phases of the phoon

(Woo! post #100!)

There was a lunar eclipse yesterday, clearly visible in Sydney. By all accounts, it was going to be fairly spectacular. I collaborated with the always amusing Deborah to hatch an stunt to mark the occasion.

We were going to combine the ancient art of phooning with the lunar eclipse. A moonphoon!. The plan was simple, but of an epic scale:

Deborah is pro phooner, so finding a willing subject for the photo was going to be trivial. The idea was to pose a phooned silhouette in front of the blood-red moon, perhaps throwing in an ET-style bicycle for good measure.

We took the photo in Pyrmont, Dad came along to snap some pics too. Anyway, this is how it turned out:

(click for bigger version - make it your wallpaper!)

On reflection, the planning stage was probably a bit too optimistic. I simply didn't have the zoom or the angles to pull off the epic phoon we were aiming for. Nevermind.

Phooning aside, the moon did, however, put on a bit of a show. Again, click for bigger versions:

Here's the one I like best:

The whole experience has taught me that I am but a phooning padawan, and have a long way to go before I am truly a Jedi phooner.

electronic theatre highlights from SIGGRAPH'07

Again I couldn't make it to SIGGRAPH this year in person. However, I had the opportunity to check out a screening of the electronic theatre. Here are some of my hand-picked highlights from the screening:

burning safari (link) - youtube, quicktime.

raymond - youtube,quicktime

travelers (think katamari) - youtube

the itch (link) - youtube,quicktime

gentlemans duel (link) - quicktime

Enjoy :)

09/08/07 06:05:04

muahahahahhahahahahahha!!!

more moving and shaking

As seems to regularly be the case, the only thing that's constant is change. Briony is hanging out in sunny San Francisco for three months, we have moved out of our apartment in Gladesville and I'm back to AWP'ing defenceless Radiophysicists from my old bedroom in Marsfield. I've also gotten my act together and I'm working in the film biz.

I'm learning a lot, very quickly. The whole film-making process is a lot more measured and slower than I had previously imagined. The amount of work that goes into short, isolated segments of film is truly staggering.

The pace of film-making, however, is positively harefooted compared to the glacial pace of pedestrian commuters in the morning. In a vain attempt to squeeze some extra exercise in the day, I walk just over 3kms from the bus at QVB to work, near Fox Studios.

The morning routine involves getting off the bus on York street, and colliding with a giant group of people who are, for all intents and purposes, standing still. I think that they're slowly moving somewhere, perhaps hoping to be propelled only by molecular-scale Brownian motion. All I can hear is the moans and limp shuffling of undercaffeinated zombies, somehow occupying the entire pavement in an insidious, dozy mass.

It's not like I'm late or anything. I just don't like to shuffle - I can't do it, its too hard.

There's no concept of keeping to one side. Recent studies have shown that deceased mammals outpace most people in and around Town Hall around 8am on weekdays. It's enough to make one go a little postal.