Sunday, April 18, 2010
Hatsune Miku
Hatsune Miku came out around the time that I had a strong focus on drawing drawing and drawing. Video after video was released on Youtube and NicoVideo, and the popularity was hard to ignore. Despite her excessively long hair, I took an interest in her character and have often used her as one of my hieroglyph anime characters. Her costume is probably the one that I know best.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Back!
I'm going to post sketches.
Well, the paper is white, but I'm not going to scan, so woe to that. I guess this camera likes adding its own mood to the image. Back to work!
Well, the paper is white, but I'm not going to scan, so woe to that. I guess this camera likes adding its own mood to the image. Back to work!
AVATAR
Thank you, James Cameron, for the wonderful experience. In the same awe-inspiring way that Lucas' Star Wars created an exotic galaxy to be discovered, Avatar detailed just a fraction of a single life-supporting moon.
First off, the 3D. I'd held off on watching any 3D films, save the new Terminator ride at Universal Studios, for Avatar, and it was well worth it. The depth of vision really enhanced the illusion of a real world that our protagonists are visiting, and allowed my eyes to graze over and around the textures of every object, person, and even the beams of light piercing through the forest canopy. At first glance the CG looks top-notch and is undoubtedly the best in the world at this moment. The film really was "dream-like" and flying through the breathtaking view of the Hallelujah Mountains with its waterfalls evaporating into the wisps will not be topped anytime soon. While great stylized animated films rest unchallenged on their golden thrones, the struggle for realistic computer graphics is a continuing struggle in which each successive film tops the next with a bigger budget and better equipment. However, the lush landscape of Pandora has a magical quality that I feel will last.
With his having chosen to work on Avatar over Battle Angel first, I hope that James Cameron has learned enough about stereoscopic and computer graphics technology to have it be second nature. Adapting Battle Angel Alita into the film Alita, I hope, will be both an exhibition of groundbreaking visuals and of a successful adaptation of a Japanese manga into a live action film. Cameron has picked his title well, as Battle Angel Alita is less likely to suffer from whitewashing of the cast that film adaptations of Street Fighter, Dragonball, and Avatar: The Last Airbender have. With his announcing of the plot of the first Alita to be based on the Motorball arc, I wonder though how Cameron will be able to faithfully adapt the work and present it to film audiences.
My only gripe with 3D (that is, excluding 3D gimmicks), is the jarring experience of having to refocus my eyes to see the 3D when my eye wanders too far from the area on screen that is in focus. For video games that were presented in 3D at GDC this year, this was not so much a problem as the planes in the video feed were all in focus. Watching someone play a baseball game, I could observe the entire field, and should be able to do so considering that it is essential information to the player. With Avatar, however, whenever my eye strayed too far away from the protagonist to look at, say the bunker beds in the background, the 3D effect wore off. It was so much more an experience in which my eyes were asked to be on rails than be in the world.
One particular shot in Avatar caught my eye. In my notes here I wrote cliche, but reflecting upon it, I'll just regard it as another choice of shot. The shot is sometime into the film when the army flies into the Hallelujahs, and we, from a distance, see the entire fleet flying amongst the mountains. Where I would expect a cut, Cameron use a dramatic (I would call tacky) zoom into the ships to bring them closer to view. It's exciting, and this is an exciting film, though I can't help to wonder if Cameron used this technique from documentary work. It felt like a shot from a handheld (a very expensive one, I would imagine) , and director Kitamura would probably not approve.
Going into Avatar, I had read that Cameron took a scientific approach to making the film, creating and documenting the moon, Pandora, so that it would be as plausible as possible. The final product, however, only gleaned on the science fiction, coming nowhere close to the original scriptment. Given the length of the movie and the target audience, though, the cutting of geeky explanations was kinda necessary.
Lastly, Jenova Chen's "game" comment caught my eye. The press, Ubisoft, and Cameron were both excited about presenting a video game and film that underwent production simultaneously. However, sales failed to meet expectations despite the movie going on to become to highest grossing film of all time. To quote Chen: "Avatar is good. But based on the emotion the film try to convey and its plot, I feel it would be more impactful if it's told through a game."
First off, the 3D. I'd held off on watching any 3D films, save the new Terminator ride at Universal Studios, for Avatar, and it was well worth it. The depth of vision really enhanced the illusion of a real world that our protagonists are visiting, and allowed my eyes to graze over and around the textures of every object, person, and even the beams of light piercing through the forest canopy. At first glance the CG looks top-notch and is undoubtedly the best in the world at this moment. The film really was "dream-like" and flying through the breathtaking view of the Hallelujah Mountains with its waterfalls evaporating into the wisps will not be topped anytime soon. While great stylized animated films rest unchallenged on their golden thrones, the struggle for realistic computer graphics is a continuing struggle in which each successive film tops the next with a bigger budget and better equipment. However, the lush landscape of Pandora has a magical quality that I feel will last.
With his having chosen to work on Avatar over Battle Angel first, I hope that James Cameron has learned enough about stereoscopic and computer graphics technology to have it be second nature. Adapting Battle Angel Alita into the film Alita, I hope, will be both an exhibition of groundbreaking visuals and of a successful adaptation of a Japanese manga into a live action film. Cameron has picked his title well, as Battle Angel Alita is less likely to suffer from whitewashing of the cast that film adaptations of Street Fighter, Dragonball, and Avatar: The Last Airbender have. With his announcing of the plot of the first Alita to be based on the Motorball arc, I wonder though how Cameron will be able to faithfully adapt the work and present it to film audiences.
My only gripe with 3D (that is, excluding 3D gimmicks), is the jarring experience of having to refocus my eyes to see the 3D when my eye wanders too far from the area on screen that is in focus. For video games that were presented in 3D at GDC this year, this was not so much a problem as the planes in the video feed were all in focus. Watching someone play a baseball game, I could observe the entire field, and should be able to do so considering that it is essential information to the player. With Avatar, however, whenever my eye strayed too far away from the protagonist to look at, say the bunker beds in the background, the 3D effect wore off. It was so much more an experience in which my eyes were asked to be on rails than be in the world.
One particular shot in Avatar caught my eye. In my notes here I wrote cliche, but reflecting upon it, I'll just regard it as another choice of shot. The shot is sometime into the film when the army flies into the Hallelujahs, and we, from a distance, see the entire fleet flying amongst the mountains. Where I would expect a cut, Cameron use a dramatic (I would call tacky) zoom into the ships to bring them closer to view. It's exciting, and this is an exciting film, though I can't help to wonder if Cameron used this technique from documentary work. It felt like a shot from a handheld (a very expensive one, I would imagine) , and director Kitamura would probably not approve.
Going into Avatar, I had read that Cameron took a scientific approach to making the film, creating and documenting the moon, Pandora, so that it would be as plausible as possible. The final product, however, only gleaned on the science fiction, coming nowhere close to the original scriptment. Given the length of the movie and the target audience, though, the cutting of geeky explanations was kinda necessary.
Lastly, Jenova Chen's "game" comment caught my eye. The press, Ubisoft, and Cameron were both excited about presenting a video game and film that underwent production simultaneously. However, sales failed to meet expectations despite the movie going on to become to highest grossing film of all time. To quote Chen: "Avatar is good. But based on the emotion the film try to convey and its plot, I feel it would be more impactful if it's told through a game."
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The World and The Wired
I feel lost between the boundaries of The World and The Wired.
Today, I spend more time peering though Windows into the depths of cyber-space than looking out through my window at the city outside. And I see a billion people like myself looking around also at this massive pile of data. This internet lets the minds of the world connect, not as fundamentally as the neural network of Pandora, but extensive at least throughout human beings. And I feel this urge to 'upload' myself to this network. Yet this is not possible. All that can be seen are strands of thought, a silhouette of person. Perhaps my expectations for this technology are too high. An Avatar in today's sense is not a complete projection of a person's being though the wire. While Jake Sully was able to 'soul exchange' into a Na'vi, I can only project a cross-section of myself here. The Wired, on the hand, merges the real world with the internets through IPv7. No boundaries. No problems.
Today, I spend more time peering though Windows into the depths of cyber-space than looking out through my window at the city outside. And I see a billion people like myself looking around also at this massive pile of data. This internet lets the minds of the world connect, not as fundamentally as the neural network of Pandora, but extensive at least throughout human beings. And I feel this urge to 'upload' myself to this network. Yet this is not possible. All that can be seen are strands of thought, a silhouette of person. Perhaps my expectations for this technology are too high. An Avatar in today's sense is not a complete projection of a person's being though the wire. While Jake Sully was able to 'soul exchange' into a Na'vi, I can only project a cross-section of myself here. The Wired, on the hand, merges the real world with the internets through IPv7. No boundaries. No problems.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
An Alternate to Diary
Well, since I'm spending so much time on the computer anyway... I thought I'd take on a paperless version of my Diary. I've fallen so far behind on it! Lack of motivation, or the inconvenience of it all, I don't know, but here I am setting up a blog as an alternative. My friend Yさん has kept one up for years now, and I thought I'd give it a try, in addition to all of the other blogs that I keep on the internet. Though, splitting my life through all of these different strands feels... like I'm partially hiding my complete self from the internet. As if the internet were a sentient being. I just did some digging up into Blogs and Internet Diaries. It turned out Justin Hall, a USC IMD alumnus pioneered blogging, and kept it up for eleven years before stopping and turning his focus on his local world.
This is boring, personal information that followers of my work need not read. As an alternative, this stinks as I cannot draw in the side margins of the "diary" nor will i staple mementos to the pages. A couple more regrets and things to rant about, but that one is an interesting anecdote, which we'll leave for another time, eh? ;D
This reminds me of the Orwell Prize blog that was set up around George Orwell's diary. Some days he would just "log" the number of eggs laid by his chickens, but, most importantly he wrote something down. Always starting off with the weather, he wrote at least one thing about his day. Now I'm having second thoughts of expanding this to that language blog site Lang-8, where if I were to blog in Japanese, a native Japanese speaker would comment and correct my mistakes. That would be a great learning experience. Some people blog a lot. Others not so often...
This Lang-8 system looks like it would help me a lot in my studies as a supplement to daily class. Look out for my upcoming Lang-8 blog ;D.
Today (2009.12.28)
Yesterday I woke up late as usual, what with the terrible nightowl sleeping habits. Not as bad as some fellow college students, who go to sleep way past 3 and 4 a.m. Guh, was very annoyed at my father pestering me to finish the chicken soup that Grandma cooked for me. It was a great soup, however. Just remembered that I haven't drunk the swallows' nest drink yet. That stuff is mighty good for ya'.
Listening to: 大胆にいきましょう↑Heart & Soul↑ (Daitan ni Ikimashou) - Tamaki Nami
Friday, January 1, 2010
Cross Cultural Music
Isn't it just great when music is shared across borders?
A*Teens - Perfect Match
Tamaki Nami - Daitan ni Ikimashou (Heart & Soul)
There's Tamaki Nami's cover of A*Teens' catchy song. I'd always thought "Daitan ni Ikimashou" felt different from her other music. Especially with that -desu in the first line. Unforgettable. I would always have to readjust when my playlist goes from "Reason", "Realize", or "Believe" to he bouncy, light, full-stop-at-the-end-of-every-line "Daitan ni Ikimashou".
So I've been listening to "Upside Down" and sketching out the next two AnimeLA paintings. No, no, none of the characters are going to be bouncing off the ceiling in a fit of love.
A*Teens - Perfect Match
Tamaki Nami - Daitan ni Ikimashou (Heart & Soul)
There's Tamaki Nami's cover of A*Teens' catchy song. I'd always thought "Daitan ni Ikimashou" felt different from her other music. Especially with that -desu in the first line. Unforgettable. I would always have to readjust when my playlist goes from "Reason", "Realize", or "Believe" to he bouncy, light, full-stop-at-the-end-of-every-line "Daitan ni Ikimashou".
So I've been listening to "Upside Down" and sketching out the next two AnimeLA paintings. No, no, none of the characters are going to be bouncing off the ceiling in a fit of love.
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