All Forces

This is the project that’s been consuming me for the last month or so. This is was a collaboration with other designers.

Link: hannibalrising.com

However, the Arthur site, which was launched at the end of december, was all my doing. For better or worse.
Link: arthur-movie.com

I bought this for my kids. Really. I promise. But if you ask my wife, she will confirm that my mom deprived me of Star Wars toys during my childhood. And that is why I must build my Star Wars empire now. For the kids of course.

This R2 unit has audio and visual sensors that allows him to follow you around a room. It can play back Princess Leah’s “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi”message, minus the hologram. It can play hide and seek by using a motion sensor. It can dance to the cantina bar song or it can just keep you company by talking to you. It really is magical. And all that for $119.

Link: Sharper Image

Got to LOVE New York. We took our kids to the 33rd Village Halloween Parade and had an absolute blast. I don’t think our kids had any idea what they were in for. In the past years all they’ve seen is the little kids from our neighborhood dressed up from the usual Wallmart costumes. But not in their wildest dream did they expect grown ups to go all out for Halloween. Check out flickr’s tags. My 4 yeard boy, Dante, was dressed up as a clone trooper. He lost his mask, but that didn’t stop him. My 7 year old Anika was supposed to be some sort of princess, but within the Star Wars context, she started telling people she was princess Leia. Lilia barely dressed up with a masquerade, but at least she tried.

As some of you might notice, updates to the blog has been spotty at best. That is because over the last few months I’ve been relocating my family to New York, a task not for the faint of heart. We get our keys this week and hopefully move into our new apartment on the upper west side next week. This means you can expect more frequent updates once we get settled in. There are many new posts to come, including some new tutorials, and hopefully a re-design that is still in it’s Photoshop stage.

p.s. I know the RSS has been broken for a while due to the embedded Javascript Flash in the feed. This will be fixed once I redesign. But that post should be moving from the feed soon anyways.

Son, today you turn four. Happy birthday. One day when you are old you will read this and be reminded that according to you, your long name is Dante Batman Superman Spiderman Supergirl Batgirl Hulk Rocky(the thing) Fire Guy Freeze Girl. No kidding. Also, we made a deal for you to eat vegetables, walk(no stroller) and clean your bottom all by yourself when you turn four. So here we are at the fourth year mark, let’s see how that goes.

Your are the most unique boy I have ever met. You have a gentle and creative spirit that endears everyone you come across with. And you still have a wonderful baby way of talking. So here’s a toast to you my son. I love you. Life just wouldn’t be as joyful without you.

Love,
Dad.

Last friday we turned over our house keys to our buyer and we are now on the road to NY. First stop, Vegas baby, Vegas!

Today is my 34th birthday.

UPDATE: For the curious, my Amazon wish list.

It’s official. We signed papers to put our house on the market today.

This week I finally got around to developing my portfolio site at melvinrivera.org. As you may notice from the introduction message, we’re moving to New York in the coming months. This is something we’ve been wanting to do for a while. And after a 10 day trip for me, and a 5 week trip for my wife and kid, we decided we just love that city too much to not live in it. For us this means selling our house, finding a tinny apartment in NY and getting a job to go with it. Hence my portfolio online. If you are in NY or have possible job contacts there, give me a shout out. I’m looking for a new place to call home.

Link: melvinrivera.org

[ photo credit: nanooo ]

David Blaine is doing it again. He’s going in a water tank for 7 days! A task that has involved some serious fasting to get rid of solid waste for 7 days. And the finale will be televise on ABC monday night at 8pm/7pmC.

Link: Flickr Tag for David Blaine
Link: davidblaine.com
Link: more pictures
Link: ABC David Blaine Special