Day Seventy-Eight through Eighty-One: The Social Habits Of The Filipino Mother (How I Almost Kidnapped Sam)

9/4/15, 11:20 PM PDT

So for the past three days, I have essentially been nonstop editing for the next VFX weekly. I wanted to try some compositing with 3D elements, so I decided to try and animate some Star Fox vehicles into my neighborhood.

Thankfully, to save me a ton of modeling time, I managed to find a 3D model of an Arwing, a Landmaster, and a Wolfen online. Bless whoever took those from Brawl, because if I had to model this thing...

...then this weekly would probably have become a monthly. I've only been playing with 3DS Max for about two months and modeling is still ridiculously hard for me. Thankfully, animating is still basically the same as it is in After Effects, so I had no trouble doing that. The only thing that was super difficult about this project was rendering. It took EIGHT HOURS to render, and it basically overworked my laptop in the process.

But I am very happy with the outcome. Take a look.

More importantly, however, let me tell you about the socializing habits of the rare and elusive Filipino mother. Upon the retrieval of their child at another Filipino family's house, such as Samantha's house, the two mothers partake in an elaborate social ritual. In the native Philippine tongue, it is called "wag ka tatahimic" but its closest English translation is "conversation." Though conversation, in the Western sense, is nothing compared to this.

The two Filipino mothers initiate the ritual by first gesturing to the other what appears to be a goodbye wave at first glance. However, between the two women, it is actually a signal that says "I want us to talk for an indefinite period of time in order to delay the work that both of our children have to do for as long as possible." From that point, the two women quickly jump from conversation topic to conversation topic while their children wait awkwardly outside of the car for them to finish. Which is what Sam and I did.

Eventually, when their conversation hit the 45 minute mark, we tried to play a trick on them. Sam snuck into my mom's car (my mom stayed in her car the entire time she was talking to Sam's mom) and she hid in the backseat while we waited for them to finish talking.

We ended up waiting an additional forty minutes, meaning their entire "farewell" conversation lasted an hour and a half. But eventually, my mom drove off.

She didn't notice that crouching in the backseat in the fetal position was Samantha, hidden from view by the back of the passenger seat, her occasional chuckles covered up by the hum of the engine and the guttural hyena-like roars of laughter that my sister was screaming out.

My mom immediately started saying that she could talk to Samantha's mom forever, and I just put myself into autopilot, saying "yeah" to whatever she said. At one point, my mom said

"Samantha's mom talks a lot though, huh?"

She asked that question at an incredible time, right at the point where we reached a stop sign and the sound of my sister laughing stopped for a few seconds. And, with equally perfect timing, in a perfectly silent car, Samantha said

"Yeah, she does."

My mom immediately looks in the backseat, notices that Samantha was still in the car with us, and IMMEDIATELY turns back around to Samantha's house, right as Sam's mom exits the house in panic mode, searching for her daughter.

We explained the situation and even though the entire car was laughing, Sam's mom was panicking. Upon exiting, Sam gave out this weird chimpanzee "WOOO!" howl and raised her arms in the air like Donkey Kong about to throw an invisible barrel.

Her mom threatened to smack us, but it was totally worth it.

RFotD: I feel bad that our little joke made Sam's brother panic too. Her brother's cool, he didn't deserve that kind of fear.

Day Sixty-Five: Motion Graphics With Video Games

8/19/15, 11:30 PM PDT

Hey! So remember that motion graphic thing I talked about yesterday? Well I finished it today, check it out:

And yes, I know it says "August 20" in the video, but that's because I finished and uploaded this thing at like... 1 AM on August 20. Whatever.

Oh, and as a little behind-the-scenes treat for you blog readers, LOOK AT HOW MANY LAYERS WENT INTO THIS ANIMATION:

Yeah, this was NOT an easy project.

It took me a little over a week to finish this one, which is probably something I should fix since I'm making this a weekly series and all.

RFotD: Based on results from a test by Creative Cow, After Effects can handle up to 1,918 visible layers at the same time. When using AE's "shy" toggle and making some of those layers invisible, however, the number basically becomes infinite.

Day Fifty-Two: Nothing But Filmmaking

8/2/13, 7:43 AM PDT

Woo! Actually got to wake up later than 5:30 today.

Woke up at 5:31. Damn it.



Same day, 4:11 PM PDT

FIVE HOURS OF STRAIGHT EDITING. Just BARELY finished the short film, with probably seconds to spare. I think it's pretty okay, for a week-long project and a 5-hour edit. We all had to do our own version and in my opinion, I think mine was the best out of the entire group. Not to sound stuck up, but my edit was pretty damn good. See for yourself.

Since we had five videos per group and five groups, only one person's edit per group would be shown. Half of my group left before the exhibition, so we would be showing either mine, Malia's, or Luke's. Malia didn't want to show hers, and Luke's wasn't that great, so of course, we chose mine to be presented.

...Except Luke was REALLY insistent on showing his, and seeing that he's only 13, I let him have the limelight.

Come the parent exhibition, we showed ours second to last...

And only my mom laughed really hard.

Speaking of the parent exhibition, the other films were pretty interesting. There was one group that made a movie where a guy got paranoid from an avocado that hit his head. Another group made a pretty cool black and white horror film with red in it, kind of like Madworld (the video game) or Sin City. One group made a superhero movie, and the last group made a commercial for Febreze where they would kill people off one by one and they'd smell something nice every time someone died (kind of like this picture).

Pretty good group, I'd say. Really excited for the advanced class next week though.

Oh, and I got a pretty little diploma thing. It comes in a fancy little folder.

Pretty, huh? TARDIS blue too.

It's like a high school diploma, only it's not. I don't know, it's late and
I'm out of jokes.

8/3/13, 2:17 AM PDT

AAAAAAGH. Up late prepping up for tomorrow's shoot. Annotated a lot, bought parts for the knife belt, actually made the knife belt, got Zach's shipment of props, and made a quick little name plate for Diana.

This took effing WEEKS to make. It's not even funny.

Here's the first step to making the knife belt, which is connecting it to
a metal beam.

Completed product, currently stabbing me.

Completed product, on table.

PROPS.

Cool little thing about Zach's props, he made a detachable silencer using Legos, superglue, and a cardboard tube.

He described it as "ghetto." I describe it as "genius."

RFotD: In real life, silencers don't muffle gunshots to the degree shown in movies. Rather, they only diffuse the gunshot so that it's more difficult for the targets to figure out where the gunshot came from. Subsonic ammunition can more accurately replicate the "silenced" effect in movies.

SGAT: PREPPED UP TO MAKE MY MOVIE. Also finished my film camp's first movie.

Day Forty-Eight: Just One Big Social Experiment

7/29/13, 7:15 AM PDT

Camp time, aww yeah! Woke up at 6 to prep for camp, which is three hours earlier than I'm used to. But that's okay, because it's god damn FILM CAMP.



Same day, 7:45 AM PDT

So, due to impeccable timing, we're actually really early to camp. We got here at 7:30 and check in begins in half an hour. So, mom has left and I'm sitting here at UCSD waaaay early. There's not much to do, so I guess I'll be writing on my phone for most of the day.

A bit of analysis on the other camp people. The staff look nice enough, they're certainly not old, strict film veterans. Most are in their 20s, 30s.

As for the other campgoers, so far they all look like I could count the number of years they've been alive on two hands, which is worrying. I don't want to be that one kid in the group photo that's a thousand times taller than the other kids. The site said that the camp's for ages 18 an under, but I swear, if nobody's broken the 13 year barrier except me...

Anyway, did some walking around the campus to kill some time. The place where they're holding these classes has really nice skybridges across the buildings.

Prettttyyyyyy.

They also have these neat little pixel robot things and movie cameras stuck on windows using Post-it notes.

Don't know why a light would be right in front of a camera, but okay.

They're adorable. Except the one on the left. Reminds me of the demon
in that one game that moves the screen.

Apart from that, there's really not that much in this tiny little quarter that the camp's taking up.

Should've brought my PSP so I could play more Random Emerald.



Same day, 8:08 AM PDT

Check ins have started, aww yeah. Met one other teenager, but he wasn't in the same class as I was, so yeah. At least my social skills are semi-improving, which is nice.

Also, it seems that my Doctor Who shirt is garnering a decent amount of attention, just as I expected. Seems like a great icebreaker, two people have already approached me. So has my bag, which in the shape of an NES controller. Heh.

Made friends with one teacher, which is pretty awesome. A kid also pointed out my bag. Heheheh.



Same day, 12:14 PM PDT

A bit more lecture after a 30 minute break where we captured a flag, then lunchtime. Sat with a few people that shared two critical similarities with me: They brought their own lunch and they like Doctor Who.

I'm glad that I wore this shirt, it's done wonders for my social skills.

Also, some kids are sitting behind us. Non-teenagers, mind you. Interesting bunch, these summer camp kids. I can't tell if they're smart or just weird. They were talking about drawings they drew and one criticized the other about drawing sunglasses on a sun's face.

I have to give it to them, sunglasses on a sun is pretty stupid.



Same day, 12:16 PM PDT

The kids are playing songs popular on the Internet.

Yep. They're insufferable.



Same day, 3:55 PM PDT

So there's this girl sitting all by herself during break while the rest of the group is laughing and having fun. So, me being the gentleman I am, decide to walk up to her and talk to her. Not because she's pretty, but because I'm a gentleman.

Simple start. "Do you mind if I sit here?" She sighs, and nods. I try to strike light conversation and all I'm getting are one-worded responses and nods while she mindlessly types away at her phone. I ask why she's not talking much and she says she only talk a lot when she's tired. And she's not tired.

I think she brushed me off. Thankfully, the bell saved the day and we had to go back to classes right after that.

She wasn't that pretty anyway.



Same day, 6:10 PM PDT

Quickly, before I get to the real highlight of the day, I'll tell you about my film group and my movie.

It sucks.

It consists of two hyperactive 13 year old boys, an uninterested 13 year old girl, and a 16 year old white kid that keeps interrupting class to try and one-up the teacher by saying things he knows before the teacher can say it. And the first idea out of their mouths?

"Banana guns."

Admittedly, it's a unique concept, but the ideas they threw around with it are RIDICULOUS. Genius ideas such as

"Let's put a CGI Hulk in there!" and

"Let's wear funny hats for absolutely no reason!" and of course

"BANANA. ZOMBIES."

But, with my leadership, I've straightened out the concept of Banana Guns and made it a pretty decent action comedy. And hey, they casted me as the protagonist, which is pretty cool.

The 16 year old white kid still claimed all responsibility for his ideas though. Pbbbth.

Anyway, now to the meat of the day. So due to my parents' awkward schedule, they told me that I should wait at Westfield UTC, a few ways off UCSD. They tell me to take the trolley, so I use my average skills of public transportation to figure out where to go and I get on the correct trolley.

Turns out, my average public transportation skills are actually sub-average. Might even be considered "mediocre." Or I could blame San Diego's public transport, which is confusing as hell, but I doubt that, because all these people seem to know exactly where to get on and off.

Needless to say, I got very confused. I got off the UCSD trolley and reoriented myself, figured out what trolley I needed, and went on it.

That's about the time I realized that there's a clockwise and counterclockwise route. And I got on the wrong one.

Got off again, this time decided to ask for directions at the bus stop. One guy didn't know zip about the MTS, so that makes three people clueless about public transportation in that stop. Me, that other guy, and me again, because my public transportation skills are so bad that I count as two negative people.

Second person I asked was really helpful. Told me where to go. He probably knew where to go since he was a bus driver. So I listened to him, got on the bus...

And the fare's $2.25. I have a single dollar bill. And a 20. They don't give change.

The bus driver was AWESOMELY nice though, and decided to give me the fare for a dollar. What a nice dude.

After an entire HOUR of waiting, finally made it to Westfield. My legs ache and the bottom of my spine is killing me from the amount of walking I had to do. This Nintendo shoulder bag isn't helping much either.





RFotD: Digital Media Academy initially started out in Stanford University, but slowly expanded through a few US states and even into Canada.

SGAT: Made movie things, learned film terminology. Err, reviewed film terminology would be a more appropriate term.

Day Four: Legends of the Hidden Temple

6/15/13, 1:38 PM PDT

Woke up really late today. Well, compared to the other days of summer, I guess waking up at 1 is pretty normal for most teenagers in summer.

Man, parkour really made me tired, I guess. I slept at midnight yesterday, so I got 12 hours of sleep. Mom bought a big box of cheese balls, each a little bigger than my fist. I ate around ten, fifteen of those for breakfast. I can usually only manage to eat six or seven.

Oh, and I had some pretty awesome dreams last night. At least, I think they're awesome, I can barely remember them. I just remember waking up feeling like I just saved the universe or something. Like I can do anything.

Better use these feelings to go and accomplish awesome things.



Same day, 11:55 PM PDT

Wow, that's a pretty huge time gap, huh?

Well, mostly Internet-related things happened here. More tweaking with my server and a few rounds of Assassin.

But the highlight of the day? SynchTube. Well, not exactly SynchTube, more like a copy of it. But nevertheless, it accomplished the same goal, which was to let the Skype Group and I watch the same videos at the same time.

And oh my GOD, did I miss nights like these. First we watched this RIDICULOUS show called "Man vs. Beast." Synopsis? Human beings compete against animals in various activities.

Today's main course? MIDGETS RELAY RACE AGAINST A CAMEL.

It's great, huh?

Oh my god, my head's throbbing from laughing as I'm writing this. After those videos, we watched a HELL OF A LOT of "Legends of the Hidden Temple" and "Nick Guts," both of which Angela had never heard of prior to today, even though to me, Kayla, Brandon, and Christina, those two shows were OUR CHILDHOOD.

We also laughed at JR, who was SPECTACULARLY BAD at his competitions.

After that, we tried to watch a movie, but couldn't find one worth watching, so we decided to end the night there.

Wow, today was hilarious. Not even sarcastic, I laughed so hard today, my throat hurts.





RFotD: A dog most likely interprets a smiling person as baring their teeth, which is an act of aggression. Don't smile at dogs.

SGAT: None really.