Just ordered these online, thank God its payday!
1 comment | Leave a comment
Lord Spaniard's House of Ramblings
Xavier Garcia's life blog
07 November 2008 @ 09:16 am
New basketball shoes
Just ordered these online, thank God its payday!
04 November 2008 @ 09:24 pm
:D
THE MOST POWERFUL MAN IN THE WORLD IS BARACK OBAMA.
TAKE THAT, INTOLERANCE!
Also, lets hope Palin can now disappear already. Tough luck to McCain, I like him.
TAKE THAT, INTOLERANCE!
Also, lets hope Palin can now disappear already. Tough luck to McCain, I like him.
13 October 2008 @ 11:59 pm
Wow, just wow
Misconceptions of Obama fuel Republican campaign
Glad I'm not an American and I dont have to relate to those sorts of people (not that we dont have our fair share of dumbasses in Spain, but damn.)
Glad I'm not an American and I dont have to relate to those sorts of people (not that we dont have our fair share of dumbasses in Spain, but damn.)
13 October 2008 @ 09:06 pm
In defense of the Crystal Skull
Taken from Gamespite, I share these thoughts pretty much 100%
This Tuesday sees the home video release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, an unfairly maligned entry in the greatest adventure series ever put to celluloid. While many were content to write it off as George Lucas (who wrote the story) having somehow lost his movie-making touch, I personally found the movie to be incredibly entertaining. Indiana Jones has always been about paying homage to the classic pulp adventures that Lucas and Spielberg grew up on. When your influences include the Republic Pictures serials of the '30s and '40s, and the B movies of the '50s, it would be wrong not to include outlandish, over-the-top action sequences.
I don't mind so much that some poor unfortunate souls don't care for this film, but when they argue that it's not an Indiana Jones movie at its core, I just have to shake my head. Is it just nostalgia that tints people's perceptions to think an adventure movie about finding a supernaturally powerful MacGuffin is a complete turnaround from a series where archeological artifacts are discovered that can, you know, melt people's faces off, allow you to perform psychic surgery, or let you live forever?
At its core, Crystal Skull is an Indiana Jones movie. It may not be as good as as Raiders of the Lost Ark, but it fits comfortably into the series and puts to shame imitators like National Treasure or The Da Vinci Code. If you haven't seen it, go in with an open mind, and I think you'll have a good time. I was worried before I saw the film that Harrison Ford was too old to be an adventure hero; now I really hope they make another sequel.
I don't mind so much that some poor unfortunate souls don't care for this film, but when they argue that it's not an Indiana Jones movie at its core, I just have to shake my head. Is it just nostalgia that tints people's perceptions to think an adventure movie about finding a supernaturally powerful MacGuffin is a complete turnaround from a series where archeological artifacts are discovered that can, you know, melt people's faces off, allow you to perform psychic surgery, or let you live forever?
At its core, Crystal Skull is an Indiana Jones movie. It may not be as good as as Raiders of the Lost Ark, but it fits comfortably into the series and puts to shame imitators like National Treasure or The Da Vinci Code. If you haven't seen it, go in with an open mind, and I think you'll have a good time. I was worried before I saw the film that Harrison Ford was too old to be an adventure hero; now I really hope they make another sequel.
07 September 2008 @ 10:59 pm
Now playing: Yakuza
So I was trading some of my old yearly games and found this for the cheap. Now, I always meant to pick this game up and specially now that the sequel is finally in the US, so this worked out perfectly.
So far, Im about 5 hours in (Got done with Purgatory) and everything is EXTREMELY impressive so far:
-Battle system is ace. Starts off simple and adds a good deal of layers of complexity. Not on the God Hand level of awesome, but quite nice. Also there are TONS of usable items in the environment, pretty impressive considering this is before Dead Rising.
-Graphics are VERY detailed, the environments are packed with stuff and the fake shader stuff they pull off reflection wise is impressive.
This shot of the item shop I really like, its has great detail and looks really authentic
-Characters, while cliched, are likable and not annoying
- The dialog is great, sometimes hilarious since somebody is being called a motherfucker every 5 seconds but hey, I'm enjoying it. So far the story is developing as it should, no great plot twists or anything yet, but I'm very intrigued.
-NPC's will text message you and call your cellphone to hang out, which unlocks side missions. I recall some Grand Theft something or other pulling the same stuff in a much more annoying way and getting all the credit for it. You can also find girls and flirt with them, make them your friends, have them call you, etc, etc
Of course there are some negatives, the UI work is so-so, the pre-loading of the camera switches is annoying as shit and there's some overall clunkiness .. which instead of annoying me makes me really look forward to the polishing of the formula in Yakuza 2 and Yakuza PS3. Its kind of nice to see a Japanese twist on the free roaming genre, I like GTA and all, but I find this pretty refreshing.
Its kind of hard to find good images online, but the game is definitely a looker. My wife kept looking at the environment detail, noticing new things here and there (and now shes playing Infinite Undiscovery, thus blocking further Yakuza progress ...). Another nice aspect is just how much this looks like a Japanese city. Having been in Tokyo recently I got some insta-nostalgia thing going on. The level of fidelity is noteworthy.
There are definite issues with the game, as noted above, but so far the positives greatly outweigh the negatives, lets hope that's the case till the end.
30 August 2008 @ 12:43 pm
Alone in the weekend
Michelle is spending some much due quality time with her firends in Florida, I would have loved to go but the money situation didnt work out (plus, I still have no vacation time left from the honeymoon).
In any case, its good to have some time to oneself once in a while, gives you a chance to get some stuff done and at your own pace, which is neat!
Things are going alright right now, were starting development on a LOT of new games over at work, so its exciting since I get to do a lot of different stuff for a lot of outlets. Right now money is a concern though since Andrew no longe rlives with us, and that alright in a sense since thats what we planned but at the same time, we need Michelle to go full time over at EA and for me to get a promotion in order for us tolive at the pace we want, right now were scrapping a little bit.
Oh yea, Im getting Infinite Undiscovery on Tuesday! Reviews so far sem alright, but its definitely a game that I want to try for myself and make my own decisions, it looks pretty damn gorgeous though:
Oh also, did any see the new Final Fantasy XII shots? They look AMAZING. Heres the best one I think
In any case, its good to have some time to oneself once in a while, gives you a chance to get some stuff done and at your own pace, which is neat!
Things are going alright right now, were starting development on a LOT of new games over at work, so its exciting since I get to do a lot of different stuff for a lot of outlets. Right now money is a concern though since Andrew no longe rlives with us, and that alright in a sense since thats what we planned but at the same time, we need Michelle to go full time over at EA and for me to get a promotion in order for us tolive at the pace we want, right now were scrapping a little bit.
Oh yea, Im getting Infinite Undiscovery on Tuesday! Reviews so far sem alright, but its definitely a game that I want to try for myself and make my own decisions, it looks pretty damn gorgeous though:
Oh also, did any see the new Final Fantasy XII shots? They look AMAZING. Heres the best one I think
20 August 2008 @ 04:20 pm
Passing the message along \ Topsy & Turvy Tee Shirt PreOrders are OPEN!
Michelle asked me to pimp her out, so thats what Im doing (yay supportive husband!) My apologies if you have Shelly on your FL and youve already seen it.
----------------------------------------
I will be doing a small run of these, so get 'em while they're hot! If there's enough demand I'll definitely be getting more printed. :)
However, I do need a certain number of preorders in order to do this--so PLEASE pass this post around to those you think would be interested!
Preorders will be OPEN until Wednesday, August 27th. After that these guys are goin' to the shop!
Topsy and Turvy are my two new monster characters, and they are best friends even though they have different ideas about everything. For instance, Topsy thinks vanilla ice cream is delicious, but Turvy adores Avocado & Chocolate flavor!
These are printed on 100% pre-shrunk cotton, chocolate brown tees, with a three color process.
$25 in the US ($20 + $5 shipping). Please contact me if you're outside of the US and need a shipping quote before you commit.
My Paypal is etherrawen@gmail.com--please EMAIL me with your sizing info, which email you use for paypal (if different from your normal email), if you wants a women's or men's cut, and of course your shipping address. :)
Comment here if you have any questions--I'll try to reply ASAP. :)
However, I do need a certain number of preorders in order to do this--so PLEASE pass this post around to those you think would be interested!
Preorders will be OPEN until Wednesday, August 27th. After that these guys are goin' to the shop!
Topsy and Turvy are my two new monster characters, and they are best friends even though they have different ideas about everything. For instance, Topsy thinks vanilla ice cream is delicious, but Turvy adores Avocado & Chocolate flavor!
These are printed on 100% pre-shrunk cotton, chocolate brown tees, with a three color process.
$25 in the US ($20 + $5 shipping). Please contact me if you're outside of the US and need a shipping quote before you commit.
My Paypal is etherrawen@gmail.com--please EMAIL me with your sizing info, which email you use for paypal (if different from your normal email), if you wants a women's or men's cut, and of course your shipping address. :)
Comment here if you have any questions--I'll try to reply ASAP. :)
19 August 2008 @ 11:09 am
Art blog RSS Feed
http://syndicated.livejournal.com/xgarci
Over at my blog I added an RSS feed. If you go to the link above you can add it to your Livejournal Friends page. Otherwise you can just put this feed on whatever reader you like to use:
http://xgarcia.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/d
That being said, here's some of the stuff I've posted there lately:
Over at my blog I added an RSS feed. If you go to the link above you can add it to your Livejournal Friends page. Otherwise you can just put this feed on whatever reader you like to use:
http://xgarcia.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/d
That being said, here's some of the stuff I've posted there lately:
18 August 2008 @ 08:28 pm
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
meh
And you know what sucks, nothing Star Wars should ever be "meh" Maybe the movies, but hey at least so far a lot of the offshoots were great.
Still fun enough to watch, but by the time you get to "Zero the Hutt" AKA, "Cartman in Space" AKA "Was I designed by some asshole in MySpace or what the fuck is going on why the fuck am I even here OMG Star Wars has finally, officially and without doubt really REALLY jumped the shark this time worst character ever made and I happen to be on a Star Wars movie OMG ghey"
Here, Ill just save you the trouble. On my cue, once THIS motherfucker shows up, trust me theres nothing redeeming left in the movie.
Bigger, for emphasis
And you know what sucks, nothing Star Wars should ever be "meh" Maybe the movies, but hey at least so far a lot of the offshoots were great.
Still fun enough to watch, but by the time you get to "Zero the Hutt" AKA, "Cartman in Space" AKA "Was I designed by some asshole in MySpace or what the fuck is going on why the fuck am I even here OMG Star Wars has finally, officially and without doubt really REALLY jumped the shark this time worst character ever made and I happen to be on a Star Wars movie OMG ghey"
Here, Ill just save you the trouble. On my cue, once THIS motherfucker shows up, trust me theres nothing redeeming left in the movie.
Bigger, for emphasis
10 August 2008 @ 04:43 pm
Just bought this
Canon Pixma 9000
Michelle and I are trying to get into promoting our art a bit more, and this is the right start.
Print size is up to 11 x 14 and from what the reviews are saying, this will be perfect for color printing which is what we need most (not so great for Black and White, but since were not photographers, its not a big deal) The usual price is $500 but trough Newegg we got a good deal and will be paying barely above $300 after the rebates :)
Print size is up to 11 x 14 and from what the reviews are saying, this will be perfect for color printing which is what we need most (not so great for Black and White, but since were not photographers, its not a big deal) The usual price is $500 but trough Newegg we got a good deal and will be paying barely above $300 after the rebates :)
08 August 2008 @ 09:40 pm
Nerf news soon?
So that fucking game is finally almost done. Its been a whooole lot of blood, sweat and tears for everybody involved, but hopefully really pretty soon I'll get to show some of the stuff I've been working on lately.
Technically, I'm pretty much off the project since all the stuff I can do for concept/illustration is done so I've moved on to the next thing (and the next thing, lolz) but I am still pretty proud of what the team has done in the last few months, and its really cool seeing EA marketing behing excited about how the game is going to perform, and what they're gonna do to make sure it sells.
With some luck, you'll be able to see my stuff firsthand and recognize it :)
Ah btw, my website is going to go down soon since im letting my current contract die, then buying the domain again with a new company (I thought about changing the site name too, but I get plenty of hits as it is, and nothing with my name is available that I dont hate). Michelle is going to help me out with the coding (ie: its all hers) and were gonna redo it all from scratch. Rahul did a pretty sweet job on this back in the day, but its time to move forward with something else :) Granted a lot of the old stuff is gonna go, going for a full sweep .. or at least as far as I can make it (yes Chrono Trigger drawing, youre gone :\ )
So yeah, OH BTW, Im getting my wisdom teeth pulled opn Monday (all 4!), and so is Michelle actually, so wish us luck please!
WERE GONNA GET SO HIGH
Technically, I'm pretty much off the project since all the stuff I can do for concept/illustration is done so I've moved on to the next thing (and the next thing, lolz) but I am still pretty proud of what the team has done in the last few months, and its really cool seeing EA marketing behing excited about how the game is going to perform, and what they're gonna do to make sure it sells.
With some luck, you'll be able to see my stuff firsthand and recognize it :)
Ah btw, my website is going to go down soon since im letting my current contract die, then buying the domain again with a new company (I thought about changing the site name too, but I get plenty of hits as it is, and nothing with my name is available that I dont hate). Michelle is going to help me out with the coding (ie: its all hers) and were gonna redo it all from scratch. Rahul did a pretty sweet job on this back in the day, but its time to move forward with something else :) Granted a lot of the old stuff is gonna go, going for a full sweep .. or at least as far as I can make it (yes Chrono Trigger drawing, youre gone :\ )
So yeah, OH BTW, Im getting my wisdom teeth pulled opn Monday (all 4!), and so is Michelle actually, so wish us luck please!
WERE GONNA GET SO HIGH
25 July 2008 @ 09:54 pm
>: |
Been doing a lot of good art for Nerf in the last month, probably my best stuff to date on the last week alone.
Buuuut I cant show it, goddammit, goddammit, goddammit.
Oh wells
Buuuut I cant show it, goddammit, goddammit, goddammit.
Oh wells
08 July 2008 @ 09:00 am
Shelly as Penelo!
Man, this costume beat the crap out of her. She spent a good month alone making the boots! Not to mention the fact that this is ALL leather, mo pleather at all, plus we had to buy a new sewing machine that could handle the leather and even then Shelly had major issues once she had to stitch multiple layers of leather together.
Regardless, it came out fantastic. She had an actual photographer take much better photos, so I'll post those when I have them, for now hes my crappy crap crap crap photo skills:
And a couple of other people we found in costume. One more not e about the boots: They had Shelly in PAIN all day, she could barely bend her knees even, so going up and down stairs was definitely an issue .. then we found the first Basch here, who because of his boots couldnt even WALK. He had to shuffle his feet just to get anywhere.
And one of us, plus a cool Balthier that I stalked for 5 minutes until I could call Shelly and tell her about it (we were separated at this point in time)
Regardless, it came out fantastic. She had an actual photographer take much better photos, so I'll post those when I have them, for now hes my crappy crap crap crap photo skills:
For those of you unaware of the character. Shes one of the playable characters in Final Fantasy XII, designed by Akihiko Yoshida. Heres a render.
And a couple of other people we found in costume. One more not e about the boots: They had Shelly in PAIN all day, she could barely bend her knees even, so going up and down stairs was definitely an issue .. then we found the first Basch here, who because of his boots couldnt even WALK. He had to shuffle his feet just to get anywhere.
And one of us, plus a cool Balthier that I stalked for 5 minutes until I could call Shelly and tell her about it (we were separated at this point in time)
06 July 2008 @ 09:39 pm
Anime Expo
We just got back from LA, Shelly and I attended Anime Expo, and it was great!
We were only at the convention for like, one day, but it was pretty fruitful. Shelly finished her Penelo costume and it looked AMAZING, definitely a huge step forward from her past costumes, and it showed! Photo requests were plentiful and *gasp* polite even, so I didnt have to act as her bouncer or anything.
We (actually, I)bought a TON of shit:
Tales of Earthsea (the latest Miyazaki film, for some reason this hasnt made it to the US! Seems like theyre skipping to the next one, WTF?)
There was some other stuff, like buying a ton of issues of Death Note and bought the first couple of issues of Shaman Warrior, which is a story by a Korean artist. The art itself is really good, although the storytelling could definitely use some work, and the story is promising! I'll buy a few more issues and see where it goes.
We were only at the convention for like, one day, but it was pretty fruitful. Shelly finished her Penelo costume and it looked AMAZING, definitely a huge step forward from her past costumes, and it showed! Photo requests were plentiful and *gasp* polite even, so I didnt have to act as her bouncer or anything.
We (actually, I)bought a TON of shit:
For years now Ive been a huge detractor of buying toys. They don't do anything, just sit there and collect dust ... and you know, I still feel that way but shit, that's kind of a lame excuse when there are somethings as cool as the two figures posted above. The Canti/TV boy figure is a good 10 inches tall and absolutely amazing, and the Cloud figure shows a TON of detail on the Hardy Daytona. So I figured IF Im gonna start collecting these things, lets go for the really cool ones, not just collect things for collections sake. Eventually well get a glass case to put them on, or just make some shelf room for a more proper display, etc
Other things that I bought:
Other things that I bought:
Breath of Fire: Official Complete Works (not much to dsay about this one, BoF is a great series full of outstanding art)
Robot #5 (a compilation of short stories from really acclaimed Asian artists, illustrators and mangaka, very impressive)
The Concept Art book for Tekkon Kinkreet (AMAZING movie, with TONS of detail in the environments, this book has most of them in pencil form!! Studying this is going to do wonders for my environment art)
The Metal Gear Solid artbook (specially cool because all the commentary is translated!)
Monster Hunter Illustrations (another major purchase, has tons of detail into the games bestiary, including anatomical studies and the like, going to be VERY useful soon)
Robot #5 (a compilation of short stories from really acclaimed Asian artists, illustrators and mangaka, very impressive)
The Concept Art book for Tekkon Kinkreet (AMAZING movie, with TONS of detail in the environments, this book has most of them in pencil form!! Studying this is going to do wonders for my environment art)
The Metal Gear Solid artbook (specially cool because all the commentary is translated!)
Monster Hunter Illustrations (another major purchase, has tons of detail into the games bestiary, including anatomical studies and the like, going to be VERY useful soon)
Tales of Earthsea (the latest Miyazaki film, for some reason this hasnt made it to the US! Seems like theyre skipping to the next one, WTF?)
There was some other stuff, like buying a ton of issues of Death Note and bought the first couple of issues of Shaman Warrior, which is a story by a Korean artist. The art itself is really good, although the storytelling could definitely use some work, and the story is promising! I'll buy a few more issues and see where it goes.
I'll have some photos of Shelly in costume tomorrow!
02 July 2008 @ 10:32 am
Best week ever?
Obviously besides getting married, this may be the best week ever for two reasons:
European Champions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
European Champions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I could gush about that for the next 50 years, and as a matter of fact I think I will. Absolutely unbelievable experience in all regards.
So that coupled with this:
OMG, Enhanced port of Chrono Trigger for the DS! Reportedly it will include a new dungeon, wi-fi play and touch screen functionality
HOLY FUCKING SHIT. Chrono is by far my favorite game of all time, only RPG I've beaten several times (got all the endings in the SNES version, then beat it on emulator and later on the PS1)
So that coupled with this:
OMG, Enhanced port of Chrono Trigger for the DS! Reportedly it will include a new dungeon, wi-fi play and touch screen functionality
HOLY FUCKING SHIT. Chrono is by far my favorite game of all time, only RPG I've beaten several times (got all the endings in the SNES version, then beat it on emulator and later on the PS1)
25 June 2008 @ 09:20 pm
Eurocup! Stuff!
Well yeah,beating Italy is probably the single most important even in Spanish sports since ..well as far as I can remember thats for sure. Sure Spanish athletes have done much harder feats in different sports (mountain climbing, basketball, cycling, etc), but soccer really is the one most people will actually give a shit about AND measure the country by. Americans may not realize this, but in the rest of the world some people will gauge you by how good your soccer team is.
Tomorrow, Russia, and its going to be a FANTASTIC match. Is Spain gonna win? Im about 50-50 on that one, Russia has played great ever since we beat them and are capable of anything right now, its definitely not the same team we beat 4-1.
Oh yeah, new icon. Mangry Spaniard made me LOL and all, but that wasnt a good drawing by any means.
NERF is about to go alpha, good times! We will be hitting art lock soon and move onto another project, so thats also exciting.. I'm doing a lot of the stuff I do best in NERF, but I'm VERY much looking forward to doing something a bit different and hopefully have time for some finished personal art, cant be doing sketches forever.
Quick things:
-Got new computers (me and Shelly) 4 gigs of RAM, G-Force 9800 Video Card, made the jump to Vista.. good times, runs great
-MGS 4, best ever? Maybe, for real
-Going to L.A. next week, Brie are you there yet? Can you go to that anime convention happening next week? Michelle will be cosplaying as Penelo :D Maybe we can meet up and shit!
Thats all I can think about for now, sorry about the few and far between updates!
Tomorrow, Russia, and its going to be a FANTASTIC match. Is Spain gonna win? Im about 50-50 on that one, Russia has played great ever since we beat them and are capable of anything right now, its definitely not the same team we beat 4-1.
Oh yeah, new icon. Mangry Spaniard made me LOL and all, but that wasnt a good drawing by any means.
NERF is about to go alpha, good times! We will be hitting art lock soon and move onto another project, so thats also exciting.. I'm doing a lot of the stuff I do best in NERF, but I'm VERY much looking forward to doing something a bit different and hopefully have time for some finished personal art, cant be doing sketches forever.
Quick things:
-Got new computers (me and Shelly) 4 gigs of RAM, G-Force 9800 Video Card, made the jump to Vista.. good times, runs great
-MGS 4, best ever? Maybe, for real
-Going to L.A. next week, Brie are you there yet? Can you go to that anime convention happening next week? Michelle will be cosplaying as Penelo :D Maybe we can meet up and shit!
Thats all I can think about for now, sorry about the few and far between updates!
22 June 2008 @ 05:11 pm
Spain beats Italy, advances to Semi-Finals
20 June 2008 @ 07:46 pm
New art blog
Bookmark time kids!
http://xgarcia.blogspot.com/
LJ isnt exactly an art community, you guys have been awesome in leaving some feedback, but I've been wanting to re-structure things for a while now. The blogger account will act as the place where I post art (pretty much like I used to do here) and the good ol' livejournal will serve as my daily life happenings, meltdowns, wtf's, etc. My actual website (ragingspaniard.com) will be redesigned so it doesnt have a blog format anymore (although that may take a while) Rahul really did a great job on the site, but I think its time to move on and remove that aspect, plus a total redesign.
That way I'll have 3 main things going on in the internets. Website for finished artwork, blog for sketches and random art (as well as finished) and LJ for the life blog.
Better that way, I think
http://xgarcia.blogspot.com/
LJ isnt exactly an art community, you guys have been awesome in leaving some feedback, but I've been wanting to re-structure things for a while now. The blogger account will act as the place where I post art (pretty much like I used to do here) and the good ol' livejournal will serve as my daily life happenings, meltdowns, wtf's, etc. My actual website (ragingspaniard.com) will be redesigned so it doesnt have a blog format anymore (although that may take a while) Rahul really did a great job on the site, but I think its time to move on and remove that aspect, plus a total redesign.
That way I'll have 3 main things going on in the internets. Website for finished artwork, blog for sketches and random art (as well as finished) and LJ for the life blog.
Better that way, I think
14 June 2008 @ 05:24 pm
MGS4?
31 May 2008 @ 02:41 pm
Sorceress WIP colors part II
Man, today was day 2 with the trainer, we did the upper body and phew, well see how I wake up tomorrow.
Anyways, almost done with this
Anyways, almost done with this