If This is News, Then What's All That Stuff on TV All the Time?

I was browsing google news a few minutes ago, and came on an article entitled "What it means to be a liberal person of faith". It sounded decidedly different from the news media hype I'm so used to seeing, so I clicked on it. And lo and behold, it is an article – written by a Rabbi – on Liberal Persons of Faith.
This is stunning, 1) because the article was about what the title indicated it would be, and, 2) because faith is not a topic one hears about in the media much.
It was a welcome break from celeb gossip and news of terrorist bombings, and I found it absolutely fascinating to hear what this man had to say.
Here is most of the article:



What exactly does it mean to be a liberal person of faith?

It means to believe in God, to have deep religious convictions and to be offended whenever media voices pour scorn on religious people.

It means to draw on religious teachings and beliefs when making judgments about matters of public policy. But at the same time, it means to know that when we, as people of faith, make a public argument, we must ground our statements in reason and a language of morality that is accessible to everyone -- to people of different religions, for example, or of no religion. After all, we recognize that other believers have religious convictions different from our own, and in our diverse democracy, Americans need a common political discourse not dominated by exclusivist theology.

It means to understand that "person of faith" does not only mean the Religious Right; it is, in fact, an inclusive term, referring to both liberals and conservatives and to Christians and Jews of all persuasions, as well as to Muslims, Hindus and believers from other religious traditions.

It means to always bring a measure of humility to religious belief. In making our religious judgments, we liberal persons of faith draw on the sacred texts of our tradition, but we don't claim to have a direct line to heaven, and we aren't always sure that we know God's will.

It means being concerned about the poor and the needy, and giving a fair shake to all. When people talk about God and yet ignore justice, it feels downright wrong to us. When they cloak themselves in religion and ignore mercy, it strikes us as blasphemous.

It means to believe that sanctity exists in the commitment that gay couples make to each other. We recognize that more conservative religious people are likely to see this matter very differently, but we oppose, absolutely and unequivocally, unprincipled gay bashing and hateful rhetoric that fuels the hell-fires of anti-gay bigotry.

And it means that we share many of the concerns of conservative people of faith. Like them, we are concerned about the coarsening of culture that makes it difficult to raise honorable, decent children. Like them, we worry about trashy TV and the erosion of the family. And like them, we believe that the public interest does depend, at least in part, on private virtue -- even as we know that justice requires not only good individuals but also the actions of government.

And finally, it means that we welcome dialogue with our fellow citizens who have a more conservative religious viewpoint. It seems healthy to us for people of faith to talk about how our differing religious perspectives help us understand the issues of the day. After all, we have all put our trust in America, the most religiously diverse country in the world. And we all believe that tolerance is an American value. So let the dialogue begin.

(Article here: Huffington Post/What It Means to be A Liberal Person of Faith)

I think that's one of the most reasonable expressions of personal conviction I've heard in a long time. It's refreshing to hear a 'religious' person who doesn't try to convince others that they should believe what he does; one who is perfectly fine with people who believe differently from him.
This man – not even a Christian – is more humble than most conservative Christian leaders I know.
I think we, as Christians, could sometimes learn a great deal from those who do not even profess the same faith as us.

And yet, that's not a very popular idea in Christianity. . . .

Book giveaway on Paul's blog!

My friend Paul is giving out a copy of "The Five Love Languages: Singles Edition", by Gary Chapman, on his blog. Part of entering is re-posting it to your blog, so that's partly what this is for, but the other part is to really encourage you guys to check it out!
I haven't read the book, but it looks pretty interesting (obviously, because I'm entering!) and like something pretty deep and thought-provoking.
So, if you want to look into it, mosey on over to the contest here:
http://youthofchivalry.blogspot.com/2011/11/five-love-languages-giveaway.html

~Pe†er

Maya Cargo Spaceship

I finally got some time to sit down and play around with Maya on a focused project, and I'm beginning to be a little impressed. I still think the interface could use some work, but the organization is beginning to make more sense than before.
I tried to create a sort of long-range, large-capacity cargo transport spacecraft. This is how it turned out:

Hopefully I'll have some time this week to improve the ship and do a little texturing.
Maybe even figure out how to use the rendering tools, too!

Soooo much epic-ness!!

I finally watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl a few days ago. The movie was so-so, but I have fallen in love with the soundtrack...it was co-written by Hans Zimmer, which automatically makes it a candidate for awesome. And I think everyone has to agree that this is one of the most epic cinematic themes in history!



And while I was thinking about cinematic music, I decided to find the How to Train Your Dragon soundtrack again ...which was written by John Williams (a student of Hans Zimmer, BTW) and has some amazingly epic themes, as well.





Enjoy


~Pe†er

More Blender

This is the latest result of my attempts to make Blender look good:

At least I figured out what ambient occlusion was. Actually, I didn't. All I know is to turn it on whenever I want the renders to look better. In my mind it's the 'thingy-that-makes-stuff-look-real' button. :-)

I've been trying to make some sense out of Maya, too...but it's totally confusing. Too many key commands...and none of them do what you would expect them to.
Non-intuitive interface.
Grrrrrrr...

Megamind

This is an awesome scene from DreamWorks' animated film Megamind.



Seriously. Now go watch the movie.

I Agree

It does indeed...

9/11 - Ten Years

I'd almost forgotten that today is the 11th. . . kind of sad, I know, that I could forget something that has the whole country in mourning. I didn't lose anyone in the attack, and was not really affected by it at the time. Even now, remembering what happened doesn't stir strong feelings in me.
But I believe that memorial is important. I was encouraged to see flags at half-mast today. At least most people are remembering, even if I almost didn't.



I've seen posts on my friends' blogs today about 9/11, and the main theme that I keep hearing and seeing is "Never Forget". I feel that I have something to share, even though I was not personally affected by the attack, and I am probably one of the least qualified to speak about it.

I definitely believe with that we should never forget. . . at least not for a very, very long time. We should not forget the tragedy and the suffering, because with it, we would be forgetting the heroism and the bravery. We would be forgetting the men and women who died, and we would be forgetting how we responded to that loss. We would be forgetting how we as Americans responded to a moment of crisis and uncertainty...and I think that how our country acted is something to be proud of, and NEVER FORGOTTEN. The memorial of tragedy is important for many reasons, and I am proud that Americans are refusing to forget the attack, even in the face of the pain it caused.

But. . . something bothers me.
Sometimes I wonder if there is not another hidden meaning hiding beneath those words "never forget". Those simple, innocuous, even heroically patriotic words "never forget" can recall the pain of the past, and urge us not to heal. Very easily, the patriotic slogan can become transformed into a cry for retaliation and revenge. Too quickly, we allow the memories of that day to foster hatred and malice. . . towards a small group of people; towards a whole religion; perhaps towards a whole race.
And that leads to wars...not just wars to defend, but wars to persecute for hatred's sake. It leads to strife and violence in the name of just retribution. To killing to satisfy the pain of loss.Ultimately, to a loss of our grounding in the teachings of Christ, and the loss of any right to call ourselves a Christian nation.


Now, you probably think that I'm painting an extreme picture. Perhaps I am.
But I believe the danger is real. It's too easy to start hating; too hard to stop.
So I urge you: Remember the loss, and be proud of your country; but forgive the pain.

In remembrance and memorial, we make sure that that those men and women did not die in vain.

In forgiveness, we assure that the events of 9/11/01 will never occur again.

Another YouTube Video!

Hooray! Now we have two videos on YouTube!
We now have a fully completed 3-minute video for the world to see. Here it is:


This video was produced for the Christianfilmakers.org 36-hour contest which was held over Friday-Saturday the 28th and 29th. Basically, starting at 7:00am on Friday, we had 36 hours to make a 3-minute film and submit it to the contest.
We made it with 7 minutes to spare.
And for our first fully completed video, I think it's pretty darn good.
Especially for such a short time frame...

The contest is here.

~Pe†er

International Duel (2011) Teaser Trailer

Okay, here it is. The moment you've all been waiting for!
Our trailer has been uploaded to YouTube!

Yup, after four months of work (which we could have done in one, if we had been a leeeeetle more focused...), the trailer is done. Who knows when the full thing will be done. Hopefully soon, but I've been hoping that for months.
But, enough with the introduction. Here it is!





A historic moment, my friends. Paul and I actually finished a project we started!
Now if we can finish the bigger project...

My Latest Render

Just a quick render I did yesterday. The updated surface of the crystal planet.

Those are bio-domes. Contained cities, completely independent from outside supplies. I guess not many supply ships get through that atmosphere...
It's supposed to be a view of a planet's surface. Not too good, as it was rendered with the Blender internal renderer, and my lighting lacks polish.
Still, I'm pretty excited!

My First Blog Award!

So, Rebecca over at Just Me... has decided that my blog (or me. Or both.) deserve(s) an award, and I am therefore presented with the following:

So, according to the terms which Rebecca has laid out, I must now, 1) write seven things about myself.
Hmm...only seven? I'm sure I know seven things about myself.

1 My favorite color is green
2 I'm very interested in filmmaking
3 I like techie stuff, and love computers
4 Chocolate rules!
5 I'm learning how to drive
6 My favorite music artists are Mandisa and Hillsong United
7 My favorite author is G.A. Henty

There.
Now, 2), I must pass this award on to someone else. In that case, I hereby nominate Paul at Youth of Chivalry.
So, Paul...here's how it works.

1: Paste the picture to your blog 
2: In the post announcing your award, write seven things about yourself. They can be anything from your favorite color, to your favorite pair of socks...it doesn't really matter!
3: Pass the award along to some other blogs that you enjoy


So...your turn, Paul!








Thanks, Rebecca!

Excuses, Excuses...

That's all I give around here. Excuses.
Unfortunately, that's all I can give. All I can say is that we're going to have to streamline our workflow if we're going to be get enough experience to submit a film to the 2012 SAICFF. 'Cause four months for each project is not going to cut it.
However, we are at least moving steadily, if a little slowly. Paul and I got some technical difficulties about the editing software resolved, and right now I'm working on refining the edit of the film and working on cutting together a teaser trailer for release in the mean time. The purpose of the trailer is more to give us experience in color correcting and sound editing, before we work on the actual film, than it is to give our audience (all two of them) a sneak peek at the movie.
So at this point, if anything is slowing us up, it's my speed at editing.
But I think we're progressing fairly well.

My Enterprise model is on hold while focus most of my time on editing, and getting used to the new release of Blender, which has completely redesigned the interface. It bears certain resemblances AutoDesk Maya now, and I'm finding it slightly less intuitive than the previous version.
Oh, and here's my latest render from Blender. It's suppposed to be the surface view of some kind of crystal-covered planet.

Life Goes On

The reason that we don't already have the movie on the internet is very plain and simple. But it involves so many things that 'simple' may not be the right word.
There. Did I confuse anybody? If so, good, because I really have no explanation for our lack of progress on the film, and this whole post might very well be nothing more than a decoy to keep you occupied while we're working. I said might.
Really, the biggest problem has been that we've had some kind of bug going around our circle of friends. I got it about two weeks ago, and am just getting back to normal now, and some of the Leavitts have it, not to mention some of our other friends who have been getting it. So work has been slow....or rather, nonexistent.
The good news is that we managed to shoot some of the footage we needed before I got sick...the bad news is that it wasn't much. But any progress is good progress...or something like that. We haven't given up, we've just encountered temporary setbacks.

I've been using this sick time to work on my 3D modeling skills. I'm still pretty mediocre with Blender, but I figure the best way to learn is to practice, so I'm working on modeling the starship Enterprise. (NCC-1701. From the original television series)
It's not going so badly, but so far this is just the mesh modeling. The texturing and getting it to really look good is going to be the real challenge. This is what it looks like now. Pretty incomplete.

This is the original, displayed at the Smithsoninan National Air and Space Museum:

I've got a long way to go...


Anyway, on other topics, the Courageous trailer is out! It looks like an intense movie.
And be sure to check out the Ace Wonder blog and watch the videos that John is doing as post production continues.

Tron: Legacy - Review

Yesterday Paul and I went to see Disney's latest sci-fi adventure film. And, in keeping with the unwritten code of blogging, I am now compelled to write a review.
Which is fine with me, even though I don't have much to say.
Before I begin, an explanation of the premise for the film might be in order. In the original Tron film from '82, it was established that there is a kind of laser gun that can break down and digitize any object, including people, and transform them into, basically, computer programs. This is what happens to Kevin Flynn in the original Tron film. Inside of the computer-world, all programs appear as humans, and they are to a certain extent aware of the 'users' who created and run them. However, the programs are capable of independent thought, decision, and action. Flynn, because he is a 'user' though he has been digitized, is capable of influencing his surroudings, and manipulating objects to a certain extent. Maybe I'll write a review of the older Tron someday...
Anyway, now for the review.
I'll start with a plot rundown.

Kevin Flynn, CEO of the computer company ENCOM, has disappeared without a trace. His son, Sam, is the major stockholder of Encom, but has had no interest in running the company, and has let it revert to the hands of unprincipled executives. Alan Brady, one of Kevin's closest friends, is still on the board, but has no influence. Sam is shown to something of a computer whiz, just like his father. Sam is 27, and his father has been missing for over ten years. Alan comes to Sam's apartment, and tells him that he recieved a page from Sam's father's old arcade, which has been empty for years. Sam reluctantly goes to the arcade, and finds a secret room, which was apparently Kevin's lab and office. Sam activates the computer, and repeats his father's last command. He is immediately transported to what appears to be another room exactly like the one he was in, but things are obviously not the same. Sam rushes outside to find himself in the middle of a giant city, evidently on 'the grid', as the computer world is called. Sam is captured by soldiers and given an identity disk, and then forced to fight in the games in the arena. He wins several disc battles, and is then discovered not to be a normal program. The leader of all the evil guards programs (who all have orange lights on their suits, as opposed to the bluish-white of the good-guy suits) calls for Sam to be brought, and reveals himself to be CLU, a master program that Kevin created to help him make the Grid a utopia world where "all programs would be free". CLU was instructed to create the perfect system, and become too zealous in carrying out his programming, and is now a dicatator. Sam and four other programs are then pitted against CLU and four henchmen in a lightcycle battle. They battle, until only Sam and CLU are left alive, and just as CLU is about to kill Sam, a large vehicle drives onto the gaming grid, and the mysterious driver tells Sam to get in. They blast through a wall, and they go racing for the rocky terrain outside the city. The driver of the buggy introduces herself as Quorra, and takes Sam to a hidden dwelling, where he is reuined with his father, who has been trapped on the Grid all this time. The only way out of the Grid is through the Portal, but Kevin is afraid to make a run for it, because his identity disk (a data storage device which contains all information about a program, or user, in this case) holds information that could let CLU escape into the real world with his renegade armies, if CLU got ahold of it. Kevin recommends doing nothing, and waiting for CLU to make a move, but Sam is determined to act immediately, and get back through the portal so he can terminate CLU from the outside. He must do it from the outside, because if Kevin tries to disable CLU while in the computer, the reintegration would kill him. However the portal, which was opened by Sam's arrival, will only stay open for eight hours. Quorra, torn between her loyalty for Kevin, and almost childlike curiosity about Sam, finally gives Sam the directions to reach a man who she says can help him get across the intervening ground to the Portal. Sam follows the directions, and ends up at the End of Line Club, a sort of disco-club presided over by a eccentric host. This man turns out to be the contact, and promises to help Sam. Meanwhile, Kevin Flynn, discovering his son's absense, has decided to take action once again, and he and Quorra set out for the End of Line Club. When they arrive, they must fight to get out alive. Quorra is a skilled fighter, and she and Kevin open a way to one of the exits. However, she gets her arm de-rezzed and goes unconscious. Kevin loses his identity disc in the fight, and finally he and Sam, who is carrying Quorra, escape, and set out for a transport terminal where they can catch a 'train' going towards the Portal. Kevin performs some complicated editing of the coding on Quorra's identity disc, and removes the damaged piece of code, allowing her arm to grow back. It is revealed at this point that Quorra is the last of the I.S.Os (Isomorphic Algorythms), a race of programs that came into being at one point in the Grid's history. The I.S.Os are a completely revolutionary kind of program, and could hold the key to a revolution in science. However, when CLU turned evil and took over the Grid, he saw the I.S.Os as imperfect, and destroyed all but Quorra, who Kevin managed to save.
The three arrive at the train terminal, and catch a transport going their way. En route, Sam and his father talk about their lives, and when Kevin goes to meditate, Sam talks with Quorra. She asks him what his world looks like, and expresses a wish to see a sunrise.
Eventually, their transport runs into a new terminal built on the route to the Portal. Kevin does not know what its purpose is, but it's obviously an equipping station for an army. This equipping post is where CLU has taken Kevin's identity disk, and CLU is preparing an army to invade the real world through the portal. Quorra provides a diversion so Kevin and Sam can get Kevin's disk back, but she is captured. Kevin heads off to find a ship, and Sam fights his way to Kevin's disk. He gets it back, frees Quorra, and they escape with Kevin in the ship that he commandeered. They are chased by CLU and some other henchmen on fighter-like ships. Among these is Tron, a program that was a central character in the original Tron film. Tron is the most skilled figher in the system, but he has been taken over by CLU and reprogrammed to be evil. Quorra pilots their ship towards the portal, while Sam uses the turret to shoot down some of the attacking fighters. Finally only CLU and Tron are left, and though it's not clear why, Tron has a sudden change of heart and attack CLU long enough for the three others to get away. They land at the Portal, and encounter CLU (who apparently defeated Tron) waiting on the bridge to the In/Out tower. He asks Kevin why he is not pleased with CLU's work, when he himself programmed CLU to create the perfect system. Kevin replies that he was wrong to want a perfect system, and apologizes to CLU for his mistake. CLU attacks the three, but they fend him off. Sam and Quorra get on the Portal side of the bridge, while Kevin is on the other. CLU is about to go after them, when Kevin reminds of what he came for. CLU grabs Kevin's identity disk, only to find that it was switched with Quorra's. Sam and Quorra enter the teleportation beam, and begin to (dematerialize? translate? transport? vaporize?), while CLU runs after them. Kevin uses his user abilities to terminate CLU, but at the cost of destroying both of them. This apparently ends the problem of the renegade programs, and Sam is no longer required to influence the Grid from the ouside. He has gotten Quorra, with all her secrets of advanced programming, to the real world, which was his father's wish.
Back in the real world, Sam decides to take control of Encom, and names Alan as chairman. Sam and Quorra go riding into the city, (presumably to Sam's new job) and Quorra sees a sunrise.

First off, I was very surprised at how - for lack of a better word - clean the film was. Quite a few people got 'de-rezzed', but it was simply like watching a glass statue, or a tower of Legos get broken. No blood, not really distasteful. The only blood is at one point where Sam gets a cut during a disk battle, and a drop of blood falls to the floor, subsequently alerting the evil soldiers to the fact that he is a 'user'. There was almost no romance, either. Not even one kiss, which is pretty good for Disney. It is hinted that there is a mutual attraction between Sam and Quorra, and at the end, they apparently stay together, as Sam is the only familiar thing for her about the exterior world. CLU was not the usual kind of unnervingly slimy, evil, disgusting villain that most films these days seem to have. He was villainous, of course, and came across more menacing than, for example, Basil Rathbone, but this was mostly because of the lighting and mood of the film, more than character qualities.
Kevin Flynn has apparently adoped some sort of spiritualistic life, highly suggestive of forms of eastern mysticism, but it wasn't a problem for me. He's a very nice old man, and Sam is remeniscent of Kevin as portrayed in the first Tron film, slightly brash, a little overconfident (until he gets digitized), but at heart a nice person. Quorra is sort of childlike, curious and innocent; but at the same time fierce and skilled in a fight. Her personality is not at all sexy or enticing, despite the skin-tight jumpsuit, and how the movie poster portrays her. That's another win for Disney. (the character, not the poster)
As for other characters.....well, there aren't really any.
Overall, it was a little overwhelming visually, with all the lights and strange-looking environments, but altogether it was a feel-good movie. Even though Kevin dies, he saved the entire world, and the fact that he is a hero makes up for it.
Technically, though, the film is amazing. The cinematography is stunning, the CGI is absolutely photo-real, and the use of special effects (like super slow-motion shots of cool moves, and other cliche film techiniques) was kept to a tasteful minimum. The acting was excellent (of course, it's a professional film), and the story line was amazing.
I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars overall.
Excellent movie. Good diversion and entertainment. Go see it.

Back From Mexico!

Ahhh...what a glorious week! Lovely weather, awesome snorkeling, and lots of kayaking in the bay. And a movie to work on. Actually, we spent a lot more time on the movie that I had anticipated. Despite all of our preparation, it was still a pretty hectic time. We'd film for two or three hours a day, and then spend the evening rough cutting the footage and planning what we needed to film next day.
But it was lots of fun. And we got all the footage we need.
Paul is working on the editing right now. We still need to film the first third of of the footage, which takes place at Paul's house. I'm hoping we can work on that during the next few days.
All in all, being a director, actor and, minorly, a cinematorgrapher for a week was quite an exciting experience. I like this movie making stuff.

I manged to snag a few photos, also.

We should film in exotic locations more often...

Cameras, Action, Lights!

We are way too busy right now. You might have noticed that I've been absent from the blog for a while. Busyness has a way of doing that...
Anyway, Paul and I have been working like crazy trying to get everything ready to film part of a short movie while we're on vacation in Mexico. And that happens very, very shortly. The vacation, I mean. Our readiness is still doubtful.
We have a script. We have about half of the storyboards we need. We have lightsabers. (spoiler) We have all the determination and optimism one could ask for. But I'm not at all sure that we're not deluding ourselves. But it doesn't really matter, because, regardless of the ultimate success, we're going to try. The inhabitants of Akumal are going to be in for a real treat. Paul and I, in vacation clothes, running around trying to hit each other with pieces of brightly-colored PVC pipe. Great fun for the spectators, I'm sure.
I'm not sure if I'll have internet while we're down there, so this could be my last post for about a week. But when we emerge, we'll either be truimphant, or all the wiser for our failure. Plus, either way, we'll have lots of cool pictures and video.
Oh yeah, and we'll be chilling on the beach most of the time, anyway. The movie project is just so we don't get bored with vacationing.
And there's kayaking and snorkeling and eating and all kinds of fun stuff to do (especially eating). But we'll find time to act cool on the beach, too. I'm sure my mom will be busy taking pictures most of the time.

So now I have to try to think of everything I can't think of that I know I'm forgetting to do...

New Year's Eve 2010

First of all, happy 2011 everyone!
It sure is weird to think that it's 'next year' already. 2010 seemed to go by way too fast...
But I'm here to talk about my new year's eve, not philosophize about the mysteries of time.
Actually, I'm not planning to do a lot of typing. I have pictures! And, a picture is worth a thousand words, you know... (even though the number 1000 is completely arbitrary, I'm sure. I would have placed the value of a picture more in the range of 400 words)

Anyway, we and the Leavitts went up to Albany (Oregon, of course) to a friend's house for New Year's Eve. Friends of the Leavitts, that is. I had only briefly met them before Friday night. They're really cool people with lots of kids...and a huge house. We had dinner not too long after we arrived, and when I was done eating I picked up my camera and snagged pictures for the rest of the long evening...
Most of the boys took a long time to eat, and carried on an animated conversation the whole time.

The adults also were busy conversing

After everyone had eaten, most of the young people started a game of charades.

Laughter abounded for about half an hour, until the game kind of fizzled out. Everybody milled around for a while after that, playing foosball, talking, wandering around....finally Nate started a game of Balderdash. That was the most fun of the entire evening.

We played the game on through midnight, and the only response to Paul's announcement that it was now 12:01, Jan. 1, 2011, was a couple of "oh, good"s and a smile or two. An anticlimactic New Year's, if you ask me, but it must be conceded that the meaning of the acronym SAI was, at that particular time, of more on everyone's mind than the time and date.
At about half past twelve, we went out onto the street to light off some fireworks. It was bitterly cold, but the show kind of made up for it.

  It was 2:30 by the time we left to go home, and an hour more before we got home. I was dead tired, but I guess it's worth it.