Hide and go seek

"Could you put my shoes on for me please?", says the 3 year old girl to my son, Jake, in the middle of a child development class in year 12.
After putting on the first one, Jake looks around and says "Where is your other shoe?"
"I don't know."
Of course not. Why would she know. That would be too easy.

"Where were you playing when you lost the other one?"
She leads him over to the playground, and they search for 5 minutes.
"Does anyone else know where a spare shoe is?" Jake asks of all the other children.
One boy pipes up: "I know! I know!"
"Where is it?"
"I can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"I hid it!" he says, with a devious grin on his face, happy at being so clever.
Jake, in another display of his seemingly infinite patience, asks him calmly, "Why did you hide it?"
The boy, even happier, says something that an adult could never invent in a million years.
"I wanted to play Hide and Go Shoe!"

All the other children, upon hearing this, take off one of their shoes and shout, "Can we play too?!"
"How about we play that, not now!" says Jake, and diverts them to some other game, cleverly avoiding all the confused parents wondering why their children are coming home limping.
They eventually find the other piece of footwear hiding in a closet, and cover her bare metatarsals before she starts to develop scoliosis.

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?