Having just recently made a few websites, I know that this is exactly what it is like.

*cue loud heaving sigh*

Finally completed the BCMSR webpage that I’ve been working on for about a month. It was supposed to be completed by January 1st, but technical issues (that were completely not my fault) put it off schedule. It has been up for a week or so but is now pretty much in its final state.

Check it out at broadcreekbsa.org.

All artwork and design and coding is done by me… which reminds me why I love and hate CSS so much.

Also, Lost was awesome and I don’t want to get into too much of that here…

And of course classes have started up again, so we’ll see how much I post.

In my opinion anyway…

This is a beautiful image of a solar eclipse, specifically the solar corona. You know, that thing that everyone tells you not to look at during one of these solar events.

“This photograph of a total solar eclipse was taken by Miloslav Druckmüller and colleagues from Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic, during an eclipse on July 22, 2009. They were located on Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

The sun was completely blocked by the moon (a period known as ‘totality’) for 5 minutes and 41 seconds. In that time, Druckmüller was able to take a series of images that were combined and processed to produce this final product. Features usually hidden from view can now be seen including lunar impact craters and the intricate detail of the magnetic field lines inside the corona.”

The Discovery Channel article is found here. And the photographer’s page, where details on the how the image was exposed as well as a high resolution image can be found here.

Haven’t posted anything in a while because I’ve been working on a bunch of stuff. That and raiding ICC, shh.

Anyway, lately I’ve been checking out 2MANYDJS, the dj-alter-ego of the group Soulwax. Now, I love their music, mixes and remixes, but what really caught my eye is their VJing. What is VJing? The same thing as DJing, but with visuals. One problem that a lot of DJs have today is how to make their live shows interesting. VJing gives the visual interest to complement the music, usually tied into and mixed alongside the sound tracks.

During a live performance, they are mixing music on the spot, more or less making the song as they go, similarly to a regular band performance. However, it’s not nearly as interesting. At a DJ show, you’re looking at a guy behind a sound panel, turning knobs, pressing buttons and scratching digital records. You might as well just be sitting in front of a speaker. So, the trick is making a show that stands out. Daft Punk does a great job by having trademark costumes, sets, and crazy ass lighting they use during their shows. Other less inspired groups simply use fog, lasers, dancers, and windows media player visualizers to try to keep the audiences attention.

Which brings me to 2MANYDJS. Basically, they’re now my heroes as far as visuals go. What they essentially do is take the album cover to the song you’re listening to and bring it to life! Literally. They take the art and animated it. For example: If there’s a guy on the cover, you can bet that he’s gonna dance and bob his head. Some work better than others, but they all become extremely entertaining to watch, and you sometimes forget you’re at a DJ show.

This doesn’t work simply because it gives you something to watch while listening to fat beats being laid down, but because because it plays WITH the music, instead of just something on top of the music. What I mean is that they don’t simply play a video when the song pops up. Anyone who’s listened to DJ mixes will know how the artist can hint at a song before it really starts playing. You might hear a tune or bass line or sound that is recognizable, which strikes anticipation in the listener, and drives the crowd wild. Just like with the music, the album art starts to vaguely come into view, and just as the song hits its prime, the album cover is complete and brought alive in its full glory.

Enough talking, check out the video.

Im totally going to try to make some of these myself…

This is a gem of a project. In short: Miniature Gundam Models made from legos.

I have been a fan of Gundams for most of my life. Not only did I love putting the models together, but they just looked so cool when they were finished. How can giant robots that fly through space, slice each other in half with beam swords and shoot shoulder mounted ion cannons not be the most badass thing ever? Teenage boys eat that up.

Ah, I still remember the giant $500 Dendrobium Gundam set that came in a box the size of a refrigerator. Granted, most of the model was comprised of a giant jet engine looking thing that was strapped to the back of the actual Gundam, but it was still pretty damn awesome. And then there was that other model that was as tall as a child, and had a sword and other pieces made from actual metal. That would’ve been the pinnacle of my Gundam collecting… But I digress.

This site has a pretty awesome gallery of miniature gundams made from lego parts! And they look pretty sweet, too. On some of them, they show you all the parts they used, so in theory you could make it yourself. They’re made mostly from traditional lego pieces, excepting a few guns and bits, so none of those cheesy custom made flavor pieces or whatchamacallits that you see today.

I haven’t bought either a lego or Gundam set in years, but if they sold these as kits, or at least the instructions to make them, I’d be all over it.

Side note: the word “Gundam” keeps popping up as being misspelled, “lego” pops up as misspelled because it should be the proper noun “Lego,” but somehow I correctly spelled “whatchamacallit” according to whatever dictionary wordpress uses.