Kneedeep ...

... in work! We're going full bor eon that James Cameron movie, so that doesn't leave a lot of time for creative endeavors. Well; I've still been taking photos, making a tiny bit of music here and there but it's mostly the crumbs of creativity. Work's taking the most of it.

On the other hand, work is quite exciting these days since I'm finally learning lots of new things and am being challenged to the fullest again. It's a steep hill to climb, but I love it.

Winter is continually creeping into Wellington, until it will be here in full effect in about a month or so. Summer was sweet but short. As always - but I don't mind. I find winter in New Zealand much more stimulating than summer in Los Angeles.

So, bear with me - I'm sure I'll post something of substance soon. Until then it's patience for you and overtime for me ;)

Halfway There ...

So, during my vacation I spent a lot of time fixing up a 1973 Yamaha XS650. I bought it already chopped into a frisco style bobber, but the finish was pretty hasty in the details and the candy color scheme was not really my taste.

I repainted the tank and fenders into WWI olive drab. I repainted the risers, the chainguard and some other smaller parts black. I installed a Ford Model A brake light. I removed the old, beat up pipes and installed 29" fishtail exhausts. I installed a new mirror and handlebars, a speedometer and added new grips.

I did some refurbishing of the carburetors, installed a new fuel hose and an inline fuel filter.

There are still quite a few things to do - mostly the alternator, which is too old to charge the battery. I'll probably have to get it rewound and install new brushes. Lastly, the fishtail pipes will need some baffles, because, oh boy, are they loud!

before:


after:

I Call It ...

... the cockpit! So I finally got my Korg Mono/Poly back from service. Tim Prebble here in Wellington did a quick and excellent job! He's looking at my Roland System 100 right now, which is the only analogue synth missing from this picture.
I had forgotten what a crazy machine the Mono/Poly is since I hadn't been playing it for a couple of years now.
Please look at the B/W photo for a description of the different machines in the photo.

I Love My Bicycle Helmet ...

... because yesterday it saved my life. Pretty much 24 hours ago I was laying on the side of a road here in Miramar, bleeding, moaning and yelling for help.

Here's what happened:

After work, I decided to go for a bicycle ride up on a hill that I'd never been on. Going up wasa nice steady climb - I love going uphill. Finally on top, where one can find a now defunct jail, I turned around to go downhill.

It was a wonderful summer evening and I was starting down the hill, faster and faster - the road had wide turns so that I ended up with a speed of about 50 kph (30 mph). Coming around a turn I noticed a speed bump a few meters away from me - and I'm headed straight for it - it was poorly marked, so I didn't notice it sooner.

I panic-braked and unfortunately locked my front brakes. The bike went up over it's front wheel and flung me down the road - while still doing between 40 and 50 kph. Wheeee!

I saw stars when I hit the road. Next thing I remember is me laying in the middle of the road, bike a few meters down. I rolled myself off the road and just laid there, whimpering.

My iPod waas still playing, but I really didn't feel like music anymore, so I pulled the headphones out of my ear. It took me a while to find the shuffle and turn it off.

So, there I was on the side of the road. Unable to move. No cars coming by - but finally, after abot 10 minutes of calling out for help, a bus arrived. He called an ambulance and took my bike off the road.

Today I'm really hurting and am sporting some massive bruises on my bum. My back is scratched and I think I was using my right calf to brake - a lot of skin is gone. It'll take a while to heal.

But if I wouldn't have worn a good bicycle helmet, I'd be dead now.

Wear your protective gear people! Seatbelts, motorcycle helmets, gloves, leather, etc. - because you never know when you need it.

I'll be posting photos as soon as I feel a bit better ...

Three Fotos, Four Songs

First some photos I took recently. I really like the one with the moon because it counterplays the street lights below.

Been pretty busy in the studio recently. I got myself a new synth - a Midi Moog - which in a Mini Moog rack-mounted and midified. Following are four new songs I made over the last few months. The UFO one I posted already, but this time it's a high quality mp3.

Robots - this one I made fairly quickly, but had a lot of fun doing so and it came out pretty well for my standards ;) It sounds very Kraftwerky - well - it's got synths and is about robots. It features a Roland SH-09, Roland RS-09 and a Korg MS-10.

Secret Nazi Rug - someone who I was friends with for years suddenly went crazy and really hurt me for no good reason. I made this song to get over it and hey - it worked. Please understand that I was really mad when I made this - that will explain the chorus.
Features the most extensive vocal work I've ever done ( that's not saying much) and the usual gaggle of synths - including the Midimoog on bass and accompanying keyboard. Some people don't like the Autotune effect but I had to give it a try - especially since my singing was so off.

Traktrak - this one I made fairly quickly. Most interesting thing might be me playing two synths (RS-09 & RH-09) at once in the first melody part. My favourite part is the crazy synth solo in the second part. I kept switching the octaves up and down while paying and gives it a bit of an over-the-top feeling.

UFO - my first try at vocals after a long time. Lil' fun song

Please enjoy. I make those purely for the joy of creating them. I don't claim that they're professional or anything, but they might be entertaining - please give them a try! :)

Still here ...

Hey. Long time no see. I've been laying low recently. Work was bearing very hard on me and sucked out all the little creative juice I had left in me. I am now recuperating. Taking time off. Relaxing. Thinking. Switching off. We'll see what comes of it. I'll let you know.

Summer Is Here!

Only a few more days and I'll be on holiday! Yessss!

Long time no see!

Hello! I'm quite busy at the moment - at work and personally, so I haven't posted for almost a month. Things are going well. I'm working on Peter Jackson's latest movie at work. It's good fun.
Personally, I welcomed a new member to the fasmily ... the motorcycle family. This will be my summer project. It's a 1973 Yamaha XS650 that has been chopped into a Frisco Style Bopper. Needs a lot of work, a repaint of the tank, etc. etc. See you soon!

Oldschool

Hi! Yes, it took me a while to post something again. I came back from Austria and ran right into overtime work. I'm working on a new little painting and have been making a bit of music too. Hopefully I'll finish the painting so you'll get to see it soon.
What I also did was that I went through a lot of old CD backups and put them back on my current machine. Quite a nostalgic trip. Here are three images that were featured on my old webpage (Digital Illustration Outpost / guerillapixel.com). See you soon!

More Impressions from Austria

Here are some more images from Austria. Sorry for the bad editing, but I'm working on a laptop, so I'm a bit limited.
I'm leaving Austria the day after tomorrow. It was a great time and I'm glad I finally made it back after five years. I won't let another five years pass before I return.
But, I'm also glad that I am returning to my beloved Wellington - home if you want to say it like that.

Beautiful Vienna

I was in Vienna for a week, before travelling down to my dad's in the province of Styria. The weather was, and still is, fantastic. Very warm, actually a bit too warm for my tastes. Between 25-30 degrees celsius. I'm not used to that anymore.

In Vienna I walked around the city with my mother, who, in my opinion is as savvy as any professional guide. I also met a bunch of old friends I hadn't seen for up to ten years. It was like a day hadn't passed, really nice.

I went to different restaurants and also to a famous beer garden and ate a pork shank there. So unhealthy, but sooo goood!

I still need to download a ton of fotos, but here are the first impressions.




Oh and I'm having shoes made! Here you can see the shoemaker, this awesome lady, taking measures. Now she's gonna make a 'testing shoe' and then, after a few corrections, the real thing. I've always wanted handmade shoes so badly and now I finally get to do this!

Sleepy in Frankfurt

One more hour and then it's off to Vienna. Finally. I've seen enough airports for now!

Hello from Hong Kong

Gotta love the internet and free wireless. I'm on my way to Austria right now and laying over in Hong Kong. Too bad that there's not enough time to check out the city, but I'll be back one of these days.
In a few hours I'll board a plane to Frankfurt, the second long distance leg and then, finally, a plane to Vienna. I'm going to be in Austria for a month. No work. For a month. Wheee!
I haven't been back home for five years so I expect to get hit by a little bit of culture shock. I'll be taking tons of photographs to!

The photo above was taken this morning - just past the Philipines and about 1000 kms out from Hong Kong. The one below a little bit before. See you soon!

UFO ...

Ola! New silly song about a UFO ... that doesn't show. I know - pure brilliance! O_o

UFO!

Please enjoy - it's short and sweet (!??!??).

Aaaaand ... a few words I guess:

I'll be heading to Austria in a week. For the first time in five years. Very weird. It's been so long. I'm looking forward to it. What I'm looking forward to the most is not being at work for a good while. Really.

Anyway - enough babble out of me. Drop me a line! :)

Afternoon Walks

Did another walk over the hills today. Not as far as yesterday, since I had quite the headache. It was beautiful again. This time I brought my tele lens with me. I really missed it yesterday since the South Island was so visible. I was lucky since it was still quite clear today. The photo above was shot with a 200mm lens - it is slightly cropped. I always wanted to get a shot like that, but the weather was never good enough. The South Island is about 50 kms away if I remember correctly.


We had quite the thunder storm tonight. They are rare here in Wellington. So I opened the door to my deck, put the camera on the tripod and shot 30 second exposures - not a clear lightning but it lit up the skies which you can see here. If you look closely you can see the rain coming down from the clouds . This was around 10pm at night.



This one I shot a while ago. I love how tranquil it is. I like the colors too.



The cloud hook. I notice I don't get out much. All the photos I shot over the last months are either from my deck or from the neighbourhood. Oh well. Going to Austria soon and I will be loaded with memory cards and lenses.



And finally the cat. Hello cat. I love thee!

Burning ...

... out?

Anyway - here are some nice photos I took this arvo. They were taken from the ridges about 20 mins south of my house. I love Wellington and still can't believe I get to live in a place like this.

More Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Well - I thought since we're having our 10 year anniversary, I'll post some more FF stuff.

It's weird looking at those images after not having seen them for a very long time. I just remember how proud and arrogant I was during that time. I have to say that obvious mistakes just scream at me when I see those paintings. Experience makes a difference. Learning how to be a bit more humble too - because when one isn't busy telling everyone how great one is, one can pick up the great things fellow artists want to teach you.
If you're not busy behaving like a total dickhead.



The one that I'd almost let pass is the "Boa", the ship in orbit, but that was based on a wonderful clay model someone had built - maybe it was Kaneko - I'm not sure anymore. What I also realize again is how fantastic those japanese concept artists were. Truly awesome.



The painting of the city scape was meant to be a matte painting but really only passes as mediocre concept art. One thing in defense: back then we hardly had any easily available photographic reference and nifty things like AO, GI and FG were missing too, so even 3D didn't help that much. Well - at least it should have helped me a bit more with perspective. Eeek.



The crater one is another version of the crater posted below. This one doesn't look like an anus and I actually kinda like it. Still - I'd do things entirely different. The lack of a thought out atmosphere is disturbing though. So is the lack of lighting on the clouds.

It really rocks my world a bit to think that this was 10 years ago. I met some really cool people back then and made some really good friends there. Especially my friend Remo - who still lives in Hawaii to this day. Need to visit him again soon.

I also miss the Japanese artists I got to work with. Absolute pros and talented to the T. I made friends with a few of them and would love to see them again one day. At least my good friend Hiroyuki Seshita, who was such a cool guy. Might happen, who knows.

Since digital cameras weren't any good or affordable back then, I have only a few photos from that time - but I'm glad I scanned this one. It's my friends Neville, Jeff and me (on the far left) in Kauai. We chartered a Hughes 500 helicopter, having landed in the middle of a broken volcano chimney. I remember the pilot (behind us) telling us that one could only get there by chopper. There were no doors in the heli, so I was hanging out of it during much of the flight. Sweet times, sweet times.


If anyone would have told me 20 years ago in Austria, that one day I'd be living in Hawaii, zooming around in a chopper, I'd have asked them for a hit from their crack pipe. And now? Now it's already 10 years ago!!!

Now, what do we learn from this? If you get to do something cool, work on something cool or are just in a great situation - look around, enjoy, memorize, photograph and share. And don't be a dickhead.

Talk to you soon.

10 years ago ...

... yes boys and girls, 10 years ago - Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within. I miss Hawaii :(

Most of the designs were done by fantastic concept artists - I did the illustrations over the line art. Funny looking at that stuff again. Time surely goes by quickly ...

?

Recent Song

Here's the first song I've made in about, well, almost a year. Since one can't upload mp3's on blogger, I made this little video. I rendered some cheesy mid 80s style 3D atrocities so you've got something moving to look at. Don't look to long though, otherwise you'll get sick - rather listen to the music. Might make you sick too though ;) See you soon!

PS: Eeeek - just noticed that the upload applies a BRUTAL compressor to the whole thing. I redid the upload and applied a quite tight compression to the audio track. Hopefully it'll sound a bit better than the first upload. And if someone knows a free site where one can upload files / mp3's to link to, please be so kind and let me know. Thanks :)




UPDATE:

Here's the song for download:

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6821268

Thanks for the offers though, guys!