I'm more than a casual fan of design. My favorite style is Art Deco. I'm a lover of most things Goth. I'm a devote and disciple of Hayao Miyazaki. I wear black.
Now I'm getting into Steam Punk. I may have already been into it back when I saw Naussica for the first time. That was way back when. Since, most of what Miyazaki has produced can be described as Steam Punk. His latest, Howl's Moving Castle, is decidedly definitive of the genre.
You can't have a better looking blog than me. I won't allow it.
Use alla web-stole, blog-template graphics ya want, I'll just up the ante.
Not yours.
Well, I jumped with both digital feet back into World of Warcraft. New server, because the old one had an Alliance / Horde ratio of 4 to 1. That means that every PVP and raid situation (all of which you get bonuses for if you win/control/dominate) were hopelessly lost even before they began, and no amount of cheering, rallying, shaming would get enough Horde to even care anymore about trying to mount an effective attack. Conversely, if I tried to take objectives myself (I can hold my own in a one-on-one) there were always a dearth of 70s and even T4's to just show up cuz they got the alarm and an attack by the Horde was so rare. Only in the digital world can you pick better odds.
I tried to convince a local paper that not only could I produce, design, typeset, photograph, do web and ads.... I could also write. So I submitted the following no-spec article with the thought that I could also do a video gamer section on top of everything else. All for the aristocratic sum of $7.50 an hour no benefits no vacay for the privilege of working there. I didn't get the job. At illegal immigrant pay. WTF man. Am I that despised? What do I have to do?
So since no other human will ever publish this paper, I reprint it here for posterity. Enjoy. Or don't.
Hording Gold
Virtual economies in real-life markets
When I started playing World of Warcraft, I was impressed how complex the game was. When I got into dealing with the in-game economy, I was impressed again how it worked and what people did to use it to their advantage. I then began to realize how much virtual money impacted real markets here on this plane of existence.
Blizzard Entertainment is a billion-dollar company. With previous popular titles like Diablo, Starcraft and the single-player Warcraft franchise, the company was making good money in the 90's with the constant increase in video game popularity and technology. That technology soon included on-line gaming.
In November 2004, the online subscription based World of Warcraft was launched. Although hampered early on by problems due to such complexity and unanticipated popularity, it broke records in company profits, becoming the best-selling PC game of '05 and '06.
World of Warcraft is just what it says: an entire world populated by Avatars that are projections of real-world people. As of January '08, World of Warcraft boasts a world-wide 10 million strong subscriber base and counting. At a $15 monthly subscription fee for use of U.S. servers, plus $20 for the initial game, another $30 for the expansion pack "The Burning Crusade" and soon to be released new expansion, that's real-world billions for Blizzard Entertainment. It also means increased shareholder value, good wages and taxes from a source that did not exist 10 years ago.
There is an extensive World of Warcraft, or "WOW," economy. Gold is the monetary standard in the Warcraft universe.... and its all virtual. It's a number on a screen. There isn't even a 3D representation of it displayed in the game, but that number is increasingly affecting more than just what you can buy in a virtual game.
A WOW character can make gold many different ways: kill monsters, do "quests", employ a profession and sell virtual items to NPC (non-player-character) vendors. There's also an auction house where subscribers can put up items for sale to the highest bidder. Leveling up some important attributes requires specific materials, which are found in "drops" which are items dropped by defeated monsters. The higher level to be achieved, the more difficult the materials are to find. Since it's much easier to buy mats than to find them, the WOW economy takes over. If the availability of a certain high-demand material is low, then the bid price can rise dramatically. This has been manipulated by a mass-purchase of every available piece of a certain material, creating a shortage. When the time is right, the items are then put up for bid, kept careful in control of how much is made available, keeping the price high and ensuring a healthy, if virtual profit.
It can take a considerable amount of time and work for a player to gather gold in sufficient quantities. This has led people to sell virtual gold for real money. There is no shortage of spammers outside places where subscribers gather. Banks and auction houses usually have low-level characters just outside the door advertising websites where gold can be purchased for real money. It has been advertised recently at an exchange rate of one U.S. dollar to one hundred gold, although market forces change this figure frequently. The exchange can easily be made with credit cards or paypal accounts. The risk is high, as identity theft and malware from these sites are real possibilities. The practice of acquiring gold for the exchange of real money is called "Gold FArming" and is expressly forbidden by Blizzard. While not illegal (with the possible exception of Korea), it's consequences are subject to possible ejection from the game and suspension of the offending account. New accounts, especially when using disreputable tactics, can be easily set up within a few minutes.
Gold farming has proven so lucrative that companies have been set up to exploit the value of online economies. These companies, located mostly in China where there is a plentiful source of labor, have created sweatshops where they employ people to gold farm Warcraft and other MMORPGs as much as 12 hours a day. For the "employee," the monetary compensation is little, as reportedly some sweatshop workers play for lodging and meals alone, but farming can provide up to $200 a month. The companies employing the gold farmers, however, can make serious money and even provide an increase in the local economy, filling jobs that would not exist without a virtual workplace. Although there are no official records in exchanging virtual money for real cash, the chronic prevalence of the spammers suggests that there is no shortage of gold farmers. Attempts by Blizzard are being made to curb gold farming, including frequent game changes to make it less lucrative, but the problem remains as long as it can be profitable.
With the popularity of online gaming rising, the money made from virtual worlds can only become more prevalent... and more of a problem. It's effects on the actual economies of the world remains largely unknown, and unstudied.
Didja photoshop your penis bigger too, Iran?
Why didn't you just 'shop 30 in there? And take some time with it.
Evolution of a Running Man
Refined
Construction time=???. frame rate=18fps. Frames=20.
roughs
Construction Time = approx 4 hours. Frame Rate = 12fps frames = 10
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
Because it's beautiful. It's free and open-sourced. It also has 3rd party add-ons.
I used to have "Ad block Plus" which did what it said. It blocked every ad. No extra load time for ads, no ads period. I did have to disable it, because it interfered with some things I need to see as a web developer and flash animator, but just because it had some (minor) problems doesn't mean that it isn't great. It was just my preference to turn it off.
Now, I have an add-on called "Web Developer" which is so awesome I can't describe it to justice. It allows you to view website architecture, elements, tags, usage, links, CSS and a hundred other options right on screen depending on what you select to view. It will validate and analyze websites for size, load ability, link validity, and even let you rewrite the HTML of the page you are on (for your browser only), save it or revert to the web version.
Indispensable. Incomparable. Fn Free.
Getting a second wind is a frequent occurrence. I can employ techniques to bring it about as they are often useful and desirable. Third winds are nice because of their scarcity, usually because of the lack of need and desire to power through after the second wind falters. Third winds usually come as a welcomed surprise or in times of extreme need.
Yesterday, I was able to achieve the very rare event of a fourth wind. My previous forth winds have come in times of extreme stress / jubilation such as Finals in college and Mardi Gras. The details:
Saturday - night at the HiLo where I only had two 3.2 beers and a shot of brand-name whiskey. No drunkenness, just closed the bar and slept for 12 hours.
Sunday - Wake late for me, 2pm. Day already wasted. Coffee, home chores and then boredom. 4pm, watch Children of Men.
Side note: Awesome. Devastating. I knew about the shot before it came, and when it came, I was not disappointed. I've only seen it once, but IMHO, it beats the pants off the shot from Touch of Evil. Sorry, Hitchcockians. Twice as long, 5 times as much action. (spoiler-risk) Just because one of the characters was computer-animated takes nothing away from it at all. It was necessary for safety alone. In addition, I seem to gravitate toward Orwellian, bleak-future movies with jackboot stormtroopers suppressing the general population. I don't want it, but I love it.
Sunday continued: Puttered around thinking about the movie and what I can get done. Decide its Sunday and watch Pan's Labyrinth. Also good. Good n sad.
Monday:early AM, not sleeping achieve 2nd wind. Spent time with a little work and "speed animating." Exactly what it sounds like. You develop technique without caring about the quality. Also called Q&D (quick and dirty).
7:30 am. Off to some manual labor I picked up for the day near Tulsa in a house overlooking beautiful (and red) Keystone lake. 3rd wind comes around 2pm @ 24 hours awake. Stop work at 7:30p, dinner at 9p, still an hour from home. Achieve the welcome 4th wind when I turn on the Radio and hear Coltrane chewing on a sax solo like a cigar. No dangerous drowsiness on a cool summer evening traveling on the same road where Karen Silkwood's pain ended. Made it home and to sleep with a grand total of around 33 hours awake. Made some money, got some work done on art and business, worked a 10 hour day of manual labor, and got 2 excellent films watched. Too bad I can't eliminate the need for sleep.
