I want my movie theater experience!!!

What I don’t understand is the belief that staying at home to watch a theater movie is better than going to the theater its self. One of my teachers was explaining to our animation class (another topic I will probably elaborate more on later) that he believes that in the near future, theaters may be non existent, due to the popularity of home theaters and technology advances in cable like Tivo and Pay-per-view. That’s nonsense! And he is crazy! No really, he is. I don’t know about you but I enjoy the feeling I get when I walk into a theater to watch a movie not knowing how this crowd will be. The constant interruptions of others cell phone rings, the uncontrollable munching of popcorn and candy snacking of those next to me, and my personal favorite, the kicking of my seat from the person behind me…is the best! Okay, so the kicking of the seat thing is actually annoying when it’s your seat those kids are kicking but I can’t say that I really mind the other interruptions. It’s those stupid, annoying things that make the movie going experience a movie going experience.


Left: Tivo may be cool for somethings, like making sure you don't miss any must see shows like "Lost" or "America's Next Top Model", but it's not good for movie watching.

Right: Take a film class and find out why places like in the above pic is so cool. Warner Grand is one of the last standing origianl movie houses of our time, located in San Pedro, CA.


I’m crazy I know because apparently, more people prefer to watch their movies at home, where there is peace and quite and no one to ignore or worry about disrupting an ideal perfect viewing experience. What about the enjoyment of being able to just soak up the people and smells, and setting around you? It’s almost a sort of controlled, unpredictable environment.

You know or should know the proper theater edicate when viewing a movie in a theater, which had changed respectively sense the art deco 1920’s time period in film, but it depends on what type of people you end up with when its all said and done. I know I sound crazy but let’s see if I really am. You can watch a movie at home any day…and I almost always do everyday thanks to the Newport Beach Library, but it’s not as fun to buy foods you wouldn’t normally eat at home, or complain about the terrible commercials that come before your featured presentation. Besides, you can just as easily have many interruptions at home as you do with today’s modern theater! It just depends on how you live, or who you live your with. Phones ring. That’s inevitable. Friends come over unannounced, that’s unpredictable as well. Your cat wants your undivided attention.-which is rare because cats are quite self-reliant creatures by nature-and so on. I like the movie previews but the car commercials suck! That I can do without but what I’m trying to say is that you can’t reproduce a true movie theater experience ever. The price has risen a lot too…that is something to complain about but once again, its an easy way to have a fun little adventure that allows you to take your mind away from the world, and the worries you may have for a few hours. Don’t let the tradition of going to movies die…if must be, Movie hop! I know what its like to be poor. Just don’t do it too much, you might get caught and thrown in jail. And that would be bad.

Virtual Street Reality- Julian Beever

Meet a mural painter with incredible chalk illustrations. This stuff is for real but is it?
A Circles and Squares graphic 2006

This is a follow up to my intentions of exposing you to some new and or interesting artists who do cool, unusual stuff. Or just stuff I like that I want to share with you. Either way…it works out for both of us. I get to browse the internet whilst doing homework at 2 am in the morning and you get to learn a few things about what “art” is and what kind of it there is out there.



The onlything bad about drawing on pavement would be the longevity of the piece; rain would be an ememy! But who likes rain anyway??? Rain should always be the enemy.

Believe it or not, I used to do chalk doodles outside my home in Long Beach a very long time ago. My dad, or was it my mom?-even took me to view a few of some real chalk paintings somewhere along the bay area close to where I use to live. You know those places I speak of right? Such places usually have things like street performers and delightful little ice cream shops at almost every corner of every street you cross. They may also have cute little gift shops and good weather. Both a very good thing to have when out walking near a salty body of water!

But to get to the juice of this topic, Julian Beever is the artist at hand and he’s English. His work can be found in mainly other countries like England, France, Germany, Australia and Belgium. And he also covers a few pavements in the grand USA as well. I can’t tell you how long he has been doing this but he doesn’t appear to look that old. Maybe it’s because as I get older, I find that what old was to me then isn’t really that old anymore. I’m not a 16 year old anymore; i'm almost in my mid twenties!!!

If you just take a look at his work, you should be as blown away at it as I was. He’s so accurate at replicating “real life” images, they appear not as a painting on a sidewalk but as an object in real life, time and dimension. According to the website I found this on, there’s only one real way to tell what Beever has drawn is not in fact the object you think it is and that is to mistakenly view the painting from the incorrect angle.

Look at it from this angle...not so hot. But from the other angle, it's amazing! I can't even begin to figure out how he does this stuff. My brain would cease to function if I tried.

Fun stuff. If you’ve never seen any chalk art work before, I encourage you to stop and smell the flowers. There’s just something so unique about seeing art work on a surface that that most people would find dirty or disgusting and with a medium that is considered to be quite elementary.

Beautiful things come in all forms. Just like my collection of ‘80s action figures.

Dork of the Rings: Part 1

I went to the Lord of the Ring convention (ORC) 2006 the other day. What is it? Well, it’s a grand nerd convention celebrating the Lord of the Rings movies and more importantly, Tolkien’s work. To be honest, im not the Lord of the Rings fan I make myself out to be. I can’t recall more then 8 characters names and half the time I mispronounce them. Good thing I didn’t strike up any conversations with anyone there or I would have been toast! I can proudly say that that I have read the first two books of the trilogy though-something that Elijah Wood has not. I don’t hold that against him though, he’s a busy guy. I love the movies a ton however, just like I suspect the rest of the attendees did. My only hint was do in part to spotting a good dozen or so people clad in fantasy apparel. Some bad but some did convince me they were real elves and bow and arrow enthusiasts.

My favorite was this old man dressed as Gandalf. I just had to have my picture with him, so I did but I’ll have to post the pix from the event later because I lack a digital cam. Im not kool, not kool at all. Meanwhile, here is a comic I sketched up for you all to view in the meantime.




I really hope my pix turn out. I will put those up on my profile on my other blog web page on my space.



Okay, the main reason I went to this thing was because I was sure to see Elijah Wood.
There are only a few things I am fully obsessed with right now, one being Disneyland, two being Elijah Wood and three, coffee- lots and lots of coffee. I’m sure there are maybe some other things here and there, but I can’t recall them. SO, back to the ORC convention…Elijah was great, Sean Austin was funny and get this, the never before scene bloopers had a lot of profanities in it. I missed seeing the, “Ringers” documentary, narrated by Dom Monaghan. Instead, I was drinking guess what? Coffee with my cousin in a nearby Starbucks. The day was over way too fast, but I think staying there the entire weekend, like im sure most of them did, is a bit much for me. It was a first time convention experience for me, and it will surely not be the last!
Did I mention where it was? Pasadena.

Zooey Deschanel plays the steal pedal guitar

Here in lies a musical treat. Filled with lots of good old jazz tunes and vaudeville-esque comedy acts, this, ladies and gents, is worth your while to see.

Left to right: Zooey Deschanel and friend/actress Samantha Shelton. Pictures taken by Joya Balfour. Next time, i will take my own pix instead of stealing others photos. Bad toyrobott, bad.

For those of you who like big, loud expensive concerts in venues that emit commercial staleness to them, this type of show won’t deliver. Sorry. Apparently, Zooey Deschanel is not just an actress know by people who are fans of the movie, “Elf” starring Will Farrell. Nor is she just the daughter of two talented entertainers, cinematographer, Caleb Deschanel, and actress, Mary Jo Deschanel. She’s that fairly low profile actress drawn to quirky roles such as, "Eulogy" and "Mumford", who’s also in a band. She and fellow actress Samantha Shelton have been singing, “soft rock” tunes for more than 4 years now, and I got to see just how entertaining her act really was last night. I was blown away by this but then again, not really because anyone who has ever listened to Ella Fitzgerald, or Nina Simone should agree that Zooey has one incredible voice. Even if you’re not into vocal jazz, a great voice is still a great voice.

“If all the Stars were Pretty Babies” or “the Pretty Babies” for short, is a bona fide cabaret act that is just as enjoyable as it is funny. The two started there act at some small LA party as an inprov show for fun and since then has continued to grace the stages of little local LA venues on a semi regular basis. Pretty much whenever Zooey is not filming her next independent film.

These are probably taken at the Henry Fonda Theater, or maybe just some other place other than the Hotel Cafe. It's too big looking for no coffee searving Hotel Cafe!

Second pic: People part of the 8 piece band. I saw the man on the left that night, but did not see the man on the right. Maybe he was on holiday...

When I arrived at the Hotel Café in LA, a coffee shop that despite the sign on the outside does not sell coffee, I was in for a shock. I had never seen a movie star ever in real life before. Not any more. I saw her and my cousin almost elbowed her as she was making her way towards the teeny stage! The Hotel Café is small. There was about seven small tables to eat at, a small bar in one corner and the miniature like stage in the other corner. But the place was quaint and clean with a little bit of romanic candle light to boot. The first show, "Marina", started at 8pm, and she seemed good but I was really just eagerly anticipating my first glace at Zooey. After an hour and a half, the wait was over. The drive to LA was worth it, the $5 dollars plus tip for parking was worth it, and even the $10 dollar entrance fee was worth it. GO SEE ZOOEY! Wearing brightly colored vintage dresses and smiles that could cheer even the grumpiest of people up, I was set. They sang and danced and made funniest comments the entire night. And perhaps, if you are as lucky as me, you might be able to see Zooey attempt to play the steal pedal guitar while buzzed on diet gin and tonic. Even the country songs they sang were good.

Maybe im part bias because I was in a jazz choir when I was high school but this show was really quiet something. Next trip, I plan to say, “Hi”. That is, if I can muster up the courage to do so.

Winter wonderland

Without naming names, or company's, last night was my works big Christmas party. And it was filled with the shit! An adventure fit for a kid! Better yet kids who have access to alcohol!

Who ever is behind this big mystery? I don't know...

Company Christmas parties all always fun no matter what but I’m my short experience of going to 3 Christmas parties, this one was almost to good to be true.
The first party I went to was my friend’s party who was working at a mortgage company at the time. That was when I was young and new to this California life and not allowed to drink alcoholic beverages.
I got all dressed up in a pink dress and black heels and attended a very expensive, dinner with gourmet foods and quaint delicious, desserts. And an open bar.
Then, one party I hold dear to my memory is a Christmas party we had while I worked at that damn record store I mention so very often. It was held at the, "Shark Club" just 5 minutes away from my work
in Costa Mesa. It was a bar, but not an upper bar, a lower bar, from what hear around from the kids I talk to. It was great. I won a Christian band t-shirt that night called, "Reliant K". Who the hell is that? Fuck.
I don’t know..but it made me happy. The best part was getting to see all of your co-workers outside of work....drunk! So much in fact, your store manager completely loses track of what he's doing and
drops a glass of gin and tonic on the floor and breaks it. The following year, I could not go.

But this year, being that I just happen to work for ---------------, I lucked out in getting to go to one killer scene Christmas party. Does that make anyone jealous? It should. There
were lots of cooly dressed scene kids there. And it was cold, cold as ice because it was outside. Death Cab for Cutie played for us and the public at 10pm and drinks were being served until 12:15am. My friend Seann, was my date and the entire night all we did was act like a bunch of super excited, high schoolers not caring about anything except having a good time. We were the only people acting completely ridiculous during death cab's set and the only kids trying to make friends with strangers that night.

I wanted to meet up with some of my co-workers that night, but it wasn’t just a party for us, it was for special VIP RSVP people as well. So if you knew some one, who knew some one, who knew how to get in, you got in. And with so many people, walking around in the dark, it was hard to find anyone. There was a dance floor, sled rides, elephant rides, ferries wheel, popcorn, drinks, in and out, live music, Santa Claus in one very giant red seat, (almost made him as though he was a midget). What can I say? I’m glad I got to go even though I should have been at home, studying for my final exams. Enough with work. I have to get some rest.

Next stop, Lisa Frank

I have the urge to post yet again. It may have come across that I haveny done much in my screen printing class...but that's because my teacher is dumb and can't really teach. And I havent been super on top of getting my projects done early. All of my pieces are due at the end of the semester so it leaves time for procrastinators, like myself, to not get them done unitl later. Much later.

My skickers are done. And so is my Pirate shirt. I will post that one later. I am more or less pleased with the outcome. But I would have liked to have had some black vinyl ink...people in my class are idiots and thoughtless and use way too much ink than needed. THey don't care. Why should they? They get what they want and thats all that matters. Good thing I like colors and used blue and yellow paper.

This sticker is a self promotion design for my fake band, "Monsters Claws and Dragons Jaws."

Drink Big Bang! or die XXX

I've been busy being not busy. Well, what I mean is, i've been busy not doing my school work, like good little scholars should. Espeically, since school is almost done. Two weeks in counting! It's tough this semester for me to want to finish what I started. I've hit that limit where I feel i've learned enough about the subjects to have it be over. An A for effort I think! Well, math...maybe no. But I don't like math so I figure it's ok to slide a bit.

Big Bang! needs help. I am here to save the day! It's a close to legit drink oddly enough. Made by Ball beverages. I went to their website www.ballbeverages.com to look at the other stuff and it's all gone to hell.

Here is a treat for you! Check out these repackaging designs I am forcing myself to finish for my graphix class. My class was given the task of finding a live beverage to redesign and make better. Lots of people choose wine and beer stuff. I choose an energy drink I found at the 99cents store. Just because it's from the dollar store dosent mean that it can't look cool? Right. So it's called, "Big Bang!" and it the original design was very, very over done. Almost gautty. I can't spell. Anyway, I only really have the front labels done. For the final comp. we are meant to paste the label onto a bottle. I don't know how, but I will find a way. I'm thinking I will use some empty cans I have saved for this very purpose and then use some spray paint.

Here is what I came up with. Keep in mind i'm sticking with the, "Rock Star" 16 oz size instead of the regular 12 oz soda pop size. And idealy, the colors and graphix would have that shiny metallic look to them as well. Because that's that's how cans roll. Not all over though.

I can't wait till school's out for Christmas! It's the perfect time for cozying up with some chai tea and watching a few horror flicks. And maybe, just maybe experiencing some Christmas cheer. I'm looking forward to watching some kiddy movies like Chronicals of Narnia and King Kong.