A Couple of Interactive Items

I've been playing around with ideas for doing some "interactive" drawings. Here are a couple of small tests. I'm trying to beat some programming logic (Flash ActionScript 3.0) into my fuzzy brain. Ow. It hurts. I've been learning the code for this stuff from Foundation Game Design With Flash, by Rex van der Spuy.

Click on the image below and cruise around with Steak using the cursor keys.
Wow, it's parallax scrolling.

Steak appears courtesy of Sam D. Inada.


This is just an idiotic game where the computer guesses a number that you input. Hours of fun. See if you can fool the machine!

Pop Muzak

I want music to lift me up into shimmering veils of electric Godhead so that I feel like a cross between Liberace and Thor. Some of my friends go in for a dark, heavy gothic trance, but not me. I'm already inclined to dank, moronic funks, so I don't really need that tendency reinforced by my music. So, when Third Eye Blind's hatefully popular Semi-Charmed Kind of Life came up on Pandora while Sam and I were listening, I had that, "Oh, hell yeah, turn it up" reaction. I then taught it to him on the guitar (3 chords!), and when we went to get the lyrics I had that, "Oh yeah, the song is entirely about getting all kinds of @#$%ed up on crystal meth and having all kinds of spectacular, explicitly described sex," reaction. So I did the, "yeah, I'm not really sure what that means. . . hmmm" and then we went back to "Swing Swing" by the All American Rejects. I know, I know, but Sam listens to Husker Du and the Ramones as well as 4th-generation bubble gum punk. I've always believed you can like The Beatles and The Monkees.

For kids music the way it actually should be done, check dis ultra-hip early 70's Sesame Street Roosevelt Franklin. I had this album as a young 'un, and darned if it didn't give me soul.



"A-B, you know I got that together." RF, y'all's just a stone-cold bad-ass.

Back in the Day

Lordy. Getting a bit behind in life these days. Got an email out of the blue with a drawing of mine I haven't seen in 16-19 years. Wild. It's a drawing of my pal, Nick Oredson. Got to get the Arms and Ether for tomorrow goin'. Man. Also, got to finish screening animation for Ashland International Film Festival juryin'. Blah blah blagh.

On the up side, had a great time playing basketball with the fellas and then goofing around with Sam. We worked on Buddy Holly by Weezer, shot hoops at Walker School, then watched some George Gervin and Pistol Pete Marovich on YouTube. This evening the family got together to chill with 97 year-old Grandma out at the folks'. Fun stuff.

Rocketh and Rolleth Ye

Git yer bass out for the holidays--whatever your race, religion or creed!!

Generating Christmas

Here's this year's Christmas card to celebrate the economic downturn.

In other news, Sam rocked Walker School yesterday with a solo bass and vocal rendition of U2's Where the Streets Have No Name. Good God, try to listen to an 8 year old sing that and not burst into sobs. Go on, give it a go.

Sam Inada 6000

Here's Sam's first draft of his font. Pretty cool, I think. I'll probably steal it for my own selfish purposes. Christy had a good post about how it's tricky to talk about your young'uns without sounding like the obnoxious freaky parent. I just like watching Sam roll. Keep it comin', Jr.

Also, respect to all of the true TYPOGRAPHERS keepin' it real out there. I am not one of your ilk. I do appreciate your freakiness, though. Kern on, you weirdos.

Fontlab

More techno-babble. I ordered Fontlab for the lab today. I'm going to take a stab at making a font based on my "lettering." I figure even if I make a hash of it, it'll be nice for the students to give it a go. I've had some pretty studly students this quarter, so hopefully some of them will take up the challenge. Should be a cool tool for the motivated.
Well, I'm not on the picture-magic computer, so, uh here's a picture of my son with his young Beatles hair-do.

Been a bit

And a good summer. Building a shack in the back yard, riding bikes with Sam, all-night Battlestar Galactica and Spore jags, working on an animation with Casey and Jennifer, on-going mid-life crisis--sorting through death and personal-cultural responses to it. Good times. School looms, but bring it on. Also, I haven't checked blog or email for about a month. My apologies. This is a background in progress from the in-progress animation. Silky. Me want draw more landscape outside, but me too afraid to tremblingly confront me inadequacy before pulsating expansive nature.

First Lazy Day of Summer?

Hanging out in my office with Super Sam today. Wow. We blast some music, and he draws awesome stuff (Jawa Cafe complete with OOTINI sign!). I half-assedly goof around with some QuickTime compression tests and pluck the geetar while Final Cut renders. A student or two drops by to talk and take care of loose ends. Of course Sam and I both sing when necessary. Who can resist I Apologize, Bittersweet Symphony, Sabotage, I'm the One (The Descendents!), In The Meantime, Baba O'Reilly or Time Bomb? Not us, that's for sure.

Where did he go?

I'm back after a bout with not being fully sick, just being really tired, run down and kind of sick. For the record, on Saturday, Sam and I started working on a video game, inspired by Scott Raedeke who teaches cool Flash stuff at South Medford. Julie got the stomach flu. Sam and Henry and I watched some Rugby and Lacrosse outside--a beautiful day. On Sunday, I bonked heads with Max playing basketball (saw a flash of light! all was revealed!) and read papers for my USEM class. Sam and I also created custom players for "The Men of Candy," our Pro Evolution Soccer Team (one unexpected favorite is the tall, skinny red-headed guy, whose face we lifted from a Francisco Goya self-portrait). Monday I taught all freaking day. Ugnaught. Tuesday, same thing. It's dead week, so I'm trying to help "the kids" be all that they can be. I'm a servant of the people. Har har.

For He Has Not Rhythm

So tired my pores hurt. Fatigue = lameness. Drawing, like handwriting, pulls me into a solipsistic dialogue with how I was taught to draw. Bleh. Feel miles away from doing anything useful, original, exciting, or interesting. Score! Taking Sam to the dentist at 10:00. May not be useful, but at least it's original, exciting, and interesting. 3 out of 4 is not bad at'all.

No Child Left Behind

What I'm learning from ye blog so far:
1) I work a fair amount. Yay.
2) I work on a lot of different things--art-teachin', USEM-teachin' (bless thee, Thucydides), script-writin', 3D modelin' and animatin', 2D animatin' & drawin', web-site-makin', art-makin', school admin crap, prepping for teaching, 'mersh projects, water heaters and the like. Not to mention being a deadbeat dad and feckless husband. I'm not complaining. It's good livin'.
3) I'm bad at estimating how long it takes to get something done. Hence, the website's not done, the Happiness Hole's languishing, the water heater took 5 days to install, etc.
4) Life feels short--it's rushing by, happening now, and I feel completely clueless about it. Balls.
5) I'm thinking of taking the summer off from teaching for the first time in 10 years. I'd like to catch up on some solitude, some friends, and have fun with Sam.
6) I need to get the Corvair running. This weather is too beautiful.

Crap-rock The Suck-@#$

3:30 a.m. and all I've got to show for it is this tediousness. Lots of restarts. Still not close to being done. . . and it sucks. Argh. It's nice to see that my modeling abilities haven't progressed in 10 years.
Great Job!
Got to get up early, take Sam to school and have a bunch of meetings. ^$%&# and #$^*!@. Guess this counts as the Friday post. @#$%^.
Oh, the @#$%ing ignominy.

I'm pretty sure my Fine Arte ranking just took a big hit.

Now is the time

I suppose it's about time to get the site up. I'm going to try and go live tonight. Yikes.

Update: Well, maybe not tonight. I went and played pro-evolution soccer with Sam. I did get some Cheetos and Dr. Pepper, though, so anything's possible.

Update 2: Ah ha ha ha! I can't believe I said I'd finish the site tonight. That's a ^#%$in' laugh riot. I made some changes to the site structure, thus creating much more work that I can't just bust out ce soir. Frig. Since I work all day tomorrow, I'm guessing another week. Brilliant. Agh.

Two-Headed Monster of Deception

It's as good a gray day as any to pop outside, walk down to the Beanery for some Olde Testament Yaweh, and then to school. More work on the web site. Office hours. Then it's time for my 3D modeling class--in which I teach the 3 "D's" of modeling: Dependibility, Dexterity, and Defense.

Abysmal Morning Made of Night

Kind of Miltonic? Everyone's their own William Blake these days. 10:00 a.m. Worked on my new "web site"yesterday and this morn. Goody. Still trying to figure out what this blog thing is. Don't try and label me, man. Here's an awesome drawing that Sam did last week on the computer. Sam rules. I'm adding a "Vault" page to my web site to hold the olde crappe I've done over the years. That's a dark window into one's own mortality. . . but should be fun! Now I've got to find a stack of papers from my USEM class. Also, put together some junk for a dept. meeting today. This, dear readers, is the joy of man's desiring.