Dyepot, Teapot

Thursday’s schedule was heavy on people talking. So I went to four lectures/panels/presentations. The first was on Adult Swim, which I’ve never really watched, but I was curious because I know it’s popular. They talked a lot about how they figure out what does and doesn’t work for them. One of the Oregonian bloggers wrote a pretty comprehensive account of the presentation, so I’ll just link over there.

After that, I went to the “Get a Job” panel, where I discovered that finding work in animation is a lot like finding work in any other interesting field. Get out there, talk to people, and don’t be an asshole.

Then, after lunch we had two big presentations by Aardman and Pixar studios. Aardman is best known for Wallace & Grommit, but they recently had a foray into CG with Flushed Away. Gary Rydstrom from Pixar showed off their first four shorts (and they’re still fun, even though CG work has gotten much more detailed since then), along with his directing debut, a short called Lifted, about the driver’s ed for alien abductions (I think they’re showing it along with Ratatouille, their latest feature film). He used the film to explain how the process of creating a Pixar film works, from the initial storyboarding, to character development (in this case, it involved a lot of mucking around with green hair gel), to the initial computer animation process, to sound, lighting, and finally the finished work. The Aardman presentation covered many of the same areas, but with a heavier focus on the character and story development process.

Then, after a quick dinner with family, I walked over to Wieden & Kennedy for Scott McCloud’s lecture on making comics. He’s done an amazing job of breaking down how and why comics do what they do. Even if you’re not a comics geek, I would recommend his work to anyone who’s interested in any sort of visual communication. We also had a special bonus presentation from his daughter Sky, about the family road-trip they’ve been doing since September to talk, teach, and promote his books. They have a group blog on Livejournal where you can follow the trip and find links to Sky and Winter’s video interviews with comic book artists.

Last, I went to the installation event. I know I’ve been saying how amazing and incredible and fun everything has been this week, but this exhibit was especially awesome. (I’m also comforted to know that the pros are having a similar experience.) Wow. I’m so sad that the best pieces were only one night, because I want to see this again, and bring everyone I know.

Subterranean Heart is a composite of projected animation and live performance. Well executed, with compelling imagery. I loved watching how everything fit together.

Pika Pika (whose film I saw Wednesday) was also there, doing a live participatory performance of their work. I’m feeling so inspired after seeing all of these amazing creative things this week, and this sort of light drawing is definitely something to experiment with.

I also loved Conveyor Belt, The Street, and Intra Muros. I really wish these could be shared with more people. The works that were set up inside PNCA are open through Saturday, at least, so you can see a sample of the non-performance and indoors creations.

Am I caught up now? Amazing. And there’s still more to come, today and tomorrow. I’ll have lunch and then head back downtown for another round.

Yesterday I was physically tired. Today’s it’s just my brain. I have the feeling I’ll be trying to catch up for a week after this.

So, Wednesday screenings. Competition group 4 had another fabulous collection of shorts.

Une Charogne. French, no subtitles, but the CG animation is beautiful. And lifelike, which is funny because it’s about death. The text was from a poem, so translations aren’t too hard to find.

Digitopia. There have been several pieces combining live action video with animation in the festival, and this is one of the best. The director plays mix and match with human body parts and animated machines, rebuilding and sculpting the parts.

Lightning Doodle Project/Pika Pika. Light painting! How could that not be fun?

Conte de Quartier. The program book says, “A crazy day in a neighborhood under construction.” The story is okay, but it’s the style of the painted animation that makes this one really interesting. The brush strokes are active, moving and rearranging to show the changing scene.

No Room for Gerold. A rhino, a hippo, a wildebeest, and a crocodile share an apartment, and it’s not going so well.

I also attended a preview of competition group 6.

Wolf Daddy. A wolf finds his writing interrupted by a succession of women who insist that he is the father of a little girl, a rabbit, and a turtle. It’s funny and sweet.

A Gentlemen’s Duel. Two men, one woman, and giant steampunk mecha suits. Fight!

I Met the Walrus. Another intriguing use of found audio. In this case it’s a 1969 interview with John Lennon, by a 14 year-old who snuck into his hotel room. They talk about war, love, and non-violence.

Vienna Mix. A series of small paintings photographed against the backdrop of Vienna. I love pieces like this that demonstrate how simple animation can be and still work.

Astronauts. It’s a small ship for two people. Especially if one of them pushes that red button clearly labeled “do not press”.

Wednesday was also the lovely Laika picnic out on Sauvie Island. We ate, we drank, we played with crayons. Very relaxing.

[I didn't manage to finish this until Friday, but it's still my Thursday post. Just pretend it was up a day ago.]

When I was in college, one of my friends and I would drool every year as SIFF came around, and wish we had the time and money to buy a full pass, gorging on movies for a week. So far, doing this at Platform has been every bit as enjoyable and exhausting as I thought. I’ve only been up an hour, but I’d really like a nap.

Anyhow, Tekkon Kinkreet was as wonderful as the festival organizers claimed. It’s an adaptation of a manga series published in the US as Black and White, the story of two young homeless boys and their neighborhood. Apparently the visual style of the movie is significantly different than the manga. The landscape is dirty and run-down, but brightly decorated with neon lights and sculptures. In the post-screening interview with Michael Arias, he said that one of the reasons for that choice came from the art director, who had just spent 10 years working on Steamboy, which is set in early industrial Manchester, everything in shades of gray. After that it was time for color.

The story alternates between comedy and tragedy, friendship and violence. In one of the first scenes, we see White, the younger of the two boys, with snot dripping from his nose despite a whole roll of toilet paper at hand, because he’s completely inept at cleaning himself. And then he and Black beat up the two boys from a nearby neighborhood who’ve come to challenge them. It’s an emotional, multi-layered story. I’m eager for this to get widespread distribution in the US so I can watch it again.

My last screening of the night was competition group 3 (adults only). Lots of funny, bawdy, and gross works. My favorites:

Dreams and Desires–Family Ties. This is a chav-tastic bit about a middle-aged woman with too many fantasies and a new video camera, attempting to film her friend’s wedding. Slapstick and bawdy.

At the Quinte Hotel. Based on Al Purdy’s poem. I really want my book club friends to see this one.

Never Like the First Time!. Combines interviews with four people and animations of their stories, spanning the whole range from silly to sad to romantic.

Cold Calling. A little revenge fantasy about telemarketers, with silly critters instead of people.

The Carnival of the Animals. Dancing breasts, and penises, and naked bodies, and frolicking. A good way to end the evening.

I went to two screenings earlier: competition program 2 (family program), and films by kids for kids. I was surprised that I liked the films by kids better than the other set, on the whole (though I missed the first three from the competition set–running late this morning). Lucas asked for links to the ones I liked, since he had to work (poor guy), so here goes.

Competition set 2:

Goodbye Canine. What really happens to the teeth left under the pillow. With special ops mice.

Dachau bei München. It’s a cute little film about a thirteen year-old boy, school, and all the mundane little bits of one’s life. He lives in the area of Dachau, near Munich, and bikes past the concentration camp grounds on his way to and from school every day. It’s never discussed, but the setting makes for an eerie contrast with the suburban life that makes up the story.

Films by kids for kids:

Cloud Warrior and No Problem. Both of these are collaborations within the same family, with the kids contributing story, words, drawings, and their father tying it together. Very fun pieces, especially the second one, which involves 3 year-old Emma telling her dad how she’d get out of various situations (birds and rope are frequently involved).

Mirror Perspective. A very artistic use of Legos to riff on Plato’s allegory.

The Whistler’s Tale. I’m not sure how to describe this, and the group that made it is Belgian, so their website is in French. It involves music and differences and acceptance … I guess?

Envious Heart. Dragons and sprites, singing Carmina Burana. Very well drawn.

And right now I’m hanging out with the Social Media Club in the middle of the street outside PCPA (no cars, it’s closed). We’re talking to anyone who’s interested about blogging etc.

Now that I’m sober, awake, and not feeling too bad (all hail Emergen-C), here’s my favorite bits from last night’s screening, with links to watch them when available.

The Danish Poet. A sweet story about chance meetings and love. It won an Oscar.

Tower Bawher. For fans of angular Soviet graphic art (Google tells me this style is called “Russian constructivist”).

The Pearce Sisters. The visual style reminds me a little of the gross out closeups in Ren & Stimpy. Two sisters and a hut on the beach where nothing grows and the rain blows sideways.

Apnée. This is one that scores more for technique than story. The camera appears to fly through a paused scene which shows changes each time the view circles around. Very interesting to watch.

Rabbit. I’ve seen this one before, via a link on Neil Gaiman’s blog. The graphics come from Dick and Jane books, but the story goes in a completely different direction. It’s my favorite from this set.

One Rat Short. My second-favorite. Sort of a rat love story. Beautiful visuals.

Dawn asked about my favorite podcasts. I’m woefully behind on listening to any of these, but here’s the ones I like enough to let them fill up space on my hard drive.

• Escape Pod. Weekly science fiction and fantasy short stories, read out loud. They select some really amazing work for this.
• The 107 Report. All about the Portland Timbers, with interviews, game clips, and Bruce’s reflections.
• The Trance Lab. A weekly radio show with two hours of electronic music.
• SXSW Podcasts. One of these years I’ll attend the event in person, but for now, I have the podcast version.

I don’t really know who else listens to podcasts enough to tag, so if anyone else wants to jump in with their favorites, go for it.

I’m spending this week at the first ever Platform International Animation Festival. Portland has a really amazing animation community already here in town, so it’s very cool that the organizers chose us and not NY or LA or some random spot in the mountains (and yay Cartoon Network for underwriting it). It opened tonight with the first set of competition entries followed by a party. My plan is to go to as many events as I possibly can, follow Shawn around in hopes of meeting interesting people, and hang out at Podcast Hotel.

If you are even slightly interested in seeing animated works from around the world, I encourage you to pick up tickets to at least one screening (I think most events are $10). Lucas and I were both really impressed with the first night’s lineup, and there are some great feature-length works, lectures, and other events on the schedule.

I’ll post more when I’m more awake and sober (opening night == champagne. with blue curaçao. mmm and oof and the same time.)

I have some ongoing frustrations with technology, people, and work that are completely arcane to everyone I know who doesn’t work in this sphere, and so far not very rewarding to discuss with people who do. I also feel like no one I know outside the tech sphere really wants to talk to me about what I’m working on, because they don’t expect it to be interesting or make sense. It’s very depressing.

I’ve been trying to pull myself out of this funk enough to get work done, so I decided that I need new brain food that has nothing to do with computers. I’m attempting to teach myself hiragana and katakana. I think I can probably pick up 3-5 characters a day, if I’m persistent. One of the nice things about being 27 (almost 28!) is that I have a pretty good idea of how I learn at this point. I know I’ll learn faster if I can associate the sound with the act of writing the character, for example. I know that I’ll work harder if I have some particular goal in mind, especially if it’s easy enough to reach in a few months.

The main programming language I work with, Ruby, originates in Japan, and are still materials on it that have yet to be translated to English. I’ve tried to look things up on Google only to discover that the only hits are from a Japanese-language mailing list or forum, and the language is structured differently enough from English that automated translation tools are barely useful (you might be able to figure out the nouns, but not what the person is trying to say about them), so learning something about the grammar and sentence structure would let me use these more effectively. I’m also interested in Japanese pop culture, so I would feel like this project was a success if I learned just enough to dissect a fashion magazine or children’s manga with the help of a dictionary. Plus there’s all sorts of interesting craft and knitting books, Nintendo DS games (yay for not having region-encoding), and lots of other things I’d like to be able to read, if only barely.

I’ll report back on how it goes. The big trick is staying motivated even after the initial fun new thing effect wears off.

One of my favorite local tech groups, Dorkbot PDX, is having their first big event a week from today. Here’s the event announcement:

Come join DorkbotPDX, people doing strange things with electricity,
for our inaugural event at Vendetta (4306 N Williams Ave) on June 24th
at 5pm. If you’re a hacker, painter, engineer or sculpture, musician or
maker you’ll fit right in. We bring together the tech and art worlds and
enjoy it all over a pint of beer. We’ll have presentations and performances
by these fine folks:

Jason Plumb is a software engineer by day…hardware hacker, reverse
engineer, and experimental sound geek by night. He will provide an
overview of the Essential Reality P5 glove controller and explain how
it can be used with free and open-source software to create and
manipulate sound.

Jesse Fox studied music composition and physics at Bates College
before getting a Master’s Degree from the Center for Computer Research
in Music and Acoustics at Stanford University. He will discuss his
involvement with the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots (LEMUR)
and describe the detailed technical recreation of George Antheil’s
“Ballet Mecanique”, which includes xylophones, bass drums, tam-tam,
pianists, electric bells, a siren, airplane propellers, and a volley
of player pianos.

Donald Delmar Davis, principal research anarchist at D3 Laboratories,
will overview the deconstruction of Arduino and Wiring platforms to
create artistic robot platforms with AVR microcontrollers. “AI Begins
With Self Destruction”

paint & copter create multi-media experiences of regurgitated and
improvised media. By synthesizing live and pre-manipulated video
feeds, field recordings and live instrumentation, Paint and Copter
filter cultural noise and reprocess it into a new, mesmerizing thread.

We will also have a brief open-mic of sorts referred to as Open Dork.
This is a show and tell where you can have the mic for a few minutes
to discuss your latest project, vent about frustrations trying to get
your art grant or tell us about the intricacies of the color blue.
It’s your time to tell us what you think we need to hear.

Festivities will begin at 5pm and you can expect them to last until
they kick us out. Please bring yourself, your friends and any thing
you’d like to share.

http://dorkbotpdx.org/wiki/dorkbotpdx_0×00

http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/207763

I’ve been using Stikkit since their release last fall, but today I finally concluded that it just isn’t doing what I need. Having all of my notes on a remote server was useful when I worked from more than one computer, but now I do more-or-less everything from my own laptop. But the biggest problem is that notes felt invisible to me once they were in the system. When I exported all of my data, I discovered at least one item that I’ve recorded twice, because I didn’t remember doing it. The service just isn’t visual enough for me. I need to be able to spread my notes out, shuffle them around, see how things fit together. Paper isn’t ideal because it’s not searchable, but Stikkit’s data model is too flat, even with tagging.

So… I’m looking for a replacement. My temporary solution is text files, but if anyone has a more elegant suggestion (cheap or homebrew preferred), I’d like to hear it. Personal wiki? One of those snazzy research programs like DEVONthink or Yojimbo?