CategoryUncategorized

Amelie In The Empty Lot

A pleasant trip to Crystal Beach, visiting a friend’s cottage, was followed by a welcome surprise.

As we walked up to my loft, I could hear French being spoken through loudspeakers.  I ducked through a hole in the fence and saw a few dozen people in lawn-chairs watching Amelie on a huge inflatable screen.  The strings of lights overhead were also a new addition to this vacant lot that, only a few days before, had tall grass and garbage strewn about.

We set down a blanket and watched the rest of the movie, having missed the first 15 minutes (you can’t have everything).

And I wasn’t wearing my glasses… yet I could still read the subtitles…  for about 1/2 of it…   when I wasn’t playing with the contact juggling ball or taking photos.  😀

“Cloud Atlas” – Reading Book Before Film

I received goose-bumps no less than 3 times during the newly released trailer for Cloud Atlas, being directed by the Wochowski Brothers (“The Matrix”) and Tom Tykwer (“Run Lola Run”). Yeah, 3 directors. Here’s a link to the trailer and commentary.

Last month, I was in a tea shop where someone noticed me looking at this book on the shelf. They immediately started telling me about the story, which is of connectedness that stretches from the past and into the far future. I was allowed to borrow the book to read… but haven’t started it yet.

Today I finished two books I was in the process of reading… both books dealing with the subconscious.  My eyes were exhausted, and I promptly passed out. After my nap, I woke up to see this trailer at the top of my FB feed.

I *think* today would be a good day to start reading Cloud Atlas.

P.S.   I even I loved the Wochowski brother’s Speed Racer movie.

Buddhabrot

Vacationing Stormtroopers and spiraling blood cells are what have been keeping me busy lately (in 3D animation). I’ve become proficient with the mouse in the left hand. While at my desk, I’m constantly moving from standing to sitting. Balance is being maintained.

This past weekend I met a man who lives in the woods with his wife, a yoga teacher. He burned out from the TV industry and quickly removed his dependence on glasses. We had a few other significant experiences sync up.

The preview of his documentary sent my head spinning… literally. “inspired”, is one way to put it. My lenses have been altered further and I like what I see.

Peddle Powered Sound System

There are so many ways to demonstrate efficient uses of energy, and this one speaks volumes (BWAH!)

John and crew has been working on this system for a few months (years?) now. The results are killer. Peddle while charging the batteries for some park, street or beach party. Might be a bit loud for an apartment party… but I think that could work too, as long as you plan on moving out shortly afterwards.

Efficient Cooking

I’ve been noticing more and more stoves with these new “radiant elements”, where the heating coil is embedded into the counter top, under a piece of glass, and wondering how efficient they are.  Are they more or less efficient than a standard heating element?  How about compared to gas?  What about when I’m boiling water, is it better to use an electric kettle where the heating element is right in the water itself.

These thoughts get fueled even more when I see inventions like the BioLite.

This is the old video that I saw two years ago, but it best demonstrates how this little efficient $129 camping stove works.

Now that you’ve seen that, you should see how you can now charge USB devices (camp with your phone often?). They also have larger scale models in Africa.

Next, we need to tackle this water problem. Oh! Wait! It looks like these water filters could help with that issue.

Detroit’s Lookin’ Good

A visit to a friend in the Fisher building, followed by a walk up Woodward to the Detroit Public Library.

Of all the libraries I’ve visited, this is my favorite. History with some some welcome upgrades.

Detroit Fisher Building Falcon Attack

While looking out of an open window, 20+ floors up in the Detroit Fisher Building, the resident falcon flew about 4 feet from my face. I was looking to the street below, when the falcon swooped down towards me, turning suddenly, staring me down the entire time.

My heart is still pounding… but luckily my eyes are still intact… and at least it wasn’t a flying copter kitty cat.

What a view.

Good Morning, Romeo

I’m staying with my sister in downtown Romeo.

My sister lives in a house that is about 150 years old, surrounded by houses that are about the same age, if not older. Apparently she received 1,500 trick-or-treaters last year, as the street next to hers has a crazy setup for Halloween.

The last few mornings have been rough, as I developed a nasty case of asthma after staying at my mom’s place for that first night. Don’t get the wrong idea, my mom’s place is clean… it’s just that there’s something about those animals that panics my lungs. Luckily, I’m nearly back to 100% breathing capacity and the mornings are getting earlier. Last night I set my intention to greet the morning sun, and here I am at 5:30am, doing just that. Works better than an alarm clock, I tell ya.

Ok, now time for a walk. Maybe I’ll encounter another applicable message like the one below, which I discovered on yesterday’s stroll through the neighborhood. For now, this is where I be and I will make the most of it… though my branches are still reaching back to Toronto.

Superman vs Hulk

I just gotta respect the crazy amount of work that goes into these one-man projects. Some moments look great, others still need quite a bit of work, but considering the length of level of detail of these clips, I’m letting it slide. Plus, how else are you going to see this DC character battle the Marvel bad-ass? Michael Habjan has more of his work on Youtube.

They meet.

They fight.

…and fight some more.

Resume Rebuild

Realizing that this resume template that I’ve been using for over a decade now is a bit out of date, I’m rebuilding it from scratch using responsive design techniques.

Almost completed with the base content and design. Just started the creation of the icons.

The Passion Declaration – 10 Years Later

Inspired by this talk by Ken Robinson (thx Mo), I looked back to a forum post I made a few years back, where I made my public declaration to follow my passion. I’ve copied/pasted my original forum post at the end of this article, unedited (though corrected distracting spelling mistakes). I apologize to my father, for being harsh… but that’s how I felt, at the time. Although I think that my desire to win my father’s approval gave me quite a bit of fuel.

Around the time I created the following post, I drew this sketch, at my desk, while working at K-Mart headquarters. I was just doodling, passing time, not really realizing what I was doing till I was finished. In the image, I saw myself, adding all these technical robotic components to my body, trying to fit into the machine… including a more uncomfortable version of the classic Wedlock collar. I sketched a door in my chest, to access my heart, with “Close when done.” written on the inside panel. Trying to conform, but couldn’t, and the other machines didn’t even want me around.

Two years later, the sketch acted as the foundation for my first large 3D animation project. This indie project became my first 3D demo reel (2004), which landed me my first job at an animation studio in Vancouver.

8 years working in IT in Michigan, plus another 8 years working in film, TV and video games in Vancouver… and now what? That’s another story entirely, that’s in the middle of unfolding.

Ok… so here’s the post that I made 10 years ago. As it turns out, it was 10 years ago, this month (April 3rd, 2002 – to be exact)!!

============================================================================

posted 04-03-2002 07:27 AM #1

Question New Job…. New Career…. New Life *first post*

I’ve seen quite a few threads like the one I’m about to create, but I never had the motivation to create my own, and share my thoughts and feeling about something that means so much to me. This will be a pretty long one, as it requires a little background, so bare with me. 

Continue reading

You’ll Know When It’s Time To Break

Clearing up loose ends before May begins. April is a major transition period which hopefully ends soon. Standing at my computer all day has become a bit tiresome for my arm and shoulders, but luckily a visitor snuck in the window to remind me to take a break.

“Trouble” demonstrates how actions speak louder than words (and luckily I don’t appear to be allergic to this big guy).

Speaking of “words”, has anyone ever spoke to a porcupine? Do they really sound like this?

Zen Typing with OmmWriter

Had to type a fairly emotional yet technically accurate email today (not a regular occurrence, luckily), so I used an open source alternative to OmmWriter called FocusWriter. There’s also a closer clone called Catlooking Writer. The only feature that the open source alternatives are lacking is the chromotherapy option.

GMail Unavailable

This will probably be over by the time I publish this posting, but had to drop this image online as a reminder to others, and myself.

Nothing is secure.

Make a Plan B (or C) and have 2 sets of backups. One backup isn’t enough, because if the process fails, you loose both the original data and the backup. If you have 2 sets, then you’ll still have your untouched backup. My verbal007.com email account is still working and luckily I recently started using a local client so I have local backups of my emails AND so that I didn’t rely on Google for everything. My dependency was getting ridiculous.

Oliver’s Twisting to Glitch Mob

An old friend of mine contacted me to do some filming, after he returned back from a yoga island in Thailand.

We recorded this.

And now I’m inspired to apply a little bit of this. (To be watched in Fullscreen mode)

Forms (process) from Memo Akten on Vimeo.

Optimus Prime, do you read me?

image

The Decepticons are blitzing Autobot City…

Visualize CSS Patterns in 3D

I was recently introduced a Firefox extension that allows you to visualize your website in 3D. Tilt, is an amazingly powerful tool that can help you immediacy see the nested layers of CSS elements.

 

Adopted by Stan Lee

A kid can dream, can’t he? I first hearing his voice from the Marvel Action Universe series on television about 20 years ago. Last night I heard him again, being interviewed by Kevin Smith. Such an exceptional, yet humble individual. According to one of Stan’s interviews,

“I go to sleep around midnight, then wake up about 5,” Lee says, pausing. “Doesn’t everybody get up that early? “

This morning I decided to do something I haven’t done in years… read a Spider-Man comic. The series I was reading was bringing up the question as to whether or not the spider that bit Peter was trying to pass on it’s power, before dying of radioactivity. Impressive how they can still bring up questions of his origin.

At the end of 5 part series, something obstructed my view of the comic page. A spider was dangling from our 16 foot ceiling, about 8 inches from the tip of my nose.

Life still has so many little surprises for me… but “No”, it didn’t bite me. I still have to get around without climbing walls or swinging on web-shooters.

Charlie Chapman Speaks

Copyright Math Baffles String Theorists

Hilariously brilliant presentation on the major flaws in the calculated statistics presented by the motion picture industry.

© 2024 Jer's Life

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑