8/1/07
7/27/07
6/28/07
Spike "I Try" Jonze
This is the first image released/leaked from Spike Jonze's film adaptation of "Where The Wild Things Are". This film's potential is off the charts. Spike and Dave Eggers co-wrote the screenplay. One of my favorite directors working with one of my favorite authors. Good stuff.
Pro Queue'r
My initial reaction to this guy was two fold:
1. what a freakin' loser
2. he's awesome for taking his shirt off
Then it hit me that this guy set out to do SOMETHING and he appears to be good at it. I'm always disappointed when I catch myself criticizing someone for doing something. Makes me feel super lame. It's bad enough that I don't put myself out there and TRY...but it's disgusting to sit back and make fun of people that are trying. regardless of who or what.
Good for you sweaty, delusional, shirtless-in-front-of-the-Fifth-Avenue-Apple-Store Queueman. I admire your bravery and commitment.
1. what a freakin' loser
2. he's awesome for taking his shirt off
Then it hit me that this guy set out to do SOMETHING and he appears to be good at it. I'm always disappointed when I catch myself criticizing someone for doing something. Makes me feel super lame. It's bad enough that I don't put myself out there and TRY...but it's disgusting to sit back and make fun of people that are trying. regardless of who or what.
Good for you sweaty, delusional, shirtless-in-front-of-the-Fifth-Avenue-Apple-Store Queueman. I admire your bravery and commitment.
6/22/07
6/19/07
6/14/07
6/9/07
5/16/07
Time +1 = Santa
When working in a 3D application, one needs to effortlessly consider spatial and temporal relationships in order to be successful.
lots of people can draw or design. understanding composition, layout, form and color theory isn't tricky at all. it's the relationship of these "scripts" in Z space and over time that sends people into the brick wall.
In a way, an artistic understanding of xyz +1 has been my career. Now there's talk of a hidden extra dimension. temporal. and I'm assuming spatial. my excitement upon reading this news certainly sent me beyond the 3rd dimension! (zing!) I guess I'm going to be going through a bunch of tutorials soon! (zing! zing!)
Anyway, I just love all this stuff. I've grown to find comfort in knowing we don't have a fucking clue about...well, anything at all. OK, we have a clue. But do we really? I don't have to know because I won't know. Not anytime soon.
Besides, what we know changes. Think of all the brilliant equations we follow as Truth that will one day be completely disregarded and considered whimsical nonsense. Sketches on a cave wall.
Science and knowledge is not a constant. Not even close. But it's the closest thing we have in my opinion. Tomorrow is coming and it's going to make today look like yesterday. When you step back and take a good SlaughterHouseFive look at things, we're right in the middle. Or beginning. Or end. If it's all happening at the same time, there is no beginning or end. Just now. And now. And right now as well. And also now again. But then as well. And also there's the thing that is happening now.
But me, I don't really buy it. Not discrediting it, I just prefer to think linearly. Or at least in a circle. Or an expanding and compressing linear type thing. I like to think that way because that is the world that I SEE. A fire has a beginning and an end. A tree begins and ends. Seemingly. But what I KNOW tells me the atoms that make up the fire may very well move on to make a tree and then maybe a human and then when the human expires maybe one of those atoms helps form a t-shirt that has a picture of a tree on fire.
Another dimension would really make things interesting. man, I hope we start getting into such things before I die. I want to fill that Thing. The Thing that some fill with religion or imagination. I just can't do that anymore. In a way, I'd love to fill the Thing with religion or spirituality again. It was awesome. But for some reason, once I crossed the line, there's no going back to that resource. Like my respect for Santa before and after the moment I asked my mom if he was real. I can't tell if it's because I've lost Imagination/hope or that I've gained Imagination/reason. Another dimension would be like seeing a new magic trick or something. And I haven't seen a magic trick since I found out that it was my uncle with a fake white beard and red suit.
lots of people can draw or design. understanding composition, layout, form and color theory isn't tricky at all. it's the relationship of these "scripts" in Z space and over time that sends people into the brick wall.
In a way, an artistic understanding of xyz +1 has been my career. Now there's talk of a hidden extra dimension. temporal. and I'm assuming spatial. my excitement upon reading this news certainly sent me beyond the 3rd dimension! (zing!) I guess I'm going to be going through a bunch of tutorials soon! (zing! zing!)
Anyway, I just love all this stuff. I've grown to find comfort in knowing we don't have a fucking clue about...well, anything at all. OK, we have a clue. But do we really? I don't have to know because I won't know. Not anytime soon.
Besides, what we know changes. Think of all the brilliant equations we follow as Truth that will one day be completely disregarded and considered whimsical nonsense. Sketches on a cave wall.
Science and knowledge is not a constant. Not even close. But it's the closest thing we have in my opinion. Tomorrow is coming and it's going to make today look like yesterday. When you step back and take a good SlaughterHouseFive look at things, we're right in the middle. Or beginning. Or end. If it's all happening at the same time, there is no beginning or end. Just now. And now. And right now as well. And also now again. But then as well. And also there's the thing that is happening now.
But me, I don't really buy it. Not discrediting it, I just prefer to think linearly. Or at least in a circle. Or an expanding and compressing linear type thing. I like to think that way because that is the world that I SEE. A fire has a beginning and an end. A tree begins and ends. Seemingly. But what I KNOW tells me the atoms that make up the fire may very well move on to make a tree and then maybe a human and then when the human expires maybe one of those atoms helps form a t-shirt that has a picture of a tree on fire.
Another dimension would really make things interesting. man, I hope we start getting into such things before I die. I want to fill that Thing. The Thing that some fill with religion or imagination. I just can't do that anymore. In a way, I'd love to fill the Thing with religion or spirituality again. It was awesome. But for some reason, once I crossed the line, there's no going back to that resource. Like my respect for Santa before and after the moment I asked my mom if he was real. I can't tell if it's because I've lost Imagination/hope or that I've gained Imagination/reason. Another dimension would be like seeing a new magic trick or something. And I haven't seen a magic trick since I found out that it was my uncle with a fake white beard and red suit.
5/15/07
5/2/07
Iron Man Advanced Suit
my blog doesn't get too personal. I'll spew political or religious jibber jabber here and there, but for the most part it's just whatever and whatever and whatever."Thank You For Smoking" nailed it:
Michael Jordan plays basketball, Charles Manson kills people, I post pictures of Iron Man and Transformers.
Here's the first pic of Iron Man's suit in the upcoming feature film. I do what I do cause it's what I do.
5/1/07
Aint theist
PBS is airing a 3 part series on atheism...may 4 i believe. i'm a little disturbed/worried because I can't find it in my local programming schedule. If NC or my area isn't airing it, that's bologna.
4/28/07
4/27/07
Clone War
Rendering again. Plenty of time to digg around. Found an article that briefly covers the 5 biggest neuroscience developments in the past X years.
One of the discoveries looks at brain damage and how the condition of your brain may influence your morality. My attraction to neuroscience (and just about anything science recently) is largely due to my ongoing struggle with my own brain. It be jacked up. Many factors are involved, brain damage being one of them.
93-94 was not a good year for my noggin. I was knocked out twice that year. The first time it was pretty standard. Wake up groggy, headache, sleep, headache the next day, sleep, all better.
5 months later I slipped on an icy driveway and hit my head on the pavement. This one was more serious. It's actually something I don't remember. Nor am I able to recall a significant time before and after. Pretty much everything I know about this I learned from my family.**
So anyway, I fall and somehow land on my head. My sister was at a neighbors house talking to some friends when she noticed me laying in the snow. She ran over to find me unconscious and face down in a puddle of water. They rolled me over and I regained consciousness after about a minute.
Only "regained" isn't entirely accurate. After my sister rolled me out of the water, the Alex that slipped on the ice didn't wake up. He was gone. A new and slightly altered Alex woke up.
They had to carry me home because I couldn't/wouldn't walk. I was awake but completely out of it. Once inside, I began to really freak my family out. I did nothing but ball up in a chair and cry and repeat over and over, "I make bad grades. I'm a bad person, I make bad grades."*** Over and over and over. And apparently, I wasn't just crying, it was more like inconsolable "my child just died" crying. They called my dad at work and asked him to come home immediately. My family had seen me cry before, but this was different, I had lost control and they couldn't reason with me at all.
They took me to hospital (notice I left "the" out of "the hospital"...I'm cool-British like that) and I had some MRI's and what not. By this point, I think I had calmed down, no longer screaming and crying. The MRI's showed no signs of serious injury and the docs told my parents I had a concussion and everything should be fine.
Again, I have zero memory of the weeks that followed my head trauma, so I don't have much detail here, but everyone in my family agrees that after that day I clearly wasn't the same person. I was irritable, easily confused and disconnected. They felt that in general I always seemed slightly dazed. I thought, and was told, that my brain was bruised and things like confusion and clouded thought would go away.
Well, turns out that stuff never went away. Things were just going to be different.
Aside from personality change, I needed a new set of tools to navigate memory. I noticed that much myself. Before the accident, information felt "sticky". Things were in sync. I processed input without thinking about how I'm going to store it.
After my head trauma, sometimes things went in and immediately disappeared forever. Comprehension became slippery, even the things I wanted to retain. I noticed that I had to add an extra step into the whole process. Once I placed something in my head, I had to immediately double check to see if it was still there...even though I just put it in there. I had a black hole swirling around in my head.
I remember being able to actually sense when things were slipping into the black hole. Sometimes it would happen while I was in a discussion. I wouldn't be able to recall what was just being said and there wasn't anything that I could do to bring it back. I constantly found myself without a clue. It felt like walking down a well-lit hallway and making an accidental turn into a pitch black room. In complete darkness, I'd fumble around looking for a light switch, but it was pointless. There are rooms in my mind that no longer have a light switch and will remain dark.
The transition wasn't so easy. It was hard accepting the fact that I'm an inferior version of myself. I feel like a clone. Or a bad photocopy. Not as good as the original.
I feel bad for my family. I know it was sad for them. I could tell they missed the old Alex. Heck, I missed the old Alex. They had to learn to accept this new guy. Some guy that just showed up one day and replaced the person they had lived with and loved for 17 years.
Looking at the spectrum, it's not that bad. I could have been brain dead or forever disabled. My family and I could have dealt with something much worse.
Yeah, brains. Friggin' fragile.
** Hey fam, if some of this is off or I'm leaving some things out, write me and let me know so I can modify or add.
*** True. I was barely hanging on in AP Chemistry. I literally had never studied before I moved to NJ so I was struggling with the transition from NC public schools. The bump on the head was the final straw and I dropped down to regular Chemistry.
"Once technology manipulates ethics, ethics can no longer judge technology. Nor can human nature discredit the mentality that shapes human nature. In a utilitarian world, what's neurologically fit is utilitarianism."
One of the discoveries looks at brain damage and how the condition of your brain may influence your morality. My attraction to neuroscience (and just about anything science recently) is largely due to my ongoing struggle with my own brain. It be jacked up. Many factors are involved, brain damage being one of them.
93-94 was not a good year for my noggin. I was knocked out twice that year. The first time it was pretty standard. Wake up groggy, headache, sleep, headache the next day, sleep, all better.
5 months later I slipped on an icy driveway and hit my head on the pavement. This one was more serious. It's actually something I don't remember. Nor am I able to recall a significant time before and after. Pretty much everything I know about this I learned from my family.**
So anyway, I fall and somehow land on my head. My sister was at a neighbors house talking to some friends when she noticed me laying in the snow. She ran over to find me unconscious and face down in a puddle of water. They rolled me over and I regained consciousness after about a minute.
Only "regained" isn't entirely accurate. After my sister rolled me out of the water, the Alex that slipped on the ice didn't wake up. He was gone. A new and slightly altered Alex woke up.
They had to carry me home because I couldn't/wouldn't walk. I was awake but completely out of it. Once inside, I began to really freak my family out. I did nothing but ball up in a chair and cry and repeat over and over, "I make bad grades. I'm a bad person, I make bad grades."*** Over and over and over. And apparently, I wasn't just crying, it was more like inconsolable "my child just died" crying. They called my dad at work and asked him to come home immediately. My family had seen me cry before, but this was different, I had lost control and they couldn't reason with me at all.
They took me to hospital (notice I left "the" out of "the hospital"...I'm cool-British like that) and I had some MRI's and what not. By this point, I think I had calmed down, no longer screaming and crying. The MRI's showed no signs of serious injury and the docs told my parents I had a concussion and everything should be fine.
Again, I have zero memory of the weeks that followed my head trauma, so I don't have much detail here, but everyone in my family agrees that after that day I clearly wasn't the same person. I was irritable, easily confused and disconnected. They felt that in general I always seemed slightly dazed. I thought, and was told, that my brain was bruised and things like confusion and clouded thought would go away.
Well, turns out that stuff never went away. Things were just going to be different.
Aside from personality change, I needed a new set of tools to navigate memory. I noticed that much myself. Before the accident, information felt "sticky". Things were in sync. I processed input without thinking about how I'm going to store it.
After my head trauma, sometimes things went in and immediately disappeared forever. Comprehension became slippery, even the things I wanted to retain. I noticed that I had to add an extra step into the whole process. Once I placed something in my head, I had to immediately double check to see if it was still there...even though I just put it in there. I had a black hole swirling around in my head.
I remember being able to actually sense when things were slipping into the black hole. Sometimes it would happen while I was in a discussion. I wouldn't be able to recall what was just being said and there wasn't anything that I could do to bring it back. I constantly found myself without a clue. It felt like walking down a well-lit hallway and making an accidental turn into a pitch black room. In complete darkness, I'd fumble around looking for a light switch, but it was pointless. There are rooms in my mind that no longer have a light switch and will remain dark.
The transition wasn't so easy. It was hard accepting the fact that I'm an inferior version of myself. I feel like a clone. Or a bad photocopy. Not as good as the original.
I feel bad for my family. I know it was sad for them. I could tell they missed the old Alex. Heck, I missed the old Alex. They had to learn to accept this new guy. Some guy that just showed up one day and replaced the person they had lived with and loved for 17 years.
Looking at the spectrum, it's not that bad. I could have been brain dead or forever disabled. My family and I could have dealt with something much worse.
Yeah, brains. Friggin' fragile.
** Hey fam, if some of this is off or I'm leaving some things out, write me and let me know so I can modify or add.
*** True. I was barely hanging on in AP Chemistry. I literally had never studied before I moved to NJ so I was struggling with the transition from NC public schools. The bump on the head was the final straw and I dropped down to regular Chemistry.
"Once technology manipulates ethics, ethics can no longer judge technology. Nor can human nature discredit the mentality that shapes human nature. In a utilitarian world, what's neurologically fit is utilitarianism."
Buried Alive In Your Own Skull
Is life as we know it quantitative? This article suggests something equally interesting and frightening.
4/25/07
Dear K-T, Thanks for the Good Times. Love, Man
"For the first time astronomers have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures, a find researchers described Tuesday as a big step in the search for "life in the universe."
Not that I needed to read this news to make me feel more comfortable believing there are lifeforms throughout the universe and not just our small little planet. I'm not 99% sure, it's an easy 100% probability. With BILLIONS of suns out there, why would anyone assume Earth is the only place to be for some hot hot intelligent life action?
I do acknowledge the fragile creation and existence of life. Especially life as we know it. Just us being here now is pure dumb luck. A very specific series of events over the last 4 billion years results in a 4 limbed, 5 fingered being capable of relatively complex communication creating and interpreting a collection of pixels.
Over time, we're going to find Earth-like planets, but the chances of finding anything close to human is damn near zero. One can look at timely meteor strikes alone and see how they had a major role in the status of Earth's current tenants. We're a product of our planets individualism and unique history.
And that's pretty damn cool. If you want or need to feel special, there you go.
Chances are I won't live long enough to witness anything close to us discovering other beings in the universe. If humans don't destory themselves and survive other natural extinction events, we'll eventually run into neighbors. I'd love to know what they look like, their history, their behavior. Would we be able to communicate with them? Would we even be able to acknowledge each other?
Hopefully W. Bush won't be around, he'd probably react with fear and we all know how he and his boys deal with fear. Ba-boom! You know, JFK was kickass. He and his crew faced fear and managed it with intelligence and wisdom. They had pictures of nukes pointed directly at the US, capable of severely crippling the US, wiping out the East Coast. The threat was real, not speculative. And he still didn't primitively react with preemptive violence. What a beautiful time in history.
Anyway, back to aliens. Too many variables, no way to know what goes on outside our very isolated existence. I'd love to be around for such intergalactic discoveries, but that's more than likely a long time from now and if I somehow lived that long I'd probably be too tired to care.
Not that I needed to read this news to make me feel more comfortable believing there are lifeforms throughout the universe and not just our small little planet. I'm not 99% sure, it's an easy 100% probability. With BILLIONS of suns out there, why would anyone assume Earth is the only place to be for some hot hot intelligent life action?
I do acknowledge the fragile creation and existence of life. Especially life as we know it. Just us being here now is pure dumb luck. A very specific series of events over the last 4 billion years results in a 4 limbed, 5 fingered being capable of relatively complex communication creating and interpreting a collection of pixels.
Over time, we're going to find Earth-like planets, but the chances of finding anything close to human is damn near zero. One can look at timely meteor strikes alone and see how they had a major role in the status of Earth's current tenants. We're a product of our planets individualism and unique history.
And that's pretty damn cool. If you want or need to feel special, there you go.
Chances are I won't live long enough to witness anything close to us discovering other beings in the universe. If humans don't destory themselves and survive other natural extinction events, we'll eventually run into neighbors. I'd love to know what they look like, their history, their behavior. Would we be able to communicate with them? Would we even be able to acknowledge each other?
Hopefully W. Bush won't be around, he'd probably react with fear and we all know how he and his boys deal with fear. Ba-boom! You know, JFK was kickass. He and his crew faced fear and managed it with intelligence and wisdom. They had pictures of nukes pointed directly at the US, capable of severely crippling the US, wiping out the East Coast. The threat was real, not speculative. And he still didn't primitively react with preemptive violence. What a beautiful time in history.
Anyway, back to aliens. Too many variables, no way to know what goes on outside our very isolated existence. I'd love to be around for such intergalactic discoveries, but that's more than likely a long time from now and if I somehow lived that long I'd probably be too tired to care.
4/24/07
Real Men Love the Rocketeer
I'm rendering, so I'm killing some time here.
Disney's The Rocketeer is one of the greatest movies ever. Here's a link that backs me up. Matter of fact, I'm going to add to my previous post.
If you're not down with The Rocketeer and Transformers, I'm not down with you. And Ironman. Rocketeer, Transformers and Ironman. And Spiderman...and John Carpenter's The Thing...and Big Trouble in Little China. If you're not down with The Rocketeer, Transformers, Ironman, Spiderman, The Thing and Big Trouble in Little China, I'm not down with you.
Disney's The Rocketeer is one of the greatest movies ever. Here's a link that backs me up. Matter of fact, I'm going to add to my previous post.
If you're not down with The Rocketeer and Transformers, I'm not down with you. And Ironman. Rocketeer, Transformers and Ironman. And Spiderman...and John Carpenter's The Thing...and Big Trouble in Little China. If you're not down with The Rocketeer, Transformers, Ironman, Spiderman, The Thing and Big Trouble in Little China, I'm not down with you.
OP Saves the Day
I was very close to deleting this blog today. It probably would have happened if it weren't for a client interruption that side tracked me. When I finished with my client, I went back to the interweb to pull the plug on this sucka. But like a good Digger, upon opening my browser i went straight to my Digg RSS feed first thing. That's when I saw this pic of Optimus Prime and couldn't help but throw him up.
I know, I know...you don't care about OP. you and Clooney. Whatever. Optimus is The PeePee. If you're not down with Transformers, I'm not down with you (throws up Transformers gang sign)
I know, I know...you don't care about OP. you and Clooney. Whatever. Optimus is The PeePee. If you're not down with Transformers, I'm not down with you (throws up Transformers gang sign)
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