Assessment post #3!

So to round off this semester I have my 3rd assessment post, detailing what I have done in this course. I have been mostly spot on for a lot of things, I think the only major thing I didn't do was post delicious links on 6 separate days. However, my blog seems to be in tip top shape, with lots of extra goodies in the side bar (updated since last time). I have my favourite links, an RSS feed from Gizmodo AU (for all the tech fans). I've kept it (mostly) up to date with lots of little bits and bobs. My flickr account has been mostly updated with photos I've taken on my mobile while out and about and it features 19, camera quality images to enhance your eye balls.

My delicious has gotten a bit of use, but with Google Chromes 'profiles' anything external for bookmarking becomes obsolete. However if I am without chrome I will load up delicious (or stumbleupon) to find the book mark I need. It can be an incredibly useful tool if you keep it up (or if there were a browser plugin for it. My webspace site was actually really fun to make, it gave me a refresher on html/css that I hadn't really looked at in a while and pushed me toward the decision of re-tooling and redesigning my personal portfolio site. With a bit of time and elbow-grease I think I can get it done. MPI on a whole has been pretty good, we've learnt bits here and there and without it I probably would of never signed up for a site like flickr or delicious. Flickr has been really interesting with things like geo-tagging and that sort of travelling from your computer. You see a bunch of things from another person's view point. It's cool. Things I sort of shrugged off in the past have been really looked at and I appreciate them more now.


Links to each:

My webspace
Flickr
Delicious


That's about it.

- Lewis

I met the Walrus [Animation Inspiration]

A really cool animation of a John Lennon interview. Best combination of the Beatles and animation (yes, even better that the rock band title sequence).

I really love this sort of motion design, I really want to move towards this sort of thing. But I suppose I have to wait.

I have a tee with this print on it. Yep.

A week with Spotify.

Whoa, 8613 tracks?!

I've been using spotify for around a week now and thought I best chime in with what I think of it after some regular use. I have found that it is a very useful application, even if somebody just wants to replace the almighty, hungry, RAM-beast that is itunes. Spotify has mainly defaulted to my main player this week, mainly because it is lightweight and it is just there. Library features work well, however the codec support isn't quite there yet. Meaning that if you have some specialised audio formats, spotify really won't co-operate. It doesn't play them, but it also doesn't skip them. Leaving a perplexed user when a recognised song goes for 13 or more minutes of silence, without moving on.

The interface is nice, albeit a bit clumsy and slack around the edges. It's a bit messy just for navigating and often hangs at the most ridiculous of times (creating a playlist for example). With that the ability to make playlists and share then easily on the fly is a positive. The ability to stream pretty much near defeats the purpose of pirating, other than the inability to store a song on your hard drive or mp3 player of choice if you are in fact without an internet connection. However in the ever increasing connection rate and ability to connect it isn't a big deal. You can always flick back to your library to catch up on some favourites.

It really is a must if you like music, or if you like sharing and experiencing new music.

Assessment Post #2

For my website I went for a pretty minimal look, utilising divs to create the main structure and then styling the entire thing with css! It's pretty straight forward and really isn't that complex. Where my page really shines is it's embedded blog, so while I update this blog it will show up there. Allowing for quick transmission of information and an ever updating source. This I think will be unique amongst the blogs. All it really is is the RSS feed of my blog posts (unfiltered, but there is an option to filter by tags) parsed and then spit out as a little snippet of html that can then by stylized. There's a little page counter sitting right down the bottom, unobtrusive and really just there because it has to be.

There's a few things like, hover link colour changes and just general stuff like that. It's a minimal website, it doesn't really have a purpose other than being there. I just used stuff I already knew about html and css. That's the only reason I was able to make sense of everything. Just wished I had more reason to tile images infinitely.

My website can be found here.

Boy & Bear - Big Man

Arggh! I forgot about this thing

So I forgot about having to do this thing... Which is terrible, so here is a super fantastic update about everything! I think it's because I already run a blog and have just grown accustom to posting everything there.

Mainly things that have been going on are all uni related. As it is essentially a week out from all the assessments due, I've been running around like a headless chicken and not been getting much done. I've managed to finish the majority of my web site, but my web space isn't exactly co-operating. So instead you can see a preview of the lovely thing.

See! It's all fancy and blue! It's got much more going for it in the final design, like actual content!

Things that have been going on in the world? Spotify was (legally) opened to Australia today. It's an interesting concept, it's like p2p in the sense that you aren't paying for content. But at the same time there's advertisements slipped in every now and again. I've only been using it for 2 days now, but I think it's a good idea. The creators are situating it as an alternative to piracy, in a sense that a cheaper alternative will counteract the act. I don't neccesarily think that's completely feasible. Piracy will always exist in some form, even when our generation was younger we were posed towards programs like limewire and frostwire - because it means we could get access to things. Not because we couldn't afford it but mainly because it was convenient.  Like most thinks people pirate because it's there. Things are available AND with music ever only being a couple of hundred MB isn't really an issues with the decreasing cost of storage and the increase in internet speeds it isn't that much of an issue any more.

Well that's about it. Better smash this blog with stuff over the next few days, and the next week. Weeeeooow.

Assessment #1

This is an update/submission post for the MPI104 assessment. So far things have been going well, it has been somewhat challenging to adapt to blogger after maintaining a few separate tumblr blogs. The simultaneous use has been somewhat difficult to keep up with, but both present interesting takes on blogging.

Blogger

So far I have committed 10 posts to my blog, these range from what's been going on in class to those about me ranting about how uni can be stressful. My favourite posts are probably:

• Handed in our walk cycle + other things going on
• Things that are totally interesting
• Too much to do, Not enough time

For the alteration of the aesthetics of my blog, I have decided to go for a dark yet sleek look. I did have a twitter feed in the side bar but it often extended the margin when loaded in shit ball pathetic browsers (*cough* IE). So that was removed. I have placed a feed of my photographs from twitter just under the header to allow a quick glance at what I have been seeing from day to day. I've messed with the header font as well, although I think it may be a fraction unreadable and in time may alter it to a serif, just to increase readability. I've used a bunch of different tags to separate my posts, making it easier to differentiate and focus on specific topics. Tags most often used are mpi 104, mpi with others being to individual posts that I am sure will grow as time goes on.

My blogger can be found here.

Delicious

My delicious profile features an abundance of nerdy links. They are mostly pages that I enjoy visiting but often forget about. My favourite links are:

• Ted (Ideas Worth Spreading)
• Lifehacker AU
• ColourLover

Delicious will come in real handy when travelling about and I need to get to something I can't remember.

Flickr.

My Flickr can be found here. I have uploaded 14 items in the past few weeks and a few favourites are; uni lift room, waiting for vis, and bandit.

Summing up

So far I have enjoyed MPI, it's been hard coming straight off of our VFX workshop into the class and staying focussed. But it is enjoyable and offering up a chance to look in to sites I have overlooked in the past.

Handed in our walkcycles today (and other goings on)

We handed our final walk cycles in today. Mostly things went well, there were some really obvious things I missed that given more time (or you know if I hadn't of missed a week being sick). But hey, that doesn't matter. We can have a killer time regardless. I did my best.

Other than that - the first two episodes of Game of Thrones season 2 have been released and they are amazing. Although the first episode was somewhat slow I understand that was to introduce the extensive new additions to the cast and that really is necessary to understand what is going on. The second episode outlines what is going on in the extended regions, and explores many of the characters current ambitions and reasoning behind their endeavours.

The other day I got ask what my favourite 'animation' or 'animated feature' was. I just starred absent mindedly off to the distance. But now I think about it, there is probably really only two clear examples of what I consider to be amazing.

Firstly there is Destino a beautiful collaboration between two artists that wholly created their own niches in their specific fields. Disney and Dali did an amazing job with initiating some form of animation that wasn't purely geared toward making Disney money. It wasn't intended as a feature, but as an art form. That said, it wasn't completed for nearly 60 years. It blends both 3D and traditional animation techniques is something that is truly unique and I think if contemporary Disney realised this... their pieces could return to the timeless nature of their original pieces. I love it, everything about it is perfect. That said about disney films, they are still wonderful. I still really enjoy watching things like Hercules and Tarzan just because they both incorporate an interesting (despite being adaptations) narrative and it still mixes a bit of mischief and creativity.

The other that I really love is only a recently created piece is this advert for 'Good Books' and it is quite simply fantastic. It can be seen below.


That's all for this afternoon I suppose.

I had forgotten to make this post! Week 4= Delicious!

Delicious is a unique web tool that allows you to host your most used (or hard to remember). However with the introduction of googles browser sync, will it remain relevant?

My delicious account is here.

So I finished my walk cycle as much as possible this evening. Which is lucky, seeing it is due tomorrow.

So yeah, there is that. Note to self, never get deathly ill a week before the assessments are due again.

Things that are totally interesting.

First and foremost; Game Of Thrones season 2 premiers tomorrow. Balls to the walls I am excited. The only problem being is that I have read the books and know what happens, but things are about to launch into bizarre. I am excited because this is probably one of the greatest adaptations of any written material, period. I think it is a good example of what is possible in terms of creating the same experience in a different medium. I think more books should be adapted as a series rather than features. Mainly because novels or series rely so heavily on character development that 1 or 2 hours is really not enough to fully explore potentional.

I'm currently watching Louis Theroux's doco on exotic pet ownership in the United states. It is insane. Who wants to keep a lion or tiger as a pet? Despite an argument of nurture v. nature, its batshit to own or think that you have control over something that could (potentially) grow to 5 times your weight and ultimately much stronger than you. These animals while beautiful and exotic are still animals. They still have their place and positions in a natural habitat and I still think zoo's have a misappropriated sense of human gratification and greed. I don't know.

I am tired and sick.

Things are suddenly looking up.

The days are slowly getting quicker and things are looking brighter. Inspiration is returning and everything that was looming is less daunting. Managed to knock out another walk cycle, which has eased the pressure somewhat and I feel a tad better.

There seems to be a lot of work, and not much time.

WIP still of illustration class, fucking back arm perspective.

Everything seems to be piling on up, and I don't seem to be able much gusto coming from me to get it all done. I think I just need to get in and do it but even the thought of it makes me want to put it off even more. Ahh, bummers man.

My walk cycle is nearly done but it really is that final push to get things cleaned up and what not. Alas, I will get it done and shouldn't be stressed. Uni felt really long today, our 3 hour lecture was essentially full on despite not really learning much. Other than influential people to the industry it was essentially 'oh you will be able to do this and this and this' which is great, it gives us an insight. But it's frustrating cause we could be doing so much more.

So time for some WIP stills. (Or a single one, because yeah. I'm really lazy tonight).

Here's to tomorrow and getting everything done!

Also, I wish the flickr + blogger integration wasn't complete balls. That's all for this evening.

Week 4: Introduction to Flickr.

This is my first cross-post from flickr. It is a great community and utility to share photographs.

This is my flickr.

We're getting new puppies. Yeah, it rocks.

Yep, this and my new longboard have just about made this week. Now to play the waiting game.

First Post

Hey guys, this is my first post on blogger. Yes, indeed it is.

YEAH THIS IS LINKED YEAH.

Something something bishops.