WTF!
The bastard is still alive.
Fuck.

GO here and enjoy my pain.

Joyous Boxing Day to all!

Ok ok ok, so not to seem like I'm jumping on the bandwagon, but I wanted to post a little example of my work... It's not really a project which I can say I put lots of time and effort into per se, as much as it is more a representation of a whole lot of time and effort being put into my schooling, and this is one of the results.... That, and I've been staring at this pic on my desktop ever since I took it - I can't wait to really get cooking! August baby!

Here is a piece that was done by 2 fellas.
It is a video about 2-some minutes long or so.
Just remember:

Mr. Pibbs + Red Vines = Crazy Delicious

Here's 2 pieces I finished this term. I wouldn't call them art per se, but they are sorta nice. And I poured my heart and soul into them. So no throwing tomatoes.

7.5 hours:


2 hours:

Well so here's another piece I finished this year... kind of. It's a tableau where I wallpapered the wall and floor and objects within it. Ultimately it would be nice to do a whole living room. But it's very slow and tedious work. It's meant to be viewed in lowlight conditions with the light source coming from the piece itself rather than being put "on show". Unfortunately the lighting didn't pick up on camera as well as it did in reality. I also only have my video camera to work with and as such I simply make videos and take screenshots. Not the clearest way of doing things. Input, criticism, tomato throwing or worship is all appreciated.

New Art. Screenshots from a 22 minute long video.

King's Quest 9 is under development, although not by the original copyright holders. Can this merry band of developers return the genre of adventure gaming to its glory days? Stay tuned.
King's Quest IX: The Silver Lining
Mind you, I have no idea what happened in KQ8, or even the last 3/4's of KQ7, so I doubt I'll ever fire up KQ9. But for nostalgia's sake it's nice to know there's somebody out there giving it their best shot.

So today has been removed from the options for seeing Syriana.
So Sunday anytime really.

GP: Sun @ 12.50 / 3.50 / 7.00 / 10.20
Polo: Sun @ 12:40 / 3:40 / 7:15 / 10:25

And more importantly, it is playing at GP (According to wpgmovies)

INTERMISSION TIME

Yay!

H & K

Also, don't forget.

SYRIANA

Polo Park
Saturday or Sunday
After dusk.

Any takers?

Perhaps I'll be seen as overly sensitive but there are a few things I find disconcerting. Mainly, the fact that we get tactless, borderline racist, ethnocentric and just plain stupid anonymous commentaries directed at people. Although there have been a few the one I'm referring to is the bible/koran comment after superannuated's post.

This is why it annoys me:
1. If you're making an anonymous comment, chances are you know it's a pretty rancid thing to say and you're hiding under the mask of anonymity to shirk responsibility. The internet is rife with creeps who try to get away with things they wouldn't want to put their name to. eg. pedophiles and racists. If you're not one of them then put your name to the comment and stand by it.

2. The bible/koran quip was insulting to super because first of all, anonymous was blatantly pointing him out as a minority in a rather insensitive rude way and thus making a racist quip. Secondly, it also seems at the expense of the Koran. Super is obviously not Muslim but grafting him into that section of the population also utlizes the sensationalism surround fundamentalism now. It's about as tactful as poking someone in the eye with a sharp stick.

3. Also, this blog was a way to keep in touch with friends not to make anonymous "jokes" that we like to pass off as "jokes" which in reality are racist, ethnocentric insults. And yes, some of the comments are obviously from friends because random web surfers wouldn't necessarily know the things we know.

4. And yes we can ignore these comments, but really, why do we have to? I sift through enough shit on the internet as it is. Do I need to do it here?

It's true there have been always jokes about our ethnicity and such within the group. But they were said upright and they were readily assimilated as jokes. Here they are not. Consider the medium you're using and consider your safe haven of anonymity. Furthermore, biting but clever quips can be made. Yes super's post was long but it was Mr. Lister who got his point across, not "anonymous". So say what you want but put your name to it and maybe then it'll be taken in context.

So maybe, I think this is possible, we should consider not allowing anonymous comments. I think, Flu, the admin. can do this no? I'm sure now I'll be flooded initially with anonymous comments for this post so go for it but I'm interested in what everyone else has to say.

A what looks like to be a great movie comes out this friday. It has an awesome trailer too

Here is an interview with Alexander Siddig.
aka: DR. BASHIR

In other news, SuAnn can finally get some new knees.
Well, eventually.

Here's an article I found in the Free Press a while back, well 2 weeks ago. Is about our generation. Was interesting. So here's the article in it's entirety:

Sunday, November 20th, 2005


SUNDAY SPECIAL: The age of the Echo

Baby Boomers' kids taking over

Sunday, November 20th, 2005

By Carolin Vesely


THEY'VE been celebrated since conception.

They toddled into childhoods where they were strapped into car seats, seatbelts and bike helmets, set up on play dates, and protected against everything from the sun to peanut butter cookies.

And we haven't taken our eyes off them since.

Good thing, because our nation has 6.5 million of them out there and they're coming of age.

Meet the Echo Boomers.

Born between 1980 and 1995, they are the offspring of the largest generation in the history of the industrialized world, the Baby Boomers.

Sometimes referred to as Generation Y or Millennials, Echo Boomers -- a term first coined by Toronto demographer David Foot -- have been called the most watched-over and over-watched group of young people ever.

They're also considered the most educated, ethnically diverse, environmentally conscious, tolerant and affluent.

So what do they want?

Apparently, the same things the young and restless have always wanted: careers they enjoy, to "make a difference," their first car, their first home, their own families...

"Right now, my only goal is to get out of school and get a job," says Jamie Gillespie, who is 25 and in his final year of graphic design at Red River College.

The oldest Echo Boomers are, in fact, driving record enrolments at universities and colleges these days, just as they stuffed elementary schools in the late '80s, and high schools in the mid-'90s.

According to Statistics Canada, university enrolments for the 2003-04 year showed the strongest increase in 28 years.

"We're bursting at the seams," says RRC president Jeff Zabudsky. "Most of our programs in the trades are over-subscribed; we've got waiting lists."

Chris LeBlond, 23, already has a geography degree and a job. Just weeks ago, he got hired as a sales co-ordinator for a heavy machinery distributor. He enquired into taking carpentry at RRC, but changed his mind when told about the 18-month waiting list.

What LeBlond wants is "to be successful."

"Financial stability would be the biggest part," he says. "I know when I'm older, I want the perks of life -- and that might include things like joining a country club."

Gillespie and LeBlond have something in common with a lot of adult Echo Boomers -- they live with their parents.

The proportion of young adults aged 20 to 24 living at home rose to 57 per cent in 2001 from 42 per cent in 1981, according to StatsCan.

But LeBlond, who has had a cellphone for five years, a credit card for three and bought his first car in July, admits he's hardly living a deprived life down there in his folks' basement.

"My room is decked out," he says. There's a 51-inch wide-screen TV at the foot of his bed, as well as a surround-sound home entertainment system and "thousands of dollars" worth of DVDs.

Neither Gillespie nor LeBlond pays rent.

So it should come as no surprise that Echo Boomers don't seem to mind the unusually long umbilical cords.

Most report being close to their parents -- nearly all we talked to listed mom and/or dad as their heroes -- and sharing product and TV-viewing preferences. (Guess who watched The Osbournes together?) Marketers have called this the "boom-boom" effect.

Boomer parents might beg to differ, but Foot -- whose mantra is "Demographics explain two-thirds of everything" -- says there's nothing particularly special going on here.

Each new generation, he says, is always more technologically advanced and more affluent than the one before.

"The only unique thing about the Boom and the Echo Boom," he says, "is their sizes."

Both are large populations, but the Echo was a mini-boom (30 per cent smaller) compared with the explosion that produced the Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1966), who currently make up one-third of Canada's population.

The Baby Boom truly exploded in 1959, when a population of just 17.5 million produced a whopping 480,000 babies.

"We never had that many births in the years before or since then," says senior StatsCan researcher Alain Belanger, adding, "Baby Boomers were the first generation to NOT replace themselves."

Do the math. Boomer households, often double-income ones, have more money to spend and fewer kids on which to spend it.

Factor in grandparents -- since people are living longer -- and Echoes have access to what Foot calls the "six-pocket phenomenon."

"The Boomers have their future tied up in far fewer children, so they've invested more in those children," he says, "whether it's education or upbringing."

Educating and employing the Echo generation, however, pose a new set of challenges.

Check out Gillespie's game plan:

"I'd love to do freelance jobs and work for a small design firm, in the city to start out," says the future graphic designer/illustrator, who's interested in Web animation. "Then I'd like to move to Australia and work there for a couple of years and then come back and move to Montreal."

The last part of that statement worries Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce president Dave Angus, who says he's seen data indicating Echo Boomers will change workplaces 19 times during their careers.

"I'm very concerned," says Angus, "because I know that we have a lot of work to do to in order to attract and retain people within this province. We still lose more people to other provinces than we gain.

"Business now has to create a work environment that is attractive to the Echo Boomers, and these workplaces are different than what the Boomers are used to."

No kidding.

Did we mention that Echo Boomers are used to constant praise and stimulation?

"They get bored real quick," says Jim Carroll, a futurist, and trends and innovation expert based out of Mississauga, Ont.

"They've got their heads screwed on in a bunch of ways, but the fact is, they're the Nintendo generation and they're scattershot -- they're all over the map. All the studies are showing they've got to have a career path which involves multiple different assignments, projects and capabilities."

Angus has witnessed the Echo work ethic, and says Manitoba businesses will have to understand this generation's priorities and adapt.

"I think creativity is one of the keys," he says. "I just had a meeting today with a small film company -- about six people, all young, diverse cultures -- and it's such a creative environment; it's not 9 to 5.

"All of a sudden they'll break out into a basketball game or they'll play PlayStation for a while, so it's a whole different way of working."

Front-end Baby Boomers will start retiring in 2012 -- from jobs they've likely held for decades -- and there are fewer Echoes to take their places.

That, too, concerns Angus.

"It's definitely going to create, and has been creating, challenges when it comes to skills-gaps issues," he says, adding that recent surveys from the Manitoba Business Leaders Index show the No. 1 issue "across the board" is workforce.

Angus says that 68 per cent of Manitoba companies surveyed in the last year reported having trouble filling a position because they couldn't find someone with the necessary skills.

Meanwhile, as we mentioned earlier, there are a lot of Echo Boomers working on university degrees. It's been said that today's BA is yesterday's high school diploma.

But Foot and Carroll say we should be steering the Echoes toward apprenticeship programs in skilled trades and health care. (There's a lot of aging Boomers out there who will need care.)

Carroll goes so far as to say "the concept of going to school for knowledge is kind of quaint," and foresees a future where degree programs will be no longer than nine months.

"I go to school for four years, I learn a bunch of stuff that is going to become out of date and be replaced by new knowledge," he says. "You can apply that to any profession out there."

Most of the knowledge needed in the workplace of the future, Carroll says, will be gained by online sources, independent learning and collaborative social networks.

"The key is to learn how to learn. Apprentice programs, I still think that's the most powerful method of learning."

Foot would start those programs in high school.

And he wants to make it clear that so-called jobs where you "work with your hands" have become a whole lot more complicated.

Mechanics, carpenters, farmers -- even truck drivers need to know how to use a computer.

"Truck driver used to be a job that a high school dropout could take," Foot says. "A truck today has three or four computers on it.

"These are not dumbed-down jobs."

A final bit of career advice from Canada's celebrated demographer:

This is not a good time to be a children's entertainer or to run a camp for kids under 10.

Want to be a bestselling author?

Foot suggests writing a book on being the perfect grandparent.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
© 2005 Winnipeg Free Press. All Rights Reserved.