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Now, she goes into a little side rant about cigarrette ads and smoking that I don’t really agree with. But the most important message is fairly clear. Now, nicotene is an appetite suppressor… but I certainly wouldn’t suggest anyone smoke to loose weight.

To see my opinion on the matter of the idea of “thin=attractive” check out this article.

This isn’t so much a rant, as it is a simple statement… but I’ll put it under rants because well… this is my site and I can do whatever I want with it. so :P

Type to you later,
~Nathaniel

Many children, and even adults, are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD(Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder… hereafter referred to as ADD) every year. Some would argue that there is an epidemic. While others, such as myself, debunk it as a load of bull. Yep, this rant is about the ADD excuse as I like to call it. Now, that being said, I have been diagnosed as having ADD and I have noticed odd difference between those with and those without this supposed disorder. The main difference is that stimulants and depressants work backwards on us. Most of the medications prescribed to those with ADD are actually amphetamines. I can’t imagine giving a hyper kid a stimulant would make them any easier to deal with… however, that is the case. For instance, drinking caffeine will make me lose consciousness fairly quickly whereas Benadryl will make me jittery and fidgety. So I recognize that there is a fundamental difference between those with and without this supposed disorder. Studies have actually shown that people with ADD actually have decrease levels of activity in the parts of their brain that govern impulse control. However, I don’t think it’s a disorder at all, nor do I think it’s a learning disability. However, the entire country is using it as an excuse. Students, teachers, and parents are all saying “it’s not their fault… they’ve got ADD”. It’s all garbage.
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Alright, what is up with women’s obsession with the size of their posteriors? Women now-a-days are obsessed with their weight. They’ve got it in their heads that if they don’t look like the anorexic drug addicts they see on television and in magazines that they’re not good looking. They’re torturing themselves and feeling self conscious for no good reason. Seriously, there is something wrong with this world if women think they need to starve themselves to look beautiful. It’s just not true.
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I’ve been noticing an amazing trend in games over the years. As technology advances, we are better able to create more and more realistic games. Graphically games are becoming more and more advanced with high resolution textures and models, great animation and extensive storyline. One would think that this would mean better games right? Wrong! In my opinion, games are starting to lose their “fun” qualities and take on more “entertaining” qualities. Essentially, game developers seem to be forgetting the most important thing about games: They’re games! I’m just tired of being tricked into buying interactive movies when I want to play a game. The biggest letdown I’ve had over the past few years was the Max Payne series, they where FAR too linear. The game played very straight forward as the story unfolded. Now, the game was great, the gameplay was fun… but the ridged structure of it just felt like I was being forced into things instead of making choices.

Personally, I think that many game development companies are too focused on how a game looks and not focused enough on how the game plays. As games become better and better looking, they seem to lend less to the realm of game play. Almost as if the player is forced to sit and watch the artists show off their work instead of playing a game.

I used to program games on my TI-83+ graphing calculator. These where ugly games, written in a very limited programming language. But I made them fun. Why? Because if they weren’t fun, no one would play them! I didn’t have the fancy graphics and options that modern games have because of the language limitations. However, that didn’t stop me from making very addictive versions of tic-tac-toe, slolum, FPS, maze, guessing, and memory games. I had a blast, and so did the students who I gave the games to. So much so, that the teachers tried to erase all the programs from every calculator in an effort to curb these distractions. Good thing we had them backed up on our computers… or they might have been lost forever. My point here is that even an ugly, option-low game can be very fun and addictive. Games don’t need to be pretty, they don’t need extensive storyline, THEY NEED TO BE FUN!

That being said, graphics and storyline are VERY important for the immersion of a game. Games like Halo 3, Bioshock, and Heavenly Sword are all examples of engaging graphics and storyline. They’re also extremely fun to play (I’ve only personally played Halo 3 and read very good reviews about the other two). Hopefully, as graphics becomes easier for us to utilize and making games pretty becomes super easy, we will be able to focus better on making games fun again. I’ve got good hopes for the game industry. Also… if I ever manage to break into the game industry, I can guarantee that my main focus will be on fun… unless I’m an artist. Nah, fun is king.

Let me just put it this way: People didn’t wait so long in line for Halo3 just so they can see how neat the graphics where. They waited that long so that they could buy the game and blow stuff up in cool new ways! End of story.

Rant to you later,
~Nathaniel

Readers beware, there has been a long, on-going scam dealing with the flu vaccine. Many health care facilities have been pocketing your hard earned money by injecting you with immunologically useless, and often dangerous materials. Be very cautious with considering getting the flu vaccine. What’s going on you ask? Have some groups replaced the actual flu vaccine with something else in order to make money? Not really, in fact you might be safer if they had!
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Alright, I’m going to post another rant. This one is directed at the gothic subculture. Now, don’t worry, I’m not going to alienate anyone. Let me start out by saying that I identify with the gothic subculture very well. I understand the need for individualism and even the fascination with all things morbid. However, I don’t listen to just angry death metal (I enjoy listening to everything but country and rap), I do not wear all black (but I do prefer dark colors) and I have no piercings or tattoos (although I’ve always dreamed of getting full sleeves). That being said, I am not labeled as “goth” by anyone seeking to stereotype me. Now, just because I don’t appear gothic, doesn’t mean that I can’t identify with them. Now, I’m also not going to label myself as goth either. Because I am not a label. If anything, I’m just that creepy, nerdy, artist guy.
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When it comes to art, I love it all. Well… all except 2D animation. I really have a ton of respect for those who can survive hour after hour of drawing the same thing… only slightly different… for a living. Seriously, 2D animation has to be one of the most tedius tasks a person can ever undertake.

Lets break down exactly what is needed for 2D animation to occur:

1. In animation, there are 30 frames per second
2. In 2D animation we animate on twos. This means that we’re actually only working with 15 frames per second.
3. That’s 15 Drawings for every second of animation.
4. The average cartoon show is 15-20 minuets long (once you cut out commercials)
5. That’s 13,500-18,000 drawings for your average cartoon show.
6. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (the first animated full-length English color film) is 83 minuets long
7. Thats 74,700 drawings. To save time these guys actually traced stills from video of actual people. That’s why the movement and proportions look to realistic.

This brings me to my conclusion. Based on the experience I have had with making short 3-5 second animations, and judging by the amount of work needed to produce such things, I have decided that EVERY SINGLE SOLITARY 2D ANIMATOR IS INSANE! Yep, they’re all crazy, every last one of them. I’m actually so certain of this that I would bet that every last 2D animator would agree with me completely. These people must really like punishment… not that this fact makes them crazy, but rather that it doesn’t help things at all. These facts are backed up by pretty much everyone in the same art program as I. It’s fairly unanimous, not everyone thinks it’s evil (although most do), but we can all agree that it sucks your soul out through your finger tips. This is likely the cause of the severe cramping that results from drawing thousands of pictures of the same thing over and over and over and over again.

Just keep in mind, next time you’re watching a cartoon that it was created by a bunch of raving loonies.

Type to you later,
~Nathaniel

Yep, I’m going to rant about death now. Humanity seems to have quite the obsession with death. It always has and I suppose it always will. The finality and certainty of its occurrence coupled with the uncertainty of its outcome has lead quite a few to obsess over it, develop their own theories, and almost always fear it. My opinion of death is a simple one, I don’t care for it. I try to not concern myself too much with death for the simple fact that I know it will come eventually, I will not be ready, it will not be fair, but it will happen all the same. In short, although we should prepare for our deaths (wills, no-resuscitation permission, etc…) death should be dealt with when it comes.

My mother taught me a very important lesson about mortality when I was about seven years old. One of our dogs had just recently had puppies. One of the puppies had a larger head and smaller body than the rest and just generally didn’t act the same as the others. It died after being alive for only three days. I was a curious child and I wanted to know. So I asked my mother “Why did that puppy die?” She told me that she had seen the same thing before (she worked at an animal care clinic as a veterinary technician), the puppy had water on the brain.” I knew that couldn’t be too good and I accepted this as a reason for the puppy’s death. A few days later another puppy died, but this one had appeared to be perfectly healthy before. When I asked about this one my mother simply said “Sometimes… puppies just die.” This one phrase pretty much sums up my view on death. I learned in that instance that death can come at any time, to anyone, it is never fair, and rarely makes sense, and you will never be ready for it. I credit this conversation with my being able to handle my own mother’s death when I was nineteen. I cried, I was very upset, but I got to the point to where I could function again very quickly. I did not dwell on her death or ask questions like “why her?” because I already knew that there are no answers.

I honestly believe that excessive mourning is selfish. We mourn because we will no longer enjoy the person’s presence. We do not mourn what they lost, but rather what we lost. Soon after a death, this is expected. It is important to have a small degree of selfishness in order to survive. However, one day, we will be visited by death, and it is best not to spend our time suffering over the inevitable. In short, focus on life, not death. Don’t focus on your own death, or the deaths of those around you. Focus on your life, the lives of those around you, and the lives of those we’ve lost. Life is what is important, death is only a small part of it.

I will end this post with one of my own quotes:
“Fear not death. Fear that you never truly lived.”

~Nathaniel

Also, in celebration of our mortality, and in memory of my departed mother, I am now selling Dead Puppies Merchandise.

I’m going to start off this blog with an article on offense. Much of what I say can be considered by some to be offensive. That’s why I figured I’d start off with a bang and let people know what I think of that. The truth of the matter is that people are far too easily offended now-a-days. It’s ridiculous. Read the rest of this entry »