tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-180939942024-03-07T01:48:14.114-05:00The Transmutation EffectIn "Battle Of The Planets", Casey Kasem's character would yell out "TransssMUTE!", causing him to morph into the leader of G-Force.<br>Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.comBlogger713125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-61486852626178223492012-06-18T23:51:00.001-04:002012-06-18T23:51:20.328-04:00Spending Time On TumblrI do love The Transmutation Effect, but due to the amount of drawing I'm (trying) to do, I'm doing most of my blogging action over on Tumblr at <a href="http://thobgood.tumblr.com/">Taste The Steel</a>. Do come for a visit, won't you?Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-4254286927620478872012-05-03T16:18:00.001-04:002012-05-03T16:23:36.201-04:00A Very Special #Comicpanels<div style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px;">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thobgood/7139748591/" title="photo sharing"><img alt="" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7089/7139748591_2521dd3f37_m.jpg" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a> <br />
<span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thobgood/7139748591/">the STORY behind the COVER</a> <br /> Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thobgood/">TedHobgood</a> </span></div>
For a while there in Speed Comics back in the 40s, they’d have wild covers with the major heroes featured in the magazine all collaborating in some big fight (usually against the “Japanazis”). Inside the comic, there’d be two pages of narrative—yeah! That you had to READ!—that would purportedly explain what was going on in the cover scene. This was entitled, plainly enough, “The STORY behind the COVER”. As you can see from the title, the text was readily peppered with CAPITAL WORDS in order to EMPHASIZE their point and bring more DRAMA to the boring, non-pictorial story. <br />
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For some reason, I was reading one of these and my eyes blurred and I started to read only the CAPITALIZED words. Strung together, they looked almost poetic to me. So now, in a very special edition of #comicpanels, from Speed issue #39, I present “the POEM behind the STORY behind the COVER”. All punctuation is from the original, except where there was none, in which case I introduced an ellipsis, as a rule. Enjoy.<br />
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DEATH! GOD OF THE SEVEN DEATHS! BAROK!</div>
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BUT THE STAGE WAS EMPTY!</div>
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NOT</div>
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<br /></div>
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WHAT’S…WHO…WHOM?!</div>
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WE…CENTRAL AMERICA!!</div>
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CAPTAIN FREEDOM…AMERICA!</div>
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MONEY…THIS…BY RANSOM!</div>
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BLACK CAT!</div>
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THEN SHE LEAPED! ACTION! DISASTER!</div>
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<br /></div>
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NOW!</div>
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I thank you.Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-67905005121474790332011-06-28T10:24:00.000-04:002011-06-28T10:24:14.856-04:00The Legion of Justice Heroes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5149/5876687995_400d0ec709_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5149/5876687995_400d0ec709_b.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
So a few months ago, my friend Sylvia invited people to come partake (in a few months, ie, last week) of a murder mystery party. Sylvia doesn't buy these in a box from a store; she writes them up from scratch, creating all the characters, their motivations, their interrelationships, EVERYTHING. I don't see how she does it.<br />
<br />
Anyway, she had a fairy tale murder mystery party a year or two ago, and it was amazing, great food, great backstories, and people had an amazing time fleshing out their fairytale characters and acting like complete nutballs. (Aaron and Fiona as obnoxious-accented Hansel and Gretel were particular standouts.) I participated in that one, and was an old man whose mission was to get rid of a magic amulet before midnight. I palmed it off on Bryan Barnes, and he aged like 120 years in seconds (and then we had a hilarious slow-motion chase around the theater.)<br />
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ANYWAY anyway, a few months ago, Sylvia invited me to do the superhero thing, but I was feeling all "wah-wah, whine-whine" antisocial and obnoxious, so I politely declined (even though I had had a ball at the fairytale one).Turns out Aaron couldn't make it either (as he had to infiltrate some conservative sect and steal their liquor and down pillows or something...) so Sylvia cast him as the superheroes' sidekick (who I dubbed "The Amazing Wonder Keck") and asked me to film a simple scene of him being tortured; something for the heroes to fight for.<br />
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Well, you know me: always happy to help a friend out when I can, and if it involves video and campy superheroes, well, always happy to make it eighteen times more complex and giggle the whole time doing it. So I volunteered to do a kidnapping scene as well, and we brainstormed and created some visual gags, some taunting scenes, and the mandatory use of Burgess Meredith Penguin Gas. (which turns out to be fun & easy to do in After Effects!)<br />
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I also decided to attempt to make a Superfriends-style animated opening as well, and wanted a Legion of Doom group of villains. Somebody came up with a name that I vetoed, with me saying I wanted a "Man From U.N.C.L.E." style acronym. Aaron, being a smartass, said "why don't you just go with A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.?" Me, being a smartass, said "yeah, right, why don't YOU come up with a cool name that long, with those letters?" Aaron, being a genius comedy writer, came up with one in like four minutes, and it got included in the video (and I made us buttons!). I had fun coming up with all the villainous characters; they were supposed to be illustrated, but got axed due to time constraints. The heroes DID get illustrated; Sylvia sent me Facebook pix of the various folks involved, and I drew my best attempt at them, costumed as their hero. I would draw one person, show it to Jason, and he'd show me what could be improved to make it actually look human ("You got the boobs wrong AGAIN.") Pencils were scanned into Photoshop and cleaned up, then imported into Toon Boom Studio for inking and colouring. I had already designed all the logos for the heroes and the villains in Illustrator. I also had a great time writing the voiceover script for the animated opening, trying my best to channel Ted Knight.<br />
<br />
The live action stuff was filmed over at Casa Keck (after kicking Fitz out, for secrecy reasons). It was insanely hot that day, so filming exteriors whilst wearing longsleeve black "Goon" shirts was less than pleasant for me and Miss Toth, but we had a blast. Got in some good visual gags and some blooper material. Moving inside, we set up my new chromakey screen and suspension stands from <a href="http://www.digitaljuice.com/djtv/detail.aspx?sid=435">Digital Juice</a> (which were AWESOME--I wanna do more chromakey work now!) We filmed the restaurant scene in front of Kit's colelction of Multiple Man sketches, which made it look like a sort of superhero Sardi's, which I thought was funny. We also managed to include our fabled Old Bay Seasoning (in-joke.) After we finally beat Aaron until he learned the actual name of the superhero group name, and after I learned how to fake out to the camera so you could read my shirt, we had that scene in the bag. I had found some great cotton batting that looked like oversized comedy rope to tie Wonder Keck up with, so that looked funny. Aaron got into character quickly, and adlibbed most of his stuff. I took several takes to ramp up my own energy and get into the part (the early takes on the blooper real are painfully low-key.)<br />
<br />
Breaking all the equipment down and heading home, it took a week or two to find the time to log all the footage and get it roughly edited, then another solid week to add the music, supers, graphics, and special effects (did I mention the <a href="http://www.usfamily.net/web/wpattinson/otr/batman/batgas.htm">Penguin Gas</a>?) Matching the virtual table movement to the zooming and panning of the camera was difficult, so it looks a little rough--but darn good enough for a one-shot party, I'd say! The important thing was the comedy. Sylvia did a bang-up job of making a ludicrously large plate of spaghetti and meatballs, and Aaron made an annoyingly hilarious pesky sidekick.<br />
<br />
Finally it was party day! We headed over to Sylvia's gaming friends Will and Allison's house (they were very awesome, with a cool place, and I need to hang with them more.) Kit arrived about the same time we did, and everybody else managed to arrive by twenty minutes later (by which time, Kit had not yet entered the house. Everyone else was scared to go out and find out why, so I was delegated to go check up on him. If you know Kit well, you wouldn't be worried--he was just putting together a rather complex outfit.)<br />
<br />
Everybody seemed to really enjoy themselves. The videos played quite well through the XBox 360, and seemed to add to the mood (screaming during the Troubalert klaxon has now become an ongoing bit). Kit's character, Vector, had size-changing powers, so Kit creatively (and amusingly) replicated that by having a series of different-sized action figures to represent him. Fiona made for a hilarious FDR Lass: "We have our four freedoms: Freedom of speech, freedom from fear,...and the other two freedoms." The guy playing DYRE (think Incredible Hulk) was fabulous. At first, I thought he was an utter buffoon and a shallow actor, as his Hulk-ish character was pretty simple. But then he reverted to his "Bruce Banner" identity (by putting on a suit and tie) and revealed his brilliance (both his character's brilliance and his own brilliance at playing the character!) The plot ended up going in directions we couldn't have imagined, with an explosive ending. Sylvia did an amazing job giving everybody fun characters to play with interesting motivations, and creating a world for them to live in. (And she invented an awesome supervillain off the top of her head: The Great Molesto.)<br />
<br />
Oh, and I have to mention that Will infused his own liqueurs, which is awesome, and he was kind enough to let me try his basil liqueur, which was satisfyingly evil-looking with it's cloudy swirls of dark green--it tasted amazing.<br />
<br />
So here's the stuff:<br />
<br />
Videos are <a href="http://www.youtube.com/playlist?p=PL0F63A778DAC05798">here</a> (now including bloopers from the filming!)<br />
(it's a playlist, so you can either watch them individually or let them all play through.)<br />
<br />
Stills from the video production are <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thobgood/sets/72157626868654255/">here</a>.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thobgood/sets/72157626868654255/" target="_blank"></a><br />
<br />
Pix from the party itself do be <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thobgood/sets/72157626919701961">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Enjoy!<br />
-TedTed Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-80229314609170940842011-06-21T12:38:00.001-04:002011-06-21T12:40:16.826-04:00My Fave iPad Apps, Part Three - MiscellaneousHighlights of other apps.<br />
<br />
Nice apps:<br />
<ul><li> <b>GarageBand</b> - I have no idea why they sell this so cheap. If you want to make music quickly and easily, get this.</li>
<li><b>ChopDJ, Flare, Baby Scratch, TapDJ</b> - scratching apps</li>
<li><b>iBooks, Stanza, GoodReader, ARCreader</b> - all good PDF and eBook readers. GoodReader has great annotation tools if you want to make notes in your textbooks or whatever.</li>
<li><b>DocsToGo</b> - Sort of Microsoft Office for the iPad. There's a few apps like this out there, and I finally chose this one after much debate. Love the way it syncs up with Dropbox and Google Docs.</li>
<li><b>IA Writer</b> - a clear, uncluttered word processor that has additional keys on the keyboard for punctuation and navigation, so you can write faster and spend less time switching keyboards and trying to move the cursor.</li>
<li><b>Pages</b> - Apple's word processor and basic desktop publishing program. Great to have if you need to quickly lay out a poster or brochure or something. Nice interface. Worth it.</li>
<li><b>Nebulous</b> - Still evaluating this, but it looks like IA Writer with Dropbox integration. Well that's cool! Gotta look at this more.</li>
<li><b>Index Card</b> - an index-cards-on-corkboard program. Good for organizing ideas.</li>
<li><b>Corkulous</b> - Much like Index Card.</li>
<li><b>[Adult Swim]</b> - Watch selected episodes, get info.</li>
<li><b>AppStart</b> - Guide to how to take advantage of your iPad. ALL NEW IPAD OWNERS SHOULD GET THIS.</li>
<li><b>SimpleMind+</b> - Good, free mind mapping app.</li>
<li><b>Idea Sketch</b> - another mind mapper. </li>
<li><b>Life</b> - the famed magazine has a great app. Amazing photos.</li>
<li><b>PBS </b>- Good app from Public Television; you can watch some shows here.</li>
<li><b>Lego Photo</b> - try it!</li>
<li><b>SoapBox</b> - Access app for comedian David Mitchell's video podcast bits. </li>
</ul><ul><li><b>Planetary</b> - very cool-looking solar-system-based interface for playing back your mp3s. Not what I'd actually USE to play mp3s, but it's cool.</li>
</ul>And that's it for now! Enjoy!Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-65711151203034347602011-06-21T12:25:00.000-04:002011-06-21T12:25:41.666-04:00My Fave iPad Apps, Part Two - GAMESOkay, in this second part, I'll list off some of my favourite apps from the other pages of my iPad. No screenshots this time, as a lot of the apps are just sitting there waiting to be evaluated, or are only for extremely occasional use. I'll just hit the highlights here and share some gems.<br />
<br />
We'll do games in this post.<br />
<br />
Games I like:<br />
<ul><li><b>Corpse Craft</b> - Edward Gorey meets matching game meets tower defense</li>
<li><b>Angry Birds et al</b> - everyone knows this</li>
<li><b>Karate Champ</b> - early coin-op in full 8-bit action mode!</li>
<li><b>Splode</b> - simple, poetic. Pop little balls that then fly apart and pop other balls; set up a chain reaction to make your target.</li>
<li><b>Stick Golf HD </b>- miniature golf, of a sort. One of my favourite pick-up-and-play games.</li>
<li><b>iTraceur</b> - a homemade parkour game. Very, very cool idea.</li>
<li><b>Mirror's Edge</b> - also parkour-y, Canabalt-y. Very nice.</li>
<li><b>Canabalt</b> - The original endless running game, and surprisingly captivating.</li>
<li><b>Mega Worm</b> - You are a giant worm, a la Tremors. Destroy, eat, and KILL. (See also Death Worm.)</li>
<li><b>Monster Dash</b> - Endless running, but you have a gun. And are killing vampires, werewolves, etc. Mindless and a hoot.</li>
<li><b>Bowmaster HD</b> - Archery simulator. Surprisingly satisfying, and free fro the first bit.</li>
<li><b>Lego Harry Potter</b> - A nice port of the console game.</li>
<li><b>Atari's Greatest Hits</b> - good if you like old-school 2600 or arcade gaming.</li>
<li><b>Boggle</b> - I got it free. Not sure if it's always free. Great pick-up-and-put-down game. PRobably my most frequently played game nowadays.</li>
<li><b>7Words</b> - Sort of crosswordy, where you answer the clues with syllable tiles. Love this one. Many levels for free.</li>
<li><b>100 Rogues</b> - Have only played this once, but I think I played it for two hours. If you know the classic Rogue game of computer gaming history long past, you know what this is. Random dungeons, random monsters, random treasure, lots of mindless adventuring fun!</li>
<li><b>Soundrop</b> - More of a toy than a game. Set up platforms to bounce balls around and make music. Soothing and addicting.</li>
<li><b>Peggle</b> - Peggle is AWESOME.</li>
</ul> Games that are promising, but I haven't really tried:<br />
<ul><li><b>Underworlds</b> - Diablo-y?</li>
<li><b>PoP:WW</b> - Prince of Persia</li>
<li><b>WWE Legends</b> - WRESTLING!</li>
<li><b>S. Guardian</b> - Sort of Underworld-y, I think?</li>
<li><b>#sworcery</b> - The celebrated 8-bit adventure game, with spooky atmosphere and music. Very promising.</li>
<li><b>TNA </b>- WRESTLING!</li>
<li><b>Spirits</b> - I got this for free. Sort of an ethereal Lemmings.</li>
</ul>Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-70013052896702245012011-06-21T12:06:00.001-04:002011-06-21T12:06:29.326-04:00My Fave iPad Apps, Part One<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">So Kit just bought an iPad2 and was asking for app recommendations. I started to fire back a quick email, but it seemed to morph into a longer document that I thought might be of use to other folks, so I figured I’d turn it into a rare blog post. So here are my favourite iPad apps, as of 6/21/11, and how I use them. We'll go through them screen by screen, folder by folder.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis5yLFBJIXzxvePywzX5v2CNXm7iGgWQGAsrzc7FXGza13S7sp3VNhy4KJDNwIcLcHPiPsLvbeS7Cz_COpTzcRoPr5ZRFQicj7T55GDa2L7IlNcHqItDjmu27YzcWCvWOETbvlMw/s1600/ipadscreen_main.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis5yLFBJIXzxvePywzX5v2CNXm7iGgWQGAsrzc7FXGza13S7sp3VNhy4KJDNwIcLcHPiPsLvbeS7Cz_COpTzcRoPr5ZRFQicj7T55GDa2L7IlNcHqItDjmu27YzcWCvWOETbvlMw/s320/ipadscreen_main.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> This is my main screen. For the dock, I've chosen my most-used programs:</span></div><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>App Store</b> - for checking on what's popular and what needs to be updated</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Safari</b> - for general web browsing, but mostly for checking email, as I prefer GMail's mobile client over the Mail app, which I've relegated to the last page.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Informant HD</b> - a calendar program superior to the iPad's native calendar, and which I have synced to Google Calendar.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Osfoora HD</b> - my favourite Twitter client.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Reeder</b> - an RSS/Google Reader client which I ADORE!</span></li>
</ul><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">As for the rest of screen one, we have:</span></div><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Settings</b> - for....settings.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>YouTube</b> - which I actually don't use much; maybe my iPad is just old, but videos don't load very swiftly in this app.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Videos</b> - which I have populated with tutorials, morgue material for projects I'm working on, finished video projects to show off, and the occasional wrestling PPV, movie, or tv show.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Photos</b> - I have folders set up to store morgue files for current projects, favourite iPad wallpapers, and all the past #comicpanels and CageMatch identity screens. I also have a smart folder set up in iPhoto so that I always have the last two weeks' photos stored on the iPad.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>iPod</b> - I don't use it that often, but I do have a small selection of music to listen to while working--my Hero playlist, the Don soundtrack, and all the Atomic Platters tunes.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">skipping the folders for now, we have <b>Guardian Eyewitness</b>, which presents amazing daily pictures from the news, courtesy of the Guardian newspaper. Very nice.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Dropbox</b> - Get it now. If you don't have it already, won't you please use <a href="http://db.tt/YMwgU8E">this link</a> to get it? (If you do, I get more storage space!) I could (and probably should) devote an entire post to Dropbox, and why it's so useful in my daily work and INVALUABLE on the iPad. Basically, it syncs files dropped into a Dropbox folder on your pc or Mac with every other computer you own and your smartphone and iPad. So it's a great way to always have access to your important files, and a great way to get things on and off the iPad. A number of iPad apps can read and write to Dropbox, so you can transfer work back and forth, get it off the iPad to print it, get it on the iPad to edit it, etc. <a href="http://db.tt/YMwgU8E">Get it now</a>.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Simplenote</b> - Another favourite app. Basically it's Dropbox, but just for text. Think of it as a notepad that you can edit on any machine and have changes updated everywhere, I use it for quick scripts, thoughts, props lists, anything I need to work on really quickly. If you're offline when you edit the note, it'll update automatically when you have wifi.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>2Do</b> - ONE of my "to do list" apps of choice. Informant HD (above) actually does to do lists, but the format doesn't gel with me. 2Do rocks, with a great interface and online syncing.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Bookman</b> - After much searching, this is my comic book reader of choice. Love it. There's a free version that's excellent; I bought the paid version to support the developer. Makes reading CBRs and CBZs easy, fun, and comic-like. (and helps me with #comicpanels!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Manage...Lists</b> - Another great to do list manager. I use this one for quick day-to-day lists, 2Do for overarching project planning. I'll frequently have a project in 2Do, then break it down in Manage Lists so as to not clutter up 2Do.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Evernote</b> - I'm a recent convert to Evernote, which everybody else on the planet already uses. Basically, you use it to store just about anything, pictures, text, urls, what have you. Tag them, and then you can find them later. I've been emailing myself things to remember about Marvin Artists or video editing or animation or what have you,and then never look at them because they get lost in my email stacks. Now I throw it into Evernote, and I know I can find it later. Get the desktop client too, so you can quickly save scraps when you're working there.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Penultimate</b> - I just got this on the advice of the <a href="http://prolost.com/blog/2011/6/15/what-i-do-with-my-ipad-part-1-storyboarding.html">Prolost</a> blog, who uses it for storyboarding. It's basically a little notebook program, but the key features here are that you can rearrange the pages in a thumbnail view (essential for storyboarding) AND you can make your own custom template papers. So you could make music notation paper, graph paper, storyboarding squares, or what have you. I have it on the front page to remind myself to explore the possibilities--maybe a blank superhero body to sketch costumes on? Cartoon panels for thumbnailing?</span></li>
</ul><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">On to the folders! Firstly, <b>Art</b>!</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisbfRZd-UsrV19LJGDe-Ti-FngYnxwvDCnc2NWLMnjte5NDAF1v95UOToeEZiy0lPrlBKPr5EPHkM806t4bqFJVb2Du2_K6fNjWEERGvJTxX5JlX2IsYK9_YB-9y56Km9FJsPjzg/s1600/ipadscreen_art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisbfRZd-UsrV19LJGDe-Ti-FngYnxwvDCnc2NWLMnjte5NDAF1v95UOToeEZiy0lPrlBKPr5EPHkM806t4bqFJVb2Du2_K6fNjWEERGvJTxX5JlX2IsYK9_YB-9y56Km9FJsPjzg/s320/ipadscreen_art.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">These are the various art programs I use and/or are trying out currently. I'll go through them quickly now, and will try to flesh out this section with more critical description later. There's a lot here.</div><ul><li><b>ArtStudio</b> - Amazing program. So cheap, you think it can't possibly be worth buying because something that cheap must suck. But it doesn't. It rocks like thunder, and the developer is CONSTANTLY making it better and adding tools and features. A must buy.</li>
<li><b>SketchBook Pro</b> - Generally regarded as the best drawing app on the iPad. I like it better for some things, ArtStudio for others, but SketchBook is definitely a fabulous program.</li>
<li><b>LiveSketch HD</b> - I actually just deleted this program. Basically just a cute sketchy thing, but not very useful.</li>
<li><b>Adobe Ideas</b> - Why is this free??? Basically, it's a paint program that translates strokes into scalable vectors that can be exported and edited in Illustrator. I've done some awesome-looking things tracing photographs with this. No reason to not get it.</li>
<li><b>iDraw</b> - One of the vector drawing programs I'm evaluating.</li>
<li><b>iDesign</b> - One of the vector drawing programs I'm evaluating.</li>
<li><b>Sketchpad Lite</b> - One of the vector drawing programs I'm evaluating.</li>
<li><b>Moxier Collage</b> - I haven't done much with this, but it's a cool little program that lets you collage and arrange different photos together to make new art.</li>
<li><b>Strip Design</b> - One of two apps on the iPad that let you make comics. Draw the panels for you, word balloons, sound effects, etc. You can import photos from the Photos app to place in the panels. Make fun photocomics OR use a drawing program to make your own art, export it to the Photos app, then pull it into Strip Design!</li>
<li><b>PS Express</b> - A very stripped-down Photoshop. I use it to rotate and crop comics for #comicpanels. It's real quick and easy.</li>
<li><b>ToonPaint</b> - an iPhone app, but very cool. "Toonizes" your photos.</li>
<li><b>Photopad</b> - sorta like PS Express.</li>
<li><b>Inkpad </b>- One of the vector drawing programs I'm evaluating.</li>
<li><b>Learn To Draw</b> - haven't tried it yet, but it's by Walter Foster!</li>
<li><b>Sculpting Free</b> - 3D sculpting on the iPad? What!?</li>
<li><b>Dottedit</b> - another iPhone app; pixel sprite editor. Whee!</li>
</ul><br />
<li> </li><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Next we have "Research":<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdtIAIEtMGlVziLse4O6yA2qlB-D_DFo4LV50f0CKMjJlG__U6mCw2iaZoDQ3pEutxUuOEVFK1mZhuzYO8e4gaBEJ3gmT_Uj2XYmJCUKvdOsrBySrxAkj2RJpOgt4r4ynyzvqCxA/s1600/ipadscreen_research.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdtIAIEtMGlVziLse4O6yA2qlB-D_DFo4LV50f0CKMjJlG__U6mCw2iaZoDQ3pEutxUuOEVFK1mZhuzYO8e4gaBEJ3gmT_Uj2XYmJCUKvdOsrBySrxAkj2RJpOgt4r4ynyzvqCxA/s320/ipadscreen_research.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><ul><li><b>Wikipanion</b> - There are lots of good Wikipedia clients on the iPad. This is one of them.</li>
<li><b>English</b> - A dictionary.</li>
<li><b>IMDB</b> - Quick way to access IMDB, nicely presented.</li>
<li><b>Dictonary</b> - A dictionary.</li>
<li><b>Dictionary</b> - A dictionary. (Why do I have so many dictionaries?)</li>
</ul>"Shopping"<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxLCSjs8NjB5nnG8sdibvggb_oezymNsj7zFlHhclKuz-b2QjKigNgKOB2cRIeicym4vv1GB1hLCXn4UV3DHrKzPBTy8ZccMUHnKwvQmYsIoqNTTju8BDyapIBP2n4Y5l_t9PYow/s1600/ipadscreen_shopping.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxLCSjs8NjB5nnG8sdibvggb_oezymNsj7zFlHhclKuz-b2QjKigNgKOB2cRIeicym4vv1GB1hLCXn4UV3DHrKzPBTy8ZccMUHnKwvQmYsIoqNTTju8BDyapIBP2n4Y5l_t9PYow/s320/ipadscreen_shopping.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The iPad's great for quickly scanning the popular places to buy stuff.<br />
<br />
<ul><li><b>eBay</b> - It's eBay, but organized for fast access and less ad-crap.</li>
<li><b>Target</b> - Very cute little app that lets you search the store or view the current circular. Try the shopping list feature!</li>
<li><b>Amazon.com</b> - A good Amazon client.</li>
<li><b>WindowShop</b> - A dangerous Amazon client, that lets you search and browse visually across categories by swiping north-south and east-west. You can discover new things this way.</li>
<li><b>CraigsEZPro</b> - nice Craigslist client that lets you shop quickly and visually.</li>
</ul>"News and Weather"<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_3gpRxouCuqBTT5r2rcJTH7NM373S_tgFkhsxuq_II7wofJiPJne2Cmxq_ZFgQudGGqqfz7OWChZRd6NqrYqNVQP_HQm0EwgnyfLqK5stPH6Fn_np5aW7d6xRhTNNbfVAQNzSUw/s1600/ipadscreen_newsandweather.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_3gpRxouCuqBTT5r2rcJTH7NM373S_tgFkhsxuq_II7wofJiPJne2Cmxq_ZFgQudGGqqfz7OWChZRd6NqrYqNVQP_HQm0EwgnyfLqK5stPH6Fn_np5aW7d6xRhTNNbfVAQNzSUw/s320/ipadscreen_newsandweather.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><ul><li><b>BBC News</b> - Headlines from the BBC</li>
<li><b>Fluent News</b> - Aggregated headlines.</li>
<li><b>Weatherbug</b> - fun weather app</li>
<li><b>Weather+</b> - a prettied-up weather app.</li>
<li><b>PWTorch</b> - rasslin' news. A fair app at best.</li>
</ul>We'll move to page two of the iPad apps in a subsequent post!<br />
<ul></ul><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span>Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-51568069952207718182011-04-21T16:52:00.001-04:002011-04-21T16:56:50.153-04:00Bottom Five Worst Wrestling Finishers EverNot sure what urged me to post this, but it just goes to show what weird things go through my mind as I walk down the hall at work. Kept thinking of #1 on the list, and started branching out. Anyway, these are the five that popped into my head. You may come up with a different list in your recollection. Enjoy.<br />
<br />
#5....<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h4_oz8vIog#t=02m18s">The Commando Sandwich</a>. A brief internet search fails to provide any information on The Commandos, but as memory serves, Bad Bad Leroy Brown left the Zambuie Express, leaving Ray Candy without a partner. So they teamed him up with some longhaired fat redneck, and renamed them The Commandos. (none of this may be accurate) Basically, the move has one big fat guy hold the opponent up, and another big fat guy runs into him. Brilliant! (I coulda sworn it was a finisher, but in the linked clip, it's just a penultimate setup move.)<br />
<br />
#4....<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYk9mWD90WA">The Ultimate Warrior's Warrior Splash</a>. Less said about this the better. A charismatic but low-talent wrestler, with not that much body weight, doing a no-impact splash...which he frequently did to the BACK.<br />
<br />
#3....Kona Crush. Can't find a clip of it. Probably for the best. He'd put his hands on either side of a guy's head and push.<br />
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#2....<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lklbbCi7RJU#t=00m30s">The Earthquake Splash</a>. I love John Tenta...talented guy, great history. Got stuck with some dumb gimmicks. And this move has no impact. (But has a great pre-move war dance!)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
and #1....<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
...<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwP-gXxeMJ0">Tully Blanchard's Slingshot Suplex</a>. Even when I was a kid I thought, "doesn't dropping him on the ropes add nothing to the impact?" Wouldn't believe it, no matter how many times David Crockett told me Tully was getting extra "spring" off the ropes. (That didn't stop me from trying to talk Shannon Moore into doing a similar move back in the Omega days...) Not sure why I was thinking about it today, but that's how my idle mind works.<br />
<br />
Anybody want to see a Top Five BEST Wrestling Finishers Ever?<br />
<br />
<br />
PS: Yes, I know, #1 should really be the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYTTKAepUJE">Legdrop of Doom</a>. My bad. (Great themesong though...BROTHER!!!)<br />
<br />
PPS: Not a finisher, but golly wonkers, the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9AKCdG9VvM#t=00m20s">Garvin Stomp</a> annoyed me.Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-24244471416800469762011-04-13T22:06:00.000-04:002011-04-13T22:06:41.153-04:00Drawing ClassEvery time I finish a drawing in class, I get the same feeling you do late at night after you've been drinking far too much and you're leaning over the toilet saying, "Oh god...what was I thinking? I'll never drink again!!!"<br />
<br />
I want to draw so much, and it's just so frustrating to not be able to produce anything that looks like anything. It takes every bit of strength I have to resist the urge to scream and quit and go home and not try anymore. It feels childish, which I hate, but the process just frustrates me show, and I'm always disappointed that my drawings look so formless. I also fall into the trap of comparing my drawings to the other beginners, and truly see a wide gulf between them. (I know I shouldn't compare my stuff to others, but the ability differences are pretty stark.) I'm straining hard to force myself to keep trying, but boy, it's hard.Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-41841130326695889382011-04-01T09:59:00.000-04:002011-04-01T09:59:37.663-04:00Starting My First Art ClassOkay, so I guess I would call myself an artist; I try to do creative things. I've even made money from my art sometimes. But you know what? I've never taken a single art class. Now that has changed; I've always wanted to be able to draw freehand, but have never been able to really do anything I thought was worth looking at. So after procrastinating for years and years, I've finally signed up for a basic drawing class. Brantley is taking it with me, and if we get something out of it, we plan to continue taking classes. Anyhoo, here are my notes on the first class session, which took place Wednesday:<br />
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* * *<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The teacher seems cool; he brought in some of his artwork. Very cool small watercolours and screenprints and stuff. He also has examples on his <a href="http://www.mentiri.com/">website</a>.</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">So what we did is hear about the teacher's background (lived in Florida, moved to Durham, went to NYC to be a big artist, did some shows, came back here). Then we got out our giganto newsprint pads and our charcoal or conte crayons, and proceeded to get messy. First we just futzed around and squiggled and drew swirls and shapes to loosen up and (in my case anyway) learn what the hell a conte crayon was. We were told to experiment with soft lines and hard lines, using the point and the side of the crayon, and even pressing so hard the crayon exploded (that was fun). Also used the kneadable eraser to blend and smear lines.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Next, he just set a folding chair up in the center of the room and had us draw it, I guess to see how we did. We did a 30 sec version, a minute, etc. Mine were horrendous. Then we tried timed drawings of the teacher sitting there, but the assignment was to keep our eyes on him and draw on the paper without looking at it. I ended up with nothing that looked human, but had some happy accidents that looked interesting. I think part of this was to see what happened when you just let your hand go without worrying about what you've done "wrong", and also about those happy accidents (which is something my friend Jason always tells me is important in art, but has always driven me crazy.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Then we did some drawing from memory. He set up an object on a stool and we stared at it for two minutes, and then had two minutes to draw it from memory, to test our ability to judge an objects weight, lines, light/darkness, etc. I did okay on the sort of abstract bird sculpture, but couldn't remember diddly about the stage light that was next. It was interesting to see how my memory of things captured some details, but twisted them surrealistically in my head.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Finally, we did a series of exercises where we were asked to draw something (like "something you're going to do this weekend") and then pass your drawing to the person on your left. You then took the page you just received from your neighbour, and drew another thing ("your bedroom from when you were growing up"). This exercise seemed designed to see how you placed things on a page in relationship to other things. I particularly liked when we were asked to draw "a verb", as then I wasn't obsessed with trying to make my drawing look like some specific real-world object, and could just let my hand and mind run free. (I drew "slam" in an abstract fashion.) At several times during the class, we put selected drawings on the wall and people commented on what they saw.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We were also serenaded by a jazz band while we drew. (More accurately, there was a jazz band practicing in the nearby theater. They were playing mostly jazz standards, but also jumped into Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4" at one point, which was hilarious.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Overall, pretty decent. The instructor said this is sort of the pattern of the way the class will work: we'll do some drawing exercises, examine them on the wall, he'll give us pointers, etc. I think it'll be a good start. I think lots of outside practice will help as well--just doing drawing over and over. I plan on starting to bring around a sketchbook with me.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Next week we're supposed to bring in "an object that represents you". I think I'm going with my retro old-timey radio microphone.</span></div>Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-25517988613254914792010-12-19T16:05:00.000-05:002010-12-19T16:05:37.444-05:00TrollQuotes memeSo my good buddy Kit sent me a <a href="http://www.neatorama.com/2010/12/18/trollquotes/">link</a> to a page talking about a new meme thing going around called TrollQuotes. The basic premise is to mismatch a quote and a picture, in an attempt to make fanboys explode with anger. Click <a href="http://www.neatorama.com/neatohub/story/from/2227">this link</a> to see a bunch of samples.<br />
<br />
I thought it would be fun to participate and do some of my own (and hopefully Kit and others of our clan will too.) One caveat: I read the thing Kit sent *last night* and then made my pictures today, based on my memory of what the meme requirements were. My memory ain't worth doody though, and I left out one of the stipulated requirements. You're supposed to pair a quote and an antithetical image, AND attribute the quote to a third person. I forgot that last bit, and just attributed the quote to the person in the image I chose. I started to fix my pics, but then decided I liked it better the way I did it. I think the third factor makes it a bit too complicated; the joke is easier to assimilate with just the quote and inappropriate image.<br />
<br />
So here we go!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thobgood/5274638505/">One</a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thobgood/5274638367/in/photostream/">Two</a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thobgood/5274638295/in/photostream/">Three</a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thobgood/5275245642/in/photostream/">Four</a><br />
<br />
Now go make your own, and include a link to your work in the comments of this post!<br />
<br />
-TedTed Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-13340005495143658332010-12-06T11:00:00.001-05:002010-12-06T12:43:55.332-05:00Seuss WarsOk, so my sister is brilliant. At many things, really, but in this case, writing. I knew she could write amazing Stephen King-esque horror stories, but had no idea she could write clever nostalgic comedy stuff. (I thought *I* was the comedian in the family--she's stealin' my act! If she starts doing wrestling announcing, she'll get no combined Birthday/Christmas presents this year!)<br />
<br />
S'anyway, I saw a blog post <a href="http://www.neatorama.com/2010/12/03/dr-seuss-does-star-wars/">somewheres</a> about a guy who was doing Star Wars illustrations in the style of Dr. Seuss. They were pretty excellent, and I thought my sister might dig 'em, so I sent her the link. She guffawed and promptly sent back a couplet of how she thought a Dr. Seuss Star Wars book would start off. It was PERFECT! Funny, clever, and dead-on Geiselesque. I told her as much, and basically begged her to write more. And she did. Here is what she has so far:<br />
<blockquote>Our story begins on an ordinary day,<br />
With a boy in a galaxy far, far away.<br />
<br />
The boy's name was Luke - no more than a teen,<br />
He lived on a planet they called Tattooine.<br />
His parents - so tragic! - they both were long dead,<br />
Young Luke was an orphan (at least that's what they said).<br />
<br />
He lived on a farm with his uncle and aunt,<br />
Luke wanted to leave but they both said, "You can't!<br />
"We need you for this and we need you for that!<br />
To bring in the crops and to hunt the womp rat!"<br />
<br />
So Luke waited and stayed and he stayed and he waited,<br />
And helped with the work on the farm (which he hated).<br />
<br />
At night he would stand and gaze over the dunes<br />
At the one setting sun and the two rising moons.<br />
He would sigh as he'd think to himself, "It's not fair,<br />
That I'm stuck on this rock while my friends are out there!"<br />
<br />
But destiny had a few tricks up her sleeve,<br />
Luke stood, gazed, and waited… but soon he would leave.</blockquote><br />
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<blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Not so far away from where the boy stood,<br />
Was raging a battle of evil and good!<br />
Imperial forces with their mighty hand,<br />
Were crushing the Rebel Alliance's band.<br />
<br />
The rebels had stolen the plans - newly minted -<br />
To the worst weapon mankind had ever invented.<br />
The Empire wanted to get their plans back,<br />
So they gathered their troops and went on the attack. <br />
<br />
The Stormtroopers, gleaming insidious white,<br />
Swarmed through the whole ship, just to fight, fight, fight, fight. <br />
The rebels, outnumbered, outgunned and outlasted,<br />
Had only two choices: give up or get blasted.<br />
<br />
But one of them wouldn't let herself concede<br />
Without first performing one most crucial deed.<br />
This rebel - a princess! - before they could shoot her,<br />
Hid the plans deep inside one small android's computer!<br />
And with it, a message, of limited scope:<br />
"Help me, Obi-wan, you are my only hope!"<br />
<br />
With the droid and his counterpart now on the run, <br />
The princess was hit with a blaster (on stun).<br />
And though she resisted, the stormtroopers made her<br />
Confront their feared leader, the evil DARTH VADER!!!!!!<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div></blockquote><br />
<br />
<blockquote>And the two little droids? Where are they next seen?<br />
You guessed it! They both wind up on Tattooine.<br />
The droids - R2-D2 and C-3PO,<br />
Cannot both agree on which way they should go.<br />
<br />
The two turn their backs and go opposite ways,<br />
Though they meet up again in a matter of days.<br />
They're captured by "jawas" (they're like roving peddlers,<br />
Who travel around selling scrap to the settlers).<br />
<br />
And who do the jawas encounter? No fluke!<br />
None other than our Uncle Owen and Luke.<br />
(When shopping from jawas one thing to avoid,<br />
Is the "big bargain" or "fixer-upper" android.<br />
C-3PO was a steal for a translator,<br />
But they got an R2 with a bad motivator!)<br />
In the end it worked out, R2-D2 was sold,<br />
And Luke spent the evening polishing gold. </blockquote><br />
She admits she was getting a little off track towards the end, but overall, this is BRILLIANT!!! She gave me permission to post this, and said she'd write more if she got positive feedback, so PLEASE comment on this post or email me or something. I want her to write the whole episode!!!!!<br />
<br />
"We need you for this and we need you for that!/To bring in the crops and to hunt the womp rat!" HA!!!!Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-6775698620760208432010-07-27T19:30:00.000-04:002010-07-27T19:30:50.048-04:00I'm In The Mood To Meme (via onlymetahuman)<br />
<br />
Instructions:<br />
1. Open your library (iTunes, Media Player, iPod, etc)<br />
2. Put it on shuffle<br />
3. Press play<br />
4. For every item, type the song that’s playing<br />
5. When you go to a new item, press the next button<br />
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool…<br />
<br />
…<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>THE MOVIE OF MY LIFE</b></span><br />
<br />
<b>Opening Credits:</b> "Funny Farm" by Motorhead (a song about being hauled off to an insane asylum; good start!)<br />
<br />
<b>Waking Up:</b> "Breaking The Law" by Hellsongs (a mellow cover of the Judas Priest classic...wow, my life isn't this exciting!)<br />
<br />
<b>First Day of School:</b> Greedo saying "Going somewhere, Solo?" from Star Wars (Meeting other kids did feel like an assassination attempt.)<br />
<br />
<b>Falling in Love:</b> "Moon Glow" by Cab Calloway (it is a good feeling)<br />
<br />
<b>Fight Song:</b> "Don't Stand So Close To Me" by The Police (Personal space violation leads to violence.)<br />
<br />
<b>Prom:</b> "I'm Going Home" by Ten Years After (Yes indeed, that is where I spent prom.)<br />
<br />
<b>Life:</b> "Cheek To Cheek" by Fred Astaire (The lyric starts off "Heaven...I'm in Heaven." I wish!)<br />
<br />
<b>Mental Breakdown:</b> "Strange Report" off of Cult Fiction Royale (a tv theme, I think? I am pretty strange...)<br />
<br />
<b>Driving:</b> "The Trooper Believer" by DJ Schmolli (A mashup between Iron Maiden and The Monkees. I could drive to that.)<br />
<br />
<b>Flashback:</b> "California Girls" by the Beach Boys. (Actually, she was from Korea; she may have landed in California before making her way east.)<br />
<br />
<b>Getting Back Together: </b> "A New World" by MF Doom (It always was; and a beautiful world at that.)<br />
<br />
<b>Losing Your Virginity:</b> the entrance theme for New Japan Wrestling's Masahiro Chono. (Does this mean losing my virginity was like a Yakuza Kick or the ornate entanglement of the STF?)<br />
<br />
<b>Wedding:</b> "This is Sexy Knickers 'ere", a quote from Miss Brahms on "Are You Being Served?" (I should hope so!)<br />
<br />
<b>Birth of Child:</b> "Raiders of the Lost Ark Theme" by Toy Dolls (Yeah. 'Cause it would take an act of freakin' God.)<br />
<br />
<b>Final Battle:</b> "Bad Rockit" mashup of Michael Jackson's "Bad" and Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" (Your butt is mine. I will fuck you up with a chain.)<br />
<br />
<b>Death Scene:</b> "Enter The Young" by The Association (Well, I always did think I'd die young...)<br />
<br />
<b>Funeral Song:</b> "The Boogie Woogie" by Cab Calloway (Dance the night away...)<br />
<br />
<b>End Credits</b>: "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N'Roses (Well there ya go.)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
* * *<br />
<br />
Now you do it.Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-24737889997185912982009-09-14T15:11:00.003-04:002009-09-14T15:16:34.665-04:00An Online Commercial I Made<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2ME0qJG8YuAOXK042SRkc2K10_zYaMGOGNw_6LweuWsynf2Lou9ible2HeXcCJPwE2w52UnR_Olmd5a45GpCUz2XG-ScpjlLMenRZd0otKwUw_GXlXc_DQA4E-spGoTCczF08Ig/s1600-h/deepfriedlogo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2ME0qJG8YuAOXK042SRkc2K10_zYaMGOGNw_6LweuWsynf2Lou9ible2HeXcCJPwE2w52UnR_Olmd5a45GpCUz2XG-ScpjlLMenRZd0otKwUw_GXlXc_DQA4E-spGoTCczF08Ig/s320/deepfriedlogo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381403891229405810" border="0" /></a>The commercial I just made for the NC State Fair just went <a href="http://idek.net/ULv">live</a>. They wrote the script, and I directed, shot, and edited.Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-29094449432044721382009-08-24T17:39:00.005-04:002009-08-24T18:49:45.825-04:00TV Land Haiku Meme<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPU-5NkzT4G0gwxiABQYCx4jV-f_DI6szPPW7Fe5ac_EclZkcrtrpPTVQpM_ntBUSNIcQbqNTf5Z95RlZ9iWlhoufM255aaro3SNE8Jcbhmzeza2xoNhhyphenhyphenO6pmYDCQzWpUxnzz5A/s1600-h/kojakhaiku.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 164px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPU-5NkzT4G0gwxiABQYCx4jV-f_DI6szPPW7Fe5ac_EclZkcrtrpPTVQpM_ntBUSNIcQbqNTf5Z95RlZ9iWlhoufM255aaro3SNE8Jcbhmzeza2xoNhhyphenhyphenO6pmYDCQzWpUxnzz5A/s320/kojakhaiku.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373653060740058434" border="0" /></a>Ok, so I'm reading "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/TV-Land-Go-Books-Lists/dp/0684856158/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251151180&sr=1-1">TV Land To Go: The Big Book of TV Lists, TV Lore, and TV Bests</a>" by Tom Hill. Good book, lots of tv nostalgia and odd facts. There's also a bunch of original material created for the book. Some of their ideas for tv shows are pretty brilliant, like a detective show called "That's The Man!", where Tony Randall plays "a classically trained artist who has fallen on hard times and taken up work as a police sketch artist.[His] refined sensibility and distaste for mingling with riffraff can't overcome his burning desire to see justice done". Brilliant.<br /><br />But what I post about today is another one of their genius ideas: the TV Land Haiku. Their theory is that the brief-but-rigid artistic structure of the haiku is the perfect method "for expressing the essential truth in some of our favorite TV shows and characters."<br /><br />Check out the following examples:<br /><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">"Dragnet"</span><br />Stern morality<br />Blue squares bust far-out hippies.<br />The names have been changed.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Family Affair"</span><br />Mom and Dad are gone,<br />But Uncle Bill is rich, yay!<br />Who wants pony rides?<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Hogan's Heroes"</span><br />Underground allies<br />What tunnels? I know nothing.<br />Silly old Germans!</blockquote>So, inspired by that, I decided to create some of my own:<br /><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">"Match Game"</span><br />In the Land of Blanks<br />Brett Somers is Match Game king<br />And Charles is her queen.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"The Love Boat"</span><br />Where else could Zsa Zsa<br />Make sweet love with Van Patten<br />Exciting and new<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Venture Brothers"</span><br />The Monarch will rant,<br />Hank and Dean will fail again,<br />And Brock will whoop ass.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Wrestling Announcers"</span><br />Jim Ross reigns today<br />Lance was a stalwart hand, but<br />Solie was the Dean.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Bill McNeill"</span><br />The man loved his cane,<br />And loved women even more.<br />But Rocket Fuel, DAMN!<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"QI"</span><br />The Earth has two moons?!?<br />"Cruithne?" Are you mad, sir?<br />That's rubbish; prove it.<br /></blockquote>So that's my contributions. I now ask you to create your own and pass it around the interweb, on blogs and Facebook and Twitter and all those doohickeys. I particularly challenge the pop culture haiku masters: Kit FitzSimons and Jeff Scronce! Go to it, lads! (And link back here.)<br /><br />Oh, and maybe use the #tvhaiku hashtag, if you feel like it. Now go get famous.Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-27179749930139944282009-08-06T14:14:00.002-04:002009-08-06T14:52:15.966-04:00Catching Up On Stuff<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgCskzHaiV0JX9Mp8ZT5EKzZHcIoRWoVcqcgCqTy1Ok70cKWX_R2C26Ihlku5Pkwfmzg8Qtep2hFJ3DwQqMJCcYVMBOGIoku3QBEEkrt59tPify8U6YoMow4PD___FA0WmY20gqw/s1600-h/PTSIASPC.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgCskzHaiV0JX9Mp8ZT5EKzZHcIoRWoVcqcgCqTy1Ok70cKWX_R2C26Ihlku5Pkwfmzg8Qtep2hFJ3DwQqMJCcYVMBOGIoku3QBEEkrt59tPify8U6YoMow4PD___FA0WmY20gqw/s320/PTSIASPC.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366916843296364978" border="0" /></a>Haven't posted in about a month, let's get caught up, shall we kiddies?<br /><br />Videos I've done recently, with brief remarks:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxSztQxr_RY&feature=channel_page">4DDI vs Shapeshifter</a> - Had a fun time playing around in Motion to do the Dr. Who-y effects. Loved the way the merging of Andy and Kit turned out. Went back to an old trick with the morphing effect, and any excuse to use the remix of the Superfriends theme is a-ok with me.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaUkbXAsDFs">4DDI vs Average Ducks</a> - Wasn't really sure what to do with a group with the name "Average Ducks", until I thought of the old Warner Brothers cartoon, "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sukE_rhsv2Y">A Corny Concerto</a>". So this is an homage to that. Hadn't played in Flash in a long while, so that was fun.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntkXnpRY5Pk">Cohost #1: Nikolai</a> - CageMatch ran for the whole month of July as part of the Summer Slamtacular. As part of the festivities, I featured a different cohost each week. First was Zach Ward as Nikolai. Basically, I just let him rock it in front of the green screen and chopped up his bits into a video mix with illustrations. I was tickled to find that Eastern European song about Nikolai....<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZINi9zNNqpk">4DDI vs PTSIAM</a> - Time to ramp it up. PT is always inspiring, and so we turned it up a few notches for this one. I liked having Pt's "origin story", and then putting him in two different movies and the cartoon. All greenscreened and masked and whatnot. Strangely enough, PT just happens to own a real Maltese Falcon. Hard to edit the movies down to be brief but still make sense and tell the story, but I thought it worked out okay. The South Park sequence was done in Flash, with PT's bits all drawn by hand and animated into the existing footage.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-cbm3vDU7A">Cohost #2: Jeff'Ray</a> - Bryan Barnes did an awesome job as "The Homosexual Agenda", a character Joe Stanton dreamed up a year ago. We made sure he was a very positive figure, and the comedy came from Scott Sullivan not knowing how to deal with a very "out" gay man.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y1P8fcsk1s">Verna Applebottom's Big Day Out</a> - Paula Pazderka asked me to produce this for her, a parody of the Chico's clothing stores. I love that song--"It's Chico Time!"<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc3LWD_oblM">PTSIAM vs Senior PGA</a> - This time I framed the PTSIAM sequence with Zach and Jeremy going to see Star Wars. The idea was that people would wonder where and when PT would crop up. And of course, it was funny to have PT misinterpret instructions and break the X-wing. Whups! Lots of work in Motion, learning how to autotrack movement and make clips match movement. The first sequence worked perfectly; really should've reshot the others to make them look better. Loved Jeremy's visuals at the end.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=113356266289">Cohost #3: Donnie Tucker</a> - Mary Sasson as a guy from Pittsburgh. "Go stillahs!" I got some ideas on typical Pittsburgh photos from some YouTube videos by natives.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=118152686289">DSI Corporate Commercial</a> - Made this one in less than 24 hours, from notification to execution. Basically just used a bunch of transitions in Final Cut and a lot of DSI photos, along with a few simple tricks.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=118159686289">Ignite Raleigh Opener</a> - Got hired to produce a video to open the first meeting of the <a href="http://igniteraleigh.com">Ignite Raleigh</a> group. We gathered the organizers together at DSI and did a pretape of them getting frustrated with some old PCs and then taking out their aggressions on the machines, a la Office Space. All the PC screen images and the explosions were done in post with Apple Motion.<br /><br />And I think that catches us up! See you again soon.Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-64856359624911900992009-07-07T22:17:00.002-04:002009-07-08T00:08:14.898-04:00Voice Recognition Star Wars<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaECUsGUM8f6s15TH-XPcfcIXgB-nu2C6HvRMnoJv7p3Guuz0kldNjmfc-DnQl02aKJD-s3iRRyd64RDNiH5rj0HB0C_PTqLVK_tY7HhO3X9qg9s4f_1lszcH70zgHS5AAaBcZag/s1600-h/starwars.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaECUsGUM8f6s15TH-XPcfcIXgB-nu2C6HvRMnoJv7p3Guuz0kldNjmfc-DnQl02aKJD-s3iRRyd64RDNiH5rj0HB0C_PTqLVK_tY7HhO3X9qg9s4f_1lszcH70zgHS5AAaBcZag/s320/starwars.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355907970370722530" border="0" /></a>While doing the photographs for the latest Patton Project, I came up with one of my more brilliant ideas. I had put on my favourite movie, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Star Wars: A New Hope</span>, to play in the background while I took pictures. Then I decided to Twitter about it, but in a unique way: I used an iPhone app called "<a href="http://www.vlingo.com/">Vlingo</a>" that can translate your voice into text and then post it to Twitter. I figured I'd see how it handled my favourite Star Wars quotes. It's not exactly 100% accurate (especially when doing Darth Vader and Ben Kenobi impressions), but that was the main point: let's see how the text gets mangled.<br /><br />I actually came up with the voice recognition idea a little way into the movie, and missed a few of the quotes at the beginning, so I've gone back and added a few at the beginning and a few I missed in the middle, but all have been Vlingoed. See how many you can recognize!<br /><ol><li>"Long time ago and galaxy far far west"</li><li>"We do"</li><li>"is this a calls lecture where is the am about to go"</li><li>"There's 1 set to stun"</li><li>"I'm going to regret this" (score!)</li><li>"Call die before she tells you anything"</li><li>"Don't get to the with may"</li><li>"Call Tuesday to it is you did his you'll"</li><li>"web search George"</li><li>"Poser program for etiquette and protocol"</li><li>"Can you speak bocce" (wow!)</li><li>"Is going to Austin to pick up some parking burgers"</li><li>"the start to unit have a bad motivator"</li><li>"Bank of America, well that is going to feels so good"</li><li>"hi and see 3 PO Ching side alterations"</li><li>"You're the 1 Canobie for my only hope"</li><li>"We are just crazy old Matt"</li><li>"Is going to check the baby"</li><li>"It's around us Patrick source pines the galaxy picked up"</li><li>"Dangers your Starfleet command at not just the Playstation"</li><li>"The ability to destroy upset insignificant next to the power of the folks"</li><li>"Send people always ride single file I need the number is"</li><li>"I find your lack of state and disturbing"</li><li>"Quantum on the way to the force become a gym I love my father"</li><li>"Most Isley spaceport you'll never find out more rigid hive of scum and put it in a"</li><li>"Google need to see if this application"</li><li>"At the joy joy looking for"</li><li>"We go serpentine here"</li><li>"This s*** the bed Kessel run with 12 parts sex" (it put in the asterixes itself...)</li><li>"traveling to Harbor Stacy like bustin crops bored"</li><li>"Loof for another topic American retarded than they move systems"</li><li>"That's no moon it's the space station" (very close!)</li><li>"Who is more for lish the folk all the fool who doesn't"</li><li>"What an incredible snow you discovered"</li><li>"I got a bad feeling about this" (hey! It got another right!)</li><li>"Mike is that walking carpet on my way"</li><li>"I love you I was about the monitor now I am the masta"</li><li>"Your power is all week old Masson"</li><li>"you call twins or if you strike me dial I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine"</li><li>"Story show together c'mon very whole together"</li><li>"Baseballs I will Pratts and mighty 16 back home"</li><li>"May the force be with you" (another match!)</li><li>"Google power to front deflector screens switch l power to front deflector strains"</li><li>"Evacuate dynamo the trials I think you overestimate their chances"</li><li>"It because like beggars canyon back home"</li><li>"You suck balls look" (I SWEAR that's what it came up with)</li><li>"you are a queer can know what day is going to go home"</li><li>"Call jott kid that was in a million"</li><li>"Remember the force be with you always" (close!)</li><li>"Calorie!"</li></ol>And that's the end of "Voice Recognition Star Wars". I hope you had a lovely time. I'll post the answer key in a few days.Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-16576642738032244422009-06-10T15:13:00.003-04:002009-06-10T15:37:00.137-04:00CageMatch and Banana Breakup<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0uGuXwA2F8up5v_9BeVWpq2dFnq1XmIYEQrHCergyXE2RbDUxWwLWf7GYCBwx-zxDQPuk92jTDaT7q0d6sm3dYikpZpGEw0ctoACQf7vFiMRIW9vFp1JuVLvbGM9PxK-9Lq4tlg/s1600-h/evilbb.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0uGuXwA2F8up5v_9BeVWpq2dFnq1XmIYEQrHCergyXE2RbDUxWwLWf7GYCBwx-zxDQPuk92jTDaT7q0d6sm3dYikpZpGEw0ctoACQf7vFiMRIW9vFp1JuVLvbGM9PxK-9Lq4tlg/s320/evilbb.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345780345441382370" border="0" /></a>I'm woefully behind on my blog/video updates. I did CageMatch a few weeks ago, and then the Banana Breakup Extravaganza last week.<br /><br />First, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TqBM1TwSzs">CageMatch</a>. Not much to say here, except that I didn't have much of an idea for the video, and didn't get an opportunity to meet with the 4DDI guys, so the whole thing was just based around one of the members not being able to make it. I had the Beer graphic already laying about, basically, so that was easy to throw in.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQNTQO19a3s">Banana Breakup</a> video was a lot more satisfying. Got some time with Kit and Eitan to do shots and video before the show, so there was a lot more raw material to work with (and the BB boys are always so fun to work with as well.) The opening shoutout to Biff Hobgood was Kit's idea, and very funny to us since we knew it would be over most people's heads. (If it's over your head, check out the Biff Hobgood surprise return video.)<br /><br />I really wanted to do a decent (if quick) overview of Banana Breakup's history, so consulted my files, went through all their past videos, and selected some clips to use. (One bonus: Joe Jones made his return to the theater after several months off, and Kyle Chorpening was there as well, so they both saw the shotout to Panthro.) Then we went into the whole "BB vs BB" bit, which was amusing. By the way, nobody really knew we were presenting the show in a faux CageMatch format, so the whole video thing was a surprise. I loved the way the still of the masked BB turned out, photoshopped with a "photocopy" version of the picture overlaid on itself and tweaked a bit to give it that hyperreal look. The "good" BB reply was hilarious, with Eitan's "honesty and wits" and Kit's "tonight at dawn" ad libs. I was also quite happy with the "flaming faceoff" animation at the end. And was quite pleased with the song I picked for the end, The Donnas covering Billy Idol's "Dancing With Myself." The ersatz Hall of Champions was a surprise for the boys, in an attempt to make 'em laugh.<br /><br />Stills, as always, are <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thobgood/sets/72157594154715773/">here</a>.<br /><br />PS: the live show included another surprise: Scott Sullivan performing a Banana Breakup rap live on stage. From a rapping standpoint, it was a humiliating failure, but from a comedy standpoint, it was a decent success, as 40 year old guys fucking up a rap onstage while dressed in a blinged-out t-shirt and hat turns out to be pretty laughworthy.Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-2468743459358720322009-05-04T14:16:00.003-04:002009-05-04T14:29:38.952-04:00Another CageMatch<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPB9MzaDA6l90TFVbZMUoLnmPlfl9_Z-RcN6pYCjfFpR45lF2PD9pZhkjrpc98GViwmeYmO09Y1AvfaiuG7bxmX82FU_Edq-YRffqj1ciHZi6EubY9_Bwj8rNA8577SBzCONC03Q/s1600-h/sistercity.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPB9MzaDA6l90TFVbZMUoLnmPlfl9_Z-RcN6pYCjfFpR45lF2PD9pZhkjrpc98GViwmeYmO09Y1AvfaiuG7bxmX82FU_Edq-YRffqj1ciHZi6EubY9_Bwj8rNA8577SBzCONC03Q/s320/sistercity.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332035375029087058" border="0" /></a>Had another CageMatch extravaganza last night. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPLZx7TRvFc">Here</a>'s the video. Come back and we'll chat.<br /><br />The "multicultural" screen with the city landmarks in the background originally was supposed to be the Sister City identity screen. I was up until 4 am on Friday working on the image, but decided it was far too busy for an identity screen. As I drifted off to sleep, I dreamed up the postcard idea, loosely basing it on the film "Dark City", which Kit and I had watched earlier in the week. I had fun making the image, and was quite pleased with the deco-esque gradients and whatnot. The multicultural screen turned out pretty nice; I was especially pleased with Andy's two halves, and Zannie as a geisha. And that's all there is to it, really.<br /><br />Stills are <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thobgood/sets/72157594154715773/">here</a>, as usual.Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-56508689872940209672009-04-24T17:34:00.003-04:002009-04-24T17:51:22.043-04:00Inspiration From Teddy<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUKHFxnK2cess-s6qCUsLw2mIzYzf2teQATBBzEjmD26ahM3HBdLM5cqNfl-IjKgeHZV2hFR_Sbl9QOeOBoyGkF6lFGfUeVY3nb3vhD8B2GSfo9qqAMiKKuVlI7xNu0MWgPmwLqQ/s1600-h/mcduck.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUKHFxnK2cess-s6qCUsLw2mIzYzf2teQATBBzEjmD26ahM3HBdLM5cqNfl-IjKgeHZV2hFR_Sbl9QOeOBoyGkF6lFGfUeVY3nb3vhD8B2GSfo9qqAMiKKuVlI7xNu0MWgPmwLqQ/s320/mcduck.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328374465720749858" border="0" /></a>So I had a hard time being productive today. (It's been a rough week.) I finally decided to go lie down for a bit to clear my head. Ended up picking up my copy of Don Rosa's "<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Companion</span>" that my mom had gotten me for Christmas, which had been sitting next to the bed untouched ever since.<br /><br />Excellent book; ended up spending the bulk of the afternoon consuming every page and panel. Towards the end of the tome, Unca Scrooge meets up with President Teddy Roosevelt and (as part of the tale) Scrooge recalls words that Roosevelt had told him years earlier (which, in reality, is a paraphrase of a real quote of Roosevelt's):<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">"Don't live by the doctrine of ignoble ease, but by <span style="font-weight: bold;">toil</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">effort</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">labor</span>, and <span style="font-weight: bold;">strife</span>! The highest forms of success comes to the man who shirks <span style="font-weight: bold;">not</span> from danger or work, and who therefore wins the <span style="font-weight: bold;">ultimate triumph</span>."</blockquote>Those words seemed to be appropriate for my current situation, and I reproduce them here in hopes that they might touch other people as well. I have several friends who are very successful in their chosen fields, and they got there through dedication and hard work, pushing aside any obstacles in the pursuit of their dream, while always keeping their eyes focused on their goal. I envy these friends of mine. I know they are a different breed of person than I am, and I cannot duplicate their way of living and believing, but I can hope to emulate them in some small way, and sometimes it's through wise words like those in the excerpt above that help drive people like myself who don't have the natural attitudes and abilities of those rare people who truly know how to live life to the fullest. It's even more helpful (for me, anyway) when it comes via a comic book.<br /><br />Oh, also, "Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye".<br /><br />Green eyes and big admiration go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Matt</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Larry</span>, and <span style="font-weight: bold;">Zach</span>. Keep doing great things; in addition to your own success, you inevitably inspire others.Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-30916870670289007992009-04-15T15:08:00.002-04:002009-04-15T15:30:56.525-04:00Recent Videos for DSI<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMNIUYa6o-fdJXcoxr5yD604oF0wcOQGXMzZnObU2TPDSdaWmsrcB2Q8G4TSPkJY2Laf-gqs5VINUjB0SQ3lclMqaX7Y3NOVpU-Om_ZGjt1ym0oB_yus96yBCeXJeSO3fQRLF8bw/s1600-h/dsihighS2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMNIUYa6o-fdJXcoxr5yD604oF0wcOQGXMzZnObU2TPDSdaWmsrcB2Q8G4TSPkJY2Laf-gqs5VINUjB0SQ3lclMqaX7Y3NOVpU-Om_ZGjt1ym0oB_yus96yBCeXJeSO3fQRLF8bw/s320/dsihighS2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325002804538338482" border="0" /></a>Two new videos up now, one on YouTube and one on Facebook.<br /><br />First is is the new <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ECiBhy6Xns">intro</a> for Season Two of our acclaimed DSI High show, a sort of improvised sitcom. I based it on last year's video (which, strangely enough, I don't seem to have blogged about or even posted!) I used <a href="http://www.aquafadas.com/en/pulpmotion/">Pulpmotion</a> to do the yearbook bit at the beginning; I may recreate that whole thing on my own, so I have a little better control over it. I like the character introductions (it helps that the adult/student ratio was more even than last year); separating them into "teachers" and "students" makes the characters esier to identify. The "running through the halls" scene turned out quite nicely. I just shot that as a hand-held video on my still camera, and then used Quicktime Player to save selected frames into a folder, using Photoshop to format them for Final Cut. The group shot at the end was fun; I just had to pull Spencer's face in from a different shot, do a lot of lighting readjustment, and slap a brick wall behind them. There's a faded, peeling walrus mascot sort of hidden on the wall; you can see a better still of that shot <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thobgood/3440563582/">here</a>. Lastly, I re-edited the Bowling For Soup song so it ended with the end of the video, and by accident, the line "here we go again" lined up nicely with the introduction of the DSI High logo. Yippee!<br /><br />Second is the first draft of the DSI Witness News intro. I meet with Zach tomorrow for revision notes, but was asked to upload the current version as a promo for the next show. You can find it <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=71758731289&ref=nf">here</a>. I used a new program I bought recently, <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kinemac.com%2F&ei=QzHmSZyoMJSuMrDS6f0I&usg=AFQjCNHdYVcXYwduq2saI-sHsRXkPEKoZQ">Kinemac</a>, which is awesome. I tried to make the video as slick and as-like-a-real-newscast as possible. I plan on adding some animated tubes snaking around on the "News/Sports/Entertainment" page; we'll see what else ZW wants for the video. I particularly like the 3D animated logo, with the extruded words appearing as the cube rotates.Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-36276034209596252862009-04-03T23:57:00.003-04:002009-04-24T17:33:31.579-04:00Twitter T. Tweet<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8iduvh0DfsmzSxN6FwrtnR0acz9hSNLxb3rml_ZhJXzKfaZc8gS3CSX3gtMh9cx9f4GS09uGyB0eadFrquKioHSTmugk9cw0YDGNfpqjaobHje_SDkFspK1s7ps06nE0Dvae7Gw/s1600-h/twitter.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8iduvh0DfsmzSxN6FwrtnR0acz9hSNLxb3rml_ZhJXzKfaZc8gS3CSX3gtMh9cx9f4GS09uGyB0eadFrquKioHSTmugk9cw0YDGNfpqjaobHje_SDkFspK1s7ps06nE0Dvae7Gw/s320/twitter.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320681867473351410" border="0" /></a>I'm on Twitter now, much though I have resisted it. You know the name.<a href="http://twitter.com/tedhobgood"></a>Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-37810980714382016022009-03-31T13:06:00.003-04:002009-03-31T13:14:59.448-04:00CageMatch 3/28/09<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzQhbtgM1TZo54OyAAMRQPlymJyxtYT39px5Y8ZCUAwv66fDFjbsLUJgeSMj_F9xS6_9-9ISxJUV_vimcbTSmgVd4cf-bPu0t_Py9MHCzfpLLawUbPjZcuzqFq5fapAMB9evtSUg/s1600-h/findingemo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzQhbtgM1TZo54OyAAMRQPlymJyxtYT39px5Y8ZCUAwv66fDFjbsLUJgeSMj_F9xS6_9-9ISxJUV_vimcbTSmgVd4cf-bPu0t_Py9MHCzfpLLawUbPjZcuzqFq5fapAMB9evtSUg/s320/findingemo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319399517964652754" border="0" /></a>Another day, another CageMatch. View the video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdCbEMIdAJU">here</a>.<br /><br />First off, just a note of how annoying it was that twenty people showed up <span style="font-style: italic;">very</span> late to the show. Like fifteen, twenty minutes after showtime. Incredibly inconsiderate and rude. If we had started the show already, all the commotion from the crowd arriving halfway through the first set would've interfered with the first group's performance. Drives me nuts when people show up late.<br /><br />Anyway, that was the video. Couldn't really deam up a viable way to present a group called "Finding Emo" without making it depressing, let alone making it uberdramatic. Kit FitzSimons to the rescue! It was his idea to do a sort of Wizard-of-Oz sepia-to-colour thing to show the difference between the two teams. I flipped that around and had it go from colour to b&w, and actually used the Oz footage. The music at the beginning is the opening overture to the movie as well. The music then turns into My Chemical Romance as we go to black and white (also pulled down the gamma at the same time as the dsaturation, for that extra-gloomy look). Then finished it all off with a slapped-together mashup of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" with the opening drums from the Go-Go's "We Got The Beat".<br /><br />Putting the heads on the characters at the end was amusing. The girls sent me shots taken for this express purpose; I used an old photo of Joe, but spent a long time touching it up with streaked magenta eyeliner, skull earring, lip ring, etc. Then I ended up making it black and white and small, so you don't really see any of that. Hilarious.<br /><br />Probably the shortest CageMatch video ever. And the assholes who came late talked loudly through most of the video, so nobody heard the text. Ah well.Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-8935672693118023242009-03-19T15:14:00.002-04:002009-03-19T15:17:14.721-04:00Zombie Marx Brothers<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNvRX-Xfn2nMTmXN1GsJ07gM71lotXIluLaw1oSmkNqtye_S8_JMk9y79L0RQ1RnUrXxGCv1ayHnlsPb8JmYmdN8MLHzcJ0d80iEMhyphenhyphenAgflcv3rN1Dz47_YphludVvbrK8d7o2gQ/s1600-h/zombiemarx.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNvRX-Xfn2nMTmXN1GsJ07gM71lotXIluLaw1oSmkNqtye_S8_JMk9y79L0RQ1RnUrXxGCv1ayHnlsPb8JmYmdN8MLHzcJ0d80iEMhyphenhyphenAgflcv3rN1Dz47_YphludVvbrK8d7o2gQ/s320/zombiemarx.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314980006054590626" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thobgood/3368736716/">Here's</a> a little something amusing I made at the prompting of a friend. It's the Marx Brothers, if they were zombies.Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-59114801830902917082009-03-01T16:52:00.004-05:002009-03-01T17:11:24.981-05:00CageMatch 2/28/09<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFiYiHyVC7PDR1O_kjd1RZOcWjYvipglzNTv0DL77KEJi6Vb8DYK38C81qmtbXkUZ4smrwtYNcNTNumlfcp0D2Hyu9bV8GpNpo6EjmtIWeuYcOSHre0lb84YV62xcD0zb6huKImw/s1600-h/babypranks.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFiYiHyVC7PDR1O_kjd1RZOcWjYvipglzNTv0DL77KEJi6Vb8DYK38C81qmtbXkUZ4smrwtYNcNTNumlfcp0D2Hyu9bV8GpNpo6EjmtIWeuYcOSHre0lb84YV62xcD0zb6huKImw/s320/babypranks.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308341938272780690" border="0" /></a>Did another CageMatch video for Saturday. I actually did this whole one in about four hours, from creating the identity screen for Baby Pranks, to editing the stills for the video, choosing and editing the audio, performing the voiceover, and editing the video. Whew! I had no time during the week to do the video, as I was busy producing a corporate show for DSI, including a last-minute video shoot and production for a Sham Wow parody (visible <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6g3Ea2B1VU">here</a>). That one actually got some network news coverage, so that's cool.<br /><br />Watch the current CageMatch video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TLRYnwfWkM">here</a>.<br /><br />Back in CageMatch land, I dreamed up the concept while showering that morning. Figuring that working backwards would be the best plan, I started brainstorming what the name "Baby Pranks" made me think of. Baby made me think of Child, so I thought, "what phrases use the word 'child'?" A child shall lead them, child's play, etc. Eventually I ended up with "man, woman, and child", and thought it might be fun to say Senior PGA were bragging about how they could beat anybody, man, woman, or child. That meant the video would have to set up PGa as becoming cocky, and the rest wrote itself.<br /><br />No real big technical innovations here. I do want to point out that the material in the background of the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thobgood/3319482471/">Baby Pranks identity screen</a> is from the old Johnson Smith novelties ad from comic books of old. And I liked the way I re-edited the Salt N Pepa song to go straight from the "baby baby" part to the "yoyoyoyo" part, fairly seamlessly.<br /><br />That's it. We now return control to your regularly scheduled program.Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18093994.post-71358508790891420152009-03-01T13:40:00.003-05:002009-03-01T13:50:31.845-05:00Professional Regurgitator<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG-vO7UDXgC7XwqrYeMtsIkkxaaoZWHYBltyGqiBTVYzVDXI3XCXhCJbb5kGpALcz0bnvMe6XLUpAwNiQFZlh1V4WbBvX2ilO3x4jOHyM-MX9Zmsc7w_Kl3t_qwsI9ZLkxRNP14A/s1600-h/regurgitator.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 153px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG-vO7UDXgC7XwqrYeMtsIkkxaaoZWHYBltyGqiBTVYzVDXI3XCXhCJbb5kGpALcz0bnvMe6XLUpAwNiQFZlh1V4WbBvX2ilO3x4jOHyM-MX9Zmsc7w_Kl3t_qwsI9ZLkxRNP14A/s320/regurgitator.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308291194723936146" border="0" /></a>So I have a lot of dvds I haven't watched yet. I'm one of those people that collects things and then never uses them. In the case of dvds, it simply never occurs to me to sit down and watch a movie. It never enters my mind. When I'm on my own, I gravitate to wandering through RSS feeds or YouTube or something, never simply sitting in front of the tv.<br /><br />So the other day I decided to pop a dvd into the computer and watch it in a little window while I was working on Photoshopping some stuff for a DSI gig. The dvd in question was a documentary on vaudeville hosted by Ben Vereen. It was a good overview of the life of a vaudevillian and the history of the art form itself, with rare clips of footage from various vaudeville stars (and non-stars). I found one particularly intriguing act on YouTube, one of the clips that was on the dvd. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW_EB0yBS5c">This</a> is Hadji Ali, who was what vaudevillians labelled a "professional regurgitator". His act consisted of him swallowing things and bringing them back up.<br /><br />One of the reasons I'm so fascinated by this act is that it seems, at first blush, to be so ridiculous. Did people in the Depression really spend their hard-earned two bits to see a guy swallow stuff and then bring it back up again? Is that entertainment? The other reason I'm fascinated by this act is that, yes, it is entertainment. Hadji Ali has a great act, unusual though it is, and I kept my eyes glued to his performance, and was rewarded for my virtue with a stunning finale. Go watch <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW_EB0yBS5c">Hadji Ali</a>, you'll be glad you did.Ted Hobgoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15760251612278643534noreply@blogger.com0