onanymous

Wordle

2009-05-11T12:04:00.000+02:00

Wordle is a free word cloud generator. You can paste in some text or just add the url to any website or feed. From there you can specify the colours, fonts and layout. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text, so they will be larger in the final artwork.

Unfortunately you can't specify the shape of the final cloud, but it's great for brainstorming, finding out about your blogging habits or just wasting a pleasant 20 minutes.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

2008-07-07T16:12:00.004+02:00

This is the best news since Dollhouse was announced!

"Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog" is a three part supervillain musical written by Joss Whedon and starring Neil Patrick Harris & Nathan Fillion.

“It’s the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to.”

It was concieved during the writer's strike and filmed in 6 days "on favors and waivers" using a crew of longtime Whedon loyalists.

It will be treamed for FREE on the official website for one week only.
The first part goes up on July 15th.

Dark Horse Comics have also released “Captain Hammer: be like me! Nemesis of Doctor Horrible”. You can read it here.

It will eventually be released on dvd with lots of extras "which are going to be the finest in all the land. We're actually going to do, in addition to the commentary, what we refer to as ‘commentary with an exclamation point'! A musical commentary that is a completely original musical, that is all commentary songs, and we're writing that now."

Not that is something I would love to own!

Eoin Colfer

2008-03-12T13:48:00.004+02:00

I am allowed to be a bit geeky sometimes. Especially if it's in a way that's not really possible very often if you live in SA.)

Eoin Colfer is in South Africa to promote his new book, Airman. (Unfortunately the next Artemis Fowl book is only coming out in August) So of course we took ourselves down to the Hyde Park EB on Tuesday to meet him.

Turns out that he's very Irish, very funny and just really nice too. He's very comfortable in front of a crowd and all the kids just loved him. (There were loads of them. Made me feel extremely old :D)

I also bought the new book and I can't wait to start reading it.

Woyzeck On The Highveld

2008-03-06T11:09:00.005+02:00

The Handspring Puppet Company is performing Woyzeck On The Highveld at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg on 4 - 30 March 2008. (It will also be in Cape Town in May)

It's a multi-media event incorporating the animated drawings of William Kentridge with the Handspring puppets and live performers in an adaptation of German writer Georg Buchner's famous play of jealousy, murder and the struggle of an individual against an uncaring society which eventually destroys him.

The production originally premiered at the Grahamstown Festival in 1992 and was the first collaboration between Handspring and Kentridge. It brings together rod-manipulated puppets and animated film to graphically illustrate Woyzek's tortured mind as he tries to make sense of his external circumstances.

I saw Handspring's brilliant Tall Horse a few years ago, so I'm extremely excited to see another one, especially one featuring William Kentridge animations.

Tickets are available now, and it's not even that expensive. Don't miss it!

Wind Sprites

2007-11-14T10:48:00.000+02:00

As the light of the early morning sun hits the pods, they start to emerge,weak from their long confinement and struggling against the tough shells that kept them safe throughout their time of change.
Soon their new wings will be strong enough for the breeze to lightly lift them off their perches and carry them far away.

FANTASY XXIV: "Metamorphosis"

Brief: Things change. You are to depict as fantasy image of things are changing, or how they have changed over long periods. Transformations, transmutations,emerging, polymorphing, evolution, whatever you can come up with, as long as there is some sense of a before and after, it should be fair game for a subject.

Closeup of the first, second and third sprite.

Animated Work in Progress (About 450Kb)

Sources

It's amazing how things work sometimes. I usually struggle for ages to find some kind of workable concept. This time I almost instantly knew what I wanted to do. I even made pre-sketches. On actual paper.

I also found the perfect source for my main sprite in Marcus Ranum's DA gallery, so without too much fuss, she had taken (a rather nice) form. I even tried a new technique - painting on highlights instead of using the dodge tool, to give her a much more glistening / surreal look. I'm also quite proud of how well the wings turned out.

Then it got a lot harder. I wasted almost 2 days trying and discarding different backgrounds, but nothing would work. I knew what I wanted, of course, but just couldn't find it. Since time was running out, I finally settled on this one, but it isn't really such a perfect fit.

Most of the critiques I got was about the busyness or distracting quality of the background. Even though I had cleaned the original picture up considerably, I tend to agree with them. Who knows, maybe I'll find or take the perfect picture to use somewhere in the future. Then I can finish this one properly.

Final Score: 8.999 (I can't believe how close this is!! Just a mere 0.001 more and I would have had my very first 9!)

Piper's Dream

2007-07-17T10:00:00.000+02:00

At the base of the ruined city, an old piper still plays.

Dipping into the ancient, forgotten melodies.

Conjuring up images of what was, what might have been.

What could never be again.

Fantasy XX: Music

Brief: This image must contain something related to MUSIC. Since it is difficult to make sound appear in an image, you will probably chose to show instruments, dancing, or other activities that are usually associated with sounds. MUSIC is of course a matter of taste, so a simple horn that would summon your presence on a lonely cliff, would be acceptable,full troops of colourful dancers, pied pipers, surreal images of cellos frozen in crystal, a lonely drummer, an insect rock band, a harp soothing the savage beast or just about anything you can come up with that we could foresee being associated with some sort of sound effects will be fine.

Animated Work in Progress (485 Kb)

Sources

Unfortunately this was a bit of a rush job. It's a very nice theme, but after a hectic few weeks at work and a total blank on the inspirational front, I finally had only 2 days left with nothing more to show than a few scribbles done during the boring bits of Remix'07.

I had found the piper source earlier, loved it, and wanted to use it, but he just didn't want to fit into any else. (The vertical format is more due to not being able to find satisfactory background sources than any artistic choices)

But the dragon I like. They do seem to get easier as I go along. Still blue though. He was actually supposed to have a lot more spikes along his back, but I'm impressed by how well the horns worked.

It looks ok, not as refined as it might have been, but I'm happy enough with it.

Final Score: 7.821

25

2007-06-20T11:30:00.000+02:00

Wow, a quarter of a century...

It always sounded so old. So far away.
Now I'm there, but I don't really feel any different.

The Lion King

2007-06-19T10:19:00.000+02:00

What an amazing, larger-than-life experience! I have been yearning to see this show ever since my first glimpse of it at the Tony Awards all those years ago. It has been well worth the wait.

Using a combination of masks, bunraku puppets, body paint and shadow puppetry, the splendour and diversity of an African savannah is created. It's brilliant and the visual animation on stage is truly the essence of the show.

Most of the lead actors have performed their roles before in productions all over the world and with the exception of Scar's Mark Rayment, all are South African.
The first few notes of Buyisile Zama's Rafiki literally sent shivers down my spine.

I enjoyed the local flavour. Shenzi has a Cape flats accent and Pumbaa uses more than a few Afrikaans words. Even little Nala got a huge laugh with a very well timed "Hey Wena!". This kind of thing is often used to gain a few more laughs in regional productions, but here it also helped to strengthen the diversity of the characters.

The wildebeest stampede was incredibly powerful, and with the exception of maybe the opening sequence and Simba's vision of Mufasa, my favourite in the whole show.

It's strange, the theatre itself feels small and intimate, but it seats over 1900 people! It is so well designed that there's basically not a bad seat in the house, since you are no further than 33m for the stage wherever you sit. I love the way the acoustic tiling inside the theatre is reminiscent of woven reeds - distinctly African, but not overbearing.

The best part? I'm going to see it again in July, this time from the front row, courtesy of my really, really cool boss.

The Descent

2007-05-14T06:47:00.000+02:00

Slowly, gracefully,
the Harpy descends into the dusk,
ready to claim the soul of her first victim.

Fantasy XVIII: The First

Brief: You are to depict an image that shows THE FIRST of something.This could be anything from newborns, to the oldest, to the newly coronated, first contact with aliens, first explored planet, a first kiss, or victory, or the launch of some new overwhelming project on which something is dependent like the first starship, heck you could show the favourite among the concubines of some sultan...lots and lots of fun for the whole family.

Work in Progress

Sources

Once again, I'm really grateful to Tracie76 for letting me use one of her wonderful jump photos. (I used them previously for In Captivity)

I really wanted to do something a bit less depressing for this contest, so someone or something experiencing flight for the first time, immediately came to mind. I started this, abandoned it in favour of a Da Vinci-esque, bubble driven flying machine, and then came back to it when I couldn't find the exact right pictures I needed for the other one.

I liked the fact that her arms were merged into the wings, making her different from most usual winged humanoids. After doing a bit of research, I settled on a Harpy.

Traditionally they are depicted as a bird of prey with the face and torso of a woman. In earlier myths they were described as beautiful, winged maidens, or winged death-spirits. It was only later that they became the hideous, foul-smelling, winged monsters with the face of an ugly old woman, represented carrying off persons to the underworld and inflicting punishment or tormenting them.

For obvious reasons, I opted for the earlier description, as well as their traditional Greek role of escorting the spirits of the dead.

I like the warm, pastel colours. It's a bit different from my normal, colder palette, but it works and helps to create a much more serene atmosphere.

I'm really satisfied with the final result.

Final Score: 8.155

Persimmons

2007-05-08T00:20:00.000+02:00

Cape Town - it was just a quick visit, but it was wonderful!

From eating smoked snoek and grapes while watching the sunset from Signal Hill (a very old family tradition) to finding 2 very cheap Terry Pratchett books in Paperweight, everything was just sooo much fun. I even got to see Herman for a whole 40 minutes before I had to leave for the airport.

However, my biggest discovery of the weekend was sweet persimmons.

We were invited for supper by my Dad's cousin, who lives on a farm just outside Stellenbosch. They mainly grow all the kinds of leaves and greenery you find in flower arrangements, but they also have some persimmon trees.

They look like fat, orange tomatoes, and when peeled, their flesh have a peach-like texture. However, I've never tasted anything like them before. Soft and very sweet, with an almost honeyish taste.

I prefer them fresh and raw, but they're just as delicious when quickly fried in a pan with a bit of cinnamon, and served over ice cream.

Apparently, their botanical name, Diospyros, is even Greek for “food of the gods".

Re: Sales are evil!

2007-03-25T04:38:00.000+02:00

I did it again. It seems that I am physically incapable of not buying things at sales.
Especially if I have been wanting them for a long time.
And they are extremely cheap.
And have lots of special features.
And some even have double discs.
Sigh.

Oh well, now I just won't be allowed to buy any more books or DVDs for a long time.

(The last Harry Potter book is of course excused from this rule)

Slip of the Tongue

2007-03-19T08:02:00.000+02:00

Anatomy Sramble 2

Just a quick little chop that didn't really do as well as I had hoped.
Still, I quite like the way it came out.

Final Score: 6.119

Mothers

2007-01-30T02:22:00.000+02:00

Tree of Life 7

An arboreal Lamaze class.

Closeup

Sources

This one was actually meant for the Fantasy XIV: Humanoids contest, but with the holidays and everything, I just never got around to finishing it. It was actually going to be based on the fates - the maiden, the mother and the crone, but when a Tree of Life contest came around again, all I had to do was make them all pregnant, and it fit the theme perfectly.
I'm really not that used to short contests anymore, so their lack of proper heads is due to my time running out. (And because none of the available pregnant source pics actually showed faces)
Unfortunately, my newly pregnant sister found the fact that I had 'decapitated' them, rather traumatic.

Final Score: 7.276

Image Problems

2007-01-24T06:19:00.000+02:00

I know that a lot of the graphics are broken at the moment.
I'm not sure what went wrong, or why it is only some of the images.

I have contacted Imageshack, to see if they can fix it, but for now it looks like I'm going to have to re-upload and re-link everything.

Lovely.

The Last Naiad

2006-12-11T09:22:00.000+02:00

"Whether science or magic was to blame, nobody knew, but something was turning all the water in the world into ice. It started slowly, unobtrusively - tiny flecks of ice floating in ponds, a few crystals on the edges of a waterfall. But like an infection, the ice kept spreading.

The Naiads, so intimately connected to the bodies of water under their protection that their very existence depended on it, were the first to feel the lasting effects. Their aqueous bodies became lethargic, hard to move. They tried to fight it, but the spread of the ice was unrelentless and absolute

Finally, one by one, they stopped struggling, giving themselves over to the ice and it's cold, hard oblivion."

Fantasy XIII: Sole Survivor

Brief: Depict an image of the last surviving entity of some type. What that survivor is, will be up to you, and we will be generous in the interpretation, but loss, tragedy, and even hope are historically the types of emotions that images of this type try to convey.

Work in Progress

Sources

Closeup

I struggled to find a concept for this one. At first I wanted to do something a lot more personal (and more obviously sad) , but while I was looking for sources, I discovered this beautiful photo by osga and this picture just sort of grew from there.

Of course, the whole viral ice thing was inspired by Kurt Vonnegut's Ice-nine from Cat's Cradle. I've never actually read it, but the concept has intrigued me for a while. I just wanted to put a bit of a fantasy angle on it.

Doesn't amphibian feet just make the most interesting ears/fins?

I know the tail doesn't really make sense anatomically, but I needed something to enhance the transparency of her liquid form. I actually wanted to turn it into hair or a headdress or something, but I just literally ran out of time.

At least all this work earned me my highest score yet.

Final Score: 8.927

Carved Crayons

2006-12-07T11:55:00.000+02:00

Peter Goldlust uses ordinary wax crayons to create the most amazing carvings.

From his website:

"The work reflects my interest in mutated, hybrid forms, and the disjunctive psychological states that they represent.

I’ve explored these themes using a variety of media. These have included traditional studio techniques, digital imaging, industrial manufacturing processes, and children’s arts-and-crafts materials. A sense of play is key to each of these creative strategies."

While googling for a bit more info, I also found a few more stationary based sculptors:

The art of pencil carving.

Joseph Barbaccia constructed a very impressive self portrait with crayons.

Diem Chau's Storytelling series.

Castle Wyvern

2006-11-06T09:49:00.000+02:00

Fantasy XII: Stonework Archaeologica

Brief: Portray a scene with an ancient weathered structure. Ideally it should be intriguing, ancient, isolated, quite large, from some undetermined culture, and made of some durable material (stone, old wood, crystal, masonry, bronze etc). The environment is up to you, but should mesh well with the structure, and any optional life forms present.

Work in Progress

Closeup of the Dragon

Sources

I'm actually quite happy with the way this one came out.

It was a very last minute decision to actually participate this month, giving me about a week to do it. As usual, it took a few days to find a useable concept, and in the end it was the wonderful perspective of the bridge that inspired me. (The fact that I recently found a few episodes of the old Gargoyles animated series on YouTube might also have had something to do with it. It was definitely the inspiration for the title)

Finding source pictures that fit into that perspective...well, let's just say I truly considered starting over quite a few times. Luckily, atmospheric colour saved me in quite a few places.

When the castle was finally done to my satisfaction, the image still needed something, a focus point of some sort. Thus happened the dragon.

It's strange, my very first dragon took about a week to finish, and I'm still not completely satisfied with her. I made this one in less than a day, but I think his overall look is much more consistent. His face could use a bit more work, but overall, I'm pretty proud of him.

Final Score: 8.315

Dressing Up

2006-10-06T04:10:00.000+02:00

Normally, there is never enough opportunities to really dress up, so when Anton's sister decided to hold a costume party for her 30th birthday, we had to do something completely crazy. It was established early on that make-up or bodypaint of some sort would have to be involved, but it took a few nights of brainstorming before we found the perfect characters.

Nightcrawler for Anton, Mystique for JeAnette and Illyria for me. (Blue sounded like a really good idea at the time, ok.)

Nightcrawler

2006-10-06T04:05:00.000+02:00

Anton's Nightcrawler costume was probably the most complicated.

The tail was created from a wire framework, covered in blue material and stuffed. I think they weighed the tip down with a tube of glue or something. It was attached to his body with a complicated rig of hardboard, wire, fish line and bandages. (Trust a paramedic to do that)

JeA made the hands and feet, and added yellow mogde podged nails. The ears came from a costume shop and was just spray painted blue. We managed to make his hair with a mixture of Brylcream and black powdered paint. Amazingly, the Brylcream also made his hair curl, which was definitely a bonus. His face was just blue facepaint with detail in white pencil.

Mystique

2006-10-06T04:03:00.000+02:00

Mystique was a lot of fun to do. For the hair we used bright red Bulldog Colour Power Gel and some more Brylcream. We used blue facepaint on her face, but it took a long time to get an even colour, and since time was running out, we switched to blue fabric paint for her neck, arms and feet.

Her shirt was originally turqoise and black, so it first had to be covered with a layer of white pvc before it could be painted blue. It became very stiff upon drying and we had to wet it before she could put it on again, but as it dried it took on her body shape perfectly. All the scales were drawn on afterwards.

Illyria

2006-10-06T04:01:00.000+02:00

Compared to the other two, my preparations were fairly simple, but I was quite pleased with the result. Just a few blue streaks sprayed on my hair and blue eyeshadow or eyeliner for everything else, and I was ready to go.

The last photo was taken after the party, while I was putting the finishing touches on this. (The deadline was 6:00 the next morning)

The Great Coarse Acting Show

2006-10-04T08:01:00.000+02:00

The coarse actor : One who can perhaps remember his lines, but certainly not the order in which they come…he has a desperate desire to impress, is most anxious to succeed, but is hampered by one minor detail – the inability to act.

The Great Coarse Acting Show is a look into the brave world of badly done, amateur dramatics. It comprises of several one act plays including such fantastic modern classics like Murder on the Trans-Siberian Express, A Tale of Two Cities, Aladdin and Phantom Cat Opera Star.

The plays attempt to emulate facets of a fine dramatic performance, and come sadly short once everything has marred them beyond hope of redemption – from the failure of props to falling scenery, from over-acting to under-acting.
Simply put, if anything can go wrong, it does!

Papercut

2006-08-14T11:11:00.000+02:00

Peter Callesen is a Danish sculptor who creates the most amazing sculptures out of single sheets of A4 paper.

His work is inspired by fairytales and romanticism, exploring the relationship between 2 and 3 dimensionality, between image and reality.

"I find the materialization of a flat piece of paper into a 3D form as an almost magic process - or maybe one could call it obvious magic, because the process is obvious and the figures still stick to their origin, without the possibility of escaping. In that sense there is as well an aspect of something tragic in most of the cuts."

A few extra pics can be found here and here.

Lost Season 2 Finale - "Live Together, Die Alone"

2006-08-10T10:25:00.000+02:00

For some strange reason, that falling Quarantine hatch cover really reminded me of 'The Truman Show'. (The falling light marked 'Sirius')
Then there is Michael having to sail away in a very specific angle (325 degrees) to be able to leave the island and that he wouldn't be able to ever find his way back again. Desmond said that he sailed straight west for 2 and a half weeks and just landed up back at the island. Very reminiscent of an enclosed globe.

At least we do now know that the outside world does still exist.

So, 'Henry Gale' seems to be the leader of the others. The mysterious 'Him' that was referred to in previous episodes with respect and more than a little fear. That would explain why he was so good at subtly manipulating Locke and Jack. Also why the others would be willing to give up Walt in order to get him back. That is, if they are actually planning on just letting Michael and Walt leave. The coordinates they gave him can just as easily lead to another facility.

Henry did mention that he was there to get Locke, but it could very well have been just another lie. But if Henry is as important as they would like us to believe, why would he go there alone? Or allow himself to get captured? Could this be connected to why the others had to bribe Michael to rescue him? Perhaps only certain members of the others are able to go to the beach. Because of the infection?

Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Why them? Is there anything that links them other than the obvious love triangle?
The only thing I can think of is the fact that they've all seem some kind of vision / hallucination. Jack saw his father, Kate and Sawyer both saw her black horse and Sawyer had the boar (not sure if it really qualifies, but he did see the horse). Actually Hurley also had a hallucination, he saw Dave.

Of course there were other characters who also had supernatural experiences, but I think they can be eliminated. With Charlie, Eko, Locke and even Claire, what they saw came in dreams. Also, I don't think the black smoke / security system or the voices qualifies, so that excludes Sayid too. The only others that had hallucinations we know about was Boone and Shannon, but they're both gone now.

The Others supposedly takes the 'good' people. But Sawyer and Kate really doesn't qualify in a traditional sense. People like Sun and Rose would be much likelier candidates. Eko was on their list at one stage, but they don't seem to want him anymore. The fact that he killed 2 of them could very well be the reason.

Henry once again claims that "We're the good guys", but it is still unclear what that exactly means. Again, this is a situation where we will have to wait until we see things from their point of view and learn what their motivations are.

What is wrong with Charlie? I suppose I could be concussion from the explosion, but why is he so unconcerned about Locke and Eko? He even told Claire that nothing had happened. His whole attitude is puzzling. Could it be the effects of the EMP?

I wonder what is happening to Sayid. He did manage to light a fire, so it is improbable that he is captured too, but the music in his last scene in the abandoned camp was pretty ominous.

The Widmore Company that Penny's father owns is the same company that made the pregnancy test that Sun used, the construction company Michael may have worked for. There was also a banner for it near the soundstage Charlie's commercial was being shot and they sponsored real Henry Gale's balloon.
Charles Widmore might have set up the race in order to trap Desmond on the island and thus keep him away from his daughter. It could also explain how Penelope knows to look for some sort of magnetic signal to find Desmond.

We finally got a time and date for the crash: 922044:16. September 22, 2004, at 4:16 am.
Libby was a blonde on the Island, a brunette in the hospital, and in Desmond's flashback, she was a redhead.
Desmond's full name is Desmond David Hume. David Hume was also a philosopher.
The Hurley-Bird is back.
The hieroglyphics on the countdown indicator loosely translate to "death."
Penelope's name could be a reference to Odysseus wife in the Iliad and the Odyssey. She faithfully waited 20 years for him to return after the Trojan War, despite constant pressure from other suitors
We finally see the Pala Ferry mentioned in the Pearl Station training video.
Sayid: "I don't know what is more disquieting: the fact that the rest of the statue is missing, or that it has four toes."

Storm

2006-08-01T10:27:00.000+02:00

It is only the first day of August, spring isn't even in sight yet, but we get a thunderstorm.

A real, blustery, water everywhere, thunderstorm. In the middle of winter.

But I should have expected it.

I washed my car just yesterday...