Category: Art

Coffee and Rain, Postcards and Plays

 

IMG_3410March 12 &13, 2019

Tuesday was my last full day and I had only made one plan for the afternoon to meet a friend and Lin had tickets for me to see a show that night, so I figured this was a day on my own. I was up and out of the house before Lin knew I was gone.

I had arranged to meet my friend Ian near the South Kensington station so I headed that way. I found a place just outside the station called Muriel’s and treated myself to a “Little English” breakfast while I wrote out a few postcards and watched the rain fall outside. This is what my vacation was all about. I wasn’t rushing around to see stuff and take in all the sights and wonders of a new place, instead I was just relaxing, watching the world go by. It was wonderful. Continue reading “Coffee and Rain, Postcards and Plays” →

Spirits and Giant Squids,Geeks and Shipwrecks

 

IMG_3403.JPGMarch 11, 2019

Monday morning started off too early for Lin. Naturally, the hazards of living with a small child and having to get up early on a daily basis means no matter what time I go to bed, I get up at what, for some people, is an unreasonable hour. But being the trooper (trouper?) she is, she was up before 9am and ran out to the local bakery to get some fresh bread then fixed us both some eggs (Gordon Ramsey recipe and it was skanu!) and toast for breakfast. Continue reading “Spirits and Giant Squids,Geeks and Shipwrecks” →

Cursed Children, EasyBuses, and other adventures

IMG_3375March 10, 2019

A few weeks back, I was getting pretty ragged. I was exhausted, working on various projects, and hadn’t had a real break from anything in about 8 months. It also turned out that due to a scheduling thing at work, I could have a week off from work. It was at this point Rasa, my ever supportive wife, said, in essence, get the hell out! After debating for a bit, and looking at options, I booked a three-day getaway to London, where I could stay with my sister from another mister, Lin. Continue reading “Cursed Children, EasyBuses, and other adventures” →

How an X-Men writer inspired binge-worthy, character-driven TV from Buffy to Game of Thrones

Over at The Conversation, there’s a story called How an X-Men writer inspired binge-worthy, character-driven TV from Buffy to Game of Thrones. It’s an interesting piece and well worth the read, claiming that “our current golden age of TV storytelling is influenced by comic books, in particular, one writer: Chris Claremont pushed boundaries and gave audiences strong female leads and deeply involved dramas.” Continue reading “How an X-Men writer inspired binge-worthy, character-driven TV from Buffy to Game of Thrones” →

Mars Gets Its First Typeface, Equivalent To ‘Helvetica’ On Earth – DesignTAXI.com

The new typeface is “ideal for way-finding and UI in the Martian colony.” As a font geek, I love this. And I like the font itself. Now just thinking of something I could use it on.

Source: Mars Gets Its First Typeface, Equivalent To ‘Helvetica’ On Earth – DesignTAXI.com

November 1 – National Author’s Day

So evidently, today, November 1, is NATIONAL AUTHOR’S DAY. While I didn’t even know that was a thing, I’m totally down with celebrating it! So in honor of all my friends who are writers already and those who aspire. Those who are starting NaNoWriMo today and those who write daily, I salute you all! Continue reading “November 1 – National Author’s Day” →

100 Best Horror Novels And Stories : NPR

Who doesn’t like to be scared?

Okay, sure, lots of people don’t. But in case you’re not one of them, NPR has once again taken an informal and completely non-scientific poll to find the 100 Best Horror Novels And Stories. Naturally, they did it this year, 2018, since it marks the 200th anniversary of the original publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Continue reading “100 Best Horror Novels And Stories : NPR” →

Photos of Abandoned Russia – The Atlantic

“For years, photographers have traveled across Russia finding and photographing intriguing ghost towns, empty Soviet factories, toppling houses, and crumbling churches.”

For me, though, it’s really more about just finding cool, funky, unique places to spark the imagination and speculate on what kind of stories could be set there.

Card Sharp: flashback to when Comic Creators delivered some ace playing card art for Childline – downthetubes.net

“Back in 2001, 65 of the world’s leading comic book artists illustrated a deck of playing cards to raise money for the British charity Childline, as part of the 2001 Comics Festival in Bristol.”

I had no idea about this, but as it combines my love of comics and my love of playing cards, I felt it was something I needed to let others know about. The whole story, Card Sharp: flashback to when Comic Creators delivered some ace playing card art for Childline, along with images of all the cards, is here courtesy of downthetubes.net and it’s great. It’s been 17 years since this happened and needs to happen again.

Baltic Summer University and the birth of documentarians…

IMG_1990.JPG
Filming an interview

So for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been teaching an intensive filmmaking class for the Baltic Summer University. The class itself had gone through various permutations, since this was the first time it was being offered (and so, it stands to reason, my first time teaching it). Originally, the plan was to have the students break into two groups, with half making a scripted film and the other half doing a documentary. With only 5 students, however, that wasn’t going to work. Add in that four of the five were really interested in documentary work and we changed plans on the fly, eventually deciding that each of them would make their own 5 minute documentary.  Continue reading “Baltic Summer University and the birth of documentarians…” →

How YouTube Became the World’s Best Film School | WIRED

man holding clapper board
Photo by Martin Lopez on Pexels.com

Earlier this year, in a post called Two Side of Teaching, I talked about a student who wanted to know what I could teach her that she couldn’t learn from a video. I responded “not much” and then went on to explain my answer.  Continue reading “How YouTube Became the World’s Best Film School | WIRED” →

Incredible Video Flawlessly Edits Dozens Of Famous Characters Into One Coherent Scene – Airows

notebook macbook pro designer technology
Photo by Negative Space on Pexels.com

There’s something incredibly cool about the art of editing. It can transport you from one time and place to another in a fraction of a second. Kuleshov developed the idea of “creative geography” when it came to film editing and now, here’s an extreme example of how it can be put to an extremely effective use. While this might be a tad long, it nevertheless is worth watching.