The Archives

Angry Art, Sketchup
Ronald Raygun
02.21.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Inspired by my nerdy love of retro space guns, and Nazi Zombies, I give you my first (of what I’m sure will be many) rayguns. It’s a simple design (doesn’t even have a trigger!) but a good starter. I plan to make a few more, and already have tons of ideas for them. This one took less than an hour, and I love it.

Jon sent me a link to a neat plugin for Sketchup, but it’s complicated, and I haven’t had any luck figuring it out. It’s basically a studio for adding lighting effects and hi-res textures. If I could get this thing in there I could add some sweet effects. I plan to mess around with it later on if possible.

One of the things I want to do, which I know is possible with that plugin (just not sure how), is add some light emitting properties to the green materials. I think it would look much better if all the green was glowing, and I’d like to see about adding some static around the orb at the end.

I also want to add some more details in Sketchup. It needs a trigger (or a telekinetic operator) and a recharge meter, as well as a battery status indicator, and perhaps a radiation warning. I also want to make a big laser cannon, and a rifle phaser.

Unfortunately that will all have to wait, since this week I have to redo my rough draft of the book layout, then model a bunch of tools for the appendix and a couple machines for my brother.

We spent 5 hours working his project last night, and it’s looking awesome. He took a video of a walkthrough he made, and posted it on his Facebook page, but I can’t seem to steal it to embed here. I’ll have to ask him to upload it somewhere I can get it – it’s pretty dope.

*I linked all the images to the original size, hi-res images, so if you like the pictures at all, click them for an even better version.
Gaming, Roanisms, Video
Roan loves to pwn
02.21.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Friday night was spent hanging out with Roan and Holly, while Gage was at a sleepover birthday party. We killed lots of zombies, then ordered some pizza. While we ate we watched some Demetri Martin stand-up, but it was cut short once Roan finished speed-eating his pizza, so he could jump back into killing dudes.

He wanted to keep playing, so we told him to go online and find some random people to play with. I showed him how to get into a game, and then for the rest of the night I watched while he played with randoms, and a couple games with my friends.

We took a break to go get ice cream, and when we came back I took a few videos of his matches. Below is the best one. In it, he is trying to itch his cheek while playing, and accidentally pokes himself in the eye, prompting the headset (which is a little too big for his tiny head) to slide off his head, and cause more frustration. I tried not to laugh, but I didn’t do very well. Luckily, he was too into the game to notice.

I will post some more videos of his online adventures once I install Premiere on my desktop and do some editing. The videos are all really dark and the audio needs tweaking, plus there is a lot of stuff that’s not very interesting to watch.
Angry Art, Photos, Roanisms, Sketchup
Cub Car, or Cobra Car?
02.18.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Last night was Roan’s third meeting as a Cub Scout. He is almost completely official now – he’s got his uniform, and paid his dues, now he just has to memorize and recite the motto and pledge. Once he does that he earns his epaulettes and is a certified Wolf Cub.

He’s missing his neckerchief in the photo above because he just got it last night, about 25 minutes after I took the photo. I remember when I was a scout I hated wearing that because I thought it was “girly”, so I tried to act like neckerchiefs are awesome, so hopefully he won’t grow to hate scouts because he has to wear the stupid neck thing. It was definitely one of the things I dreaded most about scouts.

One of the only things I really enjoyed about Cub Scouts, was Cub Car races! When I went to pick Roan up last night, the Scout Leader had all the troop’s cars in a box. I asked her if I could grab a couple pictures of Roan’s, and she said it would be fine.

The races are next Wednesday at the Niagara Square, and I’ll be bringing my camera along to capture all the “skillage” of Roan’s #88 (I think?) as it pwns all the competition (who am I kidding, there will be no competition… look at that thing!).

I seem to remember when I was a scout, we did all the cutting and everything at home. Roan’s car, along with all the other troop’s, got cut by the Scout Leader. The kids just drew the side profile onto one face of the block, and she ran it through a band saw. The next week they painted, and put the wheels on. So far I didn’t see any with weights, but I guess maybe they do that on the day of the races – I can’t remember.

I thought if Roan’s car does good, or even if he just has a fun time, we could get some iron on shirt transfers, and make him a sweet shirt of his car. I messed around with photoshop and made the above image. I figure if he wins, I can add a sweet trophy in the background, and the obligatory golden #1.

After Gage’s soccer game tonight (they destroyed the other team) I spent a few minutes at the computer, while Holly killed zombies with the boys. I made a model of Roan’s car in Sketchup. I made it the same way they did basically. I started with a rectangular block, drew the profile on one face, push/pulled away the waste, and added some wheels. What I got is the model above (and below that, and below that, and below that).

And now the real reason I spent the time making the model….

..because I had to see how badass it looks doing a monster wheelie!!!
Life, Photos, Random
More fireplace pictures
02.16.10 | Permalink | Comment?

I just checked my email for the first time in days, and realized there was photos in there from my mum, of the demolition of the old fireplace. That’s me bustin mortar and finding things hidden by whoever made the first fireplace e.g. antique Pepsi-Cola can.

In the above photo you can see how long the old hearth and mantle were, and in the below you can see the old brick getting covered with the new stone.

In both photos you can see the ugly floor (one of the next things to go) and my awesome shoes.

Hopefully when it’s all done, the basement will no longer be the coldest place in the world, and the blue spot from where I hit the ceiling with a pool cue 20 years ago will no longer be visible.

*Side note* Isn’t any place a fireplace as long as you light a fire there?

**Side side note** I think I’ve been watching too much Demetri Martin.
Gaming, Roanisms
More mini-man-made meatsacks
02.16.10 | Permalink | 1 Comment

The other night, Roan was watching me kill zombies with Jon and my brother, when I decided to run out for a smoke real quick. I handed the controller over to Roan, and he had a blast playing with them, and talking through the headset (which is about 7 times too big for his little head) while I was outside. I came back in and took over, then when we finished our match Roan wanted to play with Chris and Jon again. They both had to go, and Roan was bummed.

Last night he had dinner at his father’s house, and when he came home he gave me a new drawing. This one is the best yet. It’s incredibly accurate, and even features Jon in his usual position – down, waiting to be revived.

*fishing fery – “Im runing out of vodka I mean amoe”

*X Pone – “Hi I am dempsy you are dead”

He did such a good job, and I’m amazed at how many details he managed to remember. He even got the power sign right!

After he showed it to me I decided I better call Jon and Chris and see if they had time to play a match with him. They did, and he had a blast. Best part was, first guy to go down was of course, Jon. See? that’s accuracy!
Photos, Random
Don’t tangle with the friendly Tango
02.16.10 | Permalink | Comment?

For Valentine’s Day, Holly bought the boys some chocolates and each a new Nerf gun. I decided to be crafty and fashion some targets that look like terrorists out of cardboard, so they would have something besides each other to shoot at. Roan wasn’t too impressed, but Holly fell in love.

I suggested yesterday that we fix the “Tango” to the roof of one of Roan’s RC cars, so he could practice hitting a moving target. He wasn’t interested in that at all, so we just shot each other and had a Nerf gun war.

Although no official winner was announced, I believe the Tango and myself got shot the least amount of times, thereby declaring us victorious.

On a side note, after looking at these pictures, I’ve decided the Tango looks too friendly, and thus needs a scar to indicate “badness”. Perhaps he avoided injury because he just doesn’t look threatening. Not like me who avoided injury using pure “skillage”.
Angry Art, Sketchup
I’d like to get my 3d hands on her ample 3d nacelles
02.16.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Another model I made (both for Holly’s gift, and out of my own nerdy love of space) was a minimalistic version of the Enterprise. I wanted to add more details to it, but due to time constraints, I decided this would do for now. It served it’s purpose fine, but I think one day when I’m bored (and don’t have a million blog posts to make) I will make it more realistic.

Here’s some more pictures of the model if you’re as nerdy as me and one isn’t enough.

side / front / top
Angry Art, Life, Love, Sketchup
Even as a robot she’s too hot for me
02.16.10 | Permalink | Comment?

I’ve modeled so many new things in the last 2 weeks. Most of it was for Holly’s Valentine’s Day gift, and all of it was fun to make. I won’t share all the details, but I had no money so I wrote Holly a story about how she mended my broken heart.

I used the lamp model as a cop-out back when I made Bongbot, because I wanted something to represent Holly and it was thin and illuminating. She wasn’t too impressed with the fact that I hadn’t put any effort into her, and I’ve always felt bad about it.

I decided to make a new robot that clearly represents her, and that evolved into me modeling her, the boys, the cats, and just about everything else – including the kitchen sink!. It took hours, and I had to work on it only when she and the boys weren’t here, so I was constantly thinking I wouldn’t finish in time, but I got it done, and it turned out better than I ever expected.

I surprised her with that, and some orange roses (thanks to my mum and my friend Jackie for their help with the flowers) when we got home from Toronto. I figured if the story flopped, the flowers would possibly redeem me. Luckily she liked them both.

Here are some of the models I made for her gift:

Kanika and Oliver

Holly, Gage and Roan

Holly and Bongbot in Starfleet uniforms
Life, Photos
Mr. and Mrs. Paulie
02.16.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Two weekends ago, was Paul and Jess’ wedding. It was a cold day (too cold for my dorky clothes), but apparently that was perfect for Jess. The ceremony was at some church (no idea what it was called) and was really nice (although full of J-bombs). Here’s some pictures from the church.

Mike and Kori

Hooch, Orbax, and Kiwi

Holly and I

After the ceremony we did the receiving line thing, then headed back to Holly’s house to kill some zombies and eat some snacks.

After teaching Lesley the basics of modern first-person-shooters and watching her and Holly get eaten by Nazis in their formal wear, it was time to head over to the reception.

Josh and Chantal

Holly and Margie

Kori, Lesley, and Holly (hotties at my table what?)

The food was good, and I had a good time listening to Lesley sing songs that were supposed to have the word love in it (but didn’t). Jess made lots of yummy cookies, and I got stoned and ate a ton of them. Paulie’s speech was amazing, and their entrance was perfect. I’ll post a video of it later.

Amazingly, I sat all night and ignored a douchebag who was in my presence, and DIDN’T have my shoulder grabbed, or ear yelled in. That was nice for a change.
Life, Random
Almost officially a stoner
02.16.10 | Permalink | Comment?

My parents have decided to completely redo their basement. It had stucco all over the walls and ceiling and a huge fireplace that no longer made sense. The fireplace was originally wood-burning and had two bays for storing firewood, that were equal in size to the fireplace. Years ago they got a natural gas insert, which rendered the wood bays completely useless. The mantle and hearth were over 12 feet long and took up a lot of unnecessary space, so they decided to lose the wood bays, and reface the whole thing in cultured stone.

I offered to help out with the demolition and anything else I could do. My dad hired a guy someone recommended with over 30 years experience. He was nice, and we got along really well. We got to talking and it turned out he used to live on Texada Island (which is near Gabriola for those who don’t know) in the 70′s. We talked more, and eventually got on to the topic of me wanting to learn stone masonry. I asked a ton of questions (as I always do) and before the end of the first day, he asked me if I’d be interested in working for him once in a while. I told him I’d love to, and the next two days I helped him finish the fireplace.

I made all the cuts for every stone, with no direction whatsoever. It was awesome. Lugging the stones around is tough (especially the hearth which was over estimated at around 400lbs, and could only be carried by two people) but it was fun to work all day and feel like I did something.

I gave the guy my number, and he said he’d call if there was a job I could help him on. So far I haven’t heard anything, but I’m hoping soon he’ll need me again. I’d love to learn more, and it would be really nice to make some money for a change. I’m about ready to give up on the book and go find a job, even if it’s at Harvey’s, just so I can stop feeling like a useless sponge.