One and one and one makes three

[austin_dern]

Finally I get some spam random text that approaches poetry, or the third verse of the Beatles' Come Together: ``Austin office quill wacke andes extort deflate embarcadero blackberry.''

While heading to Funan the IT Mall I saw a man dressed in a bright blue lyrca bodysuit, as if he expected a luge competition or a Chroma-key effect to break out (none did). I'm impressed by those who can wear form-fitting outfits; my body isn't flattered by anything save occultation. At Funan one woman wore a long silver vinyl vest over a red vinyl miniskirt. If she had silver go-go boots and a plastic wrist-covering with lights she could have been any given high priestess to the computer god who bonks Captain Kirk on the head with a rock.

I bought a video CD of Marsupilami. I never actually watched the show, but I love the character design. I can't help it; the excessively long tail just gets me. The store also had (for a week now) Disney's The Three Musketeers with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy, but -- while these three were fantastic in the 1930s, and respectable in House of Mouse, I don't want to encourage Disney's current attitude toward new animation-flavored product.

And I got a trackball. My mouse, alas, has Random Extra Click Disease, irritating routine work but making Europa Universalis II and Hearts of Iron almost less than perfect experiences (!). The instructions are 15 pages, of which I ``needed'': ``1) Turn on your computer. 2) Insert the USB connector into the USB port.'' (I'd guessed that how to install it, but I always check.) The rest is Repetitive Stress Injury advice. The S$25 device has a five-year warranty.

Trivia: Florentine merchants were forbidden by law in 1299 to use Arabic numerals, and ordered to use Roman numerals or write numbers out in full. Source: History of Mathematics, Florian Cajori.

Currently Reading: The Railroads of the Confederacy, Robert C. Black III.

Comments

[moonfires.livejournal.com]

On the CBC tour I learned that most colour-screen effects nowadays are done in front of a green screen instead of a blue one. It's a particular horrid shade of green too, one that's as far from natural skin tones as possible, and one that is rarely seen in clothing. It allows much more flexibility in what you can put in front of it.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I've seen it a few times, particularly at the Science Center ``Lord of the Rings'' display. Green's all right, though the reflections on things that don't get keyed out are sometimes unflattering. But they've never done chroma-key more wonderfully than on ``Land of the Lost'' anyway ...

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

There's quite a good example of green-screen usage in a clip on the second page of a brief article about.. no, no, I'm going to leave that for my next entry. ^_^

And I strongly recommend you get a cameraphone at some point.

Mmmmm. Bright blue.. ^_^ And vinyl too? *sigh* There's far too little shiny clothing in the world, I feel. Or in furry art, for that matter - one of BA's oekaki pieces (http://vcl.ctrl-c.liu.se/vcl/Artists/BA/ba_nightout.jpg) comes to mind, and that's about it.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

A camera phone's one of the things I keep thinking about, although my telephone needs are so small that actually buying one seems like a waste. It's barely even worth it having my land-line phone; I think I've made four calls total this year.

I must admit some curiosity why there isn't more shiny clothing in real life, although having looked at some of the care instructions for things like lycra swimsuits I'd be terrified to try wearing one. (And, of course, there's my body type working against clothing more daring than ``horizontally striped shirts''.)

Still, you haven't seen more shiny clothes in furry artwork? I know I've seen more than just that drawing. I'll check the archive of pictures I keep around to make comments about, and see what I have on file.

Heh

[sennard.livejournal.com]

"If she had silver go-go boots and a plastic wrist-covering with lights she could have been any given high priestess to the computer god who bonks Captain Kirk on the head with a rock."

I'm always heavily amused and slightly dismayed that when I make mental connections like this, I remember the show in question and that I actually accepted such an outfit and crazy plot back then!

But then I used to watch cartoons that the sole premise was that there was a cat and mouse that hated each other.

Re: Heh

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I can't help making connections like that; they just pop out even when I'm not trying.

I'm a bit flippant about the original Star Trek, but I do love it, and Kirk got hit on the head with rocks by high priestesses of computer gods much less than his reputation suggests. The premise isn't by itself any worse than ``Alien forces take over the Enterprise/Voyager and the Captain has to get control back'', and it's a lot less worn out ...

Of course, as a child I accepted the premise of the Happy Days cartoon.

[mwmiller.livejournal.com]

Like so many interesting ideas at the Walt Disney Company, the Marsupilami is borrowed (http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Cafe/2877/spirou/spirou.html).

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Actually, the video CD doesn't mention Disney at all. I remembered the show was on some Disney-flavored TV station a while back, but not the connection.

I didn't know Marsupilami was Belgian, but that clears up a minor stylistic mystery. The cartoons gave off much of the vibes of a French cartoon, but it didn't quite feel right.