Jan 2009
G-Force Trailer
31/01/09 10:24 Filed in: Animation
Stumbled upon this trailer for a movie called GForce. It's about guinea pigs used by the government trained to do covert espionage. Equipped with the latest high-tech spy gadgets this can only be one comedy adventure not to be missed. Interestingly it's produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (who brought us such movies/TV Shows as CSI, Pirates of the Caribbean, Black Hawk Down, Gone in Sixty Seconds etc.) so it would be a must-see movie come July 24 2009.
Got my new 22" monitor
27/01/09 12:43 Filed in: Personal
I received my new monitor today. It's the ViewSonic VX2240W. And I must say I like it a lot. At 22" Widescreen with both VGA and DVI, a 2ms refresh rate, and a dynamic contrast ration of 4000:1 it is looking pretty slick. Nice thing about it I can share it between my PC and Mac. Got the PC hooked up via DVI and the Mac via Sub-D (normal 15-pin VGA connector) and I can switch between the two inputs. That extra screen-estate sure is very handy.
President Barrack Obama sworn in
20/01/09 19:27 Filed in: In The News
Barrack Obama has just been sworn in as the 44th president of the USA and I got to say, I'm pretty excited about it. There is quite a buzz at the inauguration and the "Obama! Obama!" chanting coming from the crowd is quite positive. I got to say, he is entering presidency with tough times ahead. Lots of things that needs to be fixed. I wish him good luck.
SilverKeeper, a very nice OS X backup app
17/01/09 11:08 Filed in: Personal
After my previous hard drive on this Mac Mini failed and I didn't have any full backups of everything, I decided to look for some kind of backup solution.
I wanted to make a daily backup of my Address Book and iCal data to an external drive/share on my network. Also a full backup once a week of my home folder (and sub-folders) to the network share.
After trying numerous backup programs (all trial version) and testing stuff with Automator, I stumbled upon SilverKeeper by Lacie (those people that create external hard drives etc.). Best of all, it's free (Just need to register your details, but you can opt out of all their mailing lists)!
This app is really nice and easy to use. You select your source folder, set your destination folder (which is a shared folder on my Windows XP PC), and set your schedule (if you so desire). Voilla!
My PC in turn then backs up all my important studies data from my animation course, my Mac's Address Book and iCal data, and then once a week FTP that over to an external server. It also makes a full backup of my PC and Mac's full backup to an external drive.
I reckon I'm sorted now when it comes to a data backup procedure. So, critical data offsite, non-critical but still important data onto an external drive. Everything is automated, from my PC and Mac both switching themselves on at 6am every day, to having all the backups kicking off between 06h05 to 07h00 so that by the time I'm up and had breakfast, my data is safely backed up and I now have more peace of mind.
Eddie Izzard - Death Star Canteen
Oh man that is funny. Love Eddie's work but this is even better.
"Up" sneak peek with Pete Docter
12/01/09 08:36 Filed in: Animation
| In The News
Another sneak peek at the upcoming animated movie, Up.
Microsoft managed to stay crap at making ads.
10/01/09 09:56 Filed in: In The News
| Humor
Microsoft has done it again!
They made yet another crap ad for their new app
called Songsmith. Well done MS, you've managed to outdone
yourselves yet again. Is this the best you guys
can do at taking a stab at Magic Garageband Jam from
Apple? Pathetic!
Ok people, you know the drill, go grab your barf bags. Don't say I didn't warn you!
Ok people, you know the drill, go grab your barf bags. Don't say I didn't warn you!
Norwegian Firefighters
06/01/09 11:09 Filed in: Humor
One dark night outside a small town outside of New
York, a fire abruptly started inside the local
chemical plant and immediately engulfed the plant in
flames. The alarm went out to all the fire
departments for miles around. When the volunteer fire
fighters appeared on the scene, the chemical company
president rushed straight to the fire chief and said,
"All our secret formulas are in the vault in the
center of the plant. They must be saved!! I will give
$50,000 to the fire department who retrieves them
intact." But the roaring flames held the firefighters
back. Soon more fire departments had to be called in
as the situation became desperate.
As the firemen arrived, the president shouted aloud that the offer was now $100,000 to the fire department who could bring out the company's secret files. From the distance, a lone siren was heard as another fire truck came into view. It was the nearby Norwegian township volunteer fire brigade composed mainly of Norwegians over the age of 60. To everyone's amazement, the little run-down fire engine roared right past all the more modern sleek engines that were parked outside the plant.
Without even slowing down it drove straight into the middle of the inferno. Outside, the other firemen watched as the old Norwegian firefighters jumped off right in the middle of the fire and fought it back on every side. Within a short time, the Norwegian old timers had extinguished the fire and saved the secret formulas. The grateful chemical company president announced that for such an amazing feat he was upping the reward to $200,000, and walked over to personally thank each of the brave fire fighters.
The local TV news reporter rushed in to capture the event on film, asking their fire chief, "What are you going to do with massive reward?"
"Vell," said Larsen, the 68-year-old fire chief, "Da first thing ve is gonna do is fix da brakes on dat focking truck!"
As the firemen arrived, the president shouted aloud that the offer was now $100,000 to the fire department who could bring out the company's secret files. From the distance, a lone siren was heard as another fire truck came into view. It was the nearby Norwegian township volunteer fire brigade composed mainly of Norwegians over the age of 60. To everyone's amazement, the little run-down fire engine roared right past all the more modern sleek engines that were parked outside the plant.
Without even slowing down it drove straight into the middle of the inferno. Outside, the other firemen watched as the old Norwegian firefighters jumped off right in the middle of the fire and fought it back on every side. Within a short time, the Norwegian old timers had extinguished the fire and saved the secret formulas. The grateful chemical company president announced that for such an amazing feat he was upping the reward to $200,000, and walked over to personally thank each of the brave fire fighters.
The local TV news reporter rushed in to capture the event on film, asking their fire chief, "What are you going to do with massive reward?"
"Vell," said Larsen, the 68-year-old fire chief, "Da first thing ve is gonna do is fix da brakes on dat focking truck!"
Guide Dog
06/01/09 11:07 Filed in: Humor
A visitor to San Francisco is standing on a street
corner waiting for a bus when he notices a blind man
and his guide dog.
The dog leads the man into the street, where he is brushed by an oncoming car. The man is knocked down, and he rather gingerly gets back up. He calls the guide dog over, reaches into his pocket, pulls out a canine treat, and gives it to the dog.
The visitor, upon seeing all this, walks over to the blind man and says, "That's amazing! Your guide dog led you into a busy street where you were nearly run over by a car, and yet you're giving the dog a treat. You must really love that dog."
The blind man turns to the visitor and says, "No, I'm gonna kick that dogs butt -- I'm just trying to find out which end is which."
The dog leads the man into the street, where he is brushed by an oncoming car. The man is knocked down, and he rather gingerly gets back up. He calls the guide dog over, reaches into his pocket, pulls out a canine treat, and gives it to the dog.
The visitor, upon seeing all this, walks over to the blind man and says, "That's amazing! Your guide dog led you into a busy street where you were nearly run over by a car, and yet you're giving the dog a treat. You must really love that dog."
The blind man turns to the visitor and says, "No, I'm gonna kick that dogs butt -- I'm just trying to find out which end is which."
Steve Jobs is going to be fine!
05/01/09 16:43 Filed in: In The News
In a open letter to the Apple community, Steve Jobs have put the rumors about his deteriorating health to rest. It's a mere hormone imbalance for which there is a simple treatment. Can I ask that the plonkers that like to start and/or spread bad rumors stop acting like asshats and get on with your lives. Thanks.
AM Blog added
04/01/09 18:49 Filed in: Animation
| Animation
Mentor
I have decided to create a dedicated AnimationMentor blog. Also I
will be adding galleries of all the finished
weekly assignments for all the different
semesters. I have just added the clips of my
assignments I did. I will most probably be
posting more frequently there than here.
Happy New Year!
01/01/09 00:00 Filed in: Personal
I hope you all have had a good festive season and got back home safely. Class 1 of my AnimationMentor semester starts on Monday (5 January 2009) and I cannot wait. See you all on the flipside.
