August 21, 2008
I just don’t get how people with fancy bachelor degrees and/or are employed at design firms are so terrible at design 1. It’s not hard to see something and know it’s pretty ugly. As blunt as it is, design has to be superficially constructed.
None of the metaphorical artsy B.S. ever helps it. I’m not even really much of a designer (I’m an animator and Illustrator). I know I do things that are not the most fantastic looking things, even with my own design. I certainly do not have any sort of fancy piece of paper (they call them degrees) that gives me the right to tell everyone what I think, but seriously; if I could teach myself enough to make it into galleries, it’s no excuse for people who do have the qualifications. I’m sorry if I come across jaded, but it needs to be said.
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August 13, 2008
I was lucky enough to meet Anthony Lucas; an Australian stop motion animator and director at university last week. He shared his film making process, showing how he developed and told story in animated cinema for such films as Slim Pickings, and Oscar nominated film - The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello. I took so many notes drew so many caricatures.
It was an entertaining seminar, and was great to talk to the guy that brought Australian kids like us those Kraft peanut butter man commercials. This guy’s hung out with guys at Aardman, Pixar and Dreamworks. Awesome to see Australians still kickin’. Go check out his work and love the wonderful old art of stop motion. NOW.
August 11, 2008
I wish the Internet was an invite only thing. So many people on it that shouldn’t be allowed a finger on a mouse.
Oh the irony when his email address is indexed… it’s indexed.
— Start chat —
don-don-32@hotmail.com: just so you know, if you were wonering, i got your MSN addy off google
don-don-32@hotmail.com: wondering*
me: cool
don-don-32@hotmail.com: dont you care that your me addy is on google for the whole world to see?
me: there’s nothing I can do about it, because forums and other sites post it without authentication. It’s what you get for being known on the internet.
don-don-32@hotmail.com: ah right, how are you well known?
me: uhhh, css galleries, article writing, I’m friends with neat bloggers
me: things get around
don-don-32@hotmail.com: ahh right cool
don-don-32@hotmail.com: so what bloggers/celebs are you “friends with”
me: uhm, why do you need to know that?
me: i don’t even know who you are
don-don-32@hotmail.com: exactly so how do i know your telling the truth, and i was just making polite conversation
don-don-32@hotmail.com: its not like im asking your address or something lol
me: you did start a conversation with OH I GOT YOUR EMAIL OFF GOOGLE
don-don-32@hotmail.com: well i didnt word it like that
me: the essence is the same
me: and I am yet to know who you are or why i’ve been added to your list
me: 
don-don-32@hotmail.com: erm for the crack
me: uh..
don-don-32@hotmail.com: haha
don-don-32@hotmail.com: do you understand what that means?
me: yeah, but I didn’t find it funny enough to laugh
don-don-32@hotmail.com: it wasnt meant to make you laugh anyways
me: sweet
don-don-32@hotmail.com: okay well as much as this conversation has entertained me 
i have nothing else to say to you, so erm bye lol
me: weird.
don-don-32@hotmail.com: oh and one last thing, aha you got pwned!
me: oh wait till you see how ironic this is when this gets on the internet. Cya.
— End —
August 4, 2008
A film about an elite group of assassins. A “Fraternity”. I don’t really know where I stand with this one. Ok, I’m lying, I hated it. Angelina Jolie really needs to stop being in shoot-out movies. Is that really the only genre she is capable of existing in? Long story short; decent comic, terrible film. It was immediately apparent that the roots of the action style was heavily derived from The Matrix’s bullet time sequences and Fight club’s underdog story.
The first building shot was composited terribly. It was so blatantly obvious that the building used in the scene was comped in. The key lighting didn’t match, and the figure chroma was university grade-esque (gross). I don’t get how they could make the rest of the visuals beautiful where bullets bend around corners and pierce skulls, while they can’t even light a scene decently? Shows you how terribly balanced the budget would have been for VFX. Probably all spent buying flowers for Angelina.
Morgan Freeman unpredictably played a mentoring role, while Angelina exposed her buttocks for the 7 millionth time, and brandished a gun while pouting. Everything about this was predictable. Barely any structure or plot, but plenty of shooting, car chases and train crashes.
Though the comic is closely matches shot to frame, they stripped out the super villain attribute of the characters, sacrificing them for slightly more ‘believable’ people with the ability to spike levels of adrenaline (thus making them think faster). Way to kill what would have been an excellent super villain movie… The ‘plot’ was all over the shop, and the twists could be seen a long while off. I think the weakest plot hole is that they predict targets from pieces of cloth from some fancy weaving machine, while anyone could just cut out a scrap from a craft store and claim it to be part of the prophecy. It’s so central to the plot that they end up all dying. Pretty weak.
- Me: seen wanted yet?
- Me: it’s so horrible
- Tim Bond: don’t remind me of the piece of shit experience
- Tim Bond: There was a point I didn’t think it could get any worse and then it did
- Tim Bond: is it bad for me to want the main characters to die?
- Me: It was sooooooooooo bad
- Me: dude, you should get back into movie review schtuff
- Tim Bond: Oh I so would
- Tim Bond: but I have currently found a hobby that is taking all of my spare time
- Tim Bond: and it is not masturbation.
It was still fun to watch ( I took my pal Fran to see it and it was a blast!) but wow; what a terrible remake of every shooting movie ever. You are best saving your ticket money for another screening of The Dark Knight, Or Hellboy II.
July 30, 2008
I love feed readers! It’s like making a magazine with all your favourite content ever for free! I love how much time it saves me having to hunt for interesting content and being up to date with your favourite sites is so convenient. Obviously Syndication is really old, but the content is not. I’m always adjusting the feeds I digest. Kinda cool that the content of a feed reader tells you a lot about a person, and it’s always interesting to see what other (neat) people read on the web.
Here’s what I regularly read:
Blogs
- Drawn: Animation, Illustration and cartooning blog.
- Chris Kalani: Some developing ninja and friend who blogs about life and being naked.
- Mostlylisa: Geeky blog of multi talented Canadian Lisa Bettany. Incidentally my favourite, fun person.
- JoshuaJenkins:Pretty humourous writings and opinions about everything.
- Kirupa: Blogs about the geekiest (and useful) things ever.
- Sam’s Tasty Art: Great 2d art blog
- Sean Galloway: Fantastic Character designer
- Lucas Tetrault: Movie review blog. Even catches requested flicks for review!
- Keyframer: Flash animation blog
- Bearskin Rug: Blog and portfolio of Kevin Cornell
Article and resource sites
Forums
- kirupaForum: Flash, design and development community
- CGtalk: Digital art discussion board, with activity from industry professionals
I try to keep mine to a minimum ( I know people with hundreds of subscriptions). Though I always have a surf around, I tend to return to the listed links most often. I’m curious to see what others read. I love finding new nooks and crannies to dig in and read. What are your favourite feeds to plug into your reader? Share some favourites, I want more fantastic things to read!
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