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"Adunni Dares to Dream" My Illustration Process

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“Adunni Dares to Dream” is a book about a young girl who grew up poor in the village in a time when expectations were much different for girls than for boys. Girls were (and in many places still are) expected to help in the home or on the farm and hope to become a mother and homemaker someday. They simply were not a priority when it came to formal education. It was rare for girls to develop a determination to break those gender barriers, even more so for a girl in a poor family. This is what makes Adunni’s journey extra inspiring. This is my first time illustrating a book for this age range so, naturally, I assumed the book would have to be colorful, clear/clean/crisp, and easy for a child to digest what’s going on. In hindsight, I may have been wrong but that was the summary of my strategy. I harked back to my college days when I was in charge of the art department in one of our student fellowships. We used to make a lot of posters using cardboard cutouts. I’d make a sketch of th...
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Quick One: On Typecasting

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Typecasting must really suck for an actor. And it's a potentially sad result of humans' lazy dispensation towards summary judgements based on appearance and first-impressions. However some other actors dream of being so lucky to even get a role memora ble enough to lead to typecasting. On the less harmful side of typecasting is the notion that you created a character so real that it overshadowed your real self. Jim Parsons will have to work extra hard to not be Sheldon Cooper in the eyes of the public... ...or he could just cash his cheques smiling all the way to the bank knowing his betters could possibly be bussing at coffee shops as I type.
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Quick One! Hate New Technology for the Right Reasons Please

Hello, any Rep. who bashes new devices or industries. It's not really the new devices that are causing unemployment. Blame Mother Technology who keeps rearranging the labor market whenever demand crosses critical thresholds. If you must launch a campaign, launch it against technological advancement. I assure it will be a losing battle but at least you will be fighting the real 'enemy'. I, however, urge you to be patient. The market will once again attain equilibrium...I promise.
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Capitalism and Human Dignity

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Believe it or not, I believe in Capitalism (yikes...that sounded like when a racist starts with "I'm not racist...but..."). Sure, I believe in capitalism but only as far as it treats people with respect and dignity. If you chase after the money far enough you will eventually find yourself reaching the limit where your legal rights abut bad PR. I had only little pity for United Airlines after their PR fiasco . You may have the legal right to throw anyone off your plane...but you have to use common sense. If United had offered a hundred thousand dollars for a passenger to get off the plane...they'd be in a better financial state than they were after the incident. I'm not saying they should have offered a hundred thou off the bat. I'm saying you gradually sweeten the pot until someone grabs the winnings. If nobody volunteers after you've reached $100,000, then increase it some more and keep increasing it till you are sure you can no longer afford it...
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What if...Your Name is Valerie...and Uber Radio

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What if your name is Valerie and you hail an Uber ride and as you get in and shut the door, Amy Winehouse's (sorry Mark) version of The Zutton's "Valerie" comes on? You know because Uber has some special deal with Spotify where drivers have access to a premium subscription while on an active drive. Still not impressed? Okay what if your favorite...no scratch that...your most favoritest (favoritestest?) song comes up? You know, because Uber has allowed you create a playlist on its servers that it streams via fairy dust and rainbows to the driver's car speakers. Still not impressed? Okay what if you hear a radio station where up-to-the-minute local whether and traffic conditions (plus breaking news relevant to you in particular) are being read by a Siri-like voice? You know, because magic. Still not impressed? Never fret. The self-driving cars will be ready for deployment in our lifetime. Sheesh. PS. If you look hard enough, you'll find people at...
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The Netflix Effect

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Netflix performance chart from Google Finance "Each Netflix show doesn't have to be a massive success in its own right....just good enough" Part 1: I once saw a post about a crowdfunding Hollywood studio startup and it got me thinking. While I'm mistrustful of Kickstarter startups like these, I like the idea in theory. The idea of involving the masses in choosing what gets made next. I think of Netflix because they have perfected this model. Not in the sense of asking people what they want to watch next (like Amazon now does) though. Netflix doesn't necessarily ask people what they want to watch (let's face it, people never really know what they want). Netflix uses algorithms and analytics to figure out what a target demographic will want to see next based on automated feedback from their viewing habits. This is the real advantage of the streaming paradigm...the analytics...not the convenience (which is a nice perk...don't get me wrong). T...
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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Quick Spoiler-Free Review

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Image Property of Marvel Studios "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 does everything a movie of its budget and scope is expected to do." Hey folks! Look who's back from blogging retirement, though I didn't retire as much as figure out a way to distill my angst into 140 characters or less . Anyhoo, let's see how things go this time around. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 does everything a movie of its budget and scope is expected to do. If you're insistent on a plot-heavy, character-driven thesis on what it means to be human...yada yada yada, then you might want to consider retracing your steps. This movie might not be for you. But if you want a humorous joyride with spectacular visuals and attendant action, you've come to the right place. The previously mentioned things the critics love are there but they won't distract you. Yes, it's less plot-heavy than its predecessor but it's not all fluff. There's enough plot in there to k...
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