Happy New Year 2011

Ahh, the new year brings with it, opportunities and, hopes and dreams by an exciting sack-load, how exciting! Having spent much time wondering on the possibilities of dibbling and dabbling in the world of photography, I've finally taken the plunge and gone for it. The weapon of my choosing? The infamous Canon 5D MkII.



Many would say that it is quite overkill for someone's first serious stab at photography and I absolutely agree. It's overkill. It's one thing to be attracted by 'necessities' such as full frame, noiseless high ISOs, L series lenses from the box and HD movie mode, but with it comes some less wanted territory.

For instance, it's quite disconcerting knowing that you're playing around a large body of salt water with cheeky friends while $3.5K worth of gear hangs precariously around your neck. Oh and might I add by a nylon strap that looks not much sturdier than a fireman's shoelace.

If you're the kind of person that feels misfortune follows you closely at your heels, then you'll probably feel uneasy most of the time you're out and about. Speaking of misfortune, I've already lost a polarising lens filter after all but 3 days usage. This is while the camera was stored away in it's bag with the lens cap on. Misfortune much?

I didn't really think about the downside really until about a week into owning it. Call it the end of the honeymoon period if you will, but the scary realisation of potential a expensive encounter came perhaps as a lot of subjects would give me a stunned expression upon discovering I was shooting with a 5D MkII.

"Isn't that a professional camera?" they would ask. The expressions their faces read were, "What is it doing out here in a world filled with liabilities!?". Slowly, a feeling of knowing irresponsibility crept up on me. Then it made sense why people commonly go out and about with nice, cheap cameras instead of fantastic, weapon cameras.

However, let's look at the flipside! This camera is, as my cousin Mick would put it "Oh so worth it!" Sure it's expensive and generously-weighted, but I'm relishing in always being ready to capture a wonderful moment within a sturdy wide-frame. A recent trip to the South Coast has me standing in confidence that I made the right choice of Camera.



I remember being advised by a photographer mate that I don't need to go full frame and it's a knick-knack I'll never really need, but oh let me tell you that some shots would never have been given due justice without the full frame. Oh no, I'm confident this is the right camera for me.

It's just gonna get better to! Just you wait until I get stuck into the video part of this! With our graphic novel "Brutal Prophecy" inching closer and closer into physical production, this camera's going to really step into its role.

Other stuff I'll be experimenting in with this camera? HD movie mode of course, portrait and landscape photography, vehicle and product photography, HDRI (Which I've already made a couple!) and photography for 3D modelling.

Speaking of 3D, here's a wip screengrab of the 180sx model I've been working on.

Surii dii animeishin

Wow it's been a while since I've posted... I've been hard at work on my showreel. I'm happy to say that V1.0 is now complete... I'm currently deciding on how to package the showreel so that I can send it out to people/places. It's been about 4 weeks since I've gone full throttle on this. I'm so glad I'm here. I'm learning how to finish things... Not just start them.

Render, render, render

I left my work computer rendering a 3D animation scene over the weekend, rendering pretty much throttles your CPU to 100% non stop to produce video data. With no a/c and blistering hot days, my CPU was getting floored... My boss came in on Saturday and heard the poor thing wailing and shutdown my system mid-render =(

S'all good... luckily I set the render to render frame by frame instead of shot by shot... Otherwise I woulda lost the lot...

Fruits Basket is warming up!

Haven't posted so must most... Hahaha Fruits Basket just got really interesting! Volume 17 and some BIG secrets have been let out about the Sohma family... Woohoo, can't wait to go training today so I can read! Hahaha I have a good 10 minute walk from the station to my dojo so I just read the whole way, I look up once in a while to make sure I'm not lost! I wanna say so much about it, but to then I don't wanna be a wet blanket! And check this out, I've never been able to keep up with series, not even a single season of Heroes! And Here I am on volume 17 of a comic!

I'm gonna be grading tomorrow, Double grading for the win! I hope I have the stamina to keep up... Oorah... So from green, I'm skipping blue and onto purple... I'm kinda looking forward to the sparring, I think I've been adding a bit of edge to sparring lately, non-contact sparring is as homosexual as aids (taken straight out of the forums hahaha), but I been making it intersting by blocking my opponents attacks and countering with freakishly close blows instead of just hopping and flopping my legs about like a doll... Hahaha last time when I was sparring against 3 opponets, I even grappled at them, threw them at one another and grappled one oppenent and brought him to the ground... Wanna keep this interesting, gay martial arts ftl...

I been modelling a 180sx in Maya during work hours... I need to get a portfolio happening, but I'm soo lazy... Even at work I just forum trawl all day... How on Earth do I become a Saiyan in this area?

I'm gonna be going to Superlap at Oran Park on Sunday to help Andrew out with more media stuff... Hahaha I just got a phone call from Anf Bilic saying hi... Will be hanging out with him on Sunday

Fantabular meeting with my teachers!

Hi blog!
So I took a day of leave from work yesterday and headed into TAFE to visit Vincent my old 3D teacher, hahaha man was it good seeing him or what! Also got to see Eric Knight, my old graphics and flash animation teacher, and David Perez, the old tech guy... Was amazing to see em all after more than 4 years! It's funny what I remembered while walking through those halls, ahhaa the ground still squeaks on that little ramp on the floor heading towards D101 (The 3D animation classroom). The smells of that corridoor, ahhh... Memories easily forgotten, but not easily unrecognised. What a great catch-up it was, talking about our experiences and observations on TB and the 3D animation industry... In short, it was as I was leading to believe... TB is crap, the place treats it's employees badly, it burns young prospective artists and is full of itself. It's time to forget past offences, and not hold the offence to the current industry... I got dealt a rotten egg, it doesn't mean the whole hatchery is rotten. Hai... sou desu ne... SO! I've got to work on another reel! I will attempt to get in contact with recruitment agents (maybe Khang's one who understands how shibba TB is!). Names I must remember are The lab, Ambience, flying Bark, Animalogic, Plastic Wax... Stick with the big names Eric says!

Was fun having lunch with the guys too, we got to talking geek talk hahaha, about memory allocation code, the whims of Microsoft, and about old school original programmers who used to program off punch card systems hahaha!! Old school programmers who diss out anyone who calls themselves a programmer today ftw! So programmers are born, not made aye? Vince and Dave are most definitely the coolest geeks I know... David's into boxing, and Vince is a 3D artist/compositor/teacher! Hahahaha...




So we have 1. The corridor leading up to D101 The 3d room 2. The corridor off D101 3. The cafeteria 4. The 3d animation staff room 5. D101

Actually, in pic 1. Where I'm standing is pretty much the position where the floor squeaks as u walk past hahahaha.... Man that place brings back alot of memories, I can't believe its been so many years... It's eerie.

motorkhana, running, swimming, 3d, martial arts, production

Sometimes I'll think about how I've now got a blog space and I get excited hahaha, There's alotta random stuff I get up to (like modifying my car, 3d modelling and animation, martial arts stuff) that most people around me may not be that interested in but thanks to blogging, maybe, just maybe somebody who is looking for info on this kinda stuff may have a chance to come across interesting reading! Don't you love it when you come across gems? I think I'll be just spewing my mind on the screen most of the time but if I do think of an interesting article and/or video, I'll be sure to be posting it up here. It turns out that backdating your posts work! So everything 2008 and before is reserved for my articles and writeups! Imagine having a site that hosts the best, info attracting large visiting numbers for a variety of things! That'd be 50 1337! I think my site would have best info, and attract masses to martial arts, cars, film/comic production, maybe even cooking! Heeheehee.

I've decided that I'm going to stop my daily swimming, the pools are getting too crowded as everyone's got the same idea, sharing lanes at the pool ftl. I've always despised running... I hate how it seems to take so long, I hate how it hurts, I hate gasping for air, I hate how boring it is, I hate how self-conscious I feel ARGH! Is anyone else with me? Alas! Because the pool is now full, I must revert to another form of easy fitness. I was talking to a friend while at McDonalds last night and he said I should try running in the city where there is much inspiration, for egsample, the botanical gardens, he says being in that environment and seeing so many other runners inspires him to run, he says music also helps. Hahaa! I must try it sometime this week! Plus I've got my new runners that I bought last week!

SO! FINALLY Dave's given me the video from our Valentines day motorkhana (it was partially my fault for not picking it up off him when he brought it earlier in the week!) I got to work on it straight away, turns out this vid is gonna be slightly longer than 10 minutes nooo =( So it's not youtubable =(... SO I think I'm gonna break it up into 2 parts... It's kinda boring really coz it's the same thing over and over, it's definitely more fun in person! I didn't think about it at the time but I shoulda tried a more movie approach on it... Shots of us getting ready, getting prepped, getting psyched while in the wet weather... That woulda made it fit for a KING...

Anyways, here's some cool music! An oldie but a goodie, it reminds me of the theme song from Girl from tomorrow!

Oorah my firstie!

SO! Eugene reckons I should start a blog, so here goes. Never thought myself a blogger, but I guess it's fun to share cool things that I come across. Hahaha it all started yesterday I guess when I was BROUGHT TO TEARS by this adorable video!



ARGH! I love the music in that video, so these chixorz are a Nippon drift team called Galdori (girl drift)... My eyes teared up when I watched this, the music is to die for! Galdori have drift meets at a circuit in the mountains and they bring their kiddies along and they go drifting! They've got the CUTEST kids too! Check out the kid towards the end of the first song running away with his finders in his ears because of the noise! Hahahahaha!!!

I guess for the longest time, drifting has always been a man-sport but it's soooo good to see the ladies get involved! Especially mum's! I myself was out at easter creek skid pan this past Saturday David and CACA (Christian Austosport Club of Australia) doing a motorkhana... I'll be sure to get the video posted up... HURRY UP DAVID!

OH! I also had this I wanted to put in today when blogging became a topic of discussion on the Nth Strathfield to City train. I CALLED MY OLD TAFE TEACHER YESTERDAY! I can't believe it's been about 5 years since I've last seen and spoken to Vince! It was almost surreal! So I rang the TAFE front office and asked "I was curious to know if a teacher was still employed at the school? His name is Vincent Rossini" the lady was really nice "Yes from 3d Animation, he's still here I'll patch you through to the 3D animation office" And before you know it I hear a distantly familiar voice "freedee animayshun vis is Vince" Hahahaha I immediately teared up on hearing his voice... It was so damned good to hear him again. We spoke for about 10 minutes on small catch up stuff, I couldn't stop saying how good it was to hear from him. I told him about my shitty experience with TB and that because of that I'm afraid to get back into industry, it was encouraging being told that he's heard things about them and not to let that worry me because they were no-good... Hahaha. So anyways, I think I would like to go back and visit the school. It's wierd how I connected well with the teachers and member of staff but not really any of the students? I guess that's what sucked heaps about TB, everyone was like a droid... Sure people are into family guy and games and all that but it's like everyone was a droid playing human?

How much or how little am I supposed to write on a blog? I thought my first post woulda just been a Hi I'm Phils, bye kinda thing... Anyways, I guess I'll work on feedback, if you think I write too much, too little or whatever just tell me via comments! Muahahaha...