moil's ink

What I did at Work… : April 15, 2013

Are unicorns just forbidden horses? No need to understand, just look at the pretty picture. Relax, everything you see is true.

I finally found the old image of my science world goose. After the roof of BC Place Stadium deflated (before it had it’s brand new upside-down dead spider one) I got to thinking what could be the next funny thing to happen to Vancouver that would be a huge deal but not a terrible disaster. I came up with the goose image. It’s inside an old test flash gallery. So happy to have find it. Happy like a magical unicorn rainbow day…and now here is a ships wheel rendered at 1920×1080. Enjoy.

 

 

 

Future City : April 12, 2013

Another sketch quickly coloured in Photoshop.

 

What I did at work today. : April 8, 2013

Redacted Comic: Almost here… : April 4, 2013

The Redacted Comic is almost here! The blueline proof is pictured here in Todd’s hands. This means the real thing is only going to be a week or so before anyone can enjoy it!

Order your own copy today!

Redacted Comic commercial

REDACTED: Created and Written by James C Burns And Todd Ireland. Follows the the experiences of  Sgt. GRIFFIN BAINES (aka “GRIFF”) and Bravo during the Vietnam war.  ”GRIFF” is based on the character James C Burns originated and portrays in Call of Duty : BLACK OPS 1 & 2,  namely the iconic Sgt. Frank Woods.  REDACTED storylines are all based on true events.

Todd Ireland • James C. Burns • Frank Woods

Sketching at the beach, colouring at the salon. : April 1, 2013

Work. : March 22, 2013

Created as various demonstrations of tools in Illustrator.

Redacted Comic: Pre-Order Now! : January 23, 2013

I had the pleasure of creating the Redacted Comic commercial and was asked last night to provide the final layout for the book. It’s times like these that this jack of all trades is grinnin’. Please support indie comics and pre-order your own copy today!

REDACTED: Created and Written by James C Burns And Todd Ireland. Follows the the experiences of  Sgt. GRIFFIN BAINES (aka “GRIFF”) and Bravo during the Vietnam war.  ”GRIFF” is based on the character James C Burns originated and portrays in Call of Duty : BLACK OPS 1 & 2,  namely the iconic Sgt. Frank Woods.  REDACTED storylines are all based on true events.

Todd Ireland • James C. Burns • Frank Woods

Best Student Project Ever. : November 16, 2012

Mike Haggstrom – Flash Game

This game just kills me. Blows my mind away. Thanks Mike!

 

What I did at work these last few months… : October 11, 2012

This is all you need to know about anything and everything. One class of photoshop and you to can do this.

Various Techniques with the Bezier Tool. The final test is drawing the symbol of a heart with the pen tool, all in one go. ALT/OPTION needed.

You don’t Say! Pillow Soup, Trajan Soup. I’ve got many new soup flavours on the way.

Blobs and pen experimentation.

Water. Painting

The shape of a logo can be easy or hard to fit onto business cards, stationary and whatnot. Logos that fit in circles, diamonds or squares can be easy to fit places.

 

3D modeling.

I’ve added a bunch of links that need a good home. Figure this is as good as place as any for now.

VIDEO:

http://www.thepixelfarm.co.uk/  – Motion Tracking

http://www.lwks.com/   - Free Professional Video Editing Software

http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/ - Digital Raw Camera (13 stops - 2432 x 1366 resolution)

A research page regarding video techniques I stumbled across one day in class.

3D MODELING:

 http://www.blender.org  - Free Open Source 3D Modeling, FX and compositing software

http://www.luxology.com -  Makers of MODO, a 3D modeling package

WEB DEVELOPMENT:

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/css/57-free-image-gallery-slideshow-and-lightbox-solutions/ - Image Galleries for Artists.

AUDIO:

http://freesound.org/ -*Awesome Creative Common Sound Effects*

http://incompetech.com/ - Music for the Masses

http://www.jamendo.com - Music  (read the licences)

 

http://soundcloud.com/user3860819 – Music from Frank an upstanding citizen of Boomcity. Check out his ambient background music from his soundcloud page. If you use the music, credit him and send him a line, he’d love to know you’ve used his music.

 

Here are a tonne more websites I haven’t looked into…

http://www.pdsounds.org/ - Public Domain Sounds

http://opsound.org/ - Free Love, Free Sound

http://www.hark.com/ – Quotes from movies and politicians

http://freemusicarchive.org/ - Free Music Archive

http://www.freesfx.co.uk/music/

http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/pir/free_music_loops.shtml

http://www.jewelbeat.com/

http://soundbible.com/

http://soundfxnow.com/

http://soundcli.ps/

http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/index.html

http://www.soundjay.com/

http://www.findsounds.com/

http://sounds.simplythebest.net/free_sounds.html

http://www.grsites.com/archive/sounds/

 

Speaking about audio…

VOLUME • PAN • EQ • FX

SPEECH • SOUND • MUSIC • SILENCE

 

Willow + Harry Potter + Malchiks Motion Photo = What? : October 8, 2012

 

MALCHIKS REUNION! FRIDAY! RAILWAY CLUB! : October 3, 2012

http://www.facebook.com/events/151626828311130/

Work : September 27, 2012

Street Sign : September 25, 2012

So a student of mine just made a really cool photo of a time travelling phone booth. Who? Taylor McBride, that’s who! Anyway, he related a part of his research in that the closest thing to the street sign font in BC is a typeface called “interstate”. I needed to write this down somewhere, so here it is.

 

Return of the Malchiks : July 29, 2012

After more than 12 years the Malchiks are going to play another show. This reunion was one I thought would never happen. There are six original members set to play at the Backstage Lounge on August 11, 2012 with Brehdren (my current project including fellow Malchik Lawrence and to some extent a sort of sequel to the Malchiks) and the White Blood Cells.  The line up this August will include Mike the Bassist, Marc the Guitarist, Lawrence on Saxaphone, Libby on Drums, Scott on vocals and Braude playing second guitar. Due to the recent pre-production I’ve been doing for the documentary on the band it was easy contacting the members, though still a few of them are out there in the ether, but we have enough to get the ball rolling. As the show approaches the members have been in close contact and  lining up all sorts of things to assist in their return for this special one-off performance.

http://www.malchiks.com

http://www.facebook.com/TheMalchiks

Work : July 19, 2012

Web Development has never looked so simple…

The chauffeur is the director : June 26, 2012

Added July 30, 2012:

Jon will have appeared in 5 superhero films spanning both Marvel and DC universes after the release of Ironman 3.

• Batman Forever
• Daredevil
• Ironman I, II, III

In the Ironman series his character “Happy Hogan” could plausibly become a villain in the franchise as he becomes a berserk super strong super freak aptly named “The Freak” in the comics.

Direct Prometheus/Alien Link : June 13, 2012

In the movie Alien, Shaw is the space jockey.

Oh, and does anyone else find the cat in Aliens super creepy?

I’d like to see a sitcom a la House and/or Red Dwarf where a super smart broody doctor/scientist/android/hologram relentlessly tries to create the Version 8 clone from Aliens Resurrection. Comedy incarnate.

Added June 18, 2012:
Shaw can use the Elephant suit. The size difference between Shaw and the Engineer Suit isn’t an issue as the suit is controlled through the jello goo like the jelly buttons or green slime…so the suit can mold its interface to a smaller humanoid user.

In Alien when they find the space jockey, its chest is burst, but it’s a small burst out of one side of the centre of the suit. It is the result of a smaller chest buster coming out of a human (Shaw) rather than the fairly huge one that popped up in Prometheus.

So if there is a direct link between the two and the crew in the original Alien movie never found David’s head or body…what happened to him should be another saga. I say he sews himself back together and wanders the universe as the first Zombie Android and has to fight Riddick or Rambo or match wits against Rodney Dangerfield’s hologram.

In the Alien sitcom the Doctor/Scientist/hologram/android character dies at the end of the series. Sorry, spoiler.

Just wrote two or more movies and a sitcom. Good month.

You’re welcome Hollywood.

(like a boss)

Work: Type demonstration in Illustrator : June 11, 2012

So fairly obviously I must have been talking about type today judging by the graphic attached. It was a great class regarding the importance of typefaces, and how much more is involved in them than just picking a nice font. The graphic is like all my Work posts, in that it was posted as record of what was shown in the class, it is not meant to be obvious or complete, but a reminder to what we did and covered.

During class a student, Joel Krahn, sent me off to the following online game. Never had I ever thought there would be games about Kerning and Typefitting. So cool to see, and there is a lot more to the site as well.

http://method.ac/

http://type.method.ac/

Scroll down after the image here for more links…

This afternoon I was teaching Video for the web and have a few more links to add. We showed off some cool things about video, movies and websites…check it out!

• http://www.zefrank.com/ - ZEFRANK
• http://youtu.be/Ky8k_mDXPYU - SLYESTFOX VIDEO BLOG
• http://www.nfb.ca/film/rip_a_remix_manifesto/ - OPEN SOURCE CINEMA
• http://popcornjs.org/ - WEB MADE MOVIES
• http://thewildernessdowntown.com/ - AWESOME MUSIC VIDEO

 

 

Work : June 7, 2012

While awaiting the Brehdren show on Friday (see previous posts) I’ve occupied my time by going to my job. Thankfully classes have been running and I’ve been teaching a lot, which is much better than the administrative side to my job. As per usual, when I create a graphic at school I will often post it to the blog for fun. Most of the time these are useless posts that don’t mean all that much to anyone except those in the class. In this case I think a great many people could benefit when designing. A little info about Identity programs should be enough of a clue for one to look into Identity Programs for businesses. They are useful. The text is preceded by three logo convepts I’ve seen too often representing photographers: the signature, the no-spaces middle word different colour, and the shape of a camera and/or aperture of a camera lens.  No to say theses can’t be done well, but to say that they already have been done, and done well.

Work. : May 31, 2012

I would like to start this company. Anyone interested? I’m brining the fish.

Brehdren at the Backstage Lounge Friday June 8th 2012 : May 29, 2012

Sans Comic Sans : May 25, 2012

I’ve written and complained and even promoted the typeface Comic Sans in a few previous posts (links below) and those who know me understand that I have great objection to the use of comic sans for anything less than a child’s invitation to their picnic birthday party.

A friend of mine wanted a way to remain on wellfare for as long as possible, I took his resumé and change the typeface to comic sans. He now is perpetually unemployable, but gets to go to lots of interviews, which allow him to continue to receive* wellfare checks.

So I teach a number of graphic classes and on occasion have the enjoyment of dissing Comic Sans in a room full of people (apparently when I rant about the misuse of typefaces, regular folk find it funny how upset I seem). Just this week I was speaking of the horrible applications of Comic Sans in business and later in the week a student sent this article to me regarding one of the rarest uses of comic sans that is actually almost tolerable.

Great little article about a soup stock company that can (use comic sans)

http://www.underconsideration.com/speakup/archives/005008.html

 

Previous Comic Sans related posts:

COMIC SANS HATES ME
http://www.blipsandifs.com/boomcity/moilink/?p=214

COMIC SANS IS HILARIOUS
http://www.blipsandifs.com/boomcity/moilink/?p=276

 

* Receive is one of the few words I use that actually follows the “i before e” rule. It seems that rule has more exceptions than applications.  Also, the above story is fabricated.

Writing : May 23, 2012

I’m not sure I fully understand the deeper intentions of this video, but I can say I think it’s incredibly interesting. The 3D modeler in me likes how the concepts are applied to surfaces that can’t really exist near. I will one day find time to watch more of these videos, but for now I’ve had a boat load of inspiration from just this one. Below you can watch the video regarding Doodling in Math class and further down you’ll find a sketch using the doodle snake concept applied to song structure in music.

http://vihart.com/doodling/

I was musing about how songs should be structured, then thought about how the story or content of the song should really be depicted by the structure. Then I thought about those snakes, and how the beginning and ending of a song often (though not always) starts and ends on the same note. The ouroboros. Then I was thinking about the ups and downs of a song, and how the over under pattern of the loops could be relative to this, and then when I started drawing it found that the way the loops gathered and spread could start representing various sections of the song and will definitely attempt to try this concept out on at least one song for my next audio sketchbook.

May the Fourth be with you. : May 4, 2012

 

I’ve been working on a papercraft iPhone holder concept for a while now, turns out simpler is better.  This version was created to be able hold a variety of mobile devices and is adorned with a special May Fourth decoration. Please Enjoy the Boomcity_iPhoneholder_May4_2012 Bonus Gift!

Just Download, cut, fold and glue!

Photoshop Project Idea #1 : May 1, 2012

Although not quite as enjoyable as sticking your friends faces into movie posters this project is a good challenge and requires many different Photoshop techniques.

Take a shot looking down a street, where you can see the sky in the background. Take a photo of just the sky at sunset. And take a med/close up portrait of someone.

Combine all three together. Do touch ups on the portrait and put it in the in the foreground. Mask out the sky from the city street and insert the sunset behind it. Use adjustment layers and masks to colour correct the whole thing to look as if it was shot at the same time.

Additional challenges could included removing all the power lines, transit cables, and phone lines from the city streets. Or even all the cars or people (take multiple shots from the same location so you end up with enough coverage of the street).

What about reflections? What about shadows? Take it as far as you like.

12-gon (dodecagon) : March 31, 2012

For years I’ve been working on a circular graphic based on the circle of fifths. This is part of that research.

Pop can Typeface : March 30, 2012

I handcrafted this a few years ago after inspiring myself when I was teaching graphic design at BCIT. Hopefully inspired students too.

Two Cee’s in a Circle : February 19, 2012

What’s not to love about creative commons.
Like minded artists making more better awesome.

Our Muppet Film made the finals! : February 13, 2012

Ken and I are very excited that we’ve been shortlisted to the top 24 films submitted to Virgin Radio’s Fake Film Festival! So as a treat I thought I’d show a little more behind the scenes with this shot of Ken working on the Electric Mayhem scene followed by a shot from our film, and the corresponding screen shot from the actual film.

It’s hard to witness  how much effort we put into making each shot as accurate to the movie as possible within the time frame we were working under. We both work full time at VanArts and have our families, so we had to scrape together a couple sessions of production time and get it in the can as fast as possible. As Ken was filming one shot in one room I’d be madly cutting, folding and gluing more prop pieces for the next. He’d often excitedly call me into the room before shooting where I’d see a mess of masking tape, cardboard and construction paper holding the production together, but when I’d look at the back of the camera and see how close we were to the actual shot I’d return to construction giggling giddily.

As you can see in the screen grabs below and if you were to compare the other 44 scenes you’d see that we pretty much nailed every single shot we did.

Of course we couldn’t have all the fun. On our second major production evening I had to bring in the kids to see the making of and get them to be a part of the mini-movie as well. They had a blast helping set up all the characters for the grand finale scene, whichif you watch you might spot a few non-muppet  ’guest stars’ including Jack Skellington, Bob and Doug McKenzie, Gumby, Painter Smurf, Yoda, and the papercraft R2-D2 I keep on my desk at work.

All in all I’ve very proud of our little production and very pleased to have been shortlisted for the top 24 (out of 88) and extremely excited to hear about the gala just down the street at club 560. If you want to see more behind the scenes photos check out the rest on Ken’s Facebook Album (public).

Now, for your part! Click the link below and choose our video as the fan favorite!

http://vancouver.virginradio.ca/FFF2012/Top24.aspx

 

Translink plans to make it more fare for riders. : February 10, 2012

Muppets Forever : February 9, 2012

Ken Priebe and I recently entered into the Virgin Fake Film Festival, where you have to condense a feature movie into 60 seconds. This post is in a semi-draft state, and will soon become a behind the scenes explination of the project, but until then please view the final product and click the Like button just below it to show support!

Muppet Movie in 60 seconds.

 

Ken and I sitting behind the figures set up for the final scene. This image has been altered, the figures are not to scale, and I have WAY more hair than that. The lights make me look bald in that photo.  No, it’s true. I’m that bald.

 

 

 

Published : February 8, 2012

Over all the years I’ve been producing for films and videos I’ve had the pleasure to fill a large number of roles ranging from pre to post production. Everything from being an actor, director and producer to props, storyboards, set decoration, visual and audio fx, animation, motion graphics, foley, voice talent, and soundtrack composing.

I’ve held a boompole for 2 hours in the cold, gripped a reflector on the side of a cliff, pretended to jump off the side of a cliff, actually jumped off a 15′ dock (with a busted ankle), been buried up to my neck in an abandoned outhouse, can’t even fathom how many 36 hour stints I’ve pulled just to get it in the can on time…I’m happy and proud of this vast and broad collection of knowledge and experience I’ve enjoyed for these past 15 years but even happier about all of the talented people I’ve gotten to work with and meet. They continue to inspire me and impress me with their successes and productions.

Recently the following educational video was brought to my attention. A friend send word that my name was in the credits of a film they were shown during a film studies class. I went online to check it out, you can get to the result by clicking the image below.  I feel pretty good about seeing this. As an independent media producer most of my work goes unnoticed and unseen as many projects are for internal use, have a limited release or as in the following example, there is no trace of my contribution except by watching the credits in the film and the film itself being a short experimental animation that doesn’t fit into the average theater or even television format.

I met Richard Reeves at the Gulf Island Film and Television School in the mid-nineties and was honored when asked to mix a soundtrack using sound samples he’d created by scratching the audio track on some 35mm film. This was a major moment for me, I was cutting analog glitches and pops into a soundtrack for a film that was made with no camera called ’1:1′. Then to top it all off I was paid and even more honored when I worked on another soundtrack for a 72mm animation he was embarking on. Richard Reeves is a Canadian treasure and I’m so happy to see his work being used in education and wish there were more venues for short films like his, as much as I enjoy Hollywood action movies, I respect treasures like the works of Richard Reeves so much more.

 

GHD : February 1, 2012

Tomorrow is my fathers birthday.

HTML 5 Video Report : January 27, 2012

Long Tail Video keeps a close eye on how HTML5 and video are working or not working and are kind enough to publicize their findings to the public. Check out this great documentation of the latest and greatest concerning the future of online video!

Some great info there and their sources are pretty cool too! Check out Stat Counter for browser and OS statistics.

 

OH…speaking about how flash is on it’s way out! I just wrote this nifty little script to time how long something goes on for. Best part is it’s not only made in Flash, but it’s also Action Script 2.0! Too much fun indeed, what a way to buck the system. Check out the timer, it gets angry after half an hour. If you know a little about coding and you’ve got Flash CS4 or higher feel free to download the .fla file and make your own changes.

Lost in the woods. : January 24, 2012

I’d call it “A good day for wolf.”

I remember this set being slightly odd as a kid, but like many children just thought it was one of those ‘adult things’ that I’d eventually understand. Like innuendos, wish I never learnt about those. Now everything is an innuendo. I digress, the box was normal enough, it does indeed come with everything on the front, and a few pieces you just can’t see in the photo, mostly small flowers and plants and a wolf den (it’s just a massive hunk of plastic with a cave like hole in it. oh yeah, and a bone to chew on!)

Now, as an adult, when I saw this in the store started thinking about all the adventures I’d imagined about being chased by that wolf, bitten by it, surviving its attacks and then going back into the woods dispite my playmobile man loosing an arm and then fighting that rabid beast to the bitter end (who loves action movies?)

I remember hours and hours of good times with that play set…so I picked it up and looked closely at the box. I thought surely now that I’m an adult I’ll be able to figure out what the concept is…but to no avail. I can’t say I understand this one at all. It comes with a wolf, a little girl and a tonne of foliage and flowers and logs and trees and the aforementioned wolf den (and a bone). It’s not a classic fairy tale either…the little kid is not wearing a red cloak, nor guarding sheep, nor are any little pigs involved, nor is his name Peter with his own built in orchestral soundtrack…it’s just a kid and a wolf.

 

I bought the set immediately.

 

Here is some wallpaper for an 1920 x 1080 resolution monitor.

There was another set there with just a few plants, the same kid and a brown wolf, but it didn’t come with the wolf den or the bone, but had a chainsaw for some reason. The weird thing was there wasn’t an adult figure that came with the set, just a small child (too small to life a chainsaw like that) and the wolf. Like the kid was left behind by their negligent lumberjack father (or mother) and this wolf just happened along? It’s almost like a contemporary version of the jungle book or something…

 

Maybe that’s it! No wait…chainsaw… don’t remember Rudyard Kipling talking about a chainsaw…should have bought that set too.

 

Duck Poop Panorama. : January 18, 2012

17th Annual : January 15, 2012

Calculations have confirmed, GHD 2012 will be the 17th Annual GHD celebration.

22 days to GHD : January 13, 2012

What colour tie should I wear? : January 12, 2012

The following depicts the uselessness in choosing anything. Everything in this world will be touched up and re-coloured for the history books. Even live recordings are being effected, just watch the Rockin’ New Years Eve with Dick Clark bringing in the year 2012. His face has live visual effects on it to make him look ‘great’ in High-Def. This example is designed for cost saving. Say you’re getting married…but the groom and the groomsmen are too cheap to buy matching ties, using technology like this all the ties can be made to match the brides bouquet, the hall or the limo with just a few clicks. I’m so confident about the future of retouching that I’m not wearing pants at work today (no one has noticed yet).

iPhone Delivery : January 11, 2012

Well, colour me impressed as I blog from my iPhone. This is a very cool addition to Boomcity as now posts can be made on the fly, anywhere and all this without a computer. Soon posts will be thought and immediately uploaded, but until then…this will do just fine. Both WordPress and Blogger have wonderful little apps for blogging on the fly.

Identify : January 6, 2012

For the past year I’ve been working with Identify Photo on two not for profit projects. Earlier last year we produced the Annual Report for the StreetoHome Foundation and we’re half way through publishing a series of videos for Project Limelight at the time of the post. Of course all of this is on top of the full-time work and family, needless to say it’s made my life far more intense and busy, but it’s been rewarding in two major ways.

The first being that I’ve gotten to help out with two issues that I feel this city really needs to address: homelessness and youth…

Streetohome are approaching homelessness from a housing perspective. They’ve found that when you give someone a place to live it can allow them to ground them self and get their feet under them. Some of the stories I heard brought tears to my eyes, tears of joy, hearing about how someones life was completely turned around and were no longer on a path full of of crime or addictions.

Project Limelight is all about youth. Helping youth who may grow up without the means to afford fancy acting or dancing classes on Granville Island. Giving these kids the wonderous gift of the performing arts to help them as the grow. I know I am not alone in those who’s live have been dramatically improved simply due to the arts. I can honestly say that without my interest in acting I wouldn’t be in such a great position in life…

Which is the second major reward these projects have shown me. My family lives within it’s means, we make certain choices based on our income. These projects showed me how wealthy I truly am, that I’m not just able to pay rent and put wholesome food on the table, but I’m able to volunteer to help others. I live in a first world country and am one of the most fortunate people on this planet and being able to give back to the community has truly made me feel rich.

This is not me. : January 4, 2012

Only 49 days until Groundhogsday! : December 15, 2011

Just how long did Phil Connors spend in Punxsutawney.
 

 

For the past few weeks I’ve been working on the magnificent Project Limelight. A Performing Arts Program for Young People living in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. During the filming I got to meet a great range of people all pitching in to help make this project work and I’ve been having a blast editing the first three videos to and excited to create the next installment. Check it out! Projectlimelightsociety.org

Vimeo Short Code 1.1 Plug-in, just search VIMEO in the WordPress Plug-ins area.

Nerd Tech : December 14, 2011

I just kept thinking about a T-Shirt with iPwn on it…Nerdtastic.

 

Remember when things were good… : December 13, 2011

A long time ago I had spare time. Now this luxury seems a digital mythology just like Boomcity.

Sure, I still have wasted time, just no spare time.

Between a full-time job at VanArts and my family I find that I could easily integrate an assistant into my life to help me stay on top of things. Alas, an intern just won’t fit in my budget. Thank goodness for Shared Calendars.

If job and family weren’t enough (and they are) some individuals are awestruck at the fact that I don’t stop there. I currently am a frontman for local band Brehdren, host a monthly music therapy session, co-producing a feature length documentary on the Malchiks, and working on a great non-profit project to encourage performance arts in the downtown east side (more later this month). All of this on top of my standard practices of drawing, piano, singing, animating, video production, client website maintenance and of course…blogging.

All of this of course leaves my hobbies out of the picture, except when I’m clever enough to combine them with the kids. Like the other day we managed to combine my enthusiasm for papercraft and the Muppets and keep the kids enthralled as well.

Still, none of this leaves time to properly re-build Boomcity. In reality Boomcity is a constantly changing and developing city yet as a web portal Boomcity.Biz is for the most part, hand crafted. I remember a day when there was time to redesign the website or close my eyes or breath. Good times, good times.

Look what I did at work today. : December 7, 2011

Various Excel Formula’s I’ve been working with lately. Created a document to auto-calculate attendance, add up marks, summarize comments, and wrap it all up into a nifty report card.

=SUM(E7:E10)

=(AVERAGE(B8:B10))*0.15

=IFERROR(AVERAGE(C34:L34),”-”)

=IF(SUM(B98:BI98)>0,AVERAGE(B98:BI98),”-”)

=INDEX(‘Master Lists’!A11:A35,MATCH(A1,’Master Lists’!B11:B35,0))

=IF(INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module”,$A$50,”!”,CONCATENATE(“C”,$L$1+(29*(E$50-1)))))=$A55,INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module”,$A$50,”!”,CONCATENATE(“D”,$L$1+(29*(E$50-1))))),”")

This last one would probably be more succinct…but it works and that’s what really matters.

=CONCATENATE(INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+29))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+(29*2)))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+(29*3)))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+(29*4)))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+(29*5)))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+(29*6)))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+(29*7)))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+(29*8)))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+(29*9)))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+(29*10)))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+(29*11)))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+(29*12)))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+(29*13)))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+(29*14)))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+(29*15)))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+(29*16)))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+(29*17)))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+(29*18)))),INDIRECT(CONCATENATE(“Module1!”,”K”,($L$1+(29*19)))))

The Malchiks T-Shirts : November 11, 2011

All Malchiks shirts I own.

After Effects is Photoshop with a timeline…and then some. : November 9, 2011

In 1996 Brett Gaylor told me to try After Effects. He described it as Photoshop with a timeline. Ten years later I began working with it and I fell in love with its amazing capabilities. With Flash going the way of Zune I’m happy to have a strong animation software to work with.

Click the images to check out these tutorial sites related to After Effects…

Although After Effects is designed specifically with video effects in mind Brett had made a prediction with his After Effects/Photoshop metaphor. The last few releases of Photoshop have shipped with a much greater timeline than ever before (yes Photoshop has had a timeline for ages).

Go to the Window menu and choose Animation to open the Timeline. In older versions of Photoshop the timeline was extremely simple and best for making annoying animated banner ads. Now the timeline has positioning, scale, opacity and rotation controls that can be animated. It’s absolutely perfect for a fusion photographer to add color grading or text to their video footage and yet remain in the comfortable familiar environment of Photoshop.

 

Guess who’s joining the masses… : November 1, 2011

Not that I don’t love my Android Phone, but the thought of 1080p video without having to ask my wife for the camera was incredibly attractive (just like my wife). I’m really quite excited to try it out having seen some of the amazing app’s that are out there. I may be eager to get my very own iphone but the bill on the other hand…not so much.

Graphic Design : October 25, 2011

For years I taught software like Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign and Dreamweaver to people who had moved laterally in their work place. Companies would move someone into the marketing or communications departments from a non-graphic position and replace their previous position rather than bringing in a professional designer. This “saved” the company money as the new replacement employee would receive starting wage, and the existing employee was happy with no pay raise just not having their boring old non-graphical job.

The company is happy, yet my friend who studied graphic design is a bar tender. Soon the employee who moved into their new role realized that graphic software is nothing like PowerPoint or Excel or whatever they were used to working in before. The company then sent them to me. In one or two day hands on seminars I’d show them how to use their graphics package and as a personal quest try and add a few tips on not making terrible design decisions. Here are the main design guidelines I’d offer to newbies.

• • Overall the concept was to Keep It Short & Simple ( a polite KISS )
• • Only use one font, two if there are headings & paragraphs. It’s better to use italics and bold to make text stand out.
• • Never underline, unless it needs to have a default hyperlink appearance.
• • For paragraphs start with a 12 point serif typeface to reach the broadest target market. If needs be shrink it down as far as 9 points for university markets, and never hesitate to increase to 14 points for elderly or children.
• • Use black ink plus one additional colour. For variety use different tints of that colour. Keep the colour scheme monochromatic.
• • Keep as much of the page empty as possible (negative space is good). Clutter and crowding will deter readership.
• • Finally, keep everything lined up. Use guides, grids, align features, anything to keep it orderly.

What brought this on? A Wim! A fellow web instructor, Wim, left a website up on the screen after his class. Check out 978.gs It’s not just a really great webdesign concept, the site also has a lot of great links to articles and write ups as well. Is 978 too big for you? Then try 960.gs out for size.

Video Editing Software : October 17, 2011

Below are some Video Editing Software choices from most expensive to cheapest that I’ve at least seen if not worked with. Since Apple did a complete facelift on Final Cut Studio I can’t offer an opinion on the new software, I’m sure it’s great for most peoples needs, but until I’ve gotten my hands on it I can’t say much. So as of the writing of this I personally would recommend Adobe. Premiere Elements is a great, cheap introductory product, complete for most peoples needs. While getting the Full Production Suite (CS5.5) from Adobe would be the professional way to go as it includes additional products like After Effects and Sound Booth to assist with Sound & Visual Effects along with great products like Photoshop and Illustrator to help compliment the imagery.

• Adobe Creative Suite Production Bundle – $1700
• Adobe Premiere Pro – $800
• Sony Vegas Pro – $600
• Final Cut X – $300
• Sony Vegas Movie Studio(s) – $100 – 200
• Adobe Premiere Elements – $100
• iMovie (with the rest of of iLife) – $50
• Windows Movie Maker 2011 – Free Download

Also note that many packages have educational pricing as well as 30 day trials.

Here’s a Wikipedia page with many more choices available.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_editing_software

Work : October 13, 2011

Exporting still image sequence from Premiere : October 11, 2011

Slow motion is a most beautiful thing. I personally strive to live in the slowest motion I possibly can, in the moment. Other than the standard perception that time flies when you’re having fun, time continues to plod on with or without our consent. I think that’s what makes slow motion video so attractive. To witness life at a slower pace, to be able to study motion or experience things at a slower pace is so very alluring. Here’s a brief overview of how to achieve that effect in Premiere. Footage should be shot at 60 fps (or higher) and then converted down to 24 fps using the following straight forward method almost any video program can handle.

A simple way to convert frame rates from 60 fps down to 24 fps to create slow motion video is to export the 60 fps footage as a series of still images and then import them back into Premiere Sequence with 24 fps. The things to look out for are the frame rates when creating the sequences, and secondly the PREFERENCE settings for how long a still image should last when imported to a timeline.

 

 

 

Definition of Supreme Intelligence : October 6, 2011

Thanks to Laura Zeke for the awesome photo! Laura is currently studying Photography at VanArts and a link to her website will appear in the Boomcity sidebar the moment she has one!

Cloud Hosting : October 4, 2011

I was recently asked about cloud hosting and thought the response would be just as useful to everyone else. I found a link to someone else’s blog that covered the topic, with a someone else’s fun video embedded in it describing what cloud hosting is.

Cloud hosting blog post with video.

Seems to me that this is a very intelligent way of resource management. But is it for you?

I think this all comes down to comparison. Are you going to end up spending more money on the cloud then using a dedicated server? Does your current hosting server have redundancy backups and is it expandabile? Are you expecting massive upsurges in visitors to your website? Do you mind the data you keep on the cloud isn’t stored on any single dedicated location or server?

As for me, I’m going to wait until I really have a reason to change, I’m happy with Bluehost.com. I have no need to switch as I have no real online business, no reason for massive expansion, I’m just goofing around on the net. I will be keeping my eye on the technology as I like the concept. It sounds to me that data would have a better chance of lasting forever in the cloud…i think that’s pretty cool.

A movie made on an iPhone. : September 29, 2011

Night fishing, or Paranmanjang. Filmed on an iPhone (not v.5). The lenses they used adapted to the iPhone are incredible. To see such gear and cranes and dollies all there to support such a small recording device. The behind the scene videos are well worth the hunt just for the glimpses at the incredible setup.

 

Work a.k.a. Look what I did at work today. : September 15, 2011

Moil Studios 2.1 : September 3, 2011

It may seem strange to think that receiving an ancient G3 with Mac OS 9.2 is an upgrade, but Moil studios just leaped another level in terms of functionality. This is a photo of me testing the new gear, since the tests were positive there’s a need for some re-organizing.

For over 2 decades I’ve been dreaming of recording with computers, and in as a teenager I knew I’d have to wait for computers to catch up with my idea of engineering, so back then I stuck to my Tascam 424 tape cassette 4 track. I loved that thing. Somewhere along the line Cakewalk hit a point where I felt good about editing audio on a computer and I’ve always been very proud of the achievements that Braude and I came up with for “Space Rock 2000″. Still there was one last thing I’ve wanted to since highschool and that was record multiple instruments at the same time to separate tracks.

It’s true that this has been possible for ages, just never in Moil Studios. I’ve been using the same Sound Blaster Platinum Live that I bought in the late 90′s. With each computer upgrade I’d just move the card into the newer computer. Originally I was able to create multi-layered audio sketches via one track at a time, but as the years went on the drivers stopped cooperating and recently all I’ve been able to do is record a stereo input, similar to my old four-track but with half the tracks. I’ve been fine with this as I know of more professional places to record if I’m getting serious, but all I’ve been using it for was a way to write, not really meant for public release.

Lately I’ve been hosting some incredible improvised jams in the garage and some of the takes I wish I had separate audio for each instrument and vocalist. To be able to remix each would be a grand thing indeed and plausibly create something that is actually worth hearing. I have a feeling no one wants to hear a 20 minute improvised jam, but they might like a 2-3 minute remix. Somehow Darel read my mind and donated the old Mac with a Digi-001. 8 independent inputs equals 1 super happy Moil.

I did some tests last night and was successful in recording 5 inputs simultaneously, I’d have done more but I was alone and ran out of hands. Don’t expect to hear any of it, just know that Scott is extremely thankful he has a friends like Darel, among all Darel’s other great attributes he can take an giant paper weight and turn it into a magical gift that brings new life to moil studios, effectively upgrading it from 2.0 to 2.1.

Thank you Darel.

Video Production : September 1, 2011

I’ve been looking for resources regarding video production for my upcoming course and came upon 1980 Four Production’s website. They have a short little article about the benefits of online video. Their site also has a few downloadable forms (call sheets, budget sheets, shot lists, etc) and best of all it’s a Canadian company.

http://www.1980fourproductions.com/film-school-training/

Work : August 31, 2011

…and variate? : August 29, 2011

Repeat a shape. :

Dragons are cool. : August 11, 2011

I’ve always loved dragons, so when my student showed me her logo concept I jumped at the chance to illustrate one for her.

Bleeding is Fun! : August 9, 2011

Work : July 20, 2011

New York City : July 17, 2011

Took a trip to New York City for a two day Masterclass with Story Artist Matthew Luhn and Animator Andrew Gordon, both of whom work at Pixar. I stayed at the New Yorker hotel on the 36th floor.

View from the New Yorker Hotel 36th floor. After settling in at the hotel my co-worker Ken and I walked down to see the spectacle known as Time Square.

Times Square. I figure all those lights are solar powered. A city as great as New York surely wouldn’t waste all that power for the spectacle of Marketing right? It was garbage day and the sidewalks were lined with bags of garbage. It was also hot and muggy. These factors combined together to great a great ever changing reek that intermittently offended my nose between blasts of hotdog vendors wares.

It was an intense way to meet the city, and bump elbows with its tourists. We popped into the Disney Store and I learn that Marvel Comics have been bought by Disney. They had some pretty cool busts of Marvel characters next to Lightning McQueen and Winnie the Pooh.

Sunshine Theater, where the two day seminar was held. Just want to say the staff there was amazing. Really cool movie people. Worked round the clock to make the event as great as possible despite some technical issues. They also recommended a place to eat lunch.

Katz deli, where Harry Met Sally. The place has been in New York since 1888. Really busy place. There’s a wall covered in photos of the owners posing with various celebrities, comedians, politicians, and sports figures.  I didn’t get to see anyone famous. Can you see anyone famous? Click the image to see a larger version. If you like top of the line pastrami sandwich on rye, or what could be considered the universes greatest Ruben and you have 30 bucks to spare it’s quite an experience to eat there. Not the best place for vegetarians.

Brooklyn was my favorite part of the trip. Loved the buildings and loved the cobble stone leading down to the river.  Brooklyn wore spray paint like a warm sweater. It had a real community feel to it, unlike the over stimulating Transformers III feeling of Times Square.

I got to walk down to the shore and view Manhattan Island from afar at the old location of a floating bridge used for train cars to transport sugar and flour over the years. Closest thing to a museum I got to.

The view and the buildings weren’t the best part of Brooklyn, the best part was catching up with me Malchik Jason DaSilva and meeting his wife Alice.  I had the pleasure of seeing these two amazing people working together. Post-production on the film When I walk, organizing a non-profit company and skyping with their lead programmer on their new iPhone app. I was honored to dine with them and be brought into their world for the evening. Had such a great time I lost track of it and headed back to the hotel just after midnight.

The subway home from Brooklyn made my evening perfect. There was an awesome busker shuffling his legs around with a tambourine around one ankle and a shaker on the other. He was singing his heart out and playing guitar all the while smiling and enjoying every moment. He brought great joy to the waiting travelers. It was hot and muggy underground, there were scuffed walls and broken tiles and I even saw a rat running around the tracks. It was awesome. I wouldn’t want it any other way. It reminded me of Crocodile Dundee II when Mick had to walk on the heads of the New Yorkers to get out of the tunnel.

Another shot from the hotel.  It was the last day of the trip. I was tired from jet lag and the seminars, but I knew this would be the last night to go explore New York.  Like Paul Hogan’s character I decided to go on a walkabout. I threw on some shoes and headed out. I intended to head north, but without the Rocky mountains I had no idea which way that was and ended up walking all over the south end of the island for around three hours. I saw the Empire States Building, Little Italy, Chinatown, Madison Avenue, 5th Avenue, Union Square and all the places between.

It started getting dark and I had gotten myself right lost  so I took one last left turn and started heading back to the hotel, I hoped.

The last left turn worked. Took me straight back to the hotel.

On the flight home I saw a landscape of clouds. Towers and plateaus jutting up from a ever expanding reach of rolling plains. There was a sky lake in the clouds. A parting that let me see through this landscape to a whole other level of the atmosphere below with its very own sprawling landscape.

I can’t say I liked being in a 737 for 7 hours, but I can say I wish I could fly.

 

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All of the photos in this post were taken with an Samsung Smart Phone. Some of the images can be clicked on for a larger version, a few of the images are a collection of multiple photos stitched together using Photoshop.

Photoshop A – Z : June 28, 2011

These are alphabetically listed concepts, features, tools and filters every Photoshop user should be aware of. This is not a list of fundamentals like layers, selections, adjustments, blending modes, the toolbar and the image menu. This is a list of useful key areas of the program. As always feel free to email me if you need further explanation for any of the following concepts, but the best thing to do is see if you can figure them out, you’ll learn more.

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Actions are an artists best friend. Automation is what computers are for

Banding: correct gradient banding with gaussian blur & noise

Crop: note the hide option in the options bar at the top

Don’t Cancel, reset a dialogue box with ALT

E + Alt + Ctrl + Shift to Copy a merge of all layers to the top of the stack

Fill using Ctrl, Alt or Shift with Backspace or use Backspace alone to delete

Gaussian Blur: Everything looks better blurry

Hide selections & extras with CTRL + H

Inverse selections (Ctrl + Shift + I) or Invert Colour (Ctrl + I)

J + Ctrl is New layer via copy (same as copy & paste, but less steps)

K + Ctrl opens the Preferences Dialogue

Layers copy, use Shift + Ctrl + C, copies multiple layers content

Move selections with the Spacebar while creating them

N + Ctrl creates a new layer with choices for naming it and blending mode

Offset Patterns & Polar Coordinates are great tricks for patterns

Precision cursor is toggled on and off with Caps Lock

Quick Layers try [ or ] with Alt to select next/prev. layer or with Ctrl to move

Right click on everything to find out if there are options

Styles can be doubled up try out Layer > Layer Style > New Style

Textures can be created with Clouds, Fibers, the Texturizer & Grain

Unlock the Background layer by dragging its lock to the trash can

V is the shortcut for the move tool

Workspaces provide customized palettes, shortcuts and  menus

X will Swap between the fore and background colours, great for masks

Yfiuqil : liquifY, OK stretching here but that’s what liquify does

Z + Alt + Ctrl will Step Backwards through history

 

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***For Mac users out there, convert CTRL to CMD and ALT to OPTION***

That’s a good year. : June 15, 2011

PS & AI sittin’ in a tree… : June 9, 2011

SEO : June 6, 2011

Search Engine Optimization Table:

http://searchengineland.com/seotable

Now Online :

Ate Lunch too fast… : June 1, 2011

Graphics created with FLAME from escape motion and photoshop. WORDLE also an interesting word cloud generator looking at.

A couple of new web explorations have been uploaded to the library as well:
Microsoft is releasing Internet Explorer 10 to keep up with CSS3 so don’t try these in it until then. Use Safari, Firefox or Opera instead.

• CSS3 Rotation Exploration (text rotations and transparencies)
• CSS3 Rounded Corners & a transition (movement without flash or javascript)
• SVG coded graphic (no special goggles needed)

Work. :

Talking about how typefaces are like voices or instruments in a group. Certain combinations can work well together (string quartet) and some may not jam as well (overdriven guitar & kazoo).

Great Windows Software: Zoomit! : May 30, 2011

Saw this on a computer here at VanArts and love it. Gives Windows the ability to Zoom in and out of the screen without the cumbersome built in magnify system of Windows. (Giving windows a simpler mac like zoom feature).

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897434

At work today… : May 26, 2011

Model & Material : May 12, 2011

Today at work. : May 5, 2011

Great Uncle Lloyd. : May 1, 2011

My Great Uncle is being honored for his ambulance service.

Look what I did at work today! : April 21, 2011

Glen’s Dream : March 13, 2011

R.E.M. :

If 2012 is the end of the world as many predictions have led some to believe, it will be the most well documented event in history.

Gotham isn’t just for Batman : March 10, 2011

A few months ago I did a bit of research on the typeface used at VanArts.

A guy named Obama ran for President, and one of the typefaces used in his campaign was Gotham, it’s an “American” Typeface like Century Schoolhouse. Since learning about the font I’ve noticed how often it’s being used (like Helvetica).

So I’m making some title cards while producing a video for a project called StreeToHome. As I was reverse engineering a PDF I found out they also use Gotham for their logo, and as the main typeface throughout their media. I could go on, but I’d be wasting your time…I just thought this was hilarious.

Why aren’t you laughing?

I’m Batman.

Sunday : March 6, 2011

To the cloud! : February 27, 2011

UG-Oh OPEN //:778 1049
& Lego board games

Cate’s Park : February 20, 2011

Continued Exploration : February 19, 2011

Busted Finger : February 10, 2011

Had a great time at the show last night. Right up until my left index finger became the buffer between Darel’s bass amp (which I was carrying) and the ticket booth. Crushed the knuckle something fierce. Debating how bad it is. Good opportunity to have it replaced with cybernetics. Always thought a fingertip USB drive would be cool.

Put the ‘eh’ in Brehdren : January 28, 2011

Brehdren are back Wednesday February Ninth at the J-Lounge on Bute & Davie. Doors open around 6:00pm, the show starts at 8:00pm. Rumour has it there is no cover charge.

Brehdren return in 2011! : January 9, 2011

Slly Raster… : January 5, 2011

New contest entry…view the post!

Tron: Legacy : December 30, 2010

Witnessed the Legacy at Downtown Disney District and the next day went to the End of the line bar as well as Flynn’s Arcade. Major posting soon to occur documenting all of the events over the last 11 days. What a trip!

Brehdren @ jlounge Dec. 8 2010 : November 30, 2010

By the Bin : November 28, 2010

After finding out you can buy Lego at $7.99 per 1/4 lb. at LegoLand in California I became curious to how much a single Lego piece costs.

The answer is an average of 15 cents per piece, depending on how cool the Lego theme is. You pay the high divided of 27 cents per piece for Harry Potter Lego at Amazon.ca, while a generic bucket of brick Lego from Canadian Tire is a mere 9 cents each.

My estimates are all prices based on sets that are for sale at various brick and mortar stores, amazon and direct from Lego.com. If you want to actually buy a single piece of Lego you can, but you be paying more than a set costs. What I priced a standard 2×4 brick to cost 12 cents they charge 30 at PAB. But you get exactly what you want, nothing more.  Still haven’t priced anything out with the Lego designer yet…

Open Grave : November 27, 2010

So what’s going on here? Two things: A message for an approach to creation and an image of a bunch of boxes. The message should be obvious, as it’s a take on the famous ‘Think outside the box’ concept. I just like to relate computers to that box as I feel they are exactly the reason for that statement. I see too many potentially awesome ideas ruined because it wasn’t written on a used napkin. Instead someone tried to achieve their idea direct from brain to screen. It should be from brain to page to screen and often back to the drawing board. The screen capture also depicts a tiny bit of software called WinDirStat, which I heard about through Nathan Spratt. It scans your hard drive and shows you visually how you drive space is being used.

Silly Raster, GIF’s are for kicks : October 31, 2010

First Contest Entry! Congratulations to Archie for his PERFECT contribution. For more information regarding the contest read on…

Second PERFECT entry from my Brehdren John.

The following examples explore the poor usage of digital manipulation to create more humour as a result. This technique falls into a simple formula as displayed below this paragraph.

more better humour = (((Q<bd)*b^cs))+O^2

where as:
Q = quality
bd = bit depth
b = thought bubble
cs = comic sans
O = obviousness

In our first demonstration, the progressive usage of MS Paint creates a far more iconic and communicative screen capture. Making the humour much more interesting to the audience as it is more easily comprehended.

In this first image, a screen capture from a popular TV show has been slightly altered to bring attention to the emoilé variable (we know! hilarious!) in the characters formula. Through the use of saturation and the characters apparent eye line, the statement is brought to light far too discreetly.

As noted in the formula above one on the best techniques for improving digital imagery is using both poorly drawn speech bubbles as well as the extremely expressive COMIC SANS typeface to clearly indicate humour. In the example below the character is now thinking aloud, clearly explaining the humour to the audience, a method often required in the 21st Century (esp. on television) to properly convey what the person on the blind date is thinkings about.

In this final, and most successful version, it becomes most obvious to the largest target market that the character from a popular TV show is thinking about emoile. The only ways to improve this image would be to create a line (or possibly a dotted line) from the characters head to the word emoile, making it far more clear to what the character is looking at and lowering bit depth. In this particular version it could be mistaken that the character is contemplating the title of the show and the word emoile may be misinterpretted as the image creators signature.

The above images have clearly demonstrated how less is more when it comes to proper communication and illustrative design. A perfect example of this is the overuse of JPG’s on the web. More often than not: a lower, more pixelated and poorer quality image format with poor image manipulation works better then high quality work.

In our next example a few photos from a stag party cabin trip have been turned into one hilarious mad cap image! It’s almost as if the chap in the foreground knows the bear by name! He’s so calm! He’s practically saying hello! We can only guess what the man locking the door will do when he turns around!

Although this image is quite successful in producing humour, there are a few things that would have made it better. Most importantly the digital artist should have had a time limit, and rushed more. The image doesn’t have enough obvious cuts and pastes. The subtle shadow under the bear is either too much or not enough, the artist shouldn’t have added it at all, or left it with a 100% opacity to ensure the low quality feel of the image. Lastly we’ll point out the two obvious changes that are needed A) the typeface used should have been COMIC SANS. By doing so the entire image would have exploded with humour instead of the very serious tone that BANK GOTHIC has and B) the chap in the foreground should be speaking through a poorly rendered speech bubble.

Bonus Factor 5000: The vertical balcony rails don’t match up and the man locking the door doesn’t have feet.

Want to join in the fun? Download the whister image and ADD YOUR OWN caption using your image editing software. Email it to Boomcity and you’ll be entered into an amazing CONTEST where you might win an amazing PRIZE! After 10 entries are submitted a new post will be added displaying the amazing talent of our readers!

*contest and prize may not be amazing. entries may be censored

P.S. I love you : October 18, 2010

Here are my favorite shortcuts for photoshop and an animated gif made in it.

I can hear the music.

Lightbox Review :

I just tried out the javascript based image viewer called LightBox.

Impressed, I am.

Within an couple hours I had created a simple animated gallery of some photos I’ve recently taken and added a brief description of  how I accomplished it.

I’ve been immersed in photography and conversing with photographers for the past few years working at VanArts, a really cool media school. Inspired by the works of the students and staff along with curiosity about the art of capturing digital images I’ve been doing personal research into DSLR image capturing and in doing so have fallen in love with the technical aspects of capturing images with DSLR cameras.

Being an graphic designer and illustrator I’ve always approached imagery with an observation of how could I draw ‘that’, or replicate ‘that’ with a symbol or diagram.

Inspired by all my students (past and present), specifically the works of RaVin and Yasmin and Angus. I have stumbled back into the glorious world I met in grade eleven. The rediscovery of being conscious of images captured not just by the mind, but by a lens…

Check out the gallery! It’s javascript, so if you’re using Internet Explorer let it know that everything is gonna be alright.

INNER-CITY SCHOOL PLAYGROUND : October 7, 2010

My wife loves obsessing over online competitions, help her feed her addiction by joining this good cause. The contest only takes a few clicks of your time and can help my childrens schools get a really cool playground if we win! Click the image to check out the contest!

Brehdren @ Applepaloosa! : October 6, 2010

Last Sunday Brehdren played in Richmond for a very enthusiastic audience…enthusiastic about apples! The first annual Applepalooza was hosted in Richmoind BC at The Orchard,(which may sound like a kitchy new night club, but is actually a real apple orchard) to raise awarness for underpriveledged apples. An audience of all ages enjoyed the reggae beats of the Vancouver bands premier show. Check out Brehdren.com for a music video and contact info!

This is important… : October 1, 2010

(Important to think outside of.)

Dub Rainbow : August 20, 2010

Well if you haven’t seen the Double Rainbow phenomenon then you can see it at youtube, and while you’re there you should also watch the remix by the talented crew behind the amazing auto-tune the news.

If you haven’t heard I’ve been singing in a reggae band, Brehdren, and the other night someone brought up Double Rainbow. Not everyone had seen it, so as dedicated musicians we immediately dropped our instruments and watched it, and then the remix and then immediately took a break to soak it all in. During the break  Ian (guitar)  wrote a bouncy likkle jaunt on guitar and upon returning from the break we wrote and completed our Dub Rainbow song.

It was recorded with a live mic straight off the floor the third time we played it. It happened so fast we had no idea what had just occured. I immediately asked Darel (bass) to copy it to my USB storage. After a weekend with the kids and a few days of exporting, importing and transferring, the high-definition masterpiece was complete.

If you can’t fix it, feature it. We couldn’t fix our lack of budget, time, and labour, so we’re featuring it in full spectum crayon. This is in fact the SECOND crayon based animated music video I’ve created. Check out the Frog Song in the Boomcity.Biz gallery, which also featured Darel on the bass and myself on vocals, recorded well over 15 years ago.

VanArts & GIFTS : July 22, 2010

Since the dawn of my career, some 15 years ago, I’ve been working with digital media. I started out at my favorite film making bootcamp GIFTS and am currently having a blast working at VanArts, the Vancouver Institute of media arts. Lately, on top of my role as an instructor for the Digital Photography dept, I’ve been producing short films for the VanArts website. Currently the videos I’ve been producing as well as other awesome movies can be seen at VanArts Vimeo channel, and after that you should check out GIFTS video gallery for some short film distractions.

Nine going on Nineteen : July 14, 2010

In an effort to teach my daughter about media literacy, I manipulated this image of her and aged her approximately ten years. It is truly amazing how people in magazines are created these days and ever more amazing how much we believe them to be real people. As the title of the Boomcity.Biz website states “EVERYTHING YOU READ IS TRUE” and if you believe that have I got an offer for you!

Portrait : July 1, 2010

Eye Line : June 29, 2010

Comic Sans : June 15, 2010

This ‘font’ has had it’s feelings hurt and now it’s fighting mad!

Acts of Violence : June 13, 2010

My good friends at Critical Hit Comics have done it again. Joining a national crew they’ve contributed to a multi-story graphic novel entitled ‘Acts of Violence’. This collection focuses on crime stories and old skool detective comics, and dispite it’s title is not over-gratuitous in it’s gore, but the subject matter is definately for mature audiences. Extreme blacks and whites, purposefully devoid of colour and a rare spattering of grey now and then, ‘Acts of Violence’ is a collection of art, and there is nothing comic about it. From the writing, to the artwork, layout, lettering, even the brilliant packaging and cover art all work in perfect tandem for a graphic novel anothology every arm chair detective should have on their shelf.

How I met your mother. : June 5, 2010

Who’s your daddy?

Vacation : May 23, 2010

Just finished marking some papers.

I’m walking here. : April 18, 2010

Introducing… : April 15, 2010

RIP: A Remix Manifesto : March 26, 2010

RIP is up for a GENIE award for Best feature documentary!

Watch the film online at the NFB website!  Brett Gaylor’s 6 year project regarding Copyrights and Intellectual Property Ownership and how it needs to be re-evaluated. Open Source Cinema was the seed of the project where contributers could remix the film, add their own two cents and be a part of the manifesto (you still can help as the film was designed to evolve and not end). So please check out the film and then add to it, make your thoughts and passions regarding copyright be heard.

Flame On! : March 17, 2010

I created this image with Escape Motion‘s FLAME. Such a remarkable thing to create so easily and result in such magnificent imagery. This is truly an amazing way to create pictures. Make sure you check out the gallery as well, to me it was proof this isn’t just some kind of online drawing toy, but a really amazing new digital paintbrush.

Reviewing my more recent posts you can find a series of vector line drawings I’ve been creating with Illustrator. I’ve been really happy with the results. Then I’m shown this free online drawing tool that makes what I’ve been doing look like the London 2012 logo (ick!). I’m gonna have to raise the bar sooner than I planned.

In the night… : March 16, 2010

Which way up :

Ink w/ photoshop : March 13, 2010

Box City : March 2, 2010

La Mer : March 1, 2010

Commodore Hammond replaces General Midi : February 21, 2010

There isn’t a happier Moil in a hundred thousand miles. Top row is the drum machine, second row includes the strings, next row controls the upper and lower keys, and various other switches and bars throughout control the sound of the pedals, add bass backup, one switch even holds the keys down for you. Once the bedframe is attached this thing will take me to places only H.G.Wells could dream up. I kind of wish it was both, Commodore Hammond AND General Midi, now that would be Space Rock 2010.

Papercraft Obsession : February 17, 2010

These are real objects, made from cardstock and glue, printed from a PDF. The PDF’s will soon be made available to the general public so you too can build your own Boomcity.Biz logo for your desk.

I recently was surfing the web for one thing or another, and ended up on a website called Superpunch. A collection of oddities from around the web blogged about. From there I discovered papercraft. Specifically some Starwars related papercraft. I built the Millenium Falcon, R2-D2 and the TIE interceptor. The Starwars ships are like toys that can be recycled. Much better than plastic, but with less moving parts.

Then I read about someone who used the papercraft concept to create a replacement part for a speaker stand. They modelled the object in the computer and converted it into a paper craft, built and then covered it in epoxy. Plastic-like replacement part. So I decided this was cool, downloaded Sketchup and Pepakura. I’m not sure what I might use this for, but I like the concept a whole lot.

I think we may start seeing some interesting objects appear around Boomcity soon.

I can see through time. : February 16, 2010

The soul has its principle seat in the small gland located in the middle of the brain. – Rene Descartes – 1649

In the centre of your head there is a gland that is shaped like a pine cone. Amoung small amounts of peptides and neurotransmitters this pineal gland creates melatonin. Production of melatonin increases during the night hours. In adults it seems to have an important role in regulating sleeping cycles. Melatonin affects physiological changes related to time as well. The pineal gland has been thought to have the ability to create stem cells as well.

Calcium deposits, also known as brain sand, can gather and reduce the pineal glands usefulness. Apparently this build up is inevitable with age. How can you reduce the brain sand accumulation? Thankfully here in BC, the Government isn’t tainting the city water supply with fluoride. Apparently fluoride can increase the calcification of the pineal gland. There are probably sand inductors found in McDonald’s fries as well.

I have found that through deep meditative concentration, one can achieve anything. I’ve been able to access the power of the pineal gland, which some believe is our third eye. The interesting thing is, no one notices. Let’s consider two months ago, I created the ability to fly. I flew to work, landed, and not one person thought it was out of the ordinary. Apparently, everything is possible, it’s just that no one will notice that anything is different. If you change the fabric of space and time, space and time changes along with you.

The Boomcity Science Researchers behind this post have verified the content through strenuous scientific tests. We are proud here at the Boomcity Science Labs to bring you this unbelievable discovery and as with all information presented here, this is absolutely true.

Mascot Mashup : February 15, 2010

Welcome 2010 Winter Games! : February 13, 2010

2010 Winter Olympics Homeless Mascot

Landscape Proper : February 7, 2010

Jupiter becomes Europa : January 31, 2010

Vanishing Point : January 30, 2010

Self Portrait : January 29, 2010

Step & Repeat : January 28, 2010

New Olympic Sport? : January 8, 2010

Happy New Year! : January 3, 2010

The Citizens of Boomcity.Biz collectively would like to wish all a happy year this 2010, and be sure to re-watch your Kubrick box set.

We are happy to say that Boomcity’s crime rates are still non-existant primarily due to the removal of standardized currency. We look forward to another year of useless police.

In the tech centre research has hit another level of awesome with the creation of the Boomcity image gallery. Construction on the beta model of the re-usable, customizable image gallery was completed late last night. Now begins the second stage of testing and adapting for stability and ease of use.

On a slightly different note, the Guv’nor has once again joined the entertainment platform in a new secret entertainment factory. Word on the street is there are off-beats involved and the Guv’ner himself will be a major spokesperson for the project.

31 days until GHD.

Natural Garbage Can : December 18, 2009

While walking with my children we saw two seperate trees being used as human refuse containers. The apple pictured here is thankfully biodegradable, but the garbage found in the other tree unfortunately was plastic and some paper that could have been recycled. The really odd thing about both trees was that garbage cans were visible from both tree.

Even more recently my kids dumped a couple apple cores at the base of the tree outside our house…but they put them out there as a snack for the Racoon that lives in a nest in that very tree. Had the Racoon not eaten the apples we would have cleaned them up.

Question Everything. : November 30, 2009

 

   Next month a meeting will occur in Coppenhagen that may very well change your way of life.  The United Nations Climate Change Conference. I heard a joke about future taxation on breathing since we exhale carbon dioxide. This might not be so funny after all. Imagine a new religion, the green religion, where by paying money to someone, somewhere, some web site, we ease our souls of their wrong doings against the earth itself. Instead of tribunals to god, we pay the earth, except like church, earth nor god need our cash, just those who run the organization. Please seek the truth about climategate and the Copenhagen climate conference.

 On another note… This is the new ad from Telus with the addition of the space rocket pick pocket. That’s a wallet being lifted from the pygmy goat. Recently I discontinued my cellular phone. Useful but expensive. I was being charged for surfing the internet and other activities without my knowing through my phone. October I was charged for 11 minutes of webtime, except I never went online.  After talking with a telus representative it is apparently normal to be charged like this and it was my fault. To add salt to the wound the new ad campain promotes  ’clear and simple pricing’. They can keep their pricing and their lies, and I’ll simply keep my money.

New Boomcity Media : November 21, 2009

Moil Studios has been studiously moiling.

Mr. Moil was recently lecturing about typefaces. Conversations from how Courier looks rounded and smooth on a Mac and pixelated on a  PC (the ‘Naughticus’ wallpaper below great example of how Courier appears on a PC) to conversations about the Helvetica Documentary by Gary Hustwit to the creation of a popcan tab typeface as seen in the GC&theBG wallpaper image below. 

Much flash development has also been occurring as well. Mr. Moil recently heard a rumour that Flash CS5 will export to IPhone compatible applications, and adobe labs confirms it. To get ready for this very cool news much excitement and practicing with Action Script 3.0 has resulted in two new flash applications  (a 2-4 player game timer and some math quizzes) available in the Boomcity Gallery. 

Although not near completion the Moil crew has been working hard with the Blipsandifs Programmers to produce their XML based jukebox for the superflat single archives using Action Script 3.0.

Boomcity Science: Starholes : November 5, 2009

Boomcity researchers have proposed a new theory regarding the universe and how we see it. Noted Boomcitizen Dr. C. took notice to a interesting phenomenon during the last eclipse and has been testing his theory ever since.

While examining the sun through a tiny pin hole in a black  card, I was using it to shield my eyes from the eclipse halo, I suddenly took notice not the the glory of our star but to the instrument I was witnessing it. When held before me I saw a tiny pinhole of light, like a little star. That began my recent studies.  -Dr. C.

Although the diagram  has greatly simplified the concept it does work to demonstrate the theory. Dr.C. points out that we never see the jar itself as it orbits geosynchronous. For more information regarding star holes please contact Boomcity Science Dept. through the Boomcity Tech Centre Techsupport.

Murder in the sky with Diamonds : October 18, 2009

City Wide Renovations : October 13, 2009

As you may know, Boomcity.Biz is an automatic structural bio system designed to adapt to its inhabitants. As the population grows and shrinks, the city reconfigures itself to accomidate the Boomcitizens needs. During these modular reconfigurations there have been known glitches and errors. Rest assured the city will right itself eventually and life will resume as normal.

Who’s line is it anyway? : September 18, 2009

Dark Horse Duo + Mr. Metro = Good : June 19, 2009

Check it out, the live wire riles again. My dearest brother Rust is playing another show at Cafe De Soleil on Commercial Drive and it starts between 8-9 on Wednesday, June 24. I saw these three acts play a few weeks ago and was greatly pleased with my intelligent purchace of the 4 dollar door fee. It’s really, really, really worth it for the mix. The cafe is nice too, it ain’t no Jona’s, but they do have beer and live music on Wednesdays. \

CORRECTION: The show was cancelled. Don’t go.

Using your mind. : June 8, 2009

Through the power of the mind, anything is possible. We truly are remarkable beings. Solely through concentration, meditation, or emotional projection, water can be changed structurally.  How a snowflake looks is more relevant to the awesomeness of the water than its chemical makeup. It’s been suggested by Masaru Emoto that we can change the structure of water with music, images, emotions and words. Negative or positive energies and even neglect can drastically change water’s structure. This put a whole spin on the meaning of saying grace before a meal. Emoto’s research found that projecting love and gratitude into water produced the most beautiful water structures.  Here is an image of an ice crystal formed from water that had love and appreciation emoted to it.

 

I plan on using this knowledge in my continued research into personal unaided flight. As depicted in the diagram at the top of the page, using ones mind, we may be able to change air water more dense below  us and less dense before us, so that we can step or swim through it. So far I have been unsuceessful in flying, but a slight increase in my standing jump has been recorded.

Be loving and grateful to water, it is the greatest force of life. For further reading on how these hypothesis work. please check out Masaru Emoto’s website.

http://www.masaru-emoto.net/ (nothing to do with flying, just water)

OutNumbered and the Darkhorse Duo : May 23, 2009

If you like comic books, there is a comic book convention almost every month in Vancouver. The core essencials of all that is considered comicbook and Vancity. Generally hosted at the Heritage Hall on Main Street  at 15th. There just happens to be a con tomorrow May 23, and there will be another one in July. My good friends Todd and Kev from Critical Hit Comics will be there. Recently I threw together this poster for the comic. OutNumbered is a complete 6 part comic series from Critical Hit Comics and illustrated by Boomcity.Biz co-creator Rusty Beach.

Rusty’s music project, the Darkhorse Duo have a series of shows coming up at Cafe Du Soliel on Commercial Drive, starting Tuesday May 26. Be sure to come experience the magic of Rust and Rene.

A Brand New World : April 16, 2009

I am pleased to announce the arrival of Liam. My son was born on April 8, 2009 six weeks before his due date. Although very small, 17 inches 3lbs 7ounces, he’s feeding well and putting on the pounds. The picture depicts him in an incubator with all sorts of sensors on him and an IV tube, but he has been regulating his own temperature now and is currently in a ‘cot’, which is like the box but with no lid and no longer requires IV as he is taking bottles and breast feeding very well. The doctors and nurses are amazed by his speedy weight gain and ease of feeding and feel that he’ll be able to come home within the next 2 weeks. We look forward to having our little guy join the family. It’s a sunny day in Boomcity, may the sun shine on your face today as well.

RiP: A Remix Manifesto : March 3, 2009

RiP: A Remix Manifesto is an open source documentary about copyright and remix culture. Created over a period of six years, the film features the collaborative remix work of hundreds of people who have contributed to a website, helping to create the world’s first open source documentary. 

I copied that text from the site to remix into my blog.

Canadian Media Mogul, Brett Gaylor, and a great friend of Boomcity is releasing his amazing new movie this month and I recommend everyone seek it out and see it. It’s going online March 15th everywhere for those who want to download it for free (legally) and you can even PAY to see it at the RIDGE on MARCH 20th. Brett will be at the showing, as will I and my beautiful wife.

RIDGE THEATER – MARCH 20th – 7:00pm – Vancouver

If you don’t live in Vancouver check out the NFB link below to see when it’s playing in your city.

Here is the NFB site…
RIP: A remix manifesto

Some more cool sites regarding the movie:

CBC Radio interview
Open Source Cinema
Creative Commons article

I almost died. : February 23, 2009

Thursday I tumbled on some cement, resulting in minor road rash on the base of my palms. I didn’t think much of it at the time. I went to work on Friday and other than feeling a little sleepier than usual I didn’t notice anything way out of the ordinary. The sleepiness kept coming and brought with it a fever and chills, so I decided to lay down early for bed after watching ‘Milk’ with my wife. (that’s the movie, not a glass).

I barely got out of bed Saturday. Sunday morning my wife looks at my arm and the tiny scratch had been hard at work. Nothing gross, just a light red trail under the skin leading up along my arm from the nickel sized scrape on my palm. I’d never heard of this, but she knew enough that I should go to the doctor.

We hit the drop in clinic, they say I need antibiotics (what else is new) and seventy dollars later I have a prescription. Feeling everything is well in hand I head back to bed until later that evening.

While watching the Oscars, just after Heath Ledger won for Supporting Actor, I noticed the red line from my palm was half way up my upper arm. So my wife calls the health nurse and the next thing I know I’m in the Emergency Ward with an IV drip and a return schedule for the next couple days.

I’ve still got a fever, still feeling groggy and tired.  The doctor says I should live and Sean Penn won best Actor.

Feb 26, I’m all good now, the IV treatment is over and I’ve only got that little scrape left of the whole ordeal.

It’s someone elses problem. : February 6, 2009

Homelessness. It’s someone elses problem.

I live on the east side, and it’s abundant. I notice how hard Translink tries to prevent those less fortunate than I from living on their property. Granted they have saftey issues to worry about, but their solution is to add barbed wire, or make living on the property more difficult, uncomfortable or dangerous.

The Patullo bridge caught fire from what seems to be caused by homeless people keeping warm.  Apparently the costs to repair the bridge was estimated at $1.5 to $2 million.  2 million in damages due to people keeping warm.

Currently the average homeless person costs a taxpayer over $40,000 per year in medical, shelter, justice system, and social services.  Putting one at-risk person in stable housing with a support worker would cost $17,000 – $28,000 per year. This means to me, that not only would a community that took care of it’s disadvantaged people save over $10,000 a year (per homeless person), it would also loose the embarasment of having the rug light on fire after it swept it’s ashes under it.

So, why are there homeless people? 
Why do we keep people homeless if it would cost us less to help them?

Rest in peace George Carlin.

Have a Wonderful Winter : December 14, 2008

The snow is falling, the tree is up and decorated. I’ve been playing Carols on the piano, thinking I should record them and release an album, 14 reasons plus one maybe. With all this snow please be careful on the roads as I wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to you. The families gather intermittently. It’s the time to be with your loved ones, cosy up in your homes, tell everyone how you feel. Please enjoy this holiday season, I know I will. We’re very excited about the winter, sledding, snowballs, and wet feet. All of which lead to hot chocolate in the end.

 

This month I’m concentrating on Aftereffects and Premier. Stay tuned for a new video for Cliff Ridley…His third album is on the way…

A Brand New Year. : November 30, 2008

OK, so It’s not January yet, but I’m really not interested in the whole “X-Mas spend your money on consumerism and support your local slavery of the human race.” I do and always have loved the “it’s cold outside, lets get together and eat good food.” But I can do that in January. The new year is interesting to me as it will commence the first of the last three years of life as we know it on the planet, or so I believe.  It’s going to be amazing. I’m polishing up my chakras as we speak.  This isn’t the end of the world, just the end of the one we know of. Maybe that will be the year the CIA pretends they’re aliens and attack the planet…or maybe the space time continuum will flip and we’ll start wandering around in one dimention of space while zipping through all three dimentions of time. We’ll see. It’s not that long to wait!

New Frontpage Blog : November 17, 2008

I am very pleased to announce that I’ve sucessfully enabled the latest Moil Ink blog post on the front page of Boomcity.Biz. Meaning, I’m feeding an HTML page some PHP code to snag POSTS of my blog from the DATABASE and post them on a page previously unrelated to the blog itself. This is very exciting as it’s been a while since I tried and was incomprehensibly unable to accomplish this deed back then. Now, the posts can flow and be recorded in the Moil Ink Blog (link to the Moil Ink archives on the right) and keep all that tucked away while allowing me to make fast and easy updates to my main site page. A nerdy step for Moil, a giant leap for Boomcity.Biz.

3D formulas : November 3, 2008

Working multidimentionally is exhausting. I have to find a better way to complete all the tasks required in both Boomcity and Vancouver. Travelling through astral projection is taking it’s toll, mostly on my free time, but I can see it adding up in other ways as well. I know the local institutions are working on a few things but I could really use instantaneous travel now. Oh well, at least I’m not using petrol.

Upgrading in progress… : June 8, 2008

If you’ve logged on in the past couple days your sure to have noticed the jumble that is Boomcity. Unlike the end of last year, this jumble is actully a good sign. The blog is being integrated into the main page. I’m really hoping this makes everything cooler and more customizable. I’ll slowly be adding the links back to the sidebar as things progress as well. Take care and have fun.

Welcome to Boomcity.Biz : April 25, 2008

To make 2008 extra exciting we are revamping the entire city after what has been a catastrophic terrorist attack against our citizens and other world wide web inhabitants. As of mid April, traces of the hack have be found in the debris. Apparently Boomcity was being used as a safe house for spam attackers throwing thousands of randomly addressed spam. They also hacked into error pages and were redirecting lost tourists through secret doors that led far away from Boomcity.

The problem has been solved, the terrorists have now been denied access to a dilapidated and abandoned wiki that was being tested for the new Library. The concept for the library lived on, but the wiki itself wasn’t perfect for the job. We’ll keep looking and meanwhile have made sure there are no other run-down buildings left in Boomcity for terrorists to exploit.

Now we rebuild the fair city in a greater way then ever before. A chance to start from scratch and build it up piece by piece, with a more regimented security, and more power for the people. Welcome back to Boomcity. For the records this is now Version 6.0, and it’s organic. Watch it grow.

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