Back in 2011, in the days of Arbitrary Stopframe Series 1, one character emerged as the clear favourite out of the eleven who had appeared in the show. Everybody else got just one appearance, or at best two, but Doctor Murkum (one of the many denizens of Universe XGT) got three episodes to himself - well, two-and-a-half if you take into account that he had to share the last one with an angry DVD copy of a South Korean monster flick. And somebody - I think it was Tim - suggested that perhaps Murkum should get a show of his own.
Well, he's got it. Tim's suggestion rankled away throughout 2012 - if I gave Murkum his own show, what sort of show would it be? I considered making it a chat show, but that one fell by the wayside; I could never come up with a workable answer to the questions of who he would talk to, about what, and why. I briefly considered having a split-timeframe format, intercutting footage that was meant to have come from Murkum's first camcorder back in the 1980s with other footage of him in the present day reviewing his past escapades on tape and trying to deny or explain away the more embarrassing bits; that one floundered due to its technical over-complication.
Eventually, I settled on a less-is-more approach, and decided that each episode should be a short stand-alone sketch, set at Fort Murk in the present day, in which Murkum brings injury and/or embarrassment upon himself. He does that a lot anyway, so it made sense that The Murkum Show should bring it to the screen. The fun thing about writing for Murkum is that he's numb-skulled, arrogant, violent, a kleptomaniac and a pathological liar, so I can write/animate him suffering all sorts of indignities without having to feel even remotely sorry for him - he deserves every indignity that comes his way.
So, with that premise in mind, I built a set out of Lego, scribbled down a trio of short episode scripts (half a side of A4 each, if that), and sent them to Tim for appraisal. It's worth mentioning at this point, for those who don't know already, that I've known Tim for a very long time, and Murkum is almost as much his fault as he is mine. So that's why he gets to read the scripts before anybody else. Basically he agreed with my own assessment, which was that Episodes 2 and 3 worked, but 1 felt unfinished; combined with the fact that I'd decided I wanted the series opener to feature some of Murkum's highest-ranking employees, it seemed like the logical thing to leave Episodes 2 and 3 as Episodes 2 and 3, but push back the previous 'Episode 1' to become Episode 4, pending a rewrite, and pen a new episode to begin the series. Which I did shortly afterwards.
The next step was dialogue recording and processing - it took a lot of faffing about with a constricted throat and a pile of audio filters to make Murkum-on-speakers sound like Murkum-in-my-head. The job was made more complex due to Murkum being a cyborg (with an artificial voicebox, mechanical components in his chest to keep his respiration and circulation going, and all of his limbs at least partially cybernetic), and I needed to try and make his voice sound like it was being electronically generated, but without ending up as a clone of Microsoft Sam. Got there in the end, though, with some more assistance from T.
The actual animation process was relatively short and painless, with the first three episodes (collectively 'Production Block A') shot back-to-back over the course of last Thursday, and I then completed sound editing for the trio and released Episode 1 Elite Class on Saturday. As you can see right here:
Ta-da! The Murkum Show has landed.
I've already finished dialogue recordings for 'Production Block B' (Episodes 4 to 6), and am aiming to film the visual components in the next few days. The plan is to release one episode every Saturday while stocks last, so come back on the 25th for Episode 2 Drinkies...
- The Colclough
Showing posts with label Beginning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beginning. Show all posts
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Saturday, 2 February 2013
Things Achieved: First of February
Morning: got pinched and punched for the first of the month, by one of the accountants. Not sure that really counts as an achievement, but I think it was a first for me, so there you go. Apparently I have to remember to say 'White Rabbit' before she has a chance to attack me on the first of March, to forestall the pinching and punching. As the Americans say, go figure.
Afternoon: unpacked the future out of its little cardboard boxes and put it on the shelves. 'The future' as in the future of household lighting, in case you're wondering. We'd taken delivery of a new range of LED bulbs, and as Kings' employee-most-known-for-being-paranoid-about-the-light-bulb-shelves, it fell to me to help optimise the shelf layout, produce and implant the colour-coded shelf edging strips (they're really nice edging strips, if I say so myself; I should have taken a photo), and put all of the relevant information into the till database. I also made a promotional page for the shop's website as well, which you can see here.
They're rather expensive (prices starting at £9.99 for one bulb), but with the up-to-25-year lifespan and the 80% energy saving, they will more than pay for themselves. The lifespan and the efficiency are the same advantages touted for those ugly compact-fluorescent bulbs over the last few years; but the LEDs have more: they turn on instantly - you don't have to wait for ages between throwing the switch and getting some light - and the bulbs actually look decent, unlike the hideous convoluted bulkiness of a CFL. I'm rather looking forward to the day the CFL becomes extinct and LED bulbs take over the world.
Evening: finished making the DVD copies of Root Hill on Camera 2012. Really. Pictures to prove it:
Now I just need to put the blighters in the post. Watch your letterboxes.
- The Colclough
Afternoon: unpacked the future out of its little cardboard boxes and put it on the shelves. 'The future' as in the future of household lighting, in case you're wondering. We'd taken delivery of a new range of LED bulbs, and as Kings' employee-most-known-for-being-paranoid-about-the-light-bulb-shelves, it fell to me to help optimise the shelf layout, produce and implant the colour-coded shelf edging strips (they're really nice edging strips, if I say so myself; I should have taken a photo), and put all of the relevant information into the till database. I also made a promotional page for the shop's website as well, which you can see here.
They're rather expensive (prices starting at £9.99 for one bulb), but with the up-to-25-year lifespan and the 80% energy saving, they will more than pay for themselves. The lifespan and the efficiency are the same advantages touted for those ugly compact-fluorescent bulbs over the last few years; but the LEDs have more: they turn on instantly - you don't have to wait for ages between throwing the switch and getting some light - and the bulbs actually look decent, unlike the hideous convoluted bulkiness of a CFL. I'm rather looking forward to the day the CFL becomes extinct and LED bulbs take over the world.
Evening: finished making the DVD copies of Root Hill on Camera 2012. Really. Pictures to prove it:
The stack of finished DVDs
Preview of the main menu
Now I just need to put the blighters in the post. Watch your letterboxes.
- The Colclough
Monday, 7 January 2013
From One Weeks' Vantage
Okay, been a week (what, already?) since 2012 shuffled off its mortal coil. I always said the Mayans were wrong and I'd make it to Event 2013, and here I am. Here, more to the point, we all are.
Thought I'd do a little write-up on the past year, and have a brief ponder on what might be coming up...
2012
I turned 24. I remained weird. I also remained single. I didn't remain unemployed though, as you might have read in these pages back in February.
I nearly lost my computer. But it got fixed in the end, so all's well, and all that.
We obtained our seventh hamster back in January, and he has been entertaining us with his nuttiness ever since. And chewing the carpets.
The Jubilee happened. Celebrations in my area got rather washed out, but sometimes that's life. Now I'm busy rooting for Her Majesty to reach the end of her 64th year on the throne and overtake Victoria as the longest-reigning monarch in British history.
The Olympics happened. I enjoyed the event, mostly. It was interesting to see that that at one point the USA decided to report the medals table using a different algorithm to everybody else in order to pretend that they were on top, when really we all knew China were leading - almost as if the whole nation was throwing a huge collective strop because being in second place out of 200-odd nations just wasn't good enough for them, dammit Jim. Us Brits, meanwhile, were perfectly happy with third rank - or at least I was. I thought the closing ceremony was a washout - okay, it's some overpaid morons singing naff songs; even Imagine is massively over-rated, what's the fuss about here? - but thought most of the opening show was brilliant, and the actual sporting in between managed to grip even me, who hasn't a drop of sporting blood in my body.
I made some interesting discoveries about animation - most importantly, the fact that paper cutout animation is actually a lot slower and more difficult than you might think. My animation output for 2011 comprised 13 episodes of Arbitrary Stopframe, but 2012 managed only 4 episodes of Papercuts. Although to be fair, Papercuts episodes feature dialogue (with the consequent burden of lip-synch work), and each have three times the runtime of actual animation (i.e. not counting title and credit sequences) of an AS episode, so when you do the maths they work out relatively close.
That was my film output - what of the intake? Records indicate (yes, I keep records) that I went to the cinema four times in 2012, to see The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists (visually top-notch, as one would expect from an Aardman feature, but disappointingly weak in the story department, and less funny than it should have been), Avengers Assemble (don't get me started, I could eulogise for ages, especially about Phil 'Agent' Coulson), Brave (not quite Pixar's best, but still pretty good), and finally The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (overlong, yes, but largely enjoyable, especially the performances of Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis. Sorry about the inevitable disagreements betwixt us, Sam, but I did like it). I've lost count of all the things I've seen on TV / DVD / Blu-ray, but highlights have included Galaxy Quest on Blu-ray, Sherlock season 2, the first half of the first season of The West Wing, my first time watching full seasons of The Apprentice (s8) and Young Apprentice (s3), and of course Seven Samurai. Not so much a highlight, but still of note, the first few episodes of Star Trek TNG. So far, at least half of them have been really awful - but I kept watching because I'm a bit of a completist sometimes. The Dreaded Moffat has been very cruel and only given us six episodes of Doctor Who this year, instead of the 14 we should have had, but at least the first half of Series 33/7 has been an improvement over the sloppily-written debacle of 2011's Series 32/6.
I finished publishing Cylinder and Miserable Series 2, and started on Series 3. Didn't end up resuming Grace and Caffeine or starting my planned Brothers in Shells prequel spin-off yet.
I also met a guy called Wayne, and we've been writing a sitcom whose basic premise is The Screwtape Letters mashed up with The Terminator, and laced with a liberal dollop of up-to-the-minute financial corruption. More on that later, maybe...
And to round things off, I won 2 out of 5 podium spots for best post, and second ranking on the Best Blog of the Year list, in Sam's 2012 blogroll review, which I have to say was a very nice cap to the blogging year.
2013?
In short, goodness knows. There are 51 more weeks to go before 2014 starts, and 51 weeks is a very, very long time, both in politics and elsewhere.
On the animation front, I'm hoping to get X-Battles GT5 finished soon. Beyond that, Papercuts episodes 5 to 9 are all in various stages of being written, but none are ready to go yet, so I might be taking a break from the show and producing something else next. Possibly more AS, and/or possibly the long-brewing Empire of the Pond, given a helping hand by my new graphics tablet. Or maybe something about Murkum, animated entirely in Lego - but I don't have a workable screen story for that project yet, so you'll have to wait. On a related note, Tim, Sarah and I finished Alpha One's Winter Wonderland back in the summer, and shot a fifth X-Battles GT short in October (nearly finished, just waiting for some more sound-editing work).
Hoping to finish writing Cylinder and Miserable Series 3 this year. Might get round to doing one of those other comic-strip things I mentioned. Might not. Don't know.
Looking forward to Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Monsters University, and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Waiting to see what the reviews are like. Need to catch up with Skyfall on DVD/BR sometime.
I've known people who took less than 51 weeks between meeting their future spouse for the first time ever, and getting back from their honeymoon. Not to say I expect to marry in 2013; far from it, I've long since given up any actual hope or expectation on that front, but I know enough about probability - and about God's sometimes inexplicable sense of humour - to recognise that I can't absolutely rule out any traces of possibility.
Can but wait and see!
- The Colclough
Thought I'd do a little write-up on the past year, and have a brief ponder on what might be coming up...
2012
I turned 24. I remained weird. I also remained single. I didn't remain unemployed though, as you might have read in these pages back in February.
I nearly lost my computer. But it got fixed in the end, so all's well, and all that.
We obtained our seventh hamster back in January, and he has been entertaining us with his nuttiness ever since. And chewing the carpets.
The Jubilee happened. Celebrations in my area got rather washed out, but sometimes that's life. Now I'm busy rooting for Her Majesty to reach the end of her 64th year on the throne and overtake Victoria as the longest-reigning monarch in British history.
The Olympics happened. I enjoyed the event, mostly. It was interesting to see that that at one point the USA decided to report the medals table using a different algorithm to everybody else in order to pretend that they were on top, when really we all knew China were leading - almost as if the whole nation was throwing a huge collective strop because being in second place out of 200-odd nations just wasn't good enough for them, dammit Jim. Us Brits, meanwhile, were perfectly happy with third rank - or at least I was. I thought the closing ceremony was a washout - okay, it's some overpaid morons singing naff songs; even Imagine is massively over-rated, what's the fuss about here? - but thought most of the opening show was brilliant, and the actual sporting in between managed to grip even me, who hasn't a drop of sporting blood in my body.
I made some interesting discoveries about animation - most importantly, the fact that paper cutout animation is actually a lot slower and more difficult than you might think. My animation output for 2011 comprised 13 episodes of Arbitrary Stopframe, but 2012 managed only 4 episodes of Papercuts. Although to be fair, Papercuts episodes feature dialogue (with the consequent burden of lip-synch work), and each have three times the runtime of actual animation (i.e. not counting title and credit sequences) of an AS episode, so when you do the maths they work out relatively close.
That was my film output - what of the intake? Records indicate (yes, I keep records) that I went to the cinema four times in 2012, to see The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists (visually top-notch, as one would expect from an Aardman feature, but disappointingly weak in the story department, and less funny than it should have been), Avengers Assemble (don't get me started, I could eulogise for ages, especially about Phil 'Agent' Coulson), Brave (not quite Pixar's best, but still pretty good), and finally The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (overlong, yes, but largely enjoyable, especially the performances of Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis. Sorry about the inevitable disagreements betwixt us, Sam, but I did like it). I've lost count of all the things I've seen on TV / DVD / Blu-ray, but highlights have included Galaxy Quest on Blu-ray, Sherlock season 2, the first half of the first season of The West Wing, my first time watching full seasons of The Apprentice (s8) and Young Apprentice (s3), and of course Seven Samurai. Not so much a highlight, but still of note, the first few episodes of Star Trek TNG. So far, at least half of them have been really awful - but I kept watching because I'm a bit of a completist sometimes. The Dreaded Moffat has been very cruel and only given us six episodes of Doctor Who this year, instead of the 14 we should have had, but at least the first half of Series 33/7 has been an improvement over the sloppily-written debacle of 2011's Series 32/6.
I finished publishing Cylinder and Miserable Series 2, and started on Series 3. Didn't end up resuming Grace and Caffeine or starting my planned Brothers in Shells prequel spin-off yet.
I also met a guy called Wayne, and we've been writing a sitcom whose basic premise is The Screwtape Letters mashed up with The Terminator, and laced with a liberal dollop of up-to-the-minute financial corruption. More on that later, maybe...
And to round things off, I won 2 out of 5 podium spots for best post, and second ranking on the Best Blog of the Year list, in Sam's 2012 blogroll review, which I have to say was a very nice cap to the blogging year.
2013?
In short, goodness knows. There are 51 more weeks to go before 2014 starts, and 51 weeks is a very, very long time, both in politics and elsewhere.
On the animation front, I'm hoping to get X-Battles GT5 finished soon. Beyond that, Papercuts episodes 5 to 9 are all in various stages of being written, but none are ready to go yet, so I might be taking a break from the show and producing something else next. Possibly more AS, and/or possibly the long-brewing Empire of the Pond, given a helping hand by my new graphics tablet. Or maybe something about Murkum, animated entirely in Lego - but I don't have a workable screen story for that project yet, so you'll have to wait. On a related note, Tim, Sarah and I finished Alpha One's Winter Wonderland back in the summer, and shot a fifth X-Battles GT short in October (nearly finished, just waiting for some more sound-editing work).
Hoping to finish writing Cylinder and Miserable Series 3 this year. Might get round to doing one of those other comic-strip things I mentioned. Might not. Don't know.
Looking forward to Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Monsters University, and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Waiting to see what the reviews are like. Need to catch up with Skyfall on DVD/BR sometime.
I've known people who took less than 51 weeks between meeting their future spouse for the first time ever, and getting back from their honeymoon. Not to say I expect to marry in 2013; far from it, I've long since given up any actual hope or expectation on that front, but I know enough about probability - and about God's sometimes inexplicable sense of humour - to recognise that I can't absolutely rule out any traces of possibility.
Can but wait and see!
- The Colclough
Monday, 3 September 2012
Daleks and Happiness
Yes: Daleks and happiness.
Not, I will admit, a combination that happens often. But on Saturday night, it did.
I liked Asylum of the Daleks. I haven't got round to my habitual re-watching on iPlayer with the subtitles on, but my impression (quite a distinct impression, at that) after the initial screening of the Season 33 / New Series 7 opener was a positive one.
As might have been hinted in previous posts on this blog, I was less than ecstatic with the way Doctor Who Season 32 / New Series 6 turned out. As time has moved on, and the first two Matt Smith seasons have become more and more a matter of hindsight, my liking for 31/5 has remained undiminished, but my dissatisfaction with 32/6 has become increasingly definite. Not to say it was without its moments - I thought The Doctor's Wife was mostly very good, and The Girl Who Waited was excellent (pleased to hear rumours that Tom MacRae has written another script, for the second half of 33/7) - but the season had some pretty naff episodes, and on the whole, I thought it was badly structured.
And then, there was the massive wait for the new season. All those months without Who.
But it was worth the wait. I think the fundamental problem with Moffat's episodes for 32/6 was that he was so busy trying to string together his massive River-centric arc that he forgot to make sure each individual story was satisfying in its own right. Some of them, in my opinion, definitely weren't, with the main culprits being A Good Man Goes to War and The Wedding of River Song. I was therefore relieved when he announced a few months back that 33/7 would be a lot less arc- and cliffhanger-driven, with each episode being more of a standalone adventure - and that's exactly what Asylum of the Daleks turned out to be. Yes, it sets up some big questions for the rest of the season, but the story hangs together in and of itself, and I came away feeling that I had seen a proper, complete story, rather than only the first bit of something. It manages to be as intriguing as last year's opener The Impossible Astronaut, but without also being as frustrating.
Mixed feelings on the revised title sequence, but that's a minor thing. The point is that the episode itself works. I would rank it as Moffat's best script for the show since 31/5 finale The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang, and - possibly - the best of the eight DW season opener episodes I've seen.
In my opinion, RTD was at his best during his first season, and at his worst during his second, with the third and fourth recovering somewhat. Moffat's first two seasons followed the same pattern, and if Asylum is anything to go by, then it looks like he might be following the third-season-recovery pattern too.
Which is why, for me at least, Daleks and happiness have coincided.
- The Colclough
Not, I will admit, a combination that happens often. But on Saturday night, it did.
I liked Asylum of the Daleks. I haven't got round to my habitual re-watching on iPlayer with the subtitles on, but my impression (quite a distinct impression, at that) after the initial screening of the Season 33 / New Series 7 opener was a positive one.
As might have been hinted in previous posts on this blog, I was less than ecstatic with the way Doctor Who Season 32 / New Series 6 turned out. As time has moved on, and the first two Matt Smith seasons have become more and more a matter of hindsight, my liking for 31/5 has remained undiminished, but my dissatisfaction with 32/6 has become increasingly definite. Not to say it was without its moments - I thought The Doctor's Wife was mostly very good, and The Girl Who Waited was excellent (pleased to hear rumours that Tom MacRae has written another script, for the second half of 33/7) - but the season had some pretty naff episodes, and on the whole, I thought it was badly structured.
And then, there was the massive wait for the new season. All those months without Who.
But it was worth the wait. I think the fundamental problem with Moffat's episodes for 32/6 was that he was so busy trying to string together his massive River-centric arc that he forgot to make sure each individual story was satisfying in its own right. Some of them, in my opinion, definitely weren't, with the main culprits being A Good Man Goes to War and The Wedding of River Song. I was therefore relieved when he announced a few months back that 33/7 would be a lot less arc- and cliffhanger-driven, with each episode being more of a standalone adventure - and that's exactly what Asylum of the Daleks turned out to be. Yes, it sets up some big questions for the rest of the season, but the story hangs together in and of itself, and I came away feeling that I had seen a proper, complete story, rather than only the first bit of something. It manages to be as intriguing as last year's opener The Impossible Astronaut, but without also being as frustrating.
Mixed feelings on the revised title sequence, but that's a minor thing. The point is that the episode itself works. I would rank it as Moffat's best script for the show since 31/5 finale The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang, and - possibly - the best of the eight DW season opener episodes I've seen.
In my opinion, RTD was at his best during his first season, and at his worst during his second, with the third and fourth recovering somewhat. Moffat's first two seasons followed the same pattern, and if Asylum is anything to go by, then it looks like he might be following the third-season-recovery pattern too.
Which is why, for me at least, Daleks and happiness have coincided.
- The Colclough
Saturday, 16 June 2012
All Quiet at the Front End of the Camera
It's been a mere (yeah, right) three and a half months since I recorded the dialogue for the first two episodes of Papercuts, way back on the first of March. I've had several patches since then when I felt as if there was far too much work involved in the project and it was all taking far too long and I wanted to just pack it all in and cancel the show.
However, after 48 hours of focussed work on the project (it's amazing what you can achieve in 48 hours of focussed work sometimes), I've fnally finished Episode 1, and very nearly finished Episode 2... and then jumped straight back in and started recording dialogue for Production Block B (i.e. Episodes 3 and 4).
A large part of Thursday was spent filming the last bits of Production Block A: specifically, Ep 2 Scene 10, then the last snippets of the title sequence with the ink barely dried on the background I was using, and last but not least Ep 2 Scene 11. Rounded off the day with a bit of editing.
Yesterday was all about the noise. Depending what time of day you dropped in, you would have seen me scuttling in and out of my room clutching various ill-gotten gains including the old clock of the mantelpiece, the cutlery drawer, a plastic bucket full of dirt, a full watering can, and a trowel... not to mention the various strange sounds I ended up making a capella. I also pestered Tim into writing a snippet of incidental music for Episode 1, so that I could complete and publish the episode. Which, about an hour after I should have been in bed, is just what I did.
Here's what all the fuss has been about - or at least, the first instalment of it:
Episode 2 is complete apart from one track of incidental music, which I'm hoping Tim might be able to sort out while I'm in Kent over the next week, and the general plan is to publish the second instalment about two weeks after the first one, followed by the third as soon as it's ready. Beyond that, I don't really know yet. If the scripts for episodes 5, 6 and maybe 7 are ready to go by the time I finish making 4, then I might go straight into Production Block C. Otherwise, I might look at re-starting Arbitrary Stopframe. But don't take any of that as final - the only definite decision I've made so far is to stick with Papercuts until at least Episode 4 is finished.
I'm really hoping the second pair of episodes won't take as long as the first did. I do have a bit of a head start this time in terms of major sets already existing, and things like that. Watch this space.
In unrelated news, I've been meaning to do a post about how I might have handled certain challenges from The Apprentice Series 8, but that'll have to wait for at least another week, if it happens at all. And I'm sure I've got some drawings and paintings that I haven't shown you. Must try and remember to do that before too long...
- The Colclough
However, after 48 hours of focussed work on the project (it's amazing what you can achieve in 48 hours of focussed work sometimes), I've fnally finished Episode 1, and very nearly finished Episode 2... and then jumped straight back in and started recording dialogue for Production Block B (i.e. Episodes 3 and 4).
A large part of Thursday was spent filming the last bits of Production Block A: specifically, Ep 2 Scene 10, then the last snippets of the title sequence with the ink barely dried on the background I was using, and last but not least Ep 2 Scene 11. Rounded off the day with a bit of editing.
Yesterday was all about the noise. Depending what time of day you dropped in, you would have seen me scuttling in and out of my room clutching various ill-gotten gains including the old clock of the mantelpiece, the cutlery drawer, a plastic bucket full of dirt, a full watering can, and a trowel... not to mention the various strange sounds I ended up making a capella. I also pestered Tim into writing a snippet of incidental music for Episode 1, so that I could complete and publish the episode. Which, about an hour after I should have been in bed, is just what I did.
Here's what all the fuss has been about - or at least, the first instalment of it:
Episode 2 is complete apart from one track of incidental music, which I'm hoping Tim might be able to sort out while I'm in Kent over the next week, and the general plan is to publish the second instalment about two weeks after the first one, followed by the third as soon as it's ready. Beyond that, I don't really know yet. If the scripts for episodes 5, 6 and maybe 7 are ready to go by the time I finish making 4, then I might go straight into Production Block C. Otherwise, I might look at re-starting Arbitrary Stopframe. But don't take any of that as final - the only definite decision I've made so far is to stick with Papercuts until at least Episode 4 is finished.
I'm really hoping the second pair of episodes won't take as long as the first did. I do have a bit of a head start this time in terms of major sets already existing, and things like that. Watch this space.
In unrelated news, I've been meaning to do a post about how I might have handled certain challenges from The Apprentice Series 8, but that'll have to wait for at least another week, if it happens at all. And I'm sure I've got some drawings and paintings that I haven't shown you. Must try and remember to do that before too long...
- The Colclough
Monday, 7 May 2012
Gah! Trailing Already...
Tim has challenged me to a little blog race. I won't bother repeating the intro, I'll just link you to his post. We've only just started, and as of right now I'm already one post behind.
As per the Twenty Questions challenge I had against Hannah last summer, it's a "here-are-questions-now-answer-them"-type race. The 10 questions which I need to answer over the next week are:
As per last time, some of these are going to be easier than others. And just because it's the easiest one to answer, I'm going to start with Question 7, What's the worst pop song you've ever heard?
That's very easy. Thanks to Radio 2, I now have a shortlist of most hated pop songs. Most of them are ones the Radio 2 types have been playing ad nauseam over the last few weeks, and I hate them partly because of the horrific repetition, and partly because they're excruciatingly depressing. Nearly every pop song I've heard seems to be about a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, and more specifically most of them seem to be about a relationship gone sour. What a complete, pathetic lack of imagination. Can't you think of anything else to sing about? Why can't you sing about, say, science and cake?
I won't give you links to any of the songs. The whole point of this post is that I hate them all and never want to hear them again, so it would be gratuitously cruel to give you a link and make it easier for you to suffer.
Anyway, the current shortlist is as follows, in reverse order:
So there you have it. The list is open for revision, subject to the discovery of other, even more depressing songs, and/or to Radio 2's next choice of irrational obsession.
Compulsory Stats:
- The Colclough
As per the Twenty Questions challenge I had against Hannah last summer, it's a "here-are-questions-now-answer-them"-type race. The 10 questions which I need to answer over the next week are:
- What is the most ghastly mainstream TV show of modern times?
- Cheese or democracy: which would you go without for five years?
- What's your favourite online game?
- If a=9, b=30 and c=25, what does x equal?
- What is the naffest film genre?
- If you could add one piece of tech to your body, what would it be?
- What's the worst pop song you've ever heard?
- If, overnight, you could be bestowed with grade 8-level ability on any musical instrument you liked, what would it be?
- If you had to join the armed forces, what department would you choose to serve in?
- Who would win if the Galactic Empire fought the Borg, the Daleks fought the New Arpathian Principality, and then the winners went on to fight each other?
As per last time, some of these are going to be easier than others. And just because it's the easiest one to answer, I'm going to start with Question 7, What's the worst pop song you've ever heard?
That's very easy. Thanks to Radio 2, I now have a shortlist of most hated pop songs. Most of them are ones the Radio 2 types have been playing ad nauseam over the last few weeks, and I hate them partly because of the horrific repetition, and partly because they're excruciatingly depressing. Nearly every pop song I've heard seems to be about a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, and more specifically most of them seem to be about a relationship gone sour. What a complete, pathetic lack of imagination. Can't you think of anything else to sing about? Why can't you sing about, say, science and cake?
I won't give you links to any of the songs. The whole point of this post is that I hate them all and never want to hear them again, so it would be gratuitously cruel to give you a link and make it easier for you to suffer.
Anyway, the current shortlist is as follows, in reverse order:
- Somewhere around #6 or #7: We Take Care of Our Own by Bruce Springsteen. Not too relationship-y, just hated for being really miserable.
- Tied with the above entry: American Pie by Don McLean. Hated for being overly long, overly cryptic, pretty darn miserable and perhaps (if I heard the lyrics right) vaguely blasphemous. Weird Al's Star Wars-themed parody is millions better, mostly because the lyrics make more sense and it's a lot more cheerful.
- Circa #4 or #5: Love Will Set You Free, as performed by Engelbert Humperdinck (what a name - he really must have had sadistic parents) and apparently intended as Britain's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. For a song whose title revolves around love and freedom, it sounds really dismal, almost as though the composer and vocalist are both resigned to a life without love or freedom. Unless the whole of the rest of Europe is even worse, or depression is in vogue with the Eurovision judges this year, then I can only assume the UK entry's committee are deliberately planning to lose. Not that I follow Eurovision or care who wins, mind you.
- Circa #3 or #4: one that I don't know the title or composer of, but the chorus involves the phrase "I love you, I love you, I love you", moaned as if it was the saddest damn thing ever to happen. I hate it for much the same reasons as Love Will Set You Free, except slightly more so.
- #2: Masterpiece by Madonna. Apparently the song is written from the perspective of a lover to their beloved, but it's so badly done that the first few times I heard it I assumed that the singer bitterly hated the addressee and wanted to kill them. Then I looked it up on Wikipedia and discovered that it's meant to be about Edward VIII from Wallis Simpson's point of view, and it started annoying me even more. I mean, it's all very well for some silly American popster to write soppy wuv song about the cutesie romance of the king who gave up his throne to be with his darling, but my view of the whole affair is much more negative, more or less in line with The King's Speech, and I consequently find the song somewhat repulsive.
- #1: Somebody That I Used to Know by the implausibly-named 'Gotye'. Probably the most miserable song I've ever heard, and infuriatingly prone to getting stuck inside the grey matter, and therefore the most hated. If you've never heard it, don't go looking for it. Just be grateful for your blissful ignorance.
So there you have it. The list is open for revision, subject to the discovery of other, even more depressing songs, and/or to Radio 2's next choice of irrational obsession.
Compulsory Stats:
- Last 10 for 17 status: neck and neck, each with 1 down and 9 to go.
- Latest book read: The Kink and I by one James D Mallory Jr, M.D.
- Latest film/TV watched: All Creatures Great and Small series 1 episode 10
- Latest music listened to: Machinarium OST by Tomas 'Floex' Dvorak
- Latest edible item eaten: apricot and ginger pudding
- Programs and web pages currently running: Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Firefox (tabs: Blogspot Dashboard; Blogspot Create Post), Skype
- Webcomics posted today: Cylinder and Miserable Episode 1473
- The Colclough
Thursday, 1 March 2012
Things Begin!
I've been starting some new things today.
First off this morning, I began pencilling the general layout of the fifth instalment in my series of circly drawings - which, by the way, I've decided to call Arc Phase Variations. Also worth mentioning that I completed the fourth drawing the other day, and I'll try and get a photo up sometime. Then, sticking with the arty theme, I painted the background layer for Stained Glass VII.
Then I fired up the computer, and got down to work on the HTML conversion for my Cylinder and Miserable spin-off storyline The Lemonsmith Correspondence. The new mini-series is fully canon, and partially bridges the gap between the completed Series 2 and the upcoming Series 3. It comprises 75 emails, supposedly written between Cylinder, Albert, the eponymous Claudia Lemonsmith, and one or two other characters, and I've uploaded the first 8 to the website as you can see if you click this link here. I did the first 8 as a batch because it was a narratively logical stopping point; some of the other batches will be a lot bigger. Not sure when the next lot will go online, but I'll try and make it soon.
And finally, my last creative act of the day (apart from writing this blog post, obviously) was to sit down with my microphone and a couple of scripts, and record all the voice work for the first production block of my new cartoon, Papercuts. Production block A comprises the series title sequence plus episodes 1 and 2, and production block B will comprise episodes 3 and 4. As for block C, we'll have to wait and see (or wait and C? No, sorry; that was a bad one), because no more episodes have been written yet. But the point is, the work has progressed beyond the script-writing stage, which means that the successor to Arbitrary Stopframe is now officially in production! Watch this space for release date news...
- The Colclough
First off this morning, I began pencilling the general layout of the fifth instalment in my series of circly drawings - which, by the way, I've decided to call Arc Phase Variations. Also worth mentioning that I completed the fourth drawing the other day, and I'll try and get a photo up sometime. Then, sticking with the arty theme, I painted the background layer for Stained Glass VII.
Then I fired up the computer, and got down to work on the HTML conversion for my Cylinder and Miserable spin-off storyline The Lemonsmith Correspondence. The new mini-series is fully canon, and partially bridges the gap between the completed Series 2 and the upcoming Series 3. It comprises 75 emails, supposedly written between Cylinder, Albert, the eponymous Claudia Lemonsmith, and one or two other characters, and I've uploaded the first 8 to the website as you can see if you click this link here. I did the first 8 as a batch because it was a narratively logical stopping point; some of the other batches will be a lot bigger. Not sure when the next lot will go online, but I'll try and make it soon.
And finally, my last creative act of the day (apart from writing this blog post, obviously) was to sit down with my microphone and a couple of scripts, and record all the voice work for the first production block of my new cartoon, Papercuts. Production block A comprises the series title sequence plus episodes 1 and 2, and production block B will comprise episodes 3 and 4. As for block C, we'll have to wait and see (or wait and C? No, sorry; that was a bad one), because no more episodes have been written yet. But the point is, the work has progressed beyond the script-writing stage, which means that the successor to Arbitrary Stopframe is now officially in production! Watch this space for release date news...
- The Colclough
Friday, 3 February 2012
Welcome to Our Universe
As I said in the post title, welcome to our universe. "Our" as in "Mine, Tim's and Sarah's", and "Universe" as in "Universe XGT". We're not entirely sure what the "XGT" bit stands for, but it doesn't really matter that much. It's a convenient collective handle for our shared fictional space, home to some 30-odd sapient species, and venue for much hitherto-private amusement. The occasional snippet of UXGT has leaked out into public view, mainly in the form of stopmotion short films such as Alpha One's Laser Cafe and The Probe Has Succeeded, but most of it has stayed under wraps... until now.
Well, we decided lately that perhaps we should share some of the more interesting bits of UXGT with the wider world, and to that end we've set up a new blog over at http://uxgt.blogspot.com, where we intend to publish assorted UXGT-related stuff in no particular order and on no particular schedule. We'll write what we feel like writing when we feel like writing it.
Over the last two or three months I've been drawing a series of pictures, trying to define the look of some of the major races (and a fair few minor ones along the way), and the other day I finally ticked the last major one off my 'do' list and scanned my sheaf of papers. Tim and I have agreed that the best way to start off the proceedings would be to write a series of posts introducing the most important alien species one at a time, illustrating the point withe my drawings. I thought I'd start off with someone you might have seen before:
That would be Odom the Grud, from The Probe Has Succeeded (he also stars in Arbitrary Stopframe episodes 1 and 8, but those don't count as part of UXGT canon). What's a Grud, then, you might be asking? Now's your chance to find out: the following is a reduced edition (a trailer, if you like) of the species intro...
The Species of Universe XGT: the Gruds
The Gruds are a fairly widespread race, with five eyes, orange to yellow skin, and a very stocky build. They originated in the Drav galaxy, later spreading across many others including the capital worlds of Vomo and Sardastian. The species is responsible for some of the universe's largest mining and heavy-industry operations.
Although they are usually lacking in aesthetic taste, and have minimal appreciation for culture, the Gruds are nevertheless a welcome part of intergalactic society, as they are intelligent and industrious, most of them being scientifically minded. Many of the universe's great technological achievements can be attributed to this unattractive but very productive species. Out of the small minority of Gruds who do not find a vocation in science or engineering, most tend to work in defence or security positions, for which they are ideally suited due to their imposing physique and no-nonsense mindset.
If you wanted to summarise the entire species in one word, it would have to be 'pragmatists'. For example, they have no concept of romance, and instead of proposing marriage on their knees using an expensive piece of jewellery, they are more likely to remain standing up, say something along the lines of "I have made many calculations, and I believe it would be mutually advantageous for us to enter a marriage agreement" - and then illustrate the point with a spreadsheet.
Species facts & figures
You can read the full version of the introduction on the UXGT blog at http://uxgt.blogspot.com/2012/02/species-profile-grud.html
- The Colclough
Well, we decided lately that perhaps we should share some of the more interesting bits of UXGT with the wider world, and to that end we've set up a new blog over at http://uxgt.blogspot.com, where we intend to publish assorted UXGT-related stuff in no particular order and on no particular schedule. We'll write what we feel like writing when we feel like writing it.
Over the last two or three months I've been drawing a series of pictures, trying to define the look of some of the major races (and a fair few minor ones along the way), and the other day I finally ticked the last major one off my 'do' list and scanned my sheaf of papers. Tim and I have agreed that the best way to start off the proceedings would be to write a series of posts introducing the most important alien species one at a time, illustrating the point withe my drawings. I thought I'd start off with someone you might have seen before:
Recognise this chap?
That would be Odom the Grud, from The Probe Has Succeeded (he also stars in Arbitrary Stopframe episodes 1 and 8, but those don't count as part of UXGT canon). What's a Grud, then, you might be asking? Now's your chance to find out: the following is a reduced edition (a trailer, if you like) of the species intro...
The Gruds are a fairly widespread race, with five eyes, orange to yellow skin, and a very stocky build. They originated in the Drav galaxy, later spreading across many others including the capital worlds of Vomo and Sardastian. The species is responsible for some of the universe's largest mining and heavy-industry operations.
Although they are usually lacking in aesthetic taste, and have minimal appreciation for culture, the Gruds are nevertheless a welcome part of intergalactic society, as they are intelligent and industrious, most of them being scientifically minded. Many of the universe's great technological achievements can be attributed to this unattractive but very productive species. Out of the small minority of Gruds who do not find a vocation in science or engineering, most tend to work in defence or security positions, for which they are ideally suited due to their imposing physique and no-nonsense mindset.
If you wanted to summarise the entire species in one word, it would have to be 'pragmatists'. For example, they have no concept of romance, and instead of proposing marriage on their knees using an expensive piece of jewellery, they are more likely to remain standing up, say something along the lines of "I have made many calculations, and I believe it would be mutually advantageous for us to enter a marriage agreement" - and then illustrate the point with a spreadsheet.
Species facts & figures
- Homeworld: First Dabox, Forrad starsystem, Drav galaxy
- Other distribution: species controls approx 40 planets and has presence on numerous others
- Biology: placental but non-mammalian warm-blooded vertebrates
- Gestation: 10 months
- Time to maturity: 20 years
- Natural average lifespan: 100 years
- Average adult height: 6-8 ft (F), 7-8 ft (M)
- Language: Ballum
- Currency: Tesseen
You can read the full version of the introduction on the UXGT blog at http://uxgt.blogspot.com/2012/02/species-profile-grud.html
- The Colclough
Saturday, 7 January 2012
Hello, You
I seem to say that to hamsters a lot. Hello, you. And as of this afternoon, we've got another hamster for me to say it to.
I've just come downstairs from watching Scribbles' successor move into his new home. He's called Dusty, and is the spitting image of Scribbles two years ago - what with the similarity in appearance and the fact that we had both from the same pet centre, I can't help wondering if they're related. Is Dusty Scribbles' great-nephew or something? Who knows...
For the record, Dusty is Ben's third hamster, our seventh hamster overall, and our ninth rodent. Yes, I've been counting. Not sure exactly how old he is, but I'd hazard a guess of between one and two months.
I'm not allowed to handle him yet. Nobody is until at least Tuesday, and even then it should really only be Ben and only very carefully. I don't even have a photo to show you. But I thought that his arrival should be noted here anyway.
The big thing for me, of course, is that I hope Dusty will continue the tradition of Ben's hamsters not biting me. I'm quite fond of that tradition, as you might imagine. I've forgiven Taffy for her toothy debut, but I still hope it won't be repeated. We'll have to wait and see.
Oh, and I wonder if Dusty will continue Scribbles' habit of going to the toilet behind my monitor?
Me Stats:
- The Colclough
I've just come downstairs from watching Scribbles' successor move into his new home. He's called Dusty, and is the spitting image of Scribbles two years ago - what with the similarity in appearance and the fact that we had both from the same pet centre, I can't help wondering if they're related. Is Dusty Scribbles' great-nephew or something? Who knows...
For the record, Dusty is Ben's third hamster, our seventh hamster overall, and our ninth rodent. Yes, I've been counting. Not sure exactly how old he is, but I'd hazard a guess of between one and two months.
I'm not allowed to handle him yet. Nobody is until at least Tuesday, and even then it should really only be Ben and only very carefully. I don't even have a photo to show you. But I thought that his arrival should be noted here anyway.
The big thing for me, of course, is that I hope Dusty will continue the tradition of Ben's hamsters not biting me. I'm quite fond of that tradition, as you might imagine. I've forgiven Taffy for her toothy debut, but I still hope it won't be repeated. We'll have to wait and see.
Oh, and I wonder if Dusty will continue Scribbles' habit of going to the toilet behind my monitor?
Me Stats:
- First 12 for '12 status: 6 down, 6 to go - half-way to securing fourth place, I guess
- Latest book read: still A Brit Different
- Latest film/TV watched: Wallace & Gromit's World of Invention
- Latest music listened to: can't remember
- Latest edible item eaten: bit of chocolate; banoffee pie before that
- Predominant colour of clothes: blues and greys
- Programs and web pages currently running: Microsoft Office Outlook and Word 2007, Firefox (tabs: MatNav 6.1, twice; A White Horizon; Blogspot Create Post), Skype
- Webcomics posted today: n/a
- The Colclough
Monday, 2 January 2012
Gauntlet Meets Floor
Okay, new year. 2012 is go. And I think it might be time for another blogging challenge.
This time last year, Hannah Newcombe and I were kicking off a blog race called "First 11 for '11", the idea being that the first one to write their first 11 posts for the new year would win.
Hannah won.
...so I'm calling a rematch. I should probably have posted this sometime in December, but it got squeezed out in all the Christmas rush, so I'm posting it now instead. The point is: I hereby challenge Hannah, and anybody else who wants to join the bandwagon, to write their "First 12 for '12". The entry criteria are very simple:
And now, having challenged people, I suppose I'd better start having some ideas on what to write myself...
- The Colclough
This time last year, Hannah Newcombe and I were kicking off a blog race called "First 11 for '11", the idea being that the first one to write their first 11 posts for the new year would win.
Hannah won.
...so I'm calling a rematch. I should probably have posted this sometime in December, but it got squeezed out in all the Christmas rush, so I'm posting it now instead. The point is: I hereby challenge Hannah, and anybody else who wants to join the bandwagon, to write their "First 12 for '12". The entry criteria are very simple:
- You must be me, Hannah, or somebody else who knows me. Yes, Sam, that means you're eligible to join in. (*fixes spelling* - I hate the word 'eligible', by the way; I always seem to misspell the darn thing)
- You'll need a blog (obviously). If you don't have one but would like to join in, then you are allowed to start a blog for the purposes of participating in this challenge. You'll find the people at www.blogger.com helpful, especially if you've already got a Google account.
- You must register your participation by leaving a comment on this post. Unless you're Hannah, that is, in which case your participation is compulsory because you haven't posted in more than 3 months and it's about time somebody got you back to da blog.
- You must write 12 substantial and meaningful blog posts in the shortest possible timeframe, starting with a clean slate at or after 0000.01 hours on the morning of Wednesday 4 January 2012 (this post doesn't count, as it wouldn't be fair for me to get a head start like that). You're allowed to start having ideas for your posts before midight, but not to start writing them up. The 'substantial and meaningful' clause means that Twitter-style micro-posts don't count, and each post has to comprise a minimum of a few paragraphs' worth on an interesting topic, or at least a paragraph each on several smaller topics.
- You must include some statistics at the end of each post: compulsory stats include your Challenge status (i.e. how many "First 12 for '12" posts you've written, including the current one), Latest book read (or currently reading), Latest film/TV watched, Latest music listened to, Latest edible item eaten/drunk, Predominant colour(s) of the clothes you're wearing at the time of writing, and Programs and web pages currently open on your computer. Plus anything else you want to add.
- You must leave at least one comment on each post that is written as part of the challenge by any of your rivals.
- First to 12 wins.
And now, having challenged people, I suppose I'd better start having some ideas on what to write myself...
- The Colclough
Saturday, 30 July 2011
Twenty Questions: The Beginning
Okay, so I've gone and done it again. I've challenged Hannah 'LikesSheepBaa' Newcombe to another blogging race. If you were reading this blog, hers or both back in January, you'll already know that I initiated the "First 11 for '11" race, and ended up losing it by 10 posts to 11. Which means, of course, that I've got a score to settle!
There has been considerable debate over exactly what form this challenge should take, but we eventually settled on "Twenty Questions": each of us writes out a list of 20 questions (hence the name) and sends it to the other, and each question must form the basis of a blog post. First to answer all 20 questions wins.
That was the short explanation. There are some other rules too: minimum word count 100 per question, not including peripheral stuff like the post title, tags etc; each post must include stats at the end (same as the ones featured in "First 11 for '11", with a couple of additions); each blogger must comment on all of their rival's challenge posts. And we both have to be finished before the start of this year's Root Hill camp, on Saturday the 20th of August. The good news is that the questions can be answered in any order. I intentionally made my questions a mix of the very easy and the rather more arcane (I'll be very interested to see what order H answers them in), and it seems she's done the same.
So, here are the questions I sent her, which you will hopefully be able to read the answers to across the course of the next three weeks over at http://hannahlikessheepbaa.blogspot.com:
...and here are the ones she sent me:
Some of these will be very, very easy. Like number 1. Others, like number 2, will be rather more difficult.
So I've got about 20 days to answer 20 questions... better get started. And since there's no better place to begin than at the beginning, I may as well kick off with Question 1: "We’ve reached the end of the Harry Potter era. Thoughts?"
YES!!! *Punches the air and other excitable gestures*
Pretty much ever since I became aware of the existence of Harry Potter, circa 2001, I've been waiting for it to end. I don't have all that much against HP, apart from the ridiculous overblown fuss that everyone else has been making about it. It's just another fantasy series, really, but it's been hailed as the best thing since sliced bread, and crooned and drooled over by hordes and hordes of people as if it was the greatest story ever told. Which it isn't.
I've made a point of not following the series, just to assert my human right to nonconformity. That's not to say I'm completely ignorant of it, mind you - I know what all the books are called, what years they were published (or at least most of them), as well as what years the films came out, who directed them, and who wrote the scripts and the scores for them. I didn't set out to know all that stuff, I just absorbed the information by accident, because I have the sort of mind that can and does absorb that sort of information by accident.
I've read the first book and a half (when I had absolutely nothing better to do), and while I thought they were passable enough bits of literature, I'm not sure they're the healthiest reading matter for young minds, and I certainly didn't think their plotting or phraseology was scintillating enough to merit all the hype. The storyline hung together well enough, but I didn't think it attained the intricacy of, say, Doctor Who's Pandorica storyline. The use of the English language was fine, but it wasn't a patch on Douglas Adams (who, let's not forget, described the Vogon Constructor Fleet as "hanging in mid-air in exactly the way bricks don't", or something very similar).
I've seen tiny snippets of the first film, but not enough to comment on. I've seen the second in its entirety, and boy it was disappointing. The adult actors were fine - sometimes great, even, especially Alan Rickman - but the child leads came across unspeakably hammy by comparison. I'm told they've improved in the more recent films, but that doesn't change the fact that the world is forever saddled with their utterly atrocious early performances. Towards the end of Chamber of Secrets, Radcliffe's delivery of a certain line about the powers of phoenix tears made all my insides and brain juices squirm like mealworms in a fisherman's bait tin. Don't get me started on the phoenix, either. I'd heard the music for Chamber of Secrets long before I saw the film, and it led me to expect something a bit better from the VFX department. As in, it made me think the on-screen depiction of the phoenix would have a certain majesty, or at least dignity. It doesn't. What a disappointing bird. Although I will admit that from the trailers and things I've seen, the cinematography and effects seem to have improved as the series has gone on.
Sometime last year, they released the first teaser poster for Deathly Hallows, featuring Hogwarts half-destroyed and on fire, with the tagline "It all ends here". I loved that poster. In fact, it's one of my favourite posters of all time, mainly because of that little word 'ends'. The last film is currently in cinemas; soon it'll be out on Blu-ray and DVD, and then, there'll be nothing else to do, nowhere else to go... and maybe the world will finally shut up about it all. The silence will be golden.
I think I might have got a bit carried away there. Pretty sure that little rant is more than 100 words 8p
As per "First 11 For 11", the challenge requires statistics:
- The Colclough
There has been considerable debate over exactly what form this challenge should take, but we eventually settled on "Twenty Questions": each of us writes out a list of 20 questions (hence the name) and sends it to the other, and each question must form the basis of a blog post. First to answer all 20 questions wins.
That was the short explanation. There are some other rules too: minimum word count 100 per question, not including peripheral stuff like the post title, tags etc; each post must include stats at the end (same as the ones featured in "First 11 for '11", with a couple of additions); each blogger must comment on all of their rival's challenge posts. And we both have to be finished before the start of this year's Root Hill camp, on Saturday the 20th of August. The good news is that the questions can be answered in any order. I intentionally made my questions a mix of the very easy and the rather more arcane (I'll be very interested to see what order H answers them in), and it seems she's done the same.
So, here are the questions I sent her, which you will hopefully be able to read the answers to across the course of the next three weeks over at http://hannahlikessheepbaa.blogspot.com:
- Where did the sheep obsession come from?
- If you ruled the universe, what’s the first law you would pass?
- What’s wrong with Doritos, anyway?
- Who is your anti-role model?
- How big are your feet?
- Do you like mornings?
- Beethoven or Bieber?
- Ink or acrylics?
- What’s the most overrated book out there?
- Would you prefer an alien invasion or a zombie apocalypse?
- What’s the strangest activity/project/group you’ve been involved with?
- If you had to choose between your eyes and your ears…?
- If you wrote a comic strip, what would it be about?
- What’s your most recently formed life ambition?
- So… what to do when life gives you lemons?
- Which is the best chocolate bar, and why?
- What would your dream house be like?
- Has Steven Moffat dropped the ball?
- Why is your car called that?
- Is this the last question?
...and here are the ones she sent me:
- We’ve reached the end of the Harry Potter era. Thoughts?
- If you were an animal, how on earth did you become an animal?
- How would you describe your taste in music?
- If you were a character in Doctor Who, who would you be? (Side note, my friends have decided that I’m Donna. Take that as you wish!)
- Do you have a favourite medium to use when doing artwork?
- How tall are you?
- If you were a shape, what shape would you be?
- What is your favourite character that you’ve created so far?
- Do you have a favourite novel?
- You now have a type 40 TARDIS. Where and when would your top destinations be?
- What is your earliest memory?
- What is your suitcase packing method?
- Please can I have your bank details?
- Do you like broccoli when it isn’t named Albert?
- Sheep or cows?
- Zombies or unicorns?
- What is your favourite smell?
- Would you ever go bungee jumping?
- If you were prime minister, what would you do differently?
- If the answer is 42, what is the question?
Some of these will be very, very easy. Like number 1. Others, like number 2, will be rather more difficult.
So I've got about 20 days to answer 20 questions... better get started. And since there's no better place to begin than at the beginning, I may as well kick off with Question 1: "We’ve reached the end of the Harry Potter era. Thoughts?"
YES!!! *Punches the air and other excitable gestures*
Pretty much ever since I became aware of the existence of Harry Potter, circa 2001, I've been waiting for it to end. I don't have all that much against HP, apart from the ridiculous overblown fuss that everyone else has been making about it. It's just another fantasy series, really, but it's been hailed as the best thing since sliced bread, and crooned and drooled over by hordes and hordes of people as if it was the greatest story ever told. Which it isn't.
I've made a point of not following the series, just to assert my human right to nonconformity. That's not to say I'm completely ignorant of it, mind you - I know what all the books are called, what years they were published (or at least most of them), as well as what years the films came out, who directed them, and who wrote the scripts and the scores for them. I didn't set out to know all that stuff, I just absorbed the information by accident, because I have the sort of mind that can and does absorb that sort of information by accident.
I've read the first book and a half (when I had absolutely nothing better to do), and while I thought they were passable enough bits of literature, I'm not sure they're the healthiest reading matter for young minds, and I certainly didn't think their plotting or phraseology was scintillating enough to merit all the hype. The storyline hung together well enough, but I didn't think it attained the intricacy of, say, Doctor Who's Pandorica storyline. The use of the English language was fine, but it wasn't a patch on Douglas Adams (who, let's not forget, described the Vogon Constructor Fleet as "hanging in mid-air in exactly the way bricks don't", or something very similar).
I've seen tiny snippets of the first film, but not enough to comment on. I've seen the second in its entirety, and boy it was disappointing. The adult actors were fine - sometimes great, even, especially Alan Rickman - but the child leads came across unspeakably hammy by comparison. I'm told they've improved in the more recent films, but that doesn't change the fact that the world is forever saddled with their utterly atrocious early performances. Towards the end of Chamber of Secrets, Radcliffe's delivery of a certain line about the powers of phoenix tears made all my insides and brain juices squirm like mealworms in a fisherman's bait tin. Don't get me started on the phoenix, either. I'd heard the music for Chamber of Secrets long before I saw the film, and it led me to expect something a bit better from the VFX department. As in, it made me think the on-screen depiction of the phoenix would have a certain majesty, or at least dignity. It doesn't. What a disappointing bird. Although I will admit that from the trailers and things I've seen, the cinematography and effects seem to have improved as the series has gone on.
Sometime last year, they released the first teaser poster for Deathly Hallows, featuring Hogwarts half-destroyed and on fire, with the tagline "It all ends here". I loved that poster. In fact, it's one of my favourite posters of all time, mainly because of that little word 'ends'. The last film is currently in cinemas; soon it'll be out on Blu-ray and DVD, and then, there'll be nothing else to do, nowhere else to go... and maybe the world will finally shut up about it all. The silence will be golden.
I think I might have got a bit carried away there. Pretty sure that little rant is more than 100 words 8p
As per "First 11 For 11", the challenge requires statistics:
- Twenty Questions status: 1 down, 19 to go (*checks Hannah's blog for recent updates* looks like I'm winning... for now...)
- Days until Root Hill: 22
- Latest book read: Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre
- Latest film/TV watched: Sherlock: The Blind Banker on iPlayer
- Latest music listened to: something Tim wrote for the next Arbitrary Stopframe (coming soon!)
- Latest edible item eaten: toothpaste doesn't count, does it? Before that, dinner. I'm afraid I can't remember what dinner was.
- Predominant colour of clothes: blue (watch this space: blue could become a recurring theme, I think)
- Programs and web pages currently running: Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Firefox (tabs: Blogspot Create Post; Blogspot Dashboard; hannahlikessheepbaa.blogspot.com)
- Webcomics posted today: Cylinder and Miserable #1322; Fort Paradox #68
- The Colclough
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Night of the Last Shower
Oh dear, nearly a month since my last post. Don't know what happened there. Well, I sort of do: guests staying, and a comprehensive bathroom refit. And a relative lack of inspiration. Among other things. There might be another blog challenge thing versus Hannah in the offing, but that idea's still embryonic.
Some updates:
Our very small bathroom currently has two tubs in it, one on each side, with just enough space to squeeze the old toilet in between. The plan for tomorrow, while the rest of the country is glued to their TVs watching the Royal Wedding, is to take out the old bath and its associated gubbins, and plumb in the new one. All the tiles above the old bath will need taking off the wall, and I'm rather looking forward to doing that. I like the demolition bits.
It was a bit weird standing in the same tub that I've been using for over 11 years, and knowing that after all those hundreds of showers in there, this was the very last, and that within 24 hours the whole setup would have ceased to exist. Slightly bittersweet.
Still, there's a lovely new shower waiting to go just a few feet away...
- The Colclough
Some updates:
- I do plan on resuming Arbitrary Stopframe sometime - just not sure when.
- I've finished the second draft of Megastropulodon Episode 1, Day of the Goldfish.
- I've finished second drafts for the first three episodes of Frozen Bones.
- I've just had my last shower in the old tub. I won't show you a picture - for one thing, I'm not allowed to take the camera in the shower; for another, you really don't want to see that.
Our very small bathroom currently has two tubs in it, one on each side, with just enough space to squeeze the old toilet in between. The plan for tomorrow, while the rest of the country is glued to their TVs watching the Royal Wedding, is to take out the old bath and its associated gubbins, and plumb in the new one. All the tiles above the old bath will need taking off the wall, and I'm rather looking forward to doing that. I like the demolition bits.
It was a bit weird standing in the same tub that I've been using for over 11 years, and knowing that after all those hundreds of showers in there, this was the very last, and that within 24 hours the whole setup would have ceased to exist. Slightly bittersweet.
Still, there's a lovely new shower waiting to go just a few feet away...
- The Colclough
Friday, 4 February 2011
The Second Instalment
So, I've made it to Number 2.
Back in the early days of my YouTuber-ness, I came across this phenomenon with several different web series, where Episode 1 was really good and then Episode 2, in one way or another, was where it all fell apart. I found three major variants:
Once you get to three or more, there seems to be some sort of critical-mass effect, so Ep 2 is generally the cruch point. At least, that's what happened in the series I looked at.
Which all raises the question of how I'm getting on:
And speaking of long-running series and things: my next post on A White Horizon will be the fiftieth. Fifty already? Crumbs 8/
- The Colclough
Back in the early days of my YouTuber-ness, I came across this phenomenon with several different web series, where Episode 1 was really good and then Episode 2, in one way or another, was where it all fell apart. I found three major variants:
- Problem A: they make something labelled 'Episode 1', but they might as well not have said 'Episode' anything, because there's never a second one.
- Problem B: the second instalment does show up, but it's a massive letdown, and the series either ends forthwith, or else straggles along as a pathetic shadow of what it could have been.
- Problem C: there are two instalments, and every indication that the series is set for a long and excellent run, but it somehow vanishes into thin air and Ep 3 never shows.
Once you get to three or more, there seems to be some sort of critical-mass effect, so Ep 2 is generally the cruch point. At least, that's what happened in the series I looked at.
Which all raises the question of how I'm getting on:
- I've obviously managed to avoid Problem A, because as you can see, I've got a second episode right here.
- I'll leave it to you to decide whether I've fallen foul of Problem B... is 'Fruit Pastilles' up to par compared with 'Marker Pen'?
- And I've got some plans for another Arbitrary Stopframe clip for next week, so hopefully I'll avoid Problem C.
And speaking of long-running series and things: my next post on A White Horizon will be the fiftieth. Fifty already? Crumbs 8/
- The Colclough
Saturday, 29 January 2011
The Animator and the Animated
I am an animator. I have recently remembered this facet of my life, after more or less neglecting it for a few months, and I've decided to do something about it.
And this right here is that something:
On a not-so-distantly-related note, last night I finally got round to seeing Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away. It won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2003, making it the only cel-animated film and the only Japanese film ever to have done so. And until last night, it was the only Best Animated Feature Oscar winner which I hadn't seen. So now I can claim my viewing to be complete, unless you want to get really nit-picky and claim that the English dub doesn't count and I have to go and watch it again in the original Japanese. Please don't get nit-picky; I don't speak any Japanese.
I must admit it was quite a bizarre experience, and not something for the easily confused (a film set in a bath-house for the spirits? Not something you're likely to find in any western-made movie), but enjoyable nonetheless. It was the second Miyazaki film I've seen, following his 1979 feature debut The Castle of Cagliostro, which was a bit easier to get one's head around by dint of it being set in Europe.
I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to maintain my claim to have seen all of the Oscar-winning animated films, what with the next round of awards due in just a few weeks, but chances are the next winner will be either Toy Story 3 (which would be the first sequel to win the award), or just-maybe How to Train Your Dragon (which would be the first win for DreamWorks Animation since Shrek, nine years ago) - and I've already seen both of them. So I might be safe for a bit.
And in the meanwhile, I've got a couple more ideas up my sleeve for Arbitrary Stopframe 2 and beyond...
Keep watching this space!
- The Colclough
And this right here is that something:
On a not-so-distantly-related note, last night I finally got round to seeing Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away. It won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2003, making it the only cel-animated film and the only Japanese film ever to have done so. And until last night, it was the only Best Animated Feature Oscar winner which I hadn't seen. So now I can claim my viewing to be complete, unless you want to get really nit-picky and claim that the English dub doesn't count and I have to go and watch it again in the original Japanese. Please don't get nit-picky; I don't speak any Japanese.
I must admit it was quite a bizarre experience, and not something for the easily confused (a film set in a bath-house for the spirits? Not something you're likely to find in any western-made movie), but enjoyable nonetheless. It was the second Miyazaki film I've seen, following his 1979 feature debut The Castle of Cagliostro, which was a bit easier to get one's head around by dint of it being set in Europe.
I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to maintain my claim to have seen all of the Oscar-winning animated films, what with the next round of awards due in just a few weeks, but chances are the next winner will be either Toy Story 3 (which would be the first sequel to win the award), or just-maybe How to Train Your Dragon (which would be the first win for DreamWorks Animation since Shrek, nine years ago) - and I've already seen both of them. So I might be safe for a bit.
And in the meanwhile, I've got a couple more ideas up my sleeve for Arbitrary Stopframe 2 and beyond...
Keep watching this space!
- The Colclough
Thursday, 27 January 2011
A New Incentive
For the benefit of anyone who hasn't already seen it on my YT channel, here's a vlog I did today about my recent lack of animated output, and what I intend to do about it:
Check back tomorrow or Saturday for the first instalment of Arbitrary Stopmotion!
- The Colclough
Check back tomorrow or Saturday for the first instalment of Arbitrary Stopmotion!
- The Colclough
Saturday, 22 January 2011
Some You Win, Some You Lose
Okay, so I lost the "First 11 for '11" race. I was on 10, and then I ran out of things to write about, and left Hannah to steam ahead and win. I also got a bit sidetracked with the illustrations for Fort Paradox 33 to 38, which I was trying to get done as part of another geeky race against Tim. Which I'm pleased to be able to say I won. Still, 11 For 11 was pretty close at 11-10, so I'm not too distraught.
Now here's a little philosophical question that's just occurred to me: is it better to play a race or other game against an enemy and win, or to play it (presumably much more enjoyably) against a friend and lose? Not saying Tim's an enemy - far from it - it's a hypothetical question.
And that in turn leads on to the bigger philosophical question of what constitutes a friend and how one comes by them in the first place.
In case you hadn't noticed, this post seems to be drifting into deep and angsty territory. If this is worrying you, Tim, don't panic - I'll write something less depressing you-know-where afterwards B]
So, back to the subject: I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not the most gregarious type, I very quickly get lost in a crowd, and it usually takes me years to build up any sort of meaningful friendship with anyone - meaningful as in knowing someone better than just to say hi to. I know there was a time, pre-1998, when I didn't know Tim or Sarah Johnston existed, whereas now I know they exist and I'm absolutely convinced that they're awesome, but in all honesty I can't remember how I got from one point to the other. It was quite a long process, I think. Once in several blue moons I meet someone new and would consider them a friend almost straight away, but for me that event is nearly as rare as hen's teeth.
Must... not... get sidetracked... into a pointless discussion of chicken dentistry...
But then again, having said that, my circle of friends might be smallish but it contains some brilliant specimens. Okay, maybe 'specimens' isn't the right word to use, but you know what I meant. I hope. The point is, I like to think I have good taste in people. Too much normality gets boring, but there's not much chance of that happening in my vicinity, as I seem to be slowly accumulating a collection of rather wonderful eccentrics.
And I like it that way. I'd rather have a handful of fellow geeks around me than a huge contact list of 'normal' people any day.
To the few (you probably know who you are): thanks for being there. I'm really glad to know you, even if you do sometimes confuse me, or occasionally wipe the floor with me in some race that I challenged you to. I should learn my lesson and stop challenging people to races, maybe...
Ooh, look, I managed to end my deep and angsty ramble on a high note. Am pleased with that.
And on that bombshell, it's time to give you my latest bundle of stats (I wonder if I'll miss putting stats on the end of my posts?), and wrap up "First 11 for '11":
- The Colclough
Now here's a little philosophical question that's just occurred to me: is it better to play a race or other game against an enemy and win, or to play it (presumably much more enjoyably) against a friend and lose? Not saying Tim's an enemy - far from it - it's a hypothetical question.
And that in turn leads on to the bigger philosophical question of what constitutes a friend and how one comes by them in the first place.
In case you hadn't noticed, this post seems to be drifting into deep and angsty territory. If this is worrying you, Tim, don't panic - I'll write something less depressing you-know-where afterwards B]
So, back to the subject: I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not the most gregarious type, I very quickly get lost in a crowd, and it usually takes me years to build up any sort of meaningful friendship with anyone - meaningful as in knowing someone better than just to say hi to. I know there was a time, pre-1998, when I didn't know Tim or Sarah Johnston existed, whereas now I know they exist and I'm absolutely convinced that they're awesome, but in all honesty I can't remember how I got from one point to the other. It was quite a long process, I think. Once in several blue moons I meet someone new and would consider them a friend almost straight away, but for me that event is nearly as rare as hen's teeth.
Must... not... get sidetracked... into a pointless discussion of chicken dentistry...
But then again, having said that, my circle of friends might be smallish but it contains some brilliant specimens. Okay, maybe 'specimens' isn't the right word to use, but you know what I meant. I hope. The point is, I like to think I have good taste in people. Too much normality gets boring, but there's not much chance of that happening in my vicinity, as I seem to be slowly accumulating a collection of rather wonderful eccentrics.
And I like it that way. I'd rather have a handful of fellow geeks around me than a huge contact list of 'normal' people any day.
To the few (you probably know who you are): thanks for being there. I'm really glad to know you, even if you do sometimes confuse me, or occasionally wipe the floor with me in some race that I challenged you to. I should learn my lesson and stop challenging people to races, maybe...
Ooh, look, I managed to end my deep and angsty ramble on a high note. Am pleased with that.
And on that bombshell, it's time to give you my latest bundle of stats (I wonder if I'll miss putting stats on the end of my posts?), and wrap up "First 11 for '11":
- 11 For 11 status: 11 down, nil to go - race over
- Latest book read: The Dark Tower, and other unpublished fiction by C. S. Lewis
- Latest film/TV watched: deleted scenes from X-Men III: The Last Stand (dir. Brett Ratner, 2006)
- Latest music listened to: Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary by Karl Jenkins (1995) currently on speakers
- Latest food/sweets/whatever eaten: lunch = leek and potato soup with bacon and courgette muffins, followed by coffee
- Programs and web pages currently running: Outlook 2007, Word 2007, Windows Media Player, Skype, Firefox (tabs: Blogspot Create Post; A White Horizon, hannahlikessheepbaa.blogspot.com, MatNav)
- Webcomics posted today: Cylinder and Miserable #1135
- The Colclough
Saturday, 1 January 2011
Off to a good start...
So, first blog of the new year. Hmm. Popular culture will no doubt regard 2011 as the second year of 'the 2010s', but strictly speaking today is the first day of a new decade - the 202nd Decade AD, specifically. Just thought I'd point that one out, as I'm the sort of geek who knows that sort of thing.
Anyway, pedantry aside - I've challenged Hannah 'LikesSheepBaa' to a race, to see who would be the first to write their first 11 blog posts for 2011. I'm starting to wonder if this was a mistake, as she's published 2 already and I'm still sitting here writing the first one. So, obviously, things are going pretty well!
In my last post, I promised a photo of my painting. In fact, I have now finished two - I started the second one yesterday, and finished it this morning. Its mad-science theme was inspired by the fact that while I've been sloshing my acrylics around, my little sister has been busy making soap things at the far end of the room, and making the air a lot less breathable than usual. Here are the pictures:
Yes, those are project numbers in CSS-esque hexadecimal notation in the bottom-right corners. Just because I can.
Meanwhile back in the computer world, I've been making progress with the long-awaited remastering of Martian Medicine. The third (and the way things are going, probably last) chapter of the Martian Ballet saga has been offline for a couple of years now, following its takedown from YouTube after WMG got stroppy about the fact that I'd borrowed a few seconds of score from The Lord of the Rings. I've now remastered the film in 720p HD in Sony Vegas, using the original 576p raw renders where they still exist, and new 720p raw renders where the old ones were lost. I've also de-hissed the dialogue recordings (the hiss levels on the original version were terrible), replaced a couple of ropy-sounding audio effect clips, and of course ditched the LOTR score in favour of a new one custom-written for Medicine by Tim Johnston. You can probably expect to see the film back online sometime in the next 48 hours, looking and sounding better than it has ever done before.
Watch this space!
Some facts and figures (required as part of the 11 For 11 challenge)...
- The Colclough
Anyway, pedantry aside - I've challenged Hannah 'LikesSheepBaa' to a race, to see who would be the first to write their first 11 blog posts for 2011. I'm starting to wonder if this was a mistake, as she's published 2 already and I'm still sitting here writing the first one. So, obviously, things are going pretty well!
In my last post, I promised a photo of my painting. In fact, I have now finished two - I started the second one yesterday, and finished it this morning. Its mad-science theme was inspired by the fact that while I've been sloshing my acrylics around, my little sister has been busy making soap things at the far end of the room, and making the air a lot less breathable than usual. Here are the pictures:
#001: First Morning
#002: Chemical Archrivals
Yes, those are project numbers in CSS-esque hexadecimal notation in the bottom-right corners. Just because I can.
Meanwhile back in the computer world, I've been making progress with the long-awaited remastering of Martian Medicine. The third (and the way things are going, probably last) chapter of the Martian Ballet saga has been offline for a couple of years now, following its takedown from YouTube after WMG got stroppy about the fact that I'd borrowed a few seconds of score from The Lord of the Rings. I've now remastered the film in 720p HD in Sony Vegas, using the original 576p raw renders where they still exist, and new 720p raw renders where the old ones were lost. I've also de-hissed the dialogue recordings (the hiss levels on the original version were terrible), replaced a couple of ropy-sounding audio effect clips, and of course ditched the LOTR score in favour of a new one custom-written for Medicine by Tim Johnston. You can probably expect to see the film back online sometime in the next 48 hours, looking and sounding better than it has ever done before.
Watch this space!
Some facts and figures (required as part of the 11 For 11 challenge)...
- Latest book read: Professor Stewart's Hoard of Mathematical Treasures (still in progress)
- Latest film/TV watched: BBC's New Year live coverage from London (unless you count Martian Medicine?)
- Latest music listened to: Tim's new score for Martian Medicine
- Latest food/sweets/whatever eaten: a white chocolate and strawberry muffin after lunch. Currently working on a mug of tea
- Programs and web pages currently running: Microsoft Office Word and Outlook 2007, Sony Vegas Platinum 9, Firefox (tabs: Blogspot Create Post; hannahlikessheepbaa.blogspot.com; a spare tab with MatNav 6 ready to go)
- Webcomics posted today: n/a - I resume posting Cylinder and Miserable and Alien President on Monday the 3rd.
- The Colclough
Thursday, 30 December 2010
Ends and Beginnings
Don't panic, this post won't be as deep and angsty as its title might imply.
First off, the Binary Advent Candle experiment is over, for this year at least. I already knew most of the candles were too small, and yesterday numbers 8, 4 and 1 all burnt themselves out. 8 and 4 not only finished themselves off, but also made heroic last-ditch attempts to set the entire five-candle block on fire too. Fortunately we caught them before they sent the dining room up in smoke. And since I could see that the end was coming, I lit number 2 half-way through dinner and let it expire in company with its comrades, even though it shouldn't have been lit for the correct binary formation on the 29th.
To be honest, I didn't think the setup would last as long as it did. Even with several days missed, I was pleasantly surprised that it was still workable as late as the 29th despite the woefully inadequate choice of candles.
So now, the Mk. I is scorched, covered in wax in places where it shouldn't be, and has the remains of the number 8 candle embedded in its hole, where I won't be able to get it out without using sharp objects or something rather hot. Here's a photo of the wreckage:
...but for all that, I think the experiment was a success. People liked it (not least myself), and the principle has been proven. I'll build a better Mk. II version next year with bigger candles. And hopefully a better way of containing any escapee molten-wax molecules.
At the other end of the starting-and-ending spectrum, I've just done my first non-watercolour painting in a few years. I did some work in acrylics at sixth form, but it's been a while since I took up a paintbrush for its own sake, and after three years of largely computer-based study I've started missing the analogue joi d'vivre of paints. So I asked if I could have some paints and things for Christmas, and it was so. So this morning, over breakfast, I did a painting of... breakfast. Logical enough, I think, for the first painting of a new era. It's acrylic on canvas, ~30x40 cm portrait, if you want to know. Photo to follow once the thing's dried out and I've picked a title for it, if I remember (which I might not, but I'll try).
Speaking of new beginnings: only 4 days until all my webcomic postings resume for the new year. The two-week hiatus is going by pretty quick, from my POV.
Umm... that's all for now, I think...
- The Colclough
First off, the Binary Advent Candle experiment is over, for this year at least. I already knew most of the candles were too small, and yesterday numbers 8, 4 and 1 all burnt themselves out. 8 and 4 not only finished themselves off, but also made heroic last-ditch attempts to set the entire five-candle block on fire too. Fortunately we caught them before they sent the dining room up in smoke. And since I could see that the end was coming, I lit number 2 half-way through dinner and let it expire in company with its comrades, even though it shouldn't have been lit for the correct binary formation on the 29th.
To be honest, I didn't think the setup would last as long as it did. Even with several days missed, I was pleasantly surprised that it was still workable as late as the 29th despite the woefully inadequate choice of candles.
So now, the Mk. I is scorched, covered in wax in places where it shouldn't be, and has the remains of the number 8 candle embedded in its hole, where I won't be able to get it out without using sharp objects or something rather hot. Here's a photo of the wreckage:
...but for all that, I think the experiment was a success. People liked it (not least myself), and the principle has been proven. I'll build a better Mk. II version next year with bigger candles. And hopefully a better way of containing any escapee molten-wax molecules.
At the other end of the starting-and-ending spectrum, I've just done my first non-watercolour painting in a few years. I did some work in acrylics at sixth form, but it's been a while since I took up a paintbrush for its own sake, and after three years of largely computer-based study I've started missing the analogue joi d'vivre of paints. So I asked if I could have some paints and things for Christmas, and it was so. So this morning, over breakfast, I did a painting of... breakfast. Logical enough, I think, for the first painting of a new era. It's acrylic on canvas, ~30x40 cm portrait, if you want to know. Photo to follow once the thing's dried out and I've picked a title for it, if I remember (which I might not, but I'll try).
Speaking of new beginnings: only 4 days until all my webcomic postings resume for the new year. The two-week hiatus is going by pretty quick, from my POV.
Umm... that's all for now, I think...
- The Colclough
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Alpha One's Winter Wonderland: the first preview
Among the many films, comics and other things mentioned in "How much have I told you?" and "The Answers!", you might have spotted my mention of Alpha One's Megalomaniac Quadrilogy. The Quadrilogy is a series of 4 stopmotion films which I am helping to make, along with Tim and Sarah Johnston, revolving around the misadventures and failed world-domination schemes of a chap who calls himself Alpha One, and his long-suffering assistant Hooper.
I wrote the first film, Alpha One's Laser Cafe, on a whim in September 2007 and helped film it in late October, and it was finished in early 2008. Like all of the films so far, it was produced by Sarah and directed by Tim. Tim then said he'd like to make a sequel, and although he didn't have any story plans he suggested 'Hostage at the Hairdressers' as a provisional working title. This phrase triggered strange events inside my twisted brain, which led to the script for Alpha One's Quantum Shampoo. We shot the opening two or three times in late 2008, and then in summer 2009 we threw it out again and re-shot the whole film from scratch.
S&T then cooked up the first draft of the storyline for the threequel, before handing it over to me to be turned into a screenplay, which I eventually did after quite a lot of revisions. Some of the early drafts featured a new character, but I got rid of him and gave his narrative function to the recurring character French instead, which helped to streamline the plot. After numerous other tweaks to improve the action:dialogue ratio and to condense the script to a manageable length, we finally agreed that we were all happy with Version 4.1.
Back in October, we shot the opening and closing scenes for the new film, entitled Alpha One's Winter Wonderland, and after making the Root Hill trailer the other day I decided to cut together a little preview of A1WW as well. A lot of the footage is from QS, to set the scene, but there is a snippet or three of the new WW material in the second half.
So here you go: your first look at the upcoming high-definition stopframe comedy epic from the team that brought you Fort Paradox! Enjoy...
Also (totally unrelated), you can now see the first two episodes of my eccentric comic-strip project Alien President online at http://georgedarlan.webs.com/president/index.htm.
- The Colclough
I wrote the first film, Alpha One's Laser Cafe, on a whim in September 2007 and helped film it in late October, and it was finished in early 2008. Like all of the films so far, it was produced by Sarah and directed by Tim. Tim then said he'd like to make a sequel, and although he didn't have any story plans he suggested 'Hostage at the Hairdressers' as a provisional working title. This phrase triggered strange events inside my twisted brain, which led to the script for Alpha One's Quantum Shampoo. We shot the opening two or three times in late 2008, and then in summer 2009 we threw it out again and re-shot the whole film from scratch.
S&T then cooked up the first draft of the storyline for the threequel, before handing it over to me to be turned into a screenplay, which I eventually did after quite a lot of revisions. Some of the early drafts featured a new character, but I got rid of him and gave his narrative function to the recurring character French instead, which helped to streamline the plot. After numerous other tweaks to improve the action:dialogue ratio and to condense the script to a manageable length, we finally agreed that we were all happy with Version 4.1.
Back in October, we shot the opening and closing scenes for the new film, entitled Alpha One's Winter Wonderland, and after making the Root Hill trailer the other day I decided to cut together a little preview of A1WW as well. A lot of the footage is from QS, to set the scene, but there is a snippet or three of the new WW material in the second half.
So here you go: your first look at the upcoming high-definition stopframe comedy epic from the team that brought you Fort Paradox! Enjoy...
Also (totally unrelated), you can now see the first two episodes of my eccentric comic-strip project Alien President online at http://georgedarlan.webs.com/president/index.htm.
- The Colclough
Monday, 22 November 2010
There's hamsters and there's hamsters
I mentioned a few posts back that my sister Sophie's hamster Coco had died. Well, a new one turned up about a week ago - this time it's small, female and vicious.
In three and a half years, we got through five different hamsters (four and a half, if you make allowance for the fact that Scribbles is still alive), and none of them ever bit me. Five hamsters, average lifespan more than a year each, and no bites at all. Scribbles often goes to the toilet behind my monitor, but that's not the same thing.
I held Taffy for the first time last night, and she chowed down on my finger, without the slightest provocation, within the first minute. Blood was fetched, and Taffy quickly earned Hamster Non Grata status. Apparently I'm not the only one to have found her bad side, either.
Now, one does wonder: why is Taffy so much more aggressive than all her predecessors? Clearly not all hamsters are created equal.
I shall leave you to chew on that question.
- The Colclough
In three and a half years, we got through five different hamsters (four and a half, if you make allowance for the fact that Scribbles is still alive), and none of them ever bit me. Five hamsters, average lifespan more than a year each, and no bites at all. Scribbles often goes to the toilet behind my monitor, but that's not the same thing.
I held Taffy for the first time last night, and she chowed down on my finger, without the slightest provocation, within the first minute. Blood was fetched, and Taffy quickly earned Hamster Non Grata status. Apparently I'm not the only one to have found her bad side, either.
Now, one does wonder: why is Taffy so much more aggressive than all her predecessors? Clearly not all hamsters are created equal.
I shall leave you to chew on that question.
- The Colclough
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