Omegle #1: Substance
| Stranger: | hmm, strange place indeed |
| You: | It is |
| Stranger: | just look at the ceiling... |
| Stranger: | oh my god it's dripping some substance |
| Stranger: | what IS that? |
| You: | WOW |
| You: | it is glowing... |
| Stranger: | now that you mention it, it is! |
| You: | spooky |
| Stranger: | but what could it be? |
| Stranger: | spooky? that's an adjective, not a noun! |
| Stranger: | or is it a new substance called Spooky? |
| You: | It is, haven't you heard? |
| Stranger: | Ah ha! now I remember, this stuff is used to_________ |
| You: | turn turtles into mutants |
| Stranger: | Egad! just look at those turtles over there! |
| You: | They seem to be teenage and ninja! |
| Stranger: | those are no ordinary turtles, they somehow have been taught the art of___________ by a ____________ for some reason! |
| You: | cooking |
| You: | iPhone app |
| Stranger: | and they're completely technologically savvy! |
| You: | it is marvelous |
| Stranger: | I must document this |
| Stranger: | what is it they're cooking? |
| Stranger: | my sense of smell has been abused by decades of cocain |
| You: | they are cooking puttanesca sauce |
| Stranger: | But for what dish? this is truly perplexing. |
| Stranger: | and Why are they doing it? |
| Stranger: | mutants don't need food for sustenance |
| Stranger: | so it has to be for some other, more sinister cause |
| You: | that is nonsense, of course they need food |
| Stranger: | nonsense, all they eat is pizza, which is degrading peasants fare |
| Stranger: | hardly considered "food" |
| You: | It is tasty |
| Stranger: | *peasant's |
| Stranger: | nonetheless, why are they doing it? |
| You: | Because they can |
| Stranger: | well, mystery solved |
| Stranger: | The End |
| You: | Credits roll |
| Stranger: | job well done |
| Stranger: | a nice impromptu story |
Don’t Ask About The Blue/Green Screen.
It is the year 2010 and I can’t believe I’m still hearing the same thing. I can’t believe journalist still ask actors about the blue/green screen. I can’t believe the actors still have the exact same response as they had more than 10 years ago.
This is what usually happens: A journalist/entertainment person/hip blogger will briefly interview a movie star in a press junket regarding their latest action/sci-fi/fantasy film. The question will inevitably be “SO, HOW WAS IT LIKE TO ACT IN FRONT OF A BLUE/GREEN SCREEN?” and the answer will always be:
“Well, you know it was so odd to have nothing but blue/green around you. It was hard to keep track of all the marks the crew will set for you, but also to be ready to act when the director tells you that ‘you now how to run for your life because a monster/alien/helicopter/robot/dead historical figure turned zombie is chasing you’ but in reality is only this big blue/green cube following you around. So, it’s hard but is actually quite fun to use your imagination. In that aspect it’s a lot like theater and it reminds me of when I was starting out on plays [and how mediocre an actor/actress I was and how little have I improved since then].
But then when I got to see the finished movie I couldn’t believe it, they painted all this amazing stuff around me and it totally feels like I’ve been in a place in which I I’ve never really gone to. So, yeah, it was an incredible experience.”
Do you know how long have I been hearing this little speech? I’ll tell you. Since Space Jam come out! That was in 1996, It’s been 14 years. And it is the press’ fault! You can’t blame it on all the young actors (or actors who have just first experienced visual effects movies) for being surprised by it, YOU JUST HAVE TO AVOID THE QUESTION! The only way in which you can get caught in getting that answer is if you ask “What was the biggest challenge for you on this film?” and if you do that you are an embarrasment of a reporter because that’s a really stupid question.
SO, FOR GOD’ SAKE, DON’T LET THE ACTORS TALK ABOUT THE BLUE/GREEN SCREEN ANYMORE!
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Photo credit: eviloars
24 Hour Comic
I’m making a 24 page comic in 24 hours. Watch live as I loose my mind and start talking to imaginary people.
Old software never dies (I hope)
I’m known for easily growing attachments to inanimate objects, collecting and cherishing (usually, useless) things with the loyalty of an old dog. I believe that tendency has extended into the realm of software.
I have two examples of programs that were released at the very beginning of the millennium, and I still use them everyday.
ACDSee 32 2.42 (2000)
This is what I use to browse and see images on my computer. It opens very fast (and is very very light), you can explore your folders and see a list of images in them (as well, as any other file) and once you hit enter on any of them you will see it bigger and you can scroll through all the images. Also, you can watch and scroll through them full-screen, which is very nice. All the functions are very basic and lack the modern perfection and polish of more recent products but it still delivers.
It is great for setting up wallpapers (as long as they are the exact size of your screen resolution) as it only requires a simple CTRL+W. And one extra feature that is really amazing and unexpected, is that in explore mode, it will play any WAV file you click. So it’s also a great program for browsing sound files.
This was the last version of ACDSee to be this simple, more recent versions are intended to be the center of operations for all image related tasks and are packed with unnecessary features. A shame.
Macromedia Fireworks 4 (2001)
This is my main piece of software, this is my Photoshop, my illustrator, my web design base of operations, and my overall visuals workhorse. Again, it opens faster than any other similar software and it does a lot. It’s funny, I also have the latest version of Fireworks (currently Adobe Fireworks CS5), because I use it for the final stages of work related projects (I will rarely use it for personal projects) and while it has a handful of features that are nice, it also lacks a handful of features that makes work-flow in Fireworks 4 a lot smoother.
Also interesting to note, the following version (Fireworks MX) already started to change the menu layout, which would then remain in the Adobe versions (since 2005). So, without intending it, I’m using two programs on their last greatest versions.
While computers now a days are able to handle big resource-eating software, is it really necessary to make programs these colossal beasts? I can’t help but to admire the huge amount of power this little programs are able to wield. Programmers need to take note of their predecessors accomplishments.
NOTE: They work perfectly on Windows XP, but they probably won’t on Vista. Don’t know about Windows 7.
I thought I didn’t have enough distractions already, so I started this silly Mario webcomic strip called Simple Mario. NOTE: It might be a short-lived project.
I had this blog abandoned. But I will be posting some things I’ve come across that I really like.
This one is a new song by Portishead. Such an excellent band.
