Ok I kind of like this one (update: video http://www3.telus.net/jefmil/blog/shrinking.mov offline), even though the effects are really cheezy. Get it while you can, I’m not sure if I’ll leave these on the web forever.
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Author: Jeff Milner
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Dad’s in Town
Apparently Dad is in Lethbridge tonight. I saw a note on my table that said he stopped by, too bad I missed him. I was having dinner with Anna-Maria and her roommate. Anna’s Mom gave her a huge laundry basket full of food to take home with her, and we were hitting it hard tonight. We had some really good roast beef and instant potatoes. I tried a brustle sprout and I must say I should have gone with my instincts. Brussle sprouts are bad. That’s why on TV sitcoms nobody likes them. They are bad. But the meal was good and I wish I had more of it instead of being stuck here at the school waiting for my video to render. Also I need to be looking up some music for the background and I’ll likely find something off of flashkit.com. If you have any other good sites for music give me a shout out.
I’ve been working on a new video project since lunch time. I am really sick of it. I never realized how much work it was going to be trying to use a green screen and making it look realistic. I guess some tips I have to offer are that you want to make sure the green screen is exactly the same colour all over and that objects / people you are filming not only aren’t wearing green but are wearing dark colours that contrast well. I still have to do another project for tomorrow and I had to skip swimming again today because I need to get this work done. Next Thursday I have another video due, this time it has to have a Star Trek effect of beaming someone into screen. If either of these two projects turn out I’ll post them here.
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The Meliorist Slanders Stu Crawford
The previous resident of my house (the owner’s son actually) was mentioned in the University paper this week. In the “from the Editor’s Desk” section, the editor was ranting about why he doesn’t participate in the large number protests that have been happening lately. He sites the ex-resident of my house as an example:
“Those who were here two years ago will remember the actions of Stu Crawford, local activist extrordannaire. Perhaps if Coulee Stu did not wear the same clothes every day and stink like a mixture of wet cat and cheese, people would have been willing to listen to him, instead of brushing him off everytime he was near.
Update: April has come to Stu’s defence.
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Back in Lethbridge
Anna-Maria and I arrived back in Medicine Hat last night too, and the roads to Lethbridge were a little snowy but judging by Gary’s description not as bad as to Calgary. We talked a bit but mostly we listened to the first tape of “The Lord of the Rings”. I thought it would be fun – especially seeing how much Anna loves the movies but frankly it was quite boring. We probably will never listen to the rest of the tapes.
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George Bush’s Speech
According to the BBC, Bush’s handlers have been trying to get him invited to address the European Parliament. The one caveat being that a standing ovation would be guaranteed. (scroll down to # 7 on the list).
Question: What exactly would happen if a standing ovation was promised and never delivered?
Answer: Regime change.
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Medicine Hat
Anna and I have arrived in Medicine Hat. We had to make a quick stop at her parents house to drop off some groceries that needed to be in the freezer (it doesn’t matter that it’s aproximately -40 degrees outside). The trip was nice; Anna and I had a good time just chatting with each other all the way here. We decided that we would like to move to southern California this summer and get jobs working at Disneyland. Frankly I can’t think of any good reason not to. It looks like it’s time to go home so that’s it for this entry.
As some of you astute readers may remember, I’ve been reading a book online called Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. I just finished it, and now I’d like to write a little book review. Now I’m going to be quite honest with you (brace yourself, here comes the self deprecation). I’m not exactly an expert on books. I haven’t really read a lot of them. I mean I did read a bunch of Stephen King novels and I occasionally like to pick up this or that to pass the time. But as I said I’m not exactly a literary expert, and to make matters worse my writing ability is mediocre at best. So here it is – the first book report I’ve ever done that wasn’t for grades. Coincidentally I think it’s the first book report that I’ve ever done after having actually read the novel. Ok, enough rambling, it’s time to get down to business.
Cory Doctorow’s short novel, “Down and Out in the Magical Kingdom” is set in the future, I’m guessing a couple hundred years. In the future there’s no more scarcity, it’s very Utopian and it’s kind of like Star Trek where you don’t need money to get things. Also, in this world, the people don’t die. They save their identity’s to a backup and when death or illness sets in, somebody does you the favor of restoring you from back-up. There is a lot more sci-fi stuff that I won’t bog you down with now, instead I’ll move on to the meat of the story. Julius, the protagonist, is a cast member at Disney World, (he’s an important one — an Ad Hoc.) The trouble starts to brew when Debra, another Ad Hoc starts making changes to the rides. Julius is worried about her taking over the Haunted Mansion and taking the history out of it by having “scary haunted mansion experiences” pumped straight into your brain instead of the usual way of actually experiencing a scary mansion. I think my philosophy teacher would really dig this. Julius has to stop Debra, meanwhile keeping the other Ad Hoc’s and guests happy. Overall I really liked the novel and found myself imagining what life would be like if I lived in Doctorow’s world. “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom” was fun, cheap, and best of all it only took a few hours to read (it’s just 10 small chapters).
Now you can see why I could never break 78% in English class. Maybe I can plagiarize a better review from Amazon.com. I guess I was never meant to be a writer.
What am I going to do now? Well, I’d like to go to Disneyland, but instead I think I’ll go home and get some lunch.
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Music Video Update
I know some of you have been returning everyday to see my new music video. I’m not going to lie to you – you may be extremely disappointed in this sucker, but nevertheless here it is (update: it’s been removed) in all it’s potential glory. I apologize for the slowness of the server, it’s just that I unknowingly subscribed to a really BAD service provider. Anyway give a shout out if you like the video, or if you hate it, or if you watched it, or if you didn’t watch it. (I’m sure you get the idea).
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Roommate Update
I’ve come to the conclusion that my roommate isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. Don’t get me wrong he seems like a smart enough guy, but he definitely doesn’t think long term. When I say long term, I actually mean a couple weeks. For example, last night I came home to find my roommate in the kitchen sporting a brand new piercing in his bottom lip. Some of you reading this may think — “Man! Jeff’s roommate is so cool!” He probably thinks he’s pretty cool too, but he won’t think he’s so cool when: #1. the money spent on a piercing would have come in real handy for food, and #2 when he can’t get a job because no one wants to hire someone with a piercing on his face.