Animation, Art, and Other Shiny Things
I’ve played the online game Everquest for the last decade. EQ is what’s known as a MMORPG; Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. Basically it’s a persistent world (it doesn’t reset when you log off) that supports thousands of players at a time.
Well, SEE Virtual Worlds is exceedingly thrilled to announce Planet Michael is set to spin up the end of 2011! A world where Michael Jackson is not only the King of Pop, but “the ruler of his own world of avatars”.
Now I wouldn’t be surprised if MJ did actually upload his consciousness into a computer prior to his untimely demise – I mean who hasn’t wanted to do that and as hard drives are now counting in Terabytes, with a large enough array there might actually be the space. (providing the ego part isn’t too terribly voluminous)
It’s well known that pigs are quite smart so herding and other learned behaviors are well within their abilities. They also have quite the personality and I hear they make great pets!
We have told stories since our species could walk and talk. Passing along history, personal or tribal exploits, cautionary tales to our young, the art and performance of the story is a bulging lobe of human racial memory.
Some of the earliest performances were pretty much debriefings from successful hunts and ceremonies honoring gods or scaring away spirits. Props in the form of totems and masks were often fairly specific in who or what they represented and, over time, were refined and stylized as the ritual and story spread through a culture.
And this is where our story begins…
The red mask is Zhao Kuangyin. I haven't been able to positively identify the other three.
Ancient China’s way of scaring off evil spirits, warding off disease, and petitioning for godly blessings involved a patterned step called Nuo that developed sometime between the 1000 and 200 BCE. Over centuries Nuo evolved into a dance and eventually reached the stage. Camphor and Willow wood masks were an integral part of Nuo ritual. Read more of this post
[Part 1 – the idea][part 2 – the software][part 3 – the hardware][part 5 – epilogue]
Part 4 – The Build
As builds go it was amazingly easy. I might even say it went swimmingly. Everything slammed in easy (except for the slight confusion when I used the wrong hard drive screws and tore a rubber grommet. fortunately the case came with an extra), powered right up and installed without a hitch. It was kinda creepy, really…
I’ve built literally thousands of machines; both my own and for a local computer store, and the one thing I’ve never done was take pictures of it. I’d resolved to pictorially document this epic assembly, but when in the throes…. Well… Here is a picture of a Larch:
As noted in my last post (part 3), as HTPCs go it’s pretty standard hardware so if you need a pictorial walk-through on assembly you can find literally hundreds of posts, and even videos, that will help you hobble through the process. Read more of this post
I can’t quite say I’ve been waiting my whole life for this birthday, nor can I admit to dreading it too awfully – it just kind of happened and here we are.
It’s a wonderfully roundish number, a theoretical mid-point sort of place where the past stretches back farther than the aging eye can quite see and the future remains of uncertain enough length to lend a mushy credence to the title ‘middle-aged’.
Pushing 50
I expect to start getting hails and howdys from AARP very soon if not on this very day. They already know who I am – Aunt Bee became a member of proper standing 5 years ago – but now it’s officially my turn. I now qualify for a special rate on my car insurance and may even get discounts from some of my favorite (selected) merchants. Admittedly that does take a bit of the sting out of membership in an Association of Retired Persons about 15 years before I’ll even be able to afford retiring myself.
Elsewise, I’ve been going gray since my early 20’s, always had a fondness for older women, and like to drive Cadillacs, so I pretty much fit in already.
What concerns me more than anything is that I’m transitioning to a new demographic.
I’ll leave it for you to decide…
When first I saw these pictures I was terrified. Feline armor could tilt that delicate balance of power between us and cats from our mere subjugation to broken cat toys.
White Knight Cat by Jeff de Boer
Brutal, strutting intimidation. Vicious, helmet-resonating growls. Simply weaving in between our feet adds serious risk and danger. Jumping into our lap could knock us unconscious.
And the Machiavellian nature of Felis Cattus, especially the armored one, will certainly exploit these possibilities to the extent they don’t inhibit their feeding schedule. And get the litterbox while you’re at it too… Read more of this post
I grew up around books. Lots of books. I began to read them at 3, or so I’m told. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t read nor do I know how many books I’ve read, but I’d bet that number is somewhere on the upside of the average.
And because of this I’ve always had bookmarks too. In my mind, dog-earing a page corner is akin to writing in the margins – a cardinal sin, but occasionally necessary, and only then if the book’s condition or value allows it.
Nearly every bookstore supplies their own bookmark, as do most libraries, civic activities and organizations, museums and aquaria, parks and playhouses. If you need a ‘real’ bookmark, something created for the task, they’re easy to find.
We all have certain favorite bookmarks that we struggle not to lose, but in a pinch any slip of paper will do. Or a leaf, a feather, a piece of string, a gum wrapper, a picture, a dollar bill, a magazine response card, a random business card, or possibly even a ticket stub to a museum in Italy.
And they aren’t just slips of paper, either – formed brass, punched tin, stamped leather, wood laminate, shaved bark, reflective plastic, magnifying plastics, light lace, pattern-woven linen, crushed reed – just about any material that is cohesive, and won’t get absorbed by the book’s paper can or has been used to note a spot in someone’s book.
“The choice of a bookmark is a matter of personal taste and civilization, show me your bookmark and I will tell you who you are.”
George Hartong
[part 1 – the why] [part 2 – the software][part 4 – the build][part 5 – epilogue]
Part 3: The Hardware
After spending the last couple weeks working with the various software I’ll be using on my HTPC (Home Theater PC) I’ve come to the conclusion that there probably isn’t one overarching, integrated package that’ll do everything I want. That said, the WAF (Wife Acceptability Factor) should still be high if I set it up right. More on that when I get everything onto the 10-foot interface.
Perhaps even more important than the software will be the hardware. I could have the most sophisticated and beautious interface that catalogued everything and could even anticipate my next program choice (how did it know I wanted to watch Beach Babe Sumo Wrestling?), but if it stutters, buffers, and has poor quality video and audio then what’s the point?
Fortunately hardware capable of doing high end video is pretty much the norm these days and, as hardware has a tendancy to become, it’s cheap.
As noted in an earlier part to this series, I could go super cheap and get a netbook or the like, but I’ve decided to build my own. Having been a computer builder professionally and built all my systems for 20 years one would think that this was a no-brainer, however I really would’ve preferred to let someone else do the work as I’ve been out of the biz for a few years (an eon in computer time) and it is really kind of a pain in the butt.
Using 6 months of cable tv as a cost benchmark, around $750, let’s look at what we can cobble together.
[part 1 – the idea][part 3 – the hardware][part 4 – the build][part 5 – epilogue]
Part 2 – The Software
I’ve been evaluating the various software available to run my intended Home Theater PC (HTPC) for the last couple weeks on my current computer. It’s a gaming level machine so the video handling isn’t an issue, the main thing I wanted to know, however, was the useability of the various software packages and if they did what I wanted them to. My main criteria were:
Click Me For a Random Post
The Ruffled Crow 