Now reading... (actually just finished)

I've just finished reading Ben Elton's meltdown. A strangely appropriate, well maybe not all that strangely novel that focuses on the recent global financial crisis and the events leading up to it.  While it is predictably scathing and satirical it does have a number of fair points running through it. Obviously the comic effect a lot of the subtlety and detail is missing at the core of the events is all there. The novel serves as a modern-day parable and while it is not likely to change anyone's life it has certainly reinforced some of my own feelings about life in a post-GFC world. I can highly recommend this is an amusing read but don't go planning any economic theories or political strategies based on the content ;)

School holiday movie project....

It's school holiday and as I don't often have time off with the kids Chris and I have decided to work on a project together. 

We are going to try and make a short animated film. We have already done a little test shoot of a dinosaur walking round the kitchen table.(which was remarkably easy). 

I set up the video camera and software ready to go, I took the first few frames and from there chris pretty much took over. I doubt very much that it will win any awards but he is suitably chuffed with the results and I am very proud.

The next step is to write to plot for the actual movie. This is something that chris wanted to do on his own. Off he went to get hold of a pen and paper and to my surprise just sat down and got on with it. Unfortunately I was not really clear about what i wanted him to do so around half an hour later he proudly presents me with a very accurate description of the unplanned animation he had just finished. While this did very cleverly get him out of coming up with something new it still leaves us lacking a plot! The positive part of the story was that I was able to read and understand the whole thing, he had produced some of the best handwriting and spelling I have ever seen him do.

So we retreated to youtube to watch some short films made by other people and now I think he gets the importance of plot and more importantly the fact that we need one to make any progress. 

Time Lapse Photography

Having seen a couple of fantastic time-lapse videos on the web over the last week or two I decided to have a go myself. Rather than off to some exotic location I chose to do it from the back balcony as I had know idea of what the result would be like.....

All in all I am quite pleased with the results for a first attempt. Now to find some better subject matter....

Panorama view of the south end of skiathos

It a bit late but I found some ole holiday snaps from our trip to greece nearly six years ago so I did a quick test and stitched this image together....