i was working with marija last night who introduced me to a firefox plugin: stumble upon. if you currently use firefox you can get the add-on directly here. the add-on basically is a toolbar with a few features that let you rate sites, save to favorites, and communicate with friends. the options are pretty extensive and really lets you customize the feel of the toolbar, and shortcuts can easily be set for whatever purpose you desire.
what really intrigued me was the fact you can seamlessly send favorite links to your friends while i’m browsing or other mediums such as twitter. i like a clean interface and i like how there is a default shortcut to turn the toolbar on and off quickly and without a hassle. you create an account when you first install the add-on and this lets you access your friends and favorites on another computer through the website as well. if you’re ever bored, the website lets you stumble-across other random favorites of other users which usually brings up some pretty cool stuff. i have not researched if this add-on is available for any other browser, but i might have to take a break from google chrome and go back to firefox for a bit now that i’ve stumbled upon this add-on.
the last 3d animation i watched was probably up by pixar, and that was probably depressing more than anything for me. don’t get me wrong, the movie and story was extremely well done but when i left the theater, i felt as if i’m wasting my life. there is obviously a point to the movie, but i know the first fifteen minutes or so of up was both beautiful and sad.
i ended up winning eight free tickets to the movies with my business card in the fishbowl at hollywood blvd. nice to know those things are good for something at least. i decided to check out cloudy with a chance of meatballs last night and walked in not expecting much at all. i was always more of a 2d animation fan, and i don’t think i ever read the book as a child even, so i really had no idea what i was walking in to.
all i can say is, i’m disappointed as hell that i didn’t watch it in 3d. the camera angles were lifelike and very well done, and everything about the animation style worked very well. the fire and sparks were amazingly well integrated, the stylization of the fathers face made his expressions hilarious, and who wouldn’t want to watch an animated mr.t in one of the most ridiculous escape scenes ever. all humble opinions of course, but the character development was well done and the movie itself was a creative take. it was a refreshing watch after the recent movies i’ve been watching that have been pretty gritty including district 9, nine, gamer, and inglourious basterds. it doesn’t matter how old you are, if you have a sense of humor check out cloudy with a chance of meatballs in 3d if you have the chance. for all you pixar fans, i think the movie would meet your animation standards easily while succeeding at trying some new things.
some time ago on the forums i posted a few pieces from the artist hu-ming. i purchased a few books yesterday that reminded me of her style. learning from her artist profile on her website, she was basically a student bored with doing the same thing everyday in a communist school and decided to join the army at the age of 15. i know i’ve had my share of sleeping through classes and hu-ming seems to have become notorious for her sleeping habits in the army. one thing to get a piece of chalk thrown at you, but personally, i would definitely have kept my ass in check in the chinese army. her history is pretty interesting and not what i expected for an artist, but definitely shows where the art comes from. wouldn’t say she is one of my favorites, but hu-ming did catch my eye and worth checking out.
i’ve noticed i barely introduce any other artists on this blog. i have hundreds of artists that interest me and have at one point, inspired me to do what i do. i’ve always thought that if i knew about them, everyone else would too, but some have told me that they’ve never heard of these artists. look out for new updates about some of these people as time goes on as i plan to post many more.
i am not much of a jay-z fan but i have to admit, his new commercial for the blueprint 3 is definitely creative. even if you hate hip-hop, or jay-z in general, i would have to argue that you’d have a hard time saying this trailers pretty damn cool. it basically goes through the history of his album covers. watch for yourself.
recently things outside of construkt have been pretty hectic and i’ve noticed i try too hard to think up good posts and whatnot. i don’t care to blog about what i ate for lunch today and where i went during break. i come across things everyday that i hope is worth sharing and i would like to get in a habit of just posting up brief posts. thanks for all the support from everyone so far!
