ignore this
making a website for someone and i just need a web accessible background to try out...hence this
February 20, 2007
September 27, 2006
In retrospect
I was talking with a chap that I did Media and Drama with back in my arts degree days. For the purposes of this blog, lets call him...i don't know...Stephen Jenkins.
We have a common experience. Whenever we see a making of documentary of a movie we like we both cringe, thinking "aww, I used to make movies".
A particular French playwrite, and thief, called Jean Genet said this about films: it won't be a true art form until people can make films in their hotel rooms, until making a film costs as much as a pencil. (Actually, i don't know if that is exactly what he said, and I've got a feeling it actually might have been Jean Paul Satre...but what the hell, they're all the same those Frenchies.)
But you know what? That time has so come. Just look at youtube and podcasting.
If I had my time over again, and I wasn't into psych, and I had some talent here is how I would have done things:
1) I would have enrolled in the same course at deakin, but only done it part time. Perhaps just 1 unit a semester. The main purpose of a drama/media course should have been to meet people and borrow equiptment.
2) I would have spent the rest of my time making little low budget things, and put them on youtube or started a website. I would put most of my energy into those projects. I would have recruited other people, but would have been very selective, and I would have been a dictator.
3) I would have been ruthlessly popularist. It would have been story driven, and actor driven. I would have lived and died by the download statistics. The quality control test would be: "would I forward someone a link to this, if i weren't me". I would have teared up any work that wasn't up to scratch.
4) No film festivals. No marketing hype. It would have relied completely on viral distribution.
May 09, 2006
Photoshop doodle 2
May 06, 2006
Photoshop doodle
Watching Harvard PP videos and doodling with photoshop.
I love Saturdays. There is nothing on TV.
April 01, 2006
Go see the Game of Love and Chance
If you want to see what I expect will be a really good piece of theatre, you should come and see The Game of Love and Chance. I'm not in it, but I did do the graphic design. It's directed by my good friend Simon Fisher.
McCulloch Gallery
8 Rankins Lane, Melbourne 3000
(Melways ref: 1A K5)
Tuesday April 18th - Saturday April 22nd @8pm
Sunday April 23rd @ 6.30pm
Bookings 0422 273 586
Adults $20 / Students $15
Featuring:
Kate Buchanan
Valérie Duthil
Megan Hammon
Julia Matthews
Emma Officer
Kat Sullivan
February 26, 2006
Stained Glass Neurons
Something that drew me into studying psychology was the terminology. There was a kind of scientific poetry to the language of certain theories and paradigms. One term I came across in the early days was 'cognitive architecture'. I had no idea what it meant, but I liked the sound of it.
'Cognitive architecture' makes me think of an organic cathedral made of neurons - a massive structure half building, half rain forest. Visitors to the cathedral are invited to lie on the floor and stare up at the light refracting through the ceiling. Some say that if you look very carefully, you can make out faint archetypal images - constellations made of brain cells.
The above image is adapted from thePaul De Koninck Laboratory
It is a 'dissociated culture of rat hippocampal neurons' with a few special effects that I added in Photoshop.
January 24, 2006
review podcast idea
I saw Mrs Henderson Presents at Chaddy with Adam yesterday. Twas a jolly good film, even if it didn't have Maggy Smith in it.
Adam and I talked about a couple of ideas for creative projects. Most interestingly, late in the day, Adam came up with an idea to do theatre review podcasts (actually, it could just be live performance reviews full stop).
You all know how much i've been hanging out to do a podcast, so I thought that was jolly good idea.
Step 1 - see a show
step 2 - record a review
January 09, 2006
streaky light trick
I just learn't a cool photoshop trick for creating really fantastic beams of light in an image. Read about it here.
mareebrown.com
Mum finally needed a website for her artwork. Lucky she knows an amateur webdesigner, moi. I've set it up so that it is completely run by movabletype. She's not posted anything to it yet, but I think i've got it looking pretty slick. I'm actually a bit jealous, because it looks so much better than this blog at the moment.
Anyway, be sure to leave comments when she posts something.
December 17, 2005
ugly design still
I can't stop tinkering with the layout of this stupid blog. I'm really happy with the functionality, but it still looks like shit. The bubble wrap is too much. It's ugggggggggly
I want it to look beautiful but not girly...and slick, but not corporate.
December 13, 2005
Let's make our video available
Recently i've been watching a lot of interesting things on Google Video. So I thought I might upload some content of my own. I just uploaded Jenko's Storytime, and it's been approved.
Jenko's Storytime - Google Video
I thought we could also upload some Louis, and even the whole of the Maids video. You know, as both a bit of publicity, and as a community service. What do you reckon? You can even put a price on the video, and makes some money from it. But i'm not so into that.
Wouldn't it be great to be able to watch old productions of plays online. Nowhere near the real thing, but if a production is no longer playing, then the video is not a bad consolation.
September 10, 2005
Screen film
To my eternal frustration I keep having good ideas for things once it is too late. For example, ever since I finished highschool i've had good ideas for school captain speeches. A similar thing now occurs for the Digital Filmmaking unit I did at Deakin a couple of years ago.
One idea occured to me today, and i know just how perfect it would be Digital Filmmaking. A short film where the story is told entirely through watching someone's computer screen as they use it. You could use one of those screen capture applications to make a record a video file as you role played the computer use of your character. For example, you could do an interesting story about a scarey internet stalker or something (although how student film is that?).
I think it's a fan bloody tastic idea. Dirk would love it. Actually, Stephen Goddard would love it more.
August 30, 2005
captain funky eye
August 27, 2005
Quintet
I've discovered a lovely quintet that sing some of my favourite songs. Here's a photo off their website. And I also found an mp3 download:
August 17, 2005
Tootles!
Yesterday Adam and myself were very talented. We recorded a small section of our audio chain email. Here is the work in progress. Listen to the Mp3 (4.5MB)
After listening to it again, it's certain that I need to redo Fred Thompson in another voice. I've let the team down.
Bret works a treat.
Also, on reflection, i'm not sure how much it sounds like a telephone, I think we need to tweak it some more.
August 08, 2005
Design a go go
A big design day today. I've been catching up on graphics work that i'm doing for various people. First I had to do some more drafts for the Cunversations people, and then, because there is a Tempest meeting here tonight, I figured I'd better do some design for them.
I quite like design days. It's relaxing in a way, because its creative (sort of) and I can listen to podcasts at the same time.
I'm not overly satisfied with my output for today, however. It looks too much like something that i'd make. I should really take some time to learn some new skills and make my own stuff.
I went to a nerd convention on the weekend and saw someone demonstrating the new CS2 sweet. The new illustrator and photoshop look amazing.
August 03, 2005
you jackass
Don't tell Adam, but he put me in a good mood today. He had this cool idea for a mock self-help CD called 'Learning to deal with abuse - you jackass!' which was really funny. We thought we could make a podcast of it and other funny things. It was fun thinking about it and putting together some of the music with Soundtrack Pro.
What else has been goin on?
Nothing much.
June 20, 2005
Pick a card any card
I've been quite lucky with the run of video/webdesign/multimedia jobs i've landed in the past couple of months, even if they do only pay $1 an hour. Anyway, that's drying up now, so I think i've got to get back into advertising if I want to be able to buy myself a robotic vacuum. First step, business cards. Here's a new, simple design that I just wacked up. What do you think? Any suggestions?
I think i'll just buy some card type paper and print them as I need them, because I think i'll only ever need 20 or so. However I might put the file on a CD and carry it with me, or put it on my SD card. Just in case I find somewhere cheep.
I'm also considering doing a new showreel. Not that I have much new to put on it. Oh, but there is Louis! And I still want to make a mock commercial about toast......ay Adam? Toast!
June 08, 2005
We love you Steve
I don't get all crazy about much except for Tori Amos and Apple Computers. That's why today I had a lot of fun watching the video of Steve Jobs, Apple's messiah and CEO, giving his big annual speach. He demoed the new version of iTunes as well as a few other things, but I think what I enjoyed most was his Keynote presentation (Keynote is Apple's far superior version of PowerPoint).
You can watch it here:
Anyway, so I had a very vague idea for a theatre show that operates as a mock annual general meeting for a fictional company, with a whole lot of Power Point gags. Things like people listing the top 3 best qualities of the company and they're all the same thing worded differently. Or charts that say absolutely nothing but look fancy. Perhaps people in the audience asking difficult questions and getting meaningless answers.
Either that, or we can just go to Nando's.
April 30, 2005
genuinely hand crafted gord
I like it when I find things I can't remember writing. I'm cleaning up my harddrive (because i'm going to do a new OS install in a few weeks), and I just found this. I don't remember writing it, and it's very strange. It seems to feature a few people I know.
Lenny: Ready for lesson!?Jenko: Eh, sorry?
Lenny: Driving lesson! I�m parked outside! You ready or not!? You know, broom broom, honk honk! Arghh shit! Great big truck, watch out! Oh crap! Old lady, get off the road! You know? Yes?
Jenko: (to audience) I did know, and I was ready, but I just stood there like a refrigerated monkey. My guts were screaming at me to hide underneath the house until he went � but � I didn�t�and that was my mistake.
Now that I think about, I suppose it all began just after I found myself buying this fluffy pen, (holds up pen) and this genuinely hand crafted gord, (holds up gord) from a primary school fate I had accidentally drifted into on my way back from the milk bar.
(a very serious freaky stranger grabs his arm)
Ren: Sultana? (offering a sultana from a small tupperware container full of sultanas)
Jenko: No thankyou. I�m fine.
Ren: Go on, I don�t mind.
Jenko: I�m ok.
Ren: Have one.
Jenko: No.
Ren: Yes.
Jenko: No
Ren: Why not?
Jenko: I just don�t �
Ren: Oh I see! Ooooooooh! He can�t manage a sultana! Not a sultana! Other dried fruit, well that�s another story, but a sultana! Nooooooooooo! Heaven forbid!
Jenko: What?! I don�t feel like a bloody sultana. Why should I �
Ren: Ahhhhh! I don�t believe it! He�s unbelievable! What a loony! What a freak! He won�t even have a sultana! Well this is just incredible! Incredible!
Jenko: Shhhh. Just shut up. Alright. (goes to take a sultana)
(suddenly sultana lady grabs his hand and stares at him intensely. She starts convulsing wildly and emits a gurgling noise, then falls on the floor)
Jenko: (to audience) someone called an ambulance, and I felt obligated to wait with the freaky stranger until it arrived. But then it got weirder�
Ren: Oi!
Jenko: What?
Ren: Here (she pushes a piece of paper into his hand, then falls into a coma)
Jenko: It was all scrunched up, and the ink was running from her sweaty hand, but it was definitely a raffle ticket of some sort. Number 36.
Lenny: Ok, ok ok ok! Now we draw the raffle! Ok! Fifth prize is this homemade jam! Ooooh yummy! Ok, and its number 51! Oh, yes! You�re so lucky! Ok! Fourth prize, more homemade jam! Number 62! Oh wow! You�re so lucky! Ok! Third prize is really good!(he pauses and looks straight at Jenko for way too long)
Lenny: Free driving lesson for that special person! Top quality! And the winner is�(very long pause) number 36! Oh yes! That�s a good one, I teach you myself! Well done! You�re a winner!�.ok, second prize, home made jam�
Very strange.
If you're looking for an update on today, I'm sorry to say I can't be bothered writing one.
February 12, 2005
Old Stag
I'm back from doing Monkey Magic in the city for chinese new year. It was quite fun. I'll take photos when we do it again tomorrow. I was only on for about 45 seconds in the end.
There was a bit of a mix up about the height of the stage, which made ramping it impossible. So I just did my Old Stag bit from the ground, and let all my other parts go.
It seemed to go well.
Some homeys were heckling us, and then tried to steal the microphone after the show. Some guy from the crowd wacked him one infront of all the children, and security had to come and break them up.
I did get to say something in Chinese, which came back to me just in time. I was quite pleased to discover that all these years since doing chinese in yr 12 i can still remember the odd phrase. Maybe I should take up chinese again.
One idea I had while waiting for the show to end. An easy way to get an audience for theatre projects might to be ask councils if we could perform a childrens play (maybe even with puppets) at their local festivals. It would be an easy gig to get and a good way to build up a reputation.
Then on the way home, as I polished off the end of Emergence, the fantastic book by Steven Berlin Johnson (see the link on my blogroll), i had another idea. Bottom-up emmergent theatre creating. It's a bit late to be thinking of ideas for honours thesis, but it's actually a cool idea. A bit hard to explain if you don't know about emmergence, but you could explore a lot with that theme.
September 16, 2004
dot posters
I made these, but you need to see them in person to see how they work. They gave me an idea for a cool and very cheap way of doing publicity for another show in the favour.
You can only tell what the image is if you stand 10m back, but then you'd have to walk right up to them to see what the accompaning text says. And because they be done via photocopying, you have heaps of different versions to keep the punters interested.
squinting helps too...
May 26, 2004
Ionesco
I'm reading some Ionesco today. Since i bought a book of 4 of his plays over the net i'd only had a chance to read half of the Bald Soprano because I lent the book to Amanda.
But I just read the Bald Soprano again, and how I love it.
It's made me realise that often plays and things about strange things happening, are often really about the normal things we take for granted.
It's like when you answer the phone fully expecting it to taste salty, only to discover the person on the other end doesn't own a phone.
Do you think the key to it is about setting up the expectation, more than it is about something weird happening?
Like when Mary says that her real name is Sherlock Holmes, only to us the audience. We take for granted that it's a secret from the rest of the characters. But then Mr Martin some pages on quite casually refers to her being a good detective. The funny comes from being wrong footed rather than there being anything funny about detectives.
I reaaaaaaly like the Bald Soprano.
Was it Adam that told me he was inspired by reading foreign language phrase books? The rosetta stone software is a bit weird in the same way. You have to learn sentances like "The man in red is sitting on the baby".
December 20, 2003
distractions
I'm creatively itchy. I want to make something new. I want to start something new, and obsess, and perfect - starting right now, and finishing months later. But i'm shitty; shitty about the one flaw in the art forms at my disposal: They rely so much on other people and I�m forever feeling like my creativity is held to ransom. Admitedly a selfish annoyance, but....
If I could write, I�d open a word doc and complete something completely autonomously. Starting right now, and finishing years later. No organising; no reliance; complete control.
...Well write something then you whingy wanker
Lookie here Ms Veranda Bold, it's not quite as easy as that. Hmmm? To my constant frustration, i'm not much of a writer. Not for the page at least...i don't mind writing for performances or videos, where fragmented mushy is the sought thing.
But wait. I love drama and the good side of media collaborations for getting me out of my room. It's a large part of the appeal. Yes, now I remember. Clearly it's a two edged bread knife.
So I'm creatively itchy, or maybe just bored? As Jenko observes, when you're happy you don't need the distractions of being busy. So load me up kids, I love busy.
I've found myself actually putting a fair effort into this match girl DVD. But why? Perhaps to prove some point that had I been trusted, things could have looked much better. Jane dropped off pics and vid, so I may get a fair bit done today.
The dvd main menu as it is currently (right)