may 2010
Finally had time to pull down some photos (though a bunch of Rhys' are still on my other computer), so... picture dump from the weekend trip to New York with Rhys and the visit to San Fran with the crew a while back!
Ended up driving all the way there and back... approximately 1600 miles there and back and not a ding on the rental! (Whew)
No real problems at the border, probably because we weren't driving the Dodge Charger that Avis initially wanted to give us.
We ended up staying in Staten Island since it was easier to take the ferry and not actually drive around downtown NY.
The said ferry just coming into Staten Island -- it was pretty foggy Saturday morning, but the trip across was pretty nice.
The ferry station also had a green roof, which was pretty forward thinking (not shown here).
Everyone packing onto the ferry. Wasn't really as packed as this picture would lead you to believe though.
The NYC transit stations are pretty nasty (had to be said), but their system is fairly decent. Manhattan is actually small enough that you can walk from one end to the other (laterally) which was not apparent from looking at the map, so I ended up taking the subway down to the ferry point and back up another line... doh!
Chinatown! (Actually not that different from any other chinatown, just larger). It's like someone took the clone tool in Photoshop and stamped out a bunch of NYC souvenir shops there.
A NYPD buggy!
A little market that I stumbled upon that was literally under a bridge. Personally, I do not trust under-the-bridge fruit.
NYC is really nice in that all the parks are always brimming with street performers. Especially the improve guys who just grab an instrument and start playing along with the beat. Wish Toronto had more of these!
This guy was painting with sand. Pretty wild!
Old asian guy rocking the guitar; he was actually pretty good.
Sneak shot of the Empire State Building.
Rhys misread this initially. As did I.
Damn, the tree is actually covering the sign which said '9 shirts for $9.99!' which is almost cheap enough to buy them and not wash. I am now convinced that a large portion of NYC's economy is actually supported solely by the billions of souvenir shops in the city.
Chocolate Empire State Building. Deliciously tall.
As far as we got to going up the Empire State Building... lines were long and the prices were absurd.
Nintendo World!
People just sitting around playing Pokemon all day.
Some old school Nintendo gear.
I remember my cousin have something very similar (Donkey Kong) growing up.
LOL, the cafe where Liz Lemon busts Josh for trying to join The Daily Show.
I actually have all the pictures to make a pano of 30 Rockefeller, but don't have the app installed (so this is just the base).
(and the top... I'll try and fix this later!)
Atlas guy on the other side of 30 Rock.
We actually landed on the very Saturday that the iPad was launching!
We got to play with it a bit, and it's pretty slick!
Just walking down to Broadway. We would've tried to stay and get tickets for one of the late night shows, but Monday was a holiday :(
Ended up going to Promises, Promises instead, which was surprisingly good (first show I've been to and Sean Hayes/Kristen Chenoweth [Pushing Daisies, which I also liked] were pretty good on stage). Even better were the reactions of the girls just behind us -- the story gets a little dark at parts, and they were totally into it.
Missed Times Square since we had to grab the ferry back.
The requisite picture of the Statue of Liberty that every tourist must take (I think it's law now isn't it? :)
Helicopters or perhaps ROFLcopters taking off. Today is Easter Sunday (totally not planned though).
Got burnt at the Sony Technology Lab since it was closed easter Sunday... boooooooooooooo!
The atmosphere on 5th ave was pretty awesome though! People dressed up for Easter Sunday, and some people had hats made of metro cards!
More metro card art
Also got burnt at the MOMA... personally, I was banking on more people going to church this particular Sunday (leaving the museums empty), but it was genuinely packed.
And there was a Tim Burton exhibition there too :( (though we had to pre-book tickets, which we didn't)
Ran into more people dressed up on the way back.
Stopped off at Momofuku, which Rhys recommended, which was frickn' awesome. They do this asian-inspired cuisine and everything was really, really good. Probably my best meal there.
We ended up going to the Guggenheim instead, which was surprisingly good. Some very cool pieces in there.
Inside the Guggenheim -- the exhibit with the designs for the Guggenheim that people submitted were pretty cool.
The Guggenheim is just across from Central Park, so we ended up traversing that maze afterwards. It really gives the city another vibe, Toronto needs something like this in it's downtown core.
Cherry Blossoms blooming
Some high-end apartments on the right there; and a look at the lake.
The obelisk of doom
Fuzzy leaves
About to pounce
People just chilling on a Sunday afternoon
More street performers
The classic Central Park pathway that you always see in movies. I believe it's actually called 'The Mall'.
Creepy robot guy
Just playing some volleyball (Central Park is crazy!)
More people chillaxin'
A good view of the skyline from Central Park
And that's about half the photos I have, not including Rhys' photos that I need to upload sometime. Whew.
And the random pics from San Fran with the rest of the team:
Walking by the Google headquarters! It's a frickn' android robot!
Apple headquarters at 1 Infinite Loop. Awesome.
Also home to the Company Apple Store. I may or may not have installed BumpTop on one of their 24 inch iMacs. :)
Stanford is downright beautiful. The vibe you get on campus is amazing.
You can't see it in this picture, but there are people biking everywhere. It's like a little city just beyond those arches.
Flowa-Powa
Got to go to Facebook headquarters too for one of the meetings. They have like a normal-layer and an under-layer. I guess some developers don't like the sun :)
Marin Headlands
Frickn' Amazing view
The Full-House house, haha.
Caught this on the way to catching the Canada-Russia game during the olympics.
We caught this lady reading while driving (though you can't really tell from this image), hah!
I'm still trying to find out who took this picture of me (and with my phone to boot!) as I have no recollection of this taking place :P
I think I'm going to miss Toronto.
Ended up driving all the way there and back... approximately 1600 miles there and back and not a ding on the rental! (Whew)No real problems at the border, probably because we weren't driving the Dodge Charger that Avis initially wanted to give us.
We ended up staying in Staten Island since it was easier to take the ferry and not actually drive around downtown NY.The said ferry just coming into Staten Island -- it was pretty foggy Saturday morning, but the trip across was pretty nice.The ferry station also had a green roof, which was pretty forward thinking (not shown here).Everyone packing onto the ferry. Wasn't really as packed as this picture would lead you to believe though.The NYC transit stations are pretty nasty (had to be said), but their system is fairly decent. Manhattan is actually small enough that you can walk from one end to the other (laterally) which was not apparent from looking at the map, so I ended up taking the subway down to the ferry point and back up another line... doh!Chinatown! (Actually not that different from any other chinatown, just larger). It's like someone took the clone tool in Photoshop and stamped out a bunch of NYC souvenir shops there.A NYPD buggy!A little market that I stumbled upon that was literally under a bridge. Personally, I do not trust under-the-bridge fruit.NYC is really nice in that all the parks are always brimming with street performers. Especially the improve guys who just grab an instrument and start playing along with the beat. Wish Toronto had more of these!This guy was painting with sand. Pretty wild!Old asian guy rocking the guitar; he was actually pretty good.Sneak shot of the Empire State Building.Rhys misread this initially. As did I.Damn, the tree is actually covering the sign which said '9 shirts for $9.99!' which is almost cheap enough to buy them and not wash. I am now convinced that a large portion of NYC's economy is actually supported solely by the billions of souvenir shops in the city.Chocolate Empire State Building. Deliciously tall.As far as we got to going up the Empire State Building... lines were long and the prices were absurd.Nintendo World!People just sitting around playing Pokemon all day.Some old school Nintendo gear.I remember my cousin have something very similar (Donkey Kong) growing up.LOL, the cafe where Liz Lemon busts Josh for trying to join The Daily Show.I actually have all the pictures to make a pano of 30 Rockefeller, but don't have the app installed (so this is just the base).(and the top... I'll try and fix this later!)Atlas guy on the other side of 30 Rock.We actually landed on the very Saturday that the iPad was launching!We got to play with it a bit, and it's pretty slick!Just walking down to Broadway. We would've tried to stay and get tickets for one of the late night shows, but Monday was a holiday :(Ended up going to Promises, Promises instead, which was surprisingly good (first show I've been to and Sean Hayes/Kristen Chenoweth [Pushing Daisies, which I also liked] were pretty good on stage). Even better were the reactions of the girls just behind us -- the story gets a little dark at parts, and they were totally into it.Missed Times Square since we had to grab the ferry back.The requisite picture of the Statue of Liberty that every tourist must take (I think it's law now isn't it? :)Helicopters or perhaps ROFLcopters taking off. Today is Easter Sunday (totally not planned though).Got burnt at the Sony Technology Lab since it was closed easter Sunday... boooooooooooooo!The atmosphere on 5th ave was pretty awesome though! People dressed up for Easter Sunday, and some people had hats made of metro cards!More metro card artAlso got burnt at the MOMA... personally, I was banking on more people going to church this particular Sunday (leaving the museums empty), but it was genuinely packed.And there was a Tim Burton exhibition there too :( (though we had to pre-book tickets, which we didn't)Ran into more people dressed up on the way back.Stopped off at Momofuku, which Rhys recommended, which was frickn' awesome. They do this asian-inspired cuisine and everything was really, really good. Probably my best meal there.We ended up going to the Guggenheim instead, which was surprisingly good. Some very cool pieces in there.Inside the Guggenheim -- the exhibit with the designs for the Guggenheim that people submitted were pretty cool.The Guggenheim is just across from Central Park, so we ended up traversing that maze afterwards. It really gives the city another vibe, Toronto needs something like this in it's downtown core.Cherry Blossoms bloomingSome high-end apartments on the right there; and a look at the lake.The obelisk of doomFuzzy leavesAbout to pouncePeople just chilling on a Sunday afternoonMore street performersThe classic Central Park pathway that you always see in movies. I believe it's actually called 'The Mall'.Creepy robot guyJust playing some volleyball (Central Park is crazy!)More people chillaxin'A good view of the skyline from Central ParkAnd that's about half the photos I have, not including Rhys' photos that I need to upload sometime. Whew.
And the random pics from San Fran with the rest of the team:
Walking by the Google headquarters! It's a frickn' android robot!Apple headquarters at 1 Infinite Loop. Awesome.Also home to the Company Apple Store. I may or may not have installed BumpTop on one of their 24 inch iMacs. :)Stanford is downright beautiful. The vibe you get on campus is amazing.You can't see it in this picture, but there are people biking everywhere. It's like a little city just beyond those arches.Flowa-PowaGot to go to Facebook headquarters too for one of the meetings. They have like a normal-layer and an under-layer. I guess some developers don't like the sun :)Marin HeadlandsFrickn' Amazing viewThe Full-House house, haha.Caught this on the way to catching the Canada-Russia game during the olympics.We caught this lady reading while driving (though you can't really tell from this image), hah!I'm still trying to find out who took this picture of me (and with my phone to boot!) as I have no recollection of this taking place :PI think I'm going to miss Toronto.march 2010
Because no one ever suspects the bear on the handle bar-moustache'd sea horse!
Or else we send the blueberries of DOOM!
My tribute to the Silver Arrows being back in F1 again (if only F1 cars were as beautiful now!):
Vroooooom!
Still can't wait for the Australian GP. Damn.
Vroooooom!Still can't wait for the Australian GP. Damn.
I was actually looking forward to this weekend thinking that the Australian GP was going to be on... alas I had only read the schedule wrong. DOH!
Ah well, guess it'll be another week till my racing thirst is quenched.
In other news, I came across this awesome black and white Zooey Deschanel wallpaper which I thought would make a good reference for a drawing. Need more practice drawing in perspective, and lighting in general. Mooo.
Not Zooey of course.
Ah well, guess it'll be another week till my racing thirst is quenched.
In other news, I came across this awesome black and white Zooey Deschanel wallpaper which I thought would make a good reference for a drawing. Need more practice drawing in perspective, and lighting in general. Mooo.
Not Zooey of course.
Another random post for another random day... I wish that I drew more, it massively sucks when you have so many ideas floating in your head but no way to actually implement them in a way that meets your level of satisfaction.
Anyways, the F1 season is back and after a rather quiet precession that was the Bahrain GP, I'm vehemently looking forward to the GP down under. While it's pretty much guaranteed that Ferrari and Red Bull are going to lead the pack for these next few races (until the teams get back to Europe, I'd imagine), it'll be interesting how the crafty guys at McLaren improve their car. Odd thing is that their aero package seems fine (even more so with their vent-contraption), and both Button and Hamilton seem to be able to manage their tires, so I'm not sure what the reason for their overall lack of pace. Also interesting is that Lotus is the first of the three new teams to actually finish a race, which means that we may already be expecting Branson donning some rather uncomfortable attire come the end of the season. Who knew rich people had such a sense of humor?
Random drawing of the day:
What is she delivering?
What is on the TVs?
Why is it so bright?
Anyways, the F1 season is back and after a rather quiet precession that was the Bahrain GP, I'm vehemently looking forward to the GP down under. While it's pretty much guaranteed that Ferrari and Red Bull are going to lead the pack for these next few races (until the teams get back to Europe, I'd imagine), it'll be interesting how the crafty guys at McLaren improve their car. Odd thing is that their aero package seems fine (even more so with their vent-contraption), and both Button and Hamilton seem to be able to manage their tires, so I'm not sure what the reason for their overall lack of pace. Also interesting is that Lotus is the first of the three new teams to actually finish a race, which means that we may already be expecting Branson donning some rather uncomfortable attire come the end of the season. Who knew rich people had such a sense of humor?
Random drawing of the day:
What is she delivering?What is on the TVs?
Why is it so bright?
Been super busy these past few months, so I'll just batch upload photos next time around. In other news, it seems the olympics were a resounding success, and I am as proud to be Canadian now as I ever was. :)
And despite my reaction to the Canada-US game being like this:
I still appreciate having our American neighbors: :)
Cheers!
And despite my reaction to the Canada-US game being like this:
I still appreciate having our American neighbors: :)
Cheers!
january 2010
Interesting that this is on the eve of Apple's launch of the supposedly revolutionary tablet, but anyways; I've been playing with Autodesk's Sketchbook Express on the touch, and it has been a pretty solid painting tool so far. Drawing on a touch device is definitely harder than drawing on a tablet, mostly because your finger is constantly in the way, and there is no hover indication exactly where the brush is going to be (the touch display on the touches are capacitive). Though on the other hand, the zooming, color picking and marking menu gestures are natural, and the ability to rotate the device at a whim makes the process much nicer than it could have been. I'm not sure what the free version of the app is missing, but so far, it seem to have everything I would need when drawing/sketching something down on the go. Ironically, I have also learned that I can draw a circle with a pen much easier than I can draw one with my finger... maybe I'll just blame it on the train ride.
Ipod touch drawing test.
Ipod touch drawing test.