Timing is everything

Sometimes you can really get lucky. I'm in Detroit, on a business trip, late on a Sunday afternoon. I've just spent the last three hours at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Every second week is free Ford Sundays, so I got to enjoy all the amazing painting and sculptures for nothing, sponsored by Ford Motor Company.  Got a few really good photos. 

The previous day someone had mentioned a cool jazz bar in town called Cliff Bells, so I drive the few blocks south, find a parking spot (also free), and walk around the corner. Three guys are standing just outside the bar talking intently about something.  I veer around them, peer through the glass in the front door, and hesitate a moment.  Someone walks by me, opens the door and enters, so I follow him and stand inside, adjusting for a minute to the change of light. It's a very upscale bar, mahogany bar tops, and stylish lighting set the scene. Tables are scattered around, and the place is bustling with staff running here and there organizing something.

I sit down at the bar and order a Vodka and Sprite.  I ask how much, but they say it's free. I assume it's some sort of promotion, first one to get you hooked or something. The band is practicing up on stage, and they sound pretty good, so I relax and listen. 5 guys, one singing, the others playing.  They are actually very good. I listen till they stop practicing. 

The head of the band comes over for a drink, and I strike up a conversation with him. He has a crazy hairstyle, and unusual clothes. Turns out he is an Italian artist, and music is his other love.  Often plays the saxophone. But tonite he and his band are playing a somewhat unconventional instrument.  They call themselves  iBand. They play iPads.  You would be amazed at the sounds you can make with them, especially as a group. He gives me his business card, thin, black, with this crazy looking pic on it.  Apparently he did the pic himself. 

The staff really are busy.  They are all wearing special black shirts.  Most have a pretend suit, vest and tie painted on them in black and white, even the girls.  Some have big easily read words on the front, like "Drinks", or "Meat", or "Seafood".

I get another drink, and don't ask about the money.  They don't ask me.  I wait around for ages, passing the time in texting and checking out the artist's website, crammed full of fluorescent pop style art with swirls and comic characters and flowers and hippie girls and all sorts of crazy stuff. (www.fluon.it)

Eventually lots of people turn up, and fill the place nearly to overflowing. I get another drink.  The waiters come around and start serving delicious hors d'oeuvres.  They offer me one after the other till I can't eat any more.

Obviously I have stumbled into some private event, and miraculously didn't get stopped at the entrance.  Once I had been there a while everyone assumed I belonged. I saw other people being turned away, looking very disappointed. 

About 8 a guy gets up and gives a short speech, and introduces the band. I find out the event is being run by Volkswagen. It's the media reception event for the motor show being held in Detroit this week. All the big company hob nobs are there, and all the big media companies have sent their best people to cover the event. I think the guy talking was the CEO or someone.

The band plays for an hour.  Everyone loves them. I change drinks and have a Baileys instead. They leave for an hour, and while they are away another band plays, this time with conventional instruments. They are pretty good too. Then iBand comes back and plays for another hour.  They get 2 encores. The Volkswagen elite are clapping and dancing and having a wonderful time. We all enjoy ourselves immensely.


I stagger out of the place after 11, and wander back to my hotel room. The 5 alcoholic drinks have had 6 hours to settle, so I don't weave all over the road too much. I fall asleep soon after getting back, still flabbergasted that split second timing had turned my probably boring evening into an entertainment-filled and memorable one. 

Sintel

I haven't been doing a lot of Blender or animation lately, as I have discovered some very cool Blender work done by others. Watch this short movie called Sintel on Youtube, or download a hi-res version from the main Sintel site.

Apart from the technical excellence of the piece (cool hair effects, lighting, all sorts of stuff), it is a very moving story of a young girl and a wounded baby dragon.


Don't miss it! (Increase it to 720p and watch it full screen. And turn up the sound - the music is great, especially the Ziggurat scene, and the song during the credits at the end.)

PS Why is it taking me so long to watch a short movie? Because the whole thing is open source (from the Blender Foundation), free, and lots of material from the movie is available. Screenshots, the music, "making of" documentaries, even source 3D files I can load up and create my own scenes with. Its a real mother-load!

PSS The only bad side-effect is it makes my stumbling around in Blender look very poor in comparison. So don't compare, ok?

Scouting

Do you remember sitting around a campfire, poking marshmallows on the end of sticks into the fire, watching some of them come out totally burnt and charcoal, and the others perfectly brown on the outside and wonderfully gooey on the inside. Singing songs together and wondering if the birds in the trees are saying "Keep it down will you! We are trying to sleep up here!" Listening to scary stories, then going to bed and hearing strange noises outside the tent, imagining all sorts of creatures walking within fang distance. Waking up wondering where that stone came from that is digging into your back.

Blender has a particle system, and I am just starting to learn how to use it. The three logs in the following 8 second video are covered with a surface that emits random particles, colored red and yellow, that start off as nothing, flare into existence, then fade away. Its a very basic scene, with 5 rocky shapes surrounding the fire that you can imagine sitting on, a ground with bit of randomness to it, and a night sky with stars and comets drifting past. It took me a while to get even this far, and the whole effect looks very amateur, but its a start. Hopefully the next one will be better.

S'mores - they are about the same. One is never enough, and you usually think that each one will taste even better than the last. Until your stomach tells you that you had one s'more too many.

Click to see video