This advertisement won The Linux Foundation‘s recent video contest:
It’s well done and definitely the most suitable entry for a general audience.
I felt that the other entries were targetted more at people who are already using Linux (who know the jargon and the in-jokes).
Just a reminder that the (Perth) Indie Games Scene Showcase and Mixer is on tonight! (7:30pm at The Velvet Lounge in Mount Lawley.)
A few people have inquired about the format for the evening. There will be table-space for local game developers to demonstrate their work. Aside from that, it will be a fairly casual event for good conversations over food and drinks.
There will be brief announcements at 8:00pm to formally kick things off (after people have had a little while to setup), and again at 9:30pm to start winding things down.
Hope to see you there!
Inspired by Chris’ minimalist platformer, I made a minimalist flash game.
I mostly wrote it to learn Haxe (it was my first real Haxe program after “Hello World“), but I quite like it:
I’m drawn to the concept of games that only last a few seconds, are something that you might share with other people, but not anything that you can enjoy repeatedly… kinda like witty comments or lame jokes.
This game is a one-trick pony that gets old immediately. Is that a bad thing?
I just found out about Xtranormal via Rockethands‘ (rather detailed) Vision Statement video. It’s pretty crazy awesome!
I made this video using their neat in-browser creation tool:
The technology has a fair way to go, but it really feels like a precursor to the way that movies will be made (or at least prototyped) in future.
It’s an excellent example of technology empowering individual creative efforts!
Update: I decided to make a series of videos! Here’s part two:
Update: Hmmm… couldn’t stop. Episode 3 is available now as well. Check out my Xtranormal profile page.
Update: Looks like viewing at Xtranormal doesn’t work unless you have an account. I might just export to YouTube. For now, I’ll embed videos here. Here’s Episode 3:
I felt awful after being a jerk to Heidi the other day, and (while she was at work) I spent the afternoon trying to figure out how to show that I was sorry.
I tried the following things:
Here are some photos of things that I tried (because I like photos):
They all seemed like not quite enough (even when combined into a sort of composite apology). Finally (in desperation), I drew this picture of Kevin Rudd:
I figured that he’s good at saying “sorry” when others fail to do so properly, and he sounds sincere when talking about committment. Sigh.
When I picked Heidi up from work she was just happy to see me (even before I showed her the picture of Kevin). She’s wonderful.
I’m getting some photos printed and blockmounted for my joint exhibition next month. I sent an image over to docuprint (in Fremantle) for a proof which I hope to check out on Tuesday.
They mentioned that their printing technique has better long-term colour retention, but that the colours may not be as vibrant as those produced by other printing options. I hope the proof is suitable for my pieces. If all goes well, I’ll be getting quite a few photos printed.
I’ll post a few results when they come through. Simon is getting his digital paintings printed on canvas (which I also considered). Anyone out there have experience with any particular printing services (in Western Australia)?
I’ve previously joked with Jim, Minh, and Tone that if we ever start a company, we should call it “Jinh & Tonic”.
This time I went so far as to make a logo:
I reckon it’s classy. Tone reckons it’s “kinda gay”. I don’t like the term “kinda gay” since it implies a negative value judgement on homosexuality… and now I’ve just made this post a little too serious.
Anyhow, I like the logo. It’s classy. Like a James Bond film. Misogynistic and glamourising alcohol, smoking, and gambling. Hmmm… too serious again…
I’ve recently been using NautilusSVN, which is described on the project homepage as:
NautilusSvn is a Python extension for Nautilus which integrates a load of Subversion functionality into the GNOME Nautilus file manager, basically as a clone of the TortoiseSVN project on Windows.
Here’s a screenshot:
It’s only up to version 0.12, but it’s already very easy to download and install, featured packed, and I haven’t experienced any issues.
Conclusion: Highly Recommended.
A few friends of mine over at Teh Learning Curve have just released the first episode of their video game review show.
Here’s a blurb from their site:
Episode 1: Rise of the Argonauts
Our pilot episode, needless to say it’s a little rough around the edges! At this stage we were just testing out our tech and some show ideas, but hopefully you will find the core concept of the show still intact and enjoyable.
I like the format and hope to see their personal styles evolve more as the show goes on. I also want to see less short shorts; or at least shorts that are a different colour to the couch so that you are constantly reaffirmed that they are there!
I think that Dan described the show as something like America’s Got Talent for video games. They have the funny guy, the harsh critic (although Dan could try on a British accent), but now they just need a pretty artist (sorry Scott…).
Simon sent through the final version of the Snapshot exhibition flyer:
He did a fantastic job; It’s professional, clear, and captures what we were going for: an exhibition that conveys our impressions from recent travels.
We met yesterday to really drill down to what we want to do with this exhibition. At the start we were rather concerned about the different styles and approaches we are taking in order to communicate our impressions, and it felt like our works may be too disparate to consolidate into one exhibition.
Soon after, we realised that we were attempting to hold an exhibition to share our travel experiences, but we had neglected to really share our experiences with each other first. We spent a while discussing our trips, deconstructing them in regards to what we wanted to express, and explained how we were going about it.
I realised that our works will reveal as much about us as they do about our travels. I like the idea of the exhibition showcasing not only snapshots from our trips and our memories, but ultimately also snapshots of who we were when we visited these places and when we constructed these pieces.
In the end, I think that we both had a much better understanding of what we were (individually) going for, and that allowed us to progress with a joint artistic drive and appreciation for how to complement and contrast each others work. (It also made writing the press release a lot easier!)
I appreciate that all of this may not be necessary (many artists exhibit together just to share space), but it feels right to establish a level of harmony between our respective works.
We are driven by the same fundamental motivation, but we utilise strongly contrasting methods. I’m really excited to see how it all turns out. 🙂
Massive props to Simon for sorting out the venue and advertising!
Update: Opening Night will be on Friday, May 1st. I’ll change the flyer image above as soon as I get an updated version from Simon. Man, I feel awful for missing this scheduling conflict (see comments).