Come see my film & animation on Friday!
Its been nearly a month since my last post, and not without reason. Nearly all of my time has gone into two semester-long projects, a 16mm documentary film on the Salvation Army in Central Square and a hand-drawn cell animation, both of which will be screened Friday.
Friday 11:30am-3pm
Animation Party and Screening (bring friends for food + animation)
11:30am-1pm – Thai food on the first floor of the Carpenter Center
1pm-3pm – all animation from the spring semester classes will be screenedFriday 7pm-10:30pm
Screening of intermediate and thesis film, video, animation projects in the large theater in the basement of the Carpenter Center
Only my animation will be screened in the afternoon screening, while both of my projects will be shown in the first half of the evening program. The evening program is supposedly ticketed, but if you arrive on time you will probably get a seat even without one. Or let me know and I can try to get you a ticket.
Hope to see you there!
My Dad is a Mad Scientist
For years, whenever someone asked me what my father did, I would answer “computer scientist.” If pressed for more information, I would sheepishly mumble “I don’t really understand it” and something about a non-disclosure agreement.
But now, for the highly curious (and patient), the answer is now publically available. If you have any interest in comp sci, linguistics, or how to make del.icio.us more intelligent, you may wanna check it out. For the less curious, the press release below is worth reading if only for the entertainment value of my middle-aged father pretending to write as me, his college-aged daughter.
My highly obscure dad, Alan S. Rojer, has spent recent years wandering in the wilderness of computer science and linguistics. He begs me for online promotion to help rehabilitate his status as a citizen of the infoverse.
One of his patent applications, Web Bookmark Manager (App. no. 20070043745), was recently published by the PTO and he wants the world to know. Less for the particularities of the bookmark manager than for the implicit demonstration of methodologies he’ll be hawking eventually. So anyone interested in programming methods, knowledge engineering, or bookmark management, have a look:
Even better, grab the pdf.
Truly masochistic geeks could also try his older published applications, but don’t blame me if your eyes glaze over. Mine do. But if you’re so inclined, go here, and search for rojer in inventor name:
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html
He claims, not very convincingly, that products will be released this year. He has said that every year since 2002 or so.
gestation
Lampoon Comp
Just submitted my final pieces for the Harvard Lampoon Art Comp (competition). 6 pieces in all: 2 illustrations, 2 comics, and 2 free pieces (one in color, one in black and white). I should find out if I made it in a couple days. Wish me luck…
Disclaimer: I did not write the comics. They gave me the scripts, I just drew the pictures.
Wraped in Plastic
I’ve waited five long years for this. Finally!!!
Metal Fingers in My Body
I’ve long thought that watercolors could make for beautiful animation, and I’ve even messed around a bit with them myself, but I’ve never really seen them done right. Until now. More importantly, this is some of the best cartoon fucking I’ve ever seen.
Wish I knew who animated this! The only credit is “Mute Records 1999.”
[via Toby]
spring break
its good/weird to be home
Adventure Time!
Awesome animation featuring wonderful motion, trippy yet innocent imagery, believable (if not entirely original) characters, and math-inspired exclamations like “algebraic!” Reminds me a bunch of a certain pair of brothers from back home…
This actually aired on Nickelodeon in January, as a short in a show called Random! Cartoons, a revival of Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Oh Yea! featured 3 animations each episode and by the end of its run had produced 99 different 7-minute cartoon shorts by a variety of animators. If Adventure Time is any guide, this present incarnation is something to be excited about. Maybe even a reason to start watching TV again.
But perhaps even more exciting, especially for those of us who would prefer to keep the tv off, is that the same producer, Frederator Studios, does a weekly internet cartoon show/podcast called Channel Frederator. The cartoons are submitted by animators from all over the world and each week they choose the ones they like the most. The downloads are high-quality, free (as in beer), and have no commercials (at least the few episodes I’ve watched). You can watch it in iTunes, but I prefer DemocracyTV. So far, I haven’t seen anything as rad as Adventure Time, but I’ve only watched maybe 4 of the 72 and counting episodes. 72 episodes! That’s a whole lot of animation. So ditch your homework, watch some cartoons, and let me know if you find anything good!
cute way to learn to code
Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby
Why’s (Poignant?) Guide uses cartoon foxes and pure silliness to teach (hipsters and pre-teen girls?) how to program in Ruby— the sleek, simple, and much hyped about scripting language from Japan. Perhaps not the best choice if you’re used to O’Reilly, but for those more familiar with Achewood and Cat and Girl, the Poignant Guide could be a fun way to pick up some skillz.