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July, 2007

  1. Illustration Friday : “Moon”

    July 31, 2007 by Collin

    Back around October of 2003, I agreed to try to make a video of a song by Mark Maynard’s band Monkey Power Trio. Lacking enough knowledge in animation programs it was doomed to failure. I had access to Flash; I just didn’t know how to use it. I still don’t, however I’m in the process of learning. No promises, but I may be able to finish the video sometime this year.

    I bring this up because the theme for Illustration Friday, this week, coincides with the name of the song: “Someday we’ll reach the moon.”


    Click for larger view.

    This is a composite of the Flash interface and a few of the elements that I illustrated before realizing I had no idea what to do next. The concept behind the video was, it would look like one of those toys that you push a button on and the music plays while the shapes move behind a textured screen. Even though this isn’t a brand-new illustration, it IS the first time I’ve shown it to anyone who wasn’t involved in the creation process, or close to me.

    If you would like to listen to the song, head here: The Monkey Power Trio’s 1999 album ‘Chasing Monsters With Our Love’.

    Someday I’ll finish that animation. Someday. Someday.

    I really think the idea behind the Monkey Power Trio is awesome. They are a group of friends who get together once a year, play music for a few hours and then turn it into an actual vinyl LP. They don’t practice together at any other point during the year, and yes, it shows. Yet they still manage turn turn out some interesting songs. They plan to do this every year until they die. All of their music is also available at their site as free MP3s.

    —

    About the Shirt.Woot Derby… Maybe next time, and then only if they revamp how voting is done. As it is now voting is shown in real-time; the more votes an image has, the larger its icon is; “New Hotness” pretty much reflects the top five images because that’s all anyone seems to be voting on; the lead image is already up to 422 votes; it’s pointless to enter after the first day. Unless they change the rules, the only strategy I can think of to have a chance of winning is to do up a bunch of random designs ahead of time and then hope I can make one fit the topic on Friday at noon. The currently winning design wasn’t the first design submitted, but I know it was there within 4 hours of start time. And in the forum, the creator said it was a design he made years ago in high school.

    I’ll keep you informed.

    Ah, heck, I made a design anyway. Voting be damned. Still, I do hope they fix it so it’s less discouraging.

    If you are a customer of Woot (meaning you’ve bought anything from them) and would like to see this design made into a shirt, click on the picture to be taken to where you can vote. You’ll need to be logged in, however.

    Category Projects | Tags: | 2 Comments

  2. More Babble : It’s Friday.

    July 27, 2007 by Collin

    But you already knew that didn’t you? Look at you, sitting there all smug in your daily knowledge. Well bask in it for now pal, because some day, perhaps soon, you’re going to find yourself unaware of what day it is, and then who’ll be smug? That’s right. Me. I will be. Because I’ll know the day that you don’t on the day that you do… don’t… know. The day. Okay, fine. It’ll be a Tuesday following a holiday. I just can’t keep things from you.

    Enough of that. My kick-ass zombie book arrived today. It was pricey after the conversion from British pounds to “real money,” but I think it was worth it. If he makes more I’ll buy them. I’m stupid like that. If you don’t know what book I’m talking about click here.

    I was also interested in checking out the quality of work they do at lulu.com. I must say, not bad at all. The paper seems to be good quality, the inks are nice and sharp and the cover is shiny. Looking at the binding on-edge, it looks sturdy. Better than some other books I’ve purchased lately. I’m thinking once again about putting together a book of my own. If I did, would you buy it? I’ll possibly return to an idea for a “kids book” that’s not really for kids. Hmmm.

    Oh, and Woot.com has started up a shirt-of-the-day site that runs similar to their item-of-the-day main site. They’ve also started a contest of sorts that runs kinda like Illustration Friday, only you can win money if you rock hard enough. They suggest a topic on Friday at noon and you have until noon on Wednesday to submit an idea. However if you wait that long you will not likely win. Voting closes on Thursday at noon and the winning shirt goes on sale Friday. Only people who have purchased something from Woot are allowed to vote to keep people from stuffing the ballot. Full rules are here. The winner gets $200 plus $2 per shirt that sells after the first day. The fist topic is “one.” I need an idea… just one idea… hmmmmm…. ONE FREAKIN’ IDEA! heh. I’ll let you know if I have anything by Monday. Derek’s already working on his.

    Speaking of Illustration Friday, this week’s topic is “Moon”. I’m pretty sure I can swing that one. So you have that to look forward to next week.

    Enjoy your weekend! Get out, live a little. Do one thing that you never thought you would ever do and then tell me about it on Monday.

    Category Adrift | Tags: | 3 Comments

  3. Short Story : The toilet seat and the battle of the sexes.

    July 27, 2007 by Collin

    This didn’t come up in my household recently; it was mentioned in an episode #4 of ‘Man & Wife’. Scoop left the toilet seat up once and his daughter fell in. Shanda and his daughter were both angry at him for quite some time over that. That story got me thinking about my own “battle of the toilet seat” from early in my teenage years.

    My dad remarried when I was 15, and his new wife had a daughter one year younger than me. My dad and I moved into their house, and the daughter and I shared a common bathroom. Up until this point I had never had to share a bathroom with a female. I soon learned all about skivvies and whatnot left over the curtain rack, the wide variety of primping materials scattered around the sink, not to use her blow dryer and to be very careful around the curling iron. I also learned that women aren’t too keen on you leaving the toilet seat up after having a wizz. In the typical teenage boy way, I pretty much ignored her complaints until one day when she had one dunk in the ti-d-bol too many. There were screams and death threats that day. Her mom was on her side, and my dad suggested that I make an effort to be more mindful thereafter. So I learned to reflexively put the seat down whenever I was done with the bathroom and it’s stuck to this day.

    However…

    Here’s the question I have. If it’s “not that hard” to learn to put the toilet seat down when you finish, and “any moron can do it,” then why the fuck is so hard to learn to look at the seat before you start? It seems to me that’s a skill that everyone should develop, just in case you find yourself in a situation where… oh, I don’t know… someone else left the seat up? I do know this, in all the years that I shared a bathroom with just guys, I only fell in the freakin’ toilet one time, and that was because I was tired and my eyes were on the fuzzy side. It woke me up quick and reinforced the notion to look before you squat.

    So guys, learn to put the seat down when you’re done. It’s the polite thing to do.

    But ladies, learn to look where you’re planting your butt, just in case.

    Category Adrift | Tags: | 5 Comments

  4. Random Babble : It’s hump day…

    July 26, 2007 by Collin

    Hump day. That’s an expression that can certainly cause a mind to wander. Especially one like mine. You know; dirty and twisted. “Happy Hump Day!” I wonder if anyone ever wished Quasimodo a happy hump day? Or bunnies. Then again, every day is a happy hump day for bunnies. Those that can get some cotton tail that is. Bunnies strapped down in science labs… not so much. “Hey bunny! I know your brain’s exposed and there are needles poking into it, but guess what? It’s Wednesday! Happy hump day little fellah!” We zoom in to focus on a tear rolling from an eye of the trussed up bunny as he remembers back to other, far happier hump days. Days with lots of cotton tail and hopping down the bunny trail. Until the next jolt of electricity courses through the needles in his brain and the memories vanish in a flurry of twitching. Science! Building a better tomorrow, one zapped bunny at a time.

    So here we are. The regular work week is half over. We are past the hump*. We are rolling our way down the shady side of the hump. Look at us roll toward the shallow valley that is the weekend where we can spend two glorious days before having to slog our way back up the next hump. Avoid the rocks on the way down.

    And to think, I almost didn’t post today.

    —

    Derek bought a remote controlled helicopter from Woot a week or so back and it arrived today. He was messing about with it at lunch, trying to get it to lift off. It looked a bit like this:

    Only without the water and Greenpeace-nics. At first it fell over a lot, then it just spun around in a clockwise circle making a noise not too unlike that of my old ford station wagon when the ignition wouldn’t catch. At one point it lifted off long enough to run smack into a door. It’s a shame, because it’s cute as heck. It’s about the size of my hand. I would say “your hand” but how would I know how big your hand is? I hope he gets it figured out. It looks like it could be fun.

    —

    I almost forgot, the podcast is up at Derek’s site. You can listen to it by clicking here. I actually participate somewhat this time. It’s a Christmas miracle in July.

    —
    *Obviously this doesn’t apply to those of you who work irregular weeks, or don’t work at all. You know who you are.

    Category Adrift | Tags: | 3 Comments

  5. Videogame : Game of the week* – "Triangles"

    July 25, 2007 by Collin

    Arrrgh… my brain… it hurts.


    Click this link to play “Triangles”.


    If that’s a bit too much crazy in a small space, try this one: Shuffle. So far I’ve made it through three games before losing by one round. If you really like it then you can save the .swf file to play it offline. If you have questions about how to play a .swf file on your computer, ask and I’ll answer.

    *Disclaimer: Actual length of a week may vary, depending on if I remember to find something for the following week. In extreme cases of forgetfulness a week could last as much as a year.

    Category Adrift | Tags: | 2 Comments

  6. Photoshop Tutorial : A Jing video of the “Gear” tutorial with sound and stuff.

    July 24, 2007 by Collin

    I didn’t play around with Jing as much as I’d planned to. Instead I got distracted by organizing the basement and throwing crap out. However, I did make enough time to rework the gear tutorial so that you can at least see and hear what it is that I’m doing. I made the recording area about twice as wide as the first one so that you could see my tools palette and layers palette. Unfortunately, since there’s no way to scale down the dimensions of a Jing video at this time, that means it’s pretty big. If you give the video a listen – it’s pretty short at 3 minutes 31 seconds – you’ll get to hear me appeal to God for technical assistance. All was not roses in Jing video land. Since it is such a wide video (992 px) I’m going to just provide a link to it, rather than embed it on the page:

    PSCS2 Tutorial 2 : Vector Gears with Sound

    I checked the box that says it will add a download link, however it doesn’t look to me like that’s working.

    Have a great week.

    Category Adrift | Tags: | 1 Comment

  7. Humor : Saturday Morning Cartoons.

    July 21, 2007 by Collin

    In case you didn’t notice, there was no post on Friday. You see, there was this ball. I had it for awhile. I was even on it for a bit. But then I dropped it. I have no idea where it rolled. Hopefully I’ll find it by Monday.

    To make up for the lost ball, I offer you a Saturday post.

    Those of you around my age will likely remember the best thing in the world about Saturday mornings when you were a kid. Cartoons! Around my part of the world they started around 7 a.m. and terminated at noon, and that was all the damned cartoons you were likely to see for a week. What’s worse is all three broadcast channels showed their cartoons at the same time, so you had to be willing to miss out on a show you liked to find out how another show was. There was no internet in those days. I sound so old when I say things like that, yet I can’t stop myslef. No, you had TV Guide if you were lucky. Flip the channels if you weren’t. No wonder we shoplifted and set shit on fire in our down time.

    Well, the world has changed. Some of it hasn’t been for the better. But there are a crapload more cartoons out there, so it isn’t all bad.

    I’m going to change the topic now and share the news that the Democracy Player program is almost at version 1.0 and it’s name has been changed to Miro. Basically, Miro is a way to collect, watch and share web TV using bittorrent. Right now there are 1708 channels available, and it’s a free, open-source project, so there’s nothing you have to pay for. Much like cable TV, or satellite, a lot of it isn’t worth watching. Some is though.

    One channel I’m enjoying is Channel Frederator. It collects animation from everywhere, and even though I’ve only watched the latest episode – the rest are downloading – it was fantastic. I highly recommend it, although some of it’s not suitable for children.

    Another one that I’m getting a kick out of, probably because I’m bit of a pervert, is This or That!; a burlesque game show. This one’s absolutely not for the kids. I’ve only seen two episodes so far, so my opinion might change. But I doubt it. The Price Is Right, it isn’t.

    One final adult oriented show I also recommend is Man and Wife. Again, I’ve only watched one episode so far, but I laughed at least five times during the 11 minutes it lasted. That’s a pretty good laugh-to-minute ratio. Also, much like ‘This or That!’, it’s not for the prudish.

    What’s my point? Hell if I know. Give Miro a try. Look around. Who knows what you’ll find. Have a great weekend.

    Category Adrift | Tags: | 1 Comment

  8. Tutorial : Taking ‘Jing’ for a spin.

    July 20, 2007 by Collin

    No, no Illustration Friday this week. Instead I’m testing out a program that, if it works as well as it seems to, should make my tutorials better than they’ve been. However they aren’t likely to be available to nearly as large an audience as they are at YouTube.

    The program I’m trying is ‘Jing’ :Home Site: and so far it works pretty nice. It saves videos as Flash files, and the size of the 1 minute 12 second demo that I made is only 1.3 MB. Also, it remains as crisp as it was on my screen. This time around I didn’t add any audio to the movie. Next movie I will. It’ll be interesting to see what it does to the file size.

    Here’s the video so you can see for yourself how it looks:

    Tonight or tomorrow night I’ll do this tutorial again, only with sound so I can explain what I’m doing outside the frame.

    So far I really like this program. My only concern is that it’s currently “not exactly” a public beta and, straight from their home page, “It’s something we want to give you, along with some online media hosting, to see how you use it. The project will eventually turn into something else.” What that something else is, and how much it’ll cost, I don’t know. If this proves to be as useful to me as I think it will, it’ll really suck to lose it.

    Oh, and videos are limited to five minutes, and without the ability to edit that could be problematic. And, if I record a full screen it won’t reduce it, so… We’ll see. I’ll play with it more this weekend.

    Category Adrift | Tags: | 2 Comments

  9. Art & Podcast : Show announcement and I show off something old.

    July 19, 2007 by Collin

    This is the reminder that the latest episode of the ‘Son of Cheese Half-Hour Power Hour’ is up and you can hear it by clicking this button:

    A bit ago I was told by Derek that we have a new fan. Go us.

    Now on to the something old. I don’t know how many long-time readers I have, but quite some time ago I talked about a comic that I was doing for Mark Maynard and his wife Linette’s ‘zine ‘Crimewave’. The issue was delayed for quite awhile due to varying circumstances.

    But good news! The next issue has been put together and will be heading into production.

    The bad news is my comic won’t be with it.

    So, that being the case, I’ve decided to post it here rather than just let it vanish. To be able to read it, you’ll need to click the image.

    Print quality version here.

    Category Art | Tags: | 2 Comments

  10. Podcast : Woo hoo!

    July 18, 2007 by Collin


    Give it a second to load…

    Why I posted this will make more sense after (if) you listen to tomorrow’s podcast. Don’t worry, I’ll post a reminder link when it’s up.

    Original image found here: b3ta

    —

    Unrelated: On the way in to work today, I was stopped downtown on Colorado Ave. and Cascade, just waiting for the light to change. I’d just missed it. To pass the time I looked out my passenger window as I tend to do. I saw a guy who looked to be in his early 20s leaning with his head cradled in his folded arms against a parking meter, sobbing. Since I’d just missed the light I had a bit of a wait watching this guy cry. At one point he looked up and looked around with tears tracks running down his face. I avoided eye contact and looked away. I didn’t want to make him feel any worse by knowing he was being watched. A few seconds later I glanced back and saw that he had returned to his sobbing against the meter. A bit before the light turned green he straightened up, wiped his face with his sleeves, squared his shoulders and crossed Cascade occasionally looking behind him as he went.

    I wonder what caused him to break down like that. He didn’t look entirely homeless, so I don’t think it was a case of the street crazies. I say “entirely” because he was a bit grubby, but potentially employed.

    My first thought was that it was over a woman. He looked like a guy who had been dumped.

    My second thought was that he’d accidentally put his favorite coin in the meter, and he spent the whole time crying about it. My second thoughts are usually not very nice.

    I’ll never know the real reason why he was crying though. And now neither will you.

    The situation also brought to mind the time some friends and I were crossing a street in London when we saw a woman walking around, barefoot and topless with a dazed expression on her face, crying and talking to herself. When anybody approached her she would start screaming. It was surreal. I’m not sure why I thought about her, looking at this guy. I just did.

    Category Adrift | Tags: | 2 Comments

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