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Saturday January 3, 2009
Happy New Year! It's the first Friday of 2009 and it's chilly here in the Gray Cat's loft. The topic for tonight is writing and the focus will be on writing comedy. We've all had the opportunity to tell a joke we've heard but it's far harder to create a new joke. There is in fact an art to crafting a good joke and to combine a series of jokes on a theme. Brevity is a key skill and the silences between words or phrases can be as important as the words themselves. The meter and timing of a joke is rather poetic and at times nearly musical. The other side of writing comedy is performance and the real test of a good joke whether or not anyone will laugh at it. I've recently started attending comedy open mike nights at the local coffee bar and a nearby Mexican restaurant. These informal events allow anyone with courage or experience to try their hand at stand-up comedy. The seasoned pros will often try out new material while the newbies can get their feet wet in a rather forgiving venue. The process of trying your jokes can be daunting, but with practice it gets easier and the jokes that survive and get refined can form the basis of an act. I'll have more on the ins and outs of comedy writing and performance in a future post.
The brand new year 2009 holds promise and hope to balance the fear and uncertainty of the last year. Let's all try to embrace the positive and to give of ourselves in 2009. Help others if you can and keep the hope alive. Make every day an opportunity and seize the moment!
The loops of the week some high and glassy synthesizer loops.
The picture of the week was created using Project Dogwaffle.Click on the image for a full-sized view
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!
Friday July 11, 2008
Welcome and a most jolly July to all! It's Friday once more and the topic is text as a visual art. A very early example of combining text and graphics into a single artistic statement is the art of illuminated manuscripts. The handwritten letters were embellished with beautiful patterns and decorations that blended illustration with calligraphy. Concrete Poetry is a form in which the placement of the words on the printed page is used to convey and accentuate the poetic content. Concrete poetry evolved into (and overlaps) a form known as Visual Poetry in which the text may form an image, further reinforcing the intent. A modern web-page is an example of how content and style interact and combine. The idea is to emphasize the words by selecting their placement, font, size/weight, color and other attributes. The good news for those wanting to create their own visual/concrete poetic masterpiece is that it takes little more than a PC and a decent word processing or publishing program. Try composing an ode to nature in the shape of a tree or a minimalist sonnet that forms a neat triangle or square of text.
The picture of the week was created using Project Dogwaffle.
Click on the image for a full-sized view
The loops of the week are a set of drum/percussion parts.
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it. Bye for now!
Friday April 25, 2008
Greetings! 'Tis Friday and I'm back with the usual mix of creativity and high spirits. This week the topic is writing, and in particular we'll talk about working with others. I recently started on a collaborative project with a small group that has been working on creating a short film. This is new territory for the old Gray Cat but it's fascinating to be in this type of learning situation. In the past I've only completed short poems and outlines for stories. In the group, every session yields new insights and quantifiable progress. My point is that like a musician who only spends time practicing alone I had been isolated as a writer. You need to join a band or group to truly grow and develop as an artist. The payoff is both better productivity and a wealth of other viewpoints and ideas. If you're looking to get a start on your next artistic work, give collaboration a try. You may be surprised by the results.
The picture of the week was created using Project Dogwaffle.
Click on the image for a full-sized view
The loops of the week are some bluesy electric piano riffs.
The PC game of the week is still Command and Conquer 3.
The web spot of the week is the Philharmonia Orchestra site. Lots of cool stuff to be found here including a great library of sampled orchestral instrument sounds.
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now
Friday April 11, 2008
Hi All! It's another fine Friday evening here in sun-drenched so cal. The topic for this week is the creative process and a method for finding your muse. I deal mostly with art as it relates to technology but sometimes you need to take a step back to break a creative block. If you're a visual artist, try spending an hour or 3 away from the PC screen and drawing with pencils or crayons or ballpoint pen on a sheet of 3-hole binder ruled paper. The point here is to return to the media of childhood and see if there is a fresh source of ideas in the mud-pies we all made while growing. If music is your thing, try beating simple rhythms on a hand drum or tambourine. Pick up your old harmonica or ukulele or recorder and see what melodies emerge. If you write, try composing a silly story in the style of Dr. Seuss. Creativity and imagination are the basis over which we build artistic technique. Try it and see if it doesn't jump-start your inspiration.
The picture of the week was created using Bryce.
Click on the image for a full-sized view
The loops of the week are a set of deeply effected sampled guitar bits.
The PC game of the week is still Command and Conquer 3. The battle for tiberium continues.
Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!
Friday November 30, 2007
Warm greetings on a rainy Friday. I've been a busy gray cat this week, and once more my time management skills (or lack thereof) are getting pushed to their limits. I got a good dose of writing, doing more documentation for the Musubi project and writing up this weekly blog post. Musically I've fallen in with a group of guys for a weekly blues/rock jam and I've resumed work on a collaborated song that had been in the works for some time. In graphics, I've been creating new scenes and characters in Anim8or and I've started learning to use Corel Draw. Programming time was devoted mostly to SDL/Musubi in Euphoria and some preliminary work on a program for the Palm PDA. You'll likely see more of the results of those scattered efforts posted here on this very blog once they're in a state of completion. Next week we'll resume focus on the one topic or another.
The picture of the week was created using Bryce.Click on the image for a full-sized view
The loops of the week are a set of synthetic bass runs.The site of the week is singer/songwriter Nicole Alden's page. I stumbled onto her site while on an unrelated search and was rewarded with awesome music and beautifully constructed songs. Catch this rising star while you can.The PC game of the week is Toribash. This game almost defies description; It's a martial arts game that is turn-based rather than real-time. The current version is free (always a good thing) and best played online, against other human players. It also earns a few extra coolness points for using SDL/OpenGL. Check it out! Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.Bye for now!
