darw1n.net

Castle wars looks simple enough. True, it’s graphics are primitive, but they are as functional as they need to be. This card-based game gives you the goal of either raising your castle to 100 levels or destroying your opponents castle. Enjoy!

From IMDB.com:

Director Tim Burton is so fascinated by Marilyn Manson’s relationship with his estranged wife Dita Von Teese, he is planning to turn the failed marriage into a movie. Burton is reportedly in talks with the shock rocker to document his life with burlesque dancer Von Teese and bring it to the big screen. He says, “I’m fascinated by Dita and Marilyn. They’re like a living Brothers Grimm fairytale.”

Why? Jeez. Really, I don’t feel like anything that could possibly inspire more Manson “art” is a good idea. Especially if you’re going to be wasting Burton talent on it. Seriously, even Burton past his prime is worth more than that. I don’t know so much about Von Teese except that she’s a well known cabaret performer apparently known being naked in an oversized champagne glass. The pic isn’t nude, btw… such a link would be worthy of an individual posting under the “Rocks” category, as the implants aren’t particularly convincing. Zing!

I hadn’t heard a really horrible idea for a reality show in a long time, but this one where viewers help choose which contestant will receive a live-saving kidney donation is pretty wretched.

continuing the hype around transformers. . .

Guess what came in the mail today? If you guessed “neck bees” you’re only partially correct. My new Canon scanner arrived this afternoon and here’s just one gem from my sketchbook than can now be liberated to the internets.

… or at least the best apartment advertisements ever.

Only Girls Who Save Their Pennies Make my Day

The other one was taken off of craigslist so I had to copy and paste the text, which I thankfully still had, into an .html:

Must be 5’4″ or Under to Rent This Apartment

Both courtesy Iliana.

Dropping a quick recommendation for E.O. Wilson’s 1978 book On Human Nature. The book was recommended to me by Mr. Laidre freshman year of college and I only recently got around to it. Wilson was an entomologist who became an unlikely philosopher when he began applying the sociobiological theories he used on hymenopterous insects and that others used on higher mammals to human activity. I was a bit worried that the dated science of it would hold things back, but really it was a pretty kick-butt book. Although my own personal view points already veered close to his, I was still particularly surprised by the insights of some of the more specific chapters (esp. “Sex” and “Aggression”). Some of his assertions, moreover–casually tossing aside noted philosophers (Freud, Marx)–were actually somewhat exhilarating to read after having waded through books and books which had worshiped at their feet. The language is a bit thick at times compared to most novelistic fare, but simpler than most such books, and inclusive of a glossary, actually. Check it out.

Yeah, so all that hubbub from Blizzard was all about StarCraft II. Enjoy.

p.s. no release date.

Here’s the full Transformers trailer. It doesn’t look so bad, plus they’ve included that delightful transforming sound, which make my skin tingle. I still can’t tell if this will even be watchable.

Now that the semester is over I’m collecting, compressing, and posting some of my work from this spring. Here’s the latest version (not final) of the group project I’ve been working on. We made a mad dash to get a rendered version of it ready for the end of semester show, and now we plan to go back and clean up some of the animation, put a lot more work into the surface shaders (make the candies actually look like they’re made out of gumdrop, etc.), and put some more work into the backgrounds and lighting (they get pretty blown out). Any and all comments, suggestions, scathing criticisms welcomed.

GOOBEES 720×405 15 Meg quicktime

GOOOBEES 4??x3?? 6 Meg quicktime