I was attending the Video Games Live concert at the Hollywood Bowl (the very same one I attended with my friend Taylor)- a nerdy enough event within itself- people dressed up as random video game characters wandering about the Bowl before the event started (I remember seeing a giant Pac Man guy walking around quite happily in the seats behind me). We had good seats, too- a booth pretty close to the stage. Nothing prepared me, however, for the sheer madness that I shared with the neighboring booth.

The booth was filled with a family of asian males, perhaps Korean or Japanese in descent (to recall the specifics is quite hard at this point)- all completely decked out in Tron merchandising. Head to toe. Sports jackets all very worn down, twenty or so years old perhaps as they talked amongst themselves. I pointed them out to those in my booth, and we all had little individual scoffs as we took turns glancing at the men and their ridiculous attire. But they were pretty nice- we would share a nod and a glance after every song or so.

But it finally came to the moment they were waiting for at the concert- a piece from Tron .

All four men in the booth rose to their feet cheering quite madly, even a bit more than I had expected. My entire party looked over at them, bewildered to the energy that seemed to have exploded once they heard the music. Once I turned my head, the lunacy escalated- they held up Tron shoes among them- two pairs, each shoe cradled in the hands of each one of the men as they screamed and hollered for the music to continue. Everyone in my booth was… well speechless. We didn’t know fandom could go so far, even for a movie that was about twenty or so years old at this point.

Once the song ended, the men clapped louder than anyone else there, congratulating one another as they finally took their seats. I quite remember just staring at them and thinking “Christ, like anyone else would ever think about Tron after this.”

Oh how wrong I was.

I thought about those crazy fans again recently, every time a ad or some news article on the movie pops up, thinking how happy they must be to see their beloved franchise returning to the big screen. And how foolish i felt misjudging what I had thought was a dead franchise to come back to life. I was totally wrong about Tron.

Oh well.

For the past week, I racked my brain for hours on end trying to find a word that could sum up Taylor and what he meant to me. I spoke to friends who were also shocked at his passing, recalling our times with him, stories of his great character and his importance to us. I think I finally came up with the proper word- Taylor Thomas Nudo was nothing short of fantastical.

Ever since I met Taylor in the sixth grade, I always knew he was unique- from the way he befriended so many different people or the way he spent an entire day at school asking everyone if he had a chin.

He was my inspiration to become a writer, pushing me since middle school to continue writing scripts, even after we went to separate schools. My greatest joy was to finish a script, rushing to read it to him in person or over the phone- his laughter being the biggest satisfaction and approval I could receive from anyone.

What I wouldn’t give to just hear his cackle of laughter, to hear him say “That’s AWESOME!” over the phone, just one last time.

He was larger than life, one of those charismatic individuals that no one could speak ill of. Yesterday, I heard Tara describe Taylor perfectly- he was a ball of energy. Every time I was able to see him perform live someplace, Taylor’s energy never changed, his hair flying all over the place as his fingers moved across the neck of the guitar. He was that ball of energy on and off the stage, always flashing that impish smile wherever he went.

In writing this speech, I researched eulogies on the internet, scouring for examples and ideas to make this speech memorable, to find the best quotation or passage that could encapsulate Taylor. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any that could do him justice. All I can leave all of you with are my memories of him.

A classmate who supported me through the worst times of my life.

A musician who I believed was a guitar god.

My greatest inspiration as a writer.

One of my dearest friends.

I’ll miss you, Tay. You were nothing short of fantastical.

Taylor Nudo was an old friend- one you regret not talking to if you lose contact with.

We had known each other for years now, ever since we were in sixth grade. He was a motherfucking guitarist, through and through. He had the energy and talent on the guitar to just send electricity through the room as he performed. Hair always shaggy that flew all over the place as he bounced his head about.

And I’ll miss him. He always managed to bring a smile to my face. no matter what. The shock has yet to pass- i still think about when the last time I spoke to him, and I regret not talking to him before he died. Those “what if” moments fleeting through your head trying to think of what you had done wrong before his passing, and realizing the mistake to even try and delve into every scenario possible.

One of my favorite memories was when I took him and two other friends to go see the Video Games Live concert at the Hollywood Bowl. As we were both lifelong gamers, the whole event was amazing for us to experience- one of those surreal moments. Taylor’s face lighting up every time he started to recognize a song was probably the best memories I had of him at that concert. He would become animated, pumping his fists into the air and screaming as the music came to a crescendo.

When music from Final Fantasy came on, cosplayers dressed up as iconic characters started to come onstage- to everyone’s delight. Taylor had a different reaction as soon as two of the most -well, arguably, most iconic characters- came on stage- Cloud and Sephiroth, from Final Fantasy 7. He started screaming at them to fight, throwing his arms into the air again and demanding a battle between the two, even after the music had ended. “SHANK HIM, CLOUD! HE’S RIGHT NEXT TO YOU!” Taylor bellowed, demanding the cosplayers to fight. And we were close enough that they heard him, and I could see them shifting around nervously as he continued to yell out demands for a fight to occur.

He was larger than life. Through and through.

The penultimate moment of the night came at the very last song- the theme song to Halo. Everyone cheered for the song, but Taylor cheered for an entirely different reason- guitarist Steve Vai came onto the stage to play with this guitar that could only be described as science fiction- it had light up struts that seemed to glow as Vai played- almost elegantly so. As Vai played the guitar riff heard during the soundtrack, Taylor went batshit crazy. He lit up and cheered like no other as Vai played his riff. He was grinning ear to ear as Steve Vai (and the concert finished.) but Taylor turned to me and the party with an announcement.

“I’m going to go steal Steve Vai’s guitar.”

Everyone in the party went silent as we looked at taylor and realized- he was stone dead serious.

“Taylor, no.” We all said, calmly. He seemed adamant to back down from his position, glancing at the guitar less than thirty feet away from us.

I finally had the chance to bring him down. “Taylor. Look at you, you’re a skinny white guy. Those-” I motioned to the guards on either side of the stage “are big security guards. They’d have no trouble taking care of you.”

Taylor finally gave up, slumping his shoulders. “Fiiineee”. For a good moment, I really did believe that I would have to speak to his family on why he rushed the stage at the Hollywood Bowl for just a guitar. “It wasn’t just a guitar- it was Steve Vai’s sci-fi guitar.” I would have to explain to them.

I’m going to miss you.

Take care, Taylor.

These actors have done so many amazing roles in their lifetime that I don’t even question them, nor rail against them, for the amazing work they had done so far. Make all the crappy movies you want at this point- you’re a legend already, you already have set a basis for your legacy as an actor. Relax, take a load off and you’re good to go. You’re the very damn best.

The actor that started it all was of course, the fantastic Ben Kingsley. The man has done almost anything you can think of. He was Ghandi- what is left to say?

But quite the argument against the free pass could be said that for all those movies Kingsley has done in the past, he’s ruining his legacy by doing all these terrible movies today, putting to shame what he has done as an actor in Schindler’s List or anything along those lines- but he continues to put out amazing films. Just take a look at House of Sand and Fog as a prime example of Kingsley at his very best, even in a film only a couple of years old.

He still has the ability to be in some amazing films (like Shutter Island) while being able to have some fun with blockbusters like the Prince of Persia movie. You know what

Better example, however, one that trumps Ben Kingsley, is the ever brilliant Morgan Freeman. Seriously, stop reading this for a second, lean back in your chair, and try to think of a role he wasn’t brilliant in. Every movie he does seems better with him in it. From the head of an assassin leauge in Wanted to the chauffeur in Driving Ms. Daisy, Freeman is ALWAYS good in the film. (as a personal sidenote, I would want to have morgan freeman narrate a day in my life. I don’t know about you, but I’d be eternally happy if I heard Freeman’s voice say “Daniel woke up late in the morning, his oafish form sprawled out upon a bed that was too small for him…” every time I woke up).

Upon further discussion other actors came to the forefront of our discussion. Other free pass actors may include:

-Jack Nicholson

-Gary Oldman

-Alan Rickman

-Sigourney Weaver

More explanations aren’t needed for the rest. Seriously, stop and think how much each one of those actors could have carried each individual film they’re famous for. They can do all they want now for all I care. But nope- each one has done films that have created unique memories- Alan rickman has played terrorists (Die Hard), a wizard (Harry Potter film series) and even the voice of god (Dogma). He can do anything else he wants now for all we care.

He’s Hans Gruber, after all.

I was a librarymans through and through- having to work with the public directly at the front desk, answer questions, check out books, look up when movies were to be returned and answer the phone- all at the same time, usually. It was a job I loved, a job I was happy to do time and time again. A job that I seriously considered pursing for a career.

I speak with all of this in the past tense, because as of today, I am no longer a librarymans. I was laid off of my job yesterday.

While this didn’t come as a shock (as I had my own gut feeling this would have been happening sooner or later, as rumors spread about the possibility of such a thing occurring had been reverberating around the library for a month or two beforehand), I’m sad to lose this job.

Part of me thought that I could have kept that job until I graduate from college, at least.

It was a job where I had coworkers that I considered to be another family in itself. A family of nutjobs, to be honest, and I say this in the happiest way possible. The family supported one another through thick and thin. When someone was feeling a bit under the weather, others would come in to help them out. When someone was hungry, we’d share food to keep them sated until the end of the day. We all really do care for one another, and do our best to help out the patrons there. This was a group of (mostly) women that would be there to help patrons however they could.

Hell, even the patrons were amazing. There were regulars that would come on a certain basis- bi-weekly, weekly, even daily- to chat with about how their lives were. There was a history professor who knew how my school project were coming along and asked me how they were coming along as he checked out his mystery (and history) books for the week. The father of two girls who always came up to talk shop about the latest Apple news. The ex-gangbanger who would check out the biggest stack of films he could laughing as i told him my usually obtuse and random opinions on the films. The teacher who always struggled to get books back from her reading-frienzied students. They were all regulars I can remember looking forward to seeing day in, and day out.

It all felt right to me. I’m writing this as a sort of catharsis for letting my emotions out. When I was finally able to tell people about my impending last day, there were looks of shock, looks of anger as i realized that I was a part of the patron’s lives as they were of mine. And that made the shortening time I working there even harder. I had so many memories from working there- the good, the bad, and those that made the job all the better. I held on to working there for as long as possible. And now that that last day is passed, I feel as if a chapter of my life has closed. One I wish could have lasted longer, or not have been closed before I had a chance to end it myself, on my own terms.

When I read a recent piece at a Chicago FOX subsidiary contesting the usefulness of libraries, I recoiled and balked in horror. In the din of the everyday craziness that is modern life, to have a place of knowledge and quiet serenity such as the library should be considered to be a welcome haven for many. There were families who couldn’t afford to go to Blockbuster to check out movies, so they’d come in every week for free rentals from the library. Regulars from all sorts of race and age who would come in to enjoy books, CDs, and DVDs. If you wanted to see how much of a melting pot Southern California really was, you could just sit at the library and watch the commotion such a quiet place brings. There wasn’t a day when we didn’t have lines of people checking out books or getting new library cards. Having someone getting angry at me for the littlest thing. If you had an excuse for why the books you checked out were late, chances are, I’d heard it already from someone else. And i enjoyed that. I truly did. (if that doesn’t show how crazy I already am, I don’t know what does)

(by the way- the followup from the Library Commissioner from Chicago to that Fox reporter is the best reaction to such sensationalist piece of journalism. The library is still a wonderful place, and even more so a resource more should use.)

Yeah, I’m incredibly sad about what has gone on and where I plan to go in the future, but I suppose it’s for the best. I plan to shoot some short films while I get ready to apply for transfer to art schools- have a portfolio readied for the fall. Madness, considering I have about a month and a half to do so. (Anyone want to help?)

But I’ll miss being a librarymans. Through thick and thin, it was a job I cared about.

I was a proud librarymans.

One in particular, has become a bit of an organizing obsession for myself, called Delicious Library.

Delicious Library is a virtual bookshelf of sorts, allowing you to organize quite literally anything you own into it. You can add all sorts of things to this digital bookshelf- Books, movies, video games, etc- things that can be added using Amazon’s own giant database of goods to identify objects by name, or even by its IBSN number. The software can use the webcam on your computer as a bar code reader, complete with the little boop sound barcode scanners make when you scan things at the grocery store coming out of your computer speakers. it’s little touches like that that give Delicious Library that little extra touch that wasn’t there before.

As soon as I started playing around with a trial version of the software, i bought it and proceeded to add every last item i could to this virtual bookshelf from my actual bookcase. I would sit there in glee as it would try to read aloud the titles of the books using the mac’s own Speak Aloud software to deliver monotone renditions of titles, speaking out “Fifty cent-blood on the sand” (it sounds so much funnier when you hear it read in a monotone, robotic voice that Macs give you, trust me.).

Everything I own in terms of books, movies, and videogames are now all stored within the digital recesses of my Delicious Library. I keep track of who has borrowed things from my “library” and keep all their names stored (thanks to the cross integration with the Address book in OS X, i’m able to even import their basic information to the program as well), making sure I don’t forget who had my copy of Valkyria Chronicles. You can keep track of who you allow to borrow your DVDs, and how long they’ve had them out for.

Even with my room a complete and utter mess, I was at a happy standstill, thinking to myself- it’s allright Daniel- everything is organized in Delicious Library anyways. No need to worry about it.

It can work for both the owners of large collections of books or dvds or just the casual collector, as I am right now. I back up the whole collection regularly as a way to keep a good list of my possessions. It feeds some sort of odd obsession i didn’t even knew I had in the first place, to get a new game and almost automatically, boot up Delicious Library to scan it in to the virtual collection.

The price of the software is a bit pricey (well, not overly pricey, as you would see in photoshop or other pieces of software along those lines), but at $40 (honestly, any higher and adults my age would balk at it), it was one of those investments that I really do cherish and enjoy. Delicious Library is available in demo form, for anyone to try.

When Delicious Library 3 comes (and I do hope it does) I’ll probably come running, frothing at the mouth.

ps, i do plan to post news soon in the future. i just had to finish this piece. more next week

My current job, working as a library clerk, requires me to have a nametag on at all times. I try to keep it on, but I was having difficulty trying to figure out a way to customize it. After going to one of the theater-demos for Uncharted 2, I finally found a way. Now, I wear my nametag (not pictured) with this lanyard given to me at the demo. I've gotten compliments for it, oddly enough, including someone who works at Naughty Dog.

Posted via email from Daniel’s posterous

The iPhone is a hand me down- much of the gadgets or phones I’ve used for most of my life have been hand me downs from either my mother or my aunt. Both loooove gadgets, but most of the time, they have no clue how to use them half of the time, or what to do when things go wrong (and that’s when they call me).

I used a Handspring Platinum back in high school- that, combined with a fold out keyboard, gave me the ability to write my webcomic reviews (or ongoing serial stories) all the easier. I’d pop out the keyboard, plug in the pda, and write in Word to Go. (it was just showing how nerdy I really was to my classmates- pulling out a PDA with a foldout keyboard does automatically label you as a nerd, especially in high school) In college, I’d toy around with an SNES emulator I found for a Palm Zire 72 Special edition, playing Yoshi’s Island in the back of geography class. Both of these PDAs were hand me downs- from my mother and my aunt respectively.

When my aunt switched to an iPhone 3GS, she gave me her first generation iPhone. After a complicated jailbreaking (i say complicated because i was cursing most of the time). I turned the contract required iPhone into an iPod touch with a camera built in. Almost anywhere I go often has a wifi point, so keeping the phone on airplane mode (to remove the power to the now useless phone) and turn on the wifi whenever possible to use the internet hotspots. The phone has been the best little present I’ve been given in years. With every paycheck, I allocate ten bucks or so for the apps on the phone (I have never been tempted to “pirate” applications on the iPhone. Paying for them is still completely worth it, and knowing that I can support part of the mac community with my purchase is worth it). And I love it.

I’ll bust out the iPhone most of the time, to answer emails, check twitter, or write down a idea I had. It’s a sweet little thing, and I love it dearly. The integration with my mac helps a bit as well. Certain little applications have made it all the better- Hipstamatic, Evernote, and Gas Cubby have made it useful on the go (I can list quite a number of apps i use on a regular basis, perhaps I’ll have to make a top ten list post sometime).

The blackberry, on the other hand, is a different story. I came to using the blackberry a year ago, and I really did love it. It was the first phone that I actually bought for myself, and with it, gave me some great appreciation of the phone. I quickly loved all of the features- Powerful email, nice keyboard and a great contextual menu (click the blackberry button and send your image to a certain program! click the blackberry button over a phone number and send a text to that number. All sorts of things can be done with that menu that you don’t see on the iPhone.).

The honeymoon period though, lasted only so long.

The amount of decent applications for the blackberry is minimal at best. An app store was created for the blackberry system, but the sluggish nature (and annoying paypal tied paying system) keeps me away from the more premium apps. Most of the apps are either really incredibly slow or don’t really work on my Blackberry- a curve 8330. The phone itself is incredibly slow- running even one application in the background forces me to stare into the blackberry’s version of the Beachball of Doom- a simplified hourglass that taunts me with every passing minute. So much of the operating system on the blackberry feels like a relic from the time it still competed with the original Palm OS. Nothing on that phone feels fresh anymore- yeah, if i had more friends using blackberries, things like Blackberry Messenger would actually make sense- but i don’t. Everyone just uses iPhones these days.

Now, the blackberry is just a glorified phone- I’ll check it from time to time whenever I don’t have wifi available for the iPhone. I’ll send text messages from both gadgets (the beauty of having a jailbroken iPhone- Google Voice running on both!). My real wish is to one day seeing the iPhone on my network of choice- Verizon. While that may be a far-flung hope (and ridicule from one friend- I’m looking at you, Ross), I still have some ill conceived hope on the subject. To have the iPhone as my only gadget would be a godsend. I don’t mind the virtual keyboard so many seem to loathe- the auto-correct feature (something phones with physical keyboards should have) usually saves my hide from my terrible spelling track record.

For now, I’ll be walking around with an iPhone and a Blackberry in my pockets, confusing people who see me with my two phones.

This is not one of those times, unfortunately. This is one of those stories that ends up on the opposite side of the spectrum.

I arrived at my friend Primo’s house one Saturday evening quite hungry, as i had not eaten anything that day. As I am inclined to do time and time again, I raided his fridge for food I came across about two and a half squares of brownies cooked by his girlfriend, Michelle- moist and very appealing brownies to my quite hungry eyes. I tore off the note she left on the note and- to put it simply- I “went to town” on the brownies, eating the baked goods in a slovenly manner. I didn’t care, I was famished.

Primo and another friend, Nick, watched with amusement in the kitchen as I ate the brownies. They waited for me to finish the brownies before laughing hysterically, leaving me quite puzzled as i started picking out small chunks of the brownies still in the inside of the pan. I questioned them on the reason of their laughter, so Primo showed me the note Michelle wrote. It read:

THESE ARE “MAGICAL” BROWNIES! ENJOY!

I froze in shock, looking to the obscene mount of brownies I ate, the pan hanging off of my fingers as my wrist went limp, eyes wide as I glanced back and forth between Primo and Nick in pure horror. Nick chortled and observed that, “Those brownies are going to hit you HARD”.

To say I had a bit of a freak out is putting it midly. I tensed, waiting for the brownies to hit me, to really be stoned for the first time. Primo and Nick took extra care to observe me that night- even going as far as to have Primo instructing Nick to watch me in the car as he went to the ATM so I “don’t have a freakout”.

I was tensing up a lot- sweating, clenching my fists and hyperventilating, waiting for (and I quote Primo on this) “the munchies to kick in”.

We decided to go to In and Out Burger, a popular fast food joint for dinner. Primo and Nick continued to watch as i ordered another obscene amount of food to eat for the coming munchies. I sat there as cars went past us to pick up the food. My palms were sweaty, i was trying to calm myself the best I could. I was going to enter an altered state of mind I hadn’t been to before.

Primo and Nick watched utterly amused, giggling. I stopped to look up to them and asked them what they were up to.

They giggled and waited for a few minutes before they told me that the pot brownies were a lie.

I ate regular brownies.

And I thought I was high.

No one at In and Out took a second glance as i started to choke Primo out.

Goddamn you, placebo effect.

So no real news. But I’m oddly fond of this picture. Took it using Hipstamatic app for my iPhone. The little nuggets of images I turn up just with the iPhone’s pretty fantastic lens (as long as it gets good light) has been quite fun. The variety of apps for the camera alone has been worth it. Oh, and the games. Can’t forget the games.

More to come later this week. I’m trying to aim to write in this a bit more.