3D Animation Assignment

I intended to post this aaggeess ago but never got around to it. This is an animation assignment I did this year using Cinema4D. I've never done any 3D stuff before and had to learn Cinema4D as I went. Dang thing nearly made my head explode but it was still a lot of fun. We had to create a 30 second animation of a Rube Goldberg machine - a chain reaction type machine. It had to include an object from a kids bedroom, a kitchen and a garage/shed. The music is Cats on Mars from the Cowboy Beebop sound track. I think I used the song another time on some other video of trumpet running around in her little rat ball.. ANYWAY here it is.

Mary

It's 12:01. Christmas time! I am awake wondering things.. I am thinking about the shepherds coming and seeing Mary and Joseph and new born Jesus. They came and saw and at some point told everybody what the angels had said about Jesus. "He is Christ, He is the Lord." It says the others who heard the shepherds were amazed, but Mary treasured all these things and turned them over in her mind. I've just never really noticed that line before, at first it strikes me as quite a peaceful description of Marys experience, but I do wonder what she thought of.

baseball

It's been forever since I did any sort of substantial blog post.. I still haven't put up those Iceland photos.. Or had a photo night.. I should really do that soon.

But ANYWAY.. So one of my last days in the U.S.A happened to be the 4th of July.

I really wanted to do some of the stuff TV tells me is super American to do.. So I went to a Minor League Baseball game! I did the Hotdog and a Beer thing, I yelled 'CHARGE' at the appropriate time, I rooted for my team (they lost..) and then I got all emotional about them loosing... I came SO CLOSE to scoring a stray ball! The guy hit it, I saw it coming towards me, I stood up, I took off my hat, It bounced like a couple metres away from me and shot off in some other direction. That would have been SO cool.

Anyway when I got back to the place I was staying my host took me up onto the roof of his house to watch 4th of July fireworks. Holy.. Moly.. People were setting them off in their backyards, on the street, in parks... Everywhere. It was like a 360 degree firework thunderstorm.  The bangs and cracks had already been going for an hour or so, and they continued after we got back down off the roof a while later.

I loved the heat in Minnesotta after the mildness of Europe. I relished dripping with sweat.. I probably wouldn't have enjoyed this so much except that I had an airconditioned room to retreat to :)

I got so BROWN over those few days in the U.S.A..

Anyway so that was a fun day.

Just me getting used to flash.. He's saying 'No'

flllaaeesshh

Soo I'm back at Uni and that means I'll be back to posting silly pieces of work up here yaaay!

Here's an amusing flash thing I had to do today.

heheheheheheheheheheh...... I love my degree... 

Mall of America

I'm sitting in a food court at the Mall of America, trying to have a cultural experience. I wonder how big this place is in comparison to the new Charlestown Square? No joke you guys there is an amusement park inside this mall..

I really like the place I'm staying at.. The host is super polite n helpful. There are two other guys there too who are helping him work on his house. One of them is like 50 and plays all sorts of instruments the other one is younger n does metal work stuff. Im excited to go to the 4th of July celebrations! Fireworks and stuff! Will try to take pictures..

Im so glad I don't have cash to blow.. It is kind of cool though, the range and choice is just so much bigger. I bet I could find the right pair of shorts here in no time.

Nothing to this post really, just sitting around feeling tired n over stimulated by all the sights n smells. The saturation of lies in this place is oppressive.

Anyway! Err back to it!

The Manor

Greetings from the Manor.. Last night I stayed in one of the coolest houses I have been in! Highlights include:

• Scary looking but adorable Doberman called Scorch
• The spiral staircase
• The treasure chests in the room
• The mirror on the roof
• The bat-wing inspired bed head
• The HUGE mounted buffalo head in the lounge room.. Cant remember it's name now..
• The TEMPERATURE! OH my gosh it's beautiful.. 

I want to take loads of photos to show, but then this is someones house and I don't know if that is polite or not? Anyway the dude who owns it has been working on it for the last 4 years and has done a great job. He's a super leather-working handy man and a great host.

Anyway yes I am here in the USA.. Ready to get acquainted with the local culture.

Loads of Iceland photos coming soon!

Mmmmmmmmmm

Sitting on the steps in some sort of town square, basking in the Icelandic summer sunshine, eating a nutella sandwich, waiting for Laura and Danny to arrive and feeling so content it's not funny..

This morning I saw a great band play, went to a big flea market, accidentally attended a protest and finally managed to find the bottle shop. Our host has a bike I've been using which is just a bit too if for me and which has a boy-seat so I'm pretty sure I have a bruised ass.. BUT it's worth it. I love bikes. I wish I had stacks of cash to fill up on music with. I don't know whether to try that putrified shark stuff yet........... I probably will.

ermahgerd Reykjavik!

Londone

Tomorrow I'm leaving London for Reykjavik! As depressing as I found London at times I am a bit sad to go. It is an interesting place with endless, interesting things to see and do. I've been enjoying hanging out on the roof of Rachael's building and looking at the city from up there. I was just out there and saw 4 planes, a blimp and a helicopter, which made me happy for some reason. I also ate dinner and had a nap up there yesterday, hoping that the door wouldn't somehow get locked behind me.

The sun finally came out the last day or two. Hyde Park smelled like roses and fresh cut grass.. Pity an approaching migrane distracted me so much :(

Rach and I went to a place called Brick Lane on Monday; a neat suburb with this weird mixture of hipsters and what Wikipedia just told me is Bangladeshi folk. We went to a cafe decorated with bookshelf wall paper, cartoon doodles and pictures of 90's celebrities. It really reminded me of Suspension in Newcastle. Oh yeah, they also call a flat white a 'fat wife'.

Last Sunday we went to an exhibition at the Natural History Museum called 'Animals Inside Out' which was fascinating and nauseating simultaneously. Google it! It's pretty cool.

Anyway yes Iceland tomorrow! Via Munich :/ It's a bit silly how it's worked out but good thing flying is still a fun novelty to me!

Just realised I have NO IDEA how it works transferring between different flights when it's all been booked separately. I guess I will work that one out tomorrow :| Wish me luck!

I'll leave you with a cool picture I took from the roof the other night.

the Grant Museum of Zoology

the Grant Museum of Zoology is where I went today! And it was awesome and nauseating simultaneously. The most interesting things I saw were:

A Golden Mole

Brain Coral

Actually.. I won't put pictures of everything because it will just gross people out.. I'll just list them.

• A Jar of Moles
• An Ox Eye
• A domestic Pig Embryo
• Asian Elephant Skull 
• Indian 1 horned Rhino Skeleton
• Skull of Giant Deer - Antlers could be up to 3.5m wide even if the animal was only 2m 
• a Quagga (Type f Zebra)
• Mole Skeleton
• Beluga Whale Foetus 
• Asian Water Buffalo Skull

Anyway it was COOL!

Pret

I'm sitting out the front of Pret - a food franchise thingy here in London- scabbing on their free wifi and waiting for noon. Today I want to check out a biscuit festival (yes a biscuit festival) and another greeny festival some where near by. Turns out there are loads of fun free things to do in London! Especially around the queens jubilee and the upcoming Olympic games.

I wish I had a guitar though! That'd be perfect. Would love to sit in the park and play guitar. Except the weather is a bit sad. I'd probably get rained on.

I freAkin love watching pigeons walk around..

Ok.. This is a boring post, sorry! Bye!

The last day

Today I leave Switzerland for probably a lot less green pastures.. I spent yesterday wandering around in Basel, snoozing by the Rhine (I was SO tired!), drawing, avoiding Tram fares and paying way too much for Coffee. I would totally live here in Basel I think. For a little while anyway.

Here is what I drew.

Later today I fly to London for a few more weeks of fabulous-ness, except this time I WILL be wiser with my money *sigh*. Then on the 21st (I think) I fly to Iceland - w0000!!!!

I'm missing home.. The other night I was dreaming I was trying to shove Trumpet (my pet rat) into my mouth because I was so happy to see her?

Anywhee thats all for now I suppose. GOODBYE SWITZERLAND!

Italy

Soooooo I went to Northern Italy on the weekend to camp with Nat and the girls + 2 other families. Before we left I had like.. wilderness and dirt and going to the bathroom in the bushes in my mind.. Turns out we went to a shmick campsite with a heated pool and wifi? Hah.. Anyway I had a greeeaaat time. The high light was the 30km bike ride through beautiful countryside, ending with a long, fast windy section down a hill leading into the town centre where a fantastic market was taking place. Oh my goodness housemates you would have really liked this market. I couldn't stop thinking of you guys and also Belinda and Jasmine Koit.

I awkwardly tried to take pictures with my DSLR while we were riding which was fun and which yielded wonky slightly unfocused fruits that I will treasure anyway. Here are some of the other more in focus pics.

Coolest campy car thing ever

Taya's swag which she kindly let me sleep in

Bad-Ass biker kids

It's a freakin CASTLE

I found evidence of Quidditch 

Inside the castle

Castle Keys

This was really cool. Around the walls of the church were these comic (as in Comic style, not humorous) dialogues  between the Saints.  To show that it was a dialogue they mirrored the text of the replier.  

These are all pictures from inside the chapel in the castle. 

The kitchen.

The Chimney

I think these holes are something to do with shooting arrows?

We found a wild cherry tree 

I got stung by some sort of... plant thing.

Spinny thingy

Noor defying gravity.. while eating a bun.

SPICES! At a market stall

I'm still laughing at the name of this ice cream..

Also still laughing at both of the girls faces in this photo..

Dachau

I visited Dachau while I was around Munich the other week. I don't really know what to say about it and it feels a bit odd just posting a bunch of snap shots that I took, (Here is a photo of me in a gas chamber???) No. It was confronting and disturbing to say the least and although I left feeling depressed and with a resounding 'WHY?' echoing in my head, I am definitely glad that I went to visit.

"Never again"

Well

Well I haven't posted nearly as many times as I planned to.. But that is probably a good thing right? It means I've been doing stuff.. Right?

Only three weeks left in beautiful Monstein and inevitably I feel like I haven't taken advantage of the opportunities to explore as much as I could have! But you know.. I think I'm ok with that. I know when I need to chill out and I'm glad I didn't send myself insane trying to do too much. (Thats what I'm telling myself anyway)

Last week I did go for a hike up a nearby mountain and that was ggreaaatt!!! Cant wait to do that again next weekend..

Just a few things I want to say before I go...

1. This is actually much yummier than it looks..

2. The sign on this storage container made me laugh

That is all.. Another post re: the trip to Munich coming soon

London-ee Bits

Other than running face first into a pole whilst walking distractedly by Big Ben, I had a pretty good time in London! My newest aspiration is to either build a very large nature spot in my backyard back home in Australia and then fill it with squirrels and pigeons OR to become a Squirrel myself and infiltrate their ranks.. They're seriously such great little animals! I still like Rats more, but they're up there! I bet they're a huge pest to some folk, but to me they're still innocent and adorable..

What else happened.. Squirrels have taken over my brain and I can't remember..

Buckingham Palace

Oh yeah! I saw Buckingham Palace!

And Westminster Abbey.. That was pretty cool actually.

I got to do THIS!

And THIS! I could not believe it when it landed on my hand!

The weather was really nice the first day I arrived, which was LOVELY! I wandered around the gardens near the palace taking pictures and being a tourist..  Sadly, after that it got cold and wet and miserable. I spent so much time on the underground (subway) getting from place to place. I actually really like the underground system, it was sooo easy to get where I needed to go.

The first night I was there I went to see Les Miserables! It was really excellent.. The set design was neat too - the stage had a circular revolving platform built into the floor (a turntable I guess) which just meant people could move around a lot more.. And .. ah I can't even explain the sets properly.. They were just really smart and looked really cool. Nice work John Napier (I think?)

I also spent an obscene amount of time in two different comic books shops and ended up spending toooo much money *sigh* but it was WORTH IT!

Thanks all for now..

If you can be bothered sitting through 8 minutes of me talking to myself / animals there are some cute bits in this video..

Hannah

Dear London

Dear London,

I like your Tube system.. I like your efficiently presented maps and time tables. I like your pretty parks and your free wifi at Starbucks. I like that you drive on the left hand side of the road and I like your hairstyles. I like that you have special seats designated for the elderly on the trains and buses with politely worded signs encouraging people to be considerate. I like that people obey these signs. I like Big Ben, but it's not as big as I thought it would be. Buckingham Palace isn't that amazing looking a building, but I like it too. I like Westminster Abbey but I don't like that it was closed to pesky tourists today. I like all that you have lots of Musicals and I like that you have Porridge at McDonalds. I like how easy it was to find my way around and I like how cheap the beer was that I just drank.

Your kebabs are a little salty though...

from
Hannah

Parts of my conversation with the border security lady at Gatwick airport went something like this:
Lady: and where are you staying while in London?
Me: with some people I found on the Internet
Lady: and what's their address?
Me: I don't know..
Lady pauses for a while
Lady: and when do you fly out?
Me: next Sunday
Lady: can I see your return ticket?
Me: *genuinely confused* um.. No.. It's all on the internet.. Um..
Lady pauses for a while again. A sigh.
Lady: do you know the name of the people with whom you are staying?
Me: umm.. I think her name is Eve???

Long story short I got a (very kindly done) schooling on what I have to BRING WITH ME next time I fly.. I must have looked innocently bewildered enough that the nice lady took pity on me and let me into her country.. Nice lady..

Then there was some fun trying to locate my lift! An exercise which was complicated by my phone running out of credit.

But alls well that ends well and I ate a kebab and got to chill out in a really cool Victorian style house. The hosts are really friendly and very helpful.

That's all for now. Cheerio!

thank

I'm sitting with my back to the fireplace, a warm cup of coffee steaming by my side and fluffy white snow falling silently outside. I am still not used to snow not making a sound as it falls.. It just kind of creeps up while you're asleep and gathers in little clumps on the ground, on the roof tops, on the branches of the trees..

It's funny how some days you can wake up feeling so positive and thankful and other days wake up so grumpy and irritated by everything. I suppose there is a chemical reason for that? I wonder what it is.. I feel positive and thankful today though :) 

This Sunday I head over to London for a week to hangout with my friend Rach! I'm really excited about that. Except for being a bit broke.. But I will have enough for food and I will have a place to stay.. I will have my camera and the company of a friend so it will be great!

Question: Why do animals sometimes act altruistically?

I'm halfway through listening to this Radiolab episode which asks the question: If natural selection is about ensuring your own survival, why do we see some animals sacrificing themselves for others? 

I haven't finished it yet.. It's interesting so far though. Taya and I were listening to it before and she was asking a lot of questions :) It was cool! We were also talking last night about the Big Bang and I was trying to explain why I believed the theory and why I think it doesn't have to mean that the Bible is wrong about where stuff came from. The funny thing about kids though is that they kind of get bored halfway through your explanation and just decide not to worry about it any more. Which was a relief for me because I don't know if I was making any sense.. 

Saas-Fee Wideo

Here is a wideo of the train trip to Saas-Fee.. I went on a fancy train called the Glacier Express with big windows! It was cool..

Youtube said that my video looked shaky and would I like them to fix it.. and I said yes... which is why it zooms all crazy! Kinda like the effect though..

post postcard

This was a work in progress postcard I was making for a friend of mine. We didn't end up using it, but I wanted to share it with the world anyway! I just love the guys face.. Makes me laugh every time.

Saas-fee

Here in ski village saas-fee!

Today was good Friday.. I find it absurd that I had a fun day in a ridiculously beautiful and awesome place on a such a day. Actually, I have found ordinary life strange and surprising almost everyday since coming to Switzerland.. The whole exercise of obtaining bread for the day, for instance, is exciting. "IM WALKING DOWN A MOUNTAIN IN THE ALPS TO THE SHOP! OH MY GOD THERE'S SOME SNOW! HOLY SHIT MAYBE I'LL BUY MILK! SOMEONE JUST SAID HELLO!!!!!!!!!" and etc.. Of course I am exaggerating but how it be if I lived everyday for the rest of my existence in constant delight over "ordinary" things? Some part of me thinks that would be to live more in touch with reality... Another part just thinks it would be tiring.

on my mind

Here are the things tumbling around in my mind.. Like a big load of sudsy washing in my brain-machine. 

Where is the cat? Is he ok? How do I pack snowboard boots? They're huge! I ate too much asparagus. How will I know when to switch from a train to a bus tomorrow? I need to borrow that phone from Nick. How much is it to send an sms here? I hope my Citybank letter arrives soon. What about visa? Will I get a fine? How much money will this weekend cost? What is it to live in the spirit? Are wrist tattoo's really a lesbian thing? I hope my washing dries before tomorrow morning. Will there be food on the train? Will the snow be any good at saas-fee? Will I get on with Kylies friends? I'm I going to get my period while snowboarding? Do I have pain killers? What will I do if I lose my painkillers? I mustn't forget to clean up my room before I go. Don't forget the garbage. I should have used less water when I stewed those apples. Am I keeping the place clean enough? Where is the cat? Is he ok? How do I pack........

And so on and so forth.. I realised I was doing it before and made me laugh.

snowboarding

Re: My day of snowboarding in Davos

1. Approaching strangers at the train station, looking for someone to share a 2-for-one deal with me.
2. Apologising in advance to the Italian skier on the lift with me if I took him out.
3. Falling off the t-bar. Walk / snowboard of shame back down to the bottom.
4. Falling off the t-bar again. Walk / snowboard of shame again.
5. Friendly German man rides the t-bar with me and gets me up safely. We have a disjointed conversation half english, half german. 
6. The run of DOOM which goes FOREVER but is still fun. 
7. Slushy snow in the afternoon.. 
8. A blissful kitkat moment.
9. Cold beer before the train home. 
10. Really, really sore ass. Egg on the knee.

Have you ever seen a confident yet inexperienced person pick up a lit fire-twirling stick and have a go? For a second any natural ability they might have might make it seem like they know what they're doing.. But their reckless handling of it quickly makes it obvious that they don't. 

I suspect that describes me when I'm snowboarding.. I can't tell. Maybe I'm actually just really awesome at it. 

I HAD A GREAT DAY!

Krank

All of us got sick at some point or another this week. I actually lay in bed ALL DAY on Friday. I felt so gross but it was also just sort of nice being snuggled up all day. Anybody seen Firefly? I watched about a billion episodes while bedridden. I still don't know what I think about it. You know when something is kind of so ridiculous that it's kind of good?

Anyway, yesterday Abby and Georgia had more ski races so we all went to watch. I discovered that Nat's snowboots while very waterproof have BUGGER ALL GRIP. So I had a great time trying to walk across the steep ski-fields to where the race was. I secretly liked it though. Those girls were amazing! I mean all the kids were but I liked Abby and Georgia the best. Georgia came 1st in her age group! She was pretty happy about that. They were doing slalom.. So cool. I'd have no chance of doing it.

I was sitting at some little tables up on top of the mountain and taking in the views and enjoying the warm sun and just thinking.. "This is friggin ridiculous!" I feel really lucky to be here doing this stuff :) I like that it's work & play mixed in together. I think if it was all play I would go a bit crazy.

I had a bit of a moment earlier this week thinking about parents.. I was thinking "How can it be that I am inevitably going to be a part of stuffing up my kids - before they're even born! That hardly seems fair!" Because I'm sure not perfect, and even though I might be trying my best I'm going to make mistakes.. And the things I do - good and bad - are going to affect my kids for the rest of their life.

If you're looking for a worthwhile reason to make sure you're becoming the best person you can be, there it is.

Today I have been trying to figure out how to make the perfect rice.

Anyway here are some photos:

Me after 20 minutes of skiing

Taya can ride a unicycle quite well!!

Abby can go upside down quite well!

The general vibe of the race day in Davos

Me being cool

My arms have grown freakishly long since I left

IT'S SNOWING EVERYBODY

Sooo nice

Georgia being amazing at skiing

Another picture of me.. (sorry)