What a game, I don't have time ot write much, but I had the game highlights here.

phew! Done. Finally I'm on my new and wonderfully reliable host. I was getting sick of ftp'ing and copying files from all over the place, reinstalling databases, templates, css, html and all that crap.

But now it's over, I've settled in and I'll never see my old host again.

Unless someone wants an aweful server, I've paid for it til February. Let me know.

Well, looks like I'm finally getting published in an academic journal. Except it's got nothing to do with engineering. And I haven't written any paper.

But I made the cover of the December issue of American Anthropologist! Well, "I" didn't make it, my design did.

About a month ago, Alireza D, with whom I had no prior acquaintance, sent me an email about a paper (on Persian weblogs) he was publishing in AA. He said they had asked him to give them a nice photo or graphic art they might use for the cover, since his paper is the feature. Having known me through my blog (?), or maybe referred by Webgard and/or Hoder, he was wondering if I could give him a hand. Except I only had a couple of days to meet the deadline.

So I put something together and sent it over. After an initial approval, we got the final word last night from the editors that they are going to use it.

I can't say I'm not delighted. I know it's not an arts magazine or anything, but to make the cover of one of the most prestigious academic journals is at least a personal acheivement. It's the first time I had sent anything to a publication I didn't actually work for, which doubles the fun.

About the piece itself, I really wish I had more time to work on it, and it's not my all time favorite or anything. It's mixed media, playing with photos and illustration (very rough, minimalistic illustration) and a lot of colors. I'll post it in December after it runs. And I gotta thank Alireza for this opportunity. Cheers.

I'm going to transfer my site to the new host over the weekend. Hopefully everything will be transferred seemlessly, but if you encounter any problems, it's only going to last a couple of days.

I wish actual moving as as easy as that.

super day today. Drinks with colleagues, then hit up silver snail on an impulsive decision with Jon. I had to go see if they have any more Danger Girl. I mean the series is over but there are all these different collector's editions and stuff to look out for. They had the "Ultimate Edition", which is quite thick and includes the whole series and a lot of bonus material, but it was a little pricey. I wish I hadn't bought those three collector's editions o I could get this one. But oh well.

What else? Nothing but goodness. Looking forward to the weekend.

Check out the Yorkville photo essay on the photoblog.

So I made a stop at the magazine shop first, checked out "AppliedArts" (Canada's visual communication magazine, as is their tagline goes). The photography/illustration annual issue was out, although it was a little too expensive. I should really subscribe. Anyway some fine illustrations, more importantly I found out who the illustrator of all those Lavalife ads is; Marcos Chin. Love his style, specially the way he draws the nose.

Also, here's another goldmine of wonderful illustrations. Some good stuff in there.

Finally, I stopped at Grey Matter, the comic store. Spent a long time there, and finally came out with a couple of comics; Dange Girl, and Michael Turner's Soulfire (episode 0, which is basically nothing but a few sketches and drawings of the characters, it was shrink wrapped so I couldn't open it, rip off I tell you).

I almost weep when I flip through the pages of Danger Girl, the drawings take your breath away. J Scott Campbell is the official god.

p.s. unfortunately, my views on comics are strictly related to their artistic content, I often dont even read the comics I buy.

Playing around with my Tintinesque blog, trying to enhance it, made me learn a lot of new stuff about Movable Type today.

I guess subconsciously, I got the thumbnailing idea from hoder, but when he was explaining how he did it I didn't really understood what he was talking about, it was only after I tweaked my MT today that I learned this stuff.

So I put it to good use and added the "Recent Photo" and "Recent Sketch" thingies to the side-bar, which will automatically be updated whenever I update the photoblog or sketchpad. Hmm, very nice I'd say.

When was the last time you backed up your data, files on your computer, or on your web server?

The stressful last few days have made backing up data a big priority for me now. I never used to backup my data, specially my online material.

So when my webhost simply disappeared last week, without leaving a trace, I was certain I had lost all my files for good. Almost a year's worth of blog archives, photos, sketches, and more importantly my blog templates and design, none of which I had backed up locally on my computer.

I had started making everything agian from scratch when the host went up again and I immediately backed up everything (btw I'm transfering to a new host now, so there might be some issues in the days to come while the transfer takes place).

An acquaintance of mine also had his laptop stolen from his office, with years of data in it, all gone. He too, didnt have backup. So it made me think, about how so many of the files on my own laptop are important and irreplacable and how important it is to backup every once in a while.

So, think about it. It really is the worst feeling when you think you have lost your files.

My mom's visiting me here for the first time, so I think I'll be off blog-duty for a few days, and blogging time/energy will be spent on my higher-priority blog: Tintinesque

p.s. you might have noticed the google ads on this page and on the photoblog/sketchpad. With all the photos and images I'm facing some bandwidth and webspace issues, and eventho these ads aren't making me rich, they just might be able to help me out with the increasing hosting costs.

p.p.s. for now, enjoy this cool news story: Couple have sex on stage to save rainforest. If only there were more people like that in the world ...

Still looking down upon whoever deserves to be looked down upon.

Oh and I've been hooked on this fusion CD for weeks now, and can't stop listening to it. It's called Arg, it's flamenco + daf and zarb and other Persian instruments, and it's by Emad Bonakdar.

I might upload my fave track later, or maybe not.

I'm pretty much exhausted. I've set up (yet another!!) blog, I guess it makes it the fifth active blog I have ... I better start thinking about elminiating some of them.

Anyway, it's the first English blog about Tintin. Not sure how much trouble Moulinsart, which watches all the Tintin sites like a hawk and tries to shut them down, will give me. I'm trying to follow their "Charter", although I don't even understand a lot of it.

Anyway, check it out, if you're a Tintin fan, or even if you're not.

tintinesque.com

In case you've been wondering where I've been, I'm spending more time in the other room now, the Pesiblog. And it's almost impossible to update both at the same frequency, unless you want to repeat yourself, which I don't want to. I've also been busy on a few projects, including a cover design which is now finished, and if accepted would be mucho exciting, I'll write more on that later.

Just saw Spiderman 2, that's right, opening night.

I liked it. I liked the first one too tough, and many people I know didn't. They thought it was too fakishly dramatic and the romance was too over-the-top. But I thought that was what the genre demanded, and it was neccessary, and I sort of liked the romance too, and loved the way it ended in a sombre mood.

There is plenty of drama in this one too, but I thought a few scenes were just a little too over-dramatic. Besides that I have no beef with it, a pretty good flick, and the effects are super-natural. Doc Ock is amazing.

I'm so tempted to do some fan-art now, but I'm way too busy with other things to have time for it. This is going to errupt a volcano of fan-art though, for sure, and I'm just going to look at all of them ... and sigh.

One little note, btw, Kirsten Dunst doesn't look so sexy in this one, I don't know why. Certainly not as sexy as in the first one, or even Eternal Sunshine. Well, ok she doesn't strip to her underwear here, maybe that's why ... but still ... more sexy in the third one please.