Currently in earphones: Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 6 (Pathetique)
::semi-hopeful opening::
::gushing review of soundtrack::
::mediocre anecdote::
::thinly-veiled admission of Single-tude::
::Pause for literary bitch-slap by a certain Epeeist::
::Lament::
::spiral into madness::
Enough, More Later.
- James
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Monday, August 08, 2005
Breathe Deep, Seek Peace
Currently in Earphones: "Finale (Furiant)" from Dvorak's Czech Suite, "A Number of Microphones," "On Her Majesties Secret Service," "Bigger?" and "Cominagetcha" by Propellerheads.
Work continues as per usual. Sitting in booths and smiling to the populace. I like to think that I'm customer friendly: I do my best to be polite and deferential. I just hate how one dissatisfied customer can ruin your whole day, even if they are polite about it. I try to treasure and hold on to the people who give encouragement, but they just don't stick in the mind like angry ones. A few days ago the cashier I was training and I were on the receiving end of a not-nasty-but-heartfelt barb, and he wasn't angry, just forceful. As is per usual, it felt like it was directed right at us, the Cashiers. But, once the customer saw me cowering in supplication and my co-worker on the verge of tears, he relented a bit, acknowledging that it wasn't our fault per se. On the upshot, I learned how to work the Credit Card machine in the Back Entrance for refunds.
Damnit, My buddies and soon to be roomies need to get together for a jaunt around the City! But darned if Preston has a job that keeps him away from the comp all evening and makes him very hard to contact. It would have been cool to go do something with Sascha and Toes in the meantime, but our respective jobs aren't letting us.
Gonna go help my old buddy Daniel T. set up his new comp tomorrow. I think I'm gonna ask him for some payment for my time: I've put in so many man hours on his old toaster of a comp (and learnt the hard way that new programs and old OS don't mix very well) that I think I deserve a little compensation. Hell, he even mentioned it himself a while back, and I'm gonna take him up on his offer.
I was reading an article in the Chron this morning about how Special FX have so taken over movies that directors rely more on it than on anything else. Now, since I don't yet own the mega-edition of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (And have only read one article on the Making of), it came as a surprise to know that they did, in fact, use CG for some of the shots. What I wanna know is, for all of you who saw Master and Commander, did YOU figure out there was CG in it? I certainly didn't! (Not before reading the making of stuff, that's for sure) Now isn't THAT a measure of how good CG work is?
I know though, in an age where we can create entire undead armies, make a flaming man fly through skyscrapers and create other such fantastic things, replication of EARTHLY realism may seem ho-hum. But isn't it true that we look for REALISM in general when admiring CG work, whether it be fantasy or more commonplace? There is always a certain amount of suspension of disbelief when dealing with fantastic images: we don't REALLY believe that a big red man with horn-stubs and a stone hand will come crashing though the BART station, battling a slimy, evil creature while we're waiting for our train to Daly City. But do we believe that that creature really did have the strenght to knock the red man flying into theceilingg without thinking that there were some invisible wires attached to the red man, and presumable a team of guys on the other end of the rope going "NOW!!!"
So I guess the question is, not that do we believe these things can exist in the world we live in, but could they exist in a world LIKE ours, at least when dealing with fantasy.
Enough. More Later.
- James
Work continues as per usual. Sitting in booths and smiling to the populace. I like to think that I'm customer friendly: I do my best to be polite and deferential. I just hate how one dissatisfied customer can ruin your whole day, even if they are polite about it. I try to treasure and hold on to the people who give encouragement, but they just don't stick in the mind like angry ones. A few days ago the cashier I was training and I were on the receiving end of a not-nasty-but-heartfelt barb, and he wasn't angry, just forceful. As is per usual, it felt like it was directed right at us, the Cashiers. But, once the customer saw me cowering in supplication and my co-worker on the verge of tears, he relented a bit, acknowledging that it wasn't our fault per se. On the upshot, I learned how to work the Credit Card machine in the Back Entrance for refunds.
Damnit, My buddies and soon to be roomies need to get together for a jaunt around the City! But darned if Preston has a job that keeps him away from the comp all evening and makes him very hard to contact. It would have been cool to go do something with Sascha and Toes in the meantime, but our respective jobs aren't letting us.
Gonna go help my old buddy Daniel T. set up his new comp tomorrow. I think I'm gonna ask him for some payment for my time: I've put in so many man hours on his old toaster of a comp (and learnt the hard way that new programs and old OS don't mix very well) that I think I deserve a little compensation. Hell, he even mentioned it himself a while back, and I'm gonna take him up on his offer.
I was reading an article in the Chron this morning about how Special FX have so taken over movies that directors rely more on it than on anything else. Now, since I don't yet own the mega-edition of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (And have only read one article on the Making of), it came as a surprise to know that they did, in fact, use CG for some of the shots. What I wanna know is, for all of you who saw Master and Commander, did YOU figure out there was CG in it? I certainly didn't! (Not before reading the making of stuff, that's for sure) Now isn't THAT a measure of how good CG work is?
I know though, in an age where we can create entire undead armies, make a flaming man fly through skyscrapers and create other such fantastic things, replication of EARTHLY realism may seem ho-hum. But isn't it true that we look for REALISM in general when admiring CG work, whether it be fantasy or more commonplace? There is always a certain amount of suspension of disbelief when dealing with fantastic images: we don't REALLY believe that a big red man with horn-stubs and a stone hand will come crashing though the BART station, battling a slimy, evil creature while we're waiting for our train to Daly City. But do we believe that that creature really did have the strenght to knock the red man flying into theceilingg without thinking that there were some invisible wires attached to the red man, and presumable a team of guys on the other end of the rope going "NOW!!!"
So I guess the question is, not that do we believe these things can exist in the world we live in, but could they exist in a world LIKE ours, at least when dealing with fantasy.
Enough. More Later.
- James
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)