Fluid Interfaces

So I was poking around the Fluid Interfaces group at the MIT Media Lab again (Grad school prospects are something I´ve decided to start thinking seriously about considering I will have to apply sometime in the next 2-3 years) and I watched a video for one of their projects Sixth Sense. It is a device that helps us interact with the digital and real world at the same time. I must say it is really cool - inexpensive (the guy says he wants to make the hardware open-source and that you can build your own for $300), environmentally-friendly, and with endless possibilities. The coolest function is the fact that he can just frame something with his fingers and the device will take a picture. Nuts! The possibilities of the mobility for digital photography and film with that sort of technology would be pretty incredible. Fluid Filmmaking! (sort of)
So check it out if you have some time!

Categories: Graduate School, MIT media lab, tech

The First Sentence

"It's a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful."

Matilda, Roald Dahl

That is the first sentence of the first book I ever read on my own. I was five and a half - nearly a month had gone by since my parents had moved us from the lovely rolling flat lands of wheat farms and airplane hangars of Wichita, Kansas to the depths of the Andes in Quito where the mountains rose like dark giants in the night - when my father brought home Matilda from the bookstore. I insisted on trying to read it on my own. I was old enough, I said, to read a whole book. It took me a week to get through it (at the rate of a chapter per night) and upon finishing it, demanded more books by Roald Dahl. It was a first step, I realize now, in being amazed by writing and storytelling. The Witches, The BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, The Twits, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox (who could forget Fantastic Mr. Fox?)...they all played like films in my head. But none of them have been as influential on my life as that first one - I wanted to be Matilda. I wanted to read the whole library. To be unapologetic about being smart.
Dahl spoke the language of children - he was an incredibly gifted man. But more than anything, Dahl is probably the best storyteller I´ve ever read or seen. Re-discovering Dahl is always a pleasure, always an experience - as the layers of those children´s books pull back to reveal true storytelling genius.
Part of me still want to keep that promise I made to myself when I finished Matilda - I want to be as good of a storyteller as Dahl was. Someday.
Hopefully....

Categories: books, Roald Dahl, storytelling

A few others of my favorite shorts

My favorite shorts!

Categories: film, short film

A Very Cool Short Animated film

Hey!
So I was reading January´s copy of American Cinematographer (for some reason Ecuadorian customs decided to hold on to my copies of this year´s American Cinematographer and just delivered them to me yesterday) and there was an interesting article about the cinematography and effects done for Ben Lovett´s music video for "Eye of the Storm" and how they were based on a short film called "The Mysterious Explorations of Jasper Morello". I decided to check the short film out because "Eye of the Storm" is actually super cool. Anyways, it is one of the most beautiful and unique short animated films that I´ve seen in a while. The style is steampunk silhouettes and reminds me a lot of Chinese Shadowplay (a form of puppeteering that has had enormous influence on Chinese National Cinema). Basically, if you have 26 minutes to spare, it is well worth watching!

Here is the film:

Categories: animation, film, shadowplay, short film

Gymnopedie

So I just came back from a concert with my string ensemble here. I must say that we were much better this semester than last even though half of our repertoire was cut because they only gave us 30 minutes to play (we were going to play Bartok and Granados and...and...ugh....the issues of playing with a string ensemble in a contemporary music institute...they think we´re boring and old-fashioned or something). I think we sort of bombed our finale, a custom composition that was stupidly hard (just the tempo was kind of ridiculous) that was given to us 3 weeks prior to the concert and is inspired by a mix of Andean rhythms. We did, however, play Erik Satie´s Gymnopedie I to perfection. Seriously, I don´t think I´ve ever played something so well in my life. My part was mostly whole notes harmonizing with the first violin. BUT, that being said, my harmonics really add depth to the piece.
I´m very proud of my performance! :D

Categories: cello, music

Proof that I´m an Incorrigible Nerd

Just spent 3 hours on Wookiepedia. There really is too much information on Star Wars out there...O_o.

i.e. Did you know that Obi-Wan Kenobi was born on the planet Stewjon? Did you know that it is a tuckerization of Jon Stewart´s name? Did you know that Admiral Motti´s (the guy Vader force-chokes in A New Hope) full name is Conan Antonio Motti and was named after Conan O´Brien?
No. You probably don´t.
You probably don´t care either...

See? I think I just reached Nerdvana...*sigh*

Categories: nerdvana, star wars

I have a PLAN

Yes! A plan! I´ve officially decided that come August / September I am getting my ass to NYC somehow. If I can get there sooner, I will. That´s the plan. I have a few loose ends to tie up around here during the summer, but once that is over it is NYC or BUST. Ha.
No. Haven´t gotten a job yet.
Yeah still owe the rents a ton of money for the trip.
BUT job prospects in this side of the world are looking up. WOOT!

Categories: job, NYC