all either replays, intros or winposes. I probably spent more time than I needed to on this by doing Ghost instead of 2P (needed the practice).
With every new custom all the dudes in the chat are all, "HAY GIRLFRIEND I LOVE THOSE SHOES OMG". Sad but true. I jutht LOVE shopping for HAIR! Oh, my GOD! Becky!
( Motion blur, colorth, styleth, item moveth ) |
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| Tife and Limes: Bootleg Ghetto Business Luchador Superman |
[Nov. 8th, 2009|08:48 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | daily | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Gwen Stefani - Sweet Escape | ] |
-Not much has been happening. Work has been easy, routine and uneventful. Just been having to get up INSANELY early because after daylight savings everyone pushes call times back an hour to keep getting the same light. Lot of getting up at 5 a.m. Actually have to get up at 4 a.m. for tomorrow. Bleh.
-Last night I had a tremendously long dream involving five floors of madness, demon trees, rhino skeletons, New Orleans, traffic, rain and bicycles. I was actually disappointed when I woke up because I wanted to see where it was all going. Last thing I remembered was making a financial negotiation with possessed agents of Starro the Conqueror.
Impromptu doodles I made last last week. I don't know what a flu virus looks like.
-Emily was trying hard to convince me Rhapsody in Taps was just completely brilliant although I really didn't like the presentation. "I didn't like the bits they copped from Stomp." "They were better than Stomp!" "Uh yeah you're not gonna get a co-sign from me on that one." I could care less about the juxtaposition of the tap rhythms to the music if the entire theme of the piece is bugging the hell out of me. She did admit her admiration had much to do with knowing the company personally and it was difficult to put that outside of her analysis.
-Tons and tons of Tekken 6 the past couple days, super-hilarious online matches with mics. Played with Dan/Bonertown, Dub, Noz, The Rockett (blasian as fuck), carb (NASCAR as fuck), and Will. I get the biggest kick out of trying to land juggles, like it's a huge accomplishment just to be able to do that with the amount of lag. The best ones I've managed are simplified, like Armor King's u/f+4, 1,2, f+1+2, d/f+1, f+2,1 or Lili's u/f+3, 1,2, f+1+2, d/f+3+4, 3+4. Lili is all the rage right now with everybody. I really do need to finally get Leo to a competitive level, I don't even know her juggles yet. I'm good with most of my old characters except I'm missing staples for certain counter launchers (A.King and Lili in particular). Online is great for busting out item moves, been cuffing dudes with Lei as much as I can. Pics of customs soon I guess, recently learned how to use the xmb screenshot thing. My Heihachi is officially raw.
-Another Sunday, another new batch of shin & knuckle bruises. FEELS GOOD MAN. Bruised my fourth toe on my right foot, I don't even know how. Unlike most Sundays everybody and their mother were there. Well Dan & Mitch, a half dozen tricksters and about twenty teenagers and two big fuckers who probably had down's. Saw Reuben at WL for the first time, also with Ken O and Nakamura whom I haven't seen in years. Ken's back because Power Rangers is officially over. TWO daughters now. That is ridiculous. Strong like bull indeed. They ran through a typical ACT style routine (something I never quite enjoyed tbh, rather just be making up fights). Besides the confirmation that PR is over (if anyone's doing it, it isn't Disney), heard Dragonball Evolution is getting a sequel because it made money in Asia (THANKS LOADS, ASIA) and the Tekken/KOF movies are total shite (too obvious to be news). It is the saddest times for videogame movies.
-Reminders: Work out harder and more often, learn Leo & Bob, draw something. |
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| Tife and Limes: Gilda! |
[Nov. 3rd, 2009|11:59 am] |
-This Is It was tremendous. Outstanding. A fascinating insight. Hugely entertaining. Gripping, moving, tear-inducing. Like everyone before me said, it was the greatest celebration and the biggest heartbreak all at once.
[14:20] Esco> I managed to hold out for about the first 45 minutes of This Is It only being mildly misty & teared up
[14:21] Esco> then when Beat It started I was straight up BLOO HOO HOO *SNIFF* HOO A BLOO BLA BLOO
[14:23] ObiJay> That's pretty impressive. The part with him testing the Cherry Picker got me
[14:26] ObiJay> I don't get why the showing I went to on opening night was so empty. It was really odd
[14:26] Esco> you live in a weird town full of squares
[14:27] ObiJay> Indeed. I sent Will a text about it before it started up. It made me sad. Then seeing MJ still had the magic made me even sadder
[14:27] Esco> he never lost a step
[14:27] Esco> it is a CRIME
[14:27] Esco> A CRIME
[14:27] * dub has quit IRC (Ping timeout: 180 seconds)
[14:27] Esco> get back here dub and say it is a crime
[14:34] Esco> no excuses, go see it right now
[14:34] dub> i'd heard it was just a short release
[14:34] Esco> leave your job
[14:34] dub> i'm broke right now
[14:34] Esco> mug somebody
[14:34] Esco> def get the theater experience though dub
[14:34] Esco> this is the most important documentary/concert film for our generation
[14:35] Esco> I am serious
[14:35] ObiJay> I'll sign on that one
[14:36] dub> damn
Describing the movie to others, I noticed I couldn't help referring to MJ in the present tense. You just want him to still be here and for that tour to happen. If you've ever been a fan, even if your interest faded over time, and ESPECIALLY if you grew up with the hits, then see This Is It. Twice. Drag your friends. Also, stay for a scene after the credits. DO NOT miss the chance to see it in the theater.
edit: I had never heard Earth Song from HIStory before. That song struck me hard. It wasn't released as a single in the US but it's the biggest selling MJ single in the UK. Anyway listen to it, it gets epic a minute in and just builds like crazy up to the end.
-Missed gym in the past week but I've been finding new ways to light myself on fire. I was reading an article about handstands & handbalancing and came across the suggestion of changing up arm positions during handstand push-ups. The simplest idea, yet I never tried it.
Usually my arms are just past shoulder width and slightly in front of my chest. So I tried doing them with my hands placed wider and lining up evenly with my head and shoulders. I could still do roughly the same amount only different parts of my deltoids were really waking up. Then I tried placing my hands as close together as I could, which is exactly shoulder width and further out in front of my chest (hands any closer makes for serious wrist strain). That one SERIOUSLY worked my traps, especially the middle. Only did 3/4 as many in that position. I just keep doing sets of handstands like crazy, it's way more fun to me than variations of normal push-ups.
-Work on Monday was kind of ridiculous. I show up to be a cop, get fully costumed and propped (weapon belt & tactical vest), then on the second rehearsal of the first shot the 1st AD comes over and says, "You're the wrong guy. We wanted the guy from last week. Our fault, not yours." I was perfectly fine with this since they were probably just going to swap me over into a pedestrian, so they send me to wardrobe and I take all my shit off while they wait for the right guy. In only ten minutes somebody radios to wardrobe, "The guy is here at the gate." Then fifteen minutes pass. The 1st AD is freaking out because the shot is waiting on this guy. Apparently the dude was stuck in traffic and three people heard different things. So they very hurriedly put all the shit back ON me and throw me into the scene. 1st AD tells me to take off my glasses and hide my face at all costs. So on the wide master shot I stack myself behind the other cop, look down, turn around to wave off people, etc. About two hours after we finish doing the wide master shot the guy stuck in traffic finally shows up... and he is ALSO THE WRONG GUY. So they send him home.
I know the head P.A. so I just watched him for about five minutes on the phone with central casting trying to figure out why THEY can't figure out who in hell worked the show last week. And after over three hours of this bullshit they finally gave up and just let me be in the fucking scene. For all the angles after the master they just let me look up and be natural. The dumbest thing is that it didn't matter in the FIRST PLACE if the cop was the same guy. But stranger things have happened on sets. I understood how shit like this happens, the entire crew was overworked and frazzled from trying to do 2 episodes simultaneously. Especially the 1st AD, she was a mess and a walking bitchfest. When it's like that, common sense flies out the window. The costume and prop guys thought it funny how chill I was with all the nonsense going on, they were the only ones who knew as well as I that in a few hours none of these problems were even going to be REMEMBERED. This is the business that I am in. It is the strangest. It ended up being a fun day, we knocked the whole scene out in about six hours. Being in a full cop uniform on a 90 degree day (in November) doesn't help any though.
Oh yeah, first time i ever cuffed a dude. It's a lot trickier than it looks if you're doing it as fast as possible. Apparently I'm good at it, according to the prop guys, apart from the times it got caught in the character's baggy ass sleeves. |
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| Tife and Limes: Shave and a haircut (so late) |
[Oct. 30th, 2009|11:59 pm] |
Past 18 episodes of misc shows, part 5:
-I was working at Disney in Burbank today and they were having a big Halloween party for the families of the staff. Talk about a change in atmosphere. Our A Camera operator was the Hamburglar. Our 2nd 2nd AD was Frida Kahlo. The DP was wearing a giant rainbow on his head. When we broke for lunch I walked over to the commissary and it was completely packed with costumes, a full marching band too. Walked by a woman with a knife handle embedded in her chest (very well done), a Star Trek TNG engineer, a few dozen assorted princesses. The surprising thing was that extremely few people were dressed as Disney characters. They must get more than enough of it. It was funny to be in the bathroom washing up and having a six foot tall mustard bottle walk in with two toddler ladybugs in tow. Don't see that every day on the job.
Jeanie Andronyk @ Royal Bison
-Took me a few days to get around to inking and coloring this after I drew it. Mainly because I got distracted by....
-Tekken 6 arrived on Wednesday. Got it for $45 on Amazon, free shipping (which only took 2 days glee). Basically played it two days straight, Wed and Thurs.
I HATE SCENARIO CAMPAIGN. LORD HOW I HATE IT. It's Tekken Force done WORSE. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so interminably LONG and TEDIOUS and CHEAP (heyo NIGHTMARE TRAIN). The worst thing about it is its prominence in the game, it's at the top of the menu and sadly the best way to earn money for customs. I got so mad at it at some points I nearly twisted the sixaxis in two. ARCADE MODE should be the FIRST goddamn thing on the menu, ALWAYS. ARGH. I got madder at Scenario than I did with Devil Within. DEVIL WITHIN! God! I sure enough beat scenario and the four hidden missions and now have enough items to farm for gold (why the fuck am I farming in a fighting game). Didn't enjoy it in the least. I want to strangle and pummel whoever agreed to make this mode so large and important.
As far as the actual FIGHTING game goes, it's great. Overall it doesn't feel too drastically different from T5DR. I feel like all I'm doing with existing characters is learning new juggles and some new moves but all my core tactics are essentially the same. Will probably start having more fun when I start learning Leo and Bob, although it's a daunting feeling since all the new people start off with 120+ moves. Felt that way with Feng in T5. I just need to get the staple juggles in memory and then learn the best pokes. So far I've already acclimated to Eddy/Christie, Feng, Law, Armor King, King, and Lei. Dragunov and Bruce are next, the rest I can put off until I learn Leo/Bob. Trying to feminize Leo via customs is pretty daunting until you seriously change up the hair. I've spent millions on hair. Thanks for introducing us to dress up, VF.
Cons: Scenario is a horrible fucking timesink but they made it necessary to custom in any reasonable amount of time. Also there are no separate online/offline ranks (TOTAL BULLSHIT) so you can't go above 1st dan offline.
Pros: The core game is solid and there are so many dozens of characters. It's staggering how many moves there are. I already know that once we get our shenanigans rolling IRL it's going to be the best fighter yet.
Online is a mixed bag. Sometimes it is SUPER horrible, literally a slideshow, but other times it can be smooth enough to land all your juggles with the proper adjustments. Dan, Ryan, David and I played it for like three hours Wed. night and had a mostly good time. A patch for several issues is reportedly in the works.
Overall I'd give T6 a solid 8. Fucking Scenario. |
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