Spices II
Also last night, Kristen and I ate at Spices II. Lately we’ve been hooked on Taiwanese food and this place is another excellent and very affordable restaurant. This place also has the distinction of being the only Chinese restaurant I’ve gone to that did not have chili sauce available on the tables. Why? Because this place is the spiciest restaurant I’ve been to. Even the water is spicy! OK, just kidding…but if you’re in San Francisco and you’re not a spice-fearing pansy, this is a place you’ve got to try! Check out Spices II.
Alexis & OLDBOY
Yesterday was fun. Kris and I hooked up with a very old friend of ours, Alexis. Thai food and good conversation were followed up by a mad drive across town to the Embarcadero Cinema to see an amazing thriller from South Korea called “OLDBOY”. This movie was intense, insane, disturbing and riveting. It helps if you can appreciate random and twisted humor. We topped off the night with cocktails at our usual joint.
So dig it: This crazy guy was once a normal family guy. Gets kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years. Then he’s released and is told he’s got 5 days to figure it all out. So go see it. You can hit the official site here or read about it at Rotten Tomatoes.
The Anniversary Report
Yeah it’s been awhile since my last post. Things have been hectic to say the least. So
today is a huge double anniversay for me and the wife. 5 years married
and 14 years together. Its amazing where life leads two people who met
in highschool.
So why the radio silence? Well first there’s
work. I’m the webmaster for UltraCade Technologies, purveyors of fine
arcade gaming entertainment. Check us out at www.ultracade.com
Other highlights include my wife’s dance company, Element Dance Theater
recently peformed down in Los Angeles… Venice to be exact. It was a
great trip, and Element’s most recent work “Zoetrope” is nothing short
of amazing.
What else? Well, I’m working a few freelance gigs
including an illustration/postcard & poster design that’s almost
approved. I’ll be posting that soon. I’m also playing World of Warcraft
occasionally. Best MMORPG I’ve ever played. I say occasionally because
you can actually play for 30 minutes and feel you’ve accomplished a
small set of goals. Great gameplay and the community so far has been
fun and helpful. If you’re ever on the Kilrogg server – look me up on
the alliance faction. (my characters are Shankar and Isharah).
stay tuned for more announcements soon. =)
Middle Eastern? Who? ....What?
Random title I know. Ok, so this has been bothering me since last week, when Kris and I hooked up for dinner with one of her cousins. Cool guy, he’s known me for close to 12 years or so. We’re not super-close mind you, but we dig hanging out together and we’re family now. He was describing some Middle Eastern reastaurant on Haight Street. Hookahs, belly dancing…the whole 9 yards. Couldn’t remember the name and said, “Well it’s the only Indian place down there.” That’s when it hit me. It seemed natural to him to interchange Middle Eastern and Indian.
Sure I’ll admit I was offended a bit. Much respect to Middle Eastern people, but they would be offended a little if someone said they were Indian. It’s like if I decided to insist my cousin was Japanese when infact he is Chinese. After I corrected him in this manner, I could say from his look that he was confused. I destroyed some of his assumptions.
I was disturbed on 2 levels. First, we Indians are South Asian. India is not in the Middle East. We’ve got a whole freaking “sub-continent”. Second, for the last 12 years, he’s probably believed that I personally, was Middle Eastern. Didn’t even know that I am a Hindu. That my mother tongue is Bengali. That culturally Indian and Arabic culture have very little overlap. The little details that you’d think family would know. I guess I’m still a little bitter about it. Oh well, I’ll get over it. He’s a great guy and there’s no love lost. We’ll get it straightened out.
Pre-Oscar End of the Week Report
Well, now that I’ve come off of my bitter post entry (see the post immediately after this…) I’ve decided to go on having a good evening. In general the week was good. Hectic but still good. Work is going well and as soon as we launch the new site I’ll post the link out here.
3 weeks ago I redesigned and launched the website of my pal Tom Denmark. This guy is an amazing illustrator. You can see Tom’s work at Studio Denmark
Mose Allison, Burning Skulls and Chinese New Year
Been really busy. Hopefully I can start posting more often. The new job kicks ass. I still get to work from home, and from appearances it doesn’t seem like my life has changed all that much. Ok, so happy Chinese New Year! New Year’s Eve dinner with the inlaws was cool. I hadn’t seen them in awhile. So far this year has been great – I hope it’s a sign of things to come. Thursday night the wife and I went to Yoshi’s (Sushi & Jazz) at Jack London Square in Oakland. We went to see Mose Allison, my favorite jazzman. My friend Walt introduced me to Mose’s music 11 years ago. He described him as “Blues went to college.” Infact, he earned a PhD in sarcasm, irony, clever rhymes and virtuosity on the piano. Seeing him live was thrilling. After 54 years on the road, the man’s voice is beautiful and fingers haven’t slowed down one bit. I hope he comes back later this year.
Did I say burning skulls? I just finished a poster for The Skegs, a local surf band. Check it out!
Hotel Rwanda
Hi. Just got back from watching the movie Hotel Rwanda starring Don Cheadle. This is probably the best movie I’ve seen in the
last year. It’s an intense film, and one that shouldn’t be missed. For some reason, among its various Academy Award nominations it hasn’t been given one for Best Picture. Hollywood jackasses.
It made me think that with all the problems in the world, like the Darfur genocide in Sudan, that if the US will actually do something this time. Various people in the media have said the key to making the
world love and respect the US would be to actually do helpful things around the world instead of just showing up and blowing things up. I wish we took our troops out of Iraq (they don’t want us there anyway),
finish the job in Afghanistan (rebuild and capture that bastard Bin Laden) and help people out in Sudan and anywhere else people are being oppressed. Idealistic? Definately. Go see the movie.
2005: Chapter 1
Happy New Year to all.
That tsunami is one hell of a way to start the new year. Donated a little to UNICEF’s tsunami relief fund. We gave what we could, but I wish I could do more. If someone could pay my plane fare to India, I’d gladly help clean up. Interestingly, India has refused any official foreign aid (that is money donated by countries, not charitable organizations) feeling that it is more than capable of dealing with the domestic damage. India infact, rushed $23 million to Sri Lanka within hours of the disaster, and dispatched a hospital ship to Banda Aceh in Indonesia. Just a bit of Indian Pride for the day!
Some good news – my friend and fellow Bengali, Abir was vacationing in Thailand when the tsunami hit, but thankfully he is fine. Looking forward to his return.
So this is December...
After the Infamous Ebay Massacre of ‘04, I luckily found some work at Rio Audio (they make some killer MP3 players). I really love the projects I’m working on, and I’ve created some kick ass stuff for my portfolio. And, working for my friend Tom is always both educational and fun (i’ve contracted with him a few times before).Christmas is just around the corner so my usual winter-bitterness has kicked in. I hate this time of year! Client payments get delayed, the days get shorter, people turn into world-class jerks everywhere. How about doing something nice for the people in your life instead of trying to do outdo eachother in buying presents? Idiots.
Speaking of crazy jackasses, some moron walked up on stage the other night and killed Dimebag Darrel and 3 fans at the last Damageplan concert. It’s rock n roll legend now being as he was killed on the anniversary of John lennon’s murder. I never liked Pantera’s lyrics, singers or their politics but Dimebag rocked. Talk about a serious guitarist! I was really looking forward to seeing where Damageplan went… new singer, and Darrel rocking with his brother Vinnie(drummer) again. Anyway the gunman is dead and that’s pretty much the end of the story.
Bad storm occurred on Tuesday. We lost power for almost 2 hours, so Kris and I had ourselves a latenight dinner picnic. Yeah picnic – we made sandwiches, ate chips and drank bottled water by flashlight.
Post-Thanksgiving Blues
Well, it’s certainly been a long week. Let’s just get to it. Ebay screwed me. I jumped through all the hoops to score the contract. After waiting a week and a half for my start date I received a phone call saying “sorry we ultimately couldn’t get you approved. We’ve been ordered to stop spending across the board. Have a Great Thanksgiving!” My first instinct was to yell “Go to hell!” but I kept it professional and pleasant. Welcome to my world. I guess the worst thing is they had me clear my calendar through January. Now I’m scrambling to find some new clients.
Thanksgiving itself was good, we did the usual practice of splitting time with both of our families. A bit of a health scare from Kris’s grandfather but in the end everything turned out alright.
Working on the next version of the site and a bunch of illustrations. Stay tuned…
Another Audition...
Well this was my 2nd band audition this week. Jammed with a guy named Bill McLauglin, who plays a pretty mean bass. He plays in a very aggressive manner. He wants to do a combination of surf and hard rock and punk. Anyway, we had a decent jam. Not sure if he’ll call me back for another jam. Our styles weren’t exactly similar, but it’s not entirely impossible that he may call back. In any case, I’ll keep working on my own music till I get another band together.
Excitement continues...
So last night after my last post actually, I had my “audition” with Larry Chandler of local surf band, The Skegs. Well it was more of a get to know eachother and jam session. It was a good first meeting. Larry plays in a very flowery, atmospheric way. Almost lyrical (if you can imagine a guitar behaving lyrically). My approach to surf music is more angular with edgy chords. I like to play in an aggressive manner.
We mostly showed eachother some of our newer songs we had been writing, and we had a few moments of synchronicty. We both saw there would be some great potential for our dueling guitars to create some fun and exciting music. I hope he calls back and wants me for another jam.
On the job front, I just signed my paperwork with Ebay today. I can’t wait to get started!
Working on a new pinup illustration… stay tuned for me to post when it’s done.
Starting a New Blog
Well, here I go again with a new blog!
A lot of exciting things happenning right now. First I’ll be
starting a contract gig with Ebay soon. Things have been good artistically as well. I think I’m finally out of my “post-art school depression.” I feel like I used to before college – I’m actually drawing 4 or 5 nights a week again.
Last year I got into a comic book called Hawaiian Dick. Picture Hawaii around 1955. Hard bolied detectives and a splash of the supernatural makes this a fantastic cocktail. Currently I’m reading the second series and decided to post something on their official message board. The author and artist of the series said they like my work!!!
Anyway, here’s the piece I posted:
The Incredibles, the Zoo and more Inspiration...
It’s been a busy but fun weekend. Saturday afternoon, Kris and I picked up Mom and went to see Pixar’s The Incredibles.
In a word, it was simply incredible! Taking elements from comic books and classic Bond films and creating a wonderful new world without stooping to parody. It’s quite clear to me the movie was created more out of love or as an homage to the genres. Go see it now. I can’t wait
to see it again!
Today we hit the San Francisco Zoo. I hadn’t been there since the summer of ‘82. We had a great time and saw all sorts of beautiful animals. The new grizzly bears (who happen to be sisters) were really
shy today and we never got to see them. Polar bears and spectacled bears took care of my bear fix and we were on our way.
It’s been an inspiring weekend. I’ve got a storm of new illustration and design ideas flying around my head. Going to do a lot of drawing after dinner… that is if I can stay away from Half Life 2!
Vodka Collins
- 1 oz. vodka
- 1/2 Sweet & Sour
- 1/2 Soda
- garnish Cherry or Lime
Build in a tumbler glass with ice.