I decided to bike up to Burlington today, which is about 18 miles from where I live. What should have been about 37 miles total of biking, via me getting lost several times, became a 70+ mile ride ending in a popped tire. I couldn't buy a pocket-sized tire pump and my regular pump didn't fit anywhere on my bike, so I didn't bring one. Ended up walking for 1 to 2 miles before getting a ride back home. I was only about 5 more miles from reaching my house, too. How sad.
This might not be that much biking for some people, but I'm hungry, fat, out-of-shape guy. This was A LOT for me.
I'm an idiot and didn't put sunblock on. I'm a bit burned. My bike, at one point, made a very serious effort to anally rape me. I also, because I wear sandals, actually stubbed my toe while going approximately 15 mph. It hurt.
EDIT: So, yeah, apparently it's only a bit over 16 miles from where I live to Burlington, so I actually only biked approximately 60 miles after all. Hooray.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Best Game Ever
Maybe not THE best. But right up there in the, maybe, top 20 video games of all time? It's certainly the most underrated video game in history, seeing as how so few people know about it.
Doukutsu.
For the love of Atheist God, play this if you haven't already. It is an utter masterpiece of video gamery. It is freeware, about 4 years old and almost entirely created by 1 person over 5 years. It's genius. The game has wonderfully simplistic graphics and an easy-going play style, and can probably be beaten in 1 day. I just don't know what else to say about it.
I've played through it 5 times (I think?) and my hell speedrun time is about 3:40, if I remember. I have a life.
Doukutsu.
For the love of Atheist God, play this if you haven't already. It is an utter masterpiece of video gamery. It is freeware, about 4 years old and almost entirely created by 1 person over 5 years. It's genius. The game has wonderfully simplistic graphics and an easy-going play style, and can probably be beaten in 1 day. I just don't know what else to say about it.
I've played through it 5 times (I think?) and my hell speedrun time is about 3:40, if I remember. I have a life.
Scanner
I love to draw. I really do. Lots of people my age say that I could be a professional, but they typically don't know what they're talking about. I appreciate the complements and all, but I'm not NEARLY good enough relative to my age to work towards being a professional artist. Also, I'm a complete novice at all these digital coloring programs like Corell Painter that are so popular nowadays.
Matter of fact, I'd practice more with this sort of program if I was able to scan my hand-drawn stuff onto the computer so I could touch it up and make it shine there (I'm much worse at drawing things strait onto my computer than on paper and I just plain don't like doing it). Trouble is, good home scanners are really hard to come by. I've got 2, and neither work at all. They're fine printers, but the scanning feature is worthless.
Why I'm sort of thinking about this is I'd like to try animating something frame-by-frame in black and white on paper. Could be a good learning experience. This will never happen, however, if I don't get an actually good scanner. Blah.
Matter of fact, I'd practice more with this sort of program if I was able to scan my hand-drawn stuff onto the computer so I could touch it up and make it shine there (I'm much worse at drawing things strait onto my computer than on paper and I just plain don't like doing it). Trouble is, good home scanners are really hard to come by. I've got 2, and neither work at all. They're fine printers, but the scanning feature is worthless.
Why I'm sort of thinking about this is I'd like to try animating something frame-by-frame in black and white on paper. Could be a good learning experience. This will never happen, however, if I don't get an actually good scanner. Blah.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Unskilled people trying hard
Just saw this video. Kinda cute.
It is really very uplifting for me to see fairly unskilled artists working extremely hard on something like this. The character designs are poor and the poses are terrible. At no point to I feel a sense of life in the characters. Also, the writer's jokes are not very funny or clever. However, This video looks like a finished, respectable, cleanly-cut piece of art that a serious group of people tried very hard to create. I'm sure I sound like a jackass (what's new?), but I'm fairly sure I'm a better artist than most of the animators of this video. However, I just don't have the patience and motivation to create a polished, real creation like this.
The creators of this video deserve praise. I bet they could make a really marvelous animation if they just honed their abilities at making individual frames look good and maybe had someone better design the choreography.
It is really very uplifting for me to see fairly unskilled artists working extremely hard on something like this. The character designs are poor and the poses are terrible. At no point to I feel a sense of life in the characters. Also, the writer's jokes are not very funny or clever. However, This video looks like a finished, respectable, cleanly-cut piece of art that a serious group of people tried very hard to create. I'm sure I sound like a jackass (what's new?), but I'm fairly sure I'm a better artist than most of the animators of this video. However, I just don't have the patience and motivation to create a polished, real creation like this.
The creators of this video deserve praise. I bet they could make a really marvelous animation if they just honed their abilities at making individual frames look good and maybe had someone better design the choreography.
Mind Game
I really do hate most anime, along with most animation, along with, as a matter of fact, most televised entertainment. But I don't hate it all. This movie that I just recently watched, Mind Game, is heartbreakingly beautiful. Also funny. Created by one of my favorite directors, Masaaki Yuasa (who has consistently delivered superb quality and style in his animations along with magnificent, deep plots), Mind Game is a must-watch.
Below is one of the best scenes in the movie. Unfortunately, this is really the type of movie you'd want to watch in a more high-quality, wider screen format. I'd recommend avoiding watching clips from this movie on youtube. Still, this is awesome.
EDIT: Turn your volume up.
Be sure to check out some of Yuasa's other work (namely the shows Kemonozume and Kaiba) too!
Below is one of the best scenes in the movie. Unfortunately, this is really the type of movie you'd want to watch in a more high-quality, wider screen format. I'd recommend avoiding watching clips from this movie on youtube. Still, this is awesome.
EDIT: Turn your volume up.
Be sure to check out some of Yuasa's other work (namely the shows Kemonozume and Kaiba) too!
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