joshventura version 1

Image Rollover Tutorial

Posted admin on March 1st, 2008 | Filed under News, Tutorials | 2 Comments »

check it out! simple and sweet but i don’t know if considered a hack. let me know if you find any others…. sure beats javascript

test 2

Posted admin on February 22nd, 2008 | Filed under News | 1 Comment »

Here is another test to see if this post actually posts. if it does then YAY! my home page is complete…

news test

Posted admin on February 21st, 2008 | Filed under News | Comment now »

So today, I decided to redo my redo of my website. I wanted to be more creative and mix a web 2.0 feel with a grunge artsy feel.

Ace Face from space pics

Posted admin on September 24th, 2007 | Filed under HipHoppin & Photoshoppin | 92 Comments »

So I took this macfun pic of myself and did a little photoshop practicing. I realized that I really enjoy making odd, funny pics or hidden images versus pictures that can be used for “design” purposes. I will definitely begin to incorporate the design mentality for some future pics. There is some more Kanji up in these pics and NO I haven’t checked to see if they are correct yet hehee but I will… たぶん

Higher Self: _{Don’t know it…. betta asss somebody.}

Spirit: _(nahmean)


This one I titled Simplicity: I wanted just that. The simplest of images with a “design” worthy finish. Notice I really enjoy bright ass 90s colors hehe. The kanji (supposedly) says Destiny (large faded orange) and Simplicity in the top right corner. I liked Destiny because I feel like moving to music is just that for me.

Simplicity:

Uhhhh…. hmm… uhhh… mushroom trip? So this would be a photoshop overkill right here. I included it so when I look back I can see real improvements in my design abilities. This is definitely worthy of the title mushroom trip! and so it is….

Mushroom Trip:

HipHoppin and Photoshoppin

Posted admin on September 24th, 2007 | Filed under HipHoppin & Photoshoppin | Comment now »

YoYo party people! I started really playing with Adobe’s Photoshop CS3. My goal is to become accustomed to any major changes in CS3 and find some creative ways to use different textures and load new brushes. Below is an original image I used for the few that follow. Its a pic from my sister’s recent visit to LA:

Above: My dad and sis from when we went hiking in Malibu with brotha Ty. I turned it into colorful mesh up:

So this is me, my pap, and my sis. Family is an interesting thing isn’t it!? These are definitely Ventura Family smiles. I made the backdrop a scratched concrete wall. Well with colorful crazy paint textures all over it. Family is like that. Crazy, insane and yet strong and vibrant. The kanji next to my sis stands for loyal and beauty. Next to my pap: creativity. Out of the selections I had these worked best (until I learn Kanji on my own). The kanji on my head stands for UNITTYYYYYYY.

The following two pics are animated gifs. I tested out this tutorial by mac-forums.com on creating animated gifs with Photoshop CS3. And… it worked.

Volume Limiter for Ipod

Posted admin on September 22nd, 2007 | Filed under Products & Gadgets | Comment now »

mood: Extremely Excited!

YES! Thoughts are things babiessss! First things first: Let me just say, I LOVE MY IPOD NANO. LOVE. It is one of my gateways to pure bliss. If you know me then you know I lose myself in music and this little device fits nice and snug around my arm. I can run, breakdance, gym it up, even tumble with this baby. It’s literally a dance all the time device, and I love me some dancing playazzz and playettes. Grateful for my nano right ….. NOW. hehe I actually have it on as I’m typing this. I feel its the perfect tool for the athlete in all of us. What’s better than a nano? A nano with a volume limiter setting!

I recently purchased these bad ass etymotic headphones … oh wait pardon me please, they are no referred to as “earphones” nowadays chuckle chuckle. Well, I mean it makes sense to me shoooo. Moving on….the model I purchased (from newegg) is the 6i Isolator. They are noise canceling, in ear, wonderful sounding, and LOUD AS SHIT. So, I suddenly developed a want for a max volume setting on my first generation ipod nano. With the standard apple headphones, I normally set my volume to almost max or about 80% to 90% max volume during a training session. With these new babies, my eardrums get pissed at around 55% volume!!! A volume limiter would allow me to quickly jack up the volume using the famous ipod wheel without physically destroying my eardrums. This means no more a) looking at the screen for volume and b)the “sensitive wheel touch.” Totally useful when:

1) Bike riding: I ride my bike LIKE EVERYWHERE all the time and I am totally good with riding with no hands, BUT looking at the nano screen, I would classify as a safety hazard.
2) Avoiding the volume ghost: Ever been on a nice run and your in the zone. Its quite a pest when you rub, tap or the sensitive nano wheel just barely gets touched by your shirt and it jacks the volume up on you. This really happens more frequently when I am breakdancing because the tendency for me to touch, use or band the arm with the nano on it is much much greater and i’ll be in the middle of a chair freeze when bam the volume ghost tries to blow out my eardrums.

Here’s a look at how to upgrade your nano:

The volume limiter is a just a software upgrade for the nano 1st and 2nd generation. Haven’t even looked at the new nano. Video + Nano hmmm… sorta defeats the purpose for me. But again again, I haven’t looked at it in person yet to be officially making any preference calls.

Find out which file system your nano is formatted for. Two ways to do this: 1) in your ipod go to settings > about and scroll to the bottom of the screen. If its mac formatted it will the screen ends with the serial number. Otherwise, it will say “Format: Windows.” 2) use itunes. The standard format is for Windows (FAT32 file system). I now have a mac so in order for me to update, I had to reformat / restore my nano to optimize it for my Mac (HFS+ file system). I of course could have used a (Windows) based computer to update it but I chose to just reformat and reorganize my music. Again, with the new itunes its quite easy to perform all of these tasks without touching the ipod. itunes shows which file system your ipod is formatted for. I clicked restore and itunes formatted my nano, and updated it, which installed the volume limiter in my settings.

The volume limiter is located in settings > volume limit. Use the ole wheel to set a volume level then press the center button and select Done! Your Golden. For more information visit apple.com where I got all my info. Check out the slide show below showing the goodness in picto format:

 

Fluff & Fold (outsourcing your laundry)

Posted admin on September 17th, 2007 | Filed under Abundant Experiences | Comment now »

I arrived back from burning man deliriously filled with joy after a week of bliss and 6 to 8 hours of driving under my belt, no sleep for two days and dancing my ass off. In other words, I was physically exhausted and mentally, oh so happy. I was excited about the fact that I didn’t really have to unpack. After all, I donated my luggage, cooler, shoes, and most of the sand filled clothes I had worn to goodwill. Guess I jumped the gun a little… I entered the bathroom and realized the bathtube was filled with a good six loads of laundry. You see, I live with my pap right now (rent and mostly food free) and now I had the desire to do his laundry together with mine, as an act of gratitude. Especially since my computer area is always a mess! I suddenly thought, “I bet there’s a laundry service around.” A trip to google and two skype calls later revealed a “fluff and fold” service walking distance away. SUGE! すげ (hell yeah… in japanese) They charge 1.50 per pound and I was looking at around 40 pounxds of laundry. Without hesitation, I gathered the loads and rolled over. I dropped the laundry off and as I did, I felt a sudden hesitation like, oh shit this might cost me $60, shit even $70 bucks. I overruled that mind-melt and was off with a smile on my face and a full day to do my bidding!

Experiences avoided:
• Old ladies at my dad’s apt who forget they were doing laundry and get mad at you for moving their clothes.
• Quarters getting stuck in the machine, and having to pry it loose.
• The smell of the laundry room.
• Getting reprimanded because I was playing on youtube and forgot about my own laundry.
• Non-functioning machines period!
• Waiting.

Experiences enjoyed:
• Hanging out all day with my amazingly gifted ex-girlfriend/friend with benefits/friend/monkey…CJ.
• A carefree mind.
• Sunny LA weather.
• Much wanted R&R.
• Matinee showing of Bourne kick some ass Ultimatum.

When I picked up the laundry twaz packed in brown construction wrapping paper as pictured below. Everything was neatly folded and packed into three rectangular shaped packages. Total cost of doing the loads was around $50.00 bucks and while I don’t at all really view the experience of doing my own laundry as a bad thing, we all can think of “higher joys” to be fulfilling while we are folding our clothes. Especially when it comes to socks AND this my friends was the only kink in the fluff and fold experience that made me go, “AWWWW MAN.” They didn’t pair the socks up. Rather, they laid them in a “neat” pile and packaged them nicely with the other folded clothes.Speaking of socks: Raise your hand if matching your socks together when the dryer finishes is NOT your highest joy. Do you know why it’s not and never will be? I cannot recall ONE, not ONE, single laundry experience where all the socks found their mates. I really believe its mathematically impossible. Apparently, the fluff and fold guy knows the odds of matching them as well, hence the lack of effort on his behalf. HA I actually used to stack the loner socks on my dresser and wait to see if their mate would pop up over the next few weeks of various laundry loads. If the tooth fairy, boogie man, and santa clause exist, then you bet your sweet noel theirs a surly sock stealer making his way into each an every load across the nation taking yo damn socks.

You know… I’ve learned a load full (chuckle chuckle don’t pardon the pun) from my laundry experiences. What? I have. Mostly in regard to money and lessons of abundant living. Hold on jogging the memory……….. During my last two years of college in Atlanta, I lived in a house with a big ole fully functioning washer and dryer. My rad and ridiculous roommate Behi, owned the place, so I could wash laundry as a I pleased. It was during this time that I developed the habit of throwing away any sock that came out without a match. Just toss it and when I ran out of socks, I would buy more. Often times I would find it’s match in another load but that didn’t stop me. I continue this pattern of behavior even now. I appreciate being able to do this because it is a simple reminder of the things that really well… don’t matter. The things you can easily brush off. I was taught to say, “I can’t afford to do that.” Instead, I prefer to now say, I can’t afford to not do that. In other words, the stress and time spent looking for the matching sock is for me, more detrimental to my well-being than spending the extra money on new socks. On top of that, leaving the socks on my dresser just compiles the list of “to-dos” higher and this I realize contributes to creative blocks. The freer my mind can be the more creative potential my mind can tap into. It unplugs the vacuum and allows for more to enter. I’d rather shrug my shoulders, toss out the socks and head to Big 5, Ross, or even Sports Chalet.

Was the fluff and fold worth it? YES YES YES. Will I ask them to pair my socks next time? YES YES YES. HA, but there is a good chance I will forget because thats how I am. Acceptance is a beautiful thing. Will I continue to use a fluff and fold service on the reg? I refuse to affirm that I cannot afford this sooooooo I’ll just say it’s not an expense I would like to take on in this moment. IS it worth spending more now or hell, knowing you’ve given yourself a greater expense later for the soul purpose of to getting more done NOW! You bet your sweet juicy noel it is. When I am highly highly motivated to get stuff done and I don’t want any distractions convenience is worth … well its priceless in my opinion. Even eating can be a distraction from your excitement. Lately, while I spend hours teaching myself how to be a video editor, I have discovered some local staunts where you can place your order and pay on their website and you can even have it delivered. I usually enjoy the walk or bike ride to give my eyes a break from premiere crashing and after fx tutorials. I’ll be reviewing these staunts eventually. Stay tuned, and if you’ve ever done fluff and fold, please share your experience with me.

Final thoughts:
This is my first posting on my blog entry, as well as my first in what may turn out to be a series of posts documenting how I “do my best” to live abundantly. My homeboy Bashar describes Abundance as “the ability to do what you want to do, when you want to do it.” He continues with, “it is only one of many valid tools to achieve this abundance. And it is not always the most direct tool to use - for doing what you want to do when you want to do it.” I really like how he refers to money a tool. Sort of like a permission slip to do what you want to do. In fact, I am convinced that it is just that. I feel money is the tool and those who continue to acquire this tool are attracting this wealthy vibration from within. They treat the mean green as only a tool and they understand, to the core, the concept of spending money to make it. There appears to be a lack of attachment to it. In all my encounters with monetarily wealthy individuals, I have witnessed them treat money like water and NO differently. I desire this and I will continue to follow this path with even greater and greater monetary risks being taken as I release the need for money and turn it completely into a want.