What a tiring week…Normally, I’d have done my blogging by about Wednesday but this time around I’m blogging on a Saturday morning (it would’ve even been on Friday night, which would be pretty sad and lame, had I not been so tired from the lack of sleep in doing the 3D animation weightlift assignment). Suddenly I find myself overwhelmed by all the assignments thrown at us. I thought the past week was bad, now we’ve got even more work coming. All this and we’re only 3 weeks into the 2nd term! There’s practically an assignment for every class, and in some classes we even have more than one (is that even legal?!). This is seriously throwing my whole time management plan out the window. And I was doing so well the first couple of weeks, too! Now, time management basically means that every waking hour must be spent on doing JUST homework, with a few short breaks to refuel my stomach, maintain a decent sense of personal hygiene, and take our dog out (or suffer the consequences of her crapping all over the carpet).
So all of our 1st term marks are in. I did alright, I guess. Although, I’m quite disappointed with some of the marks. Disappointed in myself, that is, for not doing better especially in 3D Design and 3D Animation. I tried pretty hard on both of those classes, but at least this is my wake-up call that I really have to raise that bar and go all out for this. Like I always say, I don’t care much for the actual marks in this program, but more so for what they mean. They’re supposed to be a gauge of what level you’re at, and it seems I have a long way to go.
Alright, on to better things. This week’s music pick is the track “Kom Igen” by Outlandish (featuring U$O, ADL, and Salah Edin). Check this, Outlandish is a group based in Denmark, with three members: Isam, Waqas, and Lenny. Their backgrounds respectively are of Moroccan, Pakistani, and Cuban/Honduran. Isam and Waqas are Muslim, and Lenny is Catholic. And their influences are hip-hop, soul/R&B, Arab, Indian, and Latin American rhythms. So yeah, you‘re gonna need a few translators for this song. In fact, in “Kom Igen”, the lyrics are in English, Danish, Spanish, Urdu, and Arabic. How’s that for diversity?! Anyway, I first heard this song off the Fifa 2007 soundtrack, and the insane beat just got me hooked. But what makes it even better are the lyrics, and the positive message it conveys. The chorus says it all…”Wish for my brother what I wish for myself / Try to love the world less / Put my ego to rest”. And “try to love the world less” is meant in a spiritual way. Outlandish even categorizes their genre of music as Life Music. For more, here are the lyrics, with translation: http://www.outlandmoro.com/outlandish/discography_ctv.php#kom_igen. And here’s the video, check it out:
And my anime pick for this week…isn’t even a movie yet. Trippy, eh? It’s a demo/promo/pilot for an anime film titled “Even If You Become The Enemy Of The World”. WHY, you ask, did I pick this? Check out the video, and you’ll see why. The animation and art direction is simply amazing. All that stuff we learned in our animation and production classes (timing, anticipation, staging, holds, strong artwork, character design and appeal, etc, etc) is all here. I like what they’ve done with the color schemes as well. This video is actually part of the anime/music compilation entitled Amazing Nuts (yeah, the Japanese think up weird names) done by Studio 4C. You may be familiar with some of their works, such as The Animatrix (Studio 4C produced The Second Renaissance Part 1 & 2, Kid‘s Story, Beyond, and Detective Story, as well as collaborating on the other 4 episodes). They also did the animation sequences in the Nike/Lebron James Chamber of Fear commercial which aired back in 2004.….Another unique thing about this video is that apparently this was released as 3 things in 1 – a standalone music video, a promo pilot for a film, and as part of a standalone DVD release. But really, I can’t wait to see this released as a full-length feature.
Well, that wraps it up for now…..I wish I could say the same for the rest of my homework.
