A.J. is a little elephant mascot I designed for Jetwit.com, a site started by my friend and fellow JET alum Steven Horowitz. His name is an oyaji gag¹ on several words and concepts (A.J.’s, not Steven’s (x^____^x)).

The full explanation is at Jetwit.com, and can only be appreciated if you have some knowledge of Japanese vocabulary. The rough-hewn line style is influenced by Crayon Shin-chan and Pants Pankuro.

Here he is in New Year’s attire. His sash says “Akemashite omedetou!”, which means “Happy New Year”.

Below: A.J. dressed up as Homer for Halloween. I had forgotten it until now.

¹ - an oyagi gag is the Japanese equivalent of a corny joke. Oyaji means “old man”.

Eagle-eyed fans may have noticed Nalgene bottles making an appearance here and there on the show. These indestructible bottles bear a distinctive shape and blue cap that is hard to miss. Starbuck can be seen drinking out of one of these in a late episode of Season 1, where she is having an argument with Capt. Adama over flunking out the new batch of pilot candidates.

I remember watching the original TV show a long time ago as a kid. (Actually, I only remember the weird-looking bear robot, but nothing else). The new series has some terrific acting, particularly from Edward James Olmos. I could do without the major religious theme of the show though.

I did these back in January 2008.

A video test for the LED panel at Queens Crossing mall in Flushing, New York, filmed during construction. The animated segment I worked on appears at 0:13 (Bali BBQ). The LED controller doesn’t have the proper Flash player installed, so you’re not seeing the video the way it should be. This is the way it should play.

finished 30 second clips for the LED:

Queens Crossing dining group

The rose petal drift (hand drawn) took some time to figure out the right visual effects, but I finally nailed it. Looks quite nice w/ some motion blur and other effects added to it. Some fun tween effects like the curtain.

Bali BBQ restaurant

the Bali BBQ segment as it should play. Those are actual palm leaves we photographed. I couldn’t find any stock art suitable for the animation, so we went out and bought some real leaves.

Irresistible Home Decor

A houseware and home accessories store

The gel is made by a company called “Mandom Corp.” Only 2 things come to mind when I hear that: “man” + “condom”. From my trip back to Japan in 2007.