New Content on "Directionless"

It's not much, but there's some belated Christmas-themed filler up over at my webcomic, "Directionless." (remember that?) I do plan on continuing the comic, and should have something along the lines of real content up this coming weekend. I have a few ideas and such, I just need to draw them.

Upcoming absence

My break so far...

Got home at like 3:00 AM Saturday morning, slept most of the rest of the day. Sunday night I hung out at Haley's for A Very Bitter Beer Pong and watched Donnie Darko, a very weird but interesting movie. And, uh, that about brings you up to speed. Yeah, the amount of craziness leading up to finals makes the lack of stuff going on now seem a little odd. Of course, there's nothing unpleasant about doing nothing! :)

But I didn't make this post to point out how little I've been doing, I made it to point out that from December 23-27 I'll be visiting relatives in New Hampshire. (Another long car trip? Noooooooo!!!) So, if anyone (coughHaleycough) is planning anything (coughlan partycough) over break, please don't do it then!

And Halapy, I fully plan on updating the webcomic.

Eventually.

I Am Home!

Finals are done. Have seen Narnia and Kong. Enjoyed both. Will see again. More to follow.

That is all.

Busy, Busy, Busy.

While everyone else is justifying a lack of updates by saying nothing is happening, I haven't been updating because too much has been happening.

It goes like this: Next week is finals week, commonly known as college's miniature hell. But here's the thing - only one of my classes is even having a "proper" final during that week. The rest all either have abnormally large exams on the last day of class, or have papers due. So for me, this is hell week.

So here's how "Hanley's Hell Week" breaks down...

Last weekend - dealt with a very poorly-timed cold while trying to get my revised draft for Writing done to e-mail to the professor. Had also planned on starting my Art Media paper, but that didn't happen. Things became complicated when my roommate came home drunker than he's ever been Saturday night ("You were only gone for 2 hours!" "Fwuuuuhhhgg...?") and I had to make sure he didn't vomit on the wrong things (aka: anything mine) So, yeah... That was a barrel of laughs... Not.

Monday - The cold turned into a sore throat/coughing sort of thing. Had the last class for Film History, my only class with a "normal" final. Professor did a bit of review, but of course didn't tell us anything useful. We then had to watch some "art" films, one of which could only be described as a sadist's take on childbirth.... yeeeeah. That night I had my last Intro to Acting class. Good news - no exams, and we got free pizza. Bad news - I had to perform my assigned scene one last time, which I really didn't feel like doing with a sore throat. Class ended at 10pm, and I tried to use the time to write my Art Media final essay. Didn't get anywhere, partially because I was struggling with the topic, partially because I just hate that class, but mostly because I felt like crap.

Today (Tuesday) - Woke up feeling a little better (I think my fever broke in the middle of the night. I have no better explanation for why I started shivering uncontrollably for no apparent reason...) . I wrote my entire Art Media essay in one 3-hour run, which sucked but at least I got it done and didn't make it entirely BS. Went to Writing and found out I wasn't really as near being done as I'd thought I was with my paper. Went to the last class of Art Media (and there was much rejoicing!) and turned in my crappy-but-at-least-it-works paper. Then we watched an interesting film (watching something interesting in Art Media? Unheard-of!) of a Rube Goldberg-like device involving lots of fire and small explosives, and another one that was a feature-length (100 min) film comprised of one continuous steadycam shot, and all done in one take. I felt so bad for the poor cameraman by the end of the movie.

Looking to the future....

Tomorrow - Wake up for my "9:30 am but a 20-minute walk away" Theater class where we'll be doing some sort of review for the test on Friday. The I can come back and try to finish the 650-page book ("Bonfire of the Vanities") that I need to be familiar with (among other things) for the "final" exam in Anthropology of American Life at 7:00 pm. And before you say it, I checked - there are no SparkNotes for this book! :(

Thursday - Last Writing class, where we'll basically be given time to work on our papers, get feedback on them, and cry over how bad they are. I then start studying for my Theater final. This is also possibly my last chance to hunt down the teacher of the 3D Animation class I want to take next semester, as I need his signature (it's normally reserved for Computer Arts majors) and he's never in his office (even during office hours) and never checks his e-mail!

Friday - Wake again up for my "9:30 am but a 20-minute walk away" Theater class, but this time I have a "final" exam to take. I then come back and frantically revise my Writing Essay so it can be dropped of in the professor's mailbox by 5:00 pm. Only then can I rest.

At that point, I will basically have nothing to do for the better part of a week because my Film History final, the only "real" final I have and the last thing I have to do before I can go home, is on Friday the 16th. As soon as it's done, I cram the majority of my stuff into my dad's car (parents drive up Friday morning) and head back to the 'Burgh! :D

So yeah, don;t expect much else out of me until after this Friday. If you do hear anything from me before then, kindly remind me that I have work to do!!!!!!!1

signing off...

Awesome Christmas Lights!

Someone set up their Christmas lights to be synchronized with what sounds like a Trans-Siberian Orchestra song (update: I've identified the song as "Wizards in Winter"). The result is nothing less than awe-inspiring!

NOTE: It has been brought to my attention that the first site I linked to contains advertisements which some people may deem objectionable. An alternate link can be found below:

Incredible Christmas Lights!

Quick - someone get Andy! This must be duplicated! :)

Update 12-2-05: I found some more information on Carson Williams, the guy behind this stuff.

First, he's on Wikipedia (and honestly, what isn't these days?)

Also, here's another one of his light shows. The song isn't as cool as the first one, but it's still impressive.

There's a WGMD radio interview where he explains some of what he did. The host is kind of annoying, but there are some nice tidbits. Apparently the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (who did the music in the first video) really like the display and may be putting a higher-res version up on their own website.

Finally, he gave some text instructions on how it's done, and posted the sequencing file he used.