Confessions of a Quirky Christian Artist

Yesterday I decided to do one pig-out weekend before trying to go a whole month with virtually no carbs.  I’ve been trying this crazy Carb Backloading scheme because it let’s you eat donuts and stuff.  Turns out it seems to not be working for some reason.  I think you’re supposed to eat moderate amounts of sweets, but the way my brain works is that once I eat one tiny treat I turn into Cookie Monster. So I’m going to try the program (which includes no breakfast, evening weight lifting and under 30 grams of carbs a day) without the donuts part to see what happens.   Anyway, the point is that while driving to get a haircut, when I was thinking of what delicious thing I’d have for lunch this cheaty weekend, the first thing my brain did was visualize the refrigerator and the things I had cooked that week.  This amazed me, because I remember that several years ago, before I got serious about my weight/health, every time I was in the car it was an opportunity to g...

A friend and coworker of mine prompted an interesting debate on Facebook by asking if it’s sexist for a man to offer his seat to a woman on the bus.   It brings up all sorts of interesting issues, one of which is the concept of chivalry.  Chivalry is in itself a very interesting topic, with a fascinating history that pulls together a variety of institutions and world views, many of which are out of vogue amongst the cultures I circulate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chivalry When I was composing a list of 12 virtues I wanted to articulate through a coming of age ceremony I created for my sons,  ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WOZx1TYuqE ) Chivalry was on the long list.  Though it got cut as I boiled the essence of  that giant list down to just 12.  And I think that same process I did can be used to “salvage” this anachronistic value for our post-modern gender-equality, post-Christian western cultures. What I did was to break down what I th...

Last week some guy went on a murder rampage/suicide after posting a bunch of videos and a very long written diatribe about how unfair the world is and how he never got the women that he deserved.  These kinds of stories never interest me.  The specifics of particular crazy and/or evil people just don’t grab my imagination, shock me, or make me go through the processes that normal people do.  However, something that HAS interested me is the ripple this sent through the social media world.  His misogynist views sparked a giant ruckus amongst the feminist community, causing a lot of usually-closet feminists to come out loud. The interesting thing to me was the tenor of the messages I was seeing.  It seemed almost like a backlash against men qua man.  It seemed that way to others as well, which lead a lot of men to be become defensive.  No one likes to be painted with a broad brush or accused of aiding and abetting terrible things. This is where things...

I’ve had a micro-epiphany.  It allowed me to see an artifact that I hate in a different light because I was exposed to similar artistic impulses in a different medium.  Which is an annoying way of saying that I hate the architecture of this guy: Frank Gehry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Gehry Here’s a building he designed in my home town of Seattle, it’s the Experience Music Project building or EMP for short. I’ve always thought it looked giant clown robot vomit.   His work is deconstructivist.  (Or post-structuralist if you think that sounds too aggressive)   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism This Wiki says: “ It is characterized by fragmentation, an interest in manipulating a structure's surface or skin, non- rectilinear shapes which appear to distort and dislocate elements of architecture , such as structure and envelope . The finished visual appearance of buildings that exhibit deconstructivist "styles" is characterized...

As I’m starting to design my first mobile game I’m attempting to grapple with the concept of Free To Play for the first time in my career.  (I’m an artist/designer, so this is a new world for me.) If I’m going to do it, (and from my research it seems at this point like a bad idea not to) I want to do it well, do it ethically, and from a design perspective; do it aesthetically.  In other words, I don’t want to shoehorn a business model on top of an existing game.  From what I’ve read, that always ends in tears.   I’ve read every article and book on this subject that I could get my hands on, and that has been very helpful.  Especially the debates that always appear in the comments.  (I hope to get a good one here.)  But I haven’t really seen a good exploration of this one topic I’m stuck on.  To make it clear, let me provide an overview of my current plan.  My first project is pretty much a practice run with a very small scope just to get a...