A few months ago, I started ruminating about what I might do for a Christmas card illustration this year. Just as I do when brainstorming any creative project, I kept my eyes open wherever I went. You never know when you might come across something that might inspire some ideas, things that might cause you to ponder "What if...?". Hanging in my living room for several years is a piece of shadowbox artwork that I treasure. I bought it from the Disneyana store on Main Street USA at Disneyland. It's by Dave Avanzino and for years his work has been featured at the park, cleverly crafting these framed words and messages from iconic elements inspired by things Disney and Disneyland. While admiring one of Avanzino's latest pieces on a recent visit to the Disneyana store, the notion came to me to adopt his brilliant idea for my holiday art. Soon after, I started building my word collage. It was going very well. And this was back in October. So on top of the phrase art looking good, I also got excited that I might actually get this year's art done WAY early! I wanted to highlight several noteworthy events from the past year in my design. Taking Avanzino's cue, I spelled out my holiday message with letters lifted from visual elements related to those events. While I was pretty happy with this part, I wasn't with the background. I was also hoping to do something even more creative than just delivering a plainly printed card. So I ended up taking a break on it, hoping that coming back to it in a few days would give me fresh eyes on my project. Those "few days" ended up lasting for over a month as I had a trip to Florida coming up, Thanksgiving weekend, freelance work and other distractions. But when I finally came back to it in mid-December, it took me just a few hours to not only design a background but also design the rest of the actual Christmas card, which became another pop-up design. At the end of this blog is the final result. But leading up to that, I've provided explanations for what each of the characterized letters represents from moments of my past year with some extra photos and links if you want to learn more. M from "Musical" On May 19, my team, "Naboombu All-Stars", won First Place in MousePlanet's latest scavenger hunt game, MouseAdventure Musical, which took place at the Disneyland Resort. It was also our second time earning the top spot. You can read all about this event in MousePlanet.com's Recap. And my history playing MouseAdventure is summarized in this blog. A backwards "3" from the Club 33 logo On June 23, through the generosity of a friend, we later celebrated our win with a celebratory lunch at Disneyland's VIP restaurant Club 33. My pictures from Club 33 are posted on Flickr. R from "Treasures" On February 9, my Naboombu All-Star friends and I traveled to Ojai to tour the Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives exhibit on display at the Ronald Reagan Library. I enjoyed both the Disney exhibit and the Reagan tour. My pictures from the visit are also posted on Flickr. R from "Ordinary" Running September 6 through September 29 was a heart-warming production of the musical "Ordinary Days". My friends produced, staged, directed and performed in it to rave reviews, among them from The Hollywood Reporter, NoHoArtsDistrict.com and The Tolucan Times. I was surprised and honored to be asked to design their set. Below are two concept drawings I produced followed by a shot of how the final set turned out. Y from "Willy" Running August 3 through August 17 was Torrance Theatre Company's summer musical production of Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka. And in it, I had the good fortune and fun to play reporter Phineous Trout. Below are shots from the production. And if you hadn't read it before, don't miss my blog about the pop-up Golden Ticket cards I designed and produced for the cast and crew. C from "Capsule" in the logo I designed On February 23, before earning our February MouseAdventure win, the Naboombu All-Stars created our first of three installments of our home-grown scavenger game for the year. Questacular - Time Capsule: 1973 is the quest we hosted for our friends, giving them another chance to get together and hate us and/or love us some more as they scavenged for clues and answers all afternoon and evening throughout Disneyland. The other two quests we hosted were Summer Questacular: The Quest for the Truth played at Disney California Adventure and Questmas Cards back at Disneyland. H from "Hollywood" On March 26, I accomplished what most everyone who comes to Los Angeles wants to do someday. After 18 years living in LA, I finally hiked up to the Hollywood sign! I wrote about my adventure in a blog. r from "Travelling" in the logo I designed On the weekend of April 27-28, my Relay for Life team, Travelling Turtles/Friends of the Arts, participated in our fifth consecutive weekend walk to raise donations for and awareness of the American Cancer Society. And our team sported tee-shirts generously donated by Embroid Me with the artwork I produced. We'll be involved once again together in 2014, our sixth year together as a team. I from "Iron" On May 2, I joined my geek buddies and former toy company co-workers for one of several trips to the theatres this year. On this day, it was to watch "Iron Man 3" in IMAX 3D at Rave Motion Pictures. S from the new Superman logo On June 14, my geek buddies watched "Man of Steel" together in IMAX 3D at the decent screening time of 8pm on opening night again at Rave Motion Pictures. T from "Thor" On November 12, we headed to ArcLight Cinemas to watch "Thor: The Dark World" in 3D. (If you didn't already know, we love comic book super-heroes.) M from "Men" Running March 1 through March 30 was Torrance Theatre Company's production of "12 Angry Men" where I played Juror 6. Below is banner art I designed to promote our show, using a photo by Brad LaVerne. A from "Castle" I just love this show! s from "Disney" I hadn't been back to visit Walt Disney World in fifteen years. But MousePlanet also hosts MouseAdventures over there. And after playing together at Disneyland for a couple of years, my Naboombu All-Stars friends made sure we played in at least one of them over there! So off to Florida we went from November 13 to November 18, to play World Explorers V over that weekend. No other crazy way to visit all four parks for essentially the first time than while playing a timed scavenger hunt!! On this very first try playing there, we proudly placed 7th out of 39 teams. Here's the recap to read all about the quests we played and how we had to get our answers. And with a hundred less teams playing there than MouseAdventure at Disneyland, we also managed to get featured in a couple of candid shots in the recap. At the end of Game Day #1, each team was given a blank Vinylmation Mickey and asked to decorate it and bring it with us at check in the next morning. That's when we learned that in the middle of Game Day #2, our goal was to travel throughout the entire Walt Disney World Resort and take pictures of ourselves with it at as many locations specified on a provided list as we could reach within four hours. Traveling by monorail, tram, boat and in the last half hour, even running, we reached 19 spots out of 28. Here's a photo collage I layed out of all the locations we reached. Of course, these weren't the only best and memorable moments from my year. There were others. These were just the ones that just found their way into this design. For each and every moment of fun, challenge and good fortune that has come my way, I am truly grateful. And Happy New Year! I hope you all enjoyed just as memorable and wonderful a year with your family and friends too! Added December 27, 2013:
Here's how the pop-up snail mail version turned out.
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As my friends know, I take pictures of my food. How and when did it start? A few years into owning my Disneyland Annual Pass. I'd run out of clever things to photograph in the park and one morning, I took that first photo of my plate of food. To the left is that photo. Wow, I've really been doing this stupid thing for ten years!? It had more to do with sharing with (read, bragging to) friends how I was spending one weekend morning, chilling out on the patio at the River Belle Terrace enjoying a relaxing view of the Rivers of America. Been taking pictures of my food ever since. Many of them have been uploaded to a gallery on Flickr. Uploading my latest batch, I scrolled through the lot of them and decided to share some of them in a new blog. I also just recently discovered something new at the park that's immediately became one of my new favorite things to order. So here are my favorite things to eat at Disneyland. Descriptions are taken from AllEars.net's excellent Disneyland Resort Menus resource page that I recommend you bookmark on your smartphone. Enjoy. And bon appetit! Main Street USA Carnation Cafe Penne Pasta with Shrimp Pasta and Sauteed Shrimp with Broccoli and Mushrooms in a creamy Garlic Sauce. $17.99 I haven't been here much since it reopened last June, expanding into the former coffee shop next door. I used to come here for breakfast often with friends, often enjoying the friendly service of server Bob! But since its remodel, I've been here to try a delicious seasonal special and this pasta dish. At first I thought it was a special, but now it's on the menu. Good! I loved it! Coca-Cola Refreshment Corner Mac & Cheese Hot Dog Featuring a Premium Hot Dog Includes sliced apples or small bag of chips Topped with bacon bits. $7.19 This was taken a few months before it was permanently added to their menu. I had attended an exclusive annual passholder event where we got to preview Mickey's Soundsational Parade before its debut to the general public, and this was among the unique new food items offered during event. I haven't had it since, but at least I know there's now a place I can order it if ever I get the whim. Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe Hot Angus Roast Beef on Toasted Onion Roll Served with House Chips Caramelized Onions, Horseradish Aioli and White Cheddar. $9.99 Another new place I really haven't visited often for meals. But the Jolly Holiday opened around the same time as the remodeled Carnation Cafe, offering an expanded place to get your mocha and latte plus bakery items. This was a year before Starbucks moved into the park, but it's still a busy place. And I remember really enjoying this generous roast beef sandwich and chips. Plaza Inn Plaza Inn Specialty Chicken Three pieces of chicken, fried to a golden brown, seasoned with distinctive herbs and spices. Served with mashed potatoes, buttermilk biscuit and mixture of vegetables. $13.99 Tasty, delicious fried chicken! Finish this and it's guaranteed you won't leave hungry. Little Red Wagon Hand-Dipped Corn Dog With sliced apples or a small bag of chips. $6.69 There's often a long line at the Little Red Wagon next door to Plaza Inn, because the corn dogs at Disneyland are huge, battered in tasty corn meal, and deelish! You can also order corn dogs at the Stage Door Cafe in Frontierland. I've never ordered them there; it just seems traditional for me to get them from here. Adventureland Tiki Juice Bar Dole Whip Float $5.19 If you're never had a Dole whip or Dole whip float, SHAME ON YOU! For the longest time, I only ordered the Dole whip, which is simply a generous serving of pineapple-flavored soft serve ice cream. Then I tried it as a float with pineapple juice added. It was on a hot sunny day, and that was it. Float every time! Bengal Barbeque Safari Skewer Bacon Wrapped Asparagus $3.89 I don't come here often. The line's always a tad too long for essentially snack food. But when I do, it's bacon-wrapped asparagus all the way. There's a Chieftain Chicken Skewer (in polynesian sauce) shown here too that I got for variety's sake. Frontierland Golden Horseshoe Crispy Chicken Mixed Green Salad $9.49 I've made an effort to order more salads and meatless meals at restaurants the past few years. If it weren't for that, I likely never would have tried this. What I like about this meal is it's like have a main course - the chicken tenders which I dip in BBQ sauce - with a dinner salad. Stage Door Cafe Fish & Chips with tartar sauce. $9.99 They only added Fish & Chips in the last few years as I recall, but I'm glad they did. The fish fillets aren't overly greasy, and the fish inside is very flaky. So I'm glad I have a quick and tasty fish option to choose when I'm at the park. River Belle Terrace River Belle's Roast Beef Served on a fresh baked roll with our signature savory salad with horseradish aioli. $11.99 Here's I place I used to come to often for dinner. When I first got my annual pass, they served fried chicken and BBQ ribs here. Then the menu was changed to offer sandwiches. I think the park was adopting a new mandate to offer more health-conscious options. Remember when you could buy McDonald's fries next to the Mark Twain loading dock or at the Harbour Galley by the Haunted Mansion? The fries disappeared when Disneyland didn't renew McDonald's contract. Anyway, early online reviews weren't flattering so I avoided it for the longest time. Then, recently I finally dared to walk in and see what the food looked like. First off, I was surprised to see the roast beef and turkey was hand-carved for each freshly-made sandwich. Second, they also offered hot plates with mashed potatoes and other sides. So I gave the roast beef sandwich a shot...and enjoyed it! Glad I finally had an open mind to give this place a try. Big Thunder Ranch Celebration BBQ We're serving up fun FAMILY STYLE at Big Thunder Ranch Barbecue ENJOY Our Barbecue Chicken and Ribs with all of the fixings served family style at your table! Adults: $26.99, Kids 3-9 $11.99 (not including tax and gratuity) Each supper includes: BBQ Chicken and Ribs with Miss Chris' special sauce (Vegetarian Option Available) Smoked Sausage Cole Slaw Corn Cob Wheels Ranch Beans Corn Bread Just four words: "all you can eat". What's not to like! Just come in with a huge appetite so's you can get your money's worth. By the way, this is their dinner menu. For three bucks less, the lunch menu omits the smoked sausage and corn cob wheels. New Orleans Square Blue Bayou Restaurant Buccaneer's Boneless Beef Short Ribs Each entree served with choice of the following: Blue Bayou House Salad or Cup of our Signature New Orleans Gumbo Braised Short Ribs, Boursin Cheese Mashed Potatoes, Seasonal Vegetables, and Cabernet Reduction. $33.99 I usually come here for friend's special events like celebrating birthdays. And I've sampled about half of their menu offerings. Of them, these have become my favorite so far. The meat is falls apart easily and the sauce is tasty! Cafe Orleans "Crescent City" Salad Choose Blackened Chicken or Pan-seared Atlantic Salmon on top of fresh Spinach and Mixed Baby Greens, tossed with Carmelized Pecans, Red Grapes, Navel Orange Segments, Caramelized Onions, Chopped Green Onions, Roasted Sweet Corn, and Orange-Cilantro Vinaigrette. -- With Blackened Chicken $15.49 During many visits here, my go-to meal here was the Monte Cristo Sandwich or Three-Cheese Monte Cristo with the Pommes Frites. I used to have a hell of an appetite! But these days, I can barely finish half the sandwich, plus I've been trying to be more health-conscious. And the fried sandwich filled with cheese isn't at the top of my list of choices any more. Instead this salad just barely beats the fresh Cafe Orleans Salmon Sandwich. Club 33 Pan Seared Chateaubriand with Truffle Vintage Port Reduction $59.75 I've had the pleasure of getting to visit Disneyland's members only VIP restaurant, Club 33. And man, it's cool! This is what I had on my first visit and it is one of the best steaks I've ever had. Here are the rest of my photos from that visit and here are ones from my second trip. Critter Country Harbour Galley Lobster Roll in a buttered brioche roll served with Old Bay seasoned home-style chips. $13.99 I had this when it was only offered during a limited time celebrating Mardi Gras. It's since become a regular item on their menu. Mickey's Toontown Daisy's Diner Daisy's Special Pepperoni Pizza $7.99 In all the years I've owned a Disneyland Annual Passport, I'd never once had anything to eat inside Mickey's Toontown until last month when on a whim I tried this personal size pizza. Filled with tasty pizza sauce, I found it way better than the pizza offered at Pizza Port (which for some might not be saying much). I've seen been back four more times to enjoy this. Don't really know when I'll become tried of it. Tomorrowland Tomorrowland Terrace Fish Sandwich with Chipotle Crema served with fresh fruit or French fries. $10.49 A friend and I decided to eat here one day recently, a place that is not normally even on our radar when considering places to eat. We both chose this to eat, and we were both sincerely shocked at how good it was. The Cast Member at the order window told us the fish was baked, not fried, and together on a fresh, un-toasted bun and all its fixings, it's a great, fresh-tasting meal. Redd Rockett's Pizza Port Count Down Chicken Fusilli Fusilli pasta tossed with seasoned grilled chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and Parmesan cream sauce with a touch of fresh basil $9.49 This became my regular order during the first few years I visited Disneyland. Seriously, BOTH the fusilli AND a slice of pizza. plus a drink. I can't do that anymore, but when I come here, I always get the fusilli (and now save my pizza appetite for Daisy's). Fantasyland Village Haus Restaurant BLT Flatbread Pizza Thin flat bread crust, smoked bacon, Provolone and Mozzarella cheeses, caramelized onions, marinated tomatoes, topped with arugula and shaved fennel. $8.49 I never really visit Fantasyland much, so I don't have a long history with sampling their fare here. They currently updated their menu and while I'm not usually a big flatbread pizza fan, this has bacon! That's it. Nothing from the Hungry Bear Restaurant or Rancho del Zocalo, which I've been to but just wasn't particularly knocked out by anything they've ever ordered.
Coming soon: My favorite foods at DCA and elsewhere at the resort. Check out the rest of my Disney food fotos on my Flickr page. Man of Steel will be released in the U.S. on Blu-ray in 11 days. And Superman being one of those entertainment properties having gazillions of around the world wanting their hero presented in something special, this Blu-ray is being offered in several different, unique editions. And for your educational pleasure, I thought I'd whip out a quick blog listing those editions for you. There's seven in total. - UPDATED 11/3/13: Eight! Added a cool exclusive edition from Australia that I found after my original posting. Plus one from a land across the moat. Standard Combo Pack 3D Combo Pack Limited Edition 3D Combo Pack Gift Set RETAILER EXCLUSIVE: Amazon RETAILER EXCLUSIVE: Walmart RETAILER EXCLUSIVE: Target RETAILER EXCLUSIVE: WBShop.com REGION EXCLUSIVE: Germany And finally here's one that's available in Germany. It includes Region B discs so if you decide you want this one, you'll need to own a region-free Blu-ray Disc player to play the movie (unless you plan to use the discs as coasters). REGION EXCLUSIVE: Australia Added November 3, 2013. Just found this this morning, available exclusively in the Australian market. Australia Blu-ray Discs are also traditional Region B discs (US is Region A). A Bonus Feature Hope you enjoyed the recap. Do you know which one you're going to get? Or will you just stream it on Netflix? Speaking of Netflix, I'm not a Netflix subscriber so I'm not sure if they also provide the bonus material with movies. But this new short is included when you pick up a copy of Man of Steel. Enjoy and thanks for reading! A little movie came out on Blu-ray last week. You may have heard of it: Star Trek Into Darkness. It became the latest addition to my home video library and Star Trek collection, both of which are fairly extensive. I have been a Star Trek fan for many years. I grew up on The Original Series cast and later became a fan of The Next Generation. That's when I finally started going to Star Trek conventions and continued to enjoy the other spinoff series. And if you go check out my pictures on Flickr, you'll see me use my Star Trek collection to get creative. A few weeks ago, I got the idea to design and illustrate a Star Trek infographic. It would show all the ways the arrowhead insignia originally worn by the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise has appeared and been adapted on each of the different versions of Star Trek, from the movies, the TV shows, the spinoffs, even the original pilots and animated series. The idea appealed to me as a Star Trek geek and also as a designer interested in seeing all of these creative incarnations assembled together into one place. Plus, I'd have the fun of rendering them as accurately as possible based on finding the best photo reference for each one. I spent many hours going through my Star Trek DVDs, Blu-rays and books. It really became an obsession. I scoured the Internet for stills to also use as reference and visited websites like Memory Alpha to see what they identified as Starfleet insignia to make sure I considered everything. My only criteria was that I'd just include variations of the original 1960's arrowhead patch, or delta shield as fans have also called it. And as the logo started appearing on hats and belt buckles in the movies, I limited it to just when it was worn over the left breast on uniforms, to keep this infographic focused and consistent. The only indulgence you'll find on it is when I included images of the various designs of the starship Enterprise associated with each insignia. The evolution of the design of each starship named Enterprise is pretty fascinating as well, especially regarding the little aesthetic details found on the original 1960's television model. For logos like the dagger-based Mirror universe one or the starship-based patches worn on Scott Bakula's Enterprise series, they're not here because they didn't include the arrowhead motif. Maybe they'll turn up in a future infographic if I decide to do another one. Originally I planned to get this done by last Tuesday to post on the day Star Trek Into Darkness came out on Blu. But I didn't get it finished, and I'm glad I didn't. Watching the new film I found a lot more and clearer reference that I didn't have before. So this infographic ended up becoming as comprehensive a collection of that insignia as possible, right down to this last movie. So, I'll stop talking now and just share it already! It's posted below. Click on it to go to my deviantART page. On that page, click the art there to blow it up and see it larger. As I pat myself on the back for this, let the nitpicking - and God forbid, citing mistakes - begin! They started with this. I whipped up the above artwork for my friends building the set of Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka, last month's musical staged by the Torrance Theatre Company and one I was also cast in, playing the part of reporter-to-the-Golden-Ticket-winners Phineous Trout. The artwork would be applied to large 5' x 3' boards installed at the top of the proscenium of the Armstrong Theatre and illuminated with animated magical effects during every show. Now whenever I'm in a show, I like to try to do something creative and special for the cast, to hand out on opening night or closing night. For this show, I had to consider something I could produce for about forty cast members and about half as many more crew members, something that wouldn't get in the way of me missing (too much) sleep to get them sixty-odd pieces done and looking pretty. In my last show, 12 Angry Men, I made a card with a wheel that can be turned to reveal jokey verdicts through a cut-out window and a simple pop-up card that I handed out to the cast and crew on opening and closing nights. They turned out well enough and everyone got a kick out of them. I also had fun making them, and they turned out to be fairly simple to do yet were impressive to receive. (Pats myself on the back.) So immediately the idea of again doing something involving paper engineering came to mind. I browsed through some books on paper engineering I own for inspiration and also to see what would be simplest to produce for a cast of thousands! Ok, sixty people. But I didn't want this to feel like I was making enough for thousands.
After I finished the Golden Ticket art, I occurred to me that not only was that the perfect graphic element to share with everyone, but also that half my graphic design time was theoretically done if I was able to use it in whatever I came up with! (On top of taking the time to brainstorm, design and make these whatevers, I still had rehearsals to go to too! So time management was a bit important to me.) I decided I wanted to do something a little more exciting than the simple pop-up I did for 12 Angry Men. And quickly the idea of opening a card to reveal a real Golden Ticket popping up at them became my focus and my goal. My biggest challenge being a novice paper engineer was how to make it pop up! But a little trial and error building white model mockups aided me in figuring that out fairly quickly. Next up was designing the graphics for what would appear on the rest of the card, what would appear behind the Golden Ticket that popped up and what would the cover say to set up what they'd find inside. I was again able to save some time by re-using the gears from my Golden Ticket art to use in the background spread of the inside. And since this was coming from the reporter in the show who introduces himself to the audience by saying "This is Phineous Trout!", the concept for the cover arrived quickly too. As the art was getting done, I printed them out to mockup some more white models to see how it was looking and also to make sure the placement of the Golden Ticket didn't block my text and message in the card. Once I signed off on my own graphic design, it was off to the local craft stores to find just the right kind of gold paper to print the Golden Tickets on, because Golden Tickets need to be gold (duh) and sparkly! (And because I could then print them as black and white art, it would save me a hell of a lot of money on toner too!) Thank God for Scrampers, a scrapbooking supply store that was the only place I found with just the right paper I was hoping to find! I also bought a box of Avery 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" Note Cards for the base cards; pre-scored and perforated-to-size was another time-saver I banked on. And since I already had white card stock at home for the pieces going under the tickets to lift them up - card stock being sturdier than thin copy paper - I just needed toner - lots of toner - and I was ready to print, cut and score. Below are images of my final artwork and shots I took during construction. I didn't have time to produce anything for opening night, so I was glad I got these done to hand out on before the show on closing night. I was very happy with the way they turned out. Thankfully, so were my very talented castmates and the backstage crew who worked hard throughout the production. Check out my portfolio to see other paper engineering projects I've done for fun! |
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A fan of Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Batman, comic books, Blu-rays, Disney, soundtracks, taking pictures, theatre and...Barry Manilow! Archives
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