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Con Respite...

7/26/2016

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 So due to exciting circumnstances I have the opportunity to go to Anglicon in Seattle in a few weeks. I am really excited about getting away from home for a few days. Most days I don't leave the house, because I don't have a reason to. I can do my job search from my computer. Most places I am applying to have online resume systems in place. I don't need a ton of groceries, so once a week shopping is sufficient. Last week, I did not leave my house from Tuesday till Sunday. That seems pathetic. Well, I did go into the yard to take pictures. The bees were busy in the mint flowers, so I took the opportunity to practice using the telephoto lens. It is a Canon 75mm-300mm. Not the most expensive, but not bad. It is taking me a while to get used to it, and remember all the settings. My goal is to eventually try to get good pictures of the moon with it. That will have to be somewhere other than at home though, as usually I can't see the moon from my house due to trees and/or houses. But still, I didn't really leave my yard to take the pics. I posted my pictures up on Flickr. I also took the camera with me to the Fair on Sunday. I didn't get a whole lot of good ones, though. I need to learn how to change the settings correctly to get indoor flourescent and outdoor shots. If you want to take a look they are all posted HERE. I made an album of the fair pics. They are all so mushy. I need to figure out why so I can fix it. So many of my pictures are mushy. I may need to invest in a photoshop class.

Anyway, my point was that now I get to take a train up to Seattle and hang out with my fellow nerds for a few days. I am taking my camera and my uke, though I don't expect there to be any music there, per se. I have social anxiety, and I find it easier to deal with constructively if I have the uke in my hand. It grounds me....reminds me I am not stuck where I am, and if I need to I can step outside and noodle until I am calm again. And Anglicon is British fandom themed, so my Who songs and Red Dwarf will be totally appropriate. So now I am getting ready for con. What will I wear? Will I try cosplaying? I have been contemplating painting my cane with space scenes and Tardis's. I don't know if I will do that. I may try. I am not exactly sure how one would accomplish that. I am not an artist. Am thinking maybe paint it solid black and flick white paint on it to represent stars. Maybe use a sponge and some dark blue on it. Then I have to try to freehand Tardis. Hmm....There may be an easier way. I will have to think about it some more. I am putting puppet building on hold for the week. I need to get away from the heavy glue smell anyway. I did get some more tubing, so I may try assembling more bodies. Though a lot of my time will be taken up getting ready for the con. I wish I was able to do these when I was in high school. I think I would have been a lot better off knowing I have options. That I am not a loner wierdo. That there are others who think like me. What I did after high school may have changed a bit.

Anyway, there is a long rambly update. I really am excited to get out and away. I am excited to be with fellow nerds. I am excited to destress for a bit.
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Busy as a beav...er, bee

12/9/2012

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Well, it has been a very productive weekend. I haven't finished recording and posting stories yet, but it still has been very productive.  

     I spent several hours yesterday rewriting the story arc for the webseries. This is re-write number 3. Re-write because the direction it was going has changed so dramatically I had to go back and change the first few episodes and reconfigure the story arc. For some reason this time my characters are telling me where they want go with it, and it is not what I had in mind at all. However, it is truer to the characters themselves, so I guess I don't mind the rewrite. It is also necessitating the addition of more great characters, so I starting losing track of it all. And little jokes, story threads and character interactions are popping in, giving little touches to what was a good silly little story thing. It has become more than I meant it to be. I do not think it is bad. But it really isn't what I had in mind when I started this. it is tons better. I just hope I can make it fully to fruition. 

     One thing I noticed was I kept having to flip around through my notebooks to make sure I was referencing each character correctly, and not leaving dangling story threads through out. I found cheap foam board at the Dollar Tree, which I had planned to use for light bouncing. I decided that having everything easily accessible was a better idea. 

So now, my walls look like this:
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     I just taped the foam board to the walls using packing tape. I will still be able to use the other side for lighting. I also am saving a few to put animation notes on. As crazy as it looks, it is actually helpful. I have never been in a writer's room, but after I did all this I realized this room now looks like pictures I have seen on the intertubes. So maybe I am on to something. Probably a lot less efficient, as it follows my logic not general conventions, but still. Sitting back and looking at it all I feel like I actually accomplished something. And I feel that much closer to this thing becoming a reality. 

     Also this weekend my friend drove me to the hardware store so I could purchase some supplies. I bought plywood, 1x1, 1-1/2x1/2, etc. I glued and nailed the boards together for a frame, then I glued and nailed the plywood to the top. Once it is dry I will have a base I can clamp to the table and attach a background. 

Here are some pics:
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     So that's now done. I also purchased some small pieces of sheet metal. I am still figuring out what exactly I want to do with them. One of the ways I anchor my puppets is by using magnets. Unlike some, I put my magnets in the feet and use a metal base. Even if I feel the need to go the other way with my new puppets, a sheet metal base for the floor will give extra stability. I just haven't exactly decided how to execute it yet. 
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     So that was my weekend. I still have a ton to do, but I feel like I am moving forward instead of stagnating. 
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F'in A....AAARGH

7/4/2012

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I am not happy right now. I don't know if you noticed it or not. I spent the majority of the day working on the TMBG stop mo mentioned in the last post. I have been using Windows Movie Maker. I was in the middle of editing when it stopped working and insisted I get an update before I could continue. Before I could save and continue. Yup...I wasn't allowed to save what I had already done. So I complied. Because with Microsoft there is nothing else you can do. Now I can't use it for stop mo. I have been breaking it down into bits to allow me better control over certain spots. If I do that then try to edit the sections together it jumps. Majorly. Black out for a second, no sound then continues. No options to fix it. that is how I did the Douglas Adams video. So apparently they changed something and now it is useless to me. This made me frustrated, but whatever. I still have my copy of After Effects C4. One reason I don't use it is because I am having a hard time getting consistent and unpixelated results from it. But I still wanted to get the video done, so I tried it. 4 hours and 600 pictures into a 925 pictures set, and I find out I didn't give myself enough time in the timeline. And I can't get it to change. It won't let me add any more. So basically, my whole day has been flushed down the toilet. If my roommate's dog wasn't already upset by the fireworks, I would be screaming at this point. The string of expletives going through my brain at the moment would make a hard core biker dude blush. THIS is why I need an income....so I can afford the real equipment. I need to get a better computer, a camera that can be triggered from the computer, and a full paid version of  stop motion software. Well, all those things and a place to live....but shit I am tired of this kind of thing happening. I waste so much time unsuccessfully trying to get things to work. It would also help if I had the money to get someone to teach me how to use these things properly.

OK, time to go crul up in bed with a Pepsi and cry now.
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Nostalgia and Video Games

3/27/2012

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I just spent the last 3 hours steeped in blissful nostalgia. While looking for an app for my Android phone I stumbled across a Ninentdo emulator. It allows you to play the old Nintendo games on your phone. I never actually played Ninentdo (officially). So why would this envoke nostalgia?

I think I need to back up a bit. I have always loved games. Always. I suck, big time, but I love to play them. All sorts of games. Boards games, card games, etc. My mother was opposed to video games. She was pretty hard nosed about it when I was young, though she eased up a bit on my brothers. We had a Commodore 64. Her idea of  acceptable games were Where in Time is Carmen San Diego (which I still have the 5 inch floppies for), Math Blaster and Lemonade Stand. The Carmen San Diego game came with a 1,000+ page paperback encyclopedia and a dossier for each of the Evil Henchmen. You had to determine who did the crime, get the right warrant, and capture the Henchman. I used to play that game for hours. Though I wasn't allowed to play console games, my best friend had a Nintendo. Her mom would tell my mom every time I tried to play (they were best friends), but I was allowed to watch all I wanted. I used to watch all of her siblings play and beat Mario Brothers and Zelda. And Duck Hunt. I used to help her get her turn faster by doing something to make one of her siblings lose. Sadly, to this day I still can't figure out the console controller. I prefer PC games. And I think that is the root of my love of watching people play video games. I can sit an watch for hours and not get bored.

But I digress.....

So today when I found that emulator I thought I would download it, just to get a taste of the games I missed out on. It has been a long time, and I can't remember all the tricks to each game, but it was fun. They have a copy of Where in Time, as well as Mario Brothers and the original Zelda. It has been a long time since I allowed myself to be immersed in video games for that long.

Where in Time was just as I remembered it, from the lobby and elevator down to the faulty coffee machine in the break room. :) All the sounds were there, just as I remembered them. For a moment I was back in the end bedroom at my mom's house, sitting in front of that huge machine, thick paperback book in my lap, my brother whining about it being his turn and if I didn't let him play he was going to tell mom and she would take it away. I could almost feel our dog licking my bare feet, and hear piano lessons coming from the living room. There are very few memories from my childhood that end well. It was nice for once to have an experience that jogged a good one.

Nowadays I play games that are a lot more complicated. Doctor Who Adventure games, first person shooters, LA Noir......all with high end graphics that use more processing power than all of those old games combined. Still, it's nice to go back and play the simpler games from simpler times. When 64 megs of RAM was WAY more than you'd ever need. When beating a game was the most important thing you'd do all day. When ice cream was for dinner when it was too hot and getting caught in the summer thunderstorm was actually still fun.

Hey look....they also have Duck Hunt.....sleep is just an option, right? I can live on coffee tomorrow.....


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Random Dalek Says To Go To Bed Now

3/15/2012

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I just checked the Douglas Adams Video Tribute Contest page, and the views of my video have gone up by over 100 in the last 24 hours. That is good, right? Right now I am #1, but I keep waiting for the other submissions that will be slicker and prettier than mine to show up. :P

Getting frustrated with the new one though. I am having a harder time than I thought I would finding voice actors.  Quite frankly I am amazed that none of my acty/performy type friends didn't just jump at the chance to say shitty dialog into a microphone for coffee and carrot cake. And that there is absolutely no one on craigslist who wants to contact a stranger for same. I mean, I made the cake from scratch and everything. Maybe I need to move to the ad to a different category....

I am not sure where to go from here. I don't want to make a nuisance of myself. I could beg and plead and cajole and bully, but I don't want to do that. It is a little project that has nothing to do with anything important. I am not getting paid for it nor am I going to pitch it to anyone.  It isn't even going to be entered into a video contest. It is a learning tool for me.

So while I am figuring that out, I am busy making a list of the props and set pieces I will need. Somehow I am going to have to figure out how to make myself a mini squirrel phone. And a mini turkey. A lot of the scenes are set in the living room, so the number of sets will be low. I have decided to try to make a new computer. The old one is off white. And huge and clunky. Looks very 90's. Though I suppose lots of people still use the clunky 3 foot deep monitors. Do I want to do another paper one, or do I want to try sculpting one? These are the hard decisions one must make as a director, producer AND animator. *hand to forehead* However will I muddle through? :)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
Ok. enough silliness for one night. I need to try to sleep tonight. Insomnia is a bitch and makes the days hard to focus on. Tonight I am arming myself with lots of benedryl. Allergies are acting up again, so I might as well kill 2 birds with one stone. I leave you with a picture I have entitled "Sad Dalek Just Wants To Go To Bed, Damn It". Enjoy.
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    Eleanor...nerd, musician, stop motion animator, techy, crafty. But not in the crafty crafty way...I just like making things. You can find me on Twitch & Twitter @TeaWeaselStopMO & Tiktok.

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