Day and night

One of the best things about this project is how it changes with the surrounding light.  That being said, I like it much more at sunrise than any other time.

Semester 1 after thoughts

So the first semester is over.  It was a definite roller coaster of work, stress, friendships, being able to keep a handle on my family life, and learning... lots and lots of learning.  What kind of learning?  There were all types of things, but I've distilled it into 2 keys points...

 - Coordination of people and suppliers was paramount to the success of this 1st Semester project.

 - Conversations with my fellow grad students, faculty, and family was an invaluable resource.  Not only for their insights but also for the ability to keep me grounded enough to not flip out... well, not flip out badly.

The project completed for the due date, Waiting Room, has gotten several mixed reactions in terms of content, material, and concept.  To be honest, the technical aspects and material considerations of this project did overshadow portions of the concept.  As the material dialogue developed the concept got left behind.  This is something I will not be doing on the next project.  The development of all factors of the project are equally important, the larger the project, the less room for error, and this is compounded by a small window for completion.  Is this an excuse?  No.  But it is something for me to be on the watch for next project, to give time to all factors involved.  Which includes the concept.

Is the first project done?  No.  It was completed for the due date laid out by the client, the MFA program and ultimately the school.  I will thinking about what to do to Waiting Room to complete it in the coming weeks over break.  Following the guidelines I already laid out for this project... simplicity.  I am fortunate to be able to have time for this, I was told I could take until the end of 2nd Semester to take it down.

There is lots to get ready for and think about,  the program is already 1/4 over (going by semesters).  The next year and a half will FLY by, and all of this semester will seem like some fever dream.

Shock and awe... an exercise in Inspiration

There are several things that I find inspiring.  One of the most inspiring films I have ever seen has to be The Fountain.  I was lucky enough to see this with my wife in the theater when it came out, and to this day has to be one of the films I continually recommend.

The imagery is great and the story is good, a little predictable, but the whole package is something wonderful.  This movie is very visceral, and it can leave you emotionally drained afterwards.  The sum is more than it's parts really applies to this film.  I can't recommend this film enough.

One, recent, find is the short film Glas by director Bert Haanstra from 1958.  This is a great example of production glassblowing, by hand and by machine.  It is a short film, it's only about 10 minutes long, but gives people an idea of how a lot of glass items were made back in the day.  My favorite scene is the one below in the thumbnail, that gentleman is blowing glass in a suit.  He. Is. My. New. Hero.

Then while not exactly inspirational, I did find this a cool and satirical look at glassblowing from someone outside the industry.

Finally, something especially for Charlotte...

Robot Unicorn Attack

Personally I like all the versions of this game, but I am a little partial to the heavy metal one.  If you have ClickForFlash installed it will take a little longer for it to load, but it is fun.