Saturday, September 30, 2006

Sleepy Saturday Afternoon

In doing some research, I discovered that the basic registration fee for registering a work with the US Copyright office went up. The current fee is $45.00 if anyone is interested (used to be $30.00). This is important because it means my offline writing project's completetion will be delayed longer than I originally expected, and a new target date hasn't been decided yet. Oh well, on to other things. I've been thinking about sources of income lately, and trying to come up with a no overhead way to pull in even a trickle of funds to put aside. I've had such terrible luck with getting a regular job that I need to seek alternatives. I thought I had an idea where to begin, but now I'm not so sure if the risk is worth taking. I know the saying goes "nothing ventured nothing gained" but even at that, I'm just not feeling it with the passion I did only days ago. The ideas I have are all things that have no guarantee of success, and that's not a really comfortable position to be in for me right now. I need guarantees right now, not gambles. Comments: kout3uka I think we have a winner! I was hoping someone out here in cyberspace would know, thanks for the info. I looked up some pictures of the blue heron and from the looks of those, I think that ID is correct. I didn't know we got those in West Virginia, so I'm surprised. I just wish I could have gotten a better picture of it. I do have some photos of #19 already. It's got quite a story to it, but it's not for the faint of heart or the easily squeamish. Here is what I posted on Silver Run Tunnel (Tunnel #19) a few days ago, and it's got pictures with it, so have a good look at it when you can. I was out to that one earlier this summer, it was my first Rail Trail tunnel experience, not necessarily the best one because tunnel #19 is 1,376 feet long. But for perspective, it's the third longest on the trail, I haven't been to Eaton tunnel (Tunnel #21) at 1,840 feet long it's the second longest on the trail, or Tunnel #6, which at 2,297 feet long is the longest on the trail. Those are trips for another day as neither is really within easy access distance from where I live. Your compliment means a lot to me, but you'd know why I say that if you knew the trouble that Fuji digital camera put me through. Thank you for the compliment. Yensid: Yeah, I'm not exactly sure when it was officially opened to the public, but it hasn't been that long, only a couple years, and they're still working on a lot of it. Actually it's a hiking, biking, and equestrian trail. What makes it so nice is that it's on an old railroad bed, that means no sharp turns, and no steep grades (the steepest is an over pass in Ellenboro, I rode that part on Bike once). I've heard of Donner Summit, and know that story too well for my own liking. I saw something on National Geographic or Discovery Channel about a train that got stuck out that way in the snow in the 70's I think it was. No, North Bend Rail Trail is safe to hike. Don't let the warning sign I posted last time fool you, they have that sign up at several of the bridges near Walker as well as near the tunnels, so it's just something they put up as a precaution. The State Park and Rail Trail Foundation does everything they can to prevent anything disasterous from happening, they're restoring tunnel #12, and you can see from my pictures the job that was done on Tunnel #13 too (the part of the tunnel ceiling that looks white is actually formed concrete tiles that were put in where the brick used to be). There are some tunnels that are "off limits" on the trail, and they've actually bypassed them so you don't even know you missed them as you hike, unless you check the map like I did. Water damage to those tunnels make them impassable right now, but I've been told by someone in the Rail Trail Foundation's Cairo office that they are being restored for use, only time will tell. I look at grafitti as part of the experience, since much of it goes back to the days when trains ran out that way and kids walked the tracks looking for thrills. Okay, I'm working on that PM, but I have to choose my wording carefully so there's no room for misundertanding. I've dug myself into deep holes with careless statements a lot lately so I want to make sure I say everything the one and oly way it can be said correctly. I think most people are still afraid to talk about where they live. I can understand younger people wanting to be cautious with good reason (what with internet predators and all), but I'm an adult so I don't need to be that cautious. Having lived here in West Virginia for sixteen years now, I can tell you that it is a beautiful place to look at. To me, it's interesting to know about places that you're not going to see featured on TV, or in the papers. It's those little out of the way places that have the most interesting stories for me, and I like to share them with others. I live in a kind of small town called Parkersburg, and it's got some interesting stories about it too. Maybe I'll tell you about the Blennerhassett family in the future. Magnus Lensherr That's quite all right, when I was taking the picture, I wasn't exactly sure I was shooting a bird either. My mom spotted it first, and because of the blue-gray color on the feathers, and where it was standing, thought it was the end of a weathered log in the creek. To find it in the picture, look dead center at the photo, and you'll see a bluish gray blob, that's the bird's body. Don't let the tree branches or the spider web distract your eyes. I wish I'd have gotten a better shot of it, but it was gone before I could take too many pictures. That would not be a safe way to view tunnels, although you have to admit it would make a great picture! (DO NOT ATTEMPT IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!!!) You might want to check with your State Parks Service and see if they've done something similar with abandoned railroad rights of way near where you live, I've heard rumors of something like that in Ohio, and Pennsylvania, but rumors aren't much to go on. Look for any kind of park, or State Forest, even a National forest would have interesting hiking trails with some unique things along them. I have a local wildlife refuge near me that I hike the trails in once in a while. Always hike with a map if you can get one of the trails. On the organization of the post, I basically rewalked the trail in my head as I was sorting the pictures to post, and those ones struck my eyes as the most interesting. The physical layout on the page though, that was kind of a fluke, though it turned out how I wanted it. I had the post up, but had to take it down because all the pictures were all over the page. After a little bit of tweaking, I managed to get them how I wanted them. Oh, I should I should mention that those thumbnails are clickable links, I just got rid of that annoying blue hyperlink border (A CSS trick I learned), so if you didn't click to see the larger images, you can go back and get a closer look at all of them. I think natural splendor like that should be shared, so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. alphonse13: Hocking Hills? Why does that name sound familiar to me? Is that close to West Virginia somewhere? I've heard that the pictures turned out great from my family, even the ones that didn't focus properly (Have I mentioned yet that I hate auto focus features on digital cameras?) looked nice upon inspection. I think the gem of this collection has to be the bird photo. That was a completely unexpected moment to capture, so it's not the best shot, but it's a high one in my books. I love the spontaneous shots like that, they always seem to turn out great. Well, I hope to have it up soon, but I can't promise anything yet, my sister still has the DVDs I need to make the captures from. mysterious rei Thank you for saying so, nice pictures are often the ones you least expect to be when taking them. The Ritchie County section of the trail has the most tunnels on it. It has Tunnel #19(Silver Run Tunnel), #13, #12, #10 (Dick Bias Tunnel - no photos) #8 (have't been there yet) and Tunnel #7 (haven't been there yet either). Wood County has the second longest tunnel (Tunnel #21, Eaton Tunnel), but I haven't made it there yet either. Eventually I'd like to bike the full 71 miles of the trail, but that would be an ambitious undertaking requiring support from my family, and maybe someone willing to ride along with me. As I get other photos of features of the Rail Trail, I'll try to post them so you can see, especially the tunnels, since they're my favorite part of the trail. Anime Dreams!

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Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Danger! Photos Ahead!!!

Since I made it back with only a sore knee, here's some more pictures of tunnels that I promised, including the much talked about tunnel #13. It may not look like much, but pictures really don't do any of the features of the Rail Trail justice. But since I doubt many of yo will be flocking to West Virginia just to see a tunnel or two (you can see four in one day if you do it right) these pictures are the next best thing. The people here may be disagreeable, but it sure is a wonderful place to look at. Let me begin our photo tour. It was cool this morning, so cool in fact my hands were numb as I tried to take the first pictures of the day. Fog was thick, and the air still and silent. It was a beautiful morning, one of the best for taking photos of things in nature. I start off the brief photo tour of NBRT Cairo-Ellenboro leg with a solemn look at the simple stone plaque, placed next to the Bond's Creek bridge, at the site of the 1956 train wreck. Walking the trail sometimes, it can be easy to forget that only fifty years ago trains were barreling down that same path taking people and freight on the East/West line. There are visual remnants of the railroad history all along the trail, but things like this accident can get lost among the visual splendor. For a bit of perspective as the photo tour gets underway, the left side of this photo shows the North side of the bride over Bond's Creek. To the right, just beyond the railing of the bridge is the access trail to the North Bend State Park. Accessing the North Bend Rail Trail (NBRT) is very easy from that point, and it's only a short walk to get from the park to Tunnel #13. But even walking down the access trail which is very open, it's hard to image that right around a few corners will be this huge gaping hole in the montain. Thankfully, not all the tunnels on the trail are long ones. Even as you approach tunnel #13, its not hard to see the other end. You can get a glimpse of the light filtering through even before you step inside. Tunnel #13 is 353 feet in length, and is in great condition. It's billed as "Smooth and dry" on the map, which is a reasonably accurate description, though you do get drips between the concrete tiles once in a while. The dampness makes it a cool place which is nice for the summer months that are hot, but it can be a little chilly in Fall and winter. All right, now lets' take a step inside the tunnel, and look through to the other side. As you look at the ceiling, you can see that it has been repaired, and that makes for a great experience. There are some tunnels on the trail that have not been finished yet, and some that are a long way from being ready for the public, but this is a good expample of how things are being done on the trail to benefit the people who use it. The brick work is in remarkable condition, and it just looks really nice when you stand there and gaze at it with your own eyes. For the record, the Grafitti on the left reads something about Ozzy. Before we continue, let's take a moment to stop and appreciate our surroundings, yes, right here in the middle of the tunnel. As you can see, the light at the end of this tunnel looks really nice in contrast to the dark brick. In a longer tunnel, with a really bright flashlight (1 million candlepower or more) it could be easy to fool someone into thinking a train was coming at them. As you can see from this, all you'd have to do is have a nice big train shaped shadow and the bright light. That's a point for Looney Tunes getting something right. All right, lets move Eastward for a bit, skipping over some points of lesser interest on the trail so we can make it to our next desitination, Tunnel #12. The approach to this tunnel is much like all the others, it just seems to grow out of the mountain and greet you when you least expect it. If curiosity has you, and you want to know just what that annoying little sign disrupting the shot reads, well, see for yourself, but it's not that important. Having bikes and hiked this section of the trail, I have to say that the sign's suggestion is a wise one. It's dark in the tunnels, and it's hard to see wheel ruts and horse messes on a bike which could lead to something unpleasant if you're not careful. All right, here we are, is this the gate to Pergatory? No, it's Tunnel #12. Just look up and you'll see the number in the brick. Whoever thought to number the tunnels that way was thinking long term. It's nice to be able to identify the tunnels at a glance like that. Simple things like that catch my eye sometimes, and just make me think for a moment. I have to wonder who was creative enough to come up with the idea to use the brick as the label for the tunnel like that. Who took the time to neatly round off thos bricks to make the 2 look perfect, and things like that. Okay, enough chatter. It looks almost like one of those fake tunnels painted on the wall in a Looney Tunes cartoon doesn' it? All right now, this tunnel is about 577 feet in length, making it close to being half the length of tunnel #19 from previous posts. It's curve is also such that you can't see the other end right away. It can get kind of creepy in the tunnel, especially when a drip of water falls onto your shoulder, it feels just like a person tapping you. I don't know of any ghost stories with this tunnel, but I haven't looked for any. Most tunnels are going to be just plain old tunnels, and not have such colored pasts to them, but it's kind of fun to stand there and imagine what all kinds of stories could a person tell about such a dark, damp place. There's a lot of echo in Tunnel #12 since the ceiling is still being repaired, but it's safe to enter, and very nice inside too. As you can see, it is a little dark in the middle of it though, which can be a little bit much for some people, even cameras. This tunnel is billed as "smooth and damp" on the Rail Trail map, and there are a lot of drips in this tunnel as I mentioned before. It was hairy to work the camera because I had to protect it from the drips coming down while shooting, but everything turned out all right. The sound of the water drops splashing into the little puddles throughout is really neat. It's one of those things you'd have to hear to appreciate fully. I also tested my 1.5 million candlepower spotlight in this tunnel. I'll be taking it out to tunnel #19 soon, I just wonder what I'll find when I'm able to see everything. Now that was a fun tour. Here's a mileage chart from the where we started out just beyond Tunnel #13. I doubt any of these town names are important to anyone out there, but it's interesting to look at. I can get more information on the Rail Trail and North Bend State Park which rents Cabins and has a Lodge with rooms (and a good restaurant) if anyone really wants to plan a trip out to see the trail. It's not advisable to plan a winter trip, the road out to North Bend State Park is windy and narrow, not even remotely attemptable for peole not used to driving in snow. Comments: Shireishou I like a nice gentle rain myself, nothing too heavy and without all the thunder and lightning. That's a wonderful day for me. Trouble is, rain like that brings humidity, and even though the temperatures are cooler, the humidity still makes in impossible to safely do some things around the house. Aside from being a little tired for a while, I'll be fine. This time of year, when the weather is changing constantly, is hard on me, but when the weather settles down again I'll be back to my completely abnormal self. If the allergies or the usual cold don't get to me first. But rest is a good idea, I think I could use more of that. Thanks, I really want the new theme to look nice and turn out right, so I'll be taking my time with it. That, and I need to get my DVDs back from my sister to do some more capture work for a BG image and avatar. KyuubiKhaos Yeah, that's the one I got, and I'm glad of it too. I saw a lot of me in that character. I know what I want to do, I just have to do it. I need to make some screen captures for my BG and avatar, then I need to pull a color palatte out of those images, and throw together one of those little linking button images like a lot of people on here have done. Actually, I don't have a whole lot of luck with that kind of thing, but at least I'm building a tolerance to the seasonal allergens in the air. The past few years I haven't been as sick with allergies as I was my first years here. I keep my health up as best I can and hope for the best. Sometimes Mother Nature wins, sometimes we come out a draw. Since it's getting cooler, I'll probably be wanting to keep warm now. Same for you too. alphonse13: Yeah, I've got some plans. You'll just have to wait and see what turns up with the theme. It's cooler now than it was a week ago, and it's staying cooler. It'll be soon enough to get out the wool socks and heavy shirts, but for now things are tolerable. beyblader I'm not sure if you saw my previous post, so here's my earlier comments on the tunnels, with pictures! Bonus Points: 500 bonus points go to the person who can identify the bird in the picture. What'll those points get you? Well nothing, but I'd really appreciate knowing what it is I was seeing out there on the trail. My mother who was with me couldn't figure it out either, at least we gota really close look at it with the camera. Anime Dreams!

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Saturday, September 23, 2006

Where Have All the Titles Gone?

Hm, Been thinking about putting a new theme together for my page, but I'm still rolling some ideas around in my head. I don't want to give too much away just yet. It's been humid here again, it got cold, it rained, and now it's hot and humid again. This weather is going to make me ill yet. Mother Nature tries every year, and every year, she wins hands down. Usually it's when I want to be at my best for something. Comments: Yensid: I reread my last comment answers, and one word came to mind, a painfully loud, very distinct "OUCH." I do owe you an apology for that rant, it was a conditioned response. I came out of a school system that drilled into the students' heads that not having that glorified toilet tissue (diploma) meant you were not only stupid, but ignorant, and worthless too. Part of the reason I abandoned my last semester of high school (aside from the fact that all 4 credits were completely unnecessary, I already had my 21 to graduate) was that very pressure from those wannabe dictators called teachers, guidance counselors, and school administrators. Please accept my apologies, no personal assumptions were, or are, meant by any of my remarks. Believe it or not, your comments are helping me to frame out some of the fundamentals of that additional content I need to add to the article pertaining to the issue of bias. Bias doesn't have to be an ugly word in relation to art evaluation. I'm still having trouble working up a simple exercise to teach people how to mute those partialities. There is an appropriate time to set preconceptions and personal choices aside, like during the evaluation process, and I know personally how hard it is to do just that. Let me just say that it wasn't one of my better moments in Theatre . . . I do appreciate your saying so about the article. Honestly, I'm surprising myself with this piece, it's the first real article I've ever written. I didn't expect it to turn out as well as it did, and that's a bit overwhelming for me. Mamma Vash: The mention of the Santa Anas always makes me recall Studio Ghibli. The name Ghibli came from the Italian word referring to the hot winds that come off the Sahara desert. Yeah a nice hot bowl of soup is good in chilly weather, same with oatmeal in the mornings. Not so pleasant to eat in the summer, but on winder mornings, now that's good stuff. With all things, it's hard to REALLY evaluate something without understanding some fundamentals of the technical portions of creating it. On a later date I may work the article toward visual art critique, which would cover some of those fundamentals, but for now, I thinnk I provide enough for people to get their footing. I've never been to an art museum, but I do have my favorite works. The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali is my all time favorite painting, I also like some of Van Gogh's works, and Pierre Auguste Renoir's work The Luncheon of the Boating Party has special meaning for me (My high school ADV Theatre class wrote their own play from the perspectives of the women characters in that piece, and since I was the only guy in class that semester, I did the easy job, stage managing - I still have the stage manager's script for that). I don't look at art the same way most people do. When I look at art, I'm not seeing contrast of colors, brush technique, use of light and shadow or things like that. My mind is piecing together the story of the work. I sit back and wonder why the people in the piece look the way they do, what just happened to them? What do I think will happen to them next? Why are they doing what they're doing? I'm still rooted heavily in Theater in terms of how I evaluate art, I fall into deep subtext all the time, ignoring the mechanics of creation to satisfy these impulses for my need to know the lives and feelings of the characters in a piece. If a piece is just a landscape, my mind can be very scary when in looks for the answers to those questions. I won't even begin to describe what goes on in my head for that Salvador Dali piece, it's that weird. Animals are just as curious as humans about all things. She probably noticed that the little things appeared on the screen as you made the clacking noise with that thing in front of you (keyboard). Sometimes it takes a pet to point out the simple things to us. How often do we take the time to notice those little black things popping up on the screen in front of us, I mean really notice them, not as intelligent humans, but as curious minds? It's like magic if you think about it. beyblader Ah, then you have missed one of the bits of history in this pergatory of a state that actually interests me. See, a while back CSX had a rail spur that ran the 70+ miles between Clarksburg and Parkersburg West Virginia. It ran passenger trains and some frieght too, but here's the good part. When the railroad abandoned that spur, the state turned it into a hiking trail and state park. Well, the story about Tunnel #19, known locally as the Silver Run tunnel may be a little much for the squeamish or faint of heart, so if you don't think you can handle haunting or ghost stories, you'd better skip this part. The story goes that sometime in the early days of the railroad running through there (it's a short trip from Cairo WV westward) A woman was getting ready to be married. Now, no one is exactly sure of the details, but somehow the woman died. Some say she was killed by her husband to be, others think she committed suicide by throwing herself in front of the train one night. Anyway, people began telling stories about Tunnel #19, saying that they'd seen a woman in white standing near the entrance to the tunnel, sometimes inside the tunnel. Some engineers actually began refusing to make the run at all, one in particular who didn't believe in ghosts. That engineer got the scare of his life as he made that run one night, heading to Parkersburg from Clarksburg (east to west). As he was coming up on the tunnel, he saw the figure that others had told him about, standing right in the center of the tracks, a woman in white. Thinking he wasn't going to let a "ghost" get the better of him, that engineer didn't slow down at all, he ran right through the tunnel and kept right on going. When his train pulled into Parkersburg he was met with a very frantic Depot worker telling the engineer that he had gone through several stops with a woman's body lodged on the front of his train. They both went to the front of the engine to check and sure enough a woman in a white dress was hanging to the front of the train. But here's the best part, she stood up, walked down the platform heading back toward tunnel #19, and faded away right before their eyes. She knew that engineer didn't believe, and she did that to spite him. He never made that run again, and the woman in white hasn't been seen as far west as Parkersburg again either. Anyway, I've been inside that tunnel twice, and let me tell you, it's a creepy place to be standing. There are a total of 21v tunnels on the trail, I've been to or through 4 of them. Tunnel #19, Tunnel #13 (there's a train wreck story with this one, I have to photograph the plaque to be able to tell it) Tunnel # 12, and Tunnel #10. Tunnel #10 is especially creepy, only because it's not a bick and mortal tunnel like the others, it's completely cut out of the rock itself. Anyway, if you missed my Tunnel #19 stuff, then you probably didn't get to experience my Mothman tales either. Point Pleasant is a beautiful little town, with a lot of stuff going on. The Silver Bridge collapse back in Dec 1966 or 67, I can never remember the year, the Mothman sightings, the whole TNT area, and so much more. It's a town like out of Twin Peaks or something, it has that rich sense of mystery and supernatural energy about it, but it also has a lot of history from the days Cheif Cornstalk cursed the land. Shireishou If I inspire just one person to take the time and think about what they're looking at before they try to communicate their thoughts, then I've truly done well. Note: All inline images on this page hosted by Photobucket Anime Dreams!

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Wednesday, September 20, 2006

That Sleepy Time of Year

It's beginning to get that Fall chill in the air, and things are starting to wind down for the winter. This is the time of year I really love, it's like something out of a Robert Frost poem, timeless, beautiful, and soul-stirring all at once. I'm planning a trip out to that tunnel next week, the (un)lucky Tunnel 13 on the same rail trail that I showed the photos of tunnel 19 earlier this summer. I hope I get some good shots, and if I'm lucky, maybe get out to tunnel 12 too, and get a few photos of it as well. If I get them, I'll post a few to let you all see a hint of West Virginia history at its best. Tunnel 13, and Bond's Creek (runs just outside the Western end of the tunnel) is the site of a train derailment back in 1956. It was a passenger train, but I can't recall the details from the stone monument off hand. I'll have those for you when I get the pictures. But that's another week away so why bother talking about it now? I started looking into some things to hopefully kick start some sort of income for myself. I won't know how well that'll go until later. The writing project is also coming along well, but needs a lot more before it's finished. With the sound of a train roaring in my ears, it's time to get to the meat and potatoes stuff. Comments: alphonse13: To be completely honest, I didn't think I could write something like that either, my experience is with writing Sci-Fi styled short fiction, not information articles. But, I just had to try anyway. Yensid: Sure, that's no problem, go on and link it, and everyone crows now and again. I saved your comment on the article itself along with all the others I got. Yours was well worded, I really appreciate that. Yeah, it's painfully hard to completely put aside personal bias when it comes to evaluation, I'd be lying six ways from Sunday if I said I've masterd it myself. That's part of the reason I'm holding off on the specifics of toning down (I really shouldn't say "removing" that's impossible for all but the most honed minds) personal bias. It's a delicate process that needs to be described in just the right way, or it could cause more confusion than good. Keep checking the article for additions like that. I'll actually put an amend date at the top of it so anyone reading it will know there's new material in there, and I'll mention any updates I make right here in the blog after I make them. I don't know that I agree with that statement on conceptual thinking, well, actually I know I don't agree with it. Deeper thought is possible from any functional mind. Conceptual thought may appear to be ambiguous and complex, but that doesn't mean most people can't do it. Sometimes the most simple minded people, the ones who "shouldn't be able to think that way", are the ones with the most profound thoughts. Intellect isn't measured by diplomas, degrees, awards, honors, publications, lectures, or public appearances, not even a standardized test can remotely say a person is genuinely intelligent. Conceptual thinking is something anyone can learn to do, and it's not that hard either. It isn't taught in school as a part of any class, my situation is proof of that. You wouldn't know from the way I communicate that I never officially finished High School would you? Books shouldn't be telling people, or even remotely implying, that conceptual thought is something most of us are incapable of doing, that's just wrong. The human mind is infinitely dynamic, always changing, always growing. It has no limits to it's capabilities, and this applies to anyone, not just the "gifted" people who seem to think the rest of us are ignorant. It wasn't so much doing my homework as remembering what my Theatre teacher taught me about doing it right, and putting all that to words that make sense and aren't referencing theatrical elements. We had one college level director who was brutally honest in his critiques, but even he did them right. A lot of the students who worked with him (I wish now that I had been allowed that opportunity), said they were better off for having been given the notes he gave them, the way he did. But I always recommend that people be polite, but be honest in your critiques, that's something everyone needs to remember. You're less likley to offend someone if you're polite about your critique. beyblader Maybe my knack for telling stories spilled over to this project. Take your time, it's not going anywhere. Mamma Vash: You bring up an excellent point, if I wanted to really tailor the article toward art critique, I could go more into depth on those various technical aspects of art evaluation, but I think I'll keep my article simple enough to apply to just about anything. I do recommend that anyone wanting to get truly serious about evaluating any specific field should study up on the techncials of that field. If you want to critique a stage play for example, you would look at the lighting and music (how they set/maintain the mood, do they fit the scene etc.), the delivery of lines, stage blocking (how the character move on stage), and things like that. The weather has been insane here, hot cold, hot, cold, humid, dry, just nuts. But the cool days are good for something, they're great for split pea soup. Nothing cures the body of chills like a nice hot bowl of spil pea soup on a cool day. Shireishou I noticed earlier that you did get the link up. I do appreciate people linking to the article. I didn't write it for a lot of personal attention, I just wrote to help people. Evaluating anything can be a scary process if a person is unprepared for it fundamentally. If anything at all, I'll be happy to hear that the article has taught someone something important, even if it only teaches one person. Anime Dreams!

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Monday, September 18, 2006

TLTATT

My article, Objective Evaluation, has brought some interessting, and much appreciated feedback. I did forget to put a necessary disclaimer on it though. The article is a work in progress, as new things are brought to my attention and as I learn more myself, the nature, and tone of the article will change with the addition of content. It does come off a bit abrasive right now but that's just my personality, my writing isn't meant to offend anyone. In time, the hard edges will be polished off the article, and it will hopefully read like a professionally written piece. Comments: Shireishou I hope the article is helpful without antagonizing the reader, that would defeat the purpose. I've already determined that I need to add more specific information on how to go about removing a personal bias so an evaluation can be objective, but that will be added later, when I can figure out how to explain it better. I never write to change the world, I just hope that even one person reading those words will understand what I mean and try to look at things on a deeper level. I'm happy to have done it, and I'm glad to hear you liked it. Oh, I'm not nearly as busy as I make it seem I am. Aside from making too much work for myself, I tend to exaggerate things a little (okay a whole lot), but since I'm unemployed, I can't really be blamed for telling a tall tale or two now and then, otherwise, my posts here would be very boring. Chabichou I think everyone does that once in a while, I'm guilty of doing it myself on numerous ocassions. I still remember the argument a couple students had with my Theatre teacher on why just telling someone they did good is just as bad as telling them they did horribly. That was a class I'll never forget, took up about half the block for the discussion. In general, citing the particulars of the piece that draw you toward it, or push you away from it is a good idea. One of my biggest notes from class was always "ENUNCIATE!" For my artwork, the biggest thing I need to work on is body proportions. alphonse13: Yeah, the article is kind of long, I wasn't expecting that much writing to go into it myself, but that's what came out of this draft. I would like to have had the opportunity to submit it to the TheO articles site, but I wasn't even thinking about writing an article back when that was retired. If people read it and learn from it, then I've done well in writing it, if not, then I have done poorly. My biggest concern is not so much that people read the article, but that they learn from it. I'll keep the link to it up in my introduction, and if you want to link others to it, right-click Here, select "Copy Shortcut" and do with it what you will from there. I do have a few major stipulations with my article though, and these apply to anyone who wants to use the link: Don't go spamming people to read the article, and don't go flaming or trying to stop flaming by recommending the article be read. Promotion of the article should be kept subtle, and done when there's no hint of contention among the parties you'd like to read it. I haven't made a button for it yet, that's something I'll do as the need for it arises, but not right now. I would also have to look at the standard sizes to determine the best dimensions for the button anyway. Anime Dreams!

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Saturday, September 16, 2006

Objective Evaluation

It has been brought to my attention that there are some bad critiques, whether intentional or unintentional, out there on the internet. Upon hearing that, I thought I would take the time to share what I know about the evaluation process, and how to objectively critique pretty much anything. By tapping into what I learned in my three years on stage in high school Theatre, I can try to show better ways of analyzing and evaluating any kind of works. For the sake of continuity, I will use the term artist to refer to the person receiving feedback in this article. Since I am writing this to be more of an art evaluation guide, I think that makes the most sense. Now, by no means am I an absolute authority, I make no such claims here. What I am providing are merely tools for people who are serious about communicating in an objective manner how they see a piec of art. Before I get into the heart of the matter, I have to define a few things. Understanding these things is the key to understanding the difference between a good evaluation, and a bad one. 1) Criticism: Negative feedback without sound reasoning or clarity, not a good thing. 2) Crowing: Positive feedback without sound reasoning or clarity, also not a good thing. 3) Critique: Feedback provided with specific information regarding both good and bad aspects, the better way to evaluate. Why is there a difference between criticism and critique? And why is it it a bad thing to just tell someone their picture is good? Those are questions I intend to answer. Let's begin by taking a look at Crowing. Now, I'm sure some of you out there are confused about this point. I can hear the questions of "How can positive feedback about something ever a bad thing?" and "Doesn't positive feedback of any kind help encourage the artist?" Well, to answer the second question first, yes it does encourage the artist to get good feedback, but the answer to the first question is more important. Positive feedback is a bad thing when it doesn't tell an artist what he has done well. Just telling an artist that "I like your work, it's really great," or things to that affect may help keep the artist creating, but it will not help improve the works that are created. I hate to admit it, but I'm guilty of crowing myself, just saying that a piece of art is good without really explaining why I think so. The difference between Criticism and Critique is very simple. When someone is criticising a piece of art, he or she is usually doing so to insult, degrade, or offend the artist. Most often people criticise for the enjoyment of hurting someone else, that goes beyond wrong in my book. Telling a person who spent hours on a picture "this picture stinks" isn't going to help make the artist do better. I've also seen a lot of bashing on fanart sites, especially so when it comes to the artwork of anim#&233; couples. People who don't agree with an artist's choice of two characters together can be viciously mean to the artist, and they tend to have their friends gang up and ridicule that artist as well with no legitimate reason at all for doing so. Being boorish in that manner only hurts feelings and makes the critics look like the spoiled little children they are. So, how does a person tell an artist that he needs work? Well, that's simple, using a basic critique, anyone can provide an artist with the necessary information to improve the artwork, and not offend in the process. A basic critique is several things. It starts with a series of a few simple questions you ask yourself when you evaluate artwork. Every time you look at a piece of artwork, you are evaluating it in your mind, and many of you already ask yourself the questions, but just aren't aware of doing it. It's often better to ask a few things to deterime if you can evaluate a piece of art, for example: What is the subject of the art? Do I agree with the depiction of the subject? Can I objectively evaluate this work regardless of my feelings toward what is depicted? After determining your bias by asking yourself the above questions, you will be ready to evaluate the artwork. If the subject is something you do not agree with, or the depiction of the subject is something you do not agree with, you may choose not to evaluate the picture. But it is still possible to objectively evaluate a piece of art. you just have to be open minded. Separate yourself from your opinions on the depiction of the subject and look at it through the eyes of someone who has never seen the subject before. A person who hasn't seen Naruto, or InuYasha, for example, isn't going to know which characters have crushes on which other characters, and so any parings that do not bring those characters together would not seem strange or unnatural. Once the bias is removed, then some technical questions about a piece of art can be asked: What is the mood of the artwork? What is the artist trying to communicate with the artwork? Is the artwork meant to be a humorous spoof, or a serious piece? How does the artwork make me feel? What did the artist do well in this artwork? What could the artist have done better? (where does the artist need to improve?) Most of those questions are self explanatory, but I'll go over them anyway. The mood of an artwork basically is what the atmosphere is. Is that picture dark, ominous, angry, cheerful, or sad? Sometimes it's not clear what an artist is trying to communicate, and some artists, like myself, won't give a straight answer if we were asked that question directly, but generally that's something that can be figured out. An artist could be communicating a feeling, trying to capture a moment, or even hinting at their own beliefs through their art. Taking a good look at artwork can often reveal some interesting things, but keep in mind the answer to the second question is usually subjective, meaning no two people will answer it the same way. Okay, parody art could be (in terms of art on TheOtaku.com) Chibis, some of those comic/manga pages, or even stuff that puts a character into a situation that wouldn't likely come up in the animé, manga, or game the character was borrowed from. Parody art is not meant to be taken seriously by any stretch of the imagination, it is meant in fun, and should not be analyzed as a serious representation of the character's personality. How artwork makes a person feel, well, that's subjective too, no two people will answer that one exactly the same way either. Always, always always look for something in a piece of art that is done well, nobody is perfect, but everyone does do something good in their art, even if the entire piece isn't done all that well. And finally most artists do have areas they need to improve, but some of them don't see it with their own eyes. Deterimining an area of needed improvement is also good for an objective evaluation. After those questions are answered, a basic critique puts the infomation together and presents it to the artist in a civil, polite manner. The best critiques start off by addressing that positive portion of the art before anything else. An artist is less likely to read through an evaluation if it starts out on a bad note. Compliment what the artist did well, explain why you thought that particular portion of the art was well done, then transition into the area(s) where you feel improvement is needed. Explain why you feel that way, and if you know of some resources to help the artist, providing those is a good idea. I hope those tips are useful in your efforts to evaluate artwork with objectivity. If you need more specific information, or a real world example, please contact me here and I will try my best to explain or demonstrate any points of this article. Animé dreams, and happy evaluating.

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Once More, Into The Comments!

I'm a day later than I wanted to be, but I was tired yesterday so I was out like a light after taking care of a gift for my sister's friend (the one of potato salad fame). He liked it anyway, it was my signature stir fry dish, Shitake Stir-Fry. I'll be getting Yesterday's mystery post up shortly so, anyway, too the important stuff. Comments: Outlaw Melfina: That placeholder would have worked if I hadn't fallen asleep and not posted when I was supposed to post, but oh well, a day late isnt' all bad. Yensid: Thank you very much I do appreciate that. You never know till you look into things like that what'll come up. I'm even starting to look for that kind of thing here in West Virginia too. That's an understatement for sure. I have been blessed to be healthy, so I do not have a legitimate reason to have not been employed for the past six years. Saying "no one would hire me" is probably the worst sounding excuse there is, but there's no other way to say it. I've applied for job after job after job and not a single employer will hire me. I can't even get one minimum wage job right now, and like multiplication, it's impossible to multiply any number by zero and get anything but zero. Loans are out of the question for me, I have bad credit as it is, I don't need to make it worse. It's a tough position to be in, and painful too, that's for sure. If I had the means to pick up and leave West Virginia right now, I would do it in a heartbeat and not look back. While there are things about her I know I would miss, I would not regret saying goodbye and taking my life to that one place I could call my home. I can sit down and think about moving all I want, but I have to consider where the money would come from to do it, moving isn't cheap. It's easy to say sacrifices might need to be made, but I can't sacrifice what I don't have. Word does come with some versions of Works, but it's hard to tell. I'd recommend finding a non Microsoft Speech Recognition program anyway, one that does't use the Microsoft engine. I don't know where to fnd such a thing, I haven't been looking, but I'd like to have one too for my own amusement. I write better when I talk it out rather than go straight, silent keyboarding. If I had the money, I'd get a Mac too. Mamma Vash: I left my brain in Robert C Byrd High school, in 1998. It's still sitting on the prop table backstage. The drawing will be delayed for a while. I have other projects I'm working on that need more attention at the moment, but I will be woring on it every chance I get. Not much goes on for me right now except that I'm swamped with offline projects I need to do. I promise too many people too much of myself. I really need to learn to stop doing that. Shireishou Sure, I'm glad to help. That's good to hear, I hope you get it finished soon. It sure seems that way, but I make a lot of extra work for myself that I don't really need. Don't know why it just happens. alphonse13: Well, give me a few minutes and I'll have it up, if it's not by the time you read this. It must be hard. I have trouble keeping up with the ones I have right now, so if I miss a day on commenting, don't be offended, I'm just too tired to get to everyone's posts, or I may not be on due to the weather. It would have been irritating for me to have lost more than the one, because the upload process is tedious. One didn't bother me, but I wonder how many people complained about their art vanishing without checking the main page on TheO in the days following the Otakulypse when all of that was explained. Anime Dreams!

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Friday, September 15, 2006

To The Comments . . . Motto Hayaku!

Okay, this post is going to be in two parts, first to answer the comments, then I'll be posting again later today, or possibly tomorrow, with an important piece (comments will not be addressed in that post to keep it clean for other purposes. My apologies for the delay in answering these, I should have gotten to them sooner. Comments: Juz Cuz: That happens sometimes, it's understandable, you come by when you can. Oh, I still recommend changing your password. kout3uka Life is cruel to us in terms of tricking us into forgetting some of those things. Oh well, just come by when you have the time and think of it. Outlaw Melfina: I need the luck, that's for sure. And I'll always comment when I feel I can add something to a topic, and sometimes even when I don't have anything to add. Yensid: By all means copy it, I wouldn't have posted it if I didn't want anyone to use it. Besides, I can't do the "no context menu" thing, I haven't learned Javascript yet. While I do understand the reasoning for people to use that script, I still find it impossibly annoying when I run into it. It does more harm than good in my opinion. I hope the code works for you, just remember, take all the line breaks out of it, MyO doesn't like code with line breaks in it too much, and don't be afraid to play with the number of pixels on the margins, and if you add that to an exisitng stylesheet, you don't need to keep the extra set of style tags, you'd just be adding another class to your existing stylesheet. People tell me that a Dvorak keyboard is easier to type with than the commonly seen QWERTY ones. Maybe you should consider switiching to one of those. The wrist strain is supposed to be reduced significantly, and there are right and left hand layouts for one handed typing, and I'm sure there are ergonomic ones out there too. Other than that, and fighting with Word's speech recognition thing, there's not much you can do but rest your hands. To show you how bad the job situation in West Virginia REALLY is, I got the same suggestion in the form of a question from the US Senator's office when I contacted him about Workforce West Virginia. The answer to that question fits here as well. My chances of moving out of state for work are zero, I can't afford it. Now I have no qualms with telecommuting(working from home on computer), so if you see a legit(many such jobs are MLM or pyramid scams) job opportunity that would allow such a thing(particulalry across the country), by all means pass it on to me so I can investigate it. alphonse13: Not exactly what I meant. I meant I was supposed to take longer time wise to post between the last two (about two weeks I think I said at first), but anyway, I posted sooner than expected. If I ever got to that many comments a day, I'd probably have to shorten my repsonses, but I'd keep on using this format since it works for me. That's great to hear, and a relief. I think most people got away unscathed, but some people were hit. I'm just glad for me it was only one picture not a whole bunch like some others. It must have been frustrating for them to have to go through and resbmit. Caprice If you haven't gotten to see it yet, Here's the picture you asked me to get done five and three quarters lifetimes ago. Not my best work, but I'm improving. Thanks for the luck, I'm hoping it works out too. Shireishou That's quite all right, the past few nights, I've been a toad, not visiting any pages, or not visiting all of them, I've just been so tired. After a good night's sleep, I'll be back to my abnormal self. All tests are hard, I think they make them that way for a reason. If something in particular is stumping you with the language, post a question here on MyO, I'm sure you'll get at least a little help from the users here. The only bad question is the one that isn't asked. We all need a helping hand now and again, and I promised myself I would provide it whenever I could, to honor those who were kind to me when I started out on the net. Anime Dreams!

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Saturday, September 9, 2006

Quick Post

I know I said I would be longer, but I'm sure some of you are waiting to see my answers to your comments so I'll take care of that now for you. Comments: Shireishou I hope you didn't lose anything either. The hassle of having to resubmit it is annoying for everyone. On Transparency, I do have some suggestions to work with, so I'll try those first, and if none of them suit my needs, I'll try to explain it better than I did the first time. Sometimes I get caught up in things and I forget that my quirks of communication aren't going to make sense all the time. Thank you for offering your help. Don't worry about your English here, I'm generally good at picking up what someone means by how they write something, even if a few things are off. To quote some people I knew back in school, exchange students from Mexico, Russia, The Dominican Republic, and Thailand, "the English language is very difficult", even those of us who use it as a native tongue don't use it right all the time. Outlaw Melfina Pretty much, that sums it up. I know it was down all day Saturday here, and most of the day Sunday I think (I'm trying to account for the time difference too), so yeah, it was majorly down. Looks like it's back to near 100% of what it was, though there are still a few comment bugs, and maybe one or two in the PM, but I'm sure they'll iron out eventually. I know Massin is working on the PM bug as well as other things for the site. Mamma Vash: Thanks, see my Project statement for some slight details. It's been rainy for a bit, and cooler. I like this time of year, and I'd love to get out onto the Rail Trail to photograph the tunnels (including #13) while it's raining, I'm sure those would just look great. The heat comes back in waves though, but it's tolerable. Unless I'm mistaken, that looks like Hex code (#FFFFFF is white in Hex code), so I don't think it'll work anymore. Last I knew there was no Hex code for transparent, but I will test it just to see if it does work, thank you for bringing it to my attention. Yensid I'll have to take a look at those references, thank you for providing them. Yeah, I was using a table with BG colored borders for a while there too, but with that, if the image is on the left, you have that left border which won't go away that offsets the image from the left margin. Also, the align attributes of the table tag (as well as the ones for the img tag) are "depreciated" in the newer HTML standards too. Here's the CSS code I came up with to float an image on the left side: Keep in mind that some sites(MyOtaku here) don't like line breaks in code, I just did that bit of formatting for ease of viewing. After you get that up where you need it, embedding an image would look like the image there on the left and it would look kind of like this in the source code (this is sample test, not a real image link) and the rest would be taken care of for you. Also notice that each margin (the blank space around the picture on each side - you don't have to tell it to be the BG color) can be modified independantly, so an image can be flush with the left margin, and still cushion the text away on the right side. The measure is in pixels (px), and I use five, but that's a number you'll have to experiment with on your own to find the right spacing for you. I think 75px is about half an inch at 300DPI if that helps. Wow, I didn't realize I was that fast a learner. I surprised myself with all that. Well, all my HTML and CSS knowledge came from online, I've found some good resources for both. I can't afford classes (Wish I could), but by all means that's a great idea for anyone who has the time and money. You should get real hands on type learning in those classes, and that's one of the best ways to learn too. LOL, I'm laughing because I'm ambidextrous, so that wouldn't be an impediment to me, but I'm the exception that proves the rule in creative things. It's a great, and creative anti-luck statement for the artistically inclined. I think I'll borrow it for the non-performing artists I want to wish well without being direct. You'll have to read the statement on my project to see if I provide some satisfaction to your curiosity. beyblader I'll bet it was a nightmare that first day the site was back up, and the pictures are still probably filtering in, a week's worth of art will take a while to get back onto the system I'm sure, especially if people don't notice it missing right away. I tell you, I don't envy you that position one bit, having to sort through all that artwork. I may have covered what you want to know in my project statement. Beyond what's there, I probably won't say much about the details of it. alphonse13 I hope your portfolio is intact. It's nothing catastrophic if it's not, but it would be tedious to have to upload a lot of pictures again. There is a sense of accomplishment that comes from building a page with your own hands, and knowing how that page is built. I did some crazy things offline just to test my skill with HTML, and I'll probably do the same thing as I learn CSS too. I have this vision in my head of a web page, that I will be working toward putting together as I learn CSS and the newest HTML standards. I'd like to be completely independant of any "site builder" type tools, because those things don't always get the page exactly right, and they are a headache to edit the right way. I also have this thing for making pages print friendly by default, so I'll be working on that too when I get the time. Make sure you're working from the newest HTML standards (I think thats 4.01) and you'll be reasonably sure the code will be compatible with the newest browsers. Bugs happen. The site's server had a major technical failure, that's why I'm not freaking out about them. I've mentioned the ones I've come across to the staff and they'll take a look when they get to it. They're not just siiting around all day waiting to hear about bugs on the site so it may take a while. I encourage people to report bugs in a civilized manner so that the tech people and site staff know something is wrong, then wait till things get fixed. mysterious rei That's all right, it happens. To be honest, I was thinking about changing up my theme here since I've had this one for like two years now. I will have to keep something green because it is my favorite color. Now, when will I be doing all this? Well, that's for me to know. Thanks, it's going well. Project Statement: On the "offline project" which has gotten the most attention in my previous post, I can only say that it's a writing project. I really want this project to work for me, and it's been my luck that if I say too much about it, the project fails. When I am finished with it, which I am hoping to be by the end of this year, and after I take care of all the legalities that will be involved, I will be able to discuss it in detail. I have a long way to go yet, but I will try to juggle my time for it and my time on here. I get the best inspirations talking with people here on MyO. Anime Dreams!

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Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Caffeine and Doughnuts

I didn't realize how close to home that Otakulypse hit until I was checking some things in my portfolio. That last picture I submitted wasn't there, so like everyone else who lost stuff, I resubmitted it. At least for me it was just the one. Luckily, I saved the comments before, so I still have those, I always save that kind of thing when I get it so that I will have it for reference. It's just a picture anyway, so I'm not overly worried about the effect losing and repost it has. I'm not here for a reputation after all. Oh, while I'm here, I did look up the hspace and vspace attributes for aligning images. Those are not supported at all by the new XHTML strict guidelines, and they're Depreciated for HTML 4.01, which means it's better to not try using them at all and to go with the CSS code I demo-ed in a past post. The code isn't hard to find, or I could send it to anyone who wants it. I'm going to be taking a week or two to get one of my offline projects in order. I will be commenting like normal, but not posting a blog. I need to conserve my creative energies for this project that I want to have ready by the end of the year. If I make my deadline, I'll provide information about it here, but until then, I'd like to keep things quiet about it, so not to jinx it. That means I'm putting that second picture I promised to put up here on hold too, but only for a short while. I want to get this thing I'm working done, then I can really devote my energy to blogging and my art again. This project is important to me on many levels. Comments: alphonse13 HTML caught my interest back in `03 when I started using this site actually. I wanted to be able to do some basic stuff with my blog so I took the time to learn. Now I want to be able to do a little more than just the basic stuff, so I'm branching out and trying to become more standards compliant in the process. It's amazing to put together a piece of code and see it work, I'll never forget the first HTML page I wrote up (It was a thumbnail table to help me find all the pictures I had on my old computer quickly), and I'll never forget this little piece of CSS I have on here now either. I can finally indent my paragraphs! There does still seem to be some bugs, but that's to be expected when something that critical happens to the heart and mind of a site. I'm noticing some glitches with the PM system at the moment, but I'm sure they'll be worked out soon. I just hope the PM system doesn't go down for months like it did last time there were problems. Shireishou That's the best way to learn. Most of the detailed stuff I picked up about HTML I learned while answering someone else's question about how to do it. Actually, I do have one question. Do you know haw to do that transparency thing that a lot of people on here use? I want to experiement with it, but I don't know how to do it. That's good. Adam does his best to keep this site running, he needs all the support he can get. Anime Dreams!

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