The O-Files

I rounded up the photos that (I think) haven’t made it up yet. That little guy gets around…

Soaps at the Westin. Every day they would give me a bunch of soaps and shampoos. I ended up with quite the collection.

The parade on the way to the reception at SIGGRAPH:

SIGGRAPH moments:

The Bean in Chicago. That's me in the lower right holding the camera and O-Berry and that's O-Berry in the upper left - so which is real and which is the reflection?

Hiding in the sculptures at the Met

Hanging out at the Met

In front of the M&M store in NY

Times Square

The Guggenheim

Sketches from New Orleans

On the flight from Chicago I got bumped up to first class so a family could sit together. This gave me a lovely view of the bulkhead and lavatory, but I also got a banana:

And on the second leg I got to sketch a lonely luggage thing:

And for those of you with food allergies, please take note that the peanuts contain peanuts:

The conference itself wasn’t much for sketching (hard to sketch in the dark) but there were some good quotes:
“The most expensive haircut in recorded history”
“Oh dear God that sucks”
“The glasses were a giant pain in the ass”
“In some sense we are drug dealers”
“When it starts doing unpredictable and scary things, you know you are successful”
“Maybe I’m just having a weird flashback”
“We throw a dead body in for good luck”
“That will hold a special place in my heart”
“If you drink enough that can happen”
“A lot of people didn’t have that problem – there may be some sort of course you can take”
“Give it more Zork”
“Totally pointless”

And perhaps the best was an introduction to Kitten War: http://kittenwar.com/

But there was some sketching to be had about town and especially at the catfish-laden aquarium.

The bar which I frequented - mostly because it had known food and not deep-fried southern catfish:

The French Quarter from the hotel lounge. I should really add some color since it is in fact quite colorful:

A freighter going up the river from the same vantage point. Yes the river is that color:

The rays in the big tunnel:

I did some experiments in sketching with pen instead of pencil - it forces you to be looser and bolder.

Damselfish. Innocent looking but apparently aggressive:

Catfish:

The pizza ray (not my best drawing):

Angelfish. I took some liberties with the colors, but since it's my painting, I can do that! ;-)

Lionfish:

Side view of a hammerhead shark:

White alligator. This is the one where a gal told me that I was "a good draw-er":

New Orleans aquarium

You never knew there were so many types of catfish.

I took an extra day because I figure, if I’m going to fly all the way out here I should see more than just the inside of the conference center. The Monterey aquarium is a hard act to follow, but New Orleans does a good try. You get to pet a shark (a little one) and they have a piranha skeleton and a tank full of piranhas (not sure if there’s any relation there). Lots of rays. More catfish. Some seriously ugly eels. More catfish. A bunch of seahorses. A white alligator. Penguins (yes, penguins). An owl eating a mouse. More catfish. A giant tank with all sorts of big fish from the Gulf of Mexico (and the tank is sponsored by BP, Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Tenneco). And the quote of the week: “That damselfish is a mean little shit.” Oh, and for reasons I don’t fully understand, there is an animatronic dinosaur as well.

I did a whole lot of sketching and someone who was watching me said “You’re a good draw-er” so I guess I better scan those when I get home. I did learn something interesting about poison dart frogs: They are breeding them and have the tanks of tadpoles on display, so I asked if the tadpoles were poisonous as well. Apparently they are not because the toxin results from eating fire ants. And since they don’t serve fire ants to them as adults, they won’t be producing toxin when they are full grown either. I never knew it was the diet! See, you learn something new.

After I burned out of the aquarium I walked out back to the River Walk, and was immediately impressed by just how disgusting the weather really is. New England is nothing compared to this. The next thing I noticed was about a thousand people in red dresses – men included. Apparently it was something called the Red Dress Parade. I’m not sure what it’s all about, but it seems to involve wearing drag, drinking alcohol, and walking several miles in the stifling heat. I’m sure it’s for a good cause. Tomorrow I go home - yeah!

New Orleans

You walk outside and your glasses fog – it’s rather like walking into the dishwasher!