Confessions of a Leisure Enthusiast

Well, that was an adventure. I am getting ready to put the clear coat on the cabinet now.  It is a relief to know that it is almost finished, that's for sure.  More to come…..

Haven't been able to update too much, as my internet is no good until the 1st b/c first my router/modem crapped out, then I moved, so I should have my new one by the 1st of May.  Anyway, so, the videos are finished, all is well.  I have started painting the box/coffin. 

The exterior is hematite in color, the inside ->according to Keith's palette ->is the color of baby poop =D  Anyways, that's just the base coat. I rolled that on using a roller brush w/a 3/8" nap. 

The mid glaze is a pewter colored metallic finish.  It goes on top of the base coat, but underneath the crackle glaze. After that dries, I will be adding the crackle glaze which I will apply using a paint brush about the width of my hand.  I will apply the glaze pretty thick on the outside to acheive a large crackle effect, and thinner on the inside to produce a smaller crackle effect.  

After that dries (about 4-6 hours), I will return and put on the top coat.  The exterior is pomegranate, the interior is hematite.  Once that is finished drying (roughly 4-6 hours), I will come back to the exterior and apply an antiquing finish to give it more of a live look. 

Then I will cover the entireity with a clear glaze.  I should prolly go pick up some more, as I don't feel I have enough.  If it turns out right the case will look like a big broken heart – in a box shape.  Time is drawing near.  I may have to have another shift at work covered.  This is killing my budget in more ways than one.  Oh well, at least it's the last week!  Yay!   

Okay, my internet router at home went kaput, so until I have another $70, I can only post when Im up here on campus.

Great news.  I got the videos edited and ready to go.  Still working on another video to potentially use as the reproductive center rather than our original idea.  Depends upon whether or not Keith wants to deal w/another monitor.

I used a camcorder to record the video onto a digital cassette, then used the camera as a vcr to record it to the smart media card in the camera.  Then I used Sony Vegas 5.0 to edit the videos and add some cool effects, but kept them minimal.  They turned out suprisingly well and I am very pleased w/them.  T

 The other video I used a couple of old 1950's propaganda videos to get clips from, then I have diced them up in Vega as well.  Still need to find more clips, but the videos are pretty interesting thus far.  It's something I enjoy doing, so I didn't mind spending a few hours doing it. 

One of the movies I used was an old video about the banana industry.  There are a lot of fruit references, about producing and bearing fruit, harvesting the fruit, and the healthiness of bananas.  It is a good find.  The other movie I used was an old short about gossip.  I only used a couple of clips from it, one of a lady whispering into another ladies ear, and another one similar to that.  There is also a clip of the see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil monkeys.  It will be cool once it is finished.

I have picked up the paint supplies, paint and glazes for the project.  It was WAYYYYY more expensive than I had anticipated, I have spent about $200 bucks thus far, but when you know what you want, compromising just doesn't work out.  I am sure if I were a real artist, I would prolly know many ways to do things cheaper, but I am hoping I can use the leftover paint (provided there is any =)  on some of the furniture I am refinishing, and then sell it and make some of the money back.  Either way, all is not lost, this project is going to turn out so fresh.  I am really excited at how it is finally starting to come together.

I have also picked up the heart mechanism.  Keith and I have discussed a new method for the heart mechanism as well, due to the fact that our initial idea was pretty complex.  However, with the new plan, I feel it will be better anyway, and still relatively similar to what we had initially planned.  It also involves more that is interactive w/people standing in front of it, so it will be neato.

We are going to draw up some diagrams in class today for the shadow boxes, as there is still some question as to how to approach those, but I should have the frames today.  I had an idea to use a light inside of the box to light the screen from behind and have the moving parts inside be projected onto it from behind, then sketch sort of the initial idea onto the front. 

I found this awesome anatomy thing at the hobby store, its a doll that can simulate pregnancy, but it wasn't large enough, plus it was a little too literal, but it was still pretty cool. 

I need to get crackalackin on the collage materials, though.  I got them started, but haven't cut anymore out.  

I will probably work on that tonight.  I plan on going home for a minute and changing shoes, as I wore my slippers today and my feet are incredibly cold.  While I'm home I'll grab my supplies and put Sony Vegas on my laptop so that I can work on my video editing and paint down here while I burn 200 cd's for John.  I'll be back up here around five if anyone is reading this and needs to get into C6.

Well, I think that is all on the update tip for now.  More after class =)  Ciao!  

unfortunately i have to get ready for work now.  hopefully someone will have answered my call for help by the time i get home.  this class makes me feel very untechno savvy.  crap, i still use turntables for cryin out loud.  guess i'm just old skool….thanks to anyone who helps, wish i would have thought to ask sooner.  duh.

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Lovin it! let's try somewhere else…

so, i'm going to google to find a converter. found this one which will convert mpeg to mov which is what i need. found it here: http://www.winmpg.com/

got some cool propaganda videos from back in the day too. prolly try to find a cool clip or two in there as well.

k, so far i have downloaded two video converters that said they would convert my stuff, but neither have worked. maybe just because i don't know what i am doing. i have to rely on askjeeves.com for a lot. going there to see what mpeg is and why i can't seem to get it to turn into mov.

k, a site said: The answer is either really simple (screen size, length, frame rate, colours etc) or really complex. To get the complex analysis:

http://www4.tomshardware.com/video/index.html

There's loads of info, but scroll down to "Part 3 – Video Formats and Compression Methods" and you get a fairly decent tutorial on the comparitive compression standards.

Hope it helps/is of interest.

Let's see if it is…..nope…..page doesnt' work….

alright. so i have plugged in the potentiometer and now i am turning on pd.

wow. what a time for my parents to come over so my stepdad can look at my truck and see why my check engine light is on. (yes, i have plenty of oil and water)…..after his diagnosis, i do, in fact, need to put it in the shop (which is why i made an appointment for thursday morning already). i need to borrow his truck though, so I have a vehicle to get to and from all of my stuff, so my standing out there holding up the light for the last 45 minutes was necessary. then, i had to drop my truck off at the shop so they will have it, and ride w/the rents to their house to borrow the BIG SCARY RED TRUCK (all those who possess less than 400hp be VERY afraid) now i can be the red-blooded american ol' j.c. intended me to be. anyways, just thought I would include this, as it is amazing what random things can thwart you once you're on a mission. why can't i just live, then die, that would be fine, it's all the crap in betweeen thats getting to me.

by the way, it's 10pm, not 2 am like the time tag says.  i guess when i set up my blog i put myself in the wrong time zone….imagine that. 

sitting down to work on this i saw the date from my last post as 4/2/06.  it is amazing to me that it has been a week since I have sat down to get this thing in motion.  i have been doing other things, like gettting art supplies here and there, but damn, time just doesn't grow on trees anymore.  

after a small mental breakdown i have returned to the desk, i can do this.  it is possible. having that stupid picture on the post below just makes me wanna slap myself, but hey, those were happier times.  i feel like each time i sit down, i'm learning everything over again.  k, enough b*&^ing, time for work…. 

All systems are go

I repeat, all systems are go

Over.

Wow.  What a feeling =D

All I need to do now is find some freeware to convert my files from mpeg and xvid over to mov.  I'll worry about that tomorrow, though.  I am just happy that it is working! 

Well, I have to say that it was quite refreshing to check my email when I got home and find some good news. It turns out, the problem I was having w/Gem and the whole pdp/pidip thing was simply because that function will not work on a Window OS, so I am "golden" ;+

Unfortunately, in my bungling I messed up something in Pd – I would assume when I downloaded and installed that extra Gem – so Pd was giving me these other crazy messages that said "can't load zexy, can't load….." there was about 20 of them. Fortunately that is something I can fix. I just threw away that copy of Pd and am downloading a new one. That part is quite simple now. I am very excited about trying out my video tomorrow. If I work it right, I should have another few solid hours to work with.