Chinese Youths Crazy for English Alphabet Tattoos...

usedwigs.com has an interesting apparent news article on Chinese youth getting non-sense word tattoos, check it out.

“The guy at the tattoo shop told me this means brave and proud warrior in English,” said beaming Beijing teenager Hao Tsang as he pointed to the letters GARF freshly inked onto his left bicep. “It’s perfect for me because I am very bold and confident, yet spiritual.”

Crackhead Pancakes...

Hey kids! Now you can make pancakes like a creackhead with these simple steps!

Bon appetite!

NINTNDO 64!!! AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

I died a little inside when I saw this.

Robot Chicken

Some of arguably the best Robot Chicken episodes.

Will it blend?

Will the iphone blend when put in a blender? Find out.



The remains sold for $901.00 USD

When homework... goes wrong.

Yeah trying to get homework done but I'm prolly 2 weeks behind on my final project. Bad.

Here's what I thought was cool tonight.

Pirate thing (click)

and this little vid...




and what the fuck?

The Real Transformers

So this blog needs some change. I am boring and who gives a fuck what I think. The internet is cool and interesting -- therefore it stands to reason to post stuff from the internet. Since I spend hours a day looking for cool stuff when I should be working, I'll try to deliver some interesting stuff.

First off... We have "The Real Transformers"

Now I ask.... who has this kind of free time!?



Until next time ;)

Cheap Ploy...

So lots of stuff has been goin on lately... I have a job busing at a night club where I work shirtless, dance on the bar, and on some occasions in my underwear LOL!! (I need to get pictures haha) Well, in all honesty, it was Pride week this past week and that why I found myself in a pair of Priape's. They told me I could have the pair for free if I wore them and it's a $30 pair so how could I resist? Naturally.

Anyway Pride in Vancouver was the most amazing experience! I didn't really think it'd be noteworthy but I
a)Partied my ass off from Wed-Sunday
b)Met awesome people from out of town
c)Worked at the club on Fri/Sunday and literally had to PRY guys off of me!!

It was so awesome!

Then there was the parade which I had written off as a bunch of promiscuous guys dancing in underwear but no! (well yeah AND) there was a ton of really cool causes that had floats sporting uplifting signage promoting unconditional love and family bonds. It actually really meant something to me to see that. I was deeply moved. Yes, at the pride parade! LOL

Anyway working at the club has allowed me to kinda... get a life and I've started meeting some cool people for which I am extremely grateful. I'm finally almost... enjoying my time here! Sweet! It only took a fucking year. ;)

Anyway in a shameless effort to draw traffic to my blog I'm posting this sexy pic. Enjoy. Wipe up after yourself Sean.

Big Intruder...

So 3 more days until end of term... I screened my big new film on Thursday (After not sleeping for over 48hours -- working non-stop, literally) It went great! =D I've been told I should submit it to festivals =D So.. that's good news.. I kinda wanna be there when u guys in Edmonton see it but I just don't see that happening until.. November... no DVD players at Shambhala... That is if I can go... cross your finger please -- it'll cut into my school so I'm not 100% sure I can do it only about.. 80%...

...

Anyway I've been looking into ways to network and market myself so I've been making business cards and thinking about a portfolio site. I was looking for .com domain names and didn't really know what to search for... I searched for "stranger.com" -- no go. But the website was kind enough to offer some hilarious suggestions for other related names I might like...




I'm seriously considering foreignerforyou.com ...

Hmm.. anyway I'll hopefully get around to making some long overdue phone calls as I have a short break coming up here... Thank God. I am so burnt out.

Jeremy D.

Butterfly Superlative...

A pretentious title for my art history project I just finished tonight. Basically we are charged with the task of "responding" to our last 8 months of Art History lectures with a 5 minute presentation. I suggested my group do a collection of post-modern pieces and through a random process we decided to do a piece titled "Five Butterflies" Each member of the group is going to create a piece that has something to do with butterflies (we are free to abstract the concept completely if desired) and we're going to present them along with my presentation about post-modernism and the development of post-modern art. I very much encouraged ridiculousness in the projects.

Now I've seen a lot of post-modern art and thought "Hey, I'll just come up with a twisted, ridiculous idea and do it, piece of cake!" Well I now have new found respect for these kind of artists. Imagining and creating quality ridiculous ideas is a lot harder than I once thought.

I submit my piece for review ;)

I call it "Butterfly Superlative"



To justify a photograph of me snorting butterflies, I'm gonna say something about how post-modern art challenges social norms in order to invoke a unique response in the viewer blah blah blah... Maybe... Or perhaps I'll offer no explanation as is often typical of post-modern pieces...

I guess we'll see...

Hope you enjoyed it =D

We Don't Need Our Eyes To See...

After waking once more from an episode of sleep paralysis, a thought occurred to me. In the past, I have woken from a dream unable to move or speak for a matter of minutes and have found this terrifying. I now recognize it when it occurs and know that the sooner I relax, the sooner I will wake up.

What I discovered is this: While I am experiencing this phenomenon, others in the room report that for those few minutes between dreaming and awakening, my eyes are closed -- even though I can see around the room perfectly well. I can identify people and objects as if I had my eyes open. In the past I've even been able to sit up and look around the room and then "wake up" to find myself still laying down beside another who reports that I was laying down the whole time.

The thought dawned on me -- I do not believe we need our eyes to see.

We are all co-authors of this dancing exuberance, for even our inabilities are having a roast. We are the authors of ourselves, co-authoring a gigantic Dostoevsky novel starring clowns. This entire thing we're involved with called the world is an opportunity to exhibit how exciting alienation can be. Life is a matter of a miracle that is collected over time by moments flabbergasted to be in each others' presence. The world is an exam, to see if we can rise into the direct experiences. Our eyesight is here as a test, to see if we can see beyond it. Matter is here as a test for our curiosity. Doubt is here as an exam for our vitality. Thomas Mann wrote that he would rather participate in life than write a hundred stories. Giacometti was once run down by a car, and he recalled falling into a lucid faint - a sudden exhilaration as he realized at last, something was happening to him.
- Waking Life, Scene 25

Wreck Beach 1.0

So Vancouver is a strange city...

There are only two things to do here when I don't have homework:

1) Look at the beautiful scenery
(It really is a beautiful city outside of downtown, along the coast)

2) Be active like going for a walk, bike ride or the gym
(something in the air actually makes you WANT to do these things... odd..)

I get so bored I start doing... creative things!
Haven't had that urge since I started partying!

That's really all I've found to do in Vancouver... Where are the good-looking, young, intelligent, funny, artsy/geeky, playful people? Or am I to picky?

Anyway, I have a big project coming up so I've been gathering material... various photos and video clips and what-have-you. Today I was bored and it was sunny so I took a trip to the infamous Wreck beach for the first time. I took my camera along to curb my boredom and to grab some stuff for school. My roommate and my friend Paul are quasi-dating so that leaves me in a bit of a third wheel position. Looks like I'm flyin' solo for awhile =/

Wreck beach is a nude beach and after my 1hr. bike ride/photo adventure I took an hour to tan and swim in the ocean... who likes tan lines right?

Yup, that'd be me relaxing on the beach...
Yeah. In may. Crazy!

I come bearing photos of the amazing beaches in Vancouver... the only thing enjoyable here. (It's not entirely true, I'm just feeling sorry for myself)

After arriving at the UBC campus, you hike through the forest and emerge into a place with no signs of civilization and no noise of traffic or otherwise. Just trees, sand, ocean and the salty breeze.

Some guy was doin some kind of tide surfing or somethin... there was a couple guys spinning staff, I wished I'd brought my poi. Oh well, next time. I think I found my summer hang out, I can bike here in 20 minutes.

I decided to set up camp here and tan =D

That's my beach adventure =D Stay tuned kids, miss you guys!

Visual Effects Piece

*EDIT*
I recompressed the audio and reuploaded and now it seems to be properly sync'd

Enjoy!

Fuckin Finally!

10:30 am today I finally finished my final after effects project after days of little sleep and LONG hours working non-stop. Hooray! I'm done term 3! I'm half done my first year! So I have for you a couple of final projects that I threw together in the midst of my CRAZY schedule. Forgive me if this post sounds retarded -- I haven't slept and I have to tie up loose ends today before I fly home for a week tomorrow. See you all then! Party weekend! W007!

The first is a Visual effects piece. I did preproduction Tuesday, (idea/concept/storyboard/film permits/etc.) filmed Wednesday, did other homework non-stop Thursday-Saturday and started the post production from Sunday @4pm-8am -- slept for 2 hours. Went to class -- worked from 1pm to 3am -- Slept for 5 hours. Went to class -- Worked from 3pm-5pm passed out till 9pm and worked straight until 10:30am Wednesday (Today, I still have not slept!) when I finally finished all the post production (ADR/VFX/rough edit/colour correction/sound design/final mixdown). I'm take foundation visual arts which does not include ANY visual effects training save chroma keys -- this is all self-taught work so it may not be the most impressive thing you've ever seen, but consider the inadequate time frame and my lack of formal training.

Be warned -- the film is kinda weird. Check it out.

P.S. I can't get the fucking audio to sync up once I upload... and I'm too lazy to figure out how use virtualdubmod to encode xvid with mp3 audio compression... *sigh*



So that hologram lady is my roommate Amanda! It's a weird film for sure... I love sci-fi but when you think about it... sci-fi is pretty silly... I found it hard to take the role seriously as an actor ;)

aaaaannnddd.... here's my cute animation project for my intro to animation class...



Anyway I have to do my laundry and shower and go to the gym and pay my bills and sleep before tonight so luv you kids and see you all soon!

Jeremy D.

End of Term...

So it's nearing end of term.03 and April 19th I'm flying home for a week!

Hooray! 420 in Edmonton =D



End of term means final projects and for my After Effects final, I'm racing to put together this hella sweet (in concept) visual effects sci-fi short. It features both me and my roommate (who plays the part of a holographic computer interface) as the main characters. Anyway, I think it should turn out pretty cool, I'll post it when I'm finished =D

See you guys soon!

Alone and bored...

I haven't posted for all second term (I'm in 3rd term now) for one simple reason, I was so fucking busy! It was stress to the max I had hardly enough time to eat with everything I had to do for school and my social life is varying relative to my food intake which varies inversely to my workload.

Term 3 in a word is : boring.

I have nothing to do. Yeah, I have some work to do, but it's not due until next week and shouldn't take THAT much time. I'm confident it will pick up around finals (I'll have to shoot another short and that takes A LOT out of you -- mentally, emotionally, physically)

Anyway life in Vancouver is pretty quiet... I have a few friends sorta and they come over sometimes and I see them around school... but one thing that really bugs me is I still don't feel like I have a social life here in Vancouver... It's hard to "get connected" with anyone outside of school and I'm afraid my time here is turning me into somewhat of a social recluse with a semi-serious aversion to human social interaction. I'm not really sure what to do about that... I mean coming to a city alone presents some pretty unique problems. It's hard to meet ANYONE without a close friend to bring along so you feel comfortable or at least not completely outside of your element. You don't meet people at a club if you go alone. You just don't. And bars are weird, not only do they cater to older clientele here in Vancouver, the people you meet at gay bars probably are not people you want to be meeting...

So for the moment I feel somewhat displaced and hoping the summer will bring with it new opportunities to meet new people :)

Anyway...

I did some stuff for school.. it's kinda cool, check it out.


"Denoument" A film directed by your's truly and thrown together in 2 weeks which is pretty impressive when you consider the workload here... I also did most of the post-production. This is the first short film project and compared to the rest of the class it was awesome so don't judge too harshly... I think it turned out okay.



This is my first foray into the exciting world of vector graphics...

"Vector graphics // is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and polygons, which are all based upon mathematical equations to represent images in computer graphics." --Wikipedia

Basically, as opposed to raster images which are only viewable in their native resolution, vector graphics are resolution independent since they are based on algorithms as opposed to data. What does that mean? Simply put, however big you may want to scale them (say, as large a skyscraper) they would still look as crisp and clear as the original. This is titled "reflections" but perhaps it should be titled "My idealized self"? It was actually made using photos of me as reference... then I beefed him up a little *chuckle*

Anyway nj0i...

Peace, love

Jeremy.

P.S. And while your at it... why not check out my newly updated DeviantArt profile? I've uploaded some of my photography =D

Christmas Break...

Ahh, Christmas time, how I loathe you.

I've made it my personal mission to remove the cheesy archaic saying "Merry Christmas" from my vocabulary. Instead I try "Enjoy your Christmas" or "Have a good Christmas", I believe that this makes the comment authentic. (at least more so) You see I dislike something about this "Christmas"... maybe it's that damn Christmas music that gets to me... maybe it's those awful Christmas movies everyone's rushing out to see... maybe it's because we're more inclined to give stuff and not hugs... who knows.

You know all those Christmas Teddies?

They end up in a landfill. =D


Anyway, I'm back on Edmonton for the Christmas break and I've been back about 9 days with only 7 days remaining until I must fly back for my next 10 month period @ school. The last two months were just a warm-up.

I spent the first few days of my time here in Edmonton mostly sleeping and depressed. Getting "back into the groove" of Edmonton brought with it a flood of unfinished business and old emotion that I had the pleasure of diving into. I felt like I was almost socially inept initially... didn't know what to say... in a sort of "after shock" of coming home. The whole week I spent visiting friends trying to make sure to see everyone who needs seeing. I took a huge load off my back by resolving some things that had been heavy on my mind since I left. Matters with old friends... Big things left unsaid. I feel a lot better and had a great weekend visiting with my cousin Tyler. We both entertain each other with our sharp wit ;) We also watched all 11 episodes of the new show "Heroes" and generally lazed about. Twas a good time had by all (well maybe not the adults... they were all upstairs and looked bored -- twas a full house this Christmas)

Not very exciting I know... but that's just Christmas for you.

To jazz things up a little I put a bit of work into a little project of mine, my first equirectangular panoramic image. In other words a 2:1 ratio image size, 360 degrees horizontal and 180 vertical -- made in such a way as to be projected onto a sphere -- see below...


When projected on a sphere looks like this...



Click Here for a bigger window size
(It's quite high resolution -- it's worth it!!)


So this is what my living room in Edmonton looks like in the days leading up to Christmas... see for yourself. Cool no? Don't mind the minor stitching errors (mostly caused by parallax I believe) and the big black hole in the middle of the living room... it all started with some super heavy elements wandering into the living room and before I knew it they caused a gravitational collapse and matter and energy inevitably collapsed to a density beyond the limits of known physics. Oh well, just pretend it isn't there...

Anyway Hope ur xMASS break is goin great!!!

Peace, love,

Jeremy.

I'm on a role...

Wow 3 posts in 3 days... a testament to how little free time I have during school. Tonight is the second last night I spend at my crappy little place on Victoria Drive and boy am I happy to leave! =D The toilet's been fucked for a few days (luckily there are 2) so I turned off the water so no one would use it and spill piss and shit all over the floor when the toilet flooded... My landlord came screaming down the hall "Jeremy!!!" and accused me of using the plugged toilet and spilling shit everywhere. It was one of my roommates. The whole house smelled like shit.

My apartment was very gross so I decided now would be a good time to collect some more memories before the move... in keeping with my new fascination with panoramas... I took a panorama of the street and place that I've been living. It turned out well and it's *gasp* 360 degrees!! Wow!! Check it out...







I live in the ugly square pinkish building with 2 white doors directly across the street from where the photo was shot (in the center of the photo). My door is on the left and my window is the one on the upper left. Good riddance... too bad tho, I just found a good dealer who delivers. Can't have your cake and eat it too I guess.

Anyway after I snapped those photos I noticed a firetruck whip by and turn down 22nd street, I looked over and saw a massive column of smoke (if you look down the street just to the right of my house in the panorama you can see the black smoke) I ran over and saw a truck engulfed in flames!! Check it out!





There was like... an explosion and shit!! Cool!! (I later kicked myself for not recording a video) The one paper editor I contacted said they were tight on space for tomorrow or he'd run them but told me they were nice pics and to remember him for the future *beam* At that point I got lazy and didn't want to waste my time tryin to get them published.

So I got home and walked upstairs (WITH MY SHOES ON *GASP* so I wouldn't have to walk through the shit water all over the floor) the landlord dude is cleaning up the toilet and starts getting mad at me about the shoes (sue me for not wanting to walk in piss and shit) and asks me "Did you shave? There's hair all over the floor?!" I did shave I told him and I did clean up and would have swept once the floor was dry but didn't have a chance on account of the shit. He didn't go for it. Asshole. Later he comes pounding on my door telling me to wash my dishes. Now we all know how much I like taking orders to naturally I committed to not washing anymore dishes until I leave Friday. When I left the house an hour later he'd done my dishes for me (???) What the fuck? I thought I moved out of my parents house... hm.

Anyway I couldn't be more happy that I signed my lease and paid my deposit today on my new place 3 blocks from my school! Hooray!! =D And we're gonna get a cat! Yay! I miss having a kitty...

Anyway I re-rendered the Science World panorama and fixed the errors but now downtown Vancouver looks like it's sinking into the ocean... maybe it's just me? School has definitely brought out the meticulous perfectionist in me... Whatever.




Anyway I'm sick of rendering that one for now so it'll just be a natural disaster until I find time to pull Vancouver out of the sea...

Hope all is well in Edmonton,

See you all on Saturday!

Lots of love,

Jeremy.

A little fun with photography...

So in my first day off I went to see a christmas romance movie, "The Holiday". Bad combination I know. Scripting so corny and the acting so... wierd... Oh well, it was free! Yay for friends who work at the Theater!

After that I was near school and needed to return some equipment and while I was there I borrowed a tripod over the christmas break and took it out for some sightseeing (of sorts) Actually I just composed 2 panoramic shots on the way home from the movie/school.

I think they're neat and I've been itching to build some panoramas for awhile now... now I finally have the know-how and the motivation (yay for school??) The first one I shot (the skytrain station) I was unsure if it would turn out and I think it turned out the best... I think I should have manually set the white balance for the second (the Science World Panorama) although I deemed it unnecessary in the darkened conditions and left it on auto... this shows slightly in the image... as well there are a few mistakes in the images. In the skytrain image the mistake is unavoidable due to subject movement and the Science World image I may need to re-render at a later date since it took me prolly about an hour to render, crop and fix at full resolution (pumped out a 24193 x 3285, 300dpi, 45.4Mb file hahaha - my computer was crawling...) so I'll save re-rendering for later but check em' out!! Soo cool!! =D


This is a view of the south east end of Vancouver's downtown (not much of downtown is visible from here) What is here however, is the stadium and "Science World". Although this is a cool picture, it's not yet perfect so appreciate it for what it is and not for what it isn't because it isn't a few things, one of them being perfect... It is however, cool for my first "real" panoramic image...


This next one is pretty cool to... it's a tribute to the SkyTrain that I have to ride every day... and I hate so much! I hate you SkyTrain! You are too crowded in the mornings... you make me feel like a cow.







That's all kiddies! Hope you like my handiwork... it's taken me like... 4 hours of stitching... time to make some food and then sleep. Have to sign the tenant agreement for my new apartment tomorrow! Hooray!

Ahh, memories...

Well today (Dec 11th) marks the last day of my term 1 classes. I survived. So far. School is challenging not so much academically but mainly emotionally if that makes any sense. Stress and depression has pretty much been my life these past 2 months and it's really getting to me. On the bright side, I'm doing very well in school and I really absolutely enjoy the course content! This school is VERY atypical of most and they really work you. Hard. I remember what fun was like... sorta... I've been staying @ school until 2:30 on my WEEKENDS!! That's right I haven't gone out in 3 weeks -- I have no time much less energy!

Currently I'm living pretty far from school (20-55 min commute) depending on time of day and traffic conditions on the SkyTrain (The SkyTrain is over packed hell. If you like feeling like prodded cattle ride the SkyTrian to school or work every day. It just gets to you... I yelled at a poor girl on the SkyTrain... I haven't been myself lately I've been wound up tight and now that I don't have homework for the first time in 2 months I hardly know what to do with myself... I cleaned my room spotless in preparation for my half-move on the 15th. (I rented a car and everything! I can't wait to drive!! =D ) I'm spending FAR too much money on eating out everyday and it's impossible to carry around food to eat at lunch (I have enough equipment to haul everywhere as it is) so I'm moving downtown!!! W0007!!! So pumped! I'll be living 3 blocks from school and that will hopefully begin to help me solve problems (And I pray won't create worse ones -- finance is a worry -- very complicated I can't get into it) It's very crowded in Vancouver and I put a lot of energy into finding a place this past week. I almost ended up without a home as my lease is up on the 15th and the place I was to move didn't work out so I was plunged into a mad dash to get an apartment and I think this all should work out (please God...)

Anyway I spent my newfound free time cleaning, eating and getting my place ready for easy packing when I have to pack wed/thurs. I have this huge folder filled with all my school stuff from Term 1 and stuck a few memories in it too... then I got playing and combined my curiosity about panoramic photos with my anticipated nostalgia and made some panoramas of my bedroom!!!

Without further ado,

For your viewing pleasure - my bedroom @ 12am.







I think this could be the start of something.. panoramic photos really intrigue me!

In other news I'm flying back to Edmonton on December 16th - 31st for the break and moving into my new place when I get back! I'll try and be less depressed and blog more frequently... Life is just... hard right now. Plenty of self-discovery and not everything I discover I like. This school is a major test of meddle... I'm hoping Term 2 is better!! I'm getting to know people outside my class and I think that's key to happiness here in Vancouver...

Anyway I apologize for distantness... it's just hard enough to keep up with life here much less life back home/other places...

Love you kids!

Jeremy =D