Sphere - low surface, high volume
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Sliding Scale of Emo Haiku (Alex and Boyd) [Extra Credit]
I just stubbed my toe
It really really really
Effing hurts like hell
My parents hate me
They grounded me yesterday
My life is tragic
There is no light at
The end of the tunnel so
We shall all despair
My soul is so dark
Like a dark fluttery thing
Flying in the night
My girlfriend dumped me
There is no hope in this world
My blood falls like rain
By Alex and Boyd
Feel free to add your own!
It really really really
Effing hurts like hell
My parents hate me
They grounded me yesterday
My life is tragic
There is no light at
The end of the tunnel so
We shall all despair
My soul is so dark
Like a dark fluttery thing
Flying in the night
My girlfriend dumped me
There is no hope in this world
My blood falls like rain
By Alex and Boyd
Feel free to add your own!
Extra Credit: writing (Boyd) [Long post is loooooooong]
I've been working this bit of story over and around in my head for the last few weeks. I wish I could hide part of the text behind a link like you can in Livejournal, 'cause I don't mean to spam, but I don't think it's possible. Oh, well. I'd e-mail it, but considering my ongoing e-mail issues, I don't want to risk it.
"Mark? Is that you?" a surprised feminine voice exclaimed from behind us. Mark flinched slightly, but paused to look over his shoulder, his warning glance to me as he did so telling me he was already planning to politely dismiss whomever had spotted him. Instead, his eyes lit up as he apparently caught sight of the person who had called out his name.
"Carl? Amy? What brings you two to this side of town?" Mark asked, his voice warm with affection as he stopped walking, grabbed my upper arm and turned us both around. Approaching us across the crowded sidewalk were two people, both looking to be about Mark's age, and dressed in what I took to be the fashionable clothes of the area. They both looked very happy to see Mark, and I couldn't help the stab of apprehension in my stomach. Surely he wouldn't... Mark smiled as the two reached us. "Not out looking for some 'quality' entertainment, I hope?" he said, his tone joking. The three of them laughed, and the man spoke up for the first time, his voice rich and deep.
"Nothing of the sort, old friend. We're just in town to have dinner with the in-laws," he said, grimacing melodramatically. Mark winced in apparent sympathy, and the female whacked the side of his head affectionately.
"My parents are perfectly good people! I don't know what your guys' problem is!" she scolded, but there was no real anger in her tone. I smiled at their interaction, and she seemed to notice me for the first time.
"And who is this, Mark?" she gestured in my direction, smiling. "Going for some of that 'quality' entertainment, yourself? You ought to be ashamed!" Mark rolled his eyes.
"You know me better than that, Amy." He gestured to me. "Carl, Amy, I'd like you to meet... Rob. He's a..." Mark paused, obviously not quite recalling the details of our cover story. I jumped in, hoping my lack of proficiency with the language wouldn't be too off-putting.
"Hello I am Rob. I will be... visiting student?" I paused, unsure of the word I meant. My audience nodded, though, Mark apparently content to let me finish my 'story' myself, and 'Amy' gestured politely for me to continue. I took a deep breath, my confidence bolstered by their evident understanding, and started talking again in the same halting fashion. "I will be visiting student here in this place for... time, maybe? I hope to... learn customs, and of the blending in of here for before to go home. Okay?"
Mark, who'd been nodding encouragingly along with me as I spoke, broke into a little impromptu bout of applause as soon as I finished and clapped me on the back. "Good job, buddy!" I smiled brightly, and Carl and Amy smiled back. Suddenly, the bells of the big city clock began to chime the time, and Amy started sharply.
"Oh, gracious, do you hear that? We're going to be late for dinner!" Carl cheered, and she thwacked him on the arm. "I hope you're not this rude when you're alone around them. Are you?" Carl schooled his face into a more appropriate, excited expression, and Mark snorted. Amy mock-glared at him, and then back at Carl. "Honestly, you two..." She threw up her hands and set off down the sidewalk again. "Come on, Carl! We don't want to keep them waiting!"
Carl rolled his eyes at Mark and me. "Heaven forbid, huh?" he murmured conspiratorially, leaning in for a second. Then, with a sigh, he straightened. "Well, I'm off. 'Bye, Mark," he said, saluting him cockily, and then turned to me, his hand swinging out of the salute and toward me as he moved. "And nice meeting you... 'Rhobb', was it?"
I nodded and grabbed his hand with my own, shaking it with a smile. "Nice to be meeting of you!" I exclaimed. Unexpectedly, the moment I grabbed his hand, the smile fell off of Carl's face as if I'd struck him. I felt Mark grab my shoulders and pull me sharply back from Carl, breaking our handshake with an apologetic smile and a completely fake laugh. He set me back down on my feet again a good foot or so away with his back to his friend, ostensibly to make sure I wasn't going to fall, and shot me a glare before glancing back over his shoulder at Carl. The man was staring at his hand as if it had suddenly turned orange.
Mark's voice was apologetic as he called out to his friend. "Heh, so sorry, Carl! Forgive him, please, he's only been here a night or so!" Carl seemed to shake off whatever shock I'd inadvertently caused him and looked up at Mark with a smile.
"I hope he doesn't do that to you!" he said laughingly, then mock-saluted Mark once more. "Oh, well, I'm off to face the cour—I mean, in-laws! Good luck with your 'student'!" And he headed off into the crowd after his wife. As soon as he was out of sight, Mark pushed me into the nearest alleyway, his expression furious.
"What did you do that for? Those are my friends!" I stared at him haplessly.
"What... what I do?" I struggled for the words to express my confusion. "I were just try to... to be friendly..." Mark snorted.
"A little too friendly, I think. You're lucky he didn't punch you!" I blinked, completely lost.
"But... all I do was shake his hand!" I insisted. Mark rolled his eyes at me.
"I don't care what they call it on your planet! Frankly, I can't believe you guys do that in public!"
"But what I do wrong??" I shouted at him in frustration, starting to feel angry at his lack of explanation. He started at the loudness of my voice, then stared at me in surprise.
"You mean... that's a friend thing, on your planet? That shake-thing?"
I glared at him. "Yes. We... call a handshake; we do when meet new people. Why, what you do?"
Mark blinked, then his eyes went wide in sudden understanding. "Oh! I get it." He gestured to the street at the mouth of the alleyway. "You mean... that's just how you greet one another, where you're from? That...uh..." He faltered, having trouble with the word, before shaking his head and picking up where he'd left off. "I mean, it's not... intimate, or anything?" I looked at him, perplexed.
"Duh. We not do if otherwise. Why?"
Mark gestured, trying to think of something. "Remember... remember how Don greeted you, when we found you? Remember how you freaked out?"
I shuddered at the memory. "How I forget? I mean, he licked m..." I looked up at Mark suddenly, understanding. "Oh." He nodded. "Oh. You mean, for you, handshake is like lick for me?" He paused, probably working out from the context of my sentence the meaning of my foreign words, then nodded.
"Yeah."
"Well... crap. Sorry. I no idea. I should apologize him?" I gestured to the mouth of the alley. Mark made to grab me, probably thinking I was just going to go running out into the crowd or do something equally foolish.
"Wait, stop! If ap...app..." He stopped, sounding out the word. "'Appolijize', means what I think it means, then it's all right. He's an easy-going guy; he's not going to take offense or anything. I mean, we told him you were foreign, right? I'm always hanging out with weird people; he won't make too much of it."
I sighed, relaxing. After a moment, he let go of my shoulders. When I didn't move toward the street, he relaxed minutely as well. We stared at each other for a moment in the semi-dark of the alleyway, silently, and I felt suddenly, profoundly alone, on this planet so far away from everything I knew, where so many things seemed just the same while other things were just so different.
Before I could descend into melancholy, though, Mark clapped his hands decisively. "So. How about I come through on my promise to take you to a night at the movies, or 'mooveez', as you called them? How does that sound?"
I perked up at the suggestion. "Really? Even though I... I..." He nodded.
"What better way for you to learn to blend in than through watching our movies? At least, that's what aliens do all the time in those sci-fi films, right? It can't hurt. After all," he put his arm around my shoulders and led me back toward the sidewalk, back out into the city, "that's what you're here for, right? To learn?" I nodded, smiling, and he smiled back. As we walked back into the wash of lights, I caught myself thinking that maybe this might not be so bad, after all.
A Friendly Misunderstanding
"Mark? Is that you?" a surprised feminine voice exclaimed from behind us. Mark flinched slightly, but paused to look over his shoulder, his warning glance to me as he did so telling me he was already planning to politely dismiss whomever had spotted him. Instead, his eyes lit up as he apparently caught sight of the person who had called out his name.
"Carl? Amy? What brings you two to this side of town?" Mark asked, his voice warm with affection as he stopped walking, grabbed my upper arm and turned us both around. Approaching us across the crowded sidewalk were two people, both looking to be about Mark's age, and dressed in what I took to be the fashionable clothes of the area. They both looked very happy to see Mark, and I couldn't help the stab of apprehension in my stomach. Surely he wouldn't... Mark smiled as the two reached us. "Not out looking for some 'quality' entertainment, I hope?" he said, his tone joking. The three of them laughed, and the man spoke up for the first time, his voice rich and deep.
"Nothing of the sort, old friend. We're just in town to have dinner with the in-laws," he said, grimacing melodramatically. Mark winced in apparent sympathy, and the female whacked the side of his head affectionately.
"My parents are perfectly good people! I don't know what your guys' problem is!" she scolded, but there was no real anger in her tone. I smiled at their interaction, and she seemed to notice me for the first time.
"And who is this, Mark?" she gestured in my direction, smiling. "Going for some of that 'quality' entertainment, yourself? You ought to be ashamed!" Mark rolled his eyes.
"You know me better than that, Amy." He gestured to me. "Carl, Amy, I'd like you to meet... Rob. He's a..." Mark paused, obviously not quite recalling the details of our cover story. I jumped in, hoping my lack of proficiency with the language wouldn't be too off-putting.
"Hello I am Rob. I will be... visiting student?" I paused, unsure of the word I meant. My audience nodded, though, Mark apparently content to let me finish my 'story' myself, and 'Amy' gestured politely for me to continue. I took a deep breath, my confidence bolstered by their evident understanding, and started talking again in the same halting fashion. "I will be visiting student here in this place for... time, maybe? I hope to... learn customs, and of the blending in of here for before to go home. Okay?"
Mark, who'd been nodding encouragingly along with me as I spoke, broke into a little impromptu bout of applause as soon as I finished and clapped me on the back. "Good job, buddy!" I smiled brightly, and Carl and Amy smiled back. Suddenly, the bells of the big city clock began to chime the time, and Amy started sharply.
"Oh, gracious, do you hear that? We're going to be late for dinner!" Carl cheered, and she thwacked him on the arm. "I hope you're not this rude when you're alone around them. Are you?" Carl schooled his face into a more appropriate, excited expression, and Mark snorted. Amy mock-glared at him, and then back at Carl. "Honestly, you two..." She threw up her hands and set off down the sidewalk again. "Come on, Carl! We don't want to keep them waiting!"
Carl rolled his eyes at Mark and me. "Heaven forbid, huh?" he murmured conspiratorially, leaning in for a second. Then, with a sigh, he straightened. "Well, I'm off. 'Bye, Mark," he said, saluting him cockily, and then turned to me, his hand swinging out of the salute and toward me as he moved. "And nice meeting you... 'Rhobb', was it?"
I nodded and grabbed his hand with my own, shaking it with a smile. "Nice to be meeting of you!" I exclaimed. Unexpectedly, the moment I grabbed his hand, the smile fell off of Carl's face as if I'd struck him. I felt Mark grab my shoulders and pull me sharply back from Carl, breaking our handshake with an apologetic smile and a completely fake laugh. He set me back down on my feet again a good foot or so away with his back to his friend, ostensibly to make sure I wasn't going to fall, and shot me a glare before glancing back over his shoulder at Carl. The man was staring at his hand as if it had suddenly turned orange.
Mark's voice was apologetic as he called out to his friend. "Heh, so sorry, Carl! Forgive him, please, he's only been here a night or so!" Carl seemed to shake off whatever shock I'd inadvertently caused him and looked up at Mark with a smile.
"I hope he doesn't do that to you!" he said laughingly, then mock-saluted Mark once more. "Oh, well, I'm off to face the cour—I mean, in-laws! Good luck with your 'student'!" And he headed off into the crowd after his wife. As soon as he was out of sight, Mark pushed me into the nearest alleyway, his expression furious.
"What did you do that for? Those are my friends!" I stared at him haplessly.
"What... what I do?" I struggled for the words to express my confusion. "I were just try to... to be friendly..." Mark snorted.
"A little too friendly, I think. You're lucky he didn't punch you!" I blinked, completely lost.
"But... all I do was shake his hand!" I insisted. Mark rolled his eyes at me.
"I don't care what they call it on your planet! Frankly, I can't believe you guys do that in public!"
"But what I do wrong??" I shouted at him in frustration, starting to feel angry at his lack of explanation. He started at the loudness of my voice, then stared at me in surprise.
"You mean... that's a friend thing, on your planet? That shake-thing?"
I glared at him. "Yes. We... call a handshake; we do when meet new people. Why, what you do?"
Mark blinked, then his eyes went wide in sudden understanding. "Oh! I get it." He gestured to the street at the mouth of the alleyway. "You mean... that's just how you greet one another, where you're from? That...uh..." He faltered, having trouble with the word, before shaking his head and picking up where he'd left off. "I mean, it's not... intimate, or anything?" I looked at him, perplexed.
"Duh. We not do if otherwise. Why?"
Mark gestured, trying to think of something. "Remember... remember how Don greeted you, when we found you? Remember how you freaked out?"
I shuddered at the memory. "How I forget? I mean, he licked m..." I looked up at Mark suddenly, understanding. "Oh." He nodded. "Oh. You mean, for you, handshake is like lick for me?" He paused, probably working out from the context of my sentence the meaning of my foreign words, then nodded.
"Yeah."
"Well... crap. Sorry. I no idea. I should apologize him?" I gestured to the mouth of the alley. Mark made to grab me, probably thinking I was just going to go running out into the crowd or do something equally foolish.
"Wait, stop! If ap...app..." He stopped, sounding out the word. "'Appolijize', means what I think it means, then it's all right. He's an easy-going guy; he's not going to take offense or anything. I mean, we told him you were foreign, right? I'm always hanging out with weird people; he won't make too much of it."
I sighed, relaxing. After a moment, he let go of my shoulders. When I didn't move toward the street, he relaxed minutely as well. We stared at each other for a moment in the semi-dark of the alleyway, silently, and I felt suddenly, profoundly alone, on this planet so far away from everything I knew, where so many things seemed just the same while other things were just so different.
Before I could descend into melancholy, though, Mark clapped his hands decisively. "So. How about I come through on my promise to take you to a night at the movies, or 'mooveez', as you called them? How does that sound?"
I perked up at the suggestion. "Really? Even though I... I..." He nodded.
"What better way for you to learn to blend in than through watching our movies? At least, that's what aliens do all the time in those sci-fi films, right? It can't hurt. After all," he put his arm around my shoulders and led me back toward the sidewalk, back out into the city, "that's what you're here for, right? To learn?" I nodded, smiling, and he smiled back. As we walked back into the wash of lights, I caught myself thinking that maybe this might not be so bad, after all.
Live Design Lighting
Okay, so I tested the lights after class and the lights we will likely be using are the 3rd and 5th switches.
3rd switch will turn on the stage light, and the 5th switch will turn off the light. It takes about 1-2 seconds for the light to fully turn on and fully turn off, so it might be difficult to do the stop motion and pull it off looking perfect, but we'll see. I would think that the second the light goes off, the person who's doing the lights should immediately turn the light back on.
I'm not entirely sure how dark the stage will get and if people will be able to see us in the dark or not.
3rd switch will turn on the stage light, and the 5th switch will turn off the light. It takes about 1-2 seconds for the light to fully turn on and fully turn off, so it might be difficult to do the stop motion and pull it off looking perfect, but we'll see. I would think that the second the light goes off, the person who's doing the lights should immediately turn the light back on.
I'm not entirely sure how dark the stage will get and if people will be able to see us in the dark or not.
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