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Description
Feels good to come back from the dead...yet again.

As dismally small as my gallery is, I'm not one to give into memes on a frequent basis. I tend to find them a distraction to what the artist intends to convey to his audience with the rest of his overall portfolio, but this one seemed to strike a chord with me.

There have been plenty of times in any artist's life when he has seemed to hit the wall (i.e., the spiritual boundary of your creativity) and struggles to regain that creative spark. So what do you do when you cannot see your future when it was once so clear?

You take a look back into where you were before. You review your previous creations and ideas, what influences were behind them when these concepts took form. In the 22 years of my life thus far, there have been many individuals, many locations, and objects that I hold accountable for the dreams I am now making reality.

To fully list them all would take much more space than this influence map had to offer, and much more time for me to compose, given that I can barely remember them all. But I believe that this chart faithfully reflects the true volume of experiences that have shaped both my creative way of thinking, and myself.

==========================================
Row #1: INFLUENCES FROM LITERATURE
==========================================

Box #1: John Michael Crichton, M.D. (1942-2008)
He is, without a doubt, the greatest influence to my work. What is ironic is that I did not originally discover him through his work in the written word, but in a motion picture adaptation to one his novels; A rather significant production called "Jurassic Park".

I still fondly remember seeing it in theaters, at only 5 years of age. It was an event which changed my very limited perception of the world around me. It challenged me to think that the impossible was indeed possible if someone had the imagination, the desire, and the latest in genetic technology.

As the end credits began to roll on the picturesque ending of the journey, I noticed that his name kept coming up, both as the assistant screenwriter, and for writing the original "novel". That word is in parenthesized because I didn't have the slightest idea of what it meant back then. When I was to discover the original story years later, I could see that the adventure was much grander and intricate than the film could have projected. I continued to follow the works he did after Jurassic Park, as well as the ones before. With every novel, he seemed to surpass my expectations and show how limited my knowledge remained on whatever subject the book was centered on.

I admired him not only as an artist, but as an academic. He not only had intelligence, but also very engaging viewpoints on the scientific community and all the implications of every new technological breakthrough.

It was my sincerest hope that I could one day meet Dr. Crichton and share with him the culmination of the inspiration he has had upon me: "Codename: Apocalypse". It was an epochal loss for me to have learned of his death, which came as a surprise to all of us, having lost his battle with cancer. It was such a loss to have been denied the possibility of ever meeting him and thanking him for everything he has taught me. I passed up mind-dulling homework assignments just to stay up and read his books, to gain the knowledge that he gathered to base his stories on. With every page I turned, something that I had previously had an inkling or an intuition on was revealed to be true.

To me, Michael Crichton was not just a great writer, he was someone who imbued upon me the gift of imagination and storytelling. He was someone who actually understood what he was talking about, and wasn't afraid to speak his concerns on the consequences of using science and technology unwisely or trivially. He had been living two separate lives when he was alive. One that he had always kept reserved from public scrutiny, and the other for his novels and his personal standings and judgments.

Michael Crichton was...and shall forever remain my greatest source of influence and inspiration, and when the day comes that "Codename: Apocalypse" takes form, it will be dedicated to his memory, and his surviving family.

Box #2: Joanne "J.K." Rowling (1965-)
Here is another person whose triumphs in writing has enchanted me at a very young age. I was only ten years old when my mother handed me very an unfamiliar book with a very unusual title called “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”. Given my earlier stated preferences for entertainment that was based on scientific fact and reality, I did not have a lot of appeal for the fantasy genre. I had no idea what madness awaited within it’s pages when I began to read it, but once I did, I could not put it down. Very soon, the lack of verifiable information did not matter. The depictions of owls flying in daylight, and lots of strange people walking the streets, dressed in cloaks that marks the beginning of this series sparked my curiosity. There was no explanation for why all this was happening, or who exactly the main characters were. This new, hidden world was dramatically being unraveled and shown to us. Then enters a young orphan named Harry Potter, living with a rather truculent family call the Dursleys, who knows nothing of who he is, what happened to his parents, or the destiny that awaited him once he turned 11 years old.

Looking back on the whole experience, I have to admit that what Miss Rowling had managed to accomplish with her first book was nothing short of a masterpiece. You would have thought that someone who could make an entire generation of children from all over the world believe that magic was real, and that there was a school devoted to teaching kids how to master it in all it’s forms had been writing for years. Her ability to surround us with the events unfolding before us with words alone was so remarkable, no wonder those crazy religious people thought she had bewitched them somehow.

Clearly this world did not come to an end with the first book. Many more wonderful and suspenseful tales would soon follow as Harry Potter and his friends continued their education at Hogwarts. New friends (and adversaries) would be made, and new challenges would be discovered, and the final conclusion with the monster responsible for the true deaths of his parents would bring about the passing of many beloved characters. And as the years went by, my desire to read more and more about this world had never once faltered. Miss Rowling always kept the magic and the mystery strong. When it finally came to it’s nail-biting conclusion, it left me with such a fulfilling closure to all the remaining questions throughout the saga…and at the same time, I was sad at the realization that I would not be reading any more of her incredible writings.

J.K. Rowling is one of my greatest literature influences because she was able to make me, and so many other fellow readers, believe in this world she had created. That is a rare talent among writers. To make a series full of characters and places that people want to read about, and eventually get attached to so deeply that people can forget that it’s just words in a book.

Box #3: Ian Lancaster Fleming (1908-1964)
I do believe that his entry into this list needs no explanation…which is why I'm going to anyway.

I’m a man who’s always looking ahead, towards the horizon for mankind’s destiny. The same especially goes for my entertainment. If the movie is in black and white, a non-talkie, or obviously hindered by the technical limitations of it’s time in some other way, then I’m not interested. I have to roll my eyes every time my mother watches Turner Classic Movies while I’m working on the computer…and when I mean working, I mean playing video games, of course. But there are a few vintage movies that I enjoy, and among those on the list are the James Bond movies. It all started with seeing “Goldeneye” in 1995, coincidentally when I was 7 years old.

It was a great movie, and as I continued to watch the succeeding ones, I wondered how long the series has been going on, and who was the one responsible for it’s creation. That’s what led me to Ian Fleming and to the original James Bond novels. I’ve yet to read them all, but I can see where the idea and the inspiration came for this franchise. Even if they’re not entirely faithful to the book, each movie has those subtle clues that remind you that the producers actually studied the book before adapting it to film. In his biography, there are plenty of experiences in this actual life that have reflected upon his novels. I consider him an influence to my work because he created his charming yet deadly efficient operative for the Her Majesty’s government. He’s a man with a enigmatic past writhe with much love and loss. His irrefutable devotion to the mission at hand is admirable, but not so much his willingness to sacrifice others to accomplish it, but he is certainly not a man without emotion or feeling. He only understands that allowing his judgment to be clouded by doubt or regret will certainly get him killed.

Ian Fleming created James Bond not as a hero by any means. Instead, he was meant to be a blunt instrument of the government, but when he entered onto the silver screen in 1962, defeated Dr. No, rescued Honey Rider and made a daring escape from the exploding base, a hero is just what he became in his audience’s eyes.

Box #4: Ken Akamatsu (1968- )

Box #5: Rumiko Takahashi (1957-)

==========================================
Row #2: INFLUENCES FROM FILM
==========================================

Box #6: Steven Allan Spielberg (1946-)

Box #7: James Francis Cameron (1954-)

Box #8: George Walton Lucas, Jr. (1944-)

Box #9: Sir Peter Robert Jackson (1961-)

Box #10: John Alan Lasseter (1957-)

==========================================
Row #3: INFLUENCES FROM MUSIC
==========================================

Box #11: John Towner Williams (1932-)

Box #12: David Arnold (1962-)

Box #13: Brian Tyler (Age unknown, Perhaps immortal)

Box #14: Harry Gregson-Williams (1961-)

Box #15: Koji Kondo (1960-)

==========================================
Row #4: INFLUENCES FROM VIDEO GAMES
==========================================

Box #16: Nintendo Co, Ltd. (1889-)

Box #17: Rare, Ltd. (1982-)

Box #18: Capcom Co., Ltd. (1983-)

Box #19: Rockstar Games (1998- )

Box #20: Kojima Productions (2005-)

==========================================
Row #5: MISCELLANEOUS INFLUENCES
==========================================

Box #21: George Dennis Patrick Carlin (1937-2008)

Box #22: William "Bill" Maher, Jr. (1956-)

Box #23: National Geographic (1888- )

Box #24: deviantART.com (2000-)

Box #25: YouTube.com (2005-)

==========================================
Row #6: INFLUENCES FROM EVERYDAY LIFE
==========================================

Box #26: U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2008- )

Box #27: The Future (Today-Infinity)

Box #28: Friends (1988- )

Box #29: Family (1988- )

Box #30: You (Today-)

Description
Feels good to come back from the dead...yet again.

As dismally small as my gallery is, I'm not one to give into memes on a frequent basis. I tend to find them a distraction to what the artist intends to convey to his audience with the rest of his overall portfolio, but this one seemed to strike a chord with me.

There have been plenty of times in any artist's life when he has seemed to hit the wall (i.e., the spiritual boundary of your creativity) and struggles to regain that creative spark. So what do you do when you cannot see your future when it was once so clear?

You take a look back into where you were before. You review your previous creations and ideas, what influences were behind them when these concepts took form. In the 22 years of my life thus far, there have been many individuals, many locations, and objects that I hold accountable for the dreams I am now making reality.

To fully list them all would take much more space than this influence map had to offer, and much more time for me to compose, given that I can barely remember them all. But I believe that this chart faithfully reflects the true volume of experiences that have shaped both my creative way of thinking, and myself.

==========================================
Row #1: INFLUENCES FROM LITERATURE
==========================================

Box #1: John Michael Crichton, M.D. (1942-2008)
He is, without a doubt, the greatest influence to my work. What is ironic is that I did not originally discover him through his work in the written word, but in a motion picture adaptation to one his novels; A rather significant production called "Jurassic Park".

I still fondly remember seeing it in theaters, at only 5 years of age. It was an event which changed my very limited perception of the world around me. It challenged me to think that the impossible was indeed possible if someone had the imagination, the desire, and the latest in genetic technology.

As the end credits began to roll on the picturesque ending of the journey, I noticed that his name kept coming up, both as the assistant screenwriter, and for writing the original "novel". That word is in parenthesized because I didn't have the slightest idea of what it meant back then. When I was to discover the original story years later, I could see that the adventure was much grander and intricate than the film could have projected. I continued to follow the works he did after Jurassic Park, as well as the ones before. With every novel, he seemed to surpass my expectations and show how limited my knowledge remained on whatever subject the book was centered on.

I admired him not only as an artist, but as an academic. He not only had intelligence, but also very engaging viewpoints on the scientific community and all the implications of every new technological breakthrough.

It was my sincerest hope that I could one day meet Dr. Crichton and share with him the culmination of the inspiration he has had upon me: "Codename: Apocalypse". It was an epochal loss for me to have learned of his death, which came as a surprise to all of us, having lost his battle with cancer. It was such a loss to have been denied the possibility of ever meeting him and thanking him for everything he has taught me. I passed up mind-dulling homework assignments just to stay up and read his books, to gain the knowledge that he gathered to base his stories on. With every page I turned, something that I had previously had an inkling or an intuition on was revealed to be true.

To me, Michael Crichton was not just a great writer, he was someone who imbued upon me the gift of imagination and storytelling. He was someone who actually understood what he was talking about, and wasn't afraid to speak his concerns on the consequences of using science and technology unwisely or trivially. He had been living two separate lives when he was alive. One that he had always kept reserved from public scrutiny, and the other for his novels and his personal standings and judgments.

Michael Crichton was...and shall forever remain my greatest source of influence and inspiration, and when the day comes that "Codename: Apocalypse" takes form, it will be dedicated to his memory, and his surviving family.

Box #2: Joanne "J.K." Rowling (1965-)
Here is another person whose triumphs in writing has enchanted me at a very young age. I was only ten years old when my mother handed me very an unfamiliar book with a very unusual title called “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”. Given my earlier stated preferences for entertainment that was based on scientific fact and reality, I did not have a lot of appeal for the fantasy genre. I had no idea what madness awaited within it’s pages when I began to read it, but once I did, I could not put it down. Very soon, the lack of verifiable information did not matter. The depictions of owls flying in daylight, and lots of strange people walking the streets, dressed in cloaks that marks the beginning of this series sparked my curiosity. There was no explanation for why all this was happening, or who exactly the main characters were. This new, hidden world was dramatically being unraveled and shown to us. Then enters a young orphan named Harry Potter, living with a rather truculent family call the Dursleys, who knows nothing of who he is, what happened to his parents, or the destiny that awaited him once he turned 11 years old.

Looking back on the whole experience, I have to admit that what Miss Rowling had managed to accomplish with her first book was nothing short of a masterpiece. You would have thought that someone who could make an entire generation of children from all over the world believe that magic was real, and that there was a school devoted to teaching kids how to master it in all it’s forms had been writing for years. Her ability to surround us with the events unfolding before us with words alone was so remarkable, no wonder those crazy religious people thought she had bewitched them somehow.

Clearly this world did not come to an end with the first book. Many more wonderful and suspenseful tales would soon follow as Harry Potter and his friends continued their education at Hogwarts. New friends (and adversaries) would be made, and new challenges would be discovered, and the final conclusion with the monster responsible for the true deaths of his parents would bring about the passing of many beloved characters. And as the years went by, my desire to read more and more about this world had never once faltered. Miss Rowling always kept the magic and the mystery strong. When it finally came to it’s nail-biting conclusion, it left me with such a fulfilling closure to all the remaining questions throughout the saga…and at the same time, I was sad at the realization that I would not be reading any more of her incredible writings.

J.K. Rowling is one of my greatest literature influences because she was able to make me, and so many other fellow readers, believe in this world she had created. That is a rare talent among writers. To make a series full of characters and places that people want to read about, and eventually get attached to so deeply that people can forget that it’s just words in a book.

Box #3: Ian Lancaster Fleming (1908-1964)
I do believe that his entry into this list needs no explanation…which is why I'm going to anyway.

I’m a man who’s always looking ahead, towards the horizon for mankind’s destiny. The same especially goes for my entertainment. If the movie is in black and white, a non-talkie, or obviously hindered by the technical limitations of it’s time in some other way, then I’m not interested. I have to roll my eyes every time my mother watches Turner Classic Movies while I’m working on the computer…and when I mean working, I mean playing video games, of course. But there are a few vintage movies that I enjoy, and among those on the list are the James Bond movies. It all started with seeing “Goldeneye” in 1995, coincidentally when I was 7 years old.

It was a great movie, and as I continued to watch the succeeding ones, I wondered how long the series has been going on, and who was the one responsible for it’s creation. That’s what led me to Ian Fleming and to the original James Bond novels. I’ve yet to read them all, but I can see where the idea and the inspiration came for this franchise. Even if they’re not entirely faithful to the book, each movie has those subtle clues that remind you that the producers actually studied the book before adapting it to film. In his biography, there are plenty of experiences in this actual life that have reflected upon his novels. I consider him an influence to my work because he created his charming yet deadly efficient operative for the Her Majesty’s government. He’s a man with a enigmatic past writhe with much love and loss. His irrefutable devotion to the mission at hand is admirable, but not so much his willingness to sacrifice others to accomplish it, but he is certainly not a man without emotion or feeling. He only understands that allowing his judgment to be clouded by doubt or regret will certainly get him killed.

Ian Fleming created James Bond not as a hero by any means. Instead, he was meant to be a blunt instrument of the government, but when he entered onto the silver screen in 1962, defeated Dr. No, rescued Honey Rider and made a daring escape from the exploding base, a hero is just what he became in his audience’s eyes.

Box #4: Ken Akamatsu (1968- )

Box #5: Rumiko Takahashi (1957-)

==========================================
Row #2: INFLUENCES FROM FILM
==========================================

Box #6: Steven Allan Spielberg (1946-)

Box #7: James Francis Cameron (1954-)

Box #8: George Walton Lucas, Jr. (1944-)

Box #9: Sir Peter Robert Jackson (1961-)

Box #10: John Alan Lasseter (1957-)

==========================================
Row #3: INFLUENCES FROM MUSIC
==========================================

Box #11: John Towner Williams (1932-)

Box #12: David Arnold (1962-)

Box #13: Brian Tyler (Age unknown, Perhaps immortal)

Box #14: Harry Gregson-Williams (1961-)

Box #15: Koji Kondo (1960-)

==========================================
Row #4: INFLUENCES FROM VIDEO GAMES
==========================================

Box #16: Nintendo Co, Ltd. (1889-)

Box #17: Rare, Ltd. (1982-)

Box #18: Capcom Co., Ltd. (1983-)

Box #19: Rockstar Games (1998- )

Box #20: Kojima Productions (2005-)

==========================================
Row #5: MISCELLANEOUS INFLUENCES
==========================================

Box #21: George Dennis Patrick Carlin (1937-2008)

Box #22: William "Bill" Maher, Jr. (1956-)

Box #23: National Geographic (1888- )

Box #24: deviantART.com (2000-)

Box #25: YouTube.com (2005-)

==========================================
Row #6: INFLUENCES FROM EVERYDAY LIFE
==========================================

Box #26: U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2008- )

Box #27: The Future (Today-Infinity)

Box #28: Friends (1988- )

Box #29: Family (1988- )

Box #30: You (Today-)