An Introduction

I suppose I should have made this as my first post, but that iPad stuff was just dying to get out. So hello, anyone who may actually be reading this. You may be wondering what you've stumbled onto, besides a generically-named blog prefaced with a studio name that doesn't yet have a functioning website. I thought maybe it was worth posting some form of introduction, so here it is.

Who am I? I'm a twenty-something (though not for long…) graphic designer in SoCal. I've been into art most of my life, and that passion turned digital to a small extent when my parents bought an Apple IIc for the family in the mid-80s. With its rudimentary drawing and painting tools, I couldn't tell you what I may have created, but maybe that's for the best. Later came the Performa and Mac OS System 7, which is where my roots in what would become modern-day Mac OS took form. At that point, my creative outlet was ClarisWorks/AppleWorks, where I learned about raster and vector imaging, even though I didn't know either term at the time. The real step towards getting me where I am now was when I was introduced to Illustrator and Photoshop in 1999, two applications that I could never do without, and not just because they're the reason I'm employed. Since all of my computing time has been spent on Apple products, I quickly became a diehard fan of Apple products - even the G4 Cube, failure that it may have been.

Computing desires aside, I'm a big fan of well-crafted fiction, and ever since I saw my first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the fall of 1998 (for reference, it was the two-part season two finale during its broadcast leading up to the season three premiere), I knew I came across something amazing. I won't get heavily into it here, but fast forward to 2010, and I can't watch a movie or TV show, or hell, play an RPG without drawing comparisons to Joss Whedon's methods of writing and storytelling. There's simply nobody better in my eyes than Joss and his associates - and family for that matter!

Assuming as you read this you have some knowledge of who Steve Jobs and Joss Whedon are, most of the above could be summarized with a statement about how those two men are the biggest influences on my entertainment and livelihood, and through their products and productions have played a gigantic role in who I am, what I do, and how I see life. I know that sounds at best silly, and at worst ridiculous or preposterous, but anyone with a similar love for either (and I know plenty of you are out there) will understand me.

Okay, enough about me. What the hell is this blog? I made a joke about the generic name earlier. Part of me wanted to come up with a great name, like Daring Fireball, but then I realized it was already taken, so thanks a lot, John Gruber. (I should clarify that as sarcasm, as I love the stuff he posts to that site) There was also the fact that I didn't want to pick a name that would limit me to one category or type of content. And well, I wanted the Valkyrie Studio connection.

Originally I drafted up a list of topics, and I intend to more or less stand by them. There'll probably be some randomness here and there, but generally I intend to talk about tech-related things, TV, and design here, with some recurring features - namely, one on noteworthy iPhone apps - and see how it goes. If I had to pick one theme for all of it, it would be positive. Or good. Or whatever other words come up in the thesaurus under "positive."

It was always a goal of mine here, to be a counter point to all the negativity out there, and it was something I decided even BEFORE both Conan O'Brien and President Obama reminded our nation about the pitfalls of overwhelming cynicism that so many people live by today. As Conan said, it accomplishes nothing, so as silly as it sounds to say aloud - or type out - I'll do my part to contribute to the anti-cynical side of life.

That said, next post: Puppies! (or more likely, something about Life Unexpected, my favorite new show of this season)