High hopes and low lives...

So another year goes by. It would be a lie to say that I worked hard this year. I am disappointed in myself for not meeting my personal goals, and for not meeting deadlines. I got into a working flow a couple of times only to find myself procrastinating a week later. I don’t know that I have done enough to pass the year but all I can say is that towards the end, I did try. When you find yourself with a heap of work hovering over your shoulders, and you’ve left it too late, you only have yourself to blame for it. The only thing I can do at this stage is apologise. It would be a shame if I did not make it this year, because I have only just found my love for the programs. I have started using Photoshop with great ease and speed. And as for max. The unwrapping and texturing aspects, I have finally got a hold of! So for what I’ve learnt this year; a great deal! Even though it may not have matched the standard of my work. The major area I have failed to meet is that of visual design. Even though my skills at Photoshop have improved allot this year. I haven’t completed enough of my projects. I will be completing the work I have missed now that I am in a working frame of mind, even though it will not boost my grade and even though now, it is too late. Even though I may have failed to meet your expectations this year, I promise that I will not fail myself. I will continue this pursuit of goals until it kills me. I cannot put across to you how determined I actually am! I will be staying in labs until June the 18th because, this blog is just a load of words, it is not actions or finished projects. So all I ask is that you let me prove myself to you and Chris and heather over the summer term. Let me show you how good I can actually be. Here is an example of my Photoshop work.

You have been kicked from the Server by your Government...

The south-Korean government have introduced an online curfew to stop the younger generation in the country from playing online games (whatever next?). The country has an obsession with online games. Professional gamers are treated like rock stars over there. Girls are literally screaming with excitement and men are shouting their names when the gamers turn up for gaming events and such. The popularity behind the gaming culture and the country’s super-fast broadband connection has led to heightened concern about the amount of time players are spending on online games. New rules will come into affect that will see kids at school banned from gaming between 12pm and 8am. Young gamer’s internet connections could be slowed down if they spend too much time online.
I really can’t see this new rule working. It could have the same effect as prohibition did in America. We could see the emergence of pirate broadband companies earning money off providing broadband to kids. Gaming is a huge part of the country’s culture. There is going to be massive opposition to this. On the other hand I have heard horror stories of people spending ages online. There have been horrible cases where obsession has led to injury or death. As long as they keep the curfew to kids I think the country will grow to the concept and run with it. Though I can image funny scenes of swat teams rushing into cybercafés with guns shouting ‘’put the mouse on the ground and keep your hands were we can see them’’ and ‘’he’s reaching for his keyboard OPEN FIRE!!!’’

Afghanistan; a Secure and Democratic State?

Over the Easter break I had a political discussion with my friend who was at the time on leave from the army. He’s been in the Army for 4 years now and will be trotting off to afghan in October. This fact sparked a discussion between me and him about Afghanistan (most of our discussions usually end up with the army, wars or politics). So as this debate of sorts became quite heated we decided to have a cup of tea, and it was lovely.
Whilst he told me about how ‘’our role over there is to bring peace and stability to the region, and to fight against terrorist threats’’ I said what a good idea it would be to jot down some notes about our discussion to formulate a meaningful and educated Blog. So I did. After my friend left my house I converted those notes into a brief and ‘to the point’ essay of sorts to best describe what our influence over there is all about. I thought it came out nicely. The information in there was from him, so I don’t know how accurate it is, but then again I do believe he knows what he’s talking about. So, here we go. Enjoy;
Firstly it is important to identify the two main components that exist within Afghanistan’s political system: the provisional Afghan government (headed by President Karzei) and the traditional Pashtun tribal Hierarchy.
Given that Afghanistan is an undeveloped state and most of the population have limited access to electricity, it is difficult for the Afghan government to have any affect beyond the limits of the capital: Karbul. The majority of Afghanistan’s population have a simpler and more traditional understanding of politics; centred on their ancient tribal Hierarchy. This tribal Hierarchy has its foundations in the ancient traditions of the pastun tribe: village and family elders provide a simple council system to resolve any inter-village or inter-family feuds, usually without hostilities. This system has proven affective for thousands of years, so the majority of Afghans have no interest in the national political system. This negative attitude towards a centralised government in Karbul makes NATO/ISAF’s job far more difficult: in Iraq NATO/ISAF where able to implement national change by manipulating a centralised political system in the capital, Baghdad. Afghanistan is far less developed as a country and there for far harder to affect at a national and political level! NATO/ISAF forces have implemented a ‘hearts and minds’ tactic in Afghanistan: win over the opinion of the people so they will accept our point of view and reject that of the insurgents, this may help the British Army and others in the short to medium term but it will not allow us to build a safe and secure country until they accept. Fin.

Get out of my EYESSSSSSSSSS!!!

This Year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas it’s all been about showing off the best in new 3-d hardware and software. 2009 was the big year for 3-d Cinema, with films like Final Destination and Avatar Taking full advantage of the power 3-D has to offer. Is 3-D the next big thing or is this just another teenage crush we all have on a fantastic new way of watching films?
Well, 3D’s been around for a while, but until recently it’s been kept in that dark cupboard under the stairs with other failed ideas like ‘smelly-vision’. That’s because it used to be dodgy old horror movies with a few monster awkwardly lumbering around somewhere just off the screen, or the odd dinosaur claw making a delayed, and frankly pathetic, swipe at the front row.
Not anymore! Since some of the big names in the business (like James Cameron) got involved, it’s a completely new beast; films like ‘Avatar’ and ‘Monster and Aliens’ redefined what we call 3D and banished those failed B movies to a well-forgotten memory.

Thanks to a combination of new cameras and the rapid advancements in green/blue screen technology, 3-D films really have become 3 dimensional.
Instead of a few random objects poking out the screen you become part of the action, you feel far more involved with the film. There is a realistic and truly believable depth of field affect in use. Now I’m a traditionalist, there’s something to be said for good old 2-D entertainment, and it’s stood the test of time.
With all the advancements to 2D viewing, with HD TV and Blu-Ray, is there really room for 3-D to muscle its way into our homes? I don’t think so, not yet anyway. I have no doubt that this 3-D revolution in the cinema will continue, I just can’t see myself sitting down with my mates or my family and all of us wearing clumsy glasses every time we ‘fire up the box’. Give it a few more years!
For now 2-D still reigns supreme!!
Now, what about the affect 3-D will have on the gaming world? Game’s including; Batman, Metro 2033, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Biohazard 5, Just Cause 2, and Resident Evil 5 have been released on PC with full NVidia 3-D support. A pair of glasses and a 3-D ready monitor will set you back about £500 pounds. But does 3-D bring a new dimension to game play. I can’t truly say for myself yet because I haven’t tried it. But from what I’ve heard it works really well. It’s one of those things that we have to leave to time until we can make a fair judgement.
Oh year food for thought. What about people who can only see out of one eye. The won’t be able to enjoy 3-d like the rest of us

Nuclear Detterent

Is £100Million per year worth our national security?

After watching the first televised political debate, and listening to the brief period where Cameron and Brown were forced to answer Nick Clegg’s persistent questioning about our country’s nuclear programme, it got me thinking on the subject. Brown and Cameron both believe that getting rid of our nuclear weapons is a bad idea, because it makes us defenceless against emerging and current nuclear powers in the world. Nick Clegg says that if we get rid of them, we will save £100Million per year. So, the Liberal democrats have suggested that we dismantle our trident missile programme as a money saving measure and as part of the solution to our national deficit. The financial problems our country faces appear in the media every day, and are a constant worry to the general public, so it may be relatively easy, to dismiss the trident missile system as something we can do without. However, just because we hear about this every day does not mean it is not providing vital security. The secret service exist and operate around us every day, ensuring our national security. We do not see them, but we would quickly notice the consequences if they were not there! The ‘Trident’ missile system provides us with our nuclear deterrent and there for provides a vital part of our national security.

The people that support the dismantling of a trident will tell you that warfare has changed. That the ‘Cold War’ has ended and that we no longer require a nuclear deterrent. They would say that we are fighting a war on terror, a war against small extremist cells of intelligent but technologically limited people. That may well be the case today, but we all know how rapidly the world we live in can change; while there are unstable and extremist country’s (like Iran and North Korea), who have the technological ability to develop WMD’s, we need a nuclear deterrent; we need the ability to dissuade these countries from attacking us!!!

Just think for a moment here. We haven’t had any major attacks on our country since the Second World War. Sure we have had threats and there have been times when the world leaders had been sitting at their desks with their hand hovering over a big red button, but our Nation hasn’t been threatened directly and our wars abroad have not been challenged directly by other world superpowers. Up until this point we have had the ability to do great damage anywhere in the world; to completely obliterate any country with nuclear weapons. Imagine, that the ability to do this was taken away overnight. Other countries would be free to push us around and do what they want, without the fear of retaliation. Our Nation as a whole would seem weak. Don’t get me wrong, nuclear missile’s are terrible things and should never be used, but just ask yourself; have we reached the point where we can dismantle our Nuclear weapons and feel safe. My answer is no but others will have different opinions.

Time management

It has occurred to me that time management is my main problem when it comes to doing work. Up until now I have had little understanding of how to organise myself properly.

I can get a load of work done the day before an assessment or review. I suppose this is because, time comes into perspective. I can visualise the amount of Time I have, and that forces me to set goals. I adhere to those goals and get the work done! But that technique doesn’t always work!!! There is not enough time, in one day to finish off all of my work to a high standard. I need to start work as soon as it is set and not leave it until the last minute. I am always disorganised, and can never seem to find time to fit things in. I waste so much time without even realising.

I have researched allot on time management on the internet and found some interesting things. The topic is practically a science, with individuals devoting their whole lives to the subject. What I’ve found has helped me greatly.

Basically, we all want more time to get things done, but the fact is, that we have all the time we’ve got. Time is non-renewable, you cannot get it back. So what do you do? Simple; you make the best out of the time you have. The first thing to do is set priorities. Almost everyone sets priorities every day, the problem I have, is picking the right ones. I consider everything as top priority. What I need to start doing is to set apart my priorities into areas of importance. So, what would be my top priorities? Well sleep, bathroom breaks, food and drink (non-alcoholic) are obviously top on the list. What I need to insure, is that my top priority after that is uni work; my projects. If I can do that then everything should be fine. But it never works out like this. Little things keep popping up, that distract me, I procrastinate, or I get frustrated. I need to work out a method/schedule that I know I can be faithful to.

The ideal way of getting projects done would be to spend less time and less effort on them, but for them to be good quality. I need to stay focused and to the point, when I’m working. Allot of the time in the labs I get distracted or bored. There are times in max, when I rotate my model around for twenty minutes just looking at it, before realising I haven’t moved it forward at all. There are times when I think about how to do something for half an hour, and then it only takes me five minutes to put my thoughts into affect. How many times have I worked all day only at the end of it to think; wow, I barely moved anything forward. I do Max work better in the labs than I do at home, so I need to find out a method that works for me while I am in the labs! I found out a handy method online that I believe can help me with this. KRA means Key Result Area. For me my Key Result Area at the moment is the completion of all my projects. Very simple. I need to ask myself when I am about to do something, “is what I am about to do, going to contribute to my KRA?” If it doesn’t make a contribution, then maybe it’s a tangent. I need to keep my KRA in my mind at all times. A good way of reminding myself would be to keep a post-it note in front of me at all times, to remind me what I’m working towards. That way I will click on quickly when I’m about to do something non-toward my KRA.

Another method would be to look forward into the future and imagine the best for myself. Imagine myself as successful, working for a games company, owning a car and a house and whatever else I want in life. Then back track. What is it that I need to do to get myself to that point? What do I need to do to achieve this? Well First I need to get into a good job; get my foot in the door of the games industry. Well how would I go about that? Well I need to develop an outstanding portfolio of work and do well in my degree. How do I go about doing that? By working my balls off at uni and getting to the standard that the industry expects. Life is not an escalator that you can just ride to the finish; it’s a set of stairs that you have to walk up by yourself! You have to put effort in to achieve those goals. Right now I’m on those first few steps. I need to sort myself out and get my priorities right! Climb, man, Climb!!!!

One way allot of people deal with a large amount of work is to create a list of things to do. I’ve made lists before. They organise me but I always end up with not enough time to finish the last thing on the list. This is because I leave the hardest thing till last. This never works. A bloke called Mark Twain once said, ‘’having to do an unpleasant job is like having to kiss a frog’’. If you do have to kiss a frog don’t put it off! That frogs still going to be there at the end of the day and you’re still going to have to kiss it! The problem with putting the frog off till last is that your other work suffers as a result. Just kiss the frog straight away, get it of your chest, and then is out of your mind, you feel elated that it’s done and the rest of your work gets done to a higher standard!

Your working environment has to be organised and tidy. If you’re working in a shit heap, then it’s going to affect your attitude towards your work. I hate having to rummage around in piles of clothes or rubbish to find what I need. Since I do some of my work in my room, I’m going to keep it neat, tidy and organised from now on. I have invested in a new piece of furniture for my room. It is a white chest of draws. The draws are shallow but wide and so it’s perfect for storing work and art supplies. This has helped me organise my work and letters and stuff so I can locate what I’m looking for easily!

Fun time. Let’s face it. I’m going to need some breaks from work to stop my mind from frying over. But I need to fit this in cleverly around my work time, and that’s where time management comes into things. I’ve wasted allot of time so far on gaming consoles, but I’ve decided that I’m not going to play games any more. And my Xbox decided to break just before Christmas so that helps tooJ. Yes I’m not going to lie, I love playing first person shooters, but I’ve had my fill, and there is nothing else to play up until the release of Halo: Reach, which is months away. So the amount of time I used to spend on games consoles will now be spent on work.

Right so let’s round up. What am I going to do this term? Well I’m going to organise my time more efficiently. If I want to I can easily fit in 10 hours of work a day. Out of class time a rough calculation of the amount of time that I can work in one week would be 50 hours. That still gives me roughly 14 hours left in every day. If I sleep for 8 hours a day, that gives me 6 left over! That’s enough time to eat, take bathroom breaks and relax. It’s all easily possible if I want it, I just need to get my priorities right! I have fixed my sleeping pattern now and I’m going to keep it like that. I’m going to stop my late nights so that I can get up at 8 in the morning every day, shower and have breakfast, so that I can start working by the time its 9!from 9 I work all day till the labs close. I’ve quit smoking, so I don’t have that to distract me from my work either. A few short breaks throughout the day will keep me sane and fed. For my 2d work, I will start early on a Friday and Saturday, leaving Sunday open for either work or relaxing, or fun. Mon, Tue, wed, Thu = 3d. Fri, Sat, = 2d. Sun= whatever. I know that’s a full week of work, but I’m not going to dawdle any more, I know what I want now, and this is how I’m going to achieve it

These time management skills will help me, but I know where I’ve gone wrong this year so far. It is because I always put work off. This term I’m going to have a much more positive attitude to my work flow. I’m going to work on getting a project done from the day it is set, and put allot more time into the course. I haven’t had the right attitude towards the course up until now and that has to change, if I am to achieve what I want out of life.

‘’Improving your time management skills, is improving your life!’’

My thoughts on the course...

I’m going to start off giving a big THANKYOU to Mike Chris and Heather, for being brilliant teachers this year. You have all taught us so much.

I think it’s a great idea, doubling the amount of traditional art skills on the course. Knowing the core art skills gives you more to build upon. I like the idea of getting out more. I always end up being inspired when I leave the uni to work. I suggest you should organise more trips to other places. Trips should not just be limited to Leicester and the surrounding area. I’ve found some brilliant things around the country by just going places.

Another thing you should do is build upon the success of the facebook community! You should put up tutorials onto facebook and use the events utility more often. Set random events for drawing trips outside of lesson time and trips to bars ect. Try and make the course a more close knit community. If we see these events we will go. Every now and again you should set up a social gaming session after class (Once a month or whatever). I’m really emphasising on getting the people on the course interacting with everyone else because I believe that was the one thing that was missing from this year. The lessons were brilliant (although as you said more emphasis on traditional art would be good) everything was there, but I felt a bit distanced from everyone else on the course, I’ve only really just learnt everyone’s names, I’ve got to meet some interesting funny people more recently. I had a fun trip to Bradgate Park recently and got some work done as well. This was organised by Abby through the facebook community. If you teachers make your own events (even if you don’t go) I’m sure you’ll get lots more people going along and doing more work!

I think there is room to build upon the film sessions on Wednesdays. A discussion group after the film might be an idea, or get everyone to chat about films together in a forum or something similar.

Now I think about it there is one thing that was missing this year and that is digital painting tutorials. You should think about integrating Digital Painting into your lesson plan. I had to learn by myself from books, the internet and other class mates. A bit more help in this area wouldn’t go amiss. I don’t like to bitch, but I’ve said it now so there you go.

Once again thank you for this year, I’m looking forward to what is to come!!!