antics by travy trav

Monster Mash Birthday Bash v3.0

2009-10-29T15:47:00.000-07:00

Okay the title is misleading as one won't happen this year. :(
But via Jake on Facebook:

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

I love it!
P.S. I'm 25 today, holy crap!

Almost 25

2009-10-18T22:16:00.000-07:00

So it's Sunday night, I can't sleep at all, and I'm in recovery from the flu. It's been FOREVER since I've blogged. I had decided to blog more about projects I've worked on and there have been a few exciting things but I've just been so out of time that I haven't had a chance! Jake and I are starting a new blog called Wishing For Wisteria about our new house (yes, if you're not up to speed I bought my first house!). But blogging for that hasn't really happened much :S
I've been in complete shock that I'm turning 25. I think somewhere in my last year of college I had come to terms with not being an angsty teenager and sometime within the last month I've come to terms with not being a college student and my mind is just blown. What am I doing?! Where is my life going?! It's all hitting me and it's very heavy. I'm determined to live out my artistic life as I've always wanted, so hopefully I'll be moving in that direction more.
But of course I now have a mortgage so I can't just be a carefree artist. I have to support myself. I've begun the "branding" process of me. I can't always define what I do because I dabble in everything so I feel like I need to start creating a brand of what can be expected from my work. I've got a new hold page up as I start redesigning my website and portfolio and I've personalized my twitter page. Up next will be this blog. I'll definitely blog more! I promise to anyone who cares. And the design will match my other online portals more.
I guess that's all I have to say.

All About "Attack Of The Shooting Star"

2009-02-18T22:13:00.000-08:00

For Meredith and Marc's anniversary, Meredith asked me to shoot a video for a song they cowrote on his album, "Look Both Ways." The song is "Attack of the Shooting Star" and she originally had some ideas about going with a galaxy and shooting star concept.
We talked about the idea over dinner and I had some of my own ideas about using multiple cropped frames. She had been experimenting with glow sticks and breaking them open to use their goo as glowing paint. Taking wads of paper, she doused them in the goo to create shooting stars. The idea seemed a little difficult to shoot but I figured I could make it work some how and as long as we had a few good shots, we could reuse them multiple times. Plus, I wanted to do these paneled frames so it'd work out fine.
I took Jake along as my sole crew member and we began testing Meredith's shooting star idea. Let's just say it went horribly wrong. The glow in the dark goo doesn't glow for very long once it has been activated and it also doesn't photograph very well. We were shooting in some pretty low light which I thought would help enhance the glow, but that didn't work out. Jake had retained some pretty important information I had once imparted on him and suggested we just use white wads of paper as shooting stars and have them blow out so they would have the glowing effect.
But by this point I was all fed up with shooting stars and decided to just start getting some back up footage. I ended up scrapping all of my ideas at the last minute and shooting on the fly. I had a few shots in mind of Meredith dancing around in her bedroom, singing along to the song, and I'd try to make it look sort of home movie-ish. This seemed like it would be pretty personal and of course cute. I still thought the panels idea would work but that was going to be something I'd figure out in post.
The sun was setting and we had some great light coming in through the venetian blinds. I decided I'd try blowing out some of the white and enhancing the light.
When I went into post, I decided to color correct the whole thing to bring out the warm colors and blow out all the whites even more. I started toying with the idea of having different shots in panels, moving around. We took some truncated shots and extreme close ups I had hoped to mix together. Unfortunately, these didn't really seem to fit well with what I had shot and I decided to scrap that idea and just make the video very simple and personal almost like a home movie.
In the end, I feel like the video I ended up with was perfect for what we set out to do. It may not have been the same video we brainstormed but I feel like it creates an emotional connection to the song.

New

2009-01-30T19:48:00.001-08:00

I had been thinking about creating a new layout for this blog for a while. Part of me considered using my ninja web skills, which have been rusting in an outdoor tub somewhere, to come up with a completely new design. Of course CSS kicks my ass every day and then makes me eat my own vomit. So I decided to go the easy route and use a free template and then all I did was tweek the code a bit. That is what this is. And I kind of love it. If you know me well enough, you know my preferred design aesthetic is grunge. The kind that looks like I made it with my own two hands. But in reality I never got my hands dirty and the only tool I touched was a computer mouse. Maybe the keyboard. MAYBE. Actually, no. Throw in the keyboard. I'm more fond of it than the mouse.
Anyway, if you did not know that, then you are in luck. Because I now work a lot. A LOT. Yay for my bank account and yay for my stomach that can now eat organic food. (Which I had last night at ZPizza...the jury's still out on that one.)
So along with this newly minted blog template will be some commentary on some projects I've worked on. Remember that music video with Meredith in it? Well I'm gonna tell you all about it in my next post! So if you're like "How did he...?" You'll know. And I'll be good and label everything. Cos yeah, I do quite a lot of different types of work so if you're only interested in graphic design, you'll get that, only video - hey that's there too. I know January is over now but my own "New Year's Resolution" has really been to work more. Yes. It was.

obamanos

2009-01-20T18:48:00.000-08:00

when can i live like it's 1934?

2008-12-25T13:35:00.000-08:00

it's christmas day and i've eaten nothing but cream cheese spreads and ritz crackers and i'm blogging. obviously it's been a rather uneventful holiday. and instead of spreading christmas cheer throughout, i am busy reading more sad sad news on the recession and politics. why can't i ever get enough?! the election is over! why must politics consume my life?
because i am a mexikennedy. there is your answer. i am a humble public servant who spends days and nights worrying about the poor. it's true. i make myself sick with worry.
there are times when i refuse to worry about the unfortunate, though. when i eat and when i shop. all other times i am free to debate with myself the positives and infrequent downsides to socialist policies and the crazy crazy crazies of conservative limited government trickle down economic hoohas.
i have to come out and admit that this does not mean i'm gonna go under bridges and pass out sandwiches and give hugs to hobos. no. not at all. i said i worry. and worrying takes a lot of energy out of me. and don't dare you invade my space and my me time during the eating or shopping. what better way to make me feel bad about myself and my "luck" and lose the sympathy i hold.
i prefer to help through my talents. like blogging and writing and maybe graphic design...oh and work. i am a humble public servant.
but for the life of me, i cannot seem to grasp this whole recession other than the general depressing feeling. like will there be a tomorrow? what in my house can i barter? should i buy land in china now? there's no urgency to scrape and save. i've been spending money like it's going out of style (and really it is. dollars are the new pennies. drop 'em fast kids.) and now i'm all excited about the dropping real estate prices because it means that yes, maybe i can afford a house within the next year. and screw whoever says you need to have actual savings and a deposit to do that.
with that in mind, i am still filled with worry for those who do not share my talents and luck. what will people with no skills and education do? should they buy land in china now? and when i encounter some of these people i can't help but feel awful for the fact that i want to cover up and disappear. true story - on the way to the mexikennedy estate i stopped at a truck stop in new braunfels for my 3rd bathroom break and it was filled with all the characters of my worrisome dreams: the working class, the uninsured, and the immigrants. yes, it just so happened that a charter bus from mexico was making a lunch stop. at a truck stop? yeah...see?! this is why i worry! what will we do when the mcdonald's dollar menu becomes too costly?!
and as i stood in line trying to pay for my gallon of mountain dew and wheat thins, i was surrounded by poor white people with bad teeth and enormous truckers in flannel. and some of them were there doing their christmas shopping. at a truck stop? yeah...see?! my stomach is in knots by this point! and here i am in a peacoat, banana republic jeans, a gap scarf and polo and puma shoes. the people in front of me made returns to pay for a tray of chocolates, two toy cars, and gas. they made returns. at a truck stop. it didn't help that making a return takes forever and is quite a complicated process at a truck stop and every time the other register would open, one of my favorite people would cut around me. it was the longest i've ever stood in line feeling like a spoiled rich kid.
maybe no one paid attention to me or thought badly of me, but i could feel their disdain. they knew i wanted a bottle of purell to douse my body in but did they know i'm sick with worry? do they know i carry the weight of the world between my shoulders? do they know how much i envy the blue collar characters on tv and in movies? if only i were content with having little and living a simple life. i won't hold my breath. instead, i'll continue my worrying and look into this 7 acre spread outside of Lanzhou.

attack of the shooting star

2008-11-15T19:52:00.000-08:00

here is the video i made with meredith. the song is called "attack of the shooting star" and it is on marc schulz's album "look both ways." enjoy.

24

2008-11-12T16:01:00.000-08:00

as is my style, my 24th birthday had to come in phases that took an entire week. well sort of. on wednesday (my actual birthday) we went to the lovely restaurant, uncorked. i had so much fun and i'm so happy my friends showed up and had some eats and drinks with me. if you're extremely interested, photos will be on facebook soon.

on friday, aka halloween, i dressed up as speed racer and with jake met up with austin and billy & gretchen. they deserve a single name like brangelina. maybe betch? grilly? meh, betch.
anyway, when the night started, jake and i got an awesome parking spot for free somewhere on 13th street.

but travis that means you had to walk all the way to 6th? trust me, it was awesome and definitely beat sitting in traffic trying to get into a parking garage. downtown was way crowded and people didn't wear very many impressive costumes. in fact, that's the void i filled. in my speed racer costume i became a local god. a celebrity if you will. drunk fratties and nerd boys alike yelled "speed racer!" as i walked by. i could have dealt without the fratties knocking on my helmet since it was not a real helmet and so they were pretty much banging on my skull. but that is the price you pay for fame. considering there was a horrendous speed racer movie out this year, i figured more people would have been wearing the costume, but no. i was the lone speed racer.

as the night wore on and the exclamations of "oh my god! it's speed racer!" became the standard, i found myself getting drunk with power and fame. i started out awkwardly reacting to my fame with "....yay!" or "...woooooo!!!!" when approached by fans. i soon began shaking hands, waving, and patting people on the back when they came up to me. i even became barack obama a few times saying, "we did this together!" "no one can take this away from us!" "this is about you!" etc.

we had initially planned on going to the och since i had received an email invite advertising free admission to their costume dance party. when we showed up, the crabby old drag queen at the door informed me it was a $10 cover for those 21 and up. so i said, "fine, we'll go next door." and she said "just so you know, that's the vip line next door." it looked like a long line but obviously it was the place to be and plus, had she not gotten the memo about who i was? how dare she insult me that way! and to top it off, she didn't even offer to let us pay the vip rate of $5 since no one else was going into her club of lame.

as we made our way over to rain, we realized the line went around the block. defeated, we made our way back to normal 6th and headed to the soho lounge. they had a long line too. this time i was not going to be handled like a second rate trick or treater so we hurried to the front of the line.

soho was so packed that the bouncer could only let in a person for every person who exited. after a few minutes, he let betch and austin in leaving jake and i outside. he turned to me and said, "these other two guys have been waiting here longer. i'm just gonna let them in next and then you."

to which i replied, "but i'm speed racer."
he looked me over and said, "yeah...i'm gonna let in these other two guys and then you."
at least i was getting somewhere.

monster mash birthday bash v 2.0

2008-10-28T19:17:00.000-07:00

electric feel

2008-10-17T16:10:00.000-07:00

according to GQ's guide to the 21st century gentleman, not everything is blogable. and they're right. in fact, my life as of late has been pretty low key and uneventful. well some things i can't blog about happened. but if you're my friend and reading this, chances are i'll either tell you or have told you about these things.
in other news, i have a to do list.
a. re-learn the guitar
b. re-write Aside
c. begin writing Near with ryan
d. write a short

that's it. i've decided to start vlogging. so my next installment may be live! somewhat...

update!

2008-09-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

i know it's been awhile since i've posted but in my defense, nothing interesting has happened of late. my life's been work and domesticity. but i have been working on a project that is finally ready for review. here's another still.

overstocked

2008-08-27T16:17:00.000-07:00

I'm currently looking into buying a new comforter. I've been on the hunt for a while. So today I shopped online and found an interesting one on Overstock but was unsure of the color. Here's the chat from the online salesperson:

Welcome to Overstock.com Product Information Chat! Your estimated wait time is 0 minutes and 2 seconds.
Welcome to Overstock.com, you are now chatting with 'Carley'
Carley: Thanks for visiting Overstock.com, this is Carley, how can I help you?
you: I have a question about a down comforter
you: the hotel collection 3-piece
Carley: I'll be happy to help you check on that.
Carley: May I have the catalog number or name of the item you are interested in?
you: 11303632
Carley: Thanks.
you: I was wondering what color the accent lines are in the navy color
Carley: Just to confirm, are you referring to the 'Hotel Collection 3-piece Down Comforter Set' priced at $99.99?
you: yes
Carley: Thank you for confirming.
Carley: This item is currently available in black, navy, or taupe color options.
Carley: Let me provide you the link of the larger image.
Carley: Click here to view this item in a larger image.
Carley: Did you get the link?
you: Yes
you: but it doesn't show me the navy version
Carley: Do you want me to place the order or do you prefer to place the order yourself?
you: I'm not ready to order
you: I don't know if I'll like the navy version
Carley: Not a problem.
Carley: I will be glad to help you further. Do you have any further questions for me?
you: Yes
you: What color are the accent lines on the navy version
you: That hasn't been answered
Carley: The color on the lines will depend on the color option you prefer during the order.
Carley: Do you have any further questions for me?
you: So if I pick navy, what color will the lines be?
Carley: The lines will come in the color option you will choose while placing the order.
Carley: Do you have any additional questions that I can help you with?
you: No, we're going in circles.

what's going on

2008-08-21T06:07:00.001-07:00

so i've been rather busy with things. who knew a full time job would be so full time? i actually got to bed early last night and instead of just passing out i tossed and turned. somehow i'm feeling fine this morning and i even got up early which is why i'm making this quick blog! anyway, i've been working on finally making this house i've lived in for a year look like the home of a 20-something professional. because yes, i am a 20-something professional. and i've decided that at 30 i will be the same except i'll have more money and nicer things. i've rearranged my bedroom and i wanted to get a dresser since my things are shoved in a tiny plastic drawer thing in my closet. oh and then there's that dresser i found on the street and attempted to refinish and well that takes hellaforever and i'm sick sick sick of it. so i wanted this dresser. but instead of ordering it last weekend when i found it, i just decided to hold off. now it is out of stock. i am pissed to no end. ah the plight of the yuppie. and now it is time to head off to work.

las cholas

2008-08-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

today at work i looked at pictures of cholas for a slideshow on gangs. i found this one and it is my favorite. of course i can't use it for the project but it made me laugh. enjoy.

the shooting star

2008-08-07T19:03:00.001-07:00

so it's still kinda top secret but i had to share. it's nowhere near done.

my wordle

2008-08-06T13:36:00.001-07:00

thanks to austin for the 411.

intentions to take over the world

2008-08-02T09:11:00.000-07:00

i've been rather busy lately and inattentive to my dear little blog. but there are bigger issues at hand. oh wait, one quick side note. after breakfast today a couple of jehovah's witnesses showed up at the door looking for a spanish speaking family. and one of the guys shops at gap highland. it was awkward. i was covered in dog hair. i'm sure they knew i was lying about not knowing spanish. but really, how am i to understand the bible when it's written in shakespearian?
i digress. while i at work this week - oh! one more side note! we had a budget surplus so i was allowed to order library items! which were supposed to be mostly font packages, stock photos, things like that but i found much better stuff for free. so instead i requested some awesome graphic design books since that's probably my weakest area. and now i wish i would've found some css books too...oh and my dvx camera came in yesterday! except they delivered it to my old boss who is now in another department in another building....but he's sent it my way and maybe someone will deliver it by...the middle of august? i'm too funny...anyway, i'm super excited about all that and i'll finally be working on "film" stuff.
ok, back to my original reason for posting. i googled myself the other day, yes, i do that quite often. we live in an information society and it's important to know what information is out there on yourself. anyway, if you google "travis sandoval" almost nothing involving ME actually shows up! apparently there are far more people that share my random pairing of identifiers than i knew. and some of them aren't up to my standards if you know what i'm saying. this all means i've taken too long a hiatus. this means this travis sandoval has to get to work on making sure he holds a monopoly on the google search of his name. and while i'm at it, i definitely have to say travis sandoval as often as possible to push this post up the list on google searches.
yes, i know, my life is that interesting. all i do is google myself all day and come up with ridiculous ways to rule the world. but you're reading my blog...so...really i think that just speaks volumes about you...

hellboy 2: or boy i'm in hell

2008-07-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

so here's the deal. hellboy 2 is rated pg-13. which does not entitle you to bring your screaming misbehaving 13 month old to see it. and if you're well over the age of 13, you have no excuse for being rude and breaking out into discussion groups in the middle of the movie.
that's my beef with seeing the movie in eagle pass today.

4th of july

2008-07-06T18:19:00.001-07:00

as i sit back with a glass of wine, i can't help but revisit the weekend that was. to celebrate my independence as an american, i mostly shopped, dined, and drank. jacob's mom was in town and so it was a good excuse to do so. thursday night saw me inducing myself into a margaritaville hangover and taking a hell quiz that says i'm in the 5th circle of hell. friday, (the 4th) we shopped at sear's where i found a nice brown button down for $4.99 and then moved to the domain where we had lunch at the steeping room and did some window shopping at banana and the apple store. after fireworks and symphony and a miserable wait getting out of the parking garage, we hit up whataburger for fast food and jake's mom was accosted by country hoodlums. saturday, we shopped at the outlet mall where i should've gotten a very 80s t-shirt from banana but passed because of the long line and the growing irritability. then i got an awesome metal watch from fossil which may need to be re-sized. then we cooked out and drank, which was followed up by more drinking at bar fly's. today we brunched at the east side cafe and then dropped jake's mom off at the airport. that went something like this:
mary: "oh, we're here already..." :(
me: "get out of the car, you old bat."
then jake and i hit up sonic for crazy drinks, watched a million hours of sex and the city, and then had ice cream/pie. good times were had by all.
i also can't help but think that maybe the hell test we took thursday night was right. seeing as to how i shopped and ate and spewed hatred at loved ones, maybe i do belong in the 5th circle of hell swimming in the river styx (like the band!) and eating other sinners. maybe it won't be so bad?

oh, god

2008-06-25T18:29:00.001-07:00

so here's the deal, i woke up partially terrified partially wtf this morning. now call it what you will because i know it sounds funny now, but i had a nightmare. yes, a bona fide nightmare. now i haven't had a nightmare in quite some time. they usually revolve around not turning in homework or not getting to work on time. and now that i recall, i did have a similar one recently that took place in spanish and inspired me to attempt a short film adaptation. that one was a mix of "signs" and schindler's list. this new one was crazy. it reminded me of the twilight zone episode about the aliens and their cook book called "how to prepare man."
anyway, in my dream aliens had landed and said they would be taking all of us back to their homeland with them. i'm sitting in my living room going "wtf? i'm fine here." then tripp starts talking. yes, that's right. he tells me he is actually an alien and then proceeds to chew on something. i smack him on the forehead as i usually do when he misbehaves. but no, this isn't tripp anymore. this is crazy pod person tripp. he looks directly at me, menacingly and says, "don't you dare to that to me again." and i freak out and do whatever tripp commands me to do. and so he commands me to take him to the movies (i think...) where he meets up with other pod people. but these people are people and not dogs. so there goes my dog with strangers. i sit in on their meeting because i'm his chaperon and i drive the car. he tells me they are taking everyone back to their planet to eat them. so i'm like, "fuck." then he proceeds to tell me the leader of their planet is barack obama. and the reason he is running for president is to gain control of the country and mandate that we all go to their planet (so we can be eaten of course). i say that is ridiculous and just hearsay from that god damned conservative media. but then again, my dog told me this.
i meet up with jake and meredith and i tell them what tripp told me. for some reason they believe me and our big plan to go out with a bang is to steal a bottle of wine from the liquor store. we go in and split up. i grab a bottle. minutes later, i see jake leave. mere and i haul ass out. we jump into the car and i see that jake has already stolen a bottle of wine. i freak out and say i need to return mine because we were only supposed to steal one. we turn around and see the liquor store clerk run out of the store and look around. i keep yelling that i need to give my bottle of wine back because it's wrong that we stole two. she runs down the street past us and we decide to drive off.
then i woke up. it's not so scary now. especially not in the dry way you're probably reading it. but seriously, seeing tripp slowly turn and look up at me and say "don't you dare do that to me again," scared me shitless.

my first business trip

2008-06-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

so tuesday through thursday i was in beaumont. yes, beautiful beaumont. i had to tape a training at the al price facility. it went pretty smooth and i was a lot more impressed with beaumont than i thought i would be. i mean...it has everything you need, right? i thought about posting a craigslist casual encounters. i mean it was a business trip. that's what people on business trips do, right?
i got to rock a state mini van. it's comfortable and safe. i understand why adults buy it. maybe that's sad...i also saw a pregnant hooker. at least i think she was a hooker. she was definitely preggers. but why else would a woman wear a short red dress and stand on the median by the freeway in the middle of nowhere? she was also hiking that dress up. did i mention she was preggers? oh, not like "i can't tell if you're preggers or fat" i mean like "are you sure that puddle of water below you isn't from your water breaking?" no one else commented on the sight so i assumed it was either typical of beaumont or in my own imagination...
anyway, it's saturday night. i've had two glasses of wine and jake wanted me to give him a shout out. so shout out.

housewife

2008-06-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

Housewife official video
by jaybrannan

adult life

2008-06-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

i apologize for the lack of true antics these days. this week i hit up the sex and the city movie with the usual peeps. (yes i'm trying to be more viable to the youth audience with my slang). anyway, i can't say i wasn't disappointed with the movie. afterwards we stopped by baby a's and had some margaritas that took too long to reach our table and screamed at each other over some bad karaoke.
the first week of work is down. i'm still waiting for a new computer but the tech guy finally talked to me and said he's going to try to get me a mac anyway. i'm really excited about doing some real work next week in beaumont. not too excited about beaumont.
last night, morgan and meredith came over and jake made some pasta and we had delicious drinks. ryan and lori showed up later and i had way too many piña coladas and woke up feeling like a giant marshmallow this morning.
the adult life is quite boring. in fact i believe we should all stay 16 for the rest of our lives.

week one

2008-06-05T15:22:00.000-07:00

tomorrow will be the end of my first week on at tyc. it's been interesting so far. i'm excited to work. there just isn't much work right now. well there is. but i'm using a lame laptop that is pretty much designed for exclusive use of microsoft office. the IT dept. said no to my mac. which has delayed everything. i haven't been able to get to talk with one of them about getting a dell. oy vey. i'm gonna have to use a pc! holy crap the world is ending!
anyway, until i get my new computer and some adobe software, i'm stuck twiddling my thumbs. because seriously, could office be anymore useless? i mean sure you can type a paper and make a spreadsheet but what else? i can type a paper and make a spreadsheet in indesign and also do a little drawing. i'm like a kid with a broken arm (no pun intended austin) without my photoshop!
anyway, today i cleaned my cubicle and put up some photos. i played with the camcorders i've been given. i organized the giant box of markers i found. i stole a trash can because there wasn't one in my cubicle.
it was a pretty productive day...

stop me

2008-05-27T09:12:00.001-07:00