Joey Juiceneck, Wacom

Michael Liuzzi

The greatest and the most talented matte painter to come out of Expression College for Digital Arts. The funny thing is, that school does not teach matte painting at all.

I miss that guy.

Customer Service Complaint #1

Our first official complaint, served on a cold lonely platter from our supervisor. YAY!! Enjoy.


"A bunch of shit came together in my head. It was a sandstorm. I was
tired. I was excluded via audio engineer/emeryville/people I don't
know conversation and started noticing things. Like a general lack of
substance - It was all noise.
Not verbatim, but let me give you an example of what it sounded like to me:
oh shit the berries!
it's berrytastic!
I'll juggle your berries
Blue berries!
oh
haha
booyah
bow wow chicka bowa
ay ay!
oh flowers
I'll flower your ass
petals and all
oh yea he said 'petals in your ass'!
up the ass
asstastic.
Speaking of pedals, I bought this crazy seven string double drop tuned
violin that I plugged into my drums and attached a trumpet to it
and...

you know what I mean at all? And then when graham and jay started a verbal drum circle I'd had enough. Sorry if this is bitchy. I do like
your friends I just wasn't vibing and wanted to avoid a panic attack
so I left. I figured I'd stay and take the bus with you but then
realized the walk to the bus would be the same as the dinner
conversation and I couldn't take any more.

I think I'm ok now. Maybe it was a summer thing. Maybe it was the dim lighting. I was losing it while waiting for my cake and then the cake didn't help."


Oh those pretend friends. .. We find it hard to see those high fives in the dark.

Love,

Graham and J

High Heels Engages Eyes High

I used to think that high heels were extremely uncomfortable because they look uncomfortable for those who wore them. However, I finally noticed that they do more than provide pain for those fashionable masochists. They engage the beautiful forms that makes up the human figure. First they engage the calf muscles, then the leg muscles, then the gluteus maximus, then it arches the lower lumbar, which then causes the chest to stick out at attention, accentuating the clavicle, straightening the neck, chin high and then finally it engages the eyes of the onlooker of the opposite or same sex. Ahhhh... I can hear those trouser trumpets now, blaring with brassy overtones of joy.

13th cigarret on the 11th hour.

Its 3 in the morning and i think i shall contribute to this blog for once. My days here have been well spent and cashed in. The smell of the city excites me and with every day i get more and more comfortable here. This in tales an above average disrespect for assholes on the subway and the urge to eat the finest kabobs prepared by street vender's. I just finished my 3 week stint at MTV. All that i will say is it was a very great experience. The last hours at MTV where spent finishing kids work. A seemingly preplanned attempt to get paid and to not have to put forth any effort. Thank god inkhed was supplied with a steady supply of red bull and cigarettes. With out this snapping would be involved, and the only thing i like to snap into is a slim jim.
  I have also met a good sum of great people. This city is nothing like a postal service song. Full of great and inspiring people. I saw a woman on the subway when i first got here and to be honest with you i was feeling quite down about allot. I looked over at this finely dressed business woman to find her dripping what seemed to be tears from her face. I don't mean to sound fucked up but this actually made me feel better. Not in the manner of her pain but that, seeing this made me feel like i was not alone in this big place. I gracefully made a point to stare at her until attention was obtained. Finally she looked at me and i drew a shape of a heart in the proper place of where my heart was placed and will hopefully stay. A smile leaked from her beautiful face. Then like a week later I get on the A train to proceed home. This is normally a 30 to 40 minute journey. About half way through this journey a cute messy haired girl with thick Glass's and a dumpy outfit entered the car. I could not keep my eyes off her and it seemed to be the same for her. Impulsive people we are. NO action was taken upon these glances and i left the train to eat well prepared authentic Chinese food. I was left wondering about this girl. What does she do, she appeared to be some sort of sympathetic human with basic needs of love and attention.Will i ever see her again will i ever get and opportunity to at least say hi. These where the thoughts that filled my hed for the majority of the night. These moment are cherished my me. Locked in a small box filled with a large heart.    
    I was glad to get ahold of my good freind ARSEN. It was beyond great to be able to see him. I got the opportunity to here his newly created tracks. New master peices by an even more masterful friend. It always surprises me to see how people reach out to him to help. I love how he can come to a city like New York for 3 months a seem so calm. Newly made Friends seem like old acquaintances. I ended up helping him one night moving his stuff to a place where he was able to stay in Harlem. With his guitars and cloths in hand we made our way to Harlem via Manhattan. I find situations like this fun. Its always nice to have stuff and a stable home but something i can appreciate more is the ability to be able to carry your all of your belongings by yourself. Packed and and ready to go anywhere on a moments notice. Nomads are what we are. No home is final and will never be owned. Shared and loved by many. As we turn the corner to meet our freind Gleb by the subway i notice a familiar messy hedded girl with thick rimmed glass's. It was the same girl i met with eyes on the subway. This encounter slowed my pace so that i could say "Hi" Then proceeded to keep walking. I did this in a confident manner. Knowing that this is in fact a small city and an even smaller world. Things happen for a reason. I now don't hope to see her again. Because I'm not worried i know for a fact i will and the next time will be a more appropriately place and scenario.
    A city that never sleeps housing a newly exited artist that never sleeps. This seems to be a good match.  
Now to all my Friends left behind on the left coast it seems to be an ever daunting and impossible task to fill the hole dug into my heart. I miss all of you. These nights here would never have happend with out you . There is not a single day where i don't think about you. Especially the love ounce had. Things here are great and this seems to be my next phase to becoming the person who i strive to become. there will never be any sum of money drugs or sex that could make me forget the people that shaped me. The past three three years where the most important mind shaping years of my life. I would like to take time to say thank you guys and gals for such a thing.

   Well its is almost four and i think it is time for me to smoke a smoke and to listen to the newly obtained tracks of RPG again. Also I'm becoming very tired of fixing my dyslexic attempts of writing.


love

INK HED

The Once and Over

Tonight in the subway on my way home from Manhattan I sat across from this really cute girl on the train. We politely exchanged smiles when we made eye contact after I sat down. She had very short brown hair, a fair skin tone, kind oval shaped eyes, a cute petite and slender nose, a thin upper lip with a great smile, wearing an all black attire, had a Utrecht bag of art supplies, with red shoes and right on top of her left foot was a tattoo of a quadruped creature. I couldn’t figure out if it were a mouse, a cat, or a dog. I shall call her Dorothy.

Pumpkin Filled Angst from a Bed of Stye

My last few days at Resident were fun and intense. It consisted of enduring long hours spanning over 3 days, getting Wii'd and finding myself on that Red Bull & cigarettes binge. I felt like I was back in the Bay Area. As stressful as it was, it was kind of soothing. I felt comfort and the warm blanket of being in the zone. Actually, now that I think about it, it was probably the humidity. How dreadful.
On a brighter note, someone played Siamese Dream by the Smashing Pumpkins. I haven’t heard that in years. It reminded me of middle school. On my last night there, Mr. West invited us to the screening and after party of his new music video. We were late and missed the screening, but we were there for the open bar and food. It was yummy.

Over the weekend I had bad case of the STYE. The lower eyelid glands were infected by a dirty finger and it caused my lower eyelid to swell until it blinded the left eyeball. I woke up Saturday morning with one swollen eyelid and so with the one good eye I spent a couple of hours on a digital highway filled with super-information for some super home remedies. As I laid there in bed with a hot compress and hot tea bags the swelling of the eyelid went down with the sun. By dusk I was able to see again with both eyeballs at the same time. I better take good care of these organs or else my career as an artist will soon come to an end.

Today I started my new gig over at MoonDog Edit & Design. I will be working on two commercials, one for Belvedere vodka and one for Calvin Klein. Today all I did was model a desert terrain which was pretty fun with the new and improved soft mod tool in Maya 8.5 which made the job a lot easier and fun. Eventually, I will get to composite in Shake. YAY for NODES! They also have Flame there, so I hope to continue my learning of that application during my time at MoonDog. The interview for this job went well. They liked my reel and said they’d like to keep me until the middle of August, and they’re willing to work around my schedule in case I get booked for another gig, which is really nice of them.

Graham is finishing up his gig over at MTV and has an interview at MoonDog sometime this week. So Graham and I will be working together again soon. It will be like old times again. YAY!

One Moon One Eye

Yesterday the clouds were especially dynamic. Right before the night invaded the day it started to pour as we smoked our hand rolled dried tobacco in the sea of confused tourists. As we stood there in the middle of this carnival we couldn’t help but notice the contrast of ugly new buildings towering over the old beautiful architecture. It reminded me of Transmetropolitan. I could see how it would make Spider Jerusalem sick to his stomach. Where is our Pepsi Perfect and Mattel Hoverboards??

Stand clear of the closing doors urban cowboy! First stop, uptown to Mister Patrick’s sixth floor metal balcony for escaping fires and/or escaping from thievery acts. Is there such a thing as a cat burglar? Is it a lost art? There we were greeted with warm friendly hugs and a delicious bowl of pasta with small adorably delicious tomatoes, complimented with bits of feta cheese. Thank you Ms Caterina, that was yummy. After that authentic and wonderful Italian meal we smoke many cigarettes on the metal balcony, my favorite part of New York City. While on the metal balcony we found a long lost pack of Parliament Lights with the help of a friendly and talented Serbian. Thankfully they were not ignored, but smoked and appreciated. We eventually crawled our way back in from the metal balcony and into a screening of really well done Production One film. It was an excellent film, a great idea with good lighting and nice music.

Next stop, The Burg of Williams. We met up with an old college chum who also journeyed out here from the Land of Oaks. He showed us this place called the Alligator Lounge. For every beer you drink you get a free pie! What a great deal. Wait! This goes on everyday?!?! Outstanding! He was hanging out with an old college professor from our school, who happens to be a fellow New Yorker herself. We had a great time talking about music, especially about John Zorn, Fred Frith, Carla Kihlstedt, William Winant and Alarm Will Sound. Our days here over by the Atlantic just get better and better.

Afterwards we walked around the neighborhood and we soon came to a decision that this is the Burg where we will finalize our long awaited transplant from the Land of Oaks.

Goodbye Sober Day...

Last night there was a huge party at the office after a long day of work. There was booze, little cheeseburgers, cucumbers, cheese, crackers, music, new faces, rendering and compositing going on at the same time. I don't think there were enough of those little cheeseburgers because they were delicious little suckers. Graham made it over to the party too, but I forgot to tell him there was a party there. So when he arrived he wasn't sure if he was at the right place until he saw me standing there with a scotch on the rocks talking to Chris West.

Throughout the course of the evening we were mingling and rendering. Met some really nice people, held some of the best conversations I've had in a while with strangers and new friends. We got to know some of the other freelance digital artists that were working there too. Watched each others reels and admired each other’s art works. What an industry!

As another added bonus to our journey to the East, we met a practical effects wizard. We talked to this Jeff the sorcerer for quite a while and I am pretty sure that Graham and I are going to apprentice for this amazing sorcerer. We should get Leo to come down here from Boston and start making squibs again. After the party Graham, Dimitri, our new friend Kyle and I went to some “hole in the wall” for a slice and Mexican food. It was the biggest hole I’ve ever seen in a wall. It had ovens, sodas and a cash register, but not enough napkins or seasoning.

…Hello Milky Way

Paid to do art

Today was my first day on the job, it sure was a long exciting and extremely exhausting day. I was very nervous and the whole day I felt my feet sweating in a nice air conditioned environment. I get to hang out and work with some really talented and funny artists. They provide us with coffee, water, snacks and we get to smoke cigarettes by the window in the office.

I will be there for the next 13 days crunching on a new and awesome Kanye West music video. I can't say much about it other than it looks freaking amazing. They provided us with lots concept art for inspiration, so we get a good amount of creative freedom with some of the details while we are building the assets for the video. It should be a good experience.

One of the other great things about this place is that they have Flame, another node based compositing package. I hope there is an opportunity where I will get to learn this powerful application. Thank you Mister Meat Tree(Dimitri)

Goodbyes are awkward

After an intense week of packing and cleaning of our apartment at The Continental(West) we finally made it to New York. I would like to thank everyone who made it to the New York Bound BBQ and I would like to thank a Mr. Wallthing for facilitating this going away get together.

Graham just landed his first gig doing character modeling and animating for MTV. YAY! Mother Payne was extremely excited, she screamed on speaker-phone.

On our first official day in New York, we went to Square of Times for Graham's interview at the Viacom building. Afterwards we met up with a couple of friends for breakfast and then had a great brainstorming session for an art installation. We cannot divulge anything at this time, for the idea of the project is still in its infancy stage. During this brainstorming session I kept thinking about Austin and how he would've made a great addition to the session as always. He will surely be there for some of the East coast sessions in the near future.

So far it has been a great start for the both of us.