Kaa
April 29, 2008 at 11:02 pm | In casual observations | Leave a CommentSo I noticed that in The Jungle Book they draw Kaa differently in his two appearances. The first (his introduction) gives him rounder eyes set farther apart, while the second (Trust In Me) gives him the more recognizable appearance with tall eyes set next to each other. This second style seems to also be more expression-friendly.
This probably isn’t normally that noticeable or particularly important, but I felt like mentioning it because it’s really annoying when you realize the two scenes you’ve been using as a drawing reference don’t match up.
On a separate note, now I’m interested why that is. Do you think they had two separate animation teams do the different scenes, or did one get done later after the style had been more refined?
Sun showers
March 14, 2008 at 4:28 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentI think one of the things I like about sun showers is that you wonder Where is the rain coming from?!
Sing it, Stevens.
December 16, 2007 at 2:53 pm | In casual observations, real life | Leave a CommentSo I was waiting at the train station yesterday – cold, tired, hungry, and kinda down because I didn’t know when I’d get picked up due to traffic. However, my mood was lifted when I noticed this guy on the next bench was wearing orange and brown sneakers with bright pink shoelaces. I don’t think it’s surprising what song I had stuck in my head after that.
He’s got tan shoes with pink shoelaces
A polka dot vest and man oh man
He’s got tan shoes with pink shoelaces
And a big Panama with a purple hat band!
Good Times.
There’s a Knock on Your Door
October 23, 2007 at 10:10 pm | In writing | 1 CommentI started attending a creative writing workshop last week and at each meeting we get a prompt to write on for the following week, so if all goes well I should have more stuff to share.
Prompt: There’s a knock on your door an you open it to a worn and beaten man wearing nothing but a toga with a large tattoo on his arm. He claims to be a long lost relative and that he can prove it based on a code in his tattoo. What is his story and what does he want.
This was last week’s prompt and the other people in the workshop had great ideas ranging from comedic to serious to taking it from the toga guy’s perspective. Mine borders between humorous sci-fi and just plain silly. I wrote the second half before the workshop and haven’t edited it yet other than basic grammar and such.
Washington, Washington….
October 20, 2007 at 10:58 am | In casual observations, real life | Leave a CommentI went to Taco Bell the other day to get myself some lunch. As I was waiting in line I noticed that they have those pieces of paper on the wall, the ones where you donate a dollar and then write your name in the blank to show you’re helping the cause. This particular one was for hungry children.
Before I continue, I should point out that a while back my father found this video on George Washington which we found humorous. Be warned, it can be a bit vulgar at points.
So anyways, I was standing there in line at the Taco Bell, reading the names on the papers because I had nothing better to do, when one near the bottom caught my eye. I noticed because, while it had a perfectly normal name in the blank, the person had also written something underneath.
…”but not the British children.”
Comedy.
Time Travel and Motion Sensors
October 1, 2007 at 8:38 pm | In casual observations, real life | 1 CommentToday I saw a boy who looked like he was from the 60’s. He had this haircut that I generally associate with the 60’s, kinda long but not actually long, thick framed black glasses, and one of those shirts with different shades of brown and orange stripes. His jeans even looked 60’s-ish. Heck, even his shoes and bike looked like they were from the 60’s. By this point I realized that someone accidentally being as thoroughly 60’s-themed as this boy was unlikely, and I came to the more reasonable conclusion.
He must be the product of a freak time travel accident.
On a different subject I have something to say about motion sensors. Motion sensors are very convenient devices. The first utilization was probably with automatic sliding glass doors. They aren’t appropriate in all circumstances, but people are generally pretty good about using them in the right ways. Then there are the more recent uses, such as for sinks, soap, and paper towels. These are also generally high on convenience and low on drawbacks. They use close-range, low sensitivity sensors so that they don’t usually go off unless they’re meant to.
There is, however, one object that never should have utilized the motion sensor. That’s right, the toilet. It was the most prolific and a gateway to the previously mentioned public bathroom uses of motion sensors, but it just shouldn’t have happened. Sure, it seemed like a good idea at the time. It seemed futuristic and convenient. Now I go into a bathroom stall and have the toilet flush three times before I’ve even sat down. Then it flushes an extra time before I leave the stall. Furthermore, they’re power flushes, so every time it does this it sends water spraying all over the seat.
What were we thinking?!
I mean yes, I can understand the idea of it being hygienic that you don’t have to touch anything to flush the toilet, but really you didn’t have to touch anything before. Nearly every non-sensor public toilet I’ve seen has those big handles made so you can step on them instead of using your hand. The only circumstance where such an act wouldn’t be possible would be for handicapped people, and considering it has to take even longer for them to sit down than for the uninhibited, a motion sensor just seems cruel. I’m sure it’s not that hard to use a piece of toilet paper when you’re pushing down the lever and then throw it in at the last minute.
I think I’ve written more than enough on public toilets and, furthermore, made my point. In summary, motions sensors are great but not for toilets. For toilets they’re one of the most annoying things ever.
The Bike Basket Story
September 27, 2007 at 4:46 pm | In real life | Leave a CommentAlright, so almost a week ago I moved into my college dorm suite, and yesterday I biked to campus with one of my suitemates to buy text books and a bike basket for myself. I wanted the bike basket because my college is very, very big, and I wouldn’t be able to carry my textbooks and bike to my classes otherwise. Fortunately our campus has a handy-dandy bike store, and fortunately they have a wide selection of bike baskets. They’ll install it for you too… however, you need to pay $10 extra.
This is where the problems started.
You see, when I entered the bike barn I’d just come from buying three of my textbooks, and while I’d heard schoolbooks were expensive I’d never realized exactly how expensive they were ($140 for my chem text alone, and that was used). For this reason I was hesitant to needlessly spend more money, and seeing as the guy at the store told me it was easy to install, I figured I’d do it myself. My suitemate was kind enough to carry my books and basket in her baskets and when we got home I borrowed my other suitemate’s toolkit and went to work.
Putting the basket together was easy. Attaching the basket to the front of my bike was also easy. Then, however, I had to attach the basket’s bottom supports. These were what kept my loaded basket from falling against my wheel and making me crash into something. They were kinda important. The problem was that I couldn’t figure out which screw they were supposed to connect to. After four trips up and down the stairs to retrieve different screw driver parts, between which I misguidedly unscrewed my brakes and failed to unscrew various other parts of my bike, I finally realized that the manual was referring to the screws that kept on my front wheel. Feeling a bit silly but happy that I’d figured it out, I made the attempt once again.
It was then that I realized my bike’s front wheel wasn’t kept on by screws. After a futile attempt of detaching the caps from my bikes front wheel and having them spin without any sign of coming off, I gave up. Tired, dejected, and overheated from working on asphalt during the hottest part of the day, I detached the bike basket and went to sulk in my room. I decided that I’d simply have to pay the $10 to have the basket installed and that would be that.
Unfortunately, it would seem things are never that simple. This morning I walked my bike across campus to the bike store (I couldn’t ride it while carrying the basket), but was told they couldn’t take ten minutes to install my basket for another two weeks. Classes start tomorrow, by the way, so obviously this wasn’t going to work. In a last ditch effort I laid my bike down on the grass after I left and attempted to get the infernal caps off again. When that didn’t work I locked it up and walked to the bookstore. Evidently walking around carrying a bike basket with a murderous look in your eye is a good way not to get approached, because no one tried to hand me flyers today. I decided to go back when I saw there was a line to get into the bookstore, and eventually calmed down and felt better after eating some lunch.
I’m not sure if it was during the walk back or when I was eating my Carl’s Junior Superstar, but I decided at some point that I refused to walk to classes for two weeks and, furthermore, that this was my chance to prevail in the face of adversity. After consuming my burger, I retrieved my bicycle and proceeded to screw the top part of the basket on by hand (admittedly not as hard as it sounds). I then proceeded to strap the basket to the front of my bike using my lock cord by stringing it around the steering bar, through the basket, back over the basket, under the handle bars, and back around the steering bar, just managing to lock the whole thing so the basket stayed in place. After testing my contraption to make sure it wouldn’t fall against my wheel (which, with the tension, it actually couldn’t), I merrily got on my bicycle and rode home, feeling incredibly accomplished and proud of myself. Hopefully it will pass the next test – carrying my books – so I’ll have a reliable transportation method for the next two weeks. Heck, if this works I may as well keep using it until November.
The Quick Guide to the Greek Gods
July 4, 2007 at 8:10 pm | In reference | Leave a CommentZeus (Jupiter): God of the sky and thunder. He is the ruler of Olympus and the son of Cronus and Rhea. His symbol is the thunderbolt. The eagle, oak tree, and olive tree are sacred to him.
Poseidon (Neptune): God of the sea, horses, and earthquakes. He is the elder brother of Zeus. His symbol is the trident.
Hades (Pluto): God of the underworld and money. He is the elder brother of Zeus and Poseidon. His symbols are the scepter and the cornucopia.
Hera (Juno): Goddess of marriage and fidelity. She is the wife and elder sister of Zeus. Her sacred animals are the cow and the peacock.
Ares (Mars): God of violent war. He is the son of Zeus and Hera. His sacred animals are the vulture and the dog.
Artemis (Diana): Goddess of the hunt. She is the daughter of Zeus and Leto and the twin sister of Apollo. The deer and the cypress are sacred to her, and her symbol is the silver bow and arrow.
Apollo (Phoebus): God of archery, healing and disease, music, truth, and light. He is the twin brother of Artemis. The palm and the laurel are sacred to him, as well as wolves, dolphins, swans, roe deer, grasshoppers, hawks, ravens, crows, snakes, mice, and griffins. His symbol is the lyre.
Athena (Minerva): Goddess of wisdom, crafts, weaving, and strategic war. She is the daughter of Zeus and Metis. The owl and the olive tree are sacred to her.
Hermes (Mercury): God of travel, shepherds and cowherds, orators, wit, literature, athletics, weights and measures, boundaries, invention, commerce, thieves, and liars. He is the son of Zeus and Maia. He is the messenger of the gods and the escort of the dead into the afterlife. His symbols are the rooster and the tortoise, and he is known by his purse, winged sandals, winged cap, and herald’s staff.
Aphrodite (Venus): Goddess of love and beauty. She is the daughter of Uranus. The myrtle, dove, sparrow, and swan are sacred to her.
Hephaestus (Vulcan): God of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals and metallurgy, and fire. He is the son of Hera and the husband of Aphrodite. His symbols are the smith’s hammer, the anvil, and tongs.
Demeter (Ceres): Goddess of grain and agriculture. She is the elder sister of Zeus and has control over the seasons.
Hestia (Vesta): Goddess of the hearth and home. She is the eldest sister of Zeus.
Persephone (Proserpina): Goddess of death and renewal. She is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter and the wife of Hades.
Dionysus (Bacchus): God of wine, agriculture, and theatre. He is the son of Zeus and Semele, and the grape vine, poison ivy, and fig are sacred to him.
Final Fantasy, Old and New
June 24, 2007 at 3:30 pm | In Analysis, review | Leave a CommentMy first Final Fantasy game was FFX, which my grandmother bought for me when I was in middle school. I knew little to nothing about the series beforehand, and I was completely blown away. I absolutely loved that game, and I still do today. I got interested in checking out the other Final Fantasy games after watching my friends play FFVIII. Unfortunately, the games tend to be both expensive and hard to find, so it wasn’t until this last Christmas that my grandfather managed to find me FFVIII, and not till recently that I ordered myself a memory card from online (since it’s pretty hard to find those too these days).
I’m only on disc two so far, but I’ve found the differences between the older and newer games interesting. Obviously there are some expected differences like the graphics not being as good and the characters not having voices, but there are also ones I hadn’t thought about.
For one thing, the pacing of the story is slower in FFVIII. I’m not completely sure why this is, but it seems like you have to do a lot more in between plot development than in FFX and that when plot development does occur it happens in much smaller increments. It’s possible this was done to make the RPG more story-based, which is supported by the fact that there’s a lot more non-combat tasks you need to complete. It would also make sense since the other thing I noticed was that the combat aspect of the game (aka, the ‘don’t die’ aspect) is really easy. I’ve only died once, and that was against something that could kill me in one hit. Other than that, there doesn’t seem to be much strategy involved since you can take out anything with a few hits from the GFs. As I said though, I’m only on disc two, so perhaps this will change later in the game.
The last thing I noticed was that the gameplay tends to be a bit vague and confusing at times. For example, a character will tell you to do something and then walk away, and because nothing suggests you should talk to the character again you try to do the task and wonder why you can’t. I’ve also spent a few times running all over the map looking for a place I’m supposed to go to before discovering the map button (which was never introduced to me) and realizing my destination was right next to my starting point the whole time.
Neither of the games can really be said to be better than the other. There aren’t any bad points I’ve found in FFVIII that I wouldn’t attribute to it simply being an older game, and you can’t hold that against it. After all, for its time it was pretty darn awesome. Personally I’m more a fan of FFX, but that’s based heavily on the story and my history with the game.
Now I’ve got to go figure out where that darn Captain is sleeping.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
June 22, 2007 at 1:20 pm | In review | 1 CommentHere thar be spoilers. You’ve been warned.
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