Though it’s not on the scale of what Wil Wheaton’s doing in Vegas, this is still a big deal for me. My short animation, airport, much as seen in the left hand linklist for some time now, will be shown as part of a short animation screening in the Sydney Film Festival!

Can you say WOOHOOOOO!?

More details as I get them, but regardless, I think I’ll probably make the trip to Sydney for the big screen premiere. See you soon, Sydney-based friends?

Hi there. Taking my own advice, I’ve gotten a little back into coding and greatly revised the bouncing ball/gravity simulation I did with Flash a while ago. It’s still in the menu to the left as “actionscript bouncing ball” except now there are two balls, they are coloured, you can throw them around yourself by dragging and releasing, they don’t sink through the bottom any more, you can control the gravity, and the bouncing is cleaner.

Anyway, thought you might like to play. Very small, quick to load, Flash 6+.

A recent study has shown that kids with computers are getting dumber, not smarter. Why? Two reasons.

1. Kids with computers at home don’t do their homework.

2. Information access doesn’t provide deep knowledge.

Computers and the internet provide us with so many facts, kids with access don’t think enough, don’t develop critical thinking, and aren’t creative enough. If you can look up the answer (someone’s answer) to a deep philosophical question, are you going to think about it yourself, come to your own conclusion?

When I go web surfing, I find out all sorts of weird facts, enhance my view of the world, etc. But I’m spending that time not making cool things nor creating. Sure, sometimes I’m writing this, which is at least something permanent I can share and a creative activity that helps develop my writing style.

(At least I hope it does; I’m conscious I’m writing short chunks for the short attention span of the web, perhaps atrophying any ability to write important documents like a thesis. Anyway, a warning. We’ve reached the part of the blog entry where I make a sweeping generalisation that makes a good sound bite.)

We kids of today don’t have hobbies. We have favourite movies, TV shows and websites. We develop skills for jobs but not for ourselves. If a group of us were lost in the wilderness, we’d all be stuffed.

But hey, look at this hot pic of Paris Hilton naked!
(Picture not included.)

When the two companies keeping some semblance of competition in the desktop creative space merge, Wired News: Adobe Acquires Macromedia, what happens? I really like Adobe, and I’m very happy this deal didn’t go down the other way round, but this isn’t exactly going to encourage innovation.

Adobe do a pretty decent job of upgrading their software, but they can take a while to do it. Plus, when the going got tough for Premiere on the Mac, they binned it. Nobody cried, but it shows their attitude to the Mac market, and one vendor shouldn’t have that much power.

Oh, hang on. One very large, despised company already does.

So now, on the Mac, it’s going to be Adobe all the way. At least the horrible interfaces on the Macromedia stuff will improve, and maybe Flash can pick up the long-dead LiveMotion interface for animation. Please.

I thought the last timewaster was good, but check out SymmetryLab. Wow. Also sodaplay. I should spend more time making fun things like this, and less time telling you about them, shouldn’t I?

Simple and beautiful: The Dot Game, via Web Zen.

In other news:

Last weekend (9+10 April) we saw The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Wonderful, and my new favourite movie. No movie can remain a favourite forever, but I can’t recall enjoying a movie more than this one. Bill Murray and a large supporting cast weave a wonderful tale of fluorescent snapper, piracy, great sets, paternity and David Bowie sung in Portuguese.

Though I’m not related to either of them, both Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums) and Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love) have made fantastic, unusual movies over the past few years. I can’t make any claims to be following in their footsteps, but more, please.

Also last weekend, a great massage from Bodywize in Teneriffe, opposite our old flat in McTaggarts. Recommended and very pleasant. Since then, lots of training plus private work, feeling tired but happy.

Recently: the first real, anonymous comments to this blog. Keep them coming.

The musical tastes of teenagers have been driving popular music for so long, I’m very interested to see what will happen in the UK now that downloads will be included in the Top 40. The BBC’s report: How downloads will change the chart is an interesting starting point, though there have been complaints made.

A song is not good because it sells; a movie is not good because it has a big opening weekend. Most pop culture exists to make money, not art. Simply: a product has been packaged and marketed towards those with discretionary incomes but little discretion. Fish in a barrel, fingers in my ears. Go Triple J.

Blasphemy ahead: you have been warned.

So the Pope’s died. Ignoring the living hell that Africa’s becoming because of the edict that condoms are “against god”, my concern is with those who are praying for Pope John Paul II. While I don’t have a copy of the Heaven Entry Rules in front of me, surely he’s home and hosed? Surely if anyone’s getting in, the Pope is… or is there some level of doubt out there?

Here in Brisbane (and I guess in many places) most churches have boards out the front with changing messages in large red and black letters. My favourite up until now has been the distinctly odd “JESUS IS GOD WITH SKIN”. The new winner, though, is one recently seen on an Anglican church that ended in “OUR GOD LIVES”.

Isn’t it nice to know that Christians are all kind and considerate to one another?