Confusing

Life is so fucking confusing. Maybe others have it figured out because they've stopped trying to Figure It All Out, whereas I can't fucking let it go and I can't stop thinking about it and trying to make sense of it all. I don't know.

Thought for the day

Life lesson: 
People like/are drawn to other people who are unique and/or special, but if you're TOO different, they don't really want to have all that much to do with you. They'll find you fascinating, but in an at-arm's-length sort of way, in the same way they might gawk at something in a circus sideshow.

Have A Nice Life

"It doesn't have to be this way," zie said.  "You don't have to do this." 

"Yes," I replied.  "Yes it does.  And yes I do." 

And that was my final word on it.  

Time to say goodbye.

Title: Have A Nice Life
Year: 2011
Dimensions: 12 in. x 9 in.
Media: Ballpoint pen, felt-tip marker, colored pencil, pastel on paper

Baby Scarf - now available on the Second Life Marketplace

Prim babies were totally harmed in the making of this HOT item. Accept no imitations!
Features:

• Made with 100% genuine real baby.
• Fashionable winter accessory.
• Makes a great gift!
• Totally serious.
• Haute couture.

Check it out here!  https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Baby-Scarf-box/3000241

Baby Scarf

I made this in response to the controversy over "animal cruelty" regarding a FAKE/PRIM fox scarf made by Anya Ohmai -- read the article here: nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2011/12/faux-fox-fur-not-faux-enough.html

Comment thread is priceless. 

"What's fashionable about death?" -- Lyrical Popstar

EVERYTHING.

"It's ugly and gruesome. I wouldn't wear it unless I were trying to portray the sort of barbarian who wraps her bloody nature in the trappings of civilization, at which point it'd be a tell-tale indicator of the inner life of the wearer."  -- Arcadia Codesmith

Bitch, you couldn't HANDLE my inner life.

Also, if you're in Second Life, you can pick up your OWN Baby Scarf here! Only L$3! slurl.com/secondlife/Kress/231/151/154

** UPDATE**

Now available on the Marketplace!
http://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Baby-Scarf-box/3000241

Guinness beef stew.

(This makes a ton of stew, so you will likely have to cook this in 2 large pots.  Just split the ingredients evenly between the 2 pots; or, halve this recipe.  I personally like to have a lot of leftovers to freeze.)

Adapted from my friend Emi's legendary Guinness beef stew.  <3

This isn't really an exact recipe, just a basic guideline that can be adapted pretty much any way you want.

3 Carrots, 4 potatoes, 3 onions, 1 large yellow turnip, 2 containers of mushrooms, all chopped.
5 cloves of garlic, minced.
3 lbs of stew meat.
Flour (4TB), salt, pepper, garlic powder, other dried herbs in a gallon-sized ziploc bag.
6 cups beef broth or stock; couple pints of Guinness.
Bay leaf, red pepper flakes.
Bacon fat.
Butter.

Coat the meat in the flour/herb/spice mixture in the ziploc bag.

Heat about 1 TB bacon fat in the pot(s)over medium heat; add meat and brown on all sides, over medium-low; keep lid on to trap in moisture.

When meat is browned, scrape it over to one side and add a pat or two of butter; add chopped onions & coat them with the melted butter, and stir together with the meat.  Let the onions soften with the meat over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Then add minced garlic, stir, simmer for another few minutes over medium-low.

Scrape the bottom of the pot(s) with spoon and add the Guinness.  Allow mixture to bubble for a couple of minutes, then add the rest of the chopped vegetables.  Top off with the broth -- enough to cover everything, almost filling the pot(s) (leave about an inch of room from the rim).  Stir everything together.  Add a bay leaf and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.  Bring to a boil, stir, then turn heat down to low and simmer with lid on for about 3 & a half hours.  Check on it occasionally, stir, add more liquid if necessary.  Remove bay leaf before serving.

Shipping another print today

Blender gem thing

Just messing around with materials and lighting.

Blender monkey - using different light sources

Environment lighting combined with lamp lighting.

More Blender lessons.

Two renders of the same scene (using a monkey head preset) and 2 different camera angles.

Ho-Ho-Horrible Holiday Music Playlist, 2011

It has become a tradition of mine to compile a playlist of Bad Christmas Music and share it with the rest of the world.

Some of these are intentionally funny, some are horribly tacky and tasteless, some are overly sentimental/sappy, some are really geeky, some are god-awful and make you want to stick a sharp object into your eardrum, some are just... baffling.

So here's this year's effort. Over 2 hours of amazing-ness. Just press play and...enjoy?

(** Not safe for work/children)

-- Here is the direct link to the playlist, if the embedded one isn't working for you:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA4771D1666AF3EA4

My first Blender-made sculpted prim!

My first sculpted prim made using Blender! Sculpted prims are a type of building block in Second Life. A 3D shape is first created in an external program, then converted to a UV map, then uploaded to Second Life and applied to an object to create that 3D shape.

If I had known it would be this easy, I would have done it forever ago!! Sheesh.

Finally learning Blender.

I found some great video tutorials for Blender, so I figured I'd fire it up and give it another go (I attempted to learn it years ago, but there weren't many good vids on it at the time, and I found it a bit frustrating).

It's still a ton of information to process, but fortunately my years of working in Second Life has made it easier for me to catch on, since creating content in SL is essentially a 3D modelling work environment.

Anyway, here are the first test renders of stuff I've been messing around with. Still a long way to go, but it's a lot of fun!