Blog

Could You Rate My Films?

Simon Tarr — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:54:42 +0000

I need to ask you all a favor. If you've seen my movie, Rubicon, could you please rate it at Amazon? Though it's been selling pretty well, very few people go back to actually give it a rating.

There are a couple odd reviews from people who thought they were buying a different disc, and those can't get removed.

Whatever you thought of the film, I'd really appreciate it if you could spend a moment and a couple clicks to give it a rating. Especially if that just happens to be a good rating. I'm just sayin'.

And what the hell, as long as you're there... if you could do the same for Quark Star, that'd be really great too!

I Use This Stuff (Mobile, part 1)

Simon Tarr — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:04:53 +0000

I'm sick. My brain is not able to do anything that is complex, so while this stupid virus works its way through me, I'll do something simple that I've been planning to do for a while—an update of the stuff I use on my devices. I last did this in 2008, with one post for Mac and one for Windows. Read those for a laugh.

A couple big changes. 1.) I don't use Windows for anything except GameMaker. 2.) I use mobile devices a lot more. 3.) I use a laptop for almost everything that doesn't require 8 Xeons pounding on it. Which is to say, pretty much everything. I mean, when a laptop has a quad core i7 with the same amount of RAM, it's sort of silly (in a good way).

First up, mobile. I have an iPhone 4S, which is officially my favorite computer I've ever owned. I don't care if there are ever flying cars because we have these things now. I have a grandfathered unlimited data plan, which I don't really come close to saturating, but I really like not thinking about my usage, especially when I travel.

I've got screen shots of my various app screens, which I'll go over, and then split the posts as they get too long. I'm sure there are Android versions of most of this stuff, but I don't much care.

My current lock screen is an image of the Bacon Monster from the marvelous Laura Fisk of Fisk and Fern.

We've got bunches of her stuff all over the place. She's awesome.

Here goes. In the dock, I always have these four items, my music library, Safari, a folder with the App Store, Mail, and my settings, and finally OmniFocus. I use OmniFocus to do all my task management, syncing from my laptop to my phone. The best task management app for me, bar none. A little pricey, and a little too complicated, but it is magnificent.

Tweetbot is my twitter app of choice, ever since Twitter wrecked their own app. Yeah yeah, Facebook. Cal, Contacts, Maps, YouTube, all obvious. I use ZipList for grocery shopping, it's pretty great and I can share lists with my wife. Instapaper is, just, well, you have to try it. The service is free, but the app is paid. You use is to save the text of web pages to read later. Sounds dumb, but just try it. Squarespace is what I use to blog from my phone. Evernote (free app, paid account) is what I use as my note taking, idea dumping ground. I listen to quite a few podcasts, and Instacast is what I use to listen to them, since it manages them better than iTunes, and allows you to stream. That Pinboard icon is just a link to Pinboard.in, which is what social bookmarking should have been all along. 1Password is a must-have app for desktop and mobile. Words With Friends is only on my front page because if it's not, then I forget to take my turns, even though I'm going to lose anyway (my username is simontarr).

My second page is the camera page. I never use the stock camera app unless I'm using the quick shoot from the lock screen. Camera+ is my go-to image taking app, it's got excellent control and is super-precise. Why use ProCamera, then? It is the Camera+ of video. If I'd known about it first, I'd probably only use that, but it doesn't have a volum-control-as-shutter option. Instagram is marvelous. Incredibooth is stupid but cute and free. 360 is my favorite pano photo app, and you can (imagine!) save the images and look at them elsewhere! Flickr's app sucks, and I'll stop using it when my Flickr account expires and i don't renew it. SketchBook Mobile is my favorite sketching app, but to be honest, I usually just use paper and pen. I don't know why CarMinder is on this page. I bought it to keep track of car service, but I haven't been diligent about it.

Then there's my video folder. 8mm is cute but dumb, I never use it. iMovie is... well... come on. I still can't believe I can edit 1080p video on my phone. Vimeo's app is ok. JJ Abrams' Action Movie makes me giggle every time I use it.

Size Matters

Simon Tarr — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:40:20 +0000

In a given year, the biggest class I teach is about 100 students (intro students learning not to drool on the computers). The smallest is 8 (grad students learning not to drool on each other).

Ever since I was a little baby art professor, it has been standard procedure to bitch and moan about class sizes. Like, "how dare they put 18 people in a 16 person class!"

I exclusively teach artmaking, so the concept of teaching something over 45 students was unthinkable to me until I adapted the fundamentals class in digital art into its current form of 100 people making things.

I'm not going to talk about credit hour economics in this piece, I swear. And I'm not going to describe the process rationale behind the change from a traditional make-digital-stuff course into the humongous thing it is now. Those are interesting, but for later.

There's this assumption when I talk to people about the big class that it is some necessary evil that I would eject in a heartbeat were I at a richer school or in a different economic time. That the one best pedagogical model for making art is a small circle of no more than a dozen apprentices sitting at the feet of the master. Not true.

This is a long way around to my point, which is this: size matters, but not in an obvious way. This dawned on me this morning as I thought about the wacky array of courses I taught this year. My Big Class is always a great class. I always have a great time teaching it, and though I hit a bump from time to time if I misjudge something, it evens out and goes well. But why? Because there are so many student in the class, that statistically the composition of each class is about the same. There will always be a certain percentage of on-the-ball superacheivers, soul-searchers, just-gimme-the-graders, I'm-smarter-than-you-ers, prodigies, geniuses, and doofuses. There are slight variations, but the character of the mix is remarkably stable.

Whenever I get a really good or interesting class, like my teeny-tiny grad seminar, I have this anxiety that I will never be able to replicate the experience for future students. Like a great music performance, you can mimic it, but you'll never catch the lightning in the bottle again. With so few people, the entire feel depends on the chemistry of the players.

So much of the teaching I do is in the large setting where I can could on my designs working pretty much no matter what. It makes it so clear in a small seminar how much actual knowledge is created by the group and not dictated the professor. Very unnerving to have proof of how little control a teacher actually has. Unnerving and lovely.

Mission Fission

Simon Tarr — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:01:48 +0000

I made my poor graduate students write a blog post laying out what they think their core values are as artists. And then (this is so cruel) I asked them what their mission statement is.

It's hard not to be cynical about mission statements. It's all such horseshit if you allow it to be. I've been involved in some of the most pointless, solipsistic yammering ever to be put to text, in the name of defining an entity by committee. But, my students are reading Morrie Warshawski's Shaking the Money Tree (shame on you if you haven't read it), and the author set this exact exercise out as the most important thing you can do to begin to explain your work to possible funders. And then even if funding doesn't come, as it often doesn't, you still have a clarified view.

I promised I would partake in this exercise as well. My disclaimer is this: my values and mission change, so I don't mean to imply that this is a fixed and permanent way that I go about things.

I believe that if you can label an artwork easily, then a part of it has already died.

I believe that if you are afraid of doing something, then it's probably exactly what needs to be done.

I believe that if you don't know how to do it yourself, it shouldn't show up in your art.

I believe that the most important revolution is the one you don't see.

I believe in perfect clarity of expression of the most unclear thoughts.

My job is to make art that reveals the hidden structures of the Universe.

The Impossible Question (Pricing for Creatives)

Simon Tarr — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:59:41 +0000

From A List Apart, Jason Blumer posts the excellent Pricing Strategy for Creatives. Alas, that one answer that you were hoping for is not in there...

"How much should I charge?"

If only anyone a.) knew the real answer to that question, and if they did b.) was willing to share it. I'm certainly not blaming Blumer here, I think his post is as close as you can get... the "how much" question is equal parts red herring and mystery, infinite and unanswerable.

Godin's Waffle Paradox

Simon Tarr — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:40:45 +0000

"The decision of when to be bold is a nuanced one." —Seth Godin

I am reminded of the aphorism attributed to Mencken: "For every complex problem there is a simple answer that also happens to be wrong."

Film industry lies

Simon Tarr — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 13:23:16 +0000

They lie and lie and lie.

Box office receipts seem to indicate that people are beginning to stop listening. If only the legislators would follow suit.

Two lessons from the Megaupload seizure - Glenn Greenwald

Simon Tarr — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:14:49 +0000

Two lessons from the Megaupload seizure - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com:

But it nonetheless sends a very clear message when citizens celebrate a rare victory in denying the Government a power it seeks — the power to shut down websites without a trial — only for the Government to turn around the very next day and shut down one of the world’s largest and best-known sites. Whether intended or not, the message is unmistakable: Congratulations, citizens, on your cute little “democracy” victory in denying us the power to shut down websites without a trial: we’re now going to shut down one of your most popular websites without a trial.

(Via www.salon.com)

New One From Zero Tutorials

Simon Tarr — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:50:01 +0000

My first six tutorials for Cinema 4D are up at my other website OneFromZero.com. They're super short, and will take you from drooling on the keyboard to exporting a simple video that has things moving in a 3D space.

Cinema 4D Tutorials