Currently watching: Black Jack: the movie
Currently reading: The Rebel Sell, Kowloon: City of darkness
Currently eating: anything in my freezer that hasn’t been burned to death
Currently listening: to Ferry Corsten: Passport Kingdom of the Netherlands, Ferry Corsten: Creamfields, DJ Shadow: Endtroducing
Currently drawing: BFX2 week twenty-six, Spiderman Loves Mary Jane #4
Currently wanting: a new guitar and new 2006 calender
Currently toiling: over cleaning my apartment
Currently waiting: for my 2 months of free time to roll around
Currently downloading: Ainori eps. 297
Currently playing: Resident Evil 4 the mercenaries extras (5 away!)
Currently experimenting: with making Kimbap

TAK

Y’know what? Madonna’s new single ain’t all that bad. It’s got a sweet house beat and that high pitched rolling in the back is funkass hawt. I may have to pick this up if I keep listening to it.

Finished this last night:

It’s the image for the forth coming BFX week’s cover. Also, working away on the next Mary Jane issue. Christmas killed me so I’m knee deep in it. Again…

Oh, I’ve cut my caffeine intake by a LOT. I finally realized 3 cups a day gives me jitters and I can’t sit still. Why it took me this long to figure out I’ll never know. I was busy being jittery, I guess. Over the last week I’ve only had 2 cups which I drank after a load of work and switched to diet caffiene-free coke. Man, I felt like such a pussy buying it, though. Do the cans HAVE to be gold?? Anyway, I’m being more disciplined this year. Go me.

TAK

Wow. Freakin’ wow. It’s 2006.

I got home from Toronto last night really really late. My plane was delayed, then had to be sprayed with anti-freeze gunk, and once we landed in Vancouver they couldn’t get the cargo doors open or some shit. So, after all that I just went straight to bed and skipped any sort of new years festivities. Oh, and get this, I woke up in the morning to people screaming and yelling and no power in my apartment. I thought the world had ended or y2k had finally seeked death in the human race. Turns out it was just a power outage and the annual polar bear swim happening just outside my window. Damn.

Christmas was pretty cool. It’s always nice to sit down to a warm meal you don’t have to make or pay for. I took full advantage of being back home by doing loads of laundry and driving instead of walking. Sorry to all those that expected a call or some sort of contact from me. I forgot my address book and didn’t have any numbers, plus, didn’t feel like going out that much. I’ve been ignoring my e-mail as well and didn’t send any Christmas cards this year either due to work. So, yeah. Been kinda cutoff from the world. I did manage to drag my ass out to Ottawa to see my buddy Paul and his wife. Lots of snow and ice in that city. Also, lots of wicked Korean food care of Ji Hyun. Delish. Don’t think I’d ever want to live there but after touring a handful of galleries I’ve been fired up to start painting again. Paul was using a variety of non-toxic materials which was my main concern since I don’t have a “studio” to really paint in. Got to hang out with past Queen’s kids right before flying out, too. It was a nice finale for my stay in Toronto.

As far as Christmas gifts go my sister bought me a dock for my ipod, some new earphones and a sweater. My bro got me 2 books The Rebel Sell and On Bullshit. Good reads. My parents gave me money which I’ve already spent and some clothes. I wasn’t really expecting anything so it was nice to get a few gifts.

What else…

Oh, been busy playing Resident evil 4 today. Damn, this game is GOOOOD. The new system and game format is a sweet change of pace compared to the previous incarnations. I think I’m a good example of a past diehard fan who got bored with the franchise, forgot about it and was pulled back thanks to all these radical changes. I love the tempo of the game. Constant pressure and bombardment from enemies. The ability to upgrade your weapon is a stellar advancement and the ability to dodge attacks during cinematics keeps you on your toes. I’ve died so many times reaching for my coffee. Like, “Ah!! ohhhhhhhh…. ouch.” So, now I can’t wait for Rezy 5.

Gotta catch up on my massive amount of e-mails now.

TAK

I went through a bunch of brochures with my dad today. He’s planning on buying some land further east and building a house on top of it. One of those houses that come in segments and you piece it together like a gundam. It’s all pretty cool actually. I think he wants to move out within 2 years and make his retirement official. Well, it’s been semi-official for the past year or so but raising chickens and farming on a larger scale was part of his post-work plan so once this move goes through he’ll be in retirement heaven.

This all leads me to thinking my ties with good ‘ole Ajax is coming to an end. I’ve been on my own for about 7 years now and only come back for a week out of the summer and Christmas. I don’t ever miss the place but things are comfortingly familiar so I like it. I like it but there’s also nothing to do here. The bijillion Tim Horton’s coffee shops are the only places to hang out and in most cases you need a car to get to one since they’re all strategically placed at an intersection next to a freeway. WTF. Anyway, it’s a great place to raise a family but sucks if you’re a kid looking to be entertained. Maybe when I’m older I’ll feel differently. In the meantime, later to the JAX.

In other news, I’ve got half my shopping done, trying to do some work while I’m here and sleeping and eating a lot. Oh, taking full advantage of the free laundry, too. I’ll post again in the new year.

TAK

My favourite podcast is the Horcast. It’s run by Brenden Fletcher of the Horhaus team and the show is an indepth look into the trials and tribulations of comic pros and various other artsy comrades. Well, I’ve been fortunate enough to contribute an interview for the cast and it can be heard HERE.

I talk about Mary jane and working for Marvel, my online comic and cooking. An odd mix but it works. After listening to the interview I realized I say “I dunno”, “like” and “awesome” way too much… I need to work on this speaking thing.

Anyway, enjoy!

TAK

I’m currently finishing up this MJ issue. Got another 7-8 hours of solid backgrounds to polish off and then I’ve got a cover waiting for me. After that, well, it’s getting ready for Toronto and starting my Christmas shopping. I have a general idea of what I’m getting so it’ll be a breeze. I’m not a big fan of shopping so the faster I get the shit the better.

Thinking of redesigning my site soon as well. It’s functional now but I’m bored of the layout and what’s up there. I plan to add a music section for some of my mixes and more visuals like photos. Definitely a pic or two of my studio and some process stuff. Drawing everything that goes up tends to be a pain and time consuming…

I had a dream last night that I was in a job interview. For what kind of job I’ll never know. I recall wearing a suit and tie and sitting in a chair with important people lined up behind a desk in front of me. I was accepted, though, and I was all happy for myself until I realized, “wait a sec… When am I gonna draw!?” It was one of those omfg-what-did-I-just-do moments. In my head, I was spazzing but kept my composure. Then I woke up and realized I don’t own a suit. Relief.

TAK

I watched the finale of Survivor last night. Well, technically last night. I got up at 10pm… Anyway, I pretty much ignored the show all season except for this finale since I’ve been too busy watching LOST. So, yeah. I was curious to see who was gonna win.

My first observation was that the lust and aura of the show seems to have been lost over it’s many incarnations. It all ends up being self-righteous pleas of who backstabbed who in the end. Like, get over it!. It’s what the show’s all about. You can’t be “nice” and have everyone love you when there’s a million bucks up for grabs, which brings me to thinking a million bucks for 30 days of physical and psychological torture doesn’t seem all that worth it anymore. Of course, a million bones is sweet and life altering, yes, but I recently saw an episode of Boob Factor where a million was also on the line and that show only lasts a day or two for the contestants, albeit, after eating pig anuses and other nasty unmentionables. Might as well bump up the survivor ante to 5-10 mill, y’know? Also, throw in some wild animals and give each contestant a weapon. Nothing high-tech. Frying pans, a boot, empty bottles; that sort of thing. That would be cool. That would be awesome actually. I’d watch again.

TAK

A little while ago I drew a story with writer Greg Pak entitled Mastermind Excello. It features a Korean/American super-genius-kid-runaway and his fight to find his place in the Marvel universe. It was a short 8 pager in Amazing Fantasy #15 and was accompanied by 5 other new characters done by various talented writers and artists. My pal Sean McKeever was one of the writers, btw. Well, over at the Marvel site they are currently running an Amazing Fantasy poll to determine which of the 6 new characters deserves a miniseries. The poll runs all week.

So, go vote! Vote for meeeeeeee!!

TAK

So, it’s December already and Christmas is just around the corner. I did a quick tally of what I accomplished this year in terms of comics and it’s at about 312 pages (both BFX and Marvel work), 7-8 covers, about 50 illustrations and 5 cons. It’s comforting to think that I was productive for almost every day of 2005. Compared to the previous year, I’ve uped my numbers in all categories and, in effect, giving me a good idea of how much I can actually create without killing myself. It’s been a stressful year but a lot of it was due to my retarded handling of time. I coulda made things so much easier for myself and it’s something I’ll definitely be working on for next year.

This is good. Yay, me.

This is also the time of year I think ahead and try and figure out my work schedule so that I’m not left with dead time. I’ve commited to more Mary Jane for 2006 while getting 2 months off to pump out a graphic novel in between. I’ll also finish BFX in the first quarter and try my hand at less consuming web projects during or after the summer. I also plan to move somewhere later in the year so I’m excited about that. Vancouver’s great but I feel it’s time to move on. My options are Tokyo, Montreal or Toronto (in that order). I’ll keep up the guitar, try and get back into the DJing thing with more “umph” and maybe take a few classes in Flash or web design. I need more skillz. So, yeah, my 2006 in a nutshell.

TAK

I just spilt coke all over my computer table. Dammit. Gotta break out the Fantastik and give everything a good rub-down.

I reinstalled Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour on my computer and started playing again for some reason. I don’t know why. I need to work. It would be alright if I was actually good at the game but when I play online I get my ass royally handed to me so it’s a bit discouraging. My record stands at 0 and 3. I’ll uninstall it again once I hit 10 losses.

I read that Pat Morita passed away a few days ago. He will be missed. For a good chunk of the eighties it was all North America knew of Japanese culture. I think all the whities thought every j-person could catch flies with chopsticks. Damn, I wish I could. He paved the way before Pokemon and anime, so, in effect, he’s the grand-daddy of everything J-cool.

I’ve finally setup a working network between my 2 computers. It was wierd. One day it would work and others not. I bought a router to counteract the problem and it’s been smooth sailing since. I’m currently using my old tank for e-mail and downloading purposes and the new one for photoshop. I’m likin’ this new setup but now I’m facing a freakin’ huge visa bill. Yowza.

Got an art show to go to tonight. It sounds more like an art”fest” since they’ll have bands and Djs playing as well. Oh, and it’s being sponsored by some wine company. Sweeeet. You know where I’ll be;)

TAK