Nokia Europe - Nokia N8 touch screen smartphone with a 12 MP camera – Specifications

This phone seems like it does freekin' everything. Its freeky. Nokia Europe - Nokia N8 touch screen smartphone with a 12 MP camera – Specifications

I've got a yellow and blur parakeet screaming over my shoulder. It reminds me of a previous time in the history of my life owning a yellow and blue parakeet. Ones that had 3 babies, each of them receiving an ill-fated end. Their parents met the same fate. The mama got eaten by a cat, (I am assuming since there were scattered feathers but no bird), the papa flew away in my yard and got killed by Blue Jays in front of my eyes. (I actually didn't see the death go down. He flew high into a tree and all I could hear was a high pitch song while 4 Blue Jays encroached on him. Creepy.) 2 babies got given away, and the third we kept. It flew away too. The back door got pushed open for a split instant while the household cat was coming in from outside. The bird went truckin down the block.

Stop Animation Class

I finished my last class, teaching middle school this month. The project went really well. I broke the class into 5 groups, and gave them each a job title; director, set designer, camera person, and animator. Overall it went very well. I had a budget of only $75 for 75 students. This had to over their clay as well as a DVD, and a few other items to make their sets. We didn't have a tripod, so the students balanced their cameras on books. We marked out where the books would sit and the set on a large piece of paper. Kind of like making a registration sheet so they could film again with the same dimension of space as the first shoot. We only had 4 classes to start and finish this project. The first class they brainstormed and created their stories and started making the characters and sets. The second two classes they finished their sets and began taking pictures. The last class was in the computer lab, downloading their pictures into iPhoto, and then importing it into iMovie to make a timeline and do any edits. The final step was to export it as a Quicktime movie and burn it on a disc. It was stressful trying to get 20 kids to follow the steps exactly with me. The combination of them having access to the main server where they could download their pictures and broken CD drives made for a few hectic moments. They would grab files they weren't supposed to on the server so things would go missing in the middle of directing the class. All in all, considering the limitations, the class went really well. It was a great way to introduce technology and art through a fun project. I will be posting some of the best movies up soon.

Teaching

Tomorrow I am teaching a class that is going to last for the month of January at a charter school for middle school children. My classes are going to be making a stop animation film (10 sec) with clay and digital cameras. I am a little nervous, as kids can be hard to get to focus. I am dividing the class of 20 into 5 groups, so they have to share clay and the sets within the group. If they get this done, they will learn how to import their pictures onto a Mac and create a video with it. They will then burn it onto a disc to take home. Hopefully this goes well! Lol. I have learned to have the steps carefully outlined so that they don't get distracted or stuck. I have also learned you can't be too rigid, because kids can come up with some unexpected creative ideas you didn't even think of. If I get any good results from this class I will post the video!

christmas

Long sliver, silver, and sleek;
moving like graceful tides
with a chicken speech.

It all means something if we want
it to be. Sometimes its sinking
black and warm,

its like trying to catch a
bird that thinks you are ugly.
It never wants to be caught.

Winter time again~

I've been meaning to post some new sketches up here. But the natural light has been so dim, and my camera I bought last summer was not taking good pictures in this kind of light. But I did a little more research on my camera, and it turns out my settings were wrong, so I am going to be taking some photos really soon.
I have been pretty inspired by photography lately, perhaps ignited by this girl, Alison Scarpulla

Fleet Foxes animated Video! Amazing!!

The Shrine / An Argument from Sean Pecknold on Vimeo.