car

Due to an "incident", my car now makes a grinding noise whenever I turn right.  Poor beloved car!

So it seems like I should probably replace my 16-year-old car.  It's a Honda Civic with 110k miles.



The number of choices is overwhelming.

One problem is that I'm going to dent any car that I get.  It's inevitable.  So there is no point thinking about re-sale value, because the re-sale value will be low once I've dented every panel.  I also can't lease, because I'd have to pay a big penalty when I bring it back dented.

Maybe I should just get another Civic.

The most important quality is that it should be black or dark blue.

i've read this comic 20 times

Hiring a games engineer who likes animated films!

We're hiring an engineer with 3D games experience, who likes animated films!  Please share with your game-developer friends!

Evertoon lets users create 3D animated videos by taking regular text in an iMessage-like interface and automatically turning it into a movie with avatars acting it out. Like this video.

We are a small team with experience from Disney, Moonbot (2011 Oscar for Best Animated Short), Microsoft Games, and Google. The company has raised money from Greylock and other notable investors.

Role:

• Design and develop features in Unity3D C#, including avatar customization, camera movements, user inventory, UI, audio / music
• Implement an user experience for using photographs to personalize avatars and backgrounds, and automatically creating a movie from written text 
• Help build a two-sided artist marketplace where third-party artists can sell 3D models, animations, and videos to users 
• Develop social features including sharing, commenting, and integration with social networks 

Requirements:

• 4+ years experience with object-oriented programming 
• 1+ year Unity3D experience. 
• Bonus: Objective-C / iOS programming experience. 

You will receive a competitive salary, benefits, and significant stock equity. Please send your resume to jobs AT evertoon.com!

traveling to the Amazon (the jungle, not the company)

I went with friends for a week to the Amazon jungle.

Here I'm with the amazing Sha-mayn, and also my friend Axe (leftmost) from survival school.  

When I met Axe, she was living on an island in Kenya.  Now she's living in a cabin in Colorado with no running water or electricity.  She studied anthropology at Harvard, and earns a living as an art sculptor and an editor for Hollywood screenplays.  

Axe brought a polaroid camera.  Here's a polaroid taken while we were on the Amazon River.

This photo also shows K, who ran a safari lodge in Kenya for 3 years.  She told us about dealing with a zebra who fell in the swimming pool, and a swarm of bees that attacked guests who had to jump in the pool to get away (the zebra had been removed by then).

Sha-mayn in our open-air room, in an indigenous community of 100 Colombians.  The village only has electricity from noon to 2pm and then 5-10pm.  Most of the village only got toilets during a big community project two years ago.

We debated whether the village would benefit or be damaged if they got internet access.  I think it would mostly be detrimental.

One night, the neighbor got drunk and was shouting.  His teenage son came over, looking very worried and glum.  Our host went over to help.  I marveled at how much support people give each other in a community.  There are still alcoholics in the village, but everyone helps out.  In a city, no one would be there to help the young son with his alcoholic dad.

We also stayed in Puerto Nariño for 3 nights.  It's a 6000-person town with no cars allowed.  

There were many toddlers running around laughing, carrying large sticks that they found on the ground, cavorting with trees.  It was nice to see the change from San Francisco, where these toddlers would be strapped into strollers, and only allowed to have occasional scheduled playdates, where they'd eat carefully supervised gluten-free food.

There were very few people on the Amazon.  During a two-hour journey, we'd see someone maybe every 30 minutes.  It was very calming not to have sounds of the city.

I had culture shock when we got back to a city with motorcycles, cars, and all the urban noises.

cycle of addiction: 99% frustration, 1% pure elation

I'm watching the behind-the-scenes commentary of the movie "Field of Dreams", while working.

Because, you know, the commentary is about cinematography choices, and the movie is about believing in your own crazy passions and dreams.  So it's very relevant.

The director says:

"Kevin [Costner] would want to talk about the take.  And at first it just drove me crazy.  Then I realized you work for hours bumbling through a scene till you finally get a take right where everything is right, where the camera works right, the light is right, the actors are right, the background is right.  There's a moment where it feels good after a couple of hours of being frustrated.  He wanted to stay in that moment another couple of seconds.  He wanted to just feel good before we started feeling bad about the next scene."

I'm very amused by this. That's how programming feels! Your code doesn't compile. Eventually it compiles, but it crashes immediately. After a couple more tries, it runs but the entire screen is black. Finally it looks right, but runs too slowly.

A couple hours or days later, it all works.  The unittests pass.  It runs quickly.  You're on top of the world!  You go mark the task completed in your project-tracker.  Then you get to feel frustrated with the next task!

It's so addictive. It's hard to imagine not being hooked on those moments of elation.

This cycle also describes entrepreneurship.

hate is not the real problem

Hanging out with my brother.

Brother: "Sometimes we get product feedback that's really negative.  Like: 'This is the worst idea.  You should take a shotgun and put it in your mouth.'"

Me: "What!"

Brother: "If people have intense negative feelings, that means they care.  If you listen to them and incorporate their suggestions, there's the potential of converting them into being your biggest fans."

Me: "I guess it's like how the Lord of the Rings book fans felt about the movie.  If the movies had been bad, they would've been the most vicious complainers.  But because the movies were good, the book fans became the most obsessive supporters."

Brother: "An intensely negative reaction can be converted into an intensely positive one.  The real problem comes when they are disinterested.  If they get bored and go do something else, that's when there's a problem."

story of how one guy screwed his team in his quest for glory

A story of the Green Bay Packers, of ego and suffering. Made by Patrick Epino using Evertoon.

frustration for The Imitation Game

Last week, I watched The Imitation Game.  I was really looking forward to it, because 1. it has the actor who plays Sherlock (which is a great show), and 2. it's about Alan Turing, a pioneer of computer science!

I was all charmed during the film, by the screen time given to encryption and Turing machines.

But then I came home and read articles.

I'm so peeved that they made Alan Turing seem like he's on the autism spectrum, when he didn't act that way in real life.  Why!  Are the moviemakers just following the stereotype of "he liked computers, so he must have Aspbergers"?  It's just perpetuating a negative stereotype!

It's so aggravating.  We owe so much to Turing.  At least portray him as he really was.

pillows for my loft

My friend Shane is a serial entrepreneur / CEO and also an amazing interior designer (she designed Peter Thiel's homes).  Also she is funny and gorgeous and basically a perfect human being.  

Anyway, her company Guildery tells you which furnishing patterns go well with other patterns!  So I got this awesome selection of pillows.  Normally I'd be way too afraid of clashing: a triangular pattern next to a lemon-slice pattern?  Two shades of blue?  Next to beige?  I would go into paralysis of fear, and not have pillows.  But now:

This is a photo of the window seat next to my loft windows.  (I moved into this loft two months ago.  It is still in San Francisco, south of market.)

I've been watching a ton of movies and behind-the-scenes commentary.  It started out because I wanted to learn cinematography for my startup Evertoon, which creates movies.  Then I got hooked!  Now my primary hobby is watching movies.

I didn't own a television for many years, because other people would say proudly "I don't own a tv" in a very smug way.  People would say "tv rots your brain" and generally speak poorly of television.  I think there are also studies about how television is bad for you.  So it was only a few years ago that I got a tv (and now a projector & screen, which you can see in the window reflection).  It was life-changing!  It's so amazing to watch brilliant films, and hear the director and actors talk about the work that went into it.

Starting off the new year with beautiful pillows and films!

most and least supportive people

As a startup founder, your own morale is an important resource.  So it's smart to be careful who you spend your time with.

I've discovered that the most supportive people are founders of successful companies.  They know that it takes courage and getting 1000 details correct in order to build a good product from scratch, so they respect what you are doing.  They have the visionary foresight to look at your lumpy product and see flashes of diamond inside.

The least supportive people I've encountered are a subset of founders of startups that are still finding their way.  They will say things like "you should try doing X, and if that doesn't take off within a few days, then maybe just shut down the company".  What on earth -- why wouldn't you iterate instead of giving up the very first instant!  Perhaps they wish they had stayed at a comfortable job instead of starting their company, so they are projecting onto others.

The second-least supportive people are a subset of employees who joined a large company after it already became a behemoth.  They weren't around for the "ugly duckling" part of their company, so they never saw firsthand how all products start out from humble beginnings.  They look at your fledgling product, and it looks so puny compared to the honed product they work on, which has been polished over the years.  They can't imagine one turning into the other.

Founders of successful companies are the busiest people, but they are often the most helpful.

through all the world there goes one long cry

I really like this quote, at the end of Babette's Feast (a movie about a superb Parisian chef):

Through all the world there goes one long cry from the heart of the artist: Give me leave to do my utmost.

My new company Evertoon

I'm finally ready to talk about my new startup Evertoon, and my work transition!

Earlier this year, I left my role as CTO of Minted, in order to start Evertoon. It was a tough decision, since Minted is a wonderful company and succeeding extremely well as a business. But starting a company in Evertoon's product space has been a long-time dream of mine, and I eventually took the plunge. Minted and I have been very mutually supportive. I interviewed all of my replacement candidates to lead Minted's engineering, and was delighted with the hiring of Charlie Rice, a fantastic engineering leader from Amazon. For three months after my departure until Charlie started, I advised Minted 3 to 4 hours per week. I still help out from time to time, and am very happy to see that Minted engineering is thriving.

I'm very excited to share about my new company Evertoon! Evertoon lets users create 3D animated videos by taking regular text and having avatars act it out, with animations and special effects. Many people have ideas in their head that would be entertaining videos, but lack the budget and resources to find actors, create visual effects, and locate an appealing physical setting. It only takes a few minutes to use Evertoon to turn your humorous story or marketing message into a video. Add explosions! Make your avatar punch your friend's avatar and send him the video! Express your quirky humor in a video! By making these easy, Evertoon seeks to unlock the visual stories trapped in people's heads.

For me personally, this is a culmination of my love for products with beautiful art (like Minted), slick 3D graphics (like Microsoft Flight Simulator), appeal to consumers (like Gmail or Google Desktop), and enable storytelling (like Google Lively). Everything has led up to this!

I'm showing the product-in-progress to people who are interested in this space. If you have an interest in this area and you know me in real life and want to give me product feedback, drop me a line!

Reunion

My high school reunion was held a few weeks ago.

Last month, I was debating whether to go, and googled "should I go to my high school reunion".  Some of the webpages said "no, I already stay in touch with everyone I'd want to see".  Others said it was a pleasant evening but nothing special.

My classmates on the reunion planning committee got into a dispute.  One person wanted a formal sit-down dinner.  My senior class president wanted a casual bar gathering.  They could not agree.  So they each held their own event, at the exact same time.  Every day I got a promotional email about the sit-down dinner, and an email encouraging me to come to the bar event.

I was intrigued by how much people cared.  So I decided to go to the reunion.

You'd think there is no way that two conflicting events would be held at the same time.  Surely they would merge into one.  One half would come to their senses and combine with the other.  But no, both events were held.  35 people attended the dinner, and 35 people went to the bar.

I went to the bar.  Every hour or so, we'd look at Facebook and see photos of our classmates at the dinner across town.

My overall experience was off-the-charts awesome!  It was so nice to see my friends.


Real estate outside of the Bay Area is a lot more affordable. This is my high school friend's home. He lives alone.

This is my friend's master bedroom closet.

We hung out all weekend and cooked a meal the final night of the weekend. My classmate "Annie" made amazing roasted potatoes. 

I'm very glad I went to the reunion! I felt a great sense of community and connection. It was far beyond my wildest hopes.

inspiration by kiwis

I am reaching the end of watching 54 hours of Lord of the Rings behind-the-scenes commentary, and am freaking out that it's almost over.  The commentary teaches cinematography, and is filled with bromance and love of filmmaking.  Now what will I watch in the background when I work in the evening?

The final bonus disc is filled with tearful goodbyes as the actors and postproduction crew wrap up 5 years of work, and then the wonderful clean sweep of 11 Oscars.  There is a photo of Peter Jackson next to a table laden with golden Oscar statues, and I think of the quote, "For every 2 minutes of glory, there was 8 hours of hard work."

There was a time at the end of making LotR 3 when Peter Jackson kept adding new shots, which meant the composer had to change the music and the visual effects team had to re-do the effects.  They were all panicking.  Peter Jackson was quoted in a newspaper saying "Everything is under control."  So the visual effects people xerox'ed 30 copies of that quote and put it all around the office.  Ha!

The chaos and "chipping at a mountain with toothpicks" reminds me of every great software project I've ever worked on. 

Then because I didn't want the DVD to end, I watched a final extra feature, and it's about a 17-year-old brilliant young filmmaker who was winning awards at age 12.  But he developed cancer and only had two months to live.  So he made two short films in that time.  And they're really, really good.



I am in awe.  He spent his last time on earth using his gift, for the pure joy of creation.  Every minute mattered, and he used his final ones to do night shooting and explosions and running through mud, so he could tell his story. 

"No regrets," he said in his short film.  

you can stand under my parasol

At a party with brother Tom! Check out the shark in the background.


Drove over this bridge on the way to Napa for a friend's birthday.

...

In Napa, we were sitting outside eating brunch.

Bond: "It's too hot.  We should go inside."

Topi: "No, it's only because you're sitting in the sun.  Move over here to the shade.   All you need is shade.  Not love, shade."

Me: [lol]

Topi:  "And what is love but shade, from the harshness of the world?"

twerking

Talking to an innocent friend.

Me: "Robin Thicke has been apologizing a lot to his wife.  There was a situation where Miley Cyrus was twerking with him."

Friend: [nodding]

Me: "Are you familiar with what twerking is?"

Friend: "Is it like when she sticks out her tongue?  Something with sticking out the tongue?"




Me: "Oh gosh, okay, I see how this happened.  That's not what twerking is.  But I see how this happened."

i'm sure i will be so popular this time around

I'm going to my high school reunion next weekend.  Recently I got in touch with a classmate I hadn't spoken to since high school, Jake.

Jake: "In high school, you were a bit ... insufferable.  A know-it-all."

Me: "What?  Insufferable?  Like Hermione Granger?  But I never raised my hand in class!"

Jake: "No, you didn't.  But if someone was talking to you and said something wrong, you'd always correct them."

Me: "Oh, that's what you mean.  But if they're not accurate, then I need to let them know!  Otherwise they're spreading incorrect information!"


This abruptly reminded me of two weekends ago, when I was riding in a car with my dear friends.

Blaine: "It's like when the hobbits left Hobbit-town."

Me: [stifling my reaction]

Blaine: "And they went to the elf palace."

Me: "Rivendell!  It's Rivendell!  I could still handle it when you said Hobbit-town instead of Hobbiton, but elf palace is too much!"

So it turns out I'm still insufferable.

Art Basel in December!

I am super incredibly excited to go to Art Basel in 3 months.  Yay!

I went once before, in 2009.  We met Val Kilmer the afternoon we arrived, and James Franco later that night!

Here's the photo from 2009.  I don't think I could be smiling any bigger.



We only stayed last time at Art Basel for 48 hours but we crammed everything in!  This time we are going for a whole week! We will work remotely from there.



The best part is that it's organized by my dear friend SM, and I get to stay in the same house as her for a week!

I'll also finally meet my online personal-trainer.  He's been training me via webcam for nearly a year.  He is also going to Art Basel.

Random moments August 2014

Memories from the past two months.

About to board the ferry for camping on Angel Island!

This camping spot is only a 30-minute ferry ride away from San Francisco!  

Partying with Orkut.  It was a happy and well-mannered evening.

Ate this cool Greek yogurt!  It comes with pomegranate and dates.

The making of kale pies.

The finished result.  When I texted the photo of the kale pies to Azer, he said "Who is eating the extra one?  I land at SFO in 20 minutes."

Visiting my dear friend Sveo, who has this indoor basketball court in his house. Originally when our mutual friend Jack and I saw the blueprints 3 years ago, we were both skeptical.  But after we played badminton, basketball, and did somersaults, we bowed to Sveo's foresight in installing this.

If you are envious, restrain yourself.  Don't hate!  Hateful comments will be deleted.

Once you've been a witch, it is easy to become a witch again.  I dressed up for a Castro Theatre show.  

software and the mark of love

Once upon a time, my friend Gor said, "When you're using a software product, you can tell if the creator loves it.  If they love it, all the little details will be right."

He said this in the context of reassuring me, "You love your product, and the users will be able to tell."

I've noticed this difference, when watching Lord of the Rings movie adaptation versus Harry Potter.

There's a behind-the-scenes story about making LotR.  During the filming of Balin's tomb, an employee commented, "One of the dwarf-language writings on the wall says, 'John was here'."  The set-design people freaked out and spent hours going through the scene freeze-frame, translating every sentence from dwarf-speak to English.



Finally they went to that guy and insisted, "Show us where it says, 'John was here' in dwarf-ish!"  He then looked stricken and said, "Um, I was just joking."

Contrast this passion to Harry Potter.  The entire theme of the book is acceptance of people different from yourself.  The book keeps reiterating: don't discriminate against the giants, or the house-elves, or Muggles.  Don't hate Snape just because he's so kooky.  Don't judge a book by its cover.

Then what happens in the final movie?  There's an added scene where someone asks McGonagall, "Where should Slytherin House go?" and she says, "Put them all in the dungeon."

Just imprison an entire group of people in the dungeon for no reason?  Go against one of the core principles of the book?


Peter Jackson would never have let that happen.

Another example is that Harry and Voldemort grapple in the movie for minutes, whereas the book makes it clear that Voldemort is far more powerful but Harry wins through love and self-sacrifice.

I've remembered this through the years, and it gives me assurance when I'm working on a product.  I know that if I love it, that will shine through.  Users will be able to tell, and be more likely to love it too.