CogBlogged from ‘December, 2011’

Here is yet another new ds106 assignment. There are not quite as many for the writing type, so I wanted to add to the bucket. This builds off of the Photo Translation one (I am stoked to see folks playing with it right off the bat) and uses the Words with No Translation tool. I call this one “My Dinner with Toska” – given that Scottlo was the first off the bat to try my last assignment, where he created a personality named Toska, and playing with my utter non understanding of the movie My Dinner with Andre Write the script for a conversation with your long lost friend Toska, who deals with ‘a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning.’. Generate five random words from the Words with No Translation tool and make sure Toska [...]

Tomorrow is the 365th day of the year. If I was a perfectionist, I’d be distraught over having missed 15 days out of my 2011/365 photos. Nah. I spent a few nights going back and picking ones I had posted and had forgotten to add to my set. I fixed a few that were mis-numbered, and looked past the fagges where I managed to have 2 from the same day. But my set is almost done- one more to go This is the fourth year of this goal; maybe at some point I might go back and see what has changed, but without a doubt, making this commitment has made photography something I enjoy working at on a regular basis. This notion is something I played on twice this year in a few talks of “Looking Through the Lens” where I talk about the approach of getting better at something [...]

Courtesy of my sailing sister, comes a new song for my next round of Dog Songs on ds106 radio, this is “Let the Big Dog Eat” The performer is Bill Wharton, who is new to me, a Florida blues dude also known as the Sauce Boss, and apparently works both the guitar and the kitchen as a chef- see http://www.sauceboss.com/ You can also expect me to be spinning several versions of I Wanna Be Your Dog, one by Uncle Tupelo another by the White Stripes. 2012, Year of the Dog.

I cannot shake it, there is something magical about experimenting with animated GIFs. There’s a lot to be said about isolating the motion of the eyes- I’d previously played with using video frames in doing the one on Ayn Rand’s eyes, because her eye motion was so mesmerizing in the film. You might have to look at the image above to catch the movement. Less obvious is better in doing this stuff. I’ve also been interested in wqrking to make the animated gif less herky jerky, more subtle, even with the way the one of Edward Norton’s character in Fight CLub sits there almost motionless, and then jerks awake. Hence the experiment above, but done with only 2 photos. I’m enjoying finding ways to capture the raw material for an animated GIF with my own camera. I keep the camera in the mode that shoots continuously when the shutter is [...]

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog There are monsters out there, zombies, vampires, aliens, amrching your way, dargginth eir limbs, dribbling their gob, hoisting their sharp implements… What will you do when ds106 knocks at your door? will you just mutter “It’s only a MOOC, it’s only a MOOC…” “You’ll wish it were only a MOOC.” “The assignments are driving him crazy.” “Sometimes GIF is better.” “ds106 doesn’t take no for an answer.” “Sooner or later they will McGuffin you.” “If you’re going to blog the truth, make sure it stays published.” “You’ll wish art was only make believe.” “Your every fear — all in one deadly course.” “…and remember, the next mashup you hear may be your own!” “Be reflective. Be very reflective.” Quotes lifted and recrafted from Match the Scary Movie With the Tag Line! (BuzzSugar) What kind of ds106 horror image can you [...]

Having tossed down a gauntlet on assignment creation, I could sit idly without bring some more “A Game”. Here ny example for a new assignment based on illustrating words that have no English translation. Glas Web “A smile that is insincere or mocking. Literally, a blue smile.”cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo by babasteve: http://flickr.com/photos/babasteve/3114063323/ Clowns always mock us with their overly expressive smiles. They just want handouts. Background. During our drive to Montreal, I aimed to enterain my driver, Giulia, with reading descriptions of words that have no english equivalent… this all started with my trying to recall that French expression for the phenomenon where you come up with the perfect come back line much later than the situation where it would have counted (which turns out to be “Esprit d’escalier”. I found about 4 different web sites with examples of these words, and it made for some [...]

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Gamma Man Among my favorite echos of Jim Groom-isms is the approach of bringing your “A” Game to whatever you do- be it presentations, animated GIFs, radio shows. Don’t just show up with your average stuff if you want to play in big leagues. So I want people involved in ds106 even those who shirk quickly to the benches, to bring their “A Game” to not only doing ds106 assignments but creating them. I will let you know that “A Game” is not just finding something on some web site and tweeting “this would make a good assignment”. If you are that inspired, the way to play “A Game” is: Actually first sit down and create your own version of it. Document your effort, process, method in a blog post. Tell us why this idea is creative. Checki first that it [...]

Dog on a laptop. It’s time to warm up the ds106 assignment muscles, given that it is almost 2012, and things are already ramping up as evidenced by actual posts going on over at bavatuesdays. My plan is to comb through the assignments and find some that may have been lightly touched; but we are eager to see which ones might emerge as the Suprise Assignment That People Jump On Early and Go Nuts With. Last year it was the animated gif extravaganza, and in September it seemed to be the Messing with the MacGuffin. Regardless, tonight I almost randomly chose Iconic You- I find the description a bit vague: Create an iconic image/design for your own site that somehow represents you. As “iconic” could be taken as a descriptor of any image, like it is symbolic, or more in icon style. I already have my dog icon I use [...]

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog It was during my visit to Calgary that Doug Symington and D’Arcy Norman suggested I make some tour t-shirts for my 2011 Road Odyssey — but I never really got around to it. I thought I would end up with some ugly cut and past photoshop mish mosh of dog heads and maps. Given that I have now the very first CogDog 2011 Odyssey t-shirt, a iron on transfer prototype designed for me by Giulia, it was time (tonight) to make them available on Cafe Press. This is my first time set up, but think I have everything in order, including a decent selection of men’s and women’s styles, colors, etc. You can find them all at http://www.cafepress.com/cogdog/8404539 – and all set for sale at cost, no profiteering here. The CogDog Swag is now open, a bit late for holiday [...]

My new unlocked 4s is in action here in Canada. I went to a Virgin Mobile kiosk in a mall here in Welland and got a pay as you go plan set up, the sim card installed, and unlike my experience with Yes Optus in Australia, it worked right away. So now in Canada, I have a new phone number, can SMS, and most key, have 3G data wherever I go (and where it is). The other gain here is that I can swap in my AT&T sim when I go south of the .ca border and be back on their network– and I don’t have to renew my contract with them when I got the new iPhone (though it cost much more; it ought to make me more careful with it!)