Moving Parallel

●○● Wha? ○●○

2010-01-19T16:21:00.004-06:00

Long time since last posting. I've been filing out applications for grad school for a PhD, which has been taking up all of my free time.

I'm posting because of the frenzy over Avatar. Initially, I thought this movie was going to flop with the emphasis on the visuals and everything else being dropped. Then it was released and it was doing fairly well. So I went to see it. Now, it is a very pretty movie to watch and I can see how video games helped influence the story and the visual aspects. But that's all the movie had to offer. The story was predictable, anti-climatic, and passive.

Even my brother, who likes every movie he watched, said the same thing. "It was nice to look at. That's about it." My sentiments exactly. But seeing how much praise this movie is receiving from a story that has been redundant for the last 100 years of cinema, it annoys me. Movies that have a unique and aggressive flare of the written word are being scuttled to the side by flashy images. Now I do agree that James Cameron is doing a remarkable thing with 3D technology and we can only hope that it'll become more affordable soon. And I can understand why a simplistic story was needed. When you have a sci-fi monster, it can be difficult to attract the average audience. However, if you provide a simple story, it can off-set that difficulty. Yet the story was too simple; too plain. I was able to predict everything in the movie within the first 5 minutes.

What happened Mr. Cameron? I realize that you are not the best at creating unique stories and your endings are quite obvious, but even this was a huge slide down for you. Where was the originality? I'm not asking for an epic story, but something new could have been integrated into the script. It IS possible to combine a standard (and dry) story with a unique idea and still bring in the average audience.

What prompted my posting is a link my friend sent me about people being depressed after seeing Avatar. Avatar Blues. Initially I thought people were going to rag on the story. Boy I was wrong. People are actually crying in this movie...why? What? Where? When? Who? Mostly Why? People are getting depressed that they can't visit Pandora? Really? It's a MOVIE. It's. Not. Real. It's. A. Fictional. Story. At least Trekkies know the difference. >.>

My only hope is that SOMEONE in the film community is not being swept in by this madness and will take originality to the cinema once again. I'd hate for the expectation of future films to mimic the story of Avatar. We've been going down the rabbit hole for quite some time. And Avatar just made it a faster ride.

○●○ Free Time ●○●

2009-10-13T20:22:00.003-06:00

My initial thought was "will anyone under the age of 16 know who that is?"

Long post coming soon!

●○● Round 2 ○●○

2009-09-10T08:40:00.002-06:00

Clearly this man stole the idea from the inmate in Germany. >.> Let's be original people. Though it does say a lot about the prison system when someone can escape in a box undetected. We're moving into the world of video games people! Rejoice! XD

○●○ Snake Be Proud ●○●

2009-08-14T19:42:00.003-06:00

While the inmate probably had no influence from the Metal Gear Solid franchise, it's still an amusing story. I guess that's one way to break out of prison. >.> Not exactly the most covert, when you think about it. Of course the media was going to grab attention at it. Old story, but a goodie.

●○● Avatar Identity Crisis ○●○

2009-08-13T11:52:00.004-06:00

There was an interesting article posted on Kotaku yesterday that, I don't know how to really describe. It's one of the few things I have read on Kotaku in a while that has made me think.

It reminded me a bit of my post Butterfly, my Master Thesis project. The article was attempting to humanize the avatars that the writer created. Gaming today is centralized on the avatar figure that it is quite difficult to remove one's self away from that image. We are our avatars, so to speak.

And is that really a bad thing? In many ways I would argue that our avatars allow us to be more of our real selves. We can get away with more on the internet or through our gaming persona then we could in the real world. There are days when I would love to tell certain people to stop acting in a lude or discourteous manner, but then there would be serious reprocutions (whether it be work, home, friends, etc.). Whereas with a gaming environment, the most I can expect is that one person to add me to a blocked list, therefore saving us both any hassle or worry.

On that spectrum we generally tend to turn into more abrasive, outlandish beings. Because there are no worries, we yell, we should, we scream, and we swear a lot more then our human selves would. It can be quite difficult to find your personal boundaries when you are given the freedom to say whatever you want.

What I enjoyed about the article is how the writer, while lamenting on the fact that her avatars were in joint custody, that she found some comfort in being able to create a new persona for herself. I'd recommend the read if you all have a few moments.

○●○ Gamer? ●○●

2009-08-12T15:05:00.002-06:00

I've been seeing a lot of commercials for an upcoming movie entitle Gamer. The concept is a future where video games have evolved into real world adaptations, where in you live inside the game. It's being plugged as a psychological mind bash with intense action. It reminds me a lot of Tron, while trying to be War Games.

As much as Hollywood is attempting to bring video games into their world, we seem to keep hitting a barrier. And it's a pretty obvious barrier. Gamers can't play with the movie. They don't have control over the action.

It's hard to say if this movie will do well. A portion of me believes that it'll end up in the gutter just like every video game-esque, that's not Tomb Raider, movie. Unfortunately audiences are not adapting to the concepts as quickly as we would like. It takes one movie to break the ground. Gamer will not be it.

●○● 2 Weeks ○●○

2009-06-23T17:18:00.006-06:00

Haven't been feeling well as of late, so I'm trying to take it easy this week and stay in bed.

In Sims 3 News I still can't play the game. I'm on my 6th run with EA asking me to update my drivers. >.> Because I apparently did not make it extremely clear in the first e-mail that I had the most recent drivers on my computer. At the rate I'm going, I may as well wait until they release the first patch and hope that it will fix my problem.

I still find it amusing that all of my searches for the issue pull up Spore. Coincidence!? Always a great feeling to have wasted money and obtain nothing from it but more headaches.

So my connection of the week. Roughly a year old but still an amusing concept. Taking a real world image and implementing game characters into it: Superimposed.

I enjoy the Donkey Kong one the most, but it brings back a lot of great memories from my childhood.

○●○ Sleep? ●○●

2009-06-11T06:49:00.003-06:00

A wonderful storm system rolled in around 6:15 p.m and has been ongoing since then. Very loud thunder claps. I was hoping to get at least 3 hours of sleep. :/ And another storm system is expected to come through within the next 30 minutes.

Of course it was a chance to take out my camera.

Here are a few from last night:

And this morning's cloud activity:

●○● Outside the Frame ○●○

2009-06-10T13:54:00.007-06:00

To keep my brain active, I've been taking out my digital camera more. Lots of nature pictures. >.> But this is the first time in years the garden in the backyard has been so full of life.

My favorites this year are the hybiscus:

They have been flowering on a daily basis for the past month.

Also have these intersting bell shapped flowers. I don't know their exact name, but they really shout out Spring:

And the marigolds, the palm tree that we have had for the past 8 years, and the sky.

Ok that's enough of that. XD

So that I haven't completely lost my mind, here's the video game tie in to the post:

This image was taken back at the Halo 3 release in 2007. Unintentional. Someone was dressed as Master Chief and happened to be standing in front of the Mountain Dew bus with lights flashing. I was hoping to get a clear shot of just the lights, but got knocked into and that happened. Think it turned out better that way.

Aside: Still unable to get The Sims 3 working. :/ Lost all hope with EA's troubleshooting.

○●○ Hardware Headaches ●○●

2009-06-04T13:36:00.004-06:00

For those who know me, I have a nice computer. A really nice computer. It can run Spore and Unreal Tournament 3 at the same time without crashing. Why would I want to do that? Just to see if I could. XD

For those who don't know The Sims 3 was released earlier this week and hasn't been getting good reviews. Mostly due to the faulty software provided by the oh-so-wonderful EA Games. And then there's the reduction of content that was available at original Sim releases (1 and 2) with the game. But this time you have to purchase them separately from the Sims 3 Store. Not an issue at all. *rolls eyes*

I'm now sitting at 48 hours of no response from EA for my question. Here I have a $69.99 game (not including tax) that I can't play on my computer. It's got the requirements. All the drivers are updated. Have DirectX 10. I've gone so far as to turn off every program running in the background, including anti-virus software. Same issue that I've been predominately seeing all over forums that has no resolution.

Though I do find it amusing that the same issue was occurring 2 weeks ago when the hacked version was released (didn't test it because I'm a purist and I believe in having a physical disc). You'd think that would have been a red flag to EA that something was wrong with the game. They might want to look into the SE method of productivity. If something is wrong, delay the date. You'll make a few people mad but, you'll get a better product at the time of release.

This is basically just to say this all reaffirms my dislike for EA and why I stay away from their products. If I wasn't a Simmer and a Will Wright fan, I would have never purchased this game. And I have already canceled my reserve for the Spore Space expansion pack. If this is the kind of headache they're giving their customers, I don't want to associate with them any longer.

Oh and I'm working on getting my butt back to a weekly posting of videos and photos to add to my portfolio. Just needed a moment to rant. XD

>.>

2009-04-29T15:23:00.000-06:00

I haven't touched this blog in a year. Wow...time really does fly. I'll be getting active again once I get myself back into filming.

●○●~ Butterfly ~ ○●○

2008-04-29T15:34:00.004-06:00

What is an avatar?

Is it a series of pixels on a screen? Is it an object in a virtual world?

Is it a representation of humanity, of our friends, or ourself?

Is it human or a monster?

These are the questions I proposed throughout this project and, while there is no direct answer, they helped to create the concept: a program that allows the user freedom, while maintaining a consistent narrative.

As the user moves around the program he or she obtains different pieces of the puzzle. Interpretation of the story is left open. You can decide what it all means and connect a story.

The challenge was in maintaining control over the program while allowing users the freedom to explore. One of the ways to keep the ease of freedom was to have the interface completely mouse based. The user can move the mouse in and out of each movie clip, around the screen, and click to change to another frame. This allows for a much better immersion of the story without over-hypermediating the space.

The story focuses on an avatar, her user, and what happens when they fall in love. Again, where you go with the story and your understanding is open to interpretation, but there is a main line of narrative. If you wish, you can view the links in the previous post for a chart of what mini-narratives are being presented.

I hope you enjoy the program and please post any thoughts or comments about your experience.

Butterfly ~ PC
Butterfly ~ MAC

○●○ Butterfly ●○●

2008-04-28T21:25:00.004-06:00

An Interactive Narrative ~

Concept: Creating a piece that allows the user to move about freely and influence the story while maintaining a narrative consciousness. This became a growing study on theories of time, space, reality, and humanity.

Interface: All you need to know is how to use a mouse. Movement will affect the images and text perceived. Clicking will alter the frame.

Installation: The program is in an .exe format. Most computers made within the last 4 years will be able to use the program with little to no problems. Once the program is on the website, right click on the link and choose the "save as" option to save to a folder of choice. Double click and the program will load. No installation required.

Layout: Instead of inundating the user, within the program, with hidden tool bars to view the outline, the images are posted here for reference. Use these as you please to help in understanding the branching stories. First, the general outline:

Outline

Question Tree

Question Tree - Second Version

Modes of Storytelling:

Head

Heart

Hands

Feet

A review will be posted after the presentation.

●○● Pick Your Poison ~ Sound Design Fall 2007 ○●○

2007-11-27T16:52:00.000-06:00

Concept: Sound before Video. Create a soundtrack focused on emotions, feelings, and the like while removing myself from any visual associations. Any film or video project follows the image before making any sound associations. I wanted to do the reverse and let the image follow the sound.

Result: To make it more of a challenge, I wanted to stay away from any visual thoughts as much as possible and create some form of a narrative with the videos produced. I know that at least 2 of these have a narrative. XD It was an insane struggle to not visualize the video to be attached to the sounds, and I was surprised by the results. After creating the soundtrack, I removed myself from the project for 5-7 days to push it out of my mind and start fresh. When I came back to listen to the sound, it was, as though, I were hearing it for the first time, and the ideas started pouring in. This is definitely something that I want to attempt in future projects and it was a unique experience. Trying to completely remove yourself from a process that you are so accustomed too is difficult, and I don't know how else to describe it.

How this Works: Listen to the music below and then, choose whichever video you want to watch. All of the videos are the same length. There are no additional sounds. The videos have the same soundtrack. Simple. Easy. And you have the choice to watch the video of your choice. Enjoy!

Connection
Endless
Riding Along - Text
Vector

As an alternative to Riding Along, I made one without the text. The visuals were so rich that making a second version was necessary.

Riding Along

○●○ Anticipation ●○●

2007-10-10T08:32:00.000-06:00

New posting. Anticipation project for Aesthetic of Interactive Arts class. Enjoy!

●○● Blinded Me With Science! ○●○

2007-09-30T20:09:00.000-06:00

I know. I know. I haven't made a post in a while. Whoopie. I had to get this thing called a job to start paying off loans and continue going to grad school. I work 40 hours a week on top of 12 hours of classes, not including the 40-70 hours of projects for class that I need to get done. No time to work on portfolio. Lame. But, I can use class work as a portfolio, so yea.

I'm working on pulling out all of my old videos and popping them up on YouTube. Right now I have the college collection. Due to my magical cable vanishing, I can't get anything from video tape to transfer to pc. How sad is that? So here's the first in a series of me 1) trying to wake up this blog and 2) adding to my video collection.

The story behind this video is that someone told me that the film students didn't do anything related to religion. Which is true, but that's how all film students are. We like to talk about drugs and have cool fight scenes. Screw everything else! But to prove a point, I made this...which does have to do with religion, if being possessed by the devil counts. XD

○●○ Moving On Up ●○●

2007-06-06T21:17:00.001-06:00

Been busy. Got myselfs a jobs that pays pretty decently and willing to work with my school schedule. So I've been in training and haven't had a whole lot of time to work on videos. So for now here's the most recent video I did for some friends:

And then something random thanks to VGCats:

●○● Nerd Alert ○●○

2007-05-26T17:22:00.000-06:00

Recommended for your Memorial Day viewing pleasure:

The History Channel is doing a tribute to Star Wars 30 year anniversary with a special focusing on the myths and legacy of the movies. Now, I wouldn't usually bring this up, but this is different from previous tribute shows. This is not about technology, or all the typical specials you see on Star Wars. This is about the mythology and the ideas that helped create the series and tying it into why the series is still as popular as ever today. The connections with Oedipus Rex, Homer (Illiad and Odyssey), and the Hero's Journey I'm well aware of, but some things the website brought up never crossed my mind. My words can't do it justice, so here are some images to relate to what the hell I'm trying to say.

Buddha Yoda

Storm Trooper

X-Wing

Check your listings and go watch if you have nothing to do Monday night.

○●○ Recroding ●○●

2007-05-14T08:10:00.000-06:00

In case anyone was watching, yes I did post something up on YouTube. No it wasn't anything artistic. My friend got a new firework called Angel Wings (Final Fantasy XI), or something along those lines, and wanted me to record him while he used it. I should have taken down the names and the crap around the screen so nothing would get in the way. And yes, I realize that I didn't type out recording properly. I have learned that I can not type and film at the same time.

Sooooooooo I'm having issues figuring out what to do with the music video. I thought about doing a time-lapse. The problem is that is seasons don't change in WoW...or in any online game for that matter. I'd have to find an area that looks the same in every location I want to film in. And that's not happening. It's actually apart of a concept I have had in my head for years if I ever did a music video. I want to hopefully get something done by next week. Need to get my butt into gear.

Something similar, but different. Oxygen! I found this while hopping around NewGrounds. It's an interesting collection of computer art and real world video telling a poem. I don't know if I like it, but I find it unique.

●○● Dancing Prohibited ○●○

2007-05-08T08:42:00.000-06:00

Crappy promo but I decided to give it a shot. I've got the summer to mess around with my ideas, so why not? I may not have the comic tact of Red vs. Blue, but I don't want to always associate machinima with humor. So I'm going to see what happens. If anything, I can integrate it into my current projects. lol

○●○ Boys Do Cry ●○●

2007-05-01T09:40:00.000-06:00

I like Family Guy. I know that some of jokes are questionable and go off into magical tangent land of nonsense. You have to have a really broad range of cultural/entertainment knowledge to get a lot of the humor in Family Guy. So I was watching the newest episode on Sunday Boys Do Cry and I didn't care for it all that much, mostly because of the Texan jokes. I'm not a native Texan. My father is. I've lived here for over a decade now. I have a lot of state influences over my many location moves. I have a sense a humor about New England, the Midwest, and the South. I can make fun of myself and the cities I live in. But Family Guy overkilled on the Texas jokes. We are not all super conservative, religious bearing, Chuck Norris loving freaks. Though the three Texans wanting to kill Peter because he is "technically" retarded was funny. It was just too much of a Texas bashing. I can take some humor, but not when it's grossly overdone. It's like everyone's perception about Texas comes from the tv show Dallas and that is all it will ever be perceived as. Which is sad and overstated more then perceptions and stereotypes of other states.

But the reason for this whole speech is the ending won me over. The family is back at their home and Peter faces the camera and talks about how people shouldn't base their values off of a television show and that parents need to take responsibility in what their children are watching. The problem lies in the parents, letting television teach their children and not step in to reinstate positive values, not the media. A complete blast at the PTC and I wonder how long Seth MacFarlane has been holding that in. Reminded me of the PTV episode and poking at the crazy rules of the FCC. Of course, if I could find the right quote I'll re-edit this to reflect the more accurate statement. Peter did it more justice then I ever could. But shows like Family Guy and South Park give me hope that there is still some sanity and form of freedom of speech that still exists in the ultra-conservative television world.

I couldn't find the clip I was talking about, but it's from the same episode:

●○● Work Of Art ○●○

2007-04-29T13:08:00.000-06:00

So after further review, I'm going to go back and re-edit Identity and Isolation. The first one I want to remove the last 20 seconds. The more I look at it, the more it feels like I tacked it on. Instead, I want to create something really similar to the lips piece. Isolation needs some cleaning up. Something in rendering didn't work out quite right. I swear, I practice the George Lucas art of film. I hate it when people go back and re-edit their films, yet I keep all of my footage and I'm going to do the exact same thing. XD Sick? Yes. lol But perfection has no limits!!!!!

EDIT: Videos have been updated. I plan to re-release an extended version of Identity in the future. I had an idea and I want to see where it goes.

I can't leave without posting a video. YouTube was pretty light on ideas today, so posting another classic:

○●○ Free Time ●○●

2007-04-25T18:18:00.000-06:00

I will pay someone 20 bucks to make another domino PC video, but adding some hills and more domino tricks.

●○● Third Life ○●○

2007-04-20T20:56:00.000-06:00

A little amateurish at points, but interesting video. The YouTube comments say that it's a real commercial making rounds in London, so I'm interested to find out.

○●○ Original Raving A-hole ●○●

2007-04-18T09:09:00.000-06:00

I was looking for the interview of a-hole of the world Jack Thompson, appearing on TV moments after the news broke about VT shootings, thinking he had all the information in the world about why it happened, long before the police knew even a fraction of a detail, and stumbled upon this gem that always made me laugh:

As much as I don't like how G4 has become more and more commercialized and compressed over the past years, a big thumbs up to Adam Sessler. You go Adam! (I realize this aired back in the Fall of 06.' It was one of the few times I turned on AOTS because I was really curious how this interview went.)

Kotaku -- Breaking Story!

●○● Isolation ○●○

2007-04-17T13:56:00.000-06:00

~ n. The complete separation from others. A defense mechanism. A segregation of a group of organisms from related forms.

Creativity always hits a highpoint just before a deadline.

Shot using my camera, mixing in some older footage with FFXI and SL.

○●○ Identity ●○●

2007-04-17T08:55:00.000-06:00

~ n. The condition of being oneself or itself, and not another. The sense of self, providing sameness. The quality or condition of being the same as something else. Exact sameness.

Footage from RL, WoW, FFXI, SL. Editing might seem jumpy in some areas due to technical issues, but I wanted it to feel disjointed...so I guess it depends on how you look at it. lol

●○● Fury ~ Redux ○●○

2007-04-15T17:05:00.000-06:00

Completed!...kinda. XD

Luring you into a calm, and false, sense of security, and then throwing a bunch of craziness at you. Footage shot from my camera, FFXI, WoW, SL, and GW.

○●○ Fury - WIP ●○●

2007-03-13T21:21:00.000-06:00

Another WIP. Footage from my camera, FFXI, WoW, SL.

●○● Isolation - WIP ○●○

2007-03-12T12:39:00.000-06:00

WIP : Work In Progress

Used video footage shot from my camera, FFXI, WoW, CoH, and SL.

Next handful of videos are all WIP so don't expect anything too fancy.

○●○ Still Downloading . . . ●○●

2007-03-08T23:06:00.000-06:00

So, after lots of filming and fiddling around with editing, I decided I'm going to base each video after a word and create a story or series of stories around it. I'll be posting some videos that I have been working on within the next few days. This is still a new process to me. I'm use to working with a pre-set narrative, so it's taking a lot to get my brain and creative side kicking to let it all flow naturally. More to come soon!

●○● Red Diamonds ○●○

2007-02-05T14:54:00.000-06:00

Video footage from Final Fantasy XI, World of Warcraft, and live action footage shot by myself. Still a project in need of testing, but it was an idea and I went with it.

○●○ lolBoston ●○●

2007-02-05T09:46:00.000-06:00

CNN
Makezine - pictures

All I can say is...wow. Even more confusing that people would assume these Lite Brite with ATHF crew, after a billboard campaign a few months earlier with the same characters across the city, would take this as a terrorist act. Seriously...as much as I love Boston, and my friends from there are dying laughing about this, get a sense of humor. lolBoston

●○● Testing Project ○●○

2007-02-02T14:56:00.000-06:00

This started out as an idea, but it became clear to me that I still need much more footage. However, I still wanted to experiment with colors and patterns. This was the result, with a simple video editing tool. It may or may not be the basis of future videos, but it's a start.

○●○ Downloading ●○●

2007-01-26T20:48:00.000-06:00

Starting up a new blog for this round. Attempting to do something new with video. Recording some footage as I type. Postings coming soon! For now...enjoy the randomness of the multiple template changes.