Author Archives: "The Administrator"

Argh.

Well. Turns out I was right about the CG pop & lock.

Superbowl featured an Olympus commercial that has our darling effect in it.

Trend Watch

And now, it appears that the newest special effect to be abused by ad campaigns and music videos everywhere is CG breakdancing. More accurately, the Pop and Lock style of breakdancing.

I point you a Golf GTI ad. A citroen ad. And a music video.

It’s interesting to note that the Citroen Transformer is not technically breakdancing–however, in the Golf GTI advertisement, Gene Kelly is doing, “the robot.”

The music video is just bizzare, although cool and unsettling, with a twist of visually appealing. Its uncanniness touches that valley wherein we know that things are not quite what they seem.

The Citroen video circled the usual buzz sites a few months ago, but now these other videos are on the scene. Impressive CG work, all of them.

Snow Lunch

The snow fell, large flakes hypnotic in their descent as they coated the trees. It wasn’t a mere dusting, because the trees were beautiful. I had no doubt that marketing sent out photographers to get pictures for our promotional brochures.

I left my office behind me as I walked. It was too hot in the attic, and I needed to get lunch.

Never mind it was three-thirty.

I craned my neck up toward the sky and took a deep breath. I felt more awake as the cold air filled my lungs. I stood on the driveway, face to the sky, watching the flakes fall towards me.

A few larger ones fell on my forehead. The cool wetness reminded me of the enthusiastic greeting you can get from a friend’s puppy.

I closed my eyes and listened to the stillness.

Which only lasted for a few moments because my stomach growled, and man, was I hungry.

Just crazy enough to do it. . .

They’ve done it. They have unleashed AMAZON PRIME.

Which isn’t really anything, other than a way for Amazon to “announce something” and still seem like innovators. Here’s the deal: For a $79 annual fee, you get “free, unlimited” two day shipping. Which of course doesn’t mean anything. If you read the terms and conditions, they can “exclude products in [sic] our discretion.”

This is very similar to signing up for a discount membership with your credit card, which is great if you use that credit card everywhere, but for the most part, odds are, you will not “earn” back that annual fee.

You’d have to make a dozen or so orders with Amazon, and opt for expedited shipping, in order to break even. And then there is the fact that Amazon offers free shipping anyway.

Really?

Just for the record:

Pokemon cause cancer.

A quick google search for the words “pokemon” and “cancer” return a surprising number of results. A few of the articles even mention “Pokemon Master” genes.

I have two questions: What was going through the researcher’s head when they named it the, “POK Erythroid Myeloid ONtogenic factor?”

The other question is, “What in the hell does POK stand for?”

I wonder what Nintendo’s official response will be.