http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:swimagainstgravity&section=today deviantART RSS for by:swimagainstgravity en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:06:19 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/16389822/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/16389822/ Sun, 13 Jan 2008 15:01:02 PST
If you got something to say, email me at tanfakatanacat (AT) yahoo (dot) com

]]> ~swimagainstgravity http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/16309765/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/16309765/ Tue, 08 Jan 2008 00:46:12 PST
I would love your comments. The more detailed the better, when it comes to constructive criticism. I of course welcome praise, but it's only useful in boosting my ego, not making me a better shooter.

]]> ~swimagainstgravity http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/15556817/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/15556817/ Sun, 18 Nov 2007 02:28:46 PST
Now in the parking lot behind the church you have to park between these deadly little stuccoed (the better to grip your paint job, my dear) pillars that have cost many a poor parking person dearly, and today it seems my luck was up. As I excitedly accelerated out of my space, turning in the direction that I knew held a blue dumpster and a thin pole that had probably dented hundreds of cars. I peered through my fogged back window as I turned, trying to see the pole. Apparently, I hadn't already cleared the first obstacle, the column. With a wrenching shudder and a hideous thunk I scraped free of its clutches. I mentally crossed my fingers and continued backing up, determined to ignore it and examine the damage when I got home. As I drove forward, still in denial, an unnerving scraping sound brought me to my senses.

I got out and walked around the front, and found my whole front end on the ground! The bumper and grill were draggin from the left edge of my car, and completely flush with the ground on the right. My left headlight and both blinkers were dangling from their electrical cables. After taking stock of the damage and consulting with home base (the progenitors) I went scouting for some sort of thin strong cables and came up with a roll of electrical wire.

As I was figuring out how to best wire the bumper back onto my car two moderately inebriated figures approached fresh from the pub to check out the damage. After they learned that I had been leaving church, rather than than having drunkenly slushed my bumper off, I "endured" the most gentile and good natured teasing I've ever heard. After I mentioned that ironically, I'd smashed up my car on my birthday hour the girl gave me a great big hug which made me feel a little better (from stunned and apathetic to moderately fuzzy) and then the guy took a look at the blinker that didn't want to fit back in. He decided it needed tape to hold in place, which I'd already decided, and they set off back to the pub in hope that someone there would probably have a roll of duct tape in their pickup or something.

I wired it up.

Knowing that mildly inebriated people -although well intentioned- may not be entirely reliable, I then set out to find my own tape. (To deviate mildy from chronology, I think I may have tried to open the hood before I went to tape up the lights.) After I finished using up my 2nd roll of mostly used duct tape and resorted to packaging tape, a familiar minivan rolled up and a friend and co-worker rolled his window down and his eyes up. For the next hour we trouble-shot and problem solved and once we had everything wired and taped down tight more or less in their proper locations we picked up Dell Taco and just chilled for a while.

I don't look forward to paying for a replacement bumper, or installing it, but I'm actually kind of glad I had such a memorable evening. Tonight I was forced to stop coasting through life and think on my feet, to experience every moment fully in the now. There was no opportunity for disconnect, the only way is to roll with things, accept them, deal with it, move on. The damage is unfortunate, what it taught me about cars and automotive design, curious. What I remember most happily is the simple interactions I had with kind-hearted people tonight.

hmm there's so much more I could say if it wasn't so late, and I'd have said it all much better too, but it's not and I din't so I think I'll stop right here:

]]> ~swimagainstgravity http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/14808311/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/14808311/ Thu, 27 Sep 2007 01:44:11 PDT
EDIT: Also, I need to clean out my devart account so I don't hate it, and this means going through my deviations and moving anything to scraps that doesn't "cut the mustard," as some people surely say. So, if anyone browses through my gallery and espys a piece or 5 that doesn't really look like it should be in my main gallery, please drop me a comment on it and I'll think about scrapping it. I want to keep at least some sort of continuity of finished pieces from my first posts till now so I can see improvement/change, so I might keep some older finished pieces for that purpose. Otherwise, though, fire away.

If you have any well intended constructive criticism to go with it, that would be even more appreciated.

FINALLY: I'm going to start going through my friends/watch list and start removing people whose stuff I never look at (and vice versa). Don't worry, if I've left you a comment (or vice versa), you probably ain't gonna get cut. I need to make deviantart usable again so that I can find deviations from certain people and comment/view them without wading through THIS: | 2,267 deviations, 1,036 messages

Because that is simply unacceptable.

]]> ~swimagainstgravity http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/13587731/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/13587731/ Tue, 03 Jul 2007 04:12:16 PDT
Scrapses! (Because I am out of practiz!)

The Soldier: [link]

Dear UNdiary: (few weeks old, but good. Visual poetry, sort of.) [link]

Crucible: [link]

we're not scared, fear mongerers (Crucible detail, with a different point of view for the story aspect) : [link] ]]> ~swimagainstgravity http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/13587730/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/13587730/ Tue, 03 Jul 2007 04:12:12 PDT
Scrapses! (Because I am out of practiz!)

The Soldier: [link]

Dear UNdiary: (few weeks old, but good. Visual poetry, sort of.) [link]

Crucible: [link]

we're not scared, fear mongerers (Crucible detail, with a different point of view for the story aspect) : [link] ]]> ~swimagainstgravity http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/12880401/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/12880401/ Mon, 07 May 2007 20:45:38 PDT
Right now I gotta go snatch some dinner but here's a rather intriguing little drawing I made using my wacom 6x7 and the GIMP. [link]
Obviously I haven't had much practice with either drawing human anatomy w/o a reference (or with, for that matter, haha) or tablet drawing, something I find quite difficult.

Many more pictures to come, at least several more sketches.
I will update this journal as I add them.

UPDate1:
TRADITIONAL ART:
Self portrait: [link]
I regret to say that the pic of that drawing looks like crap. On the upside, this means you can rest assured that in normal lighting the drawing does not look anywhere near that bad.

Tom Morello sketch: [link]
Source/comparison: [link]

GEStural/sketchy style:
0. The falling man
[link]

1. The Ballerina
[link]

2. Oh, hello!
[link]

3. Deliberately Casual
[link]

4. Shy Oscar
[link]

5. Square Mobster
[link]

6. Farmer figure
[link]

PHOTOGRAPHY:

[link]

coming soon...

]]> ~swimagainstgravity http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/12175861/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/12175861/ Wed, 14 Mar 2007 00:45:06 PDT
Guess what? I managed to break the autofocus on my nifty fifty a few days before I set sail for Mexico, so I had to stick with manual full time now, not that I hardly ever even used AF, though, before that. I guess trying to get clear photographs in the most* demanding of conditions, concerts, where extremly low light and fast fast action demand the pickiest of settings and the fastest manual focus in the west, or else being a lazy auto-focusing bugger with thousands of dollars of gear who actually make money off their photographs. Haha.

Well, what I was getting at their, if I would just get to the point, was that an unusually large percentage of the photographs I took while south of the boarder turned out incredible, just sharp, clearly focused, and well composed. This was a bit surprising, considering that most of the photos were taken at a construction site, with ever shifting compositions, and where precise focus is required but difficult to obtain.

I'll upload more photos later, right now I'm putting up my first close-up portraits, which I happened to obtain while on the trip, hooray!

I think I'll pull my usual and upload more or less photos based on the response to the ones I put up first.

P.S. Photography is much more fun when your subject is not paying attention to/not noticing/ is completely oblivious of the fact that you are photographing him or her.

Pss Edity: Don't worry, there's at least several loads more pics coming, but devart uploader is being stupid right now so I can't put anything up at this moment, and its late so I'm going to bed.

*there are obviousluy a jillion exceptions. War photographers leap into my mind like a strong, striped gazell.

]]> ~swimagainstgravity http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/12075338/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/12075338/ Tue, 06 Mar 2007 00:14:08 PST
I love drawing portraits! I love quality Technical Pens! (It'd been far too long).

P.S. I have new scraps too, so take a look if you have time. But don't pass up the portraits for scraps!

]]> ~swimagainstgravity http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/11862274/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/11862274/ Sun, 18 Feb 2007 00:59:26 PST
Random announcement: I can't wait until midterms are over so I can finally start spending time with friends again.

]]> ~swimagainstgravity http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/11793405/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/11793405/ Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:34:39 PST need again tonight to...create...I guess. It's a hard thing to explain, it's not an emotion, nor a simple drive, but kind of like the butterflies you get when you're nervous. I needed to write my paper for my writing class, but before that I needed to get most of the...ehh...Muse, hehe, out of my system.

I was listening to 'net radio, so I just took the sound/feel of songs and converted them into text as I clicked between stations.

1. Something glitch/ambient/trip-hop like

"Interspine flitstop lejolt luzzone"

2. More electronica but with a colder less organic feel

"Crunchy menace shnip snap"

3. Evanessence. 'Nuff said.

"Roaring soaring ripping piercing and always shattering as it falls"

4. Some sort of metal, had a lot of heart to it though. Very interesting guitar sound/lines.

"Shrieking to himself alone in the blackened basement he lifts a sharpened stick to scratch the letters in the wall."

]]> ~swimagainstgravity http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/11511473/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/11511473/ Sat, 20 Jan 2007 22:26:30 PST
Because of this, at some point about a month or so ago I just quit trying to look at those deviations. I've decided it's time to start over. After a few clicks, I will have ZERO deviations in my in-box. Then I'll go through my watch list and comment on new stuff from each person instead.

Yay, it's about time I dealt with that.

Tune in next time, for my epic battle with the message center!

UPDATE: Ahh, the epic battle already happened. As I write this I have only 9 messages and 0 Deviations. Huzzah!

]]> ~swimagainstgravity http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/11308552/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/11308552/ Thu, 04 Jan 2007 01:21:45 PST
I suddenly wondered if someone would be able to find my site with only that name, and I entered it into the amazing magical google. Yep, my first result was my main page on deviantart. But even more strangely a little bit down, the third result or so, was my flickr account, which does not even use this name. bizzare.

]]> ~swimagainstgravity http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/11145563/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/11145563/ Fri, 22 Dec 2006 01:51:44 PST
My camera arrives tommorrow, the lucious XT.

I love newegg.com and their delicious deals and speedy service.

I will do the art pimp'n stuff after I re-awaken from this semi-catatonic state some other life

so

tired

guh.

]]> ~swimagainstgravity http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/10939493/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/10939493/ Sun, 03 Dec 2006 17:16:40 PST so now it's my turn to spread the joy. Now see it's kind of funny because since theres only a few people who actually read and respond to these journals of mine, and one of them is on internet-hiatus, I probably won't be featuring too many people. However, if any of you would like to be featured I will happily do it.

HEre's the scoop:

*FIRST 10 PEOPLE TO REPLY TO THIS JOURNAL GETS FEATURED ON HERE*
I'll dive into your gallery and choose three of your best deviations (in my opinion), or my favorite ones, and post them up here. Only catch is You have to put this in your journal if you choose to be one of the 10!


Edit: I'm Free!!!! FAll quarter is over and everything's finally turned in!!!

]]> ~swimagainstgravity http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/10896407/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/10896407/ Wed, 29 Nov 2006 22:45:00 PST But I can't. The quarter ends tomorrow...and I have a 8 pager to finish...I've got 2 pages so far.
Then I have to study for a final that's tommorrow afternoon.
Gonna be a looooong night.

If you watch me and give feedback on some stuff I'll try to give you darn good critiques and comment love back

Wheaties-

Homies-

Friends-

Clubs I'm in-

Clubs I run- Vice President of

]]> ~swimagainstgravity http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/10772040/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/10772040/ Sat, 18 Nov 2006 23:06:10 PST
My birthday snuck up on me and those around me, but was quite pleasant when it arrived. I slept in till the near afternoon, after feasting my eyes upon the new Bond movie the night before (Opening night 10:40 showing, yea) , and had a nice slow breakfast, and opened my present for the day (a best buy gift card )

I later went down to my bank with my mom, and deposited some money and upgraded my account. I now have a debit card, checks, online banking, and a platinum visa, wooho. Hilarity ensued as the cute banker, my mom, and myself found ourselves locked inside the bank after the rest of the bank closed, but that's a story for another day.

A quick stop at Best Buy later, I treated myself to Shiny Toy Gun's "We Are Pilots" and Radiohead's "Kid A." My first impressions listening through "Kid A" were rather mixed.

At 8:00, I went to the Pink Floyd Laser Rock Show at Cal State Long beach -my friend had an extra ticket and told me to come a long. Someone will be a little confused after reading that, perhaps. Anyway, the show was pretty mindblowing, and I was excited to find that when I popped in "Kid A" for the drive home that the cd suddenly made perfect sense, and was totally awesome. Yay for awesome music.

Today was a great example that sometimes a pleasant day is far more enjoyable than an exceptional day with emotional ups and downs.

If you watch me and give feedback on some stuff I'll try to give you darn good critiques and comment love back

Wheaties-

Homies-

Friends-

Clubs I'm in-

Clubs I run- Vice President of

]]> ~swimagainstgravity http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/10414506/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/10414506/ Fri, 27 Oct 2006 17:14:27 PDT Give me your longwinded comments, your constructive criticisms, your critiques. Tell me how my work made you feel, or failed to, and why you think that was so. It's not that hard, and it means so much more than a meaningless comment.
I'm trying to improve and to work on my existing style while adding realism, as well as branching out into new mediums, and I would like to hear what you think- whether you're one of my regular watchers, or just a passerby whom I've bombarded with comments or critiques.

:Attention gallery browsers! All my photographs are designed to be seen in full view!

These are a good critique guides, for the confused commenter:
[link]
[link]
[link]

Not a good critique:
Simply stating that's cool, that sucks, or whatever.

If you watch me and give feedback on some stuff I'll try to give you darn good critiques and comment love back

Wheaties-

Homies-

Friends-

Clubs I'm in-

Clubs I run- Vice President of

Ta-ta for now!

]]> ~swimagainstgravity http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/10157585/ http://swimagainstgravity.deviantart.com/journal/10157585/ Sat, 23 Sep 2006 00:12:59 PDT you know me not much relates
Of Dubious Legality says:
mmm, strands always connect
MEMORY LANE says:
sure sure
Of Dubious Legality says:
pulling threads of memory
MEMORY LANE says:
!!!
Of Dubious Legality says:
one to another
MEMORY LANE says:
Of Dubious Legality says:
silver yarn unravels
Of Dubious Legality says:
a new thought
Of Dubious Legality says:
is born

]]> ~swimagainstgravity