Wednesday, August 31, 2011
inkling 7:56 AM
Not new technology.
I've had gadgets that do the same thing for years.
Livescribe: http://www.livescribe.com/en-us/
Every thing you sketch is digitally captured. Uses a special paper with dots to do the digitizing. Drawbacks, uses ball point pen refills and the the ink is lousy for drawing. (Just like the Wacom Inkling.)No levels of sensitivity, either.
IOGEAR Digital Scribe: http://www.iogear.com/product/GPEN200N/
Uses a matchbox sized dock that you attach to the top of your sketchbook (Just like the Wacom Inkling.) Drawbacks, digitally captured lines are reproduced at a single width, default setting 1 pixel. Still has the same ball point refills as the Livescribe and the Wacom Inkling.
Both of these were bought for around $70 each. They were designed for taking notes and it shows. The Livescribe even has a built in microphone for recording the audio of your class/meeting as you take notes. The Livescribe is actually a potable computer while the IOGEAR Digital Scribe just digitally records your writing/drawing. I carry both of them with me everyday.
I've had gadgets that do the same thing for years.
Livescribe: http://www.livescribe.com/en-us/
Every thing you sketch is digitally captured. Uses a special paper with dots to do the digitizing. Drawbacks, uses ball point pen refills and the the ink is lousy for drawing. (Just like the Wacom Inkling.)No levels of sensitivity, either.
IOGEAR Digital Scribe: http://www.iogear.com/product/GPEN200N/
Uses a matchbox sized dock that you attach to the top of your sketchbook (Just like the Wacom Inkling.) Drawbacks, digitally captured lines are reproduced at a single width, default setting 1 pixel. Still has the same ball point refills as the Livescribe and the Wacom Inkling.
Both of these were bought for around $70 each. They were designed for taking notes and it shows. The Livescribe even has a built in microphone for recording the audio of your class/meeting as you take notes. The Livescribe is actually a potable computer while the IOGEAR Digital Scribe just digitally records your writing/drawing. I carry both of them with me everyday.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
before post-it notes 11:52 AM
I was just thinking about the days before post-it notes. When I used to make scratchpads for businesses.
It was a messy job. Somebody would take the logo and business info and make a 4-up layout master. Which we would make a ream of copies of, inserting cardboard every 100 or so sheets. Then we'd take that to the cutter and cut it in to equal sized pads. Then we'd take all these equal sized pads of paper and cardboard and load it in to a padding frame, which was a big clamp like device with a board behind it that all the pads were pushed up against. Once you had all the pads in the frame you'd tighten up the clamp and remove the backing board. This is were it got messy. You took this "padding compound" stuff, which was a liquid latex like material and, with a paint brush or a piece of cardboard, smear the padding compound all over the edges of the pads. Once you had a good even coat covering the edge you let it set and cure for a couple of hours. When it was all dried we'd take the pads off the frame and use a knife to separate all the pads from the solid block of paper it had become. And there you have it, an order of scratchpads/telephone message pads with the letterhead of your business on it.
I suppose they still do this with some companies, but it's easier just to go and buy some post-it notes.
It was a messy job. Somebody would take the logo and business info and make a 4-up layout master. Which we would make a ream of copies of, inserting cardboard every 100 or so sheets. Then we'd take that to the cutter and cut it in to equal sized pads. Then we'd take all these equal sized pads of paper and cardboard and load it in to a padding frame, which was a big clamp like device with a board behind it that all the pads were pushed up against. Once you had all the pads in the frame you'd tighten up the clamp and remove the backing board. This is were it got messy. You took this "padding compound" stuff, which was a liquid latex like material and, with a paint brush or a piece of cardboard, smear the padding compound all over the edges of the pads. Once you had a good even coat covering the edge you let it set and cure for a couple of hours. When it was all dried we'd take the pads off the frame and use a knife to separate all the pads from the solid block of paper it had become. And there you have it, an order of scratchpads/telephone message pads with the letterhead of your business on it.
I suppose they still do this with some companies, but it's easier just to go and buy some post-it notes.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
too much to do too little time 12:09 PM
I guess I could get a passable animated PSA done by tomorrow's deadline. But I won't be happy with it.
Maybe it's me being a flake. Maybe I'm just using it as an excuse. But I don't think so. I think I just couldn't make a 5 day deadline for this. Just too much stuff I wouldn't have been able to get right.
Maybe it's me being a flake. Maybe I'm just using it as an excuse. But I don't think so. I think I just couldn't make a 5 day deadline for this. Just too much stuff I wouldn't have been able to get right.
The Illusion of Asymmetric Insight : You Are Not So Smart 9:07 AM
The Illusion of Asymmetric Insight : You Are Not So Smart:
The Misconception: You celebrate diversity and respect others’ points of view.
The Truth: You are driven to create and form groups and then believe others are wrong just because they are others.
He Did It Then 8:20 AM
He Did It Then
One of the most notorious figures in country music history is western swing pioneer Spade Cooley. Cooley was known as the "King of Western Swing" in his heyday, but due to a gruesome incident in his private life, he is often viewed these days more as the Sid Vicious of Western Swing. His is a model lesson in how a brilliant musical legacy can be overshadowed by unsavory personal problems.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
stomp stomp stomp 11:11 AM
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
It always just happens 11:21 AM
After spending a week brainstorming ideas for the VOD PSA contest it all came together Sunday night. All just dumped out in a couple of hours just before Midnight. One big story board dump.
Which I guess is good. The week of crap story floundering was just priming the pump, filling the recesses of my mind with variations on the theme and letting my unconsciousness gnaw away at it. Until it all coalesced right before I went to sleep on Sunday night.
When I was tired. And my mind began to wander.
Which shows me that I need to work on my creative process. It seems I work best at full tilt fatigue. Not stopping to let my mind lock up and stop me cold. Hardly professional, but I don't know how to turn it off and on at will.
There has to be a way to create without having to be so tired I can barely function. I've got to figure out some way to block my critical eye from stopping the process. There must be some way to do that.
At least now I've got a working storyboard. Now I need to sit down and time it out in an animatic. Once it's timed the animation should be quick and easy. The sound design could take me a bit longer.
Friday is the deadline. Do your best.
Which I guess is good. The week of crap story floundering was just priming the pump, filling the recesses of my mind with variations on the theme and letting my unconsciousness gnaw away at it. Until it all coalesced right before I went to sleep on Sunday night.
When I was tired. And my mind began to wander.
Which shows me that I need to work on my creative process. It seems I work best at full tilt fatigue. Not stopping to let my mind lock up and stop me cold. Hardly professional, but I don't know how to turn it off and on at will.
There has to be a way to create without having to be so tired I can barely function. I've got to figure out some way to block my critical eye from stopping the process. There must be some way to do that.
At least now I've got a working storyboard. Now I need to sit down and time it out in an animatic. Once it's timed the animation should be quick and easy. The sound design could take me a bit longer.
Friday is the deadline. Do your best.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Every Hour Of TV Can Shorten Your Life By 22 Minutes | Disinformation 2:52 PM
Every Hour Of TV Can Shorten Your Life By 22 Minutes | Disinformation: Watching an hour of TV after the age of 25 can shorten the viewer’s life by just under 22 minutes, according to researchers in Australia.
The AFP news agency said scientists at the School of Population Health at the University of Queensland studied 11,000 Australian adults who were aged at least 25 in the year 2000.
The academics checked their data against an estimate from 2008 that Australians aged 25 or above watched TV for 9.8 billion hours. This was associated with the loss of 286,000 years of life, the AFP said.
An extrapolation of these figures found that a single hour of TV was responsible for the loss of just under 22 minutes of life, the news agency reported.
Smoking two cigarettes has approximately the same effect.
The AFP news agency said scientists at the School of Population Health at the University of Queensland studied 11,000 Australian adults who were aged at least 25 in the year 2000.
The academics checked their data against an estimate from 2008 that Australians aged 25 or above watched TV for 9.8 billion hours. This was associated with the loss of 286,000 years of life, the AFP said.
An extrapolation of these figures found that a single hour of TV was responsible for the loss of just under 22 minutes of life, the news agency reported.
Smoking two cigarettes has approximately the same effect.
I need a PSA on Film Festivals 12:53 PM
I decided to try my hand at making a PSA for the Video Association of Dallas. Simple. Right?
After reading a few of the posts for the contest, which didn't really have much detail about what they wanted, I figured what did I have to lose. I thought I could make a quick animated short. If I had time, maybe two. and send them off to the VAD.
So, I e-mailed VAD for the "required forms." I figured they'd send me the contest rules and an entry form.
I was so wrong.
What did I get? Absolutely useless legal forms.
Location Agreement (one page), SAG Film Agreement (3 pages), SAG Info Contract (12 pages), Music License (1 page), Personal Release (1page), and simply Release (1page).
I guess "Release" would be the entry form for this contest.
Film fest culture shock. I've waded in to something of stupefying complexity.
I've thought a lot about making animated shorts and putting them in local film festivals. But other then reading the festival websites and noting the deadlines for entries I haven't had any contact or experience with actually putting a short film in to a film festival.
I've been so naive.
It seems like you need a legal degree, or at least some legal counsel, to fill out the proper forms in the proper fashion to even be eligible. And you thought just making the movie was hard work. Most likely all this paperwork is just a hurdle set to keep out the ones who aren't serious about entering something. On the other hand it's intimidating. And confusing. I feel like my work won't even get looked at if I fill in the forms wrong. I really wish there was someone to walk me through this process. Can't walk through. Have to leap. Blindly.
After reading a few of the posts for the contest, which didn't really have much detail about what they wanted, I figured what did I have to lose. I thought I could make a quick animated short. If I had time, maybe two. and send them off to the VAD.
So, I e-mailed VAD for the "required forms." I figured they'd send me the contest rules and an entry form.
I was so wrong.
What did I get? Absolutely useless legal forms.
Location Agreement (one page), SAG Film Agreement (3 pages), SAG Info Contract (12 pages), Music License (1 page), Personal Release (1page), and simply Release (1page).
I guess "Release" would be the entry form for this contest.
Film fest culture shock. I've waded in to something of stupefying complexity.
I've thought a lot about making animated shorts and putting them in local film festivals. But other then reading the festival websites and noting the deadlines for entries I haven't had any contact or experience with actually putting a short film in to a film festival.
I've been so naive.
It seems like you need a legal degree, or at least some legal counsel, to fill out the proper forms in the proper fashion to even be eligible. And you thought just making the movie was hard work. Most likely all this paperwork is just a hurdle set to keep out the ones who aren't serious about entering something. On the other hand it's intimidating. And confusing. I feel like my work won't even get looked at if I fill in the forms wrong. I really wish there was someone to walk me through this process. Can't walk through. Have to leap. Blindly.
Shammi Kapoor - Telegraph 11:15 AM
Shammi Kapoor - Telegraph: His gyrating dancing style, influenced by “The King”, transformed Bollywood’s traditionally innocent on-screen portrayal of love and romance into something much more raunchy. But although his frenetic energy and infectious screen appeal made Kapoor an early star of the Indian film industry, he later admitted that he was never a natural mover.
“The truth is I could never learn to dance. I even tried coaching classes but failed,” he said. “I always had a sense of music and rhythm. And that worked in my favour.”
Kapoor belonged to a famous family in the Indian film industry which included his father, Prithviraj, and brothers Raj and Shashi. But despite his background, Shammi made a stuttering start in Bollywood, and all his early films flopped at the box office. Only when he reinvented himself in Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957), losing his seducer’s pencil moustache and fashioning his hair in typical ducktail style of the 1950s, did his career take flight.
Kapoor found stardom with his first colour film, Junglee, released in 1961, which proved a blockbusting hit. Thereafter he starred in more than 100, mostly lightweight, films. His Western-style garb of leather jacket and T-shirt, and catchy, upbeat musical numbers like Suku Suku cemented his appeal among teenage filmgoers.
“The truth is I could never learn to dance. I even tried coaching classes but failed,” he said. “I always had a sense of music and rhythm. And that worked in my favour.”
Kapoor belonged to a famous family in the Indian film industry which included his father, Prithviraj, and brothers Raj and Shashi. But despite his background, Shammi made a stuttering start in Bollywood, and all his early films flopped at the box office. Only when he reinvented himself in Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957), losing his seducer’s pencil moustache and fashioning his hair in typical ducktail style of the 1950s, did his career take flight.
Kapoor found stardom with his first colour film, Junglee, released in 1961, which proved a blockbusting hit. Thereafter he starred in more than 100, mostly lightweight, films. His Western-style garb of leather jacket and T-shirt, and catchy, upbeat musical numbers like Suku Suku cemented his appeal among teenage filmgoers.
late to the funeral 10:35 AM
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
...has been drinking 1:06 PM
TV
television
VCR
video player
remote
remote control
beta-max
laserdisc
laserdisc player
RCA plugs
RCA cable
coax cable
be kind rewind
video rental
video rental store
vcr head cleaner
video cassette
video tracking
tracking
television
VCR
video player
remote
remote control
beta-max
laserdisc
laserdisc player
RCA plugs
RCA cable
coax cable
be kind rewind
video rental
video rental store
vcr head cleaner
video cassette
video tracking
tracking
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Dallas Film Commission | dfc.websites.ariamedia.com 8:24 AM
Dallas Film Commission | dfc.websites.ariamedia.com: "If you are pursuing a career in filmmaking, this is the contest for you. All you have to do is make your own “Silence your cell phone” PSA. Vent all of your frustration toward those people that feel the need to call, text, or use their cell phone as a flashlight in the middle of a movie, and channel that frustration through your craft as a filmmaker. The best PSA will replace the Opera Singer at the Angelika Film Center, and is not just limited to Dallas, Texas. It will be seen at every Angelika Film Center in the nation, before every film that is screened! And you’ll be able to watch your PSA on multiple occasions, because the winner will also receive a year-round pass to see unlimited films at any Angelika in the country.
This is a great opportunity for any aspiring filmmaker, so make sure your PSA really sticks out. The run time for your film must be between 30 seconds and 2 minutes long, and the deadline is August 26th. Before you start your project you’re going to need the necessary forms, so e-mail Festival Coordinator John Post at jp@videofest.org, give him your contact information and tell him you want to Silence the Opera Singer!"
This is a great opportunity for any aspiring filmmaker, so make sure your PSA really sticks out. The run time for your film must be between 30 seconds and 2 minutes long, and the deadline is August 26th. Before you start your project you’re going to need the necessary forms, so e-mail Festival Coordinator John Post at jp@videofest.org, give him your contact information and tell him you want to Silence the Opera Singer!"
Monday, August 15, 2011
Filmmakers: @GandtheW and @videofest want you to “Silence the Opera Singer” @AngelikaTexas � GordonandtheWhale.com 11:35 AM
Off Your Cell Phone 11:34 AM
Dallas Video Fest - Welcome to the Dallas Video Fest!: "Off Your Cell Phone
If you've ever gone to the Angelika Film Center (or any other theater) you may have noticed the 'No Cellphones' PSA featuring an opera singer in the lavish early 1900's interrupted by a ringing cellphone. This PSA has been around for years, and we at the Video Association Dallas think it's time for a little change. In association with the Angelika Film Center and Gordon and The Whale, we will be holding a competition for filmmakers to submit their own PSA. The best PSA will be used by the Angelika Film Center and your work will be seen by millions! We are accpeting submission through Digital Files sent to the Festival Coordinator, jp@videofest.org. Deadline, August 26"
If you've ever gone to the Angelika Film Center (or any other theater) you may have noticed the 'No Cellphones' PSA featuring an opera singer in the lavish early 1900's interrupted by a ringing cellphone. This PSA has been around for years, and we at the Video Association Dallas think it's time for a little change. In association with the Angelika Film Center and Gordon and The Whale, we will be holding a competition for filmmakers to submit their own PSA. The best PSA will be used by the Angelika Film Center and your work will be seen by millions! We are accpeting submission through Digital Files sent to the Festival Coordinator, jp@videofest.org. Deadline, August 26"
Sunday, August 14, 2011
not me 11:10 PM
The piano has been drinking
My necktie's asleep
The combo went back to New York, and left me all alone
The jukebox has to take a leak
Have you noticed that the carpet needs a haircut?
And the spotlight looks just like a prison break
And the telephone's out of cigarettes
As usual the balcony's on the make
And the piano has been drinking, heavily
The piano has been drinking
And he's on the hard stuff tonight
The piano has been drinking
And you can't find your waitress
Even with the Geiger counter
And I guarantee you that she will hate you
From the bottom of her glass
And all of your friends remind you
That you just can't get served without her
The piano has been drinking
The piano has been drinking
And the lightman's blind in one eye
And he can't see out of the other
And the piano-tuner's got a hearing aid
And he showed up with his mother
And the piano has been drinking
Without fear of contradiction I say
The piano has been drinking
Our Father who art in ?
Hallowed by thy glass
Thy kindom come, thy will be done
On Earth as it is in the lounges
Give us this day our daily splash
Forgive us our hangovers
As we forgive all those who continue to hangover against us
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver from evil and someone you must all ride home
Because the piano has been drinking
And he's your friend not mine
Because the piano has been drinking
And he's not my responsibility
The bouncer is this Sumo wrestler
Kinda cream puff casper milk toast
And the owner is just a mental midget
With the I.Q. of a fencepost
I'm going down, hang onto me, I'm going down
Watch me skate across an acre of linoleum
I know I can do it, I'm in total control
And the piano has been drinking
And he's embarassing me
The piano has been drinking, he raided his mini bar
The piano has been drinking
And the bar stools are all on fire
And all the newspapers were just fooling
And the ash-trays have retired
And I've got a feeling that the piano has been drinking
It's just a hunch
The piano has been drinking and he's going to lose his lunch
And the piano has been drinking
Not me, not me, The piano has been drinking not me
Friday, August 12, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Now with a soundtrack 8:27 AM
A Bit of Something from tohoscope on Vimeo.
A bit of random and unplanned animated doodles.
Monday, August 08, 2011
Friday, August 05, 2011
Mattel ordered to pay MGA $310 million in Bratz case - latimes.com 2:24 PM
Mattel ordered to pay MGA $310 million in Bratz case - latimes.com: "A federal judge ordered toy giant Mattel Inc. to pay bitter rival MGA Entertainment Inc. more than $309 million in damages, fees and other costs in the long-running dispute over the billion-dollar Bratz doll line and rejected Mattel's bid for a new trial."
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Derek Yu 8:18 AM
Derek Yu: "In this 10-step tutorial, I’ll teach you how to create a “sprite”, which is a stand-alone two-dimensional character or object. The term comes from video games, of course."
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
MAD Movie: Information from Answers.com 9:12 AM
MAD Movie: Information from Answers.com: "A MAD Movie (MADムービー Maddo Mūbī?) is a Japanese fan-made video, much like an anime music video (AMV), that generally originate from the Japanese website Nico Nico Douga. MAD can also describe the Japanese AMV community, although they can be anything from audio clips, edited pictures, to wholly original creations. MADs do not necessarily even need to be related to anime, though the more popular ones typically are. The term MAD (occasionally M@D) is thought to be a reference to the name of one of the original MADs, rather than a particular acronym for anything."
