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Friday, February 29, 2008 Emoticon Fail Listening to: Hall & Oates - Kiss On My List  I find it funny. In addition, here is a brief conversation I had with Jerry about my upcoming Weekly Giveaway Contests. Me: The first giveaway is a Phoenix Wright plush keychain, Phoenix Wright stylus and Apollo Justice keychain. Jerry: What's a Phoenix Wright and an Apollo Justice? Did you mean Apollo Creed? posted by Mr. Alexander Shen @ 3:40 PM Permalink | | Thursday, February 21, 2008 Mr. Shen Goes to the Flea Market Listening to: Gnarls Barkley - Run When I was growing up I went to the San Jose flea market at least once a month. This was where I learned the definition of "haggling" as well as the definition of "bootleg". I bought a "Ninja Turtle" figure there once that had all the coolest accessories: katanas, sais, bo staffs, ninja stars and anything else you could think of. The problem was that the figure's hands were clenched as fists, so you couldn't actually put anything in them.  Gasp! Purple Spider-Man! posted by Mr. Alexander Shen @ 12:00 AM Permalink | | Wednesday, February 20, 2008 Mr. Shen Goes to Starbucks Listening to: A cloudy day. I've actually never had problems at Starbucks, but that's only because I assume the middle column means "medium". I fell into a great, great depression yesterday and realized what it was. It's tough when you do something and put a lot of time into something that you really like (a painting, for example) and not a single person says "good job" or "I like it". They just give you poopy faces. 'tis the way of the creative world though, right? That's why I made this animation and am back on my feet. It also sucks when people kind of just leave you hangin'. Anyway, here are the pieces I used to make this "animation". Future Mr. Shen shorts will actually feature backgrounds, something I am in dire need of practice on. 
posted by Mr. Alexander Shen @ 9:01 AM Permalink | | Tuesday, February 19, 2008 National B.Y.O.F. Day! Listening to: Michael McDonald - Walk On By  Hi everyone!This is a holiday that I made up and my most recent Kick Face assignment. There's some more explanation and even a "pseudo tutorial" on how I vectorized the original photograph. In other news, I spent all day at GDC Mobile 2008 this year for work. It was long and I couldn't wait to get home, take a shower and lie down in my bed. Unfortunately, the creative bug bit me and I am still up working on things. But Michael McDonald's smooth, blue-eyed soul is making me sleepy and I think I'm going to turn in. 'til next time! posted by Mr. Alexander Shen @ 12:31 AM Permalink | | Thursday, February 14, 2008 Happy Valentine's 2008 Listening to: The Real Group - For the One I Love  I created an animated/interactive Valentine's Card for Josie this year. It took some time because I had to employ a few tricks to get it to do what I wanted, namely fade the background to show the progress of the day. The above strip is the six frames of animation I drew for her running cycle.   This is the actual strip in an animated form. It was a bit difficult to make sure things looked right enough. I'm no animator nor have I received any training in the field, but I think it looks all right. Below you'll find the images I drew and colored for the "cut scenes" of the card. The story is essentially a normal day goes by and I get captured by a giant purple demon. Then Josie has to run for an entire day, following my heart, to find and rescue me.  I'll upload it in the games section soon.  "Oh, Alex! What are going to do with you?" posted by Mr. Alexander Shen @ 10:45 PM Permalink | | Monday, February 11, 2008 Potatoe Head Listening to: The Doobie Brothers - What a Fool Believes  This is the most recent Kick Face Design assignment. I thought I'd share it here and talk a little about it.Jason suggested the topic (a fruit or vegetable on a stamp). My original plan was to take a photo of a fruit that I had painted completely black, but ultimately decided against it because 1) Josie has my cameras, 2) I don't have any black primer and 3) that's a waste of good fruit. On a random tangent, you should all listen to the Doobie Brothers song "What a Fool Believes". It's amazing. It's the kind of soulful sound that makes you want to tear your clothes off and dance really poorly executed dance moves in your room. It sounds like a kind of blue-eyed soul (granted I think none of them have blue eyes) you'd only expect from Michael McDonald or something. I'm probably guessing a lot of those references fell upon deaf ears (or blind eyes). I hate spelling the name "Michael". It looks nothing like how it's pronounced. Mai-kull. posted by Mr. Alexander Shen @ 11:16 PM Permalink | | Sunday, February 10, 2008 Growing Up Chinese Listening to: That Guy Alex - Growing Up Chinese You got to get good grades The only thing that should be there are straight A's Don't even think about the B's or C's or D's 'cause then your dad will go and break your knees And make you study your SATs While you're at the hospital healing And while you're there he'll probably ask you to ask the doctor for an internship so you can put it on your college applications that are due in three years If you were six years old You probably could piano with your eyes closed And don't expect to see me at the pool 'cause Saturday I'm at Chinese school Six days of school "Don't you think that's cool?" they say Can I impress a girl with that line? No, you won't be dating until you're 25! Growing up Chinese Growing up Chinese The worst thing you can say Is to tell your dad that you are gay Or want to be an artist Growing up Chinese Growing up Chinese You probably got that drawer full of pens that don't work But you never throw them out Or that drawer full of ketchup you stole from McDonald's And those napkins too posted by Mr. Alexander Shen @ 10:58 PM Permalink | | Tuesday, February 5, 2008 New Game - Bomb Blast 4 Listening to: Stone Temple Pilots - Plush 
I just finished my newest game called Bomb Blast 4. The game is a very simple puzzle game that is easy to pick up, but difficult to master. The basic concept is essentially you click on tiles and make the counters go down. When the counter reaches zero, it explodes and shoots fire in all four directions. If that fire hits another bomb tile, that tile's counter also goes down. Use that to create chain combos and get the highest score possible! You can check out the game page (screenshots and download) by clicking these words here. If you want to stream the game, you can go to the terribly slow Yoyo Games website by clicking on these words here. Yes, I know it's late. I just needed to get this done. I've got two games lined up and in the works. One is a small game for Valentine's Day and the other a new puzzle game about drilling for ore. I'll keep y'all posted! posted by Mr. Alexander Shen @ 2:47 AM Permalink | | |
       
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