Hypnotic Space

Tonight as I was driving home from work or more appropriately as I was sitting at a stop light in the act of driving home I noticed something that saddened me a little. I happened to stopped in front of the Toys R Us parking lot. The thing that saddened as well as surprised was the fact the parking lot was completely empty. Not the way it should be at five in the afternoon on July first. Obviously they’ve locked the doors, and most like for good.

I couldn’t help but think back to the type of store Toys R Us was in my youth and what it represented. They wouldn’t even let you in the place unless you were accompanied by a parent. Surely not because you’d destroy anything  rather because its unlikely you would ever come back out.

If it had anything to do with fun, Toys R Us had it. They had what all the other retailers had in their toy departments, just that Toys R Us had so much more. An entire row of possibly every board game ever created, stocked  in alphabetical order. GI Joe for boys and Barbie for girls, chemistry and geology sets, bikes and scooters. My generation was allowed Darwin’s law to take its natural course so they had lawn darts, creepy crawler sets with real hot plates, and the slip and slide with exposed metal anchors along the side to hold it down. It was the true fantasy land with the dreams and the danger.

Even when I got older and had my own kids, Christmas shopping was a one stop event with Toys R Us, by then having added video games into the mix. In fact I bought my first computer as an adult at Toys R Us

It’s probably been four or five years since I have gone into the store. It had already become a shadow of its former self by then. Gone were the long rows stacked to the roof.

Really it doesn’t surprise me at all, the writing has been on the wall for quite some time. Not all that sad either, because I still hold onto those fun memories of what it once was. And those memories are awesome.

Daz has just released version 3 of their popular Studio application. Daz Studio is very similar in use and capabilities  to Poser. Both have their strenght in character scenes, and both provide a good entry point for aspiring 3D artists for their fairly shallow learning curve and ease of use.

I haven’t used Daz Studio much in the past preferring to stick with the more familiar Poser, However as of late Poser has been gathering some dust for me as I’ve moved on to a few more full featured modeling tools. A few times now when I’ve needed to create a character for a scene I’ve opted for Daz Studio and feeling more comfortable with the interface.

Up until version 3 Daz Studio has always been a free application, with the release of version 3 Daz has now introduced a “Pro” version which is no longer free but at a very reasonable price, currently on sale for $50 and some change. A slightly toned down version is still available as a free download.

Several enhancements have been added in the areas of animation, texturing, and character morphing. They have also improved the rendering, which bottom line, while all the other things are important and useful, nothing is more important in my view than the final output. So I downloade the 30 day trial of the pro product and thought I’d do a test project. The results are the image below:

This was straight from Daz Studio with no real post work performed. Some like to do renders that have a cartoon or drawing like look, I much prefer to do images that are as lifelike as possible. I thought this came out close to achieving that goal. Her eyes don’t quite have what I would call a natural quality but that has more to do with the texture rather than the render engine. All in all I think its decent.

It’s always a time of sorrow when someone dies, its even compounded when it comes unexpectedly. With that there are condolences tonight in my heart of Michael Jackson’s family and close friends.

As I watched some of early news reports, the crowds of people gathering around the UCLA medical center, many of them sobbing, I couldn’t help think back to an event the happened thirty-two years ago, the death of Elvis Presley. I thought of the parallels that have already begun and many more which are to come in the months ahead.

I was still in my teens when Elvis died and while I’m sure he still had his fans out there, at least in the area where I grew up he was mostly known as a guy who made a bunch of really bad movies. Before that he enjoyed a successful singing career but all of that was before I was born. Rock had gone in a completely different direction and while certainly many popular artists of the time counted Elvis as an influence, no one that I knew called themselves a fan.

Jumping forward a few years in my lifetime, there wasn’t any place you could go without hearing Michael Jackson music being played. Backed then MTV stood for music television and Michael’s videos dominated that too. Michael Jackson was so big that even one of the accomplished rock guitarist in history contributed an uncredited piece to Michael’s biggest hit.

It was hard to imagine Michael’s position at the top of the music world not lasting forever, yet in retrospect it only lasted a few short years. All of that took place over twenty years ago and I cannot help but wonder if those in their late teens and early twenties today have the same type of impression of Michael Jackson as I did of Elvis Presley thirty-two years ago.Up until today, if you had brought up the name Michael Jackson in conversation, most of the talk would certainly have been his freakish behavior in recent years.

Elvis himself was also know for unusual practices by social standards, and in the eyes of many a superstar has been. Yet when he died his popularity soared, his face on the cover of every magazine, his awful movies suddenly were not so bad playing frequently on the small screen, thousands turned out for candle light vigils in his honor all over the world. Some to this day believe he really hasn’t died because he was spotted working at a gas station in Oklahoma.

I was awestruck at the magnitude of grief exhibited by so many, some even taking it to a tragic end. I had to wonder, how many of these truly loved the man or were so many simply caught up in the moment?

Already in the early hours after his death we are starting to see the same type of reaction to Michael Jackson. The outpouring of emotion and grief is usually not a bad thing and I support all who feel that need. However it does concern me about those who will take things too far. If they occur this time around will be the stories that I grieve over, lets hope they don’t.

So the President wants to reform health care in the US and surprise surprise the insurance companies along with their right wing cohorts are going into overdrive with the old and worn scare tactics. You’ll have to long queues for care, you won’t be able to choose your own doctor, and the new one the private insurance industry will fall apart.

Could they be any more out of touch or is it the possibility of losing their gold lined pockets they are more concerned with? If you happen to live in the US and are fortune enough to have health coverage when was the last time you or a family member had a health issue and didn’t end up standing in line waiting for your name to be called or waiting in a hospital room all day long for a doctor to stop by for five minutes? Or waiting days, maybe even weeks stressing over some test results to come back?

I can’t recall anyone in recent years who needed some care and didn’t have some horror story to tell about it. But all of that is the easy part, the part most of truly live in fear of is the cost. Even those of us fortunate enough to have coverage are forced to live in a state of worry that an illness or injury could lead to financial ruin.

In our day to day lives, we go to the store and buy a loaf of bread, go shopping for a new car or home. We always know the price upfront, but what is the one thing you have no idea what its going to cost until you get the bill? Health care. Why is that? Why do we need to live in fear of getting sick? Far more people are worried about how they will pay for health care rather than choosing a doctor. Yet people keep falling for the same old worn out scare tactics. Are we going to be duped again or will we really see positive change this time around?

Occasionally someone will ask me what color makes the most hypnotic spiral. I really have no idea at all about that, but the question gave me an idea. Many people are familiar with the web safe color chart, and I decided to make my own with a little twist.

Rather than solid panes of color, I would make one using hypnosis spirals. Clicking on any of the panes on this color chart will display a full sized animated version of the same colored spiral. So you may decide, which color is most hypnotic?

Hypnosis Spiral Color Chart