Friday, April 30, 2004
WonderCon 2004
This weekend is the WonderCon. It's the San Francisco equivalent of the San Diego Comic Con. Not as big, not as fun. But Allison is due the same week that the Comic Con is going on, so I don't think we'll be attending that this year.
So we're going to try and get the most out of the WonderCon this year. I'll especially be looking for Totoro toys for the kid's room:)
This weekend is the WonderCon. It's the San Francisco equivalent of the San Diego Comic Con. Not as big, not as fun. But Allison is due the same week that the Comic Con is going on, so I don't think we'll be attending that this year.
So we're going to try and get the most out of the WonderCon this year. I'll especially be looking for Totoro toys for the kid's room:)
The Jesus Factor
I watched Frontline last night. They had an episode called "The Jesus Factor." I found it to be pretty amazing. It discussed George Bush's faith and how it effects his policy making. He's President of the United States which means he's there to defend the constitution. But all of his speeches and actions do not depict this. It interviewed religious leaders from both sides, and I believe it gave a very balanced argument. One of the most impressive things it pointed out was one of GW's faith Based initiative plan. Where it was made to donated money to non profit Faith Based groups that help the homeless, abused, etc. So far most Christian organizations have received funding, but no other faith biased organization that has applied has received funding. I recommend watching it. I don't know when it will air again, but it looks like you can watch the full program on line starting May 1.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jesus/
I have to say I'm pretty impressed with Frontline. I also watched their episode called Diet Wars. It took apart the different diets out there today and it really gave a strong argument for avoiding diets and sticking to eating less and exercising more. You can watch that episode and others here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/view/
I watched Frontline last night. They had an episode called "The Jesus Factor." I found it to be pretty amazing. It discussed George Bush's faith and how it effects his policy making. He's President of the United States which means he's there to defend the constitution. But all of his speeches and actions do not depict this. It interviewed religious leaders from both sides, and I believe it gave a very balanced argument. One of the most impressive things it pointed out was one of GW's faith Based initiative plan. Where it was made to donated money to non profit Faith Based groups that help the homeless, abused, etc. So far most Christian organizations have received funding, but no other faith biased organization that has applied has received funding. I recommend watching it. I don't know when it will air again, but it looks like you can watch the full program on line starting May 1.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jesus/
I have to say I'm pretty impressed with Frontline. I also watched their episode called Diet Wars. It took apart the different diets out there today and it really gave a strong argument for avoiding diets and sticking to eating less and exercising more. You can watch that episode and others here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/view/
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Shrek 2
The reviews for Shrek 2 have started to come in. So far it's all good news. I don't want to jinx anything so I'm saying nothing more.
The reviews for Shrek 2 have started to come in. So far it's all good news. I don't want to jinx anything so I'm saying nothing more.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Hot, Spyware and Realestate
It's hot out here on the Peninsula. Around 88 today. I installed a Weather Channel icon onto my desktop. It lets me know when it's okay to wear shorts to work. I find that it works quite well although I worry that it's spyware. But it's really hard to surf the web without encountering spyware. I visited one websight (by accident), not only did it install software on my computer, but it also rearranged my bookmarks, remove my google tool bar (replacing it with it's own) and made my home page its home page. But when I looked up on the internet on how to remove it, several sights told me not to, because it would endanger my OS. The only way to properly remove the software was to format my hard drive. I did find information on how to disable it, which I did, so it no longer sends random popup adds to my desktop. I now use spybot once in a while, that seems to take care of most of my spyware problems.
What's worse, when we bought our HP laptop. We started getting popup adds right away, even before we connected to the internet. I installed spybot and removed a lot of spyware. I mean a lot of spyware. This was a new computer. That means HP ships their computers with spyware already on them. That's just wrong. I'm sure everyone does it at this point, but that still doesn't make it better.
I helped Jeff Joe move some of his stuff into storage today. He's an animator that I work with at Dremworks. He was moving from one house into another. It made me think about the housing situation in the Bay Area. I'd love to buy a house. I'm renting, which means I'm just throwing money down the drain. I did look into the housing market. As an animator, I make a pretty good salary. Not one that will make me rich, but I make more then most people my age. So it would seem to make sense that if I'm in a higher tax bracket then most of my neighbors, I should be able to buy a house right? Wrong. Most houses in my area start at 450,000-500,000. That's for a two-bedroom one-bath fixer-upper. And it's not like houses aren't being sold. Almost every house on my street has been on the market and sold within a week sense I started living here. And I've only been here a year and a half.
According to "All Things Considered" on public radio, the population growth in California has not met with housing construction. It's not that they can't build houses fast enough; they have just stopped building houses. So it doesn't sound like it's going to change any time soon. It's getting to look like I'll never be able to afford a house simply because I can't afford the 4,000/month-30 year mortgage. It's weird, because I feel like I'm making enough money, but in this area I have to live lower class.
So it looks like I will continue to rent untell something happens.
It's hot out here on the Peninsula. Around 88 today. I installed a Weather Channel icon onto my desktop. It lets me know when it's okay to wear shorts to work. I find that it works quite well although I worry that it's spyware. But it's really hard to surf the web without encountering spyware. I visited one websight (by accident), not only did it install software on my computer, but it also rearranged my bookmarks, remove my google tool bar (replacing it with it's own) and made my home page its home page. But when I looked up on the internet on how to remove it, several sights told me not to, because it would endanger my OS. The only way to properly remove the software was to format my hard drive. I did find information on how to disable it, which I did, so it no longer sends random popup adds to my desktop. I now use spybot once in a while, that seems to take care of most of my spyware problems.
What's worse, when we bought our HP laptop. We started getting popup adds right away, even before we connected to the internet. I installed spybot and removed a lot of spyware. I mean a lot of spyware. This was a new computer. That means HP ships their computers with spyware already on them. That's just wrong. I'm sure everyone does it at this point, but that still doesn't make it better.
I helped Jeff Joe move some of his stuff into storage today. He's an animator that I work with at Dremworks. He was moving from one house into another. It made me think about the housing situation in the Bay Area. I'd love to buy a house. I'm renting, which means I'm just throwing money down the drain. I did look into the housing market. As an animator, I make a pretty good salary. Not one that will make me rich, but I make more then most people my age. So it would seem to make sense that if I'm in a higher tax bracket then most of my neighbors, I should be able to buy a house right? Wrong. Most houses in my area start at 450,000-500,000. That's for a two-bedroom one-bath fixer-upper. And it's not like houses aren't being sold. Almost every house on my street has been on the market and sold within a week sense I started living here. And I've only been here a year and a half.
According to "All Things Considered" on public radio, the population growth in California has not met with housing construction. It's not that they can't build houses fast enough; they have just stopped building houses. So it doesn't sound like it's going to change any time soon. It's getting to look like I'll never be able to afford a house simply because I can't afford the 4,000/month-30 year mortgage. It's weird, because I feel like I'm making enough money, but in this area I have to live lower class.
So it looks like I will continue to rent untell something happens.
Eyesore of the Month
Eyesore of the Month is a great website that's run by author James Junstler. In his website he displays pictures of bad archatecture and makes fun of them.
I think April is particurly good:
http://www.kunstler.com/eyesore.html
Eyesore of the Month is a great website that's run by author James Junstler. In his website he displays pictures of bad archatecture and makes fun of them.
I think April is particurly good:
http://www.kunstler.com/eyesore.html
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
More Shrek 2
I'm glad Shrek 2 is getting publicity, but I hate articles like this one that popped up in Newsweek:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4765823/
"We needed to find our own path, a sensibility that's a little subversive. 'Shrek' defined us." And changed the industry. Suddenly, the Little Mermaid was all wet, and Sleeping Beauty looked very, very tired. Since 2001, only one traditional animated film, Disney's "Lilo & Stitch," has grossed more than $100 million domestically. Yes, Pixar has electrified the genre with the 3-D "Toy Story" and "Finding Nemo." But if old-fashioned animation is dead, "Shrek" certainly helped kill it, and the sequel's about to throw more dirt on the coffin.
First of all, I thought by now the whole 2-D Vs. Computer Animation debate would be dead. I mean come on. It's been over 6 years now, and still that's the only thing that reporters seem to be able to say about feature films that use computer animation. When are we going to get over it all ready.
Second of all, computer animation did not kill traditional hand drawn animation no more then sculpture killed painting or photography killed drawing. Big corporations who relied on formulas too much and didn't create an adaptable infrastructure killed traditional animation. Disney for years ruled the feature animation world. They became too self confident and too inbred to realize that the old formulas weren't working any more. The same thing will happen to computer animation in 10 years if no one watches out.
I'm glad Shrek 2 is getting publicity, but I hate articles like this one that popped up in Newsweek:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4765823/
"We needed to find our own path, a sensibility that's a little subversive. 'Shrek' defined us." And changed the industry. Suddenly, the Little Mermaid was all wet, and Sleeping Beauty looked very, very tired. Since 2001, only one traditional animated film, Disney's "Lilo & Stitch," has grossed more than $100 million domestically. Yes, Pixar has electrified the genre with the 3-D "Toy Story" and "Finding Nemo." But if old-fashioned animation is dead, "Shrek" certainly helped kill it, and the sequel's about to throw more dirt on the coffin.
First of all, I thought by now the whole 2-D Vs. Computer Animation debate would be dead. I mean come on. It's been over 6 years now, and still that's the only thing that reporters seem to be able to say about feature films that use computer animation. When are we going to get over it all ready.
Second of all, computer animation did not kill traditional hand drawn animation no more then sculpture killed painting or photography killed drawing. Big corporations who relied on formulas too much and didn't create an adaptable infrastructure killed traditional animation. Disney for years ruled the feature animation world. They became too self confident and too inbred to realize that the old formulas weren't working any more. The same thing will happen to computer animation in 10 years if no one watches out.
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Comments
Thanks to my web guru Brian, you can now leave comments. That is why my blog and the baby blog has moved to .php
Feel free to comment on anything you want:)
Thanks to my web guru Brian, you can now leave comments. That is why my blog and the baby blog has moved to .php
Feel free to comment on anything you want:)
Thursday, April 15, 2004
Greek Mythology
A kick ass Flash Based website on Greek Mythology. Check it out:
http://www.wingedsandals.com/
A kick ass Flash Based website on Greek Mythology. Check it out:
http://www.wingedsandals.com/
Propaganda
When I work on television commercials I'm reminded of a class I took when I went to CalArts. It was a class on storybording but the teacher also taught a lot of film making techniques. He went over comedy, adventure, sci-fi. But he spent an entire day on propaganda. Apparently something around 85% of film making is propaganda. This is surprising, until you realize that all television adds are propaganda. Propaganda also exists in movies. A group of people did some tests and they found that propaganda is the most effective when you combine it with entertainment. The basic idea is: "If you make them laugh, they'll believe anything you tell them." That's why product placement works so well in the movies. Propaganda is important to understand when you work in film making, that's why he spent a whole day on it.
In his book Free Culture, Lawrence Lessig talks about the "Free Thinking Buss". This is a school buss that has been converted into a mobile class room. In that class room they teach young kids how to use digital film making techniques. They don't do this so that they'll be able to have young film makers (like Spielberg). They do this to teach kids how to deconstruct the things that they see on TV so that they're not so taken over by the propaganda they see every day. They do this by giving them a subject they know a lot about, and tell them to express they're views of it using film and words. I think this is a great idea, and should be encouraged more. I like the idea of teaching kids how to deconstruct what they see and read instead of having them believe everything they see and read. I especial like the idea that with emerging digital technology that this will become easer to do. Using iMove for good instead of evil. Then the advertisers will have to work harder to reach they're audience.
Well, these are the things I think about when I work on television adds.
Ahh well, enough preaching. I have discovered a way to add comments to my entrys, But I need the help of a friend to get it working. But soon you'll be able to give me feedback on my posts.
More to come.
When I work on television commercials I'm reminded of a class I took when I went to CalArts. It was a class on storybording but the teacher also taught a lot of film making techniques. He went over comedy, adventure, sci-fi. But he spent an entire day on propaganda. Apparently something around 85% of film making is propaganda. This is surprising, until you realize that all television adds are propaganda. Propaganda also exists in movies. A group of people did some tests and they found that propaganda is the most effective when you combine it with entertainment. The basic idea is: "If you make them laugh, they'll believe anything you tell them." That's why product placement works so well in the movies. Propaganda is important to understand when you work in film making, that's why he spent a whole day on it.
In his book Free Culture, Lawrence Lessig talks about the "Free Thinking Buss". This is a school buss that has been converted into a mobile class room. In that class room they teach young kids how to use digital film making techniques. They don't do this so that they'll be able to have young film makers (like Spielberg). They do this to teach kids how to deconstruct the things that they see on TV so that they're not so taken over by the propaganda they see every day. They do this by giving them a subject they know a lot about, and tell them to express they're views of it using film and words. I think this is a great idea, and should be encouraged more. I like the idea of teaching kids how to deconstruct what they see and read instead of having them believe everything they see and read. I especial like the idea that with emerging digital technology that this will become easer to do. Using iMove for good instead of evil. Then the advertisers will have to work harder to reach they're audience.
Well, these are the things I think about when I work on television adds.
Ahh well, enough preaching. I have discovered a way to add comments to my entrys, But I need the help of a friend to get it working. But soon you'll be able to give me feedback on my posts.
More to come.
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
A Struggle
So animation on Shrek is pretty much wrapping up. The other departments have a lot of work to do still, but I'm done with it. Well kinda. I've been moved to Shrek CP, otherwise know as Consumer Products. This is where I work on the animation on television commercials. Can't say I'm too thrilled about it. I was supposed to start working on Madagascar in January, now it looks like I'll have to wait until May. Finding this out made me pretty upset. I keep having to remind myself that these adds are the kind of thing I would have fought to work on when I was at Rhythm & Hues. I also have to remind myself that these adds are made to promote the movie I just finished working on. So it's become a bit of a personal struggle. I'm trying not to be too grump about it.
Other things are going well. Allison has been quite a bit tired lately. Making a baby has slowed her down a bit. But she'll come back. Were getting pretty excited about it.
Also my Brother announced that he is expecting a second kid. That means our kid and his second will be about 5 moths apart.
So you see there's a lot of good things going on even if work sucks. I'm trying not to let it stress me out too much. It just means that I can leave work early for a change. Speaking of which...
So animation on Shrek is pretty much wrapping up. The other departments have a lot of work to do still, but I'm done with it. Well kinda. I've been moved to Shrek CP, otherwise know as Consumer Products. This is where I work on the animation on television commercials. Can't say I'm too thrilled about it. I was supposed to start working on Madagascar in January, now it looks like I'll have to wait until May. Finding this out made me pretty upset. I keep having to remind myself that these adds are the kind of thing I would have fought to work on when I was at Rhythm & Hues. I also have to remind myself that these adds are made to promote the movie I just finished working on. So it's become a bit of a personal struggle. I'm trying not to be too grump about it.
Other things are going well. Allison has been quite a bit tired lately. Making a baby has slowed her down a bit. But she'll come back. Were getting pretty excited about it.
Also my Brother announced that he is expecting a second kid. That means our kid and his second will be about 5 moths apart.
So you see there's a lot of good things going on even if work sucks. I'm trying not to let it stress me out too much. It just means that I can leave work early for a change. Speaking of which...
Monday, April 12, 2004
eBay RSS
I don't know how many of you have delved into RSS. Here's a handy tool, now you can create an RSS feed of your favorite EBay Searches. Just go here:
http://www.ebaylistings.net/
It works like crazy!
I don't know how many of you have delved into RSS. Here's a handy tool, now you can create an RSS feed of your favorite EBay Searches. Just go here:
http://www.ebaylistings.net/
It works like crazy!
Friday, April 09, 2004
Free Culture
Along with all the other books I've been reading that I've listed on my other blog. I've also been reading the book "Free Culture" by Lawrence Lessig. How am I able to read all these books at once you might ask? Well the fact of the matter is Free Culture was published under the Creative Commons copyright and Lawrence Lessig has chosen to allow free performances of his work. Because of this a lot of bloggers have gotten together and decided to make mp3s of the chapters of his book and publish them on the web. (You could also just download the PDF). This has been a brilliant way to get his book out there. I am able to listen to the book while I'm at the Gym, honestly I don't know when I'd be able to read the book otherwise so I've found it to be extremely helpful.
So far the book has been brilliant. I highly recommend it.
Along with all the other books I've been reading that I've listed on my other blog. I've also been reading the book "Free Culture" by Lawrence Lessig. How am I able to read all these books at once you might ask? Well the fact of the matter is Free Culture was published under the Creative Commons copyright and Lawrence Lessig has chosen to allow free performances of his work. Because of this a lot of bloggers have gotten together and decided to make mp3s of the chapters of his book and publish them on the web. (You could also just download the PDF). This has been a brilliant way to get his book out there. I am able to listen to the book while I'm at the Gym, honestly I don't know when I'd be able to read the book otherwise so I've found it to be extremely helpful.
So far the book has been brilliant. I highly recommend it.
Well Duh!
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-clear9apr09,1,578690.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
U.S. District Judge Edward W. Nottingham this week ordered Clear
Channel Communications Inc. to stand trial in August and defend
its business practices after finding there was reason to believe
that "Clear Channel intends to manipulate artists' promotion
decisions and interfere with competitors by withholding airplay."
Let's all hope that Clear Channel get's what's coming to them.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-clear9apr09,1,578690.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
U.S. District Judge Edward W. Nottingham this week ordered Clear
Channel Communications Inc. to stand trial in August and defend
its business practices after finding there was reason to believe
that "Clear Channel intends to manipulate artists' promotion
decisions and interfere with competitors by withholding airplay."
Let's all hope that Clear Channel get's what's coming to them.
Thursday, April 01, 2004
RSS part 2
I have added the RSS news feed to this blog. So if you'd like to use a newsfeed site to read my blog, feel free.
I uses Bloglines, but I hear that Kinja is also good.
I have added the RSS news feed to this blog. So if you'd like to use a newsfeed site to read my blog, feel free.
I uses Bloglines, but I hear that Kinja is also good.
