Google accounts

Google accounts really piss me off. I appreciate the desire to have one account and one password for the whole internet, super handy right? But it's almost like they have never considered the possibility that people might want to have more than one gmail account for different purposes. I like gmail quite a bit, email client of choice and the like, I have one for professional purposes and one for signing up for porn free trials. So far so good right? But god knows I can't be signed into youtube with one account and using wave with the other. You'd think that online videos and googles failed email replacement shouldn't interfere with each other at all but no. Basically it really irritates me.

And this is exactly what I am bloody well talking about. While I was writing this I was catching up on my youtube subscriptions, as one does. Suddenly my nice tidy autoplaying stream stops and low and behold youtube went and signed me out because the account I log into blogger with isn't the same account I use on youtube.

I'mma make it happen.

Okay so February the 15th was roughly, what, four months ago, but all the same we are going to see if I can get back to this business again. Monotony of unemployed summer etc. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with this just yet, at this point I'm thinking a combination of throwing up some of my work, naval gaze-y musing, and probably some of my assorted thoughts and ideas will be what happens. Also stream of conciousnessey run on sentences. Anyway, bold new future etc. Should be cool.

Blob Splash

When we were given the animation assignment my first plan was to try out the facilities in the animation lab at school, but because I am a procrastination panda (as attested by the frequency with which I update this blog) I found myself running out of time. Instead of trying to assemble the hundred or so frames that a few second video would take, or trying to be really clever with my animation techniques to cut down on frames, I decided to use 3ds Max. It was the ease with which one can animate in Max that initially drew me away from traditional animation years ago so I figured it was a fairly safe bet. Years of having not used it coupled with years of changed to the software conspired to make it no faster than traditional animation, but at least it was far less monotonous.

To create "Blob Splash" I wound up making most of two animations. The first consisted mostly of my finding my footing again. It wound up getting scrapped in the end because I was finding that having arms on the figure was simply more trouble then it was worth. The second animation is the one I ultimately used, which, while having its fair share of problems did go far smoother than the first. The biggest problem I had in "Blob Splash" can when I tried to rig the Blob. I initially only put a skeletal structure in the legs, which meant that the program extended the envelops of the hip bones all the way up through the body, so that the whole thing would twist with each step. Adding a skeleton for the rest of the body solved this problem.

Gold Tinted Glasses

My second project took the form of these anachronistically shaped sunglasses made out of brass. The most significant element of the piece is the reflective nature of the material, particularly on the inside of the lenses. When the glasses are worn the wearer can see only their own eyes staring back at them. Hopefully this speaks to the concept of the isolating nature of celebrity. The wearer sees only themselves and audience sees only themselves, symbolizing our tendency to see what we want in those we idolize.

Ashes and Dust

I've gone and finished my first MADT project of the year. Which I am pretty sure I am calling "Ashes and Dust," but the odds of my cooking up something better at some point seem fairly high, so we shall see.

On a broad scale the piece explores the harmful effects of culture on the individual. The hard drive, which stores the content of the ipod, is replaced with cigarettes, something literally dangerous. Both the cultural detrious and the cigarettes share the same assoccation of "cool."

On a more personal note, I also enjoyed the symbolism of replacing the sound track of my youth, which is what was on the hard drive with smokes.

Aesthetically I also enjoyed the chance to mix the ultra modern, the ipod, with the archaic, the cigarette case.

Check me out, getting a jump on my MADT homework

So I have a blog, and its not even 10 o'clock the day before its due. Makes me feel like a responsible person or something. Anyways, I figured I would fire off a quick post before turning in early, just so it isnt sitting here empty and stuff. I also finished off my digital object project tonight. I am not quite sure it falls within the project guidelines, but I am trying not to think to hard about that. It'll probably get posted up here at some point.