Thinkin' Stupid

not dead yet

2011-06-22T18:43:00.003-04:00

short, quick random post...

website is slowly getting updated with new stuff.

graduation in about 1 month. can't wait.

the internet is for liars

2010-05-11T23:07:00.000-04:00

i was once again reminded today that you can't trust anything or anyone especially on the internet.

i have enjoyed using facebook for awhile now. it's allowed me to easily stay in touch with family and friends. of course its a very popular community website these days. internet popularity attracts the scum of the earth.

i innocently clicked on a link last night to add an image for diabetes support to my facebook profile, in doing so.. somehow.. some asshole in some unknown part of the world was able to take over my facebook and my email accounts for purposes of trying to scam my friends and family.

it is incredible how something so innocent can become a bane of one's existence.. at least for a little while.

so i spent today resetting passwords and shuffling email addresses for every online account that was important to me or i could think of.

in a small way, it is partially my fault, using the same password for several different accounts just for simplicity, maybe due to stupidity and laziness. i know now to at least switch up my password on the more important things. i also have learned to not trust a damn thing that is shown to me online by anyone.

i'm a bit pissed at myself for being careless, i'm somewhat pissed at whoever decided to be a faceless asshole to me today. but what can i do? i acted as quickly as i could to secure my accounts, which i'm 98% sure those accounts that i changed passwords to are now safe. i'm still a bit worried about some asshole still taking over my email though but i'm sure it'll be fine. there's no way they can get my password now without hacking microsoft's website, which i'm sure is not an easy task. i also plan on mixing up some passwords again over the next few days and keep my eye on my accounts.

it could have been a lot worse. i think the worst that could have happened is my bank account be compromised but i changed my contact info and password right away and it hasn't been touched.

i have been so careful over the years and it took one little mistake, partially of trust, to fuck up my day.

i don't need this extra stress during finals week but i'm sure i'll be fine.

there isn't much more i can do than what i have done. i think i've taken enough precautionary steps to make sure my information is safe.

ranting about beta tests

2010-04-14T19:03:00.001-04:00

needed a place to rant and get my mind off things.

i have applied to several beta tests over the years but i can remember only ever getting into three of them. lately i have tried to apply for as many betas as possible so i can get some experience testing new games, for what it's worth. i feel i am a good person to have testing your game since i do have the knowledge of game design since i've been studying games and design for the past 1 1/2 years.. i know a bit about it. you'd think i'd be the perfect candidate to get into beta tests... but no.

many times beta apps don't let you write in comments or let you try to convince the developers why you're a good candidate. it sucks but i could understand why they wouldn't care.. and also who would want to read through comments of thousands of applications?

i don't know why but i sometimes get mad when i don't get accepted. sometimes it's worth not getting into a beta and being able to play a finished game without it being spoiled. other times i just want to see a game be developed.

so blizzard has starcraft 2 beta going on right now. they allowed the public to opt-in for beta invites months ago, i quickly snagged the opportunity... and i've waited. still no invite. i was lucky that i got into the wrath beta even though the game was released about 2 months later.

now what has me pissed. blizzard is doing this thing where for the next three weeks they are "giving away" beta keys on face book. so about three times a day they post a bunch of beta keys and let all 75k plus subscribed fans fight over them in a race to see who can enter the key first into the battle.net page. i've tried a few times over the past week to "win" a key this way but all i have experienced was aggrivation. every time, the keys appear to be claimed within a second of being posted. i have given up.

i even decided to remove myself from their fans on facebook so i'm not bothered or tempted by the impossible task.

either people are using scripts to enter the keys as soon as they are posted, even within an image, there are actual people high on crack than can type in software keys at super human speed, or something else. i have wondered if blizzard is posting used keys for the purpose of causing hype. if so, great marketing idea, getting people to salivate over false hope, but you're also pissing off fans.

so i now wait by my mailbox in hope of maybe blizzard will make an intelligent selection and i'll score an invite to the beta.

a part of me wants to play the beta of sc2 but another part of me says "who cares?" and the full game will be released soon enough.. and then i'll just get bored of it and never play it. aka: all of this frustration over the beta will be for not.

i really hope blizzard doesn't do this face book shit for the cataclysm beta. it is very frustrating. i'd rather stare at an empty mail box, hoping against hope, that a little letter will appear with an invite than play stupid games that are impossible to win.

i hate to use my blog to rant but there's no better place to do it... not that i have used my blog for much of anything lately. i'll get back to art type stuff eventually.

it was a learning experience...

2010-02-28T17:52:00.000-05:00

i have been pushed to the limit of my 3d skills and beyond in the past 4 weeks. my task was to create a unique character, model, and then texture. i learned a ton about what it takes to create and texture a model correctly. this was a huge advancement in my 3d art skills. i can't wait to start a new project and actually know what i'm doing!

the legs were, are, and will continue to be a pain in my ass to work with. i am quite happy with how they turned out though. i plan on going back to this character later and and improve on the textures and some of the geometry. not bad for my first ever texture character.

updated webs

2010-02-11T16:05:00.000-05:00

updated me online portfolio after about 3 months

www.aliencowz.com

at least i finally posted some drawings. i still have a ton of stuff to add.

alien cow - the bamf version

2009-12-05T00:08:00.000-05:00

i've done a little updating to ac for a class project that i am working my ass off trying to finish and hand in next week. i wanted to post a progress pic because at this point he is looking so damn cool. i'm sure that as i finish the model he's going to look like total shit.. so here it is.

i have no idea how he'll look textured. i don't have much experience yet with texturing my models.. i may have to go with a flat material for now just so i can get the assignment done i n time.

just stuff that sucks

2009-11-04T22:50:00.002-05:00

being sick sucks. i think i'm on my 3rd round of this cold/flu/whatever crap that's been flying around. it sticks around for a day or two, goes away, then i get it again.

having friends that are sick (worse than the flu) also sucks. get well soon, doods.

blizzard is awesome.. saw they opened their pet store and are donating some of the proceeds to make-a-wish. good on ya' blizz.

school projects suck. i'm juggling 5 school projects right now for 3 seperate classes. its been sort of difficult to keep things straight especially when the projects are on the same yet different topics.

haven't done anything artsy related late.. just haven't had the energy. been doing a lot of movie watching instead.. trying to get caught up on all of the classics that i haven't seen yet. i've got the godfather saga queued up in netflix.. i still haven't seen them yet.

getting old sucks. going to be 30.. feel like i'm 60.. act like i'm 12.

trial & error

2009-10-14T07:57:00.001-04:00

up all night doing some school work and farting around in 3dsmax. i got this amazing idea to rework one of my previous school projects in 3d.. texture and all. only problem is i am still a virgin when it comes to texturing. in hopes of resolving this i went ahead and modeled something simple, an oil drum and tried to get it textured. i have to say not bad for my first real attempt at proper textures.

here is the drawing that i'd like to attempt to 3d'ize...

arnoldswartzencow

2009-10-08T16:22:00.005-04:00

been doing some spring cleaning today, deleting junk files that have build up, and i came across this gem.

he was made for the final project for my digital illustration class back in february.

perfect perfection is not quite perfect

2009-10-08T11:08:00.005-04:00

just a quickie, i received a grade of 99 on animation. the one point deduction was for a minor problem with my cow texture. specifically the neck. i think the problem was how the spot kinda crosses over the neckline. in the video it looks like the neck is a bit contorted but it's only cause of the black spot. i didn't spend a whole lot of time on that texture map, honestly it was the first one i've ever done and not the best of jobs. i did want to go back and clean it up but it just hadn't crossed my mind as i was finishing the animation. oh well. good feedback from my instructor though, which i am very thankful for. and to toot my own horn a bit more.. finished the class with a 96%. straight A's.. i has them.

my blog looks like shit. i need to work on a "professional" looking layout sometime.

3DS Max Tutorial 01: Spinning UFO

2009-10-07T17:01:00.014-04:00

There was some interesting in how I created the spinning UFO in my animation so here is my first ever attempt at a tutorial. Honestly it is a simple process and doesn't require any advanced knowledge of 3DS Max. I'm assuming you know how to create models in Max.

0. I'm not going to explain how to model the UFO. Basically I started with a sphere and squished it until I got the saucer. The detail was added later but is an important part of making the animation work. If you don't break the flat surface of the UFO it'll be difficult to tell that it is spinning.

1. To get the top and bottom halves spinning independently you'll have to split the saucer in two. All I did was select the polygons around the middle of the UFO and cloned them to a new object. I then deleted the original polygons. Make sure to rename both parts.

2. Select the main / top&bottom of the UFO. Turn on the Rotate gizmo (E key). On the timeline, make sure you're at frame 0 and turn on Auto Key. Click Set Key or the button with the key on it to set a keyframe.

3. Move to frame 50, make sure the top half of the UFO is still selected. Rotate the UFO 360 degrees counter-clockwise around the Z axis. A keyframe should be created, if not click Set Key again

4. Do the same thing to the middle section of the UFO except rotate 360 degrees in a clockwise direction.

5. Hold control and click on both halves to select them.

6. Open the Curve Editor. There is a button on the toolbar.

7. Hopefully the Track View - Curve Editor window will open and look like this.

8. The Curve Editor allows you to tweak your animation with some precision. Marquee select all of the nodes (gray boxes) in the graph.

9. Menu bar click Controller > Out-of-Range Types...

10. The Param Curve Out-of-Range Types window will popup. Click on the Loop button and press Ok.

11. The Curve Editor should now look something like this.

12. Again marquee select the nodes, if not still selected, and click the Set Tangents to Linear button on the toolbar. This will turn the motion curves to straight lines thus making the rotation smooth (instead of the default slow-in slow-out motion).

13. Close the Curve Editor and click Play Animation. Look at that UFO spin!

If you look at my first image of the UFO model, the green cube hovering above is a dummy object that I used to make the UFO fly along a path.. which is a whole another tutorial for another day maybe.

Also a note. If you do use a dummy and plan on moving the UFO, make sure to Link the middle section of the UFO to the rest of the body. Do this AFTER you have the rotation animation working like you want it or you won't be able to rotate them separately.

spooky

2009-10-06T14:20:00.001-04:00

no classes for a week so i decided to start working on a personal project. this is just a preview of what i have planned. lookit..

AlienCow Versus the UFO World Premiere!

2009-10-04T01:47:00.005-04:00

dwell i'm glad this project is finished, for now. i learned a ton about modeling and animation in its creation which was the purpose of the project. i intend on revisiting this thing later on and tweak some parts.. i think i say that with everything i create. anyway.. here it be. oh and happy october.. 2 months till christmas!

insomnia = web surfing

2009-09-30T03:53:00.005-04:00

every once in awhile, 2 or 3 times a weeks, i end up not being able to sleep so instead i spend my night surfing websites or watching youtube. tonight's adventure led me to an art portfolio for gregory callahan. short story made short.. i want to be like him when i grow up. his roller bunny zbrush sculpt is AMAZING and this is the kind of quality stuff i strive to create.

http://gcallahan.com/?p=585

working daily on my animation project, it's about 80% complete. rendered a hi-res test image, look it...

big boom

2009-09-25T06:20:00.007-04:00

just spent the last 7 hours trying to figure out how to make a gun pop out of the back of my alien cow. this is what i came up with...

i did finally figure out uvw mapping. notice a.c.'s texture has changed since the preliminary images. i've also diddled a bit more with linking and animating. i is getting better but still have a lot to learn.

the middle section of the ufo is spinning. very hard to tell in the video. that's something i'll need to address later. also the black bars around the video annoy me. i know the culprit is adobe premiere but i'm not sure how to get rid of it at the moment. maybe if i actually read the manual i'd figure it out?

the full animation is due in one week. at least the hard part is over.. now i just need to make it all move.

edbit: okay.. for some reason the video isn't playing right. i've run into the same problem on youtube. gonna leave it alone for now, maybe it'll fix itself.

edbititde#2: new video with the weapon animation plus some. i love how the "beam me up, scotty" lighting effect turned out. final is due this week, i'll get that posted once it is ready.

eek a mouse!

2009-09-20T18:53:00.001-04:00

couple screwy bits with the animation but otherwise not bad. i am not too proud of the texturing. as I look at it now i could do a lot better. maybe i'll wait a few months and come back to this and rework it.. we'll see how much i can improve.

project 2 w.i.p.

2009-09-20T17:01:00.004-04:00

got some stuffs to show off. this is my progress so far on "aliencow vs the ufo". i've got less than 2 weeks left to work on it, hopefully i can finish it in that time.

good grades are very good.

2009-09-14T23:00:00.001-04:00

got the grades for my animation assignments last week. my bouncing ball got a 100. couple of things i could improve on it, which i might when i get a chance. the second animation which was my mouse animation I was given a 95 and the comment "one of the best in the class." excuse me while i go pat myself on the back.

[ youtube video goes here ]

currently working on project 2 for the class.. i has some big plans for it.

random ramblings #4

2009-09-08T16:47:00.004-04:00

wanted to post an image that i rendered of a practice character that i'm working with this week for class. after reading the lecture and some notes from my instructor i realized that the pose isn't exactly what is required for my assignment so i won't be submitting the image. i really liked the pose though and wanted to show it off. i LOVE the expression! the character rig is compliments of creativecrash.com

"THIS ISN'T SPARTA!"

Finished my mouse animation at midnight sunday night. it took 5 weeks of hell to produce but i'm semi happy with the results. once i get a chance to play with the final video i'll post it. it's not web friendly atm.

its alive!!!

2009-09-04T16:00:00.002-04:00

my very first finished animation! kinda annoyed that it gets cut off at the end due to youtube's insertion of crap. not sure how to fix it. if you could actually watch the ending the ball explodes.

my mouse is slowing getting animated. its been a huge pain in the ass from the beginning.

thanks verizon.

2009-09-03T17:32:00.007-04:00

just taking a sec to mention how happy i am being a verizon customer.

about 20 minutes ago my dsl died. it wasn't long before it was back up and things are resuming as normal. this was the first actual dsl outage i've had in a LONG time and it was a very minor one. i've been a verizon dsl subscriber since 2001 and so far so good. i have no complaints. i'm also happy with my telephone service and my new blackberry storm on verizon's wireless is kickass. so just wanted to say, thank you verizon for providing me with some awesome services to keep me connected and working. you doods rock!

now i've probably jinx'd myself and i'm going to lose dsl, phone, and wireless access for a week....

still working on my mouse animation midterm. it's about 50% complete.. i hate animation. i might have to create a youtube account and show it off. i also have a bouncing ball animation that i'm pretty proud of. on the scale of good and bad 3d animation.. they're crap but i'm still a 3dsmax virgin.

happy september!

2009-08-31T23:47:00.004-04:00

happy september all!
there are 115 days until christmas!

summer ends soon.. fall is around the corner and i am hoping for an early winter, my favorite time of year, with tons of snow.

midterms are evil..here's what i've been working on so far...

brown mouse vs gray mouse! who will come out the victor?

mice are in, changed some textures in the kitchen and added some props. all that's left is to animate the mice and polish it up... before this sunday.

random ramblings #3

2009-08-31T00:49:00.004-04:00

late late night posts ftw.

honestly don't know why i'm posting anything. was looking at the blog and a little voice said "make a new post" so i am.. but i have nothing to talk about. /shrug

about to do some random modeling. i want to throw a toaster to put in my kitchen environment for my 3d modeling and animation class. that project is due this week but i still can't get my frikkin mouse animated. here.. lookit some pics from my assignment last week. focused on lighting this week and i had to create some scenes...

Blizzcon 2009 - Diablo 3 heroes and monsters

2009-08-21T18:01:00.003-04:00

wasn't much to get excited over from the D3 panel. they explained the monk class and how it'll work. combos combined with holy magic. all very cool and i can't wait to play it.

there was a lot of discussion about how they develop mobs and character skills which was interesting. they mentioned a lot of things that i have learned about and currently learning about in my classes. how ideas go from concept and testing in the game then redesigned for gameplay balance. all of the stuff i can hopefully look forward to.

more talk going on right now about diablo 3 and what's going on at blizzcon. looks like a starcraft 2/battle.net panel coming up at 6:30. wow class panel at 8 and then the contests. so still some juicy bits coming up tonight. i really wish my headache would go away. ugh.

Blizzcon 2009 - cinematic making of video

2009-08-21T16:56:00.003-04:00

very cool. they actually showed parts of the process that the cinematics team at blizzard use to make the cinematics in the game. wasn't much for me to learn, i know the process very well, but it's always cool to see the behind the scenes stuff, especially of the art.

couldn't tell what any of the software they use was. the modeling software looked very foreign, could possibly be their own in house modeling software. i noticed that the concept artists and some animators use wacom cintiqs... lucky bastards. i can has?

so much new art, articles, and videos to read and view. talk about information overload.

diablo 3 heroes & monsters panels starting up. more monky goodness, yay!

Blizzcon 2009 - WoW Preview Panel

2009-08-21T16:36:00.002-04:00

whew.. i've still got a headache.

the preview panel had a ton of new cataclysm info. i'm very excited about the new races, especially worgen. they look like a very cool werewolf, horror film, gothic sort of race.. which i am all into. of course it'll all open up new lore which is always good. can't wait to play it or atleast see a video of the new zone from blizzcon.

so basically deathwing is finally back and he's causing the world to go to hell. which itself is an awesome story. i've always wondered what dw has been doing since warcraft 2. apparently he's back, he's very very powerful and highly pissed at everyone. one of the zones, and where deathwing is making his home, is twilight highlands where grim bitol is/was. i'm glad they finally brought back the zone and updated it. it should be filled with oh so juicy dragon lore and probably some alexstrasza stuff.. i'm sure she wants to get her talons on deathwing.

new pvp of course.. new battlegrounds, i think tom chilton mentioned 3 new battlegrounds, whoa. i'm sure i'll be spending plenty of time in them.

ppv is interviewing paul sams right now and doing movie talk. i'm going to get some food and work on my headache. bbl.

Blizzon 2009 - dayum..

2009-08-21T15:21:00.004-04:00

Okay so, Cataclysm is officially announced. I've got one hell of a headache from trying to keep up with the blog and watch the PPV. I think I'm going to kill the play-by-play and just post after the panels and events. Since I only get one chance to see Blizzcon I want to actually watch and enjoy it, not type the whole time. I also want to catch up on Twitter and some of the other fan site coverage.

Blizzcon 2009 - Intro & Opening Ceremony

2009-08-21T13:29:00.037-04:00

My personal commentary on BlizzCon 2009's Pay-Per-View event. I'll be updating as I get info from the con or whenever I have something to say.

---- Friday August 21, 2009 - Opening Ceremony ----

[3:04pm] World of Warcraft: Cataclysm officially announced.. I've got chills.

Video of current Azeroth landmarks turned to rubble.

New Horde race: Goblins.

New Alliance race: Worgen.. and they look very sexy.

Flying Mounts in Azeroth
New Class/Race combinations

New monsters. Some concept art of golems, a stone turtle, dinosaur types. There was a clip of a black dragon, Deathwing most likely.. knew that was coming.

Very cool looking underwater raid and something that looked like Blackrock Mountain. Also a new drake. Looked a bit like a netherdrake but was purple and transparent.

Level cap raised to 85

New Secondary Profession: Archeology

Guild Leveling System and Achievements

Heroic Instances of Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep

New Leveling Progression: Path of the Titans

Whew.. I'm spent.

[3:03pm] Chris going back to topics on Azeroth and touching on the rumors.

[2:57pm] Diablo 3 talk. Unveiling a new class today, the Monk.

In-game cinematic (machinama) of the monk. Looking very cool.

Showing some gameplay of the monk. I think I found my new favorite Diablo class. He's doing combos of spells and melee attacks.

[2:55pm] Chris showing the Blizzard employee shirt. Talking about announcements and what they've been doing the past year. Says there's some new trailers to show.

[2:52pm] Chris Metzen on stage. Stream died again. No big announcement yet... hmmmmm.

[2:46pm] Still Mike talking about Sam Raimi and the Warcraft movie. Random talk about things going on at Blizzcon and the goodie bag.. the n00bz figure which can be sold on ebay for "the price of a small car."

Jay Mohr and other celebrities appearing at Blizzcon. L80ETC and Ozzy Osbourne. Flash of Ozzy's WoW commercial.

[2:44pm] Talking about faction changing "on the same realm." doh!

Some talk about Onyxia, a few groans from the crowd. Starcraft 2 and the new Battle.net

[2:39pm] Mike welcoming fans online and overseas.

Flashback from last years Blizzcon and Wrath launch.

[2:36pm] Mike just said "everyone is waiting for something cataclysmic to happen."

[2:34pm] Mr Mike Morhaime comes on stage.. kinda bushy lookin this year. My net stream has died.

[2:32pm] Gary Blatner (?) talking to the con attendees. He opened by listing the blizzcon attendee pet-peeves.. wasn't paying attention

[2:31pm] Opening ceremony about to begin.. another audio glitch %(*)@&%@

[2:28pm] Hosts specifically talking about the rumors of Cataclysm. Yeah soooo.. if it wasn't true would they actually be talking about it live on DirecTV?

[2:25pm] Just showed 5 girls dressed as Draenai. Gotta please the guys.

Jo Garcia interviewing some people at the store. Aussie's buying some plush murlocs. Showing off some other items available at the store.

[2:21pm] Interview talking about the history of the n00bz figures at Blizzcon this year. Interviews with the employee winners who designed custom n00b dolls. All of them Blizzard artists, w00t.

[2:19pm] Hosts showing off the goodie bag. No beta key this year.

[2:18pm] Roving reporter talking about the Starcraft 2. Dude dressed up like Jim Raynor.

[2:15pm] Still talking about tournament brackets. A countdown timer has been put on the screen. About 14 minutes until the opening ceremony.

[2:11pm] More audio hiccups. Kim "Bunny" Phan talking with the hosts.. who's names I've missed at the beginning of the show. More audio problems from DTV and buffering on the net stream.

Talk about the tournaments going on at Blizzcon.. good get all of this out of the way now so we don't have to hear about it again.

[2:08pm] Interrupted the hosts to show a video of the Blizzard HQ tour.. which happens to be the same video they showed last year. You can find it on YouTube.

"I've got a Wrath of the Lich King expansion to ship."

[2:06pm] Okay it was a problem on my end. Had to buff my tv's volume up to hear it. Nothing interesting, DirecTV's hosts talking about the show schedule. They mention something about "new expansion" I missed it. Oops, audio out again.

[2:04pm] Oh hay, what a surprise.. NO AUDIO.. technical goof up #1

[2:02pm] PPV introduction, what to expect etc etc. The net stream is kinda jumpy.. not surprised.

BlizzCon 2009 - Preshow

2009-08-21T10:26:00.020-04:00

My personal commentary on BlizzCon 2009's Pay-Per-View event. I'll be updating as I get info from the con or whenever I have something to say.

---- Friday August 21, 2009 - Pre-Blizzcon ----

[1:50pm] Ten minutes to go. I'm expecting the big announcement this year to be Cataclysm or the real name of the new WoW expansion and some info on it. I of course want to see what is planned for Icecrown. Starcraft 2 and it's released date would be nice, maybe some info on the beta. As for Diablo 3, probably one or two new player classes along with some game play stuff. As usual, I always look forward to whatever I can watch/listen to from the panels. Being a game art & design student that's the stuff I'm really interested in from the cons. Five minutes to go!

[1:44pm] Lots of buffering goin on with the net stream even at low quality. I'm sure it's going to get worse as the show actually begins, especially during the opening ceremony. DirecTV's actually ppv is going strong as long as the rain stays away.

[1:26pm] Getting myself organized to watch the PPV. Rain has stopped for now and I'm getting a clear signal, hurrah. The internet stream has started buffering like mad, figured that would happen. Only 30 minutes left until the Welcome and Opening Ceremony.

[1:06pm] Updates on Twitter announcing that the doors at the con are open to the public. I'm sure updates will begin flowing from the con floor now. Less than 1 hour to go!

[12:38pm] Rain has started again and my DirecTV signal is ~~hiccuping~~ lost for the moment. The live internet stream is going strong though.. for now.

[12:32pm] Testing out screen shots of the live stream...

Success! A little fuzzy but will work :)

[12:16pm] Tuned into the live stream at blizzcon.rayv.com. Seems to be working quite well at the moment. It is showing the same as I see on DirecTV with a few second delay. They've also posted the schedule for the PPV, happy to see that nothing is mentioned about the tournaments, it's all panels and features. Not all of the panels I want to see are listed but as long as the panels aren't interrupted for crap I'll be happy. Less than 2 hours to go!

[11:34am] From Sons of the Storm. An update made a few days ago mentioned that the sons will be having an autograph sessions today and L80ETC will be opening for Ozzy. This says to me that they won't be playing with Ozzy. Bummer but we'll see. I'm also reminded of the awesomeness of BlizzCon that I am missing out by not actually attending. I'd love a chance to mingle with Samwise and the other sons.

[11:00am] 3 hours and counting. Just checked the radar and more storms are moving my way. *sigh*. I may get lucky and my dtv signal will hold through the rain.. have to wait and see.

[10:34am] So far my satellite signal has only been lost once due to rain. It's sunny at the moment but I am sure it won't stay this way. I ordered the internet stream also, supposedly free to DirecTV subscribers. That'll be my backup feed.

I am curious how the Ozzy concert will go. I am hoping for a decent concert but I fear it may just turn out to be a lame marketing gimmick. I can't expect Ozzy to perform many songs either, 2 or 3 and the show will be over. Someone had mentioned that L80ETC will be playing backup for Ozzy, that would definitely be badass.

[10:26am] DirecTV is on my tv and tuned to channel 121 ready for the PPV to begin. Nothing yet, just looping video of the cinematic openings from WotLK, D3, and SC2, along with some footage from Blizzcon 08. I expect this to go on until around 2pm.

Read somewhere that Grunty interacts with the Zergling pet. I'm trying my best not to look at any spoilers until after the con. I am sure it's super cool.

most excellent blizzcon 09 coverage

2009-08-20T18:26:00.005-04:00

here be a list of the websites and stuff that i am tracking for my blizzcon news.

WoW Radio - Blizzcon '09 Coverage
WoW.com's Guide to Blizzcon - WoW.com

WoW Radio has been doing some live audio broadcasting the past two days, right now actually. definitely worth listening to.

i'll update as i discover more.

blizzcon 09.. less than 24 hours away!

2009-08-20T18:14:00.005-04:00

i've been keeping an eye on all of my favorite blizzard related sites today. just came across a little linky that totally made my day. following http://www.blizzcon/com/pet takes you to the battle.net login and then a redemption box where you'd enter the code for Grunty. the part that i was very happy to see...

This item will be sent to ALL of your World of Warcraft Characters in the participating regions associated with this Battle.net Account. Note that World of Warcraft items will be sent to your in-game mailbox. Please be sure you have inventory space available when redeeming promotional items.

meaning, receiving the pet will work just like the collector's edition pets. it'll be mailed to every character on the account.. current and future (i hope). this means i'll be able to run around with Grunty on my alliance and horde servers. i am quite happy about this. last year's big blizzard bear mount was only redeamable on a single server... and you only received one of the items. this system with grunty will be much, much better. that's all i have for now. my ppv is pre-ordered from directv and 6am tomorrow morning i'll start seeing the broadcast, most likely 8 hours of blizzard cinematics like last year until the official opening ceremony starts at 2pm est. i still plan on posting blog updates with anything i learn from the ppv and my thoughts.

incoming blizzcon 09

2009-08-14T15:04:00.003-04:00

i am frikkin psyched for blizzcon this year. since there's no way in hell i can travel the 2000+ miles to anaheim for the convention, like last year, i'll be sitting home and watching the coverage on directv. not that anyone cares but i'll will try to update my blog with my thoughts about the ppv as i see it. hopefully it'll be better than last year's but if not, i'll still have the pet murloc marine as a going away present. please, directv, don't cut your coverage of the panels short just to show the tournaments that noone actually cares about.

quickie: about damn time.

2009-08-14T14:55:00.003-04:00

a quick post since i haven't updated in a few weeks.

6th term is underway, so far so good. the best part is i finally got into a 3d modeling class. i'm movin and groovin right along in 3ds max and i'm far enough along that i can make some decent looking models. i'll have to post some samples here soon.

i realized yesterday that it's less than 5 months till xmas. that made me happy. i always look forward to fall/winter.. i love cold weather. nothin like sittin around on a lazy day in warm pjs and watching the snow fall.. i can't wait.

summer vacation?

2009-07-28T16:35:00.002-04:00

just a quickie.

got my finals finished on sunday and now i am officially on summer break. so far its been spent playing wow.. and will probably continue in the same manner. still waiting on some final grades but so far so good.

words of wisdom.. never tell your parents where you hide your piggy bank.

futility..

2009-07-21T09:58:00.001-04:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

bwahahaha! i love it!

Cheshire Cat + Sith =

2009-07-20T21:07:00.004-04:00

i have always stuck to the rule of keeping my school projects to myself until they're finished and i get a grade but this time i can't help myself. my final project for my character design class is a combination of the Cheshire Cat from "Alice in Wonderland" and the Sith characters from the Star Wars universe. this is only a sketch and isn't finished but I am pretty damn proud of the results so far. plenty of goof ups to correct and cleaning to do. after my project is finished i may refine the sketch and color it. i also need to come up with a name for her.

turned the scan purple in an attempt to make it look more cheshire cat'ish...

random ramblings #2

2009-07-19T05:10:00.005-04:00

sunday isn't my day of rest, it's ending up to be crunch time. i have a whole week, sometimes more, to do my assignments and i usually always leave the bulk of it for sunday.. the day the work is due. i can't find a cause for it because there's too many reasons for it.

i never thought it'd be so difficult to develop an alien creature. no matter how much i try to be creative, my mind keeps going back to little green men. i think perhaps i've had to milk my creative juices so frikkin much this term that i'm drained. it is tough coming up with new ideas for characters and drawings every week. during my upcoming week off i am taking atleast one day to lay in bed and think about nothingness.

cloverfield is a lame movie. transformers 2 is awesomesauce.. can't wait for the dvd.

i've been doing battlegrounds a lot in the past few days. i've been a part of quite a few winning games. i wonder what caused alliance players to decide to play to win all of a sudden?

no idea what is up with the game dev team i joined for the summer contest. we turned in a "demo" version of the game last tuesday. after that i haven't heard from anyone. maybe i should gather a search team?

sort of pissed at myself. i really wanted to enter some art for the blizzcon fan art contest this year. i know i probably wouldn't even place top 10 but i figure i'm am "artist" i could atleast submit something. the idea is solid but i've known about the contest for over a month yet i still haven't gotten around to sketch anything. i might still try, there's still a week or so left to turn in entries.

cant sleep, angry jungle gnome will eat me

2009-07-01T18:31:00.003-04:00

thank you baby arthas

2009-06-29T17:52:00.003-04:00

'member the list of things i'd wish from blizzard for xmas. one of those wishes seems to be coming true.

Faction-Change Service in the Works

pardon me, i'm going to go cry tears of joy.

"the funk of 40,000 years"

2009-06-26T10:03:00.000-04:00

thought i'd spend a minute or two and recall some childhood memories. like everyone else on the planet, i'm shocked at michael jackson's death. being a big fan of music and an in the closet musician, i was a fan in the musical sense. i have a few albums which i'll listen to in a blue moon but it's nothing to the fandom that i feel for my favorite bands like aerosmith and evanescense. to be the fan of his music that i am, i have to force myself to look past all of the bullshit and focus on his music. one of my favorite songs is, after all, 'smooth criminal'.

anyway, i do have a memory of michael jackson, sort of, that's stuck with me. when i was around six my sister's (they were in high school at the time) had a thriller viewmaster. i checked it out one day under one of my sister's supervision (yeah right) and it scared the living shit out of me.

i'll finish it one of these days

2009-06-23T20:33:00.001-04:00

it's a "work in progress"

this is what i wake up to

2009-06-21T23:21:00.000-04:00

father's day and i cashed in my 'go outside once a month' card... i'm kidding.. or am i?

anyway this is what i get to see every day. i live in the crappiest part of pennsylvania. there's nothing to do, no jobs, and the people are absolute assholes but man is it prettyful.

attack of the moronic professor!

2009-06-21T02:58:00.000-04:00

i shouldn't post this but i am.. part of my schooling requires we post to our class forums atleast 3 times a week. once by wednesday at midnight and two more times by sunday.

the following was posted on THURSDAY... the names were removed to protect the stupid...

Professor 18 Jun 09 5:36 PM MST
Hope you all are enjoying your work with Unit 4 this week!

As usual, you should have posted at least once by the Wednesday deadline and then provide two other posts by the end of the unit.

Let me know if you have any questions at all. I am always here to help, so don't hesitate to ask.

Response from Student #1 18 Jun 09 6:47 PM MST
Boy, I sure hope I aint as far behind as you are, Professor. Easter has come and gone already!
Response from Professor 18 Jun 09 10:16 PM MST
Thanks for that clarification, (Student #1). Sorry for the confusion.
Response from Student #2 20 Jun 09 12:05 PM MST
I dont get it.

confusion.. a lot of that happens in this class. also to note, mr professor ends pretty much every post and email with the same "let me know if you have questions..." line. he will forever be known as mr copy & paste to me.

random ramblings #1

2009-06-21T00:28:00.000-04:00

finally got a chance to check in with the guys on my team for the summer game competition. it is always tough to work on a project with others online. constantly communicating with everyone on the team is an important part. you'd think with all of the different chat programs around there wouldn't be communication barriers but there are. the toughest part is you don't have the physical real time contact like you would in an office or studio.

"does not compute"

2009-06-19T08:30:00.000-04:00

nothing like some early morning idiocy to start your day.

i swear my character design professor is a robot.. a moronic copy & paste robot who can't answer questions with just a simple yes or no answer but instead copy and pastes cryptic responses to very simple questions.

busy and bored

2009-06-16T20:27:00.000-04:00

just thought i'd post something to keep the dust off the blog. i'm kinda busy this week with mid term projects.

i also just joined a team for the college summer game design contest. i'll be putting my graphics skills to use while working with a team of students on a 2d game. not much else to say on that right now.

aerosmith is back on tour, i'm really excited about that but also pissed cause i don't think i'll be seeing them this time around. the last time i actually saw them in concert was around '97 during the nine lives tour. was an awesome show and my first real concert. i'd like to see them once more before i'm too old.. cause we all know aerosmith will be around way after i'm gone. ^A^

solar system

2009-06-13T15:11:00.000-04:00

i created this for school last year but it is something that i am most proud of...

100% barebones photoshop cs3

picture post test - evil doctor sketch

2009-06-13T14:59:00.000-04:00

i wanted to start posting some images of assignments for my classes and also test out how posting images on the blog goes. so here is a character that i had to design for my character... design class.

.. he's nothing special. i'm quite proud of myself with the hands in the side view. i suck at drawing hands.

what i want from blizzard for xmas

2009-06-12T19:36:00.000-04:00

dear blizzard's winter presents hander outer,

i been good this year and here is what i'd like for xmas

1. fix the size of gnomes while mounted.. too big
2. cow non-combat pets
3. cross faction character transfers
4. a better orb of deception... make 'em like the orb from mgt
5. no more ganking people who are 4 levels or more below you.. aka 80's can't gank 76 and lower.

kthx

pvp is bad for my health

2009-06-11T19:03:00.000-04:00

i have been pvping a lot lately on my 80 gnome rogue. i haven't pvp'd in a long time but so far my opinion.. alliance still sucks. yeah yeah i could transfer to a different battlegroup and probably have a better time but i have too many friends on my current realm. i've been playing on the same realm since release.

to cure my hate yet still do some pvping i have always wanted to form a dedicated pvp group/guild on my realm. i have a few problems with this idea....

1. none of my friends are interested, they don't bother with pvp
2. i'm not too keen on starting a team with nothing but people i don't know
3. i REALLY wouldn't want to lead it

so what can i do? keep truckin away at this mess? reroll? transfer? quit cold turkey? the world may never know.

world of warcraft pvp

2009-06-10T22:39:00.000-04:00

on this edition of thinkin' stupid...

oh i'm gonna have a whole slew of these types of posts cause the topic highly pisses me off.

i'm sure people are familiar with wow's warsong gulch battleground. well i play alliance and the players in my battleground are composed of 90% morons.

here's a common sense tips for wsg...

when the other team takes your flag, turn the hell around and look for the flag carrier. your number one priority in wsg should be to keep the other team from capturing your flag. its not hard to turn your focus away from your duel in mid field and look for the fc.

and most important: kill healers first.

wtf is a blog?

2009-06-07T17:20:00.000-04:00

i got the idea for this from a classmate. i attend Westwood College Online, i'm a game art and design major. i figured it'd be cool to have a place where i can vent about any damn thing i want and to show off some of my school work.

i chose "thinkin' stupid" from a t-shirt i have. the saying on the back reads "i won't say you're stupid but i'm thinkin' it". it doesn't have a thing related to art but i like it. my shirt is compliments of http://www.bigdogs.com