You really want to see this.

I really like seeing the things people can make out of Legos. They're an art form, and Porphyrion is a really great example of the kinds of things one can achieve. It is pure genius. The form, the colors, everything is cohesive and lovely, and the attention to detail is incredible. This spaceship is sparse, functional, but what's there is exactly what you'd expect to see on a space ship-- even one that large has a relatively small crew... there's a room with bunks, a bathroom, a main control room, and a few other little ones around the ship. How I wish there were more pictures... I just cannot believe the kinds of thing this guy makes, and this, in my opinion, is his greatest creation on that site. Just look at it.

The reason I post it (besides the fact that it's an incredible feat of lego construction) is that it exemplifies the kind of thing I like best in science fiction. A little self-contained, perfectly thought-out world, everything thought of, everything designed and planned down to the smallest detail. This could be REAL. It makes me want to make an animation or something out of it, makes me want to do something in space or i don't know what kdfjsdjhggffgf

ANYWAY GO LOOK AT PORPHYRION. If anyone has any info on how to contact Danny Rice (the builder of this awesome thing), let me know please

WHAT

i'm gonna be gone until thursday, with almost definitely no internet access. sorry if you have something super important to tell me.

I'm probably going to buy a 360. That means I can a.buy castle crashers and b.buy lots of other fun games.

oh, also tomorrow is my birthday, i'm gonna be 15. woot.

I have returned from vacation. I drew some pixel art, worked on my robot movie, made some fun little animations with my cousins, and had a fabulous time.

While I was in Washington, I went to the beach. The beach in Washington is always cold and cloudy, but there are cool things there, like dead jellyfish and broken crab shells. As I was strolling suavely along the shore line, doodling things in the sand with a stick, I was noticing all the empty shells and things, and thinking about mindchamber's robot thing he made, and i had a somewhat cool idea. This happens to me a lot, and most of my cool ideas never pan out, but I think this could actually go somewhere. The idea is that I'd take an empty crab shell, right? Completely clean and empty, all squishy perishable meat gone. I'd seperate all the segments and plates so I have the equivalent of a complete skeleton. Then, I take a lot of little joints, some that rotate, others that bend one way only, all of fairly high-quality material and manufacturing-- then epoxy them onto the insides of the shells. I'd connect everything back up again, and in the end what I'd have is a fully posable, totally awesome little crab toy.

This could be really cool. One of the neatest things I've ever made. But, I'm really not at all sure how to obtain the thingsI need. The crab shell, for instance. One can buy live crabs, certainly. But is it even possible to buy the shells? I can't clean one myself. I don't know how and I'm sure I'd break it somehow. That's the most important thing-- getting the shell. It has to be completely intact, with all pieces present, for this to work out.

The second thing is the joints. When I was still making stop motion animation, near the end of it all, when I got Flash, I started trying to make armatures, in order to make larger, more complex, more durable figures to animate with. Having them professionally made was quite simply not an option. Much too expensive. Acquiring parts to make them wasn't easy either. Producing metal armatures usually requires a drill press and technical expertise, neither of which I possessed, and one could not simply buy a ready-made kit. Actually I could, but they were expensive and not really what I wanted.

So - two things I require to make this work.
1. A complete, intact, cleaned crab shell.
2. A variety of small, strong, tight metal or plastic joints that I can use to connect the bits.

FLASH THINGS

The robot movie is going well, in my opinion. Haven't hit any brick walls yet, haven't lost my initial enthusiasm and haven't reached the point where I'm just steadily plowing away. I'd say that's going well.

The music for invertebrata is done. gonna work on it someday

dfsf

my dad suggested i add up the hours i spend working on this robot thing. Now I have this spreadsheet with two columns for the date and the hours spent-- every day before i sleep i will punch in the hours i spent that day working on this movie. It'll be a rough estimate, and at the end I will probably be depressed by how long it took, but I think it will be helpful in the end.

At this point, I've got MAYBE 30 seconds of finished animation with around 3/4ths of the movie planned out, and I am already at 46 hours. oof.

as a break from screenshots of my movies (since it would be a shame if i wound up showing the entire thing before it was even finished) here is a lovely image to entertain you

ok not really, it's just an AIM convo with someone about how i got into this whole flash thing. perhaps you will find it interesting

TaavAilama (6:13:15 PM): which reminds me
TaavAilama (6:13:21 PM): how did you learn the animation trade
TaavAilama (6:13:26 PM): apart from practive obv
anselmlies (6:13:58 PM): i taught myself, same way i learned to draw
anselmlies (6:14:06 PM): i never took classes or learned formal technique
TaavAilama (6:14:19 PM): what inspired you most
anselmlies (6:14:22 PM): i just rammed my head into the brick wall of flash until i understood it
anselmlies (6:14:29 PM): um... you mean when i started?
TaavAilama (6:14:35 PM): yea
anselmlies (6:14:52 PM): before i did 2D animation, i did a lot of stop-motion things
anselmlies (6:15:25 PM): i had my little bricks of plasticine and i'd make these little animations with a cheap webcam and a terrible program called MGI videowave 4
anselmlies (6:15:53 PM): nothing lengthy, i was too inexperienced and too poor to afford the cost and trouble of finishing anything over a few seconds.
anselmlies (6:16:12 PM): i was mostly inspired to start that by the Neverhood
anselmlies (6:16:21 PM): probably one of the best puzzle games ever made
anselmlies (6:16:29 PM): have i told you about it?
TaavAilama (6:16:40 PM): i think you mentioned it in one of your drawings earlier this year
TaavAilama (6:17:02 PM): i was alaways intrigued
anselmlies (6:17:09 PM): yes, it was a quirky, wierd puzzle game done almost entirely in claymation
anselmlies (6:17:36 PM): it was probably my single biggest influence in drawing style and subject matter for at least a year or two
TaavAilama (6:18:31 PM): you know i was watching your vietnam flash earlier today
TaavAilama (6:18:41 PM): am still itnerested just telling you something
TaavAilama (6:19:02 PM): and i can see A LOT of adam phillips in there, and I think it looked really good... anywya, carry on
TaavAilama (6:19:05 PM): anyway*
anselmlies (6:19:08 PM): :) thank you
anselmlies (6:19:23 PM): anyway, i would watch a flash movie every now and then on flashplayer
anselmlies (6:19:26 PM): which is now UGOplayer
anselmlies (6:19:51 PM): i saw some of zekey's cartoons on there-- they were probably some of the first i ever watched
TaavAilama (6:20:03 PM): zekeylizard?
anselmlies (6:20:07 PM): yah
anselmlies (6:20:29 PM): then a friend introduced me to NG, idk how he wound up there himself-- i learned what the program Flash was, and i downloaded the trial
anselmlies (6:20:39 PM): (flash 8)
anselmlies (6:21:48 PM): imagine a 12 year old kid hunched over an ancient laptop on a stool in a cold, damp concrete basement, trying to draw with a mouse pad
TaavAilama (6:22:03 PM): ahahaa
TaavAilama (6:22:06 PM): hey i forgot
TaavAilama (6:22:13 PM): you only got a tablet in the past 12months
anselmlies (6:22:16 PM): yep
anselmlies (6:22:30 PM): i got a mouse after a little while, because mouse pads are useless for anything
anselmlies (6:22:39 PM): and i kept working and working and trying and trying
TaavAilama (6:22:58 PM): yeah i f'in h8 the things
anselmlies (6:23:27 PM): i saw some of adam phillips' things, and they were mindblowing to me. i'd only been using this program for a few months, and i was shocked that such incredible things could be made using this software
anselmlies (6:24:06 PM): i just kept working and working FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR, essentially culminating in Robot Parade, which was basically my greatest work ever at that point
TaavAilama (6:24:36 PM): i like how you can use grammar... :3 carry on
anselmlies (6:25:55 PM): and a few months later, around this time of year, i bought my tablet, and after a several-week-long struggle to make the drivers work on that ancient windows 2000 laptop, i started creating things way better than anything i'd made before-- i could finally start to recreate in flash the kind of things i envisioned in my mind
TaavAilama (6:26:55 PM): it'd be lolage if a big larvae thing came and ate you now
anselmlies (6:27:15 PM): right here, right now
anselmlies (6:27:21 PM): just bust through my window
TaavAilama (6:27:33 PM): But yeah that's a good story, maybe it'd be a good animation one day, i can see it now, in your style
anselmlies (6:27:44 PM): heh :3
TaavAilama (6:27:50 PM): no really i mean it
TaavAilama (6:28:04 PM): and then a larvae eats you and you reveal you are ansel lies junior
anselmlies (6:28:09 PM): so anyway since then i've just been working and working to improve, i guess it worked out okay
TaavAilama (6:28:21 PM): definately
anselmlies (6:28:25 PM): i ought to save this conversation
TaavAilama (6:28:40 PM): just copy it into notepad
anselmlies (6:28:40 PM): because i have written out my animation history thing a few times now
anselmlies (6:28:51 PM): maybe i'll post it on my userpage
anselmlies (6:28:56 PM): some people might find it interesting
TaavAilama (6:28:58 PM): Sounds good
anselmlies (6:29:01 PM): i shall do that

AND HERE'S THE SECRET

a screencap of me working on my MOVIE. ponder over it.

I know I say this a lot. I announce my latest, greatest flash project, explain it, vow to finish it... and then it is never mentioned again. HOWEVAR- I have about 3 projects going right now, and I shall indeed explain them at this time, and hopefully finish them someday.

1. First is the robot movie. Get. It is set to Engel, an excellent song by an excellent band (Rammstein) and tells the tale of a robot trained to reach the object he's shown at any cost, even if it means he is damaged or destroyed. Such a machine would be a deadly weapon, and that is the basic premise of the animation. It's slow going, because unlike previous projects I am making an effort to plan this one out beforehand. I've done very rough animation for most of the scenes, and for the others I know what will go there in the end. I then go over this rough animation at 400% zoom (tedium and frustration) to get that lovely detailed look that I'm going for here. I really want to finish this one, because I do think it would turn out very well. This'un will take a while though. Months. Don't hold your breath.

2. The Pink Magic Power Explosion game. I drew a lovely picture a few days ago of some little brown guys blowing each other up. I think brown and pink look absolutely wonderful together, and so I am sort of planning out a little game where you essentially just run around and beat up enemies in ways that require many beautiful pinkexplosions and lots of smoke and effects and things. Its gon' be great. I will need a programmer for this eventually, as a fairly complicated beat em up is beyond my limited AS skill.

3. Invertebrata. A semi-sequel to larvae, another few minutes of crawling legs and wiggling feelers and pink water. I'm currently waiting for music being composed specifically for this movie by Scribbler, a good musician and a great guy. I actually have done very little work on this one so far.
3.5. The Larvae game. Still working out exactly how this one will work out. It will be programmed by Komix, an incredible programmer who is living my dream of supporting himself through Flash work. It'll probably be an evolution sim kind of thing-- slowly increasing in size as you feed off the creatures around you.

As maybe 2 or 3 people on this entire website may know, I have a job right now. My job? Painting. COMPAS Artswork is a fabulous organization that runs these classes every summer-- The catch is that instead of paying to take these classes and learning to use oil paints, then applying my skill to a large mural; I am paid 6.15 an hour. Not bad at all for something I could be paying to do. Every day at 9:30 I wander over to my place of work. In a fabulous turn of events, I "work" at the rec center across the intersection from my house. Basically the best summer job that ever was. The only downside to this almost entirely amazing affair is the part where I'm using oil paints. They stain, they cling, they stick to everything they touch. My fingers reek of grease and turpenoid. And the thing is-- I'm still not very good at oil painting. Far better than I was when I started this program with no experience, but still not nearly at the level of the kinds of things I can achieve with my Wacom tablet and good old Adobe Flash. So it goes.

Metroid Prime 3 was terrible. Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad game. The dialogue was like a bad 50's sci-fi movie, no joke. "IT'S A CHAIN REACTION! IT'S ACCELERATING! THE PLANET'S GOING TO EXPLODE!" For games based so heavily on science, this game essentially abandoned any attempts the other two games made to create a cohesive world. It all felt very slapdash and thrown together to me. The "upgrades" are worthless and barely add anything to your abilities. Keep in mind there are about 4 of them in the entire game. The bosses are boring if not simply tedious or frustratingly difficult-- the kind of difficult that doesn't get any easier. You just luck out and win eventually. I simply can't express how disappointed I am in this game. Can't even bring myself to spew out more hyperbole. The first two were incredible. This... is simply subpar. Oh, one last thing. Total play time? Fifteen hours. That's ridiculous.

WWW.CAMPNORTH.TV is up and working. GO THERE IMMEDIATELY unless you're total shit at art AND GET SUBMITTING CAUSE AT THE MOMENT THE SITE IS TINY AND IT DESERVES TO BE AMAZING. Also, it's run by nathaneilmilburn, who is awesome. I only have larvae on there right now, but I'll submit more someday.

TL;DR: I am making movies and animating game sprites. I have a job painting Indian chiefs. Metroid Prime 3 sucks. Go to campnorth.

Oh also go see the Dark Knight, it's fabulous.

OH MAN AM I TIRED.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
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http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
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http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
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http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
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http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
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VOTE 5 AGAIN

THIS ONE HAS BLACK PEOPLE

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
449844
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
449844
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
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http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
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http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
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GO WATCH IT

VOTE 5

CATS

something that's been bugging me: submissions with easter eggs, and the author comments spell out where the easter egg is and how to find it. IT'S NO FUN IF I KNOW HOW TO GET IT. The best hidden secrets and the like are actually secret, and it's an achievement to find them. I still remember the first easter egg I found-- a staff member's name in the bottom right corner of the screen in one room of The Neverhood (an incredibly fantastic game, btw). I FREAKED OUT IT WAS AMAZING AND IT BLEW MY MIND. Nowadays in these times of FAQs and full-length cheat walkthroughs, the magic of these kind of things is largely gone.

on that note