The Skulls of Mexico City
November 27, 2009
On a recent trip to Mexico for Day of the Dead, I was amazed at the amount of skulls I saw all over the city.
Seeing as I LOVE skulls, I decided to start a project while I was there and photograph every skull I saw for an entire week. It was a pretty exhausting to keep up with as you will see.
The final result was 420 photos of skulls. They were made of sugar, etched in stone, found in graves, made by kids, worn on faces, and painted on walls – and they were all in Mexico City.
Los Hermanos Calavera Rojo by The Beast Brothers
November 26, 2009
“Los Hermanos Calavera Rojo” are 10 beautiful pieces of art designed by The Beast Brothers. As the second installment to the “Los Hermanos Calavera” series, the “Rojos” are hand painted and detailed custom figures in a hand crafted box.
Dancing in Singapore
November 26, 2009
I think I have fully recovered from jetlag, a painful facial sunburn, a stint with food poisoning, 10 flights in 11 days, and STGCC.
Singapore was a test of strength because I was in the hands of Darren, a long time friend who own Play Imaginative. He was the man in charge at the Singapore Gaming Toy and Comics Convention and he was also responsible for inviting me to fly across the World to give a speech on creating toys. Darren has been my party buddy for years and I knew he was gonna have it in for me since he had home court advantage. We have partied together in San Diego, Taipei, and New York together but I knew Singapore was going to be an entirely different story.
Even though I was burnt out when I arrived and then immediately got food poisoning on our first night out, it’s trips like these that make me realize how lucky I am. I got to fly to Singapore and hang out with my friends who live all over the globe. Along with Darren’s posse there was also Ron from NJ, Gary, Simone, Ivan and Joe from LA, David from Korea, Camilla from Vancouver, Anapia from Italy, Touma, Shin and Koto from Tokyo, and Jimmey from Indonesia. We all live thousands of miles away from each other, yet we all found ourselves in a Singapore club screaming and dancing until the doors closed.
So even though I was on my death bed for half the time, I was fortunate and grateful that I had the opportunity to hang out with my friends for even just one night of booty shakin.
Thank You Darren xoxo
Please SDCC...move to Las Vegas.
November 26, 2009
I remember my first time at SDCC right before I started working for Kidrobot. I took vacation from work, rented a hotel, and booked a flight – all last minute. It was awesome. I walked up and down every aisle and bought so much stuff that I had to drop boxes off with UPS before I went home. It was a great time seeing all the different booths (although back then there were practically no designer toys) and of course, the people dressed up. My first year was awesome, I didn’t have to work a booth and I was free to roam and check out what the con was all about.
It’s now 6 years since my first trip to SDCC and I feel like it’s a relationship that’s gone bad. Like when you meet someone, have a great time, then little by little, the more you hang out, you start to realize that the other person is a douche, but you still hang out with them hoping that one day they will change their ways. Well, SDCC is that douche.
Over the years as the con has grown to the largest Pop Culture event in the country. This con has grown too big for San Diego, so if they want to save the convention, they are going to have to move it somewhere that can accommodate the flow of 125,000 people that pay a lot of money and take vacation days to come and try to enjoy this experience.
1. BADGES SELL OUT
You used to be able to buy 4-day tickets up to the day of the event. Not any more, the tickets sold out MONTHS in advance. And what’s even worst, if you wanted to just attend one day, you were SOL. You have to pay for all 4-days, or don’t bother coming.
2. HOTELS ARE VULTURES
The hotels in the gaslamp district know exactly when SDCC is every year. So they all come together to pick the most extreme outrageous price for hotels. You’ll find yourself paying $500 a night which normally goes for $130. Total wallet rape.
And yeah, SDCC offers *special* hotel rates, but just try calling to get a room before Lucas or Hasbro calls up and books 100 rooms ‘just in case’.
3. MOVIE BOOTHS TAKE UP REAL ESTATE
Once the movie companies found out about SDCC, it’s all been downhill from there. About 5 years ago, high profile TV and movie companies were coming in and buying 30 booths blocks so they could hand out posters and bags. Since the convention center had no room to expand they cancelled HUNDREDS of booths. That year many small businesses that applied to get a booth were denied cause they didn’t have room. Since then, it’s been the same story. There hasn’t been new booths added to the floor in YEARS. All because booths like WB, SONY, and G4 wanted in on the action and SDCC wanted in on their $$.
4. THE CONVENTION FLOOR
If anyone has been to the con in the past 2 years, you know exactly what I am talking about. It takes about an hour just to walk to the bathroom cause the halls are soo crammed with people. It’s unbearable.
5. SAN DIEGO NIGHTLIFE
In the past 6 years I have seen every single awesome bar disappear to make room for douche filled frat boy clubs where they can all compare fake tans and mardi gras beads. San Diego after dark is like a horrible episode of The Real World.
With that being said, please SDCC, get your shit together and move the convention to where we can actually get back to having fun.