Wii would like to play

Yoshida Brothers (who did the Wii commercials) doing down on the Shamisen.

hmmmmm

Kim Chi Dudes: Luv dees guys

exo-skeleton TODAY!

tessellations

Holy cow! Robot otaku culture

Boeing's 787 Dreamliner vs. Sukhoi's SuperJet 100

And the winner is...

I wanna be cool too!

sooooo sloooooow here

ARTICLE HERE

Broadband service here is eight to 30 times as fast as in the United States -- and considerably cheaper. Japan has the world's fastest Internet connections, delivering more data at a lower cost than anywhere else, recent studies show.

Accelerating broadband speed in this country -- as well as in South Korea and much of Europe -- is pushing open doors to Internet innovation that are likely to remain closed for years to come in much of the United States.

The speed advantage allows the Japanese to watch broadcast-quality, full-screen television over the Internet, an experience that mocks the grainy, wallet-size images Americans endure.

Ultra-high-speed applications are being rolled out for low-cost, high-definition teleconferencing, for telemedicine -- which allows urban doctors to diagnose diseases from a distance -- and for advanced telecommuting to help Japan meet its goal of doubling the number of people who work from home by 2010.

"For now and for at least the short term, these applications will be cheaper and probably better in Japan," said Robert Pepper, senior managing director of global technology policy at Cisco Systems, the networking giant.

Japan has surged ahead of the United States on the wings of better wire and more aggressive government regulation, industry analysts say.

The copper wire used to hook up Japanese homes is newer and runs in shorter loops to telephone exchanges than in the United States. This is partly a matter of geography and demographics: Japan is relatively small, highly urbanized and densely populated. But better wire is also a legacy of American bombs, which razed much of urban Japan during World War II and led to a wholesale rewiring of the country.

In 2000, the Japanese government seized its advantage in wire. In sharp contrast to the Bush administration over the same time period, regulators here compelled big phone companies to open up wires to upstart Internet providers.

In short order, broadband exploded. At first, it used the same DSL technology that exists in the United States. But because of the better, shorter wire in Japan, DSL service here is much faster. Ten to 20 times as fast, according to Pepper, one of the world's leading experts on broadband infrastructure.

Indeed, DSL in Japan is often five to 10 times as fast as what is widely offered by U.S. cable providers, generally viewed as the fastest American carriers. (Cable has not been much of a player in Japan.)

Perhaps more important, competition in Japan gave a kick in the pants to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT), once a government-controlled enterprise and still Japan's largest phone company. With the help of government subsidies and tax breaks, NTT launched a nationwide build-out of fiber-optic lines to homes, making the lower-capacity copper wires obsolete. "Obviously, without the competition, we would not have done all this at this pace," said Hideki Ohmichi, NTT's senior manager for public relations.

His company now offers speeds on fiber of up to 100 megabits per second -- 17 times as fast as the top speed generally available from U.S. cable. About 8.8 million Japanese homes have fiber lines -- roughly nine times the number in the United States.

The burgeoning optical fiber system is hurtling Japan into an Internet future that experts say Americans are unlikely to experience for at least several years.

Shoji Matsuya, director of diagnostic pathology at Kanto Medical Center in Tokyo, has tested an NTT telepathology system scheduled for nationwide use next spring.

It allows pathologists -- using high-definition video and remote-controlled microscopes -- to examine tissue samples from patients living in areas without access to major hospitals. Those patients need only find a clinic with the right microscope and an NTT fiber connection.

"Before, we did not have the richness of image detail," Matsuya said, noting that Japan has a severe shortage of pathologists. "With this equipment, I think it is possible to make a definitive remote diagnosis of cancer."

Japan's leap forward, as the United States has lost ground among major industrialized countries in providing high-speed broadband connections, has frustrated many American high-tech innovators.

"The experience of the last seven years shows that sometimes you need a strong federal regulatory framework to ensure that competition happens in a way that is constructive," said Vinton G. Cerf, a vice president at Google.

Japan's lead in speed is worrisome because it will shift Internet innovation away from the United States, warns Cerf, who is widely credited with helping to invent some of the Internet's basic architecture. "Once you have very high speeds, I guarantee that people will figure out things to do with it that they haven't done before," he said.

As a champion of Japanese-style competition through regulation, Cerf supports "net neutrality" legislation now pending in Congress. It would mandate that phone and cable companies treat all online traffic equally, without imposing higher tolls for certain content.

The proposed laws would probably save billions for companies such as Google and Yahoo, but consumer advocates say they would also save money for most home Internet users.

U.S. phone and cable companies, which control about 98 percent of the country's broadband market, strongly oppose the proposed laws, saying they would discourage the huge investments needed to upgrade broadband speed.

Yet the story of how Japan outclassed the United States in the provision of better, cheaper Internet service suggests that forceful government regulation can pay substantial dividends.

The opening of Japan's copper phone lines to DSL competition launched a "virtuous cycle" of ever-increasing speed, said Cisco's Pepper. The cycle began shortly after Japanese politicians -- fretting about an Internet system that in 2000 was slower and more expensive than what existed in the United States -- decided to "unbundle" copper lines.

For just $2 a month, upstart broadband companies were allowed to rent bandwidth on an NTT copper wire connected to a Japanese home. Low rent allowed them to charge low prices to consumers -- as little as $22 a month for a DSL connection faster than almost all U.S. broadband services.

In the United States, a similar kind of competitive access to phone company lines was strongly endorsed by Congress in a 1996 telecommunications law. But the federal push fizzled in 2003 and 2004, when the Federal Communications Commission and a federal court ruled that major companies do not have to share phone or fiber lines with competitors. The Bush administration did not appeal the court ruling.

"The Bush administration largely turned its back on the Internet, so we have just drifted downwards," said Thomas Bleha, a former U.S. diplomat who served in Japan and is writing a history of how that country trumped the United States in broadband.

As the United States drifted, a prominent venture capitalist in Japan pounced on his government's decision to open up the country's copper wire.

Masayoshi Son, head of a company called Softbank, offered broadband that was much cheaper and more than six times as fast as NTT's. He added marketing razzmatazz to the mix, dispatching young people to street corners to give away modems that would connect users to a service called Yahoo BB. (The U.S.-based Yahoo owns about a third of it.) The company's share of DSL business in Japan has exploded in the past five years, from zero to 37 percent. As competition grew, the monthly cost of broadband across Japan fell by about half, as broadband speed jumped 33-fold, according to a recent study.

"Once a customer enjoyed the high speed of DSL, then he or she preferred more speed," said Harumasa Sato, a professor of telecommunication economics at Konan University in Kobe.

The growing addiction to speed, ironically, is returning near-monopoly power in fiber to NTT, which owns and controls most new fiber lines to homes. Growth of new fiber connections exceeded DSL growth two years ago. Fiber is how all of Japan will soon be connected -- for phones, television and nearly all other services.

"NTT is becoming dominant again in the fiber broadband kingdom," Sato said.

That infuriates its competitors. Yahoo BB and others are demanding that the government once again compel NTT to unlock the lines.

In Japan, the regulatory wars over broadband are far from over.

Best time to buy stuff

HERE

AT 50 CENTS a roll — instead of the regular retail price of $4 — buying wrapping paper after New Year's is an easy way to save. The same holds true for buying half-price inflatable pool loungers and patio furniture after Labor Day weekend.

In fact, bargain lovers know that there's a smart time to buy just about anything. For example, those looking for a great deal on a car should shop on weekday mornings in September. Groceries are cheapest on Sunday evenings.

We talked to the experts, and found the best time to buy everything from wine to wedding dresses.

Airplane Tickets
When to buy: On a Wednesday, 21 days (or a couple of days earlier) before your flight.
Why: Airlines make major pricing changes (and run fare sales) every week, typically on Tuesday evenings and Wednesday mornings. About 21 days out from your flight, you'll see plenty of deals out there as airlines scramble to fill seats, says Anne Banas, executive editor of SmarterTravel.com, a consumer travel advice Web site. Don't wait much longer, she cautions; prices jump significantly from 14 to seven days ahead of departure.

Appliances
When to buy: During a holiday weekend.
Why: You'll find sales on select models all year long, but retailers bring out the big guns for holiday weekends, says Carolyn Forte, homecare director for the Good Housekeeping Institute. But don't worry about spending your Fourth of July and Labor Day weekends shopping for a new fridge — smaller holidays like Columbus Day and President's Day have their share of sales, too.

Baby Clothes
When to buy: During your pregnancy.
Why: Once you know your due date, keep an eye out for end-of-season clearances, recommends Alan Fields, co-author of "Baby Bargains." "If you're [newly] pregnant now, you know you'll be having a baby next summer," he says. "Well, right now, stores are closing out all the summer clothes." You can pick up newborn essentials like onesies for less than half price. (For more ways to save, see our column Oh Baby!)

Broadway Tickets
When to buy: Hours before the curtain rises.
Why: How does a $25 front-row seat to the smash musical "Wicked" sound? Several musicals offer same-day ticket lotteries that offer up orchestra seats at inexpensive prices. If you'd rather not gamble on getting a seat, wait in line at the famous TKTS booth in Times Square. There, you can get tickets for hit musicals for up to 50% off. On a recent night, prime seats were available for "Hairspray," "Rent," "Sweeney Todd" and "Beauty & the Beast." (For the right times to drop by TKTS, and other ways to save, see our column A Midsummer Night's Dream.)

Cars
When to buy: Weekday mornings in September.
Why: By September, all the next year's models have arrived at the lot, and dealers are desperate to get rid of the current year's leftovers, says Phil Reed, consumer advice editor for Edmunds.com. It's the prime time of year for incentives and sales, not to mention bargaining. "Any car that's been on the lot for a long time loses its value in the eyes of the car salesman," he says.

Heading to the dealership on a weekday morning also helps because there's low foot traffic, meaning you'll have ample time to negotiate and fewer people trying to buy the same car. The more demand, the less willing a salesman is to go down on price, says Reed. (For more, see our column Summer Car Savings.)

Champagne
When to buy: December
Why: Most people assume that because everyone wants a good bottle of Champagne for New Year's Eve that prices go up during the holidays, says Sharon Castillo, director of the Office of Champagne, USA, which represents the trade association of growers in the Champagne region. But due to fierce competition among the Champagne houses, prices are actually lower during the holidays than they are at any other time of year. (For more on picking the right bottle, see our column Break Out the Bubbly.)

Clothing
When to buy: Thursday evenings, six to eight weeks after an item arrives in stores.
Why: After an item lingers in stores a month or more, retailers start dropping its price to get it out the door, says Kathryn Finney, author of "How to Be a Budget Fashionista." These season-end clearances tend to be the same month that designers host fashion weeks (February and September) to preview the next fall or spring collections. So smart buyers can check the catwalk to see if any of this season's trends — say, leggings or military-style jackets — will still be hot next year, and then scoop them up on clearance.

Hitting the mall on a weekday ensures you'll get a good selection. "On the weekend, you'll only get picked-over stuff because the stores don't have time to restock," she says. By Thursday, most of the weekend sales have begun, but everything available is on the floor.

Computers and electronics
When to buy: Just after a new model is launched.
Why: When the latest and greatest of a product is released, you'll often see prices drop on what had previously been the best thing out there, says Tom Merritt, executive editor for CNET, an electronics review web site. Case in point: When Apple released the Nano last September, prices for the now-discontinued Mini dropped 12%, from $199 for a 4GB to about $175. So keep your eyes open for announcements from major manufacturers. Want a little less work? Time your purchases for after big annual technology show like MacWorld (next held Jan. 8-12, 2007) and the International Consumer Electronics Show (next held Jan. 8-11, 2007).

Gas
When to buy: Early morning or late evening on a weekday.
Why: Time your trip based on whether prices are rising or falling, advises Marshall Brain, founder of HowStuffWorks, a consumer guide. Gas stations tend to change their prices between 10 a.m. and noon, so hit the pump in the early morning if gas prices are on the rise. Go later in the day if prices are falling. Tipsters on GasPriceWatch.com reported that on Sept. 3, a WaWa gas station in Lanoka Harbor, N.J., was offering regular gas for $2.85 a gallon. One day later the station's price had dropped to $2.65. In that case, going early would have cost you 20 cents more per gallon.

Try not to buy gas on the weekends, Brain says. Gas prices are often slightly elevated, as stations try to profit from leisure travelers. (For more ways to save, see our column Save on Gas.)

Gift Cards
When to buy: A day or two before you give it.
Why: These days, gift cards carry a plethora of hidden pitfalls, from expiration dates to dormancy fees, says Dan Horne, a professor of marketing at Providence College known as the "Gift Card Guru." That countdown to fees starts as soon as you buy the card. "You don't want to short-change the recipient," he says.

Groceries
When to buy: Sunday evenings.
Why: Store sales tend to run Wednesday through Tuesday, says Teri Gault, founder of The Grocery Game, a consumer savings program. On Sunday, you'll also have the latest round of manufacturer's coupons from your morning paper. "You can maximize your coupons available for that shopping week," she says. Heading to the store close to closing time means you'll have access to sales on fresh items that must be sold by the end of the day, such as meats and baked goods.

Of course, you'll also benefit from in-season items that can be frozen for use later in the year, says Gault. That means turkeys at Thanksgiving and hams at Christmas and Easter. During the spring and summer, buy fresh produce. Peaches bought at $1 per pound now can be kept frozen for smoothies and pies throughout the winter, she says.

Shrubs, Trees and Other Plants
When to buy: Fall
Why: Take a break from raking up leaves to purchase trees, shrubs and other perennials for your yard. Prices nosedive after midsummer, as garden supply stores and nurseries try to clear out their stock. You can also get great deals on bulbs during the fall. Just store them according to the package instructions for best planting results next spring. For more, see our column Cheap Landscaping Tricks.)

Televisions
When to buy: Six to 12 months after a particular model is launched.
Why: A new TV drops in price after a few months on the market, says CNET's Merritt. Although there will be newer models out there, it's unlikely they'll offer any significant improvements to justify that brand new price. "The technology is proceeding at such a pace that the models out there are not going to be obsolete anytime soon," he says. (For more, see our column The World Is Flat.)

Wedding Dresses
When to buy: Between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Why: Boutiques are stocked up on dresses for the post-Christmas rush (many people get engaged over the holidays), yet traffic is low, says Fields, who also co-authored "Bridal Bargains." "It's not a busy time to buy a wedding dress because people are thinking about the holidays," he says. You'll also have room to bargain.

Wine
When to buy: Early fall.
Why: For best selection, you can't beat the fall harvest season. That's when most vineyards release their latest vintages. Buying in August and September is also your best shot at snagging so-called "cult wines" — those with limited production and high demand, says Kathleen Schumacher-Hoertkorn, CEO of New Vine Logistics, an online interstate wine retailer. (For more, see our column Buying Wine Online.)

Some marketing thoughts via MSN.

Sydney says:
you were telling me that part of Dave's problem is he doesn't have a name as a comic book artist, that's part of why his sales are weak. In order to establish a name you need exposure right? So how about this... Bite the bullet... Accept the fact that Dave isn't going to make any more money of this comic book venture? So what does he have left?... A comic book. Why not just post the comic book online for free and get free readership? It's eaked out as much money as it's ever going to make. Get more exposure by offering it for free.
Rhody Belo says:
hey thats a good idea, hmmm, your on to something
Sydney says:
The people who bought it won't be unhappy, they already have a hard copy and for people who get it free, they only get an internet version.
Rhody Belo says:
so far this comic thing isn't great sales wise
Sydney says:
Here's another idea but it's not new, I see other publishers doing the same thing. Next time, publish the first 10 pages free, get people into the story before the comic is finished. People can read the first 10 pages and are left hanging wanting more. They have to buy the comic to find out what happens next. I didn't see Dave do that.
Rhody Belo says:
actually we kinda did that with the first issue
Sydney says:
oh really, I didn't see it
Rhody Belo says:
but its kinda all over the place
Sydney says:
Then you need a dedicated site for the comic, kinda like each feature film has it's own site. A place where a reader can go to get updates and all the info they ever wanted.
Rhody Belo says:
true...we didn't do that
Sydney says:
I think there were major flaws in Dave's marketing strategy, people just don't know his comic is out there, even to this day. A lot can be done for little money to promote the comic beyond just random posts on comic book forums
Rhody Belo says:
we just advertised on some critic pages
Sydney says:
not enough, need more in ur face marketing.
Rhody Belo says:
your right bad marketing
Sydney says:
It's not enough just being an artist. I am find out that too many artists like to hide behind their art as an excuse for not marketing themselves properly. There's too many good artists out there, why is it that the crappiest artists make it into the money... they promote promote promote
Rhody Belo says:
wow...we are bad biz guys, the market is kinda shot too which doesn't help a lot
Sydney says:
i think so, you need to look at the market. Is it an emerging market? Is it a growth market? or is it a mature market in decline? Like i said, just being a passionate artist isn't good enough.
Rhody Belo says:
declining big time
Sydney says:
Then what are your options? Use your creative gift and enter a different market? Or recreate the comic market with something creatively different
Rhody Belo says:
yah
Sydney says:
Here's my take. As a business, you need something that will grab customers, something that is unique to your product, something that the other guy doesn't have. As I see it, Dave is just creating more of the same old same old.
Rhody Belo says:
yeh
Sydney says:
I don't see what's giving his product that extra edge. He may be a talented artist... but, he needs to be more original. Sorry if it sounds harsh, it's purely a critique from a business perspective
Rhody Belo says:
Its not harsh at all
Sydney says:
Picture yourself as a comic book geek. Would you buy it or any other title for that matter? What would you buy? What would catch your eye on that already overly saturated comic shelf? If you can figure that out, then you have a competitive product.
Rhody Belo says:
we need a biz mind...we just do art. I think I would bye it if it were colour thats just me
Sydney says:
but there's already so much color out there. You need something else to pull those sales in. Here's something just for shits and giggles. I did mention this before but not sure how realistic it is.
Rhody Belo says:
haha k
Sydney says:
The one thing I do know readers value... quality quality quality. What exactly do I mean? Too much art these days is created on a monthly deadline, too much quality is sacrificed. I think if one can take the time to really create a high level of design , narrative and rendering quality, then people will notice. It won't be a monthly thing that's for sure, but it'll bring in the bucks in the end.
Rhody Belo says:
your right people would rathar get quality then buying shitty by monthly
Sydney says:
Example, Masamune Shirow, people either buy his comics for the art or for his amazingly complex stories. He's now considered god of sci fi manga.
Rhody Belo says:
I think we just banged this out
Sydney says:
I think most artists bang it out because of publishing deadlines, that's the nature of the industry
Rhody Belo says:
yep

spork?

Kool designs

Nagoya ramen chain Sugakiya have finally redesigned their famous ramen fork. The old design is shown above on the right, the new design is in the centre with a child's version on the left. It looks even more like a spork now although it is a little deeper and the prongs are longer than other models on the market. It is the first redesign in 29 years for the chain and they aim to roll it out over their 329 stores by September. Sugakiya claims that this new version is easier to use and the big news is that they believe it will become so popular that they will be able to do away with disposable chopsticks almost entirely by March of next year. Disposable chopsticks have become more expensive since China restricted exports with the possibility of a complete halt in 2008.

cheang

business idea: video game bartering

Initial idea for gamers barter service

Video gaming is an annual, multi-billion dollar industry. Gamers have an insatiable appetite for newer and more interesting games. The problem is, how to satisfy that voracious need on limited budgets. Games are increasingly expensive to purchase and harder to pirate. Once a game is played and finished interest is lost and the game essentially becomes a piece of junk.

An online bartering service would allow gamers to exchange new and used games and equipment at very little cost. Such a service would facilitate the barter transactions and offer insurance that the terms of barter are met and enforced. Users would ship barter items to a central repository for inspection and repackaging. This would ensure a fair and equitable exchange. BRENT: This wouldn't work, way too much over head for company to deal with thousands of items and the user has to pay postal twice, once to the repository and once more to the final recipient.

A better system would involve each user deal directly with each other and the implementation of a rating system similar to that used by ebay. Self-enforcement, a poor rating from other users would indicate an untrustworthy user.

BRENT: In terms of complexity, a simple 'one to one' barter service could be set up relatively easily. From there a much more complex search matrix would be necessary for more efficient pairing of users and barter items. E.g. a user has items available for barter and a list of items that he/she would like to barter for. The system search capability should be able to find another user with the same or similar barter status. If it can't find any matches the system should be intelligent enough to find alternatives such that the needs of the user can still be met in a round about manner. It may require that the user needs to trade with a third user to acquire that wanted from the first user, etc. This triangulated transaction would be facilitated as a single transaction. An architecture like this would require a vast amount of work.

This service would be free to attract initial customers and as the user base grows, banner ads would generate income.

Service can also facilitate cash or credit card purchases instead of bartering and would mean the implementation of a paypal/verotel style billing solution with SSL encryption. BRENT: This is easy to set up.

While initially an idea to service the gaming market this is conceptually adaptable to any market.

Craigslist offers a form of barter service in the guise of an online classified page. The difference between Craigslist and a dedicated bartering service is that the bartering service would be far more user friendly and purpose built for bartering. Users will be attracted by it's ease of use and more powerful search and matching engine.

COMPETITION: This is not a new idea, the only thing that I came up with while doing a quick google search is barterfest.com and u-exchange.com. There are other barter sites but they seem to be more business to business type bartering and their web pages tend to look uber corporate. In order to out compete sites such as barterfest, we would need to make the service much more usable and maybe target a specific market such as video games. A more extensive search for available services out there needs to be done.

There does not seem to be a single definitive source for games bartering. One can visit many of the infinite number of gaming forums and online message boards out there and find many users bartering, but there is no one-stop source for the exclusive bartering of games. Perhaps by targeting the video game market, it would give an edge over the more generic bartering sites which don't seem to carry much gaming content.

Some barter sites, such as canadianbartersystem.com converts goods and services into a credit system that can then be exchanged.

Many bartering networks that deal in business to business bartering require a paid membership.

A successful franchise would then be open to being acquired by a larger game portal such as IGN or gamespot.com.

wrestler

body patches WIP

nose reference

randomness

Creature wrestling / jaba the hut creature fest

Wrestler mug and stats incorporated into comic.

scrawny angry chick wrestler

PMS girl / tank girl

salary man

Hado ge

Post comic book pages on lamp post. Something to read while waiting for the streetcar?

Project blog

wrestling collectible cards or Magic style game.

ULTIMATE MUSCLE

business idea: experimental marketing (wrestling concept )

The following is an edited MSN chat thread I had with a friend that turned into a brainstorming session.

......................
Rhody Belo says:
we can start by doing fake hype and pinup work...a bit of advertising
Sydney says:
lamp post stuff
Sydney says:
Yah, for now it's gotta be a fun thing and not so much for the money
jobs like this aren't going to make us rich
Rhody Belo says:
legal graphitti
Rhody Belo says:
maybe I'll go under an Alias as Suplex
Sydney says:
superplex
Rhody Belo says:
Morphic Suplex
Sydney says:
I'll be atomic drop
Rhody Belo says:
Superplex and AtomicDrop
tagteam Morphic
Sydney says:
The pile driver. He's missing a luchador
Rhody Belo says:
before Bustamante sees this opportunity
Sydney says:
ok crap yah he'd be on it like fly on shit
Rhody Belo says:
pile of shit driver
Sydney says:
hahaha, we should call the luchador, Bustamante in honor of him, Bukakkemante. Nah, I'm not worried, our portfolio is superior, unless he does it for far less pesos.
Sydney says:
We need a Hado Ge too, Hado Ge vs. Bustamante. Hahaha, I think we have a better story already just between us...
Rhody Belo says:
yeah....I think so too
Sydney says:
the thing that I notice that is missing in the Bauer script is that the characters have no character, they aren't the colorful personalities that we see in Hado Ge or any other wwf wrestler. That is what I feel will sell the comic. The dynamic actions and the over the top characters.Hard guy organization. The wrestling moves have to be way way overly exaggerated. The action can't just be text book stuff, gotta have alot of original signature moves.
Rhody Belo says:
a wrestling gimp. Lots of speed lines and vainy muscle tone and broken bones
Sydney says:
I think if this comic does do well,that writer is going to need us in a big way. I don't think he has the vision for the characters
Rhody Belo says:
then we can charge him or branch off, introduce our own characters
Sydney says:
we could just do our own now, drop him now and self publish our own, do our own luche libre
Rhody Belo says:
we'll do a better job for the fans
Sydney says:
We should do a police lineup of characters first, make a poster for lamp posts, make it all campy. An event poster that doubles as a comic bookcover, like this one, http://homepage.mac.com/viktor2/btw/threeheels.jpg. We don't even need to have art on the poster, just a cheezy event announcement for a wrestling match and you'd get attention. Maybe make a url link on the poster to our website where the comic is. Question is, is there enough of a market just in TO to make private publishing profitable.
Rhody Belo says:
hahaha...kool, good idea...I like...even cheezy shirts like this. oh yeah...make it sound like real underground matches...like a fight club. Now we have a gimmic
Sydney says:
I think alot of people would get disappointed it isn't a real fight club
Rhody Belo says:
true atleast we get exposure, lets find a real fight club we can represent, they need to read the comic to find out where it is.
Sydney says:
it can definitely lead to that, branch out of comix eventually into real fight promotion, maybe we can make a proposal to the WWF to do some promo for them...
I think this wrestling idea, if it takes off could end up creating a label for us, HARD GUY COMIX
Sydney says:
How about this, we try this bauer dude and formulate a style and if we are satisfied with it we can do our own
Rhody Belo says:
thats right this should be a testing grounds to see what can work








Sydney says:
I think we can't alienate traditional wrestling too much, it still must have the spirit of wwf wrestling or else it just ain't wrestling. We're trying to appeal to the hard core wrestling fans out there, but with a new interesting twist. To do straight wwf wrestling is just too boring.
Rhody Belo says:
I like the fact that maybe we can use the midget chars as the main char.. We can almost do the afro samurai kinda story using wrestling
Sydney says:
urban guerrilla pop
Sydney says:
I was thinking instead of a mutant wrestler... Have one big wrestler piggybacked by 6 midgets. Both opponents would have 6 midgets that hang on to a specially designed sling worn by the big carrier wrestler. The carriers would jump in the ring and the midgets would do tag teams on each other. They can link to each other and do chain style attacks. The signature move will be the 'meat whip' or the 'multiplex'.
Rhody Belo says:
the midgets are like armour in a way
Sydney says:
I was also thinking of a big traditional wrestler type. I was going to call him Texas Burger Boy. He'd walking into the ring eating those one pound burgers
Rhody Belo says:
he can look like a lucha dor with a Cowboy hat and always eating burgers even when hes fighting when he looses his burgers he loose his strength but the fan throws food he regains strength like popeye especially burgers. Its greatest fan is a hamburger mascot like ronald mcdonald or the king of burger king or a parody of grimmis
Sydney says:
mini nachos, I wonder if he could represent Burger King or McDs, endorsement. He'd have a cape with the logo on it
Rhody Belo says:
maybe Burger king seems more edgey right now
Sydney says:
He'd look like fat southern white trash, kinda like Hacksaw Jim Duggan but much fatter
Rhody Belo says:
give him a mullet with a mask
Sydney says:
I was thinking of a wrestler with a goalie mask on, kinda like that guy from Mad Max or Casey Jones from TMNT

schlock fest

Whaaaaa?

FOBilicious: History of japanese chick fashion

I've always tried to describe the whole kogal/ganguro/yamamba scene in Japan to my friends, but the only way to really understand it is to go there and see for yourself. But this video is the next best thing. I've not seen anything remotely like it outside of Japan. Social scientists will tell you it's a knee-jerk reaction to the traditionally austere female role in Japanese culture, they are the Japanese equivalent of the free lovin' easy riders of the 60s. A lost generation or bleeding edge feministas, regardless, it's damn ugly but refreshingly creative and eccentric, a real eyesore but you gotta admire their audacity and pure sass. Fugly and repulsive... yes, but these girls represent the most powerful gender class in Japan today and they know it. While I was in Japan during the height of the yamamba craze in '97, I couldn't believe the droves of them strutting the streets of Shibuya. I understand it's since been long on it's way out and I'm curious to find out what the latest extreme angry chick fashion is.

Prada anyone?

pop science idea

Was discussing an interesting topic with a friend the other day. Posting this as a reference post.

Many technologies today are artificial analogues of comparable biological systems. That is to say, the camera is essentially a poor representation of the human eye, or the flash drive, data base or operating system clunky man-made abstractions of our brain. Indeed, all these technologies have greatly enhanced our collective human experience, but when matched with the acuity of the real human eye, or the shear processing power of an organic brain, they all fall way short.

Much of modern applied science has followed this notion of synthetic abstraction. However, instead of simulation, why not assimilation? Why not actually use a biological eye as a camera lense? or a chip implant that would harness the expansive memory features of our brain for its limitless storage capacity and raw processing power?

Of course the camera wouldn't literally have an eyeball in it, but would instead contain a biologically synthesized optic nerve with cones and rods instead of a CCCD sensor. The acuity would be optimized well beyond human scope to say that of a cat which has well documented night vision capabilities or a fly that has thousands of lenses packed into the space of a pinhead. The list of possible augmentations are endless.

To take the camera example a step further what's to say the images captured by this enhanced camera couldn't be wirelessly uploaded directly to our brains negating the need for roll film or a flash card. Can you imagine the limitless storage capacity a human brain offers capable of storing an entire life's experiences?

We are all walking computers and cameras, why not develop technologies that enhance these basic biological functions instead of trying to contrive ersatz versions of them? Or vice versa, use what evolution has created to enhance our synthetic technologies many fold.

This is obviously not a new idea and I have no concept of the mind boggling technical hurdles facing something like this but simply something that came up in conversation that I had never really given much thought for before. It certainly makes for an interesting jumping off point for science fiction geeks and otaku.

finally Ears

Finally finished an approximation of the ear. By far the most difficult modeling task so far. Definitely not a great thing for nurbs.

This represents my 5th attempt and is a rough approximation of an ear. The problem areas included a huge buildup of isoparms along the front edge of the ear causing smoothing problems, the challenge was to keep the isoparm count down while not loosing detail. I was able to get the surface density down to 13 x 9 spans. The other problem area involved capturing that middle flap of cartilage that starts from the front edge of the ear and sweeps rearwards. While I can't speak for polys or subD's, nurbs has a tendancy to want to flow in a uniform direction, but that flap of cartilage interrupts the circular flow around the ear by curling in towards the middle. That was a pure sculpting challenge and I've come to realize nurbs are a total bitch for something as complex as an ear.

In a previous iteration, I had sculpted a decent ear, even matching the right number of spans to interface with the head patches. The problem was, the ear isoparms did not line up to the head isoparms. They were so off in position that it was impossible to align them without fucking up the ear.

My first attempt came from a tutorial which involved duplicating the edge surface isoparms that defined the ear opening into curves. Those curves were then attached and closed. The resulting curve was then duplicated numerous times to form the ring profiles of the ear. Once lofted, the surface was then properly sculpted, detached and stitched to the head patches. This didn't work because positioning the profile curves with any accuracy was impossible, but that was to be expected, and the sculpting process introduced a lot of smoothing problems, not to mention the final ear isoparms did not align evenly with the head isoparms. The other problem involved the final stitch process, the ear was nowhere near properly aligned to the head patches and the stitching became problematic.

Someone else suggested I build the ear profiles out from the head isoparms and then do a radial loft. This was the worst solution as the resulting loft not only introduced so many ring isoparms, the isoparm flow looked like a wavy mass of uncontrollable spaghetti.

The method that eventually worked for me was to build out tangentially aligned 1 degree curves from each head isoparm, lofting them and then closing the lofted surface. I then strategically started inserting ring isoparms and pulling the cv's out slowly sculpting the ear. I was careful to keep the isoparm count down and made sure the difficult sculpting areas were dealt with first so that they would not become problems later on when there were a greater number of isoparms to deal with. Finally when finished sculpting, I detached the ear surfaces and was able to easily stitch them to the head patches.

The next step is to take the ear into mudbox or zbrush for more accurate deep grooving.

Another tweak on the nose to properly shape the nostril and this head should be done.

No matter what pains I took to accurately sketch the character in orthographic, it still contained monstrously glaring flaws in accuracy. I now realize the modeler must also have an intimate knowledge of anatomy. The concept sketch is exactly that, a 2 dimensional abstraction. At best a roughly measured guideline for the modeler who then must translate the spirit of that sketch into 3 dimensions. Therein lies the true skill of the modeler and what sets a good one apart from a mediocre ones.

eye socket

Re-sculpting the eye socket. Will build a quick ear and surface the nose area before converting to polys and refining in subD's. Should be a good segway into zbrush or mudbox glory.

Looks nothing like the concept sketches or how I envisioned it, but 'wok the hey' as one jolly television personality once said.

smooth shade problem

stitch this

head2

Lara Croft... Is that you?

Speaking of chicks with guns...

GERMANY LARA CROFT-epa01012351 British actress Karima Adebibe poses as 'Lara Croft' in Berlin's central train station, Germany, 18 May 2007. The 'Tomb Raider' computer game character 'Lara Croft' was developed ten years ago by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. EPA/JOHANNES EISELE

I hate patches

Doesn't even look like the concept drawing...

IJN YAMATO

A promotional film for last years Japanese film about the IJN Yamato, the largest battleship ever build. This thing was a behemoth, mounting 18" guns, the largest caliber ever mounted on a ship of the line in any navy. This film is all about celebrating past glory. But the ironic thing about it is the Yamato was never used offensively and died in a suicide attack with only enough fuel for a one way ticket to hell at the cost of several thousand of her crew. Her sister ship Musashi did not fare much better and yet another Yamato hull, Shinano, was converted to an aircraft carrier but was lost on her maiden voyage.

The film actually looks like crap with the over the top acting, uninspired direction and sappy story, but maybe worth watching for the ship.

CG stuff

Found these movie trailers that contain a few interesting cg scenes. I notice Japan has recently sunk a gajillion dollars in features films recalling the glory days of the war. Just last year a film about the biggest battleship ever built, the IJN Yamato came out. For that film they built a full scale mock up of the ships main deck. Sappy sentimentalism or revisionist jingoism? As far as I know, these films haven't done as expected at the box office.

business idea: experimental marketing (Utility poles and free speech)

Below is an interesting article from the Sunday Star about posting on city utility poles. I happened across it while chowing down on some Sunday vitels. A pleasant surprise considering I was discussing just such an idea a few days ago.

Utility poles and free speech

If it were a war, as some suggest, this would be one of its fronts: A weatherbeaten utility pole at the corner of Queen and Bathurst, hundreds upon hundreds of rusty staples clinging to its splintering girth.

They're the legacy of decades of posters announcing everything from the disappearance of a much-loved pet to a garage sale to a fledgling band's gig to, on one recent afternoon, a curious proposition to "Breathe Less, Live Longer" (from the Buteyko Breathing Association of Canada).

These are the familiar, the traditional: neighbourhood communiqués writ just large enough for locals to notice, then take or leave.

But on main arteries, like Queen, King, Yonge, College and Bloor streets, neighbourhood notices are withering beneath a flexing of corporate muscle. A recent survey: Companies like Gillette and Amp'd Mobile, blockbuster movies like The Reaping, or mega-clubs such as Koolhaus have pasted over the humble one-offs that sprout up from the grassroots.

"It's been a real shift," says Matt Blackett, creative director of Spacing magazine, which grew out of a campaign to save postering. (The magazine's first issue, in 2003, the slogan: "Freedom of speech is a thousand times more beautiful than clean lamp posts.")

But paving the way for corporate takeover is not what Blackett and company had in mind. "The ones who can afford massive outdoor advertising campaigns are the ones who do the most postering now," he says.

On every second pole on Queen, a massive baby-blue poster with bright orange lettering heralds "Freedom," a sprawling, corporate-sponsored musical event at the Guvernment. Underneath it, a handful of smaller postings are cast in darkness, invisible.

Help is at hand, at least in theory, in the city's current postering bylaw, which is in limbo until the city's new street furniture is installed. Under that bylaw, the city draws a distinction between commercial and community postering. Commercial posters would still be allowed on the new street furniture's kiosks, leaving the utility poles entirely to the community.

But with no date for the furniture set, the postering scene is in chaos. "The people I've ended up protecting are breaching all the etiquette," says Blackett.

For years, posterers jockeying for patches of pole space adhered to a common courtesy: If a rival event is current, don't paste over and don't tear down.

Then, suddenly, postering became identified with a type of urban cool that became saleable to marketers and their moneyed clients.

"That's how we sell ourselves to clients – `take a walk on the wild side with us, but know that your posters are going to be properly maintained,'" says Brian Irwin, the general manager of Grassroots Advertising, a Toronto-based company that does posters for big-name clients like Alliance Atlantis, ClearChannel and Universal Music.

Grassroots is one of a half-dozen postering companies in the city. (Grassroots, though, only posters construction hoardings, not utility poles.) Irwin estimates that the number of posters his company puts out annually is well into the hundreds of thousands. "We should be in the printing business," he said. "It's a ton of paper."

All of it, of course, pasted up in the great outdoors. "It's a huge problem," says Chris Phibbs, in the mayor's office. City crews scrape utility poles on a regular basis, with the mind to taking down the commercial postings. "Strictly speaking, they're not legal," she says. The city has the authority to charge the postering companies for the cost of removal, but rarely does so.

The city means to leave the community postings up, but on thickly layered poles, a clean scrape is usually the only option. On a neighbourhood level, some Business Improvement Associations, like those in Little Italy and Roncesvalles Village, carry out their own poster-cleansing, and tend not to discriminate between community and commercial.

Not long after, of course, the posters are back – more, brighter and bigger than before.

Irwin's posters are constantly being covered by others. "It's free rein out there," he says. "We're in a bit of a street war, to be honest."

On residential side streets, the skirmish does abate, in favour of community dispatches. "It's the lost cat ones that always get me," Blackett says. "They're extremely personal. They mean so much more to me than a huge ad for some nightclub. This is how a community talks to itself."

business idea: marketing experiment

Sydney says:
We should photocopy our work, staple it all together and sell them at the snail for 50 cents a pop
Rhody Belo says:
I think it would sell actually
Sydney says:
Actually we should do these mock up comic book covers, blow them up like posters and post them up all over the place, get people really interested. We can even set up aweb page to take subscriptions but in the end the comic doesn't exist. We create all this hype over a non-existant comic that only exists as a few nice cover posters
Sydney says:
yes fraud. The covers would look so damn cool
that everyone will be passing money over on the website
Rhody Belo says:
hahaha...good gimmic
actually you maybe on to something
Sydney says:
maybe even publish a few juicy pages. We would take the time to really embellish it. How much do you think we could take in with subscriptions alone?
Sydney says:
Just a couple of guys and some printing costs
Rhody Belo says:
maybe then we can release a comic if the hype demand gets really overwhelming
Sydney says:
true, if there is real interest we could actually make a comic
Sydney says:
if we really want to scam them, we could do a half assed job on the comic and walk away with all this money for little effort
Rhody Belo says:
yah you maybe on to something even if it doesn't take off there would be some nice art without pressure
Sydney says:
We could advertise and post on the internet to increase the hype. Hahaha, I'm sure we'd get sued if we didn't produce anything, lol
Sydney says:
but just the really nice cover posters would create the hype without having to go to a main stream publisher like Marvel
Rhody Belo says:
I like doing pip work anyways better then thinking of a story
Sydney says:
Rhody, I you don't mind my asking, why do you think Dave's comic is not doing so well? What is missing? story? art? marketing?
Rhody Belo says:
fan base and marketing
Sydney says:
maybe a bit of everything?
Rhody Belo says:
exposure too
Sydney says:
What about this? Rather than go to a publisher with an idea, create the comic first, then go to a publisher. That way, you can really embellish it without worry of a deadline
Rhody Belo says:
actually your right
Sydney says:
Really make the story and art really stand out with Craig mullins quality designs and rendered art and a really well thought out story and layouts, then go to a publisher
Rhody Belo says:
hmmm...are you good with writing?
Sydney says:
Nah, not really but I do think about it from time to time, mostly as background stories to my characters and tech designs
Rhody Belo says:
hmmm....me too
Sydney says:
I think if the focus is on quality then, you have an edge over everyone else who is publishing out there. It would have to be a labor of love tho
Rhody Belo says:
yeah...for sure
Sydney says:
If it takes an average of a day for a comic book artist to pump out a page maybe instead embellish it for a week or two per page. It would take awhile, but pay dividends in the end. It would be a true graphic novel. It would be not be considered throw away art but a true collectors art book
Rhody Belo says:
money in the beginning stages a rare...but after a while chances are fan base will pick up
Sydney says:
I think it would require hundreds/thousands of hours of working for free at least initially, consider it is a hobby or fun pastime.
Rhody Belo says:
yeah
Sydney says:
ok maybe not. Maybe when we were young and stupid, lol.
Rhody Belo says:
fun and at times work, free work, lol
Sydney says:
I just see too many comics out there that were just too rushed, it's obvious from looking at the art, what a shame. I'm sure there are fans out there that would mind waiting for better quality
Rhody Belo says:
lets do the pin up, and cover hype thing
Sydney says:
yah, that sounds like fun, We don't even need to do the subscription thing. We just paste up really hot images around town and on the web. People will wonder if it's a comic and if it is, where can I buy it? That's all we need, interest
Rhody Belo says:
create a web buzz
Sydney says:
exactly
Sydney says:
It just means getting exposure, even tho there is no product
Rhody Belo says:
even if the hype is fake at first...fake it till we make it
Sydney says:
It's better than selling posters at the comicon
Rhody Belo says:
we can do that too, Yoyo makes money at those events
Sydney says:
if we post them outside publicly and at comic book shops then we get the greater public looking at it
Sydney says:
lets face it, not every comic book fan goes to these comicons but they all go down to Queen street, they all walk on the streets.
Rhody Belo says:
your right'
Sydney says:
And not only fanboys, but everyone else who might like to read in general (non fanboys). What greater kind of local exposure is there than to have these posters posted on every street corner
Sydney says:
Only problem is printing costs, that's really expensive. We could spend a lazy summer afternoon walking all over town stapling/gluing these thing on every wall and lamp post
Rhody Belo says:
have you heard of ash can comics?
Sydney says:
ashcans are photocopy jobs no?
Rhody Belo says:
yeah, we can do a low cost version too
Sydney says:
I see rave posters all over the place, that's how they advertise, it's all by word of mouth
Rhody Belo says:
thats right
Sydney says:
Heck that might lead to T-shirts. We could create a brand without a product, a style, a look, based on the posters and everyone will be scratching their heads, where's the product? But who cares, the brand looks so cool, I want a t-shirt
Rhody Belo says:
oh that too
Sydney says:
This way we have full control, no messing around with a publisher or 3rd party shit. We could then launch a website selling these t-shirts and vinyl toys, lol. It seems more of a cash cow than the traditional way of spending ungodly hours drawing a comic book and then trying to sell half a million copies. Less work, greater potential for profit doing it my proposed way
Rhody Belo says:
yes
Sydney says:
more fun too. We could create several lines of brands, one manga, one marvel like, etc. Wow, so many comic titles but no comic in the end, just an aesthetic, that is based on comic books
Sydney says:
We have a marketing plan and a product all in the last 5 minutes, lol, haha, can't believe I thought of that just off the top of my head
Sydney says:
My only worry is the printing, cuz the posters have to look very appealing, that's the grab. They gotta be large and glossy. People have to notice it from across the street, this a form of local viral marketing
Rhody Belo says:
how they get so many of those rave flyers on the street, the quality looks pretty good for something throw away
Sydney says:
so we need to post tons of em on every street corner in the downtown core
Rhody Belo says:
see if we can put them on the store windows too
Sydney says:
yes, exactly store windows, cool clothing stores, books stores and even restaurants. The cool thing is, we can take our time producing this material in the first place. If it really picks up, we can turn it into a legit business. It's like we're generating our fanbase first, our client list
Sydney says:
Even better, we can then use this fanbase to create the comic. They can generate ideas for us. We can do polls etc. I can see this going in so many different directions, so many forms of cash milking. Then we can form our own Udon. We can call it Tofu
Rhody Belo says:
hahaha lets try it out yeah...sounds like fun
Sydney says:
Basically we're creating our own franchise. Actually for a first idea I'm thinking of creating a comic book cover using hi end 3d rendering. Instead of the traditional photoshop job. Have you seen anything like that before?
Rhody Belo says:
not really
Sydney says:
Our comic brand will have to be really funky cool, like hip hop kewl, the art will have to be really attractive but very different. I'm thinking we need to stay away from the tradition styles. If it's traditional, then people won't really think much of it. It'll just be another comic. But since we're creating a brand vision, we can go in a totally different direction. eg. totally 3D hi end renders.
Rhody Belo says:
i agree, tend to the urbanitez
Sydney says:
hahaha, this is funny
Sydney says:
You ever heard of flat eric?
Rhody Belo says:
nope
Sydney says:
Flat eric is this stuffed animal that was used in a music video, check it out on youtube. Point is, the doll became very popular despite having no product, just the image of the doll and the associated music. It became bigger than the music itself. It was used in a line of levis commercials and the dolls sold very well. It became the product.


NOTES

-Urban gallery, a form of art, 24 hour exposure
-We decide content instead of others
-Various artistic styles
-You've been punked sort of feel
-stickers, post cards
-Traditional comic business model sux because there are so many middle men and so much work for such little exposure and no profit.
-Similar to how movie posters generate hype, but this time, no product, sort of like a marketing experiment.

-marketing company that posts funky stickers around town for client businesses

-A business model that has potential to generate revenue from various venues instead of a single income source that could dry up.

-Good way of leveraging existing portfolios.

-Lots of high end art out there that never sees the light of day. Mostly found on industry and user specific websites.

-Problem, it is too local? Not enough of a market to support such an idea?

-With a few artists, each producing a new piece every other month, we'd have one poster per month.

-poster could encourage people to send a text message over their cellular phones or an email addy. Or a web page url. Tear off tabs under each poster?

-Web page could sell larger better quality versions of the poster. paypal setup.

feet

legs

Threw down some circle primitives and skinned them, hence the tubular look, no muscle definition yet. Wanted to check the proportions on the legs. I had to lower the knees a whole knee length and thicken the legs.

lomo

Playing around with trying to embed wmv files. I think it turned out well. I came across these videos 5-6 years ago and thought they were pretty hip in a crude sort of way. Two amateur gaijin videographers in Tokyo walking around with their lomographs macking on chicks and chillin' in Shibuya. They went on to host a gallery exhibit of their work in Japan. (blog: HERE)

BRIEF HISTORY OF LOMOGRAPHY
During the 70s Japan began mass producing cheap yet very high quality cameras. Not to be outdone, Mr Panfiloff, Director of the powerful LOMO Russian Arms and Optical factory, decided - every respectable Communist should have one too, and thus was born the LOMO KOMPAKT AUTOMAT for the pleasure and glory of the Soviet population. It was essentially a really bad copy of it's Japanese counterpart. Nevertheless, the Soviets and their Socialist playmates in Vietnam, Cuba and East Germany snapped happily away throughout the nineteen eighties.

Weakened by dirt cheap, battery-powered imports from Asia, the LC-A's popularity eventually waned, and was available only at quirky, old-school camera shops. It was at an establishment such as this, where a group of Viennese students happened upon the adorable camera, and bought a couple for fun. Back on the resplendent streets of Prague, they zipped through the first few rolls of film: shooting from above and through their legs, shooting from the hip, and even sometimes looking through the viewfinder.

Back in Vienna they soon had the whole bag of film developed at the trusty corner supermarket (super cheapo!) and received a real surprise: Thousands of small, amusing, sad, garish shots of their little tour, wonderful focused and unfocussed images fresh from life in the Czech Republic. The images were amazing, dazzling all those present with a crushing sense of excitement - the likes of which they had never felt before.

Soon, the best sources (and worst-guarded security posts) of the former Eastern Bloc were employed for the clandestine import of these little wonders. The Lomographic Society (Lomographische Gesellschaft) was soon founded in Vienna, with the aim of spreading the message of LOMOGRAPHY throughout the globe.

Truly, the whole progression was more spontaneous and hyperactive than could have ever been planned - a vibrant community grew without bounds; driven by the insatiable thirst for wild, vibrant, shocking images.

Since then, this POS excuse of a camera has gone on to become that fashion item that no discerning hipster can live without with it's cheap plastic body and unpredictably garish color output.

production chick

Came across a gun totting chick concept made for the PSP game Afterburner: Black Falcon. Obvious use of the the Charlie's Angels theme.

You can see more images HERE.

Use of a stock photo for reference is apparent, a common production shortcut.

new head profile

I squished the profile width wise. While building the side ortho it became very apparent the side head profile was way too wide. When I flattened the face, I should have also narrowed the entire head profile.

Final Fantasy VII

A friend recently pointed out the Final Fantasy VII cinematics on youtube. Square Soft seem to outdo themselves each release. Has a real Star Wars feel to it that I find appealing. Also has a strong romantic element to it that gives it an asian soap opera flair to it that might not be so palatable in the West. Part of the reason why IMO, the Final Fantasy franchise is not as big a hit here in North America. The following is just a few of the dozens of FMVs on Youtube. I've embedded the first one. I've also found an interesting but really short development video for FF VIII

The Attack of the Bahamut:

The Epilogue at the end: HERE

Fall of Bahamut: HERE

Battle with Gabranth: HERE

Intro: HERE

Narrow Escape: HERE

Final Fantasy VIII making of: HERE

nude orthos

side profile

Started the side profile. In the top image, I've line up the horizontal measurements and added the hair, yet I feel the side profile silhouette doesn't match the front view, too hawkish.

In the middle image I've flattened the face a little, reduced the slope of the forehead, softened the brow, reduced the size of the nose, reshaped the lips, pulled back the chin, packed a little more meat under the jaw and added another bang to her hair.

The bottom image is the finished head.