by Matt | Feb 12, 2003 | Imported Entry
This week, after raising the US’s Terror Alert Level to orange and the US Army’s alert from Alpha to Bravo, reports are cropping up about possible terrorist activities. So much in fact that US citizens are urged to buy duct tape, batteries, plastic tarps and 3+ days worth of food and water. The cause for concern seems to be a new Bin Laden tape calling for a Holy War against all who stand against them. It also mentions plans to inflict as much damage to the general population as possible. This has most people worried. I agree with most of them. Part of me believes 90% of this to be pre-war bolstering from both sides and the other part of me is scared shitless. This isn’t to say that I’m making a run to Walmart for batteries but I am a little concerned. The alleged intended targets this time are two fold: a) civilian utilities such as transportation systems, electric, phone and water and b) “soft targets” or targets that will be undefended but still create a heavy loss of life such as apartment complexes, sporting events, public buildings, etc. Now, I don’t believe Savannah GA to be a target for anyone but I do live rather close to one of the largest military bases in the area. There’s really no reason (*knock on wood*) to be frightened since regardless of my worry things will happen or not happen. My concern would do nothing to change that. I’m looking at this like any other storm that causes concern. You take the necessary precautions and evacuate if necessary. I’m probably freaking myself out more than anything. Hopefully our government wouldn’t drop the ball in terms of intelligence like they did a little over a year ago. They knew something was going to happen in September, but they didn’t tell us because they didn’t know the specifics. Hopefully they’d let us know this time if they had anything substantial. Then again, in order to avoid mass hysteria who knows what they’d suppress. All I know is that we’ve been warned, we should prepare and that the government has already taken precautions to protect themselves… doesn’t that tell you something. Anyway, you might want to check CNN.com every once in a while to make sure something hasn’t gone horribly wrong. You might also want to read some of the related articles I linked above, just to have some idea about what’s going on. All I know is that at the first sign of trouble, I’m heading north and I’m taking my girl and all the ammo I can carry. (note, that was for metaphorical purposes, I don’t own a gun).
Sleep tight.
by Matt | Feb 10, 2003 | Imported Entry
It was your typical Sunday. Sitting around, doing nothing, wasting time. Usually I would do homework or read or even go play ultimate frisbee in the park. This time I chose to simply relax. I’ve taken 4 rolls of film this weekend, far from my hopeful estimate of 20 but still enough to keep my ass out of the frying pan. I hope to get some ideas and get rolling on some “crazy” ideas in the next few weeks. Like I told my professor, I’m not looking for 20+ images this semester, I’m merely hoping to add 5 or so solid pieces to my portfolio. Sure 20 would be nice but they’re not necessary and I’m not going to work my ass off to make more images that may or may not be worth it in the end.
On the same “creative” train of thought, I felt inspired to make some icons this weekend. They’re of course not done but I think I’m actually going to dedicate some time to these. I hope to make a set similar to the Gorrila set by Jim Mac and converted by Brewman. The original set lacks Windows-ish icons (my computer, ie, network neighborhood) since it’s originally an icon set for Gnome. I really love that heavy cartoon style and hopefully I can pull off something that will compliment the already awesome set. I haven’t asked permission from Jim yet but may in the next few days if I like what I’m coming up with. Even though I’d be making a set from scratch and technically it would have nothing to do with Gnome/Linux, I’d still want to pay proper respect and at least site him as a source of inspiration.
Oh, and more more thing before I head off to bed, just a few minutes ago a new version of Y’z Dock was released. Go check out 0.60 beta.
That is all.
by Matt | Feb 8, 2003 | Imported Entry
Well, the past few day have been pretty interesting. It turned out that I didn’t have my critique on Thursday, buying me precious time to shoot more film. Thursday night I had ever intention of shooting when we went out as a group but it turned out I was having far too much fun to bother with my camera. Lauren, Sarah, Brittney and myself went to Savannah Smile: a dueling piano bar. It was A LOT of fun. I can see this being a recurring theme for me weekends to come. They play old standards, classic rock tunes and a few eclectic favorites on two beat-up old baby-grands. All the pianists were great and more than entertaining. Drinks seemed a little pricey but that’s probably because the door charge is so low. It was a little empty on Thursday night as one might expect so we decided to go back last night. We were right and the place was definitely at full tilt last night. I guess Friday is the night to go. I took both evenings opportunities to take some pictures so that turned out to be a good plan.
Friday afternoon was a little less eventful but helpful none-the-less. I had a midterm conference at 2pm downtown so I headed off to that as Lauren got to work on her AutoCAD projects. The conference went well and I have an A so far. Jenny (my professor) took a look at what I had an suggested a few interesting ways to proceed from there. From there I picked up a few movies from Hollywood Video and some flowers for Lauren as a surprise from the grocery store across the street.
Today Lauren’s friend Ashley is coming to visit from her school in Charleston. It’s Ashley’s birthday so they’re going to go out to dinner as a “girls night out” sort of thing… but not before posing for some pictures. Lauren asked if I could take some pictures of the two of them since they don’t really have any. I agreed figuring I could kill two birds with one stone and take some pictures for myself as well.
That’s my basic plan for the day. I also just finished Unreal 2 so I’ll try and post a review of that over at Chocobo.cx. I might post a SimCity 4 review as well but we’ll see what I have time to type. I might not get to it until this evening though so don’t be waiting with baited breath.
I was also going to rant and rave about so typically Matt Brand social injustice, computer issues, free speech, the stupidity of our president and so on, but that’s just a downer so I’ll skip my usually rant for today. You should however, check out michaelmoore.com. Mike has some insight into just about everything. Pay special attention to the Homeland Security section. There’s some good reads in there. I’ll also link to a story that boarders on sensationalism as well as stupidity. The story itself isn’t that interesting, it’s TCPA stuff that you’ve heard me rant about before, it’s the shear quantity of ridiculous comments, both for and against that should be read. Yes, those are separate links.
Anyway, that’s about it. Later.
by Matt | Feb 5, 2003 | Imported Entry
Well, photography work has kept me busy for the past few days. Being sick also makes it so incredibly difficult to stand in a small, warm, dark room for a few hours without nearly falling asleep. As for the photos themselves, they turned out ok but there are far to few of them. I should have shot more film this week but didn’t for various lazy reasons. This weekend however I have to make a concerted and definite effort to shoot my entire supply of film, about 20+ rolls. I’ll order more from B&H, I don’t care, but I need to shoot some film. I also need to work out the technical issues that have cause these first few shoots to end badly. One of my rolls is bright orange (I have no idea why) and two are woefully underexposed (forgot about the distance restraints on my flash). I should be able to work something out. My hope against all hope is that we won’t have time for my critique tomorrow and I can stave off execution until Tuesday when I should have more work to present. It’s not that I don’t have work right now, its just that I don’t have as much work as I’d like. Anyway, to completely contradict what I’ve just rambled on about, I plan to do nothing in the way of homework tonight. I spent all day printing and if fate decides that I need to show work tomorrow, then so be it. I’ve worked as much as I could under the circumstances and now I have ever intention of sitting on my ass until I go to sleep.
Thats about it. Nothing else interesting. This weekend I’m shooting film. Tomorrow night Lauren and Sarah and myself (and possibly Nagle) are going to Savannah Smiles, a dueling jazz piano bar, to drown our troubles in sophisticated alcoholic beverages while listening to some bubbly southern jazz. Friday night is up in the air but Saturday Lauren is having a “girls night out” so I’ll see if Nagle is up for doing something. Friday and Sunday are homework days as is Monday and that takes us right into next week. There you have it kids, the life of a art student. Tough huh?
by Matt | Feb 3, 2003 | Imported Entry
Besides that computer stuff, I was knee deep in photography today. I realized late yesterday that I had a critique at 3:00 this afternoon. I hadn’t printed anything for it because I thought it was on Wednesday. I spent all morning in the darkroom printing some pretty crappy images for my self-portrait project. I just couldn’t come up with any interesting ideas for it. I hate taking pictures of myself. It’s the whole reason I chose to be BEHIND the camera and not in front of it. Anyway, one or two of them came out alright and I might scan them if I find the time. Tomorrow I have to reshoot my self-portrait after class in hopes of getting better results and then print some more for Thursday. Wednesday, same thing, more printing and more shooting. I have another critique on Thursday for my Personal Vision class and I need to get those prints done for that. After that I can take a minor breather this weekend but then I have to get back to shooting.
Oh, and before I head off to write a paper for class tomorrow, I wanted to offer my first impressions of Unreal 2. Most of you won’t be able to buy it until tomorrow but if you do, don’t have high hopes for it’s brilliance. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad, it’s just not the “end all” of First-Person-Shooters like some people thought it would be. They did a lot of things very well. The graphics quality is on par with its multiplayer sister title UT2003 and even adds some interesting effects. Watching burning enemies scamper around after you hose them down with the flame thrower comes to mind. The main draw back to Unreal 2 is that it’s seriously short and has the “been here before” sindrome. It’s the same old type of level: run this way, hit the switch, run back, continue on. It’s been done before and I for one am getting a little tired of “find the button” based levels. Even Red Faction had better scripted events. The game is PURE eye-candy. If you have a sweet-tooth and really want to see what your graphics card can do, then this is for you. If you’re looking for a first-person story, better wait for Doom 3… as if that will have any “plot” to speak of either. I’ll talk about it more once I finish it but at the moment this is what I’m feeling.
Later.
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