surprising levels of productivity (despite summer heats)

I have some major updates for this blog, and possibly dropping this blog because I might startup my website soon. After scrounging around for quick freelance jobs via Craigslist, I realized that having a website is *crucial* to obtaining said gigs. It's a pain in the ass to have to constantly tailor your portfolio and resume to specific wants and needs, when you could just have a website with all of it on there and they can look at the stuff they need to and everyone is fucking happy. Instead I'm here busting my ass trying to find all of my old work, shrinking the image size, and sending stuff off to all sorts of different people. I think I've applied for about 30 gigs in the past two weeks. I've gotten three of them. You heard me. It's not surprising to find that there's at least another few thousand graphic designers within Southern California that are hungry for extra dough, and even less surprising that a few hundred of those people would be scrounging around Craigslist for easy jobs. So to rise above all that clutter and bullshit, having a website will really help me stand out.

I just finished a mini portfolio booklet a few hours ago (took me like 3 hours to assemble) with some of what I feel like is my better work. Of course I can't fit all of it, so I just put 6 graphic design pieces, 4 branding documents, and another 6 advertising campaigns. Hopefully that gives my clients a good enough idea of the spectrum of different fields that I am flexible enough to work with. That's what I'm going to have to use till I fiddle with Dreamweaver and Flash enough that I can make a full-fledged website. The first thing I need to do, before that, is come up with a theme for myself. I don't really have a designer nick (though if I ever started a studio, it'd totally be called "The Blacker the Better"), so I've just been going by chris.yesmilord. After that, I'm going to have to learn Flash and Dreamweaver. I have an idea in mind for what I want to site to look like - something akin to a teched out, tripped out Swiss Style with my usual colors (red, purple, gold) with the word "forge" in mind.

Now I'm just ranting.

Anyways, I started doing all this freelance stuff because I had a dream where I had like 6 Detolf cases lined up and they were all full of custom made Berserk statues. I wish I was fucking joking.

Blazblue is out this week. I'm not going to be playing it...not hyped enough anymore...not after I heard from a certain someone that an HD online Guilty Gear revision is in the works. I shit you not. Due to NDA crap I can't really say anymore, but man after I heard that I didn't even give a shit about Blazblue anymore. Hummm, what else...I'm finally getting my Armored Berserk Headlong Kit I ordered 2 years ago painted by Joa (a famous hobby kit painter in Sweden). I can't wait till that's finished (I'm actually more excited about this than my $800 statue). Yea I'm crazy, but this kind of motivation has caused me to produce so much work within the past two weeks. I've never had such a productive summer. I usually just lay around in the heat, play DotA, eat ice cream, and masturbate.

accomplishments (the best worst 800 dollars i've ever spent in my life)

It took a lot of effort on my part. I scoured my resources, looking for ways to earn quick dough. When that didn't work out so well, I ended up having to bring out the majority of my savings as an attempt to obtain the un-obtainable. Even those were a bit shy of what I needed. In the end, it took some parental aid for me to finally obtain the statue. I had managed to split the payments up (courtesy of Art of War), into a monthly $200, spread across four months, before they ship the item out in September.

So in preparation for my beloved's arrival, I went to Ikea and bought a Detolf.

(top left to right) ft. Guts, The Black Swordsman - Birth Feast; Skull Knight - Weathered Armor; Griffith - Millenium Falcon I; Griffith - The Shooting Star Night; Femto - Black Repaint; Guts Hawk Soldier - Limited Blue Cape.

It was only after I assembled it did I realize that the fucker might not even fit in the case. Doh. And thus is the humble beginnings of my Berserk collection. In time (and lots of money), I will hopefully have several display cases, featuring some of the most epic statues ever.

To round out my collection, there are one or two more statues that I'd like to have for this case. I don't think any Berserk statue collector is legit until he or she owns a Zodd apostle. That's pretty much fact. I'll be on the lookout for one of these in the coming months - it'll take up its own slot in the display case ! (also considerably cheaper than Mr. 800-dollar-armored-berserk)

courtesy of Derek @ BerserkStatues.com

Summer break. Nailed my finals. Good shit. Motherfuckers are always tryin to iceskate uphill.

i can't not (get this statue)

In my latest post, I talked about the newest Art of War release of the Armored Berserk statue. Turns out this statue is their 20th Anniversary release, which would explain the extremely high price tag. What I also didn't realize is that the statue is probably going to be 1/6 scale. That's huge. If you think about it, most of my Berserk statues are only 1/10. This one is going to be massive.

Over the past year, Art of War has adopted a new kind of selling method. Instead of producing a greater number of units with a cheaper price tag and lower quality, they decided to take a more challenging route and produce fewer units but with much, much greater quality. The best example (and the first) is the Skull Knight Horse Riding II back in 2007 (the first 1/10 scale mounted model of Skull knight). The statue was so insanely popular it sold out within two hours. Imagine that - over 300 units of an $800 statue bought out in the blink of an eye. Each year now, they produce at least one statue that is of this quality and grandness. Last year was the 1/6 Griffith, amazingly sculpted, and amazingly overpriced.

Skull Knight Horse Riding II (2007)

Going back to the main story, I watched the Berserk anime back in 9th grade I believe. I was extremely puzzled by the cliffhanger, which eventually drove me to the manga, which I read in 10th grade (and caught up to date with). Ever since reading volume 26, I knew I wanted an Armored Berserk statue, no matter what it took. I scoured the internet and all auction sites known to man, including Craigslist and other back-alley sources. I eventually found several, but they were all extremely pricey and well above my budget. I was so desperate I even e-mailed Art of War, asking when or even if they would ever produce another Armored Berserk variant. The answer was a big fat "no idea." I started to talk to other bigtime Berserk collectors like Mike (Maiku) and Derek (DirectDK), trying to find a way to obtain this statue. I was eventaully led to Yahoo! Japan Auctions (YJA as the acronym from now on). Through Japan, I was able to find a broker and bid on items. I FINALLY found an Armored Berserk, non-bloody version, for 330 BUYOUT. I told my broker to bid, and if it ever got out of hand, to just buy it out right away. Unfortunately, my broker was not quick enough, and I lost that auction. I was devastated, as I continually searched YJA for weeks on end. I finally succumbed to purchasing a repainted Femto and the HEADLONG Armored Berserk kit (an unassembled and unpainted kit). Even still, I longed for the real thing, and I vowed one day that I would find the means to find, purchase that statue, and place it as a holy grail on my shelf (fuck I'd actually buy a new display case if I got one).

Original Armored Berserk (2004)

Over two years later, I'm casually checking the spam mail from Art of War, when I saw it. I saw what I had been waiting for for so long. Of course I cringed at the price tag, and I knew I would most likely be unable to obtain it. Only 200 will be made? Skull Knight sold out in two hours, this will probably be in one. There was no way I could secure one without extreme financial aid. I gave up hope for an obviously lost cause. I withdrew my temptations and turned my attention in the opposite direction.

Unfortunately, all this did was feed the desire even more.

I started to look around for the original Armored Berserk. One person had it for $550 (and was located in Irvine, so no shipping), but something about that felt wrong. Here it was, a statue that I'll probably only ever get one chance in my life to obtain, and the old Armored Berserk that I had originally wanted. I decided then and there, that I wouldn't settle for anything less than the 20th Anniversary Armored Berserk. I'm not going to get a PS3. I'm going to skip out on spending at AX and EVO. You can call me fucking crazy, but I am fucking crazy, and I know it. I want this thing like you wouldn't believe it. At this point in my life, after several years of constant longing, I see the moment and the chance - and I must strike before the regrets come to claim my loss. They finally released the frontal pictures on the Art of War main page. That was the final blow.

I have 3 days left. I will find a way.

Plus I have to do all my finals. Fuck. On a side note, I finally caught up on a lot of forum topics. "We got our answer straight from Miura. We are between 60-70 percent complete at this time. Thread locked" Quoted straight from Walter. Berserk is just over the half-way benchmark. YES! That means I'll be able to see the end before I die lol! We're looking at probably 50-60 volumes spanning 500-600 chapters. Hot damn. Although, this also means another 10-15 years.

EDIT: To Cory, quoted from Kentaro Miura --

"I start working at 2:00 PM and I finish at 7:00 AM. Of course, the time I spend eating is included. I work 15-16 hours everyday, without holidays."

Now we know how that detail gets the fuck in there.

the most violent gorefest; loaded with emotion, and backed by epicness (berserk)

This post was long overdue. I'll admit it wasn't till I saw a recent release by Art of War that I was reminded of the one manga series that left a burning image in my mental retinas.

Berserk.

The most epic tale to emerge from this recent decade, Berserk had many humble beginnings before it began to slowly rise to its current position. Started by Kentaro Miura in 1988, Berserk spans an ongoing 33 volumes of amazing artwork, gruesome imagery, heartwrenching plot twists, and a tale that will never be forgotten. I really can't begin to list all of the epic moments in Berserk, there are just so many (and ones that would give away the major plot twists). Many people take Berserk too early and at face value. Behind the gore and slaughter, Miura touches bases with the most complex of human emotions, the animosity of rage, and the pits of utter desparity. I have never been so single-handedly obsessed with any one series (setting aside Code Geass) for such a long time. I remember looking at Berserk statues for my collection back in my junior year of high school. It's been that long, and whenever I think about the series, a huge chord is struck within my very being.

The story follows Guts, a warrior of ill-omens, born beneath his mother's lynched corpse. He was taken in by Gambino and a band of mercenaries, only to lead a life full of servitude and war. One day, his life changes as he meets Griffith and the Band of the Hawk. Through many trials and battles, Guts and Griffith forge a relationship that transcends human comprehension. I don't want to spoil any more, but great events happen, leaving Guts with one arm, one eye, and a heart full of rage. In his current state, he can no longer sleep properly, for he is eternally pursued by demons and ghosts as a survivor of the Eclipse. Armed with his signature gigantic slab of metal, Dragonslayer, Guts continues to hack and slash his way with one goal in mind: to kill Griffith.

Twenty six volumes later, Guts emerges wearing the Berserk armor, given to him by The Skull Knight himself. This armor allows Guts to fight with ignorance to his body's limits and pain, enabling him to perform inhuman feats. When his bones break from over or unattural use, the armor will pierce his flesh and push the bones back into place. During this time, he cannot think properly and his mentality is encased in a cloud of rage, which leaves his allies prone to harm, since the armor does no discriminate between friend and foe. Why do I mention this? Because Miura stated in an interview: "Oh hey, Guts finally got the armor. The story can now begin." This is twenty six volumes in. Wow.

One of Berserk's strongest attributes is the development of non one-dimensional characters. Every person has a dark and enigmatic past, which warps their decisions and actions to very believable and twisted extents. You will see them go through the most amazing transformations, partings, and reunions that will stir the heart in opposite directions.

The last point I'd like to touch on is Miura's way with his artwork and how he captures emotion. Any Berserk reader would recognize the above page - Griffith's final look before he sacrifices everything he's known and loved to enter a whole new being. The look is so masterfully drawn: a human being with great pride, staring downwards with his gleaming eyes, full of regret, sorrow, and promise. His smile is awry, almost as if to say thanks, but sorry, as the two massive walls begin to enclose him entirely. Throughout the entire series, Miura never lets go if his most important adjective: quality. The reason why Berserk is so slow to churn out is because of the extensive amounts of detail applied to each and every panel, always mindful of textures, values, and illustrating things as ornately as possible. I actually pause and slowly read each page, lavished with eye candy.

Berserk's success has spawned a line of statues (not PVC figures, fucking statues) created by Art of War in Japan. These statues are not your average action figures, they carry a weight and detail unsurpassed in manga/anime replica production. Statues of the main characters range anywhere from $120 to $1,500 and are all serialized. Some of the rarer, older, or repainted statues can range from several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars. What a hobby to follow. I currently own four (Skull Knight, Guts - The Black Swordsman, Griffith - Millenium Falcon I, and Femto) and the combined value is somewhere along $750. The one I've wanted the most (that I haven't been able to find), is Guts in the Berserker Armor. I've been looking for one at a reasonable price for about two years now. Finally, Art of War sent me an e-mail announcing their latest statue to be released:

In all of its glory: the Armored Berserker, complete with a 41cm long sword. The problem? 700,000 yen. That's $711 bucks folks, pre-shipping. There will only be 200 of these made ever. I am sad because I will probably never be an owner of this holy grail. But I am happy that Art of War released this statue, only after a year of us fans pestering them.

Berserk has been one of the greatest influences in my life. I'm not saying this shit was life changing or anything, but it's an inspiring and truly epic tale that anyone (with the stomach) should partake in.

Finals week. Finals school and Finals LAKERS. OMG FISHER!

observations of season 6 (chaos bolts, cleave, and improved barkskin)

I quit World of Warcraft for about two months. I had a sudden lost of interest in the game (as I often do), but I logged on one day and decided to hit some things. To my delight, rumors of our nerf were untrue. To any death knights that complain - shut the fuck up, right now. We were overpowered last season, and we're still A-tier right now. You have no right to bitch and moan, because you still have disgusting damage and a slew of savage cooldowns at your disposal. We've been "put in our place", as Blizzard shamefully announced, but even that sentence is clearly safe language. Every death knight secretly knows that they're still powerful beyond fuck.

I digress. I would like to share with you a few (some upsetting) observations I've had over the past two weeks throughout ~300 arena games and ~400,000 farmed honor. I have seen the atrocity that is season 6.

1. Druids - heehee look at me im a tree im dumb!
I want to say this in a graceful way, in a way that complains less, but I really just can't. I don't mean to be derrogatory to the players of the class, but rather to the current state of the class itself. Seriously, the truism to playing a druid is: pre-hotting is the prerequisite to invincibility. Even when I unload all of my cooldowns, if the druid isn't at least ~50% health and I don't get a crit within 4 Scourge Strikes, he will more than most likely survive. It's not that druids don't deserve to play like this (it's pretty close to what the rest of the healers are like lawl), but rather the fact that the ancient art of CC, shifting, and mana conservation is extinct. Now all you do is sit in tree and pre-hot to victory. Sad times.

2. Warlocks - what the fuck. Seriously.
Dude, I got shot in the face by a Chaos Bolt the other day for 12K, in arena, in full resilience gear (that's like, ~750 for me). FML. The part that worries me is that they, like druids, take no skill now. You just run around, cast Immolate, Conflagrate, and Chaos Bolt, while your opponent desperately tries to stop you. And when they're finally out of interrupts and silences, you're going to hit them in the face for half their life. I bet all those warlocks are laughing as they wave their flaming hands, ready to melt my face off.

3. Cleave - sorry.
It's back. And it hurts. Every single melee class is ready to peel the meat off your bones. Warriors included. I can understand why they made the Vindication nerf the ret paladins though, cause Ironboxy would randomly say "the mage is dead". Ret paladins need these kinds of nerfs, yes, but they need more offensive utility to compensate. Just give them a spell interrupt again (though that might be akin to the end of the world). I play cleave cause, like double-teaming Dwight Howard in the paint, it works.

4. Strands - the retard check of BGs.
I had to mention this one. After nearly half a year, people still don't know how to play this battleground. For the love of god PLEASE pick up a god damn Seaforium Charge and DON'T fucking cap the southern graveyard. Please please please please please. God damn.

So, PVP in its current state is pretty dumb. The war of attrition only applies in 2s and even there, burst can still dominate. It's all about training, pre-hotting, and mashing. God help us all.

Finals next week. EDIT: OH MY FUCKING GOD. Did you guys see the M10 Rule Changes??? NO MORE MANA BURN? WTF? YOU CANT STACK DAMAGE ANYMORE? WTFFFFFFFF?????? RFG =/= SIDEBOARD??? CONFUSE HALP!

invite wg plz (a week of inspiration)

So I've been working on a lot of stuff this week. Some of it's small, some of it's big. All in all, however, I've been more productive than I've been this entire quarter. Ontop of that, I've managed to play over 200 arena games in the past week and farm up 4 Furious and 2 Deadly off-pieces. I didn't realize how much I played WoW till I walked into my student lounge on Wednesday and some super asian nerd looked at me, pointed, and exclaimed very loudly: "DIE FUCKING ALLIANCE!" I stood there for a moment and raised an eyebrow, both dumbfounded and embarassed at the same time. I then realized I was wearing my blue alliance hoodie, saw the two girls sitting at the table behind the nerd stare at me in slight disgust, and just walked past the guy without saying anything else.

I should really think twice before wearing that thing to school again.

So many of you guys are probably wondering: hey Chris, you do all this "artsy fartsy" shit but you never show us any of it. Ok fine, here's some stuff I've been working on this past week --

yes i live traced ryu. fucking shame on me.

yes, there is a class for direct mail.

this one is for the real MVP (and for ehd).

The first piece was for Typography II. We had to make a magazine cover (haven't done THAT one before =.=), and I decided to make mine based on an arcade fighting game genre. The second picture is a direct mail piece for Gamucci Electronic Cigarettes. You know all those shitty commercials you see on late-night TV? Yea, there's a class for that, and that self-mailer is part of my campaign. The third piece is a personal one (and one I'm particularly fond of). In light of the playoffs this year, I am more hyped than ever for my big mamba KOBE BRYANT. I am so glad to have found that picture of him to base my piece off of - the moment I saw it I was like: OMFG this pose is perfect for an abstract piece! Let me know if you want a larger version of it (you can actually see some close-up effects I did with it).

Oh yea, I almost forgot a few outdoor ads I did for Street Fighter 4. They were the lulz (thanks to Cory for the initial idea with the facing billboards) --

wow, totally forgot to add shadows on the last one. lol whatever.

I might be spending a month in China this summer interning at an aunt's printshop. Also, get hype for Blazblue console release on June 30th and EVO Championships on July 17th. Also, yes, I haven't been keeping up with my blogging. I've finally run out of my excitement steam for this hobby, so it'll probably be just one (two at most) blog posts per week from now on.

fond memories (during rough times)

I've been working up the ying yang trying to finish all of these projects and prepping for a side project with a few friends. Ontop of that, I've been playing WoW again. I said it. I started playing WoW again. FML.

I've been taking a fuckton of naps since I've been so tired (from all of the above) and I've been having some weird ass dreams. One particular one (and yes, this really happened) stood out. It was probably seventh grade (or eighth) when all the guys in my class had a crush on a different girl. Daryl liked Kara, Michael liked Alex, Nicelio liked Roya, Dominic liked Tess, Blake liked Malorie, and I liked Victoria. So one day we were all playing Counter-Strike together and somebody was really fucking bored and switched his name to one of the girl's AIM screen names. As soon as he did that, everyone on the team switched to their respective girl's SN, and we played for like three hours like that. 

I don't know why I remember that. Yea.

Burnt out dude.