Breakdancing and Slamdancing

That shot is from the Wexley School for Girls Holiday party. Thanks to Blush Photography. I was ripping it up.

Also, here's a link to my Kid Show page for Slamdance Film Festival. It has all the screening info/dates. Kid Show at Slamdance 2008

Super Good News

Inspired by the film King of Kong, I set out to beat the highest scores on some of my favorite Nintendo games. After about a month of attempts, I finally succeeded with a score of 19, 036, 160 on the game High Speed, which made me the current world champion for that game. Check it out on Twin Galaxies.

Also, Kid Show will be shown at the 2008 Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, January 19th. Jessica, my parents, and I are going to attend!

And it's almost Christmas!

Riding the Log Line

I have to come up with a log-line for my animation Kid Show. I'm the worst person on earth at writing meaningful content, so here are my attempts so far:

Toast me up a kind hearted dog fort.

The neverending reach of a child's imagination.

Three children explore the reason you were born.

Three brothers struggle to make it in NYC.

Let's live a day.

Try not to toss your day.

Simple joy of the child's bread box.

A child's heart is the breadbox of the mind.

The breadbox of the mind is the heart of a child.

Young, hip, and where did it go.

Where we go, we show, we sew.

If you can fake it, you should die.

Whoa whoa whoa whoa--look at this!

I can't sell this, I can't spell this.

So young, no job, so hip, let's jive.

Flow us a new path.

Flat on our minds.

Out to do the day.

Skip to our flow.

Trip dad, grab the flute.

Flying toast.

It appears where you want it.

At any moment, we will endure.

Is there anything to play with in here?

Is there any other way this could be different?

Can your might and ride a bike.

Oh how we whoa.

Dad was mad, so they asked the sun.

Spill and smear.

They were real as kittens.

Buying dreams with cardboard dollars.

The three of them and their eyes.

Daydream with my childhood.

Poop on some papers.

I can't help me.

Imagine my anger.

Imagine the piping glee.

Witness the piping glee of a wee three.

I'd scoot over for three more ideas.

Make room for my brain.

The simple deadly.

Gosh your fun.

Committed to seeing.

Bear are bee going?

Do as much as you can before bedtime.

Jessica's favorite is "Whoa whoa whoa whoa--look at this!" I think my favorite is "Young, hip, and where did it go." I just wish it actually communicated something about Kid Show. I'd rather say something ridiculous than cheesy... until I figure out something clever.

Things Happen

Jessica and I are now the proud owners of a blue 2004 Volkswagen Jetta Wagon GLS. I'd post a picture of it, but I don't want to! I'd rather just post a funny picture of myself from last year.

In other news, I've been uploading a crap load of videos on youTube. I find it liberating to just dump random stuff and not worry about explaining it. I should do that with my website, but I have too much pride. Check me out sometime: http://www.youtube.com/thismystery

Also, I have some exciting news, but I'm not allowed to share it, so here is a vague brief:
my animated short "Kid Show" was accepted to ______ Film Festival and I am going to attempt to attend the festival in _______, __ this ________. I'm stoked to have the opportunity to get my stuff out there.

I'm taking piano lessons and I can play Jingle Bells with both hands at once.

I've been drawing incessantly. I will soon add my second sketchbook titled "Regular Interprize" (purposely misspelled) to my website soon and I'm already 1/4 through my new pink sketchbook. I am so pumped to draw, I'm not even self-conscious about my pink sketchbook anymore.

Reading helps your brain. I just wish I could enjoy it all the time. I lose interest in writing pretty quickly unless it's David Shrigley, Richard Brautigan, or Shel Silverstein.

Oh, and I just submitted my High Speed Pinball NES(Nintendo) high score to Twin Galaxies(video game score keepers), so after the video is verified, I will have the highest score for that game in... the... world.

My First Line Rider Track

I'm a big fan of Line Rider. This is my first finished track. I called it "Everything Slide." If you've never heard of Line Rider, check out http://www.linerider.com.

VHS Splice

My friend Alec and I were walking into Fremont the other day to eat some food and we noticed a mess of shiny black tape near some bushes. It looked as if someone pulled all the tape out of a VHS cassette. It was weird, because we couldn't find the actual cassette. Some how I got the idea to grab a few samples of the tape to bring home and try to splice it into an existing cassette. I had never done it, but I figured it would work.

We didn't have any trouble splicing the tape, but it was a challenge closing the cassette casing properly. We kept putting it in the VCR, but it'd spit it out immediately. After about 20 minutes of fiddling with it, we finally knew it was ready.

The suspense was incredible. On the one hand, we were a little nervous to what we might find, since it seemed like someone wanted to destroy the tape, but in another way, it was kind of like Christmas.

I popped the tape in, pressed play, and a dull tone sounded for about 5 seconds and I assumed that I had spliced the particular strip of tape upside down (it was really tough to figure out which side was right), but seconds later there was another sound and static... then bits of color, then shifting static and sound, then more... a person! A secret angent.... on skiis... 007!

We were the proud owners of someone's TV recording of one of the old 007 movies recorded off TBS. Yesssss. Alec and I cheered. It was totally worth it.

Hello Ween

Also, I started taking piano lessons. I think it's going to help me in a lot of ways.

October 24th, 2007

Today, while riding the bus, I slipped backward and fell onto a step.

It was very dramatic--people tried to grab me.

I wasn't injured.

My ego broke the fall.

No Time

Now that I'm working full-time, I don't have a lot of time to do my own projects. I'm not really upset about it, but I do miss it. The good part about being so busy is that it makes me more urgent when I know I have a good idea. The idea has to compete to survive. It causes sacrifices of things like sleep, showering, brushing teeth, etc. It's easier to focus, because there is no time.

I think it's true that life is preparing the camera, instead of snapping the photo. Try to snap the photo preparation.

Today I:

1. Received a ping pong trophy.
2. Witnessed bicycle polo.
3. Witnessed a large game of adults playing dodgeball.
4. Took pictures with John and his 9 month beard.

Oh, and I'm 23 now.

Meow

I learned a lot of great things when I went to college. I also met my wife and made some great friends.

I also got kind of stiff. Maybe it's because I was surrounded by lots of people who were similar, when I had been used to growing up the "weird one." This attitude was not imposed on me--I think it's just competitive nature to want to seem cool and mysterious.

I've found that living that way has slowly dimmed my soul.

I'd now like to make a fool of myself. Well, no--there is a balance--but I just don't want to care about how I'm perceived, or how what I'm creating at any given moment fits into a package that I can sell to someone I don't even know.

I forgot what a funny picture was.

tom thinks change

It's time for a change. I'm not sure what it is yet, but I need to start being more honest with my work. I've reached a point where I think that only super refined work can be added to my site, as if I need to impress someone, but the original excitement I had about having a website was the ability to share what I was working on at any given moment. I'd like to return to that frame of mind and start putting up more drawings and dumb animation. I've been taking myself way too seriously.

Now Games Then Games

Sometimes I forget that people actually do read this. Not necessarily a lot of people, but there only needs to be at least one person to matter. I've been writing a lot, but not on here. I've been writing to people that I know. The words come easier, because you know who is going to read it.

When I sit down and write in this blog, I feel uncertain. I wonder why I am doing this.

Once in a while, I stumble upon the writings of friends, or even strangers, that I connect with in some way. It feels good to connect. That's why I do this.

On The Edge

I live in Seattle again. School is over. I'm glad to be here, but it's hard too. Even though I am in my home-city, my life is a different life now that I've been gone so long, and I'm married, and I'm working full-time. It's all good though. These are all things that I am pleased about. Sometimes newness is overwhelming.

Something new and fantastic happened last week. Jessica and I were walking home from a restaurant, and it started to rain. About five minutes passed and the rain wasn't on us anymore, but we could see the edge of the rainfall twenty feet ahead of us. The rain cloud was moving in the same direction, so we could literally run back into the rain and out again. I was so excited that I told people who weren't noticing it.

I would love to experience that again, but I'm fine if I don't.

In other news... sometimes I forget that challenge is good.

Back and Forth

I'm confused. To explain in the simplest of terms:

Two years ago, I met a guy in the streets and I gave him money, because he asked. I knew he could be scamming me (he didn't look homeless or drug-addicted), but I felt led to actually give it to him, even if he wasn't being honest.

That was two years ago, but last night, I was eating dinner with some friends and I shared the story.

And today, about 20 minutes ago, I was in the RISD store buying envelopes whilst talking on the phone with my mom when I sensed someone walking behind me. I stepped aside to let them pass. When the guy passed me, he turned towards me and told me something like "I was trying to get your attention."

I was a little thrown off, because of the all the multi-tasking, so I said, "Oh, well I'm on the phone, could I talk to you in a second?" He nodded and walked away. After I got off the phone, I couldn't find him anywhere!

What's going on? Why, after two years, did this man reappear the day after I told the story about him? I don't even know his name.

Some Things I've Done Outside

The video above is a compilation of a lot of the crazy stuff I've done over the past few years. I made a cheesy song to go with it too.

I really enjoy making music, but I feel I'm not to the point yet where I really have control over what I'm doing (especially my voice) so I'm very self conscious, but I figure, what the hell, I should share it, even if it is embarrassing. At least the visuals are fun, right?

I'm a paranoid human being. I always think that people are going to hate the stuff I make--I'm critical, but I guess that helps me push myself to make good stuff.

About once or twice a year I receive some form of hate mail, but it's always from some idiot who doesn't have the guts to leave his/her name or email.

All in all, I do hope that people enjoy what I make and like me as a person, but I will always do what I do, even if my only audience is me. In the words of Daniel Johnston:

I'm walking down that empty road
But it ain't empty now... because I'm on it
I'm getting closer to a hope
That I can carry and take home with me

Thinking, Feeling and Living

I do a lot of thinking.

When I do things, it causes me to feel certain ways, but sometimes things that I feel cause me to do certain things. I think that Feeling and Thinking should get married and have a baby named Living.

Once divorced, Thinking will buy a condo in the city, while Feeling will move in with its parents. Apart from each other, they will both sit at home and do nothing except think and feel, respectively. Meanwhile, Living will become behind in school, not turn in assignments, miss the bus, and wet the bed. At night, Living will dream that Thinking and Feeling are back together again, playing tennis and eating sandwiches.

Sad.

But not true.

Thinking and Feeling are happily married with a decent sex life. They currently reside in the hills of Nogin where they raise Living and grow strawberries. Thinking works very hard at the square store, building squares, while Feeling assigns meaning to each square.

Thinking and Feeling have a sizable income and continually invest in Living's future. Living plays baseball and likes animals.

A healthy family is a happy family.

My Cat Can See Demons

If you've never seen The Devil and Daniel Johnston, you should. Daniel Johnston has had a crazy life and just learning about it and listening to his music has changed mine.

The sun makes me happy.

Everyone is weak, that's a given.

Oh, a dog story: my wife Jessica, her friend Anna, and I were walking on Thayer street. There was a huge black lab dog sitting in the shade next to a gray house. I walked over to see if he'd let me pet him. There was a large bone, like a thigh of a cow, lying on the ground next to him. He stared at me as my hand came closer to his face. I imagined him biting me, but in the end, he just sat there like a basket full of dolls. Jessica and Anna walked over and we gave him a good pet.

I don't know if it was Anna's skirt, or just her aura of kindness, but something got the dog excited and he went for an excavation under Anna's skirt. She gasped a little and bent over so fast that her glasses fell off. The dog quickly snatched up the glasses in his mouth and wouldn't let them go. We pleaded with him to let go, but he resisted. We could hear the sound of his teeth sliding against the lenses.

After another moment, I was able to talk him out of it, and he eventually eased up and let me have them. I handed them to Anna and she wiped off the drool.

That was fun, I miss dogs.

Let's Go

I wanted to say hi to the internet.

I wanted to let you know that although I always thought Paris Hilton was silly, seeing her in the back of a police car crying her eyes out, kind of hurt my feelings a little.

I also wanted you to know that I try to avoid mentioning current events, but sometimes it seems OK to.

It also rained today.

All day it rained.

I just stared at the screen for about two minutes. I was thinking about all the events that had occurred today. I tried to extract the most interesting things, but then I felt pretentious.

And I still do.

I'm not witty enough to be cool, but I'm weird enough to be me.