These are my Joes

There's a point when it's too embarrassing to ask for whatever's on the fast food menu.

Maybe when their names become too complicated (Terriyaki McChicken Burger...McTerriyaki Burger...Terriyaki Chicken McBurger) or just too unrelated ("I'll have your Granpapa Burger" or worse, "I'll have your Mama Burger" which might turn into "I'll have yur Mama, Burger"). It's like asking for a Chicken Burger and the cashier gives you the did-I-hear-you-right look, and says "Chubby Chicken?" and I nod and I could hear myself saying "YES, ISN'T THAT THE ONLY EFFING CHICKEN YOU HAVE ON THE MENU, what, you wanna make me seem like a fatty, what?"

I just found out that a friend of mine entered to be in this Sunshine Nation competition, where guys and girls aged 16-18(?) participated to be the ultimate "Sunshine Girl/Boy". It's a really Asian thing, since it's hosted by the Asian community and what not. But ya, basically it's like a beauty pageant but for girls and guys in high school. The pictures from my friend's photo shoot were so forced, just like the photos for the rest of them. If it wasn't for me knowing him and all, I would've skipped the whole biography. I didn't bother checking out the rest of the guys since their profile photos were worse than below average, it's the same thing for the girls as well, but I read a few of them just to get the gist of it and get some laughs out of their stencil-like poses. I clicked to vote for my friend and left the website with pity.

It's funny, and sad at the same time, how the "requirements" for stardom could wash out individuality so quickly. I would've liked it better if they just did some everyday shots of them hanging out with friends, of them shopping, of them gaming, of them doing what they do as a typical teenager and actually see why they should be the right choice to be a role model for their generation. Them posing in attempted preppy clothing and posting up a biography full of details from their height to what they like to eat for breakfast is not gonna tell me anything about how they could be a role model. Unless I digg the same brand of cereal or whatever, but c'mon.

Perhaps I'm just more critical because I'm the same age as them, but I'm definitely not jealous. What could they get out of this competition if all they care about is looks? If I look at them and think I could do better, any day, then there's a problem. Call it a teenage beauty pageant then, don't stick the credit for a good role model with it. If I get the chance to talk to any one of them (except my friend because I seriously don't know why he's doing it), I would let them know that the best model out there is just them being themselves, sans the prep clothing, sans the really badly and really awkwardly planned photoshoot. But the sad thing is, what if that's them in real life? Eh...too bad for them, I guess.

And what's up with all the tween/teen stars nowadays. Can a whole life in the lime light and on the red carpet not wait until they're old enough to go on a fieldtrip without a consent form? I thought that Usher had better things to do than host a house party for a boy who still needs some time before puberty. And Miley and her crew getting tweens excited for high school until they get bullied into lockers or left to eat lunch in the washroom stalls with eyes drawn out of whiteout on the back of the doors that says "we're watching you" underneath. And so many more others. Of course, they all have talent. And it's wonderful that they could develop this talent into such a big career at such a young age. However, having so many of them exposed to the public,

is it just me or is the red carpet rolling closer and closer to the crib, if you get what I mean.

Oh, I watched G.I. Joe today, and I couldn't stop laughing at their attempted epic moments.

*SPOILER ALERT*

I burst out laughing when Rex put on his mask and said "I am the Cobra Commander!" It must've been his face. Get it. See, it's that fail.

And there was such an unnecessary pause at the beginning of the movie where a soldier was going to be blasted from the sky, the director actually put the effort into slow mo-ing the missile that was going at the jet, zoomed into the soldier's face for just enough time for him to say "Oh My God." and then blow him up.

But lots of action I guess? Oh and guess what nationality the samurai was: Korean! Ha. Ha. Surprise, surprise. And there was a hot girl who didn't bother to wear enough clothing to cover half her chest even in Antarctica. And as usual, the US President is a balding white guy who looks like he's gonna wet himself every time there's a hoard of people in suits walking into his office.

I liked the underwater part though, the design was quite something if it were to be a video game. Oh and their hydrogen guns actually made sounds like "pew pew pew". And there's a military captain. And for some reason there's always a secret backup crew if the US military ever failed, hence, for the movie to make sense, the US military always fail in these situations.

I dunno, but calling your awesome classified group of "intellects" as "Joes" kind of diminishes the sexiness of it all.

These are my Joes.

Sounds like you got a crew of plumbers out back. Maybe sticking with their real life name "Delta Force" would be a bit better.

James Jean

I got introduced to James Jean's work through my instructor, and if I never got to see Jean's sketchbooks, I would be really be missing out on some amazing skills.

James Jean is a Taiwanese-American illustrator and artist who's career took off when he became a cover artist for DC comics after he graduated in 2001 from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Since then, he received multiple awards and hugely publicized his work as he worked with clients such as Time Magazine, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Prada and others. For someone just reaching 30 this year (born 1979), his success really outshines more than a handful of artists.

Here are some pages from his sketchbook to fuel your creative juices.

I love his way of leaving areas unfinished, and overlapping his images to create the sense of movement. There are areas of detail versus emptiness to create tension, which is one of my favourite parts of sketching. It shows skill-the combination is there not just because he can translate things into lines on paper, it's because he wants people who's looking at the sketch to focus on where he was focusing on when he was sketching. It puts that individuality in his work, Jean leads with his pen to let people see what they don't normally see in common settings.


Images from James Jean's website.

Nothing important, just the rest of my life

It's like one of those moments when you suddenly realize you don't want something anymore, even though you really really wanted it minutes, even seconds before. You might've wanted it for days, months, even years, and in that split second---it doesn't matter anymore. But you still think about it, not in the same way you've thought about it before of course, but with a feeling of worthlessness, meaninglessness and sometimes, regret.

I had my moment today in Chapters in the Art & Design section. And no, I'm not talking about sex.

Skimming through those books kind of reassures me, it's like they're confirming my decision to go on to study design, and more importantly, architecture. But today, I felt lost in that pile of books. Do I really want to go into architecture? I look at industrial design books and I find myself wanting to be part of that more than I want to be part of a building. Logos, t-shirts, graphic design, magazine layouts, posters, conceptual art...all that glamour and colour and excitement, where can I find in architecture? On their concrete surfaces? On their glass panels? On their detailed technical blueprints or their expensive looking finishing? What part of design do I want to be involved in? I certainly cannot go for both and hope that I'll come up with some new type of art. I must make a choice, but which one?

People might say it's all the same: "Oh you do art, good for you! You draw?"
But that's not all. It's far from all. To be greedy and attempt to cover all aspects of art, it's not within my reach. All I can do is to look at what's within my reach, is my decision to pursue design.

Red pill, Blue pill, it's the "I'll be a designer when I grow up" versus "I'll be a designer now" deal.
In reality, we're already designers before we even know we can draw.

-I really wanted that book that's a collection of sketchbooks of conceptual designers from a variety of areas: architecture, industrial, computer graphics, logo designing, etc. It was $45.50 CND though, creativity always comes with a huge price. No wonder those designers rake in millions.