Hey – the second final candidate for my new composition for Tiger users is ready. It’s called Abstracted and lives in your ~/Library/Screen Savers/ folder. Enjoy, and leave comments here.
(Unless, like the twit below, you’re trying to promote your Delhi hotel.)
Oh, there’s another composition called Lines Dance here.
Recently, if I haven’t been wandering around Australia Zoo or finishing next week’s lecture then I’ve been mucking about with Quartz Composer, a funky program included with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. A site called QuartzComps has sprung up to focus on it and has many links to compositions people have made with it.
I’ve got a nice one to give away soon; just let me dot the i and cross the t. Soon!
Well – this entry was originally posted from Dash Blog, a handy new tool that sits on my Dashboard in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger! Yes, the fact that I’m excited about that makes me a nerd!
If that’s a problem, it’s not mine but yours.
But I’ve republished it to ditch the title. Incidentally, some friends from the UK are visiting, which is nice. Hey V&A if you’re reading sometime later! Also, I’ve been playing with Quartz Desktop on Tiger, which is great. Will let you see some stuff soon if you ask nicely.
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.)
Here’s an article you may have missed, an interview with Tim from the Office, The Observer | Magazine | Martin Freeman: Master of the universe, about his role as Arthur Dent in the new Hitch-Hiker’s Guide movie.
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.