NZ Moodle Moot 2008
I just came back from an excellent Moodle Moot conference in beautiful Napier. Moodle is a free open source e-learning environment which is widely used and developed by a strong community. I particularly enjoyed that it was a really casual and friendly 3 day event. I am sure I can bring a lot that I learned at the conference back to my job. Getting to know other people involved also is a great motivation to actually contribute to this open source project. I am glad I did not miss out this year.
Welcome to the Gun Show
Some of my animations will be broadcast today on the Welcome to the Gun Show, Saturday 27 September, 3pm NZ time, AltTV (Channel 65, Sky TV). Plus a short live interview about my films.
Hello World
I just finished an excellent Blender tutorial: Introduction to Character Animation by Ryan Dale who took a lot of time and effort to publish this very detailed step-by-step guide.
Blender is a free and powerful open source 3d program. The tutorial requires no previous knowledge of 3d software - but it will obviously take you longer to complete if you are absolutely new to modeling and character animation. The tutorial is also a great way to learn Blender if you just want want to give it a try and possibly switch to this free software.
You learn to create a basic model from scratch, add a light, materials and textures, create the armature (skeleton, bones), animate a walkcycle, a gesture, facial expressions, lip syncing, and to render the final product. All in one tutorial. Awesome and very motivating! Highly recommended.
Persepolis
Looks like an awesome film: Persepolis.
Here is the trailer (there is an English version, too).
Today at my local bookshop (small yet the best bookshop around) I also flicked through the original autobiographical graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi about her memories of growing up in the Iranian Revolution and later moving to the West. I am sure I will buy the book (but probably after salary day).
The Right Number
Chrome is the new browser developed by Google. I just tried it and well, it's really fast. It also promises to be very secure and to have a good memory usage/garbage collection model and to be better equipped for up-to-date web applications using Javascript and Ajax (such as Google Mail).
A very good (yet still very geeky) introduction to the Chrome browser was done in comic book form by Scott McCloud, better known for his awesome comic books Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics and Making Comics. I read the first two, the last one is now on my list of books to read. He also made some online comics, based on his own suggestions in Reinventing Comics about using comics in a different medium in an appropriate way. The Right Number looks pretty good.
Happiness Only Real When Shared
A really nice and somewhat different film I have seen recently was Into the Wild. It is very slow pace, not too much happening. In other words: Die Hard enthusiasts stay away!
The film is based on a real story: Chris McCandless, who after graduation at the age of 22 leaves family and career behind and in pursuit of his happiness travels the United States under the name Alexander Supertramp. He donates $24,000 that were given to him by his parents to charity, burns the last bank notes he has, and leaves his car behind. He meets a number of interesting people on the road. He is not a loner, and as portrayed in the film seems like quite a social person; not anti society but simply looking for freedom, independence and truth. At the same time he seeks solitude far away from society. His dream to spend some time in the tranquility and lonelyness of Alaska grows bigger and bigger.
His body was found in an abandoned bus in Alaska in 1992, at age 24. A note that he wrote into a copy of Doctor Zhivago short before his death says: "Happiness only real when shared." This realisation sums up the film in a beautiful way.
This movie, directed by Sean Penn, is brilliant to watch, slow moving, poetic, yet not overly emotional. The story kind of flows along, revealing more and more of McCandless life and the significance of his experiences and realisations. To watch the film you probably need to be in the right mood though. Recommended.
Six Browsers You Don't Need (but Can't Avoid)
It's always the same ... you create a neat web design with clean html and CSS and it looks just the way it should, then you test it on Browsershots and realise that it looks absolutely perfect except (and without any exception) in all versions of Internet Explorer prior to IE7. I wish I would not have to burn my lifetime with these kind of problems – even a grey, cold and rainy Monday in November is more fun than to find workarounds for Internet Explorer.
Even though Browsershots is probably the best free service available for cross browser webdesign it does not help much to actually work on a CSS file and check it in real time. Fortunately I found a multiple IE installer that installs IE3, IE 4.01, IE 5.01, IE 5.55 and IE 6.0. You still need a Windows PC, but it's probably a good solution for a lot of web developers/designers.
I really don't like IE hacking, but from my experience it works best to make a clean html/css template that works well in all other browsers plus IE7 and then apply a conditional IE style sheet or make a few adjustments in the original CSS file if it requires just a minor tweak.
While I really would not bother too much with anything below IE5 (especially if it's a pure CSS design) I now still have six browsers installed that I don't need and IE8 is on it's way – I wonder if Microsoft will ever bite the bullet and go with the standards it so successfully ignored for more than two decades.
The Dance on the Vulcano
Once again we moved. Not far just about a kilometer and a half away from our old place. It's sad to leave the house in 11 Lake Rd with the amesome view to the Rangitoto vulcanic island, but the new place is also quite nice: just 2 bedrooms which is enough for us, a conservatory, in a great overall condition, quiet, cats OK, and also quite a bit cheaper than our 3 bedroom house we used to live in before. Everything we need really. And it's right between the Tuff and Onepoto Craters, which may add a little bit of excitement...
Hopefully we will stay here for quite a while. According to my last count we now moved 13 times in the last 6 or so years - which is really not our desired choice; Germany, Austria, Australia, New Zealand South Island, North Island, etc...
So the new address is:
94A Exmouth Road
Northcote
Auckland 0627
New Zealand
Let me know if you are around. There are too many folks back in Germany and Austria who did not come around yet ... Get off your bums, guys!
comments