September 30, 2010

Another slow day.  Got my swimming done and nothing else, as of 7:45 PM.

Update:  did some guitar recording, and some painting.   On to tomorrow, then.

September 29, 2010

Up around 7AM for some reason.  Too early for swimming or other errands, I wonder if I'll do anything or just go back to bed.

Update: well, I didn't go back to bed (then).  Did my swimming and ran a number of errands.  THEN went back to bed.

This is going to be another day of zero accomplishments.  I feel somewhat restless about this, but I'm unsure what to do to remedy the situation.

Update the second: well, I did some painting.  I think Helldwarf looks really good right now.  But now, sigh, I have three hours of Battlestar: Galactica to get through so I can return the disk to Netflix.  I hope I don't dislike this as much as I did the pilot.

Later later.  Well, I'm not liking it much more.  The style just irritates me, with all the newsreel camera-look, the clinking music.  Not so much a step up or down from the cheesy 70's original, as a step sideways.

Also, I did some more painting.  Just a bit on Night Surgeon.  Will have to be worked with a bit, but a nice start, I think. 

September 28, 2010

Not feeling too well today.  Not sure if that will affect productivity or not, though I've been non-productive before without that excuse.  Have to wait and see I guess.

Well, it's after 10 PM now.  I know I'm not doing anything today.  See you tomorrow. 

September 27, 2010

Well, it's 2:30 today and I haven't done anything (except swim).  I think I'm just so damned happy to have the Cat Song done and done.  Sent out some notices to folks and the reaction is very positive.

Projects I might work on:  another RVH song, "Distracted by Apes"; soundtrack for the Doppelganger film; another Headache; or some kind of new animation, but totally animated rather than just overlapping existing footage.

The last one seems a bit difficult, the third seems too easy, the other two, hmm.

Update: well, I digitized Doppelganger.  And I've moved some of the other videos to the network to free up some space on the local drive.  Nothing much other than that, so far.

Update 2: nothing else done today.  On to tomorrow.

September 26, 2010

Well, I finished the Cat Song video and uploaded it.  I did my twenty-five laps. 

That's good enough for an average Sunday in my book, so I'm knocking it in early tonight.  See you tomorrow!

September 25, 2010

Well, it's officially the new day.  I did a couple of nice Audacity songs--very Residents-like, but I'll only be able to use one as they both use the same bass and trumpet pattern as a rhythm.  Still, nice.  (I suspect that I'll go with the second, as the sax from the first is part of the Nice Jazz song and I don't want to spread stuff too thin.)

Daytime:  well, a few vocal takes of Cat Song, most of which are pretty bad.  I decided not to use the backing track as a guide, and that was a mistake--everything got a lot faster than it should have.  One good thing:  I think the higher the voice, the less effective it is.  If I can get it down low, it won't interfere with the guitars and it might work a lot better.  Will try a few more takes--with the backing track, thanks--a little later on.

Well, it's a little later, and I think we've finally managed to get a workable vocal.  Huzzah and hooray!   I'm not sure what else I want to accomplish (that I can).  Perhaps some trumpet work later on.  I feel it's been a productive day, though.

Did some trumpet tracks, dry, with heavy reverb, and with the Harmonizer pedal.  Not sure if any of it can be used anywhere, but it's nice to just play without worrying where something might fit (or not fit).

I doubt I'll do anything else creative the rest of the day, but I'll keep my options open.

And, voila, nothing else done today.  

September 24, 2010

So, here I am at Tom's house.  The drive down pretty much exhausted me, so yes, that's the excuse I'm going to use for accomplishing nothing today.

Which is fine.  I'm beginning to realize that I cannot be creative every single day, let alone for hours at a time.  Sometimes the ideas have to be allowed to settle in and stay in one place before I can work with them and produce anything worthwhile.

Oh, I suggested a couple of changes to the lyrics, one of which was accepted, the other was not.  I think it's overall stronger.  So I guess there is that.

Later: played around with Audacity a bit.  Wireless here is a bit iffy.  On to tomorrow.

September 23, 2010

Another lazy day.  Swam, slept, packed up some stuff for tomorrow.  Had a big lunch, which seems to've been a mistake--feeling bloated, sluggish and not a little bit ill.

Bought some Velcro for ROGER, but it didn't work.  I need something with bigger hooks. 

Nothing else done today.  Tomorrow should be a different story, tell you about it then. 

September 22, 2010

Got my swimming out of the way around 8:30.  It's tough on my eyes, whatever it is that they use in the pool to keep it clean.

Set up my recording equipment to try vocals for the Cat Song.  Let's see how that goes.

Later: well, I got what I think is a serviceable set of voices for the Cat Song, and it sounds pretty decent.  I'd still like to try recording in a more isolated setting--I think the lead voice needs to be up and on top, and that's going to take volume.  Wrote to Friend Tom asking if I could use his house.  Nice thing about that is I can get RVH to do it.

Later still: Friend Tom said come on down, so I will this weekend.  I listened to the Cat Song again, and am less happy with it.  The voices mush right over the instruments.  Better to get high and loud.

Bored and restless, so I'm going to go swimming again.  Until tomorrow, then.

September 21, 2010

Slept late, getting up around 11.  Finished watching "The Lost Skeleton Returns Again," which was quiet funny though not as fresh as the first film.

Swam around 1PM.  Since I was out of town on Sunday, I did make-up laps yesterday and today to bring me back to my proper total for the week.  Hard on the eyes, but otherwise it felt good.

Later:  Well, a decidedly uncreative day.  I did perhaps 30 minutes of painting, but I'm finding it difficult to force myself to do creative work.  Perhaps I'll be better recovered tomorrow.

Until then... 

September 20, 2010

A long drive home is something that typically exhausts my creative energies, and this one seems no exception.  So I'm not expecting to get anything of significance done today.  As always I'll keep my options open, but there's not likely to be much more after this paragraph.

Later: and I was right, too.

September 19, 2010

Shot some footage of the ocean and the shore, some of which looks useful.  I'm betting that's everything for today I am going to do, so until tomorrow...

September 18, 2010

Well, given my limited resources....

Actually, I did some work with trumpet samples, trying to see if I could make a brass line.  Interesting results.

That's about it, other than cleaning and rearranging furniture.

September 17, 2010

I'm out of town this weekend, so no swimming or, for that matter, much of anything I'm going to guess.  I'll still do entries but they'll probably be somewhat, er, lacking.

Later: as I thought, nothing much.  Though I'm thinking of playing with the sax and trumpet tracks using Audacity.  Need to find some headphones, first...

September 16, 2010

Up today at 8AM, though sleeping was difficult.  I'll be going off to swim in a few minutes.

I really have nothing planned for today.  Finishing up Realm kinda took the wind out of my sails.  Perhaps I should do the Kitty Cat video just using the instrumental track, which I keep saying I'll do.

Later:  well, I am working on the cat video.  I really like the music so that's a definite positive.  I'm curious as to why I seem to have so few pictures of Leela.  Seems like I should have a couple of hundred but there's only a handful.

I'm also concerned that some files--a brief video I wanted to include--seem to exist nowhere except in the backup of my website.  It's good that I have them, but they should be here, on some disk or another.  Troubling.  I wonder what might be lost for good?

Later still: I finished the cat video, or at least the karaoke version.  It looks, sounds and plays great.  I am hopeful that at some time I can add voices to it, but for now it feels good to look at something that's more than just an idea floating in my head.

Swam again around 10PM, mostly because I was feeling restless.  Also, I wanted beer. 

Nothing else accomplished today, but in a sense I figure this is quite a bit.  The only nagging thought is that with Realm and Kitty Cat, I've kind of passed a threshold in terms of using some storytelling techniques.  I wonder if doing things like the Headaches are kind of a step backwards.

On the other hand, they're fun to do.  And I even have some ideas for more.  The thing is, if doing them is spinning my wheels, at least that makes a sound I can listen to.

Tomorrow, on the road again.  Probably nothing notable will be accomplished this weekend, at least in terms of artwork.

Til then.

September 15, 2010

Haven't gone off to bed yet, but it's the 15th, so here we begin.

I discovered that I'd left nearly six seconds out of the Realm video.  Argh, to coin a phrase.  I hunted down the errant clip and inserted it.  Fortunately, I say fortunately, it was in an area that didn't yet have a soundtrack--in other words, an area where I was going to have to add and snip second to get everything to fit again.

Added some more soundtrack to other sections, including the ending since I knew that would be fairly simple.  No effects, just noise to massage the images toward the end.  What I have so far looks pretty good, and it's also stopped depressing me.

Up around 8AM, sat around until the job interview.  Realizing I had some time, and didn't have any water noises, I went and did some recordings of the shower.

The interview was pretty much what I thought it would be (lots of people at a presentation being told about sales jobs) but they seem sure of themselves so who knows.  Decent money, so if I could totally change my personality who can say.  Stopped back at the pool and did my laps.

Worked on water noises for Realm.

Later: finished and uploaded the Realm video.  That was pretty much it.  As noted, when sound effects have to be closely coordinated to events in the video, this can take a lot of time.  It's nice to see that I can do it, rather than just say "The heck with it" and do something half-way.

And then to tomorrow.

September 14, 2010

Up and swimming shortly before 9AM.  I'm feeling a lot less glum today, so I'm not sure what caused yesterday's mood.  Of course said mood may return without warning, so I'll keep watch.

Later: spent some time working on the Realm soundtrack.  It really is very depressing noise, but it's coming together well.

Later: well, it took around an hour to do a bit under a minute of soundtrack.  The reason being, this one uses sound effects for some events that have to be placed carefully.  I'm thinking  the rest of it won't quite be as detail-oriented, but it's interesting to work in that direction.

Later still: well, I watched some more Lynda.Com training videos.  They're pretty good stuff, though I'm not sure I'm getting out of them what I could.  I'll probably work some more on the Realm soundtrack later, but I want to go ahead and close the day now.

On to tomorrow.

September 13, 2010

Up a bit late (9:30 ish) and off to swim.   Back home, where I had a message about a possible job offer on the machine.  Called back and scheduled for this Wednesday at 10.  I have a feeling this might be a feeder from CareerBuilder.Com, but we'll see.

Worked a bit on the sphere painting.  No idea where it's going but the ideas do keep happening, so that's a good thing.

Last night I completed the "realm" animation and I looked at it again this morning.  Looks good, now all that's needed is (you guessed it) the soundtrack.  I have some definite ideas for it, but we'll have to see if I have the talent to do it right.

More later, perhaps.

It's 7:30 and I've done nothing else today.  I'm kind of hoping that won't be the case for the rest of the day.

Still later.  Recorded some soundtrack stuff, and it sounds good, but it's also kind of feeding the depressed mood I find myself in.

Later still, I did some more painting.  Worked a bit on Hell Dwarf and think I've made some progress.

Tomorrow awaits. 

September 12, 2010

Well, it's been one month since I started this.  Has it been worth it?  Well, I have managed to move forward on several things that, no doubt, would have been left in the middle or abandoned entirely otherwise.  Whether they were worth doing, I leave to future history - if any.

Difficult sleep last night, but up and into the pool around 10:30.  Nice swim, though my eyes are smarting.

After "The Drowned Giant," I have some more ideas for video-paintings, or whatever I should call these things.  One idea that appeals to me is doing a long video of the "Realm" images.  That might be nice.  Perhaps even one of those "tapestry" things.

As for an actual count of work done today, as of 2:45 PM, there's been none.  But perhaps more is to come.

Later:  worked on the painting, and started doing some work on "Realm."  Watched some more Lynda.com training videos.  They really are good.

Feel vaguely dissatisfied today, probably because I am ultimately heading nowhere.   Tomorrow then.

September 11, 2010

Got back from the concert around 1AM, and consequently slept until nearly 1PM.

I have discovered that my cat will willingly stay indoors now provided she gets her favorite place.  Her favorite place: my work chair.  Hm, not sure how that will work out.  For right now, I am giving in.

Here's how pathetic I am: I found a stool to put in front of the work chair.  Wow, that is just sad.

Anyway, I recorded a few guitar drones and added them to some existing echoing effects guitar tracks to create a soundtrack for The Drowned Giant.  It works pretty well, but then I'm keeping the original soundtrack - wave noises and the occasional gleeful child - because it adds a certain organic nature to the whole thing.  I think I'm ready to post it.

Haven't seen anything else on Lynda.Com and am feeling guilty about that (almost typed "guitar about that).  I think I'll watch one tonight.

We shall see if there's anything else to report later tonight.  I think I'm mostly done with creative work for today, but, as noted, we shall see.

Later: nothing else done today.  On to tomorrow!

September 10, 2010

Well, I over indulged last night, and woke up late.  Still managed to do some video work that I think could be usable.  (As usual, just needs a soundtrack.)

Off to see Jon Anderson in concert.  I imagine I will be back well past midnight, and since I'm not (can't) taking anything with me, that's all the creative work for today.  On to tomorrow.

September 9, 2010

Up fairly early, though sleep was difficult.  Off to swim around 8:30.

Last night I uploaded Headache No 03 to YouTube.  Surprising how little time that whole project took, from assembling and formatting the images to creating and attaching the soundtrack.  I guess when an idea wants to come out, it will come out.

Bad news from the bank (not catastrophic but extremely irksome) has left me in a foul mood, and I feel I won't be doing much creative work the rest of the day.  I'm tempted to post this now, but I'll wait a while longer to see how things develop.

Later.  Well, I am slightly less ticked off.  I did some cat animation for the choruses.  I also swam another twenty-five laps, which leaves tomorrow open.  Did some grocery shopping and bought beer, which is one reason I wanted to keep tomorrow open.

Tomorrow evening I'll be out of town so probably not much accomplished then.

Later still:  well, I got some good video work done.  Nothing concrete, nothing that might lead to a new project, but still good to feel the glow of accomplishment.

September 8, 2010

Up around 8AM and did my swimming around 9.  Weather is a bit variable today, sun and rain alternating.

Redid a page of my main website using Dreamweaver for the first time.  Pretty nice result, though it's obvious that I should look more into some of the special features available.  But it's good to know it can be done easily without a lot of pain.

Later:  Assembled the soundtrack to Headache No 3, then sync'd it to the video.  Looks pretty good.  Actually, it looks and sounds demonic and kind of scares me, but I don't think there's any danger...

Some reading, some trying to persuade the cat to come indoors, not a lot else...but a decent enough day.

Til tomorrow then....

September 7, 2010

No alcohol last night, and while sleep was poor, I was nonetheless able to get swimming shortly after 9AM.

Vague sense of unease last night and today, as if I'm forgetting something important.  Not sure what it might be.  It turns out my unemployment has run out, so I have to see what I can do about that.

Took one of the Lynda courses on Dreamweaver.  Great course, lots of information.

Later:  did some more recording.  Two tracks of a ride cymbal, and another track of double bass.  As it happens, my viola bow plays the double bass better than the double bass bow.   I will probably cut and paste these tracks to make the soundtrack, but I played it back as a unit and damn if it doesn't sound pretty good.  The handheld mic even threw in a bit of weird electronic noise.  Very nice.

Did a small bit of painting.  Seemed to work well enough, though this work is going slowly and it's hard to make it reveal its own ideas.

Loaded all the audio tracks into Audacity.  Sounds nice and occasionally matched up with the action on screen, though I think this one is going to need some matching to image.

Kind of tired tonight, don't know why.

Still later, took some very buzzy bass bits and made them into odd noises (mostly through reversing them).

September 6, 2010

Well, once again I was up late, this time trimming video clips.  Still, to bed in not too terrible an hour.  Up shortly after 8AM and went off to the gym, managing to get my swimming done a bit after nine.

I've spent quite a while today organizing video clips for what seems to be shaping up as "Headache No. 03," the latest in a series of YouTube offerings.  It's a lot of fun.  I shot new footage of this piece of Styrofoam I kept around, precisely for this sort of thing.  Also some footage of my paintings to go in behind this odd "tree trunk" that I should clip out of the video noise properly.

The only thing I don't have for this is a soundtrack, but I'm sure that will not present a problem.   Oh, I also did a tiny bit of painting, correcting some of the lighting on the spheres.

More later, perhaps.

Later, read for an hour or so out in the nice weather.  Not quite as perfect as Saturday and Sunday but still pretty nice.

After that, I did more video editing, overlaying, assembling.  I think I have something quite nice (as far as the Headache series can be considered "nice").  Put it all together (save for the soundtrack) with Pinnacle, which does have its uses.

For some reason, I thought a much quieter, calmer soundtrack was needed--something along the lines of Brian Eno's "Lost Day."  So I moved (with much grumbling over ubiquity of cables) the reverb unit and recorder over to the double bass.  Well, the reverb wouldn't work--it may need something with power behind it--but I was able to get some noise recorded just directly into the Boss.  And the noise?  Yikes, "A Visit To Squeakville" would not be out of place as a title.  I think I can cut a bit here and there and, perhaps, assemble something.

A decent day's work.

Yet later, I added a couple more clips to the Headache project and I think it works beginning to end.  So that part is finished, at least.  Funny how quickly I can do these when the muse just happens to hit.

I have a strange desire for alcohol which I am hoping I can resist.

Til tomorrow, then.

September 5, 2010

Another slow day, with lovely weather.  I was up really late last night, watching the old Battlestar Gallactica show and creating a silly magazine cover.  Nonetheless, I got the swimming in around noon.  Nice.

Sat outside and read again, enjoying the weather.  We'll have to see if anything gets done today.  Not a huge loss if it doesn't.

Later: Well, I worked a bit on painting (not a lot, but looks good).  I also reacquainted  myself with the Solvieg video editor.  I tried some last night and got strange results.  Practicing with it just now I suddenly remembered what I'd forgotten. 

So, very little done today, but still a satisfactory 24 hours. 

September 4, 2010

Hard time falling asleep, not helped by an indulgence in beer.  At any rate, I redid the "angry tail" sequence for the cat video, so that the frame doesn't jump all over the place.  Looks pretty good so far.

Ridley Scott's "Alien" remains in my top ten.

Ah, the wonders of alcohol.  Anyway, today's been a slow day.  Beautiful weather, so I went for a brief drive.  Then, when I came home, I sat outside and read for a couple of hours.  Created some footage of "video glitches" and started thinking about using it in one of the "Headache" entries.

Not much else done, but a lazy Saturday isn't going to break the bank.

September 3, 2010

Didn't sleep too well last night, but up and swimming around 9AM anyway.  Yay!

While swimming (which is were I get a lot of really good ideas) I got a nice idea about the Cat Song "chorus" section.  Maybe yelling isn't needed after all.  I'll have to try later.

Finished the web comic art and submitted it.  I think it will go over well, but who knows?  At least I don't have it hanging around my neck (in a totally voluntary way, of course) any more.

Finished the review of Nathan Shumate's book that I said I'd do weeks ago.  So that's off the table.  Cool!  Also did a quick "business card" of silliness for someone else.

Otherwise a slow, unremarkable day.  For the record, I didn't try the new chorus idea.  I did do some work on the "sphere" painting, which I think works okay with it.

Lethargy has set in, around 10PM so I'm thinking that's it for today. 

September 2, 2010

Well, I was up late watching science documentaries, so I'm fairly tired this morning.  At 10:30, I've missed the early window for swimming (Thursday is a class day), so we'll try 1 PM for that.

No real ideas for anything, except some possible work on the new painting.

More later.

Well, I drew a lot for the web comic thing, which isn't even mine.  Got in the swimming around 1, as planned.  Did some work on the painting but I wasn't really feeling it much.   I think I like it, but I'm not totally sure.  It sort of looks like it might shape up into something, but it's a bit too early to tell. 

September 1, 2010

Well, it's a new month and new beginning, and all that, right?  Sure!  So, I woke up at 9 and did my swimming, then came back home and fell asleep.

A canvas I started is dry enough to do some more work on, so I may do that.  I'm still rather psyched from finishing up the Cat Song.  Even my friend Tom's canceling of the upcoming weekend work doesn't bother me.

More to come, perhaps.

Later: did some painting on the canvas previously mentioned.  Assembled the Cat Song into into its complete form (i.e., the ending is now in place).  Of course, then I looked at the lyrics.

Oops.  Looks like I'll need some more verses.  Like, at least three.  Ow.  Well, I cobbled together some things and will forward them on to RV, who is much better with words.  In  fact, he'll probably start yelling when he sees what I have, but then, he's the guy with the words, right?  Give me better ones.

Did some drawing for a possible entry in someone else's web comic while watching shows about the universe. 

All in all, not a bad day.  Could have done more, I suppose, but I'm happy with what I got.