Tuesday, December 27, 2011

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.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

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.


Have A Nice Life

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


Saturday, December 17, 2011

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.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Baby Scarf

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.

About to add the Guinness to the 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.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Blender monkey - using different light sources

Blender monkey - using different light sources

Environment lighting combined with lamp lighting.

More Blender lessons.

Learning Blender - secondary camera

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

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

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:

Friday, December 2, 2011

My first Blender-made sculpted prim!

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.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

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!

Learning Blender

Blender experimenting

Blender experimenting