Okay, after a disastrous sci fi movie experience (aka Alien vs Predator: Requiem), I was wary to watch another scifi flick for a long time. But me being a scifi fan, couldn’t resist. So when Bender’s Big Score came to me, I didn’t hesistate to watch it (basically just grabbed it off the post box, which… have scraped the DVD box a bit, ugh)
To those who do not know me (or didn’t know this about me), I love Futurama. The writers of Futurama have managed to write several zany episodes (like the one where Fry becomes his own grandfather), and touching at the same time (like the one with Fry and the seven leaf clover, or the one with his fossilized dog). And Futurama was written by Math and Physics PhDs, and I got quite a bit of the inside jokes, which I immensely enjoy. Continue reading Bender’s Big Score – A Review
I’m bored. I’m jobless. And I’m home alone. I slap both my hands to my cheeks and go ‘aaaaaa’! Not anymore.
Short of having Greg House come into my home to steal my dalmations, I play chess. With the computer.
Chess is a relatively finite game (when you compare it with other strategy games, like Warcraft III). There is no issue of balance, because both sides have the exact same units with the same exact rules. Also, it’s a game of perfect information, because both players know what their opponent is doing (but not necessarily know what the opponent is up to).
So I sat down and began to think of ways to improve chess. My aim was to make chess gameplay more complicated, but still simple enough to play, unlike quantum mechanics chess (which is supremely awesome, but the perfect information part of a chess board spoils everything). I also only want to use existing chess pieces, unlike other games of chess, like quantum chess, where there are new pieces introduced.
One of the first things I’d like to do is to remove perfect information – so that the opponent doesn’t know what a player is doing. One way is to play chess like the game Battleships – with two different boards, but that would spoil the fun of chess.
The second best way to do it is to introduce an uncertainty to the game. And what better way to do it than to introduce Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle (or Chewxy’s understanding of it) to a simple game of chess? Continue reading A Chess Game
I watched AvP:R two days ago. And in the span of two days, I made a video review of it. I’ve been planning this video since before I started the Headcrab Zombie chronicles. The only reason why I didn’t do it then is the same reason why the video is a bit crappy.
Anyways, watch the video review:
Technical Information and trivia:
The tracking of the facehugger was done almost entirely by computer.
Which is why there are some parts where the tracking doesn’t match – because my eyes move.
The most challenging part is of course the chestburster scene where the headcrab jumps out.
The reason why this was shot day-for-night is because there are some parts where the facehugger didn’t track well. Shooting it day-for-night hides the flaws.
It is physically impossible for Bacall (that’s my headcrab) to jump out of the body, because a typical headcrab like Bacall is 2 feet long.
The reason why my voice slurred is because I did the dubbing on my bed after I woke up this morning.
And the canned laughter is added to help those who didn’t watch my previous vodcast.
I believe this: Once a year, I will chance upon a short book that echoes my worldview. Last year, it was Freakonomics. I was thinking the whole way thru the book: Damn! This is how I viewed the world!
This year, too, have I found a book that rather echoes my world view. Whereas last year’s Freakonomics . . . → Read More: Once a Year
I’m bored, and hyper-productive, so I made another vodcast (after my previous atypical vodcast).
You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video
Technical Information and Trivia:
Work + Rendertime: 4 hours.
I originally rendered a version with fur, but discovered that took too long.
The original version had a real 3D-hair fake beard, but also took too . . . → Read More: Vodcast: Merry Christmas!
Ola. Today’s vodcast is not your typical headcrab zombie vodcast. Today, I’ll attempt to answer the Davos Question.
Here’s the video:
If you’re wondering why its so lame (with the headcrab so stiff and all), its because this is actually the longest video I’ve made so far – 4 and a half minutes as opposed to the typical 1 minute stuff. Also, if you’re wondering why it doesn’t feel like the older vodcasts, its because I was lazy and didn’t hand animate the whole thing. In fact, what you see is almost entirely machine generated.
Technical Information and Trivia:
This is the first video to be completely computer tracked, and no hand animation involved. I did this because there were more than 7000 frames, and it’d be next year before I finish hand compositing it.
The video took roughly 90 hours in total to render. It’s roughly 50 hours per render, and with 16 hours remaining, my 3DS Max crashed. So it took another round of rendering before I could get it done.
I didn’t move much. For a reason. It was 3 a.m. when I made the video. I was quite tired
I thought of just uploading it straight to YouTube, but there were these horrendous eyebags.
So I rather wait 90 hours more to get it uploaded.
The reason why the headcrab looks a bit different is because I was sitting quite close to the camera this time. Note to self: Get a 35mm lens camera.
In total, I re-recorded my speech about 100+ times, because I had problems pronouncing ‘utilitarianism’ and ‘antiretroviral’, and ‘WTC’
The video and audio went out of sync at 3:09, because I miscalculated my frame rates. Bugger that, my math.
In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Mutt Williams (Shia LeBouf) will deliver to Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) a minority report. Reading the report, Indy then will have to go to Munich to pick up a crystal skull. Which then leads him to South America, where Indy will . . . → Read More: Made-Up Indiana Jones
