The Great and Powerful Henceblog

Alchemy in Four Tapes

Vv — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:24:18 +0000

And that’s how one shows alchemy and the four classical elements through packaging and tapes. But let’s take a closer look at this, shall we?

The outer box is, of course, the philosopher’s stone, rumored to grant immortality to those who possessed it. Besides that, there are four tapes, one tape per element.

Tape of Fire: Perhaps the most obvious one, tape of fire was surrounded in ashen paper and sealed with a salamander (the animal of fire). And, yes Andrew, that WAS blood. But it wasn’t real blood, this is because the humour that was most associated with fire in Medieval medicine was blood. Tape of fire was inscribed with the symbol for “Salamander” and an upward oriented triangle, and the tape itself was a tennis tape: because tennis is firey and competitive. As for how I “treated” the tape, it should be pretty clear: It covered it in lighter fluid and I BURNED IT. Oh, and to make sure that the wrapping would stay on I put the wrapped package in an oven for some seconds.

Tape of Water: Perhaps the tape that took the longest to prepare, tape of water was mostly sealed with papers covered in water and glue and sealed with a manatee (The creature of water is technically an Undine, which is basically a mermaid. So, I figured a manatee was basically a mermaid). Tape of Water is the first tape opened in the film, it was inscribed with an Undine symbol and a downward facing triangle, and the tape itself was a Yoga tape (Because Yoga is smooth and fluid). I “Treated” the tape by firstly submerging it in water for a couple of days. After that, the taped was continuously frozen and thawed over a period of a week. Then, I took the block of ice that the tape was frozen in, and dropped it into a pot of boiling water.

Tape of Air: Perhaps the most difficult tape to conceptualize, after all how to give something “air damage” without the aid of a wind tunnel? I decided a microwave was a good thing, and so I used it, after all the microwave works by manipulating the air around an object. Aside from microwaving it I also smoked it, but that only gave it a strange yellow coloring. I covered the tape with aerosol glue (hence the stickiness) and sealed it with a Quetzal (the creature of air is the sprite, so I figured a quetzal was a good spritely bird). It was inscribed with an upward facing triangle bisected by a line, and the symbol for Saturn: Planet of Air.

Tape of Earth: The functional tape. I decided Earth would be the real tape, because sealing it in a block of clay wouldn’t harm the tape but would be difficult to open. It was sealed with mud and a Scarab Beetle (The creature for Earth is a dwarf, so… Scarab?). It was inscribed with a downward pointing triangle bisected with a line and (MOST IMPORTANTLY) a protection rune against dark magics and telepathy. I figured this would help us out during the shipping process, Andrew. Aside from sealing the tape in a block of clay, I also covered the tape with aluminum foil (with the classical Chinese elements, Earth was replaced with the element of metal) in order to keep the tape from being damaged as the clay dried.

Oh, and you were wondering what you did to me to deserve this, Andrew? You hurt my feelings. Try not to do that again.

Powerful Magics

Vv — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 07:21:46 +0000

When last we left THE TAPE, it was in shambles. An old man was turning 100 without his favorite nephew, An invisible murderer was on the loose, and a man ate soup; cardboard soup.

If you don’t remember, then here’s a recap:

And now, here’s my reply (I recommend watching it full screen):

And now, here’s me overanalyzing and explaining:

“Happy Birthday Murderer” was about death. This was the stone that I began my ideation process off of: What comes after death? Well, to that I had one answer: Resurrection. And what is an ongoing symbol for resurrection? The Philosopher’s Stone.

However, along with resurrection and alchemy, I also wanted to explore the theme of multiplicity, which was certainly present in “Happy Birthday Murderer”, and I also feel it was present in the other three works of THE TAPE. So, multiplicity+resurrection= The four classical elements. My overall working point for this new web (in case you wondering “Copyright Infringement” was the theme and inspiration for the title of “In Fridge”. I have given away the secret). In order to explore the four classical elements, I broke each down into an exploration of a thematic portion of THE TAPE. Let’s take a look at that.

FIRE: I told you you weren’t the only one who could make soup, Andrew. Except “No Chicken With Onions”, the calcuttan dish, is NOT A SOUP. My feelings were hurt when Andrew cooked my package, showing a disregard to something I put a lot of time into and was very proud of. I understand that Andrew did this because, in order to get “In Fridge” on THE TAPE I had to tape over “I Got The Poops” (Boulder’s dubbing facilities sucked, like many things), but it still hurt my feelings. So, I devoted one entire element to the cooking and eating of package elements from the Hard-drive and the Perfectly Ordinary Box. It was cooking, it was vengeful, and it was angry. Fire.

AIR: How best to represent Air? Sound, which is something I feel Andrew’s pieces have had a bit of, but “In Fridge” was lacking. So, I took an oral examine for my French class last semester and started editing it. One of the ideas that I’ll explore later is that “Happy Birthday Murderer” was a film about me. So, in return “Powerful Magics” had to be a film about Andrew. Thus, I took his narration from Shrimpocalypse! which included some fun extras like “FooOOOooOOtbaaaaall PraaAAAaaaAAAActice”. Finally, I also had Nepetalactone by Venetian Snares. ”In Fridge” introduced the idea of “leit motif” (that’s film language for “A repeated musical theme”). I decided to take this idea, and have a techno breakdown in the middle of the film.

WATER: Water was found footage. I may have had reasoning behind this. “Happy Birthday Murderer” introduced actors, namely Landyn Banx. I decided I’d use a common actor, and I took Landyn’s demo reel from youtube. In “Happy Birthday Murderer” Andrew used footage from All The Presidents Men, an inspiration to him. I decided that I would use footage from “The Room” in my reply to him. I also wanted to bring back the cat motif we’ve established in the other two pieces, but was absent from “Happy Birthday Murderer”, both because I enjoy this motif and because THE CHOPSTICK CAT IS ADORABLE! Also, there’s the popular YouTube video/meme that’s been common since “I Got The Poops”. I had my footage, and yet I was still missing something. Fortunately, I had one other reference to Mr. Gingerich: 16 Heads and Counting. How’d I get the footage? Well, I did some sound editing for it, and due to my paranoid thinking that he may need the footage back, I’ve kept it all these years. Finally, the photo of me from “Happy Birthday Murderer” was taken from promotional stills from 16 Heads (which also starred Landyn Banx, see the connection?). I took Andrew’s promotional still from that very same photo shoot. Thank you Facebook.

EARTH: The only other reply to “Happy Birthday Murderer” that I had to address was the interviews. Well, I don’t think “Happy Birthday Murderer” was an adequate response to “In Fridge”, mainly because I don’t think Andrew put as much work into it as I did mine and he did “I Got The Poops”. This is understandable, as he’s editing together a Political epic, but I still wanted to make sure he knew I was calling his bluff. So, I had people criticize his film. After all, this was a movie about Andrew. Also, over December (when Andrew was busy bettering the world and working on a nobel cause) I was housesitting for the Gingerich’s. I’m sorry that I took advantage of this and filmed without your permission, Andrew, but….

So there we have it. I could say plenty more about this film, but I don’t want to. I have a headache. But I CAN say more about the packaging, but must wait for another time.

Fire Fire Fire

Vv — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:40:12 +0000

For my production class this semester we’re making two films. One is in between 3 and 7 minutes and the emphasis should be on sound, and the second is something else. Below is the script for the film I’ll be shooting for the first project. It’s about lighting a building on fire, enjoy.

Fire Fire Fire

Z is for-

Vv — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:51:44 +0000

Zymurgy: The practice of winemaking.

Zymogen: An inactive substance that is converted into an enzyme when activated by another enzyme.

Zyklon B: Hydrogen Cyanide held on or released from a carrier in the form of small tablets. It is primarily used as an insecticide, but the Nazis used it for something much different.

Zygote: The fetus of a fetus.

Zygomorphic: (Botanical) having only one plane of symmetry, like a snapdragon or a pea.

Zygodactyl: A bird’s foot with two toes pointing forward and two backward.

Zygapophysis: One of the two paired processes of a vertebra that interlock it with the adjacent vertebrae.

Zydeco: A dance music from southern Louisiana featuring accordion, guitar, and possibly washboards.

Zyban: An antidepressant drug given to people in nicotine withdrawal (Trademark name).

ZARDOZ. ZARDOZ. ZARDOZ.

Y is for YELLING AS LOUD AS I CAN

Vv — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 06:59:53 +0000

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X is for X-ray Fish

Vv — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 09:36:26 +0000

Also known as the “Golden Pristella Tetra”, the X-ray fish gains its name from the fact that a large portion of its body is transparent. The X-ray fish tends to be a good aquarium fish because of its high adaptability and its tolerance for acidic waters and the fact that it eats many different types of food.

Also known as a type of Golden Tetra.

The X-ray fish is found in the South American Coastal Rivers where the freshwater from the river meets the salted water of the ocean. This is known as an “estuary”, and is also the type of habitat that brackish aquariums tend to try and emulate.

The X-Ray fish has a yellowish tint to it and a prominent dorsal fin. They may grow as large as 22 cm, however their average size is around 5 cm. Male X-ray fish are smaller and thinner than female X-Ray fish, however this is the only prominent difference. When in an aquarium, it is important to keep X-ray fish away from predators and in a large group of six other fish.

Waiting for a Render

Vv — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:26:06 +0000

I made this while waiting for a very important video to render. This is not very important. I made it using PHOTOSHOP.

The rendered video will play soon. Very soon.

V is for Vogt’s Valentine’s Day

Vv — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:22:44 +0000

Embedded above, for your enjoyment, is the new hit smash from Nick Vogt. Remember Nick Vogt? Well he makes music, too, and this one’s about that very special day where everything’s a Love Themepark. Enjoy.

U is for Unnecessary

Vv — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:38:41 +0000

Okay well… uh… today for breakfast I ate eggs. SCRAMBLED eggs, although I don’t much care for scrambled eggs. I prefer sunny side up, this is because I like seeing the yolk ooze out of the gash you make in it. Then you get to eat up the yolk with toast, and it makes for a delicious breakfast. However, I DO NOT eat my breakfast with Bacon. As per assumed request, I will now outline the steps I take to de-T a poster for a without the T’s article. The first and most important rule is that the complexity and work depends on the resolution of the poster, for if you can’t make out a “T” when you’re zoomed in at 100%, then chances are no one will ridicule me for skipping some T’s in the credits. That’s another thing, it’s easy to de-T titles and taglines, but you get into real trouble with the credits below the poster, hence why a good deal of the posters I use do not have the bottom credits. When they do, I try to use low resolution posters. What can I say, I like to use my time wisely. I JUST HAD A LOTION MISHAP, please give me one moment. Okay I’m back. It’s winter, so my hands get incredibly dry and unless I provide constant moisture to them they crack open. Even if I provide constant moisture they crack open, it’s a problem. Hey! I’ve got the Ramayana and the Mahabarate right here! Let me quote it for you: “BOOK VI: Cattle-Lifting: The Conditions of the banishment of the sons of Pandu were hard. They must pass twelve years in exile, and then they must remain a year in concealment. If they were discovered within the last year, they must go into exile for another twelve years.” Okay, well I think that’s enough. We had a blizzard last night, so I’ve got two hours until my first class starts and I really just needed to spend some time. I suppose I’ve done that. Maybe. Although I’ve got about twenty minutes left, so I guess I didn’t do that great of a job of wasting time. I just spoke with my mother, it looks like I CAN get dental coverage here in Santa Fe, which is nice because I need to get a dental appointment by the end of March because my Health Insurance runs out in March because my father is currently unemployed, so he can’t stay on Anheisur Busch’s health insurance plan for too long. But, I can now get a dental appointment here and then I won’t need another dentla appointment for a while, hopefully. Dental appointments usually go pretty well for me, I’ve always had pretty good teeth and, ever since eighth grade, I’ve been taking very good care of my teeth. I brush twice daily, rinse twice, and floss once. Although, if I feel as though my teeth are particularly dirty, then I’ll either brush them once more or floss them once more. Recently, I’ve started flossing more because in my previous dental exam I found out the I have the beginnings of three cavities. I think this is because during 2009 I ate a lot of sweets because it helped me get through depression. I think I still do have a bit of a sweet-eating (or “Sweeating”) problem, but I’m working on it. However, still with these three cavities I don’t think my dental record is too stigmatized, because I’ve never had a problem before so three cavities in twenty-one years I think is an okay track-record. Well, I’ve got to go see what a “two hour delay” means for school, I know everything starts at 10:00, but I’m not sure what that means for classes after noon. For example, I’ve got class at 2:15, does a two-hour delay mean that this class starts at 4:15? Or does it still start at 2:15? Because depending on when this class starts, it will effect how long I can be at my class where I build sets for five hours. If my 2:15 class is still at 2:15, then I’ll only have two hours to work on set-building today and I’ll have to go into the shop on Thursday morning and finish up. However, I may not be able to go into the shop on Thursday because I might be beginning my internship on Thursday by helping put together ANOTHER set. However, my regular set-building class is for the theatre department, and my internship is for the art department for “True Grit” the new Coen Brothers film which is shooting on campus (I’ll give much more time to this in a later post, believe me). Okay, I’ll be right back. I’m back. Just kidding, I was seeing if you were paying attention, not even a second passed between these sentences. Okay, now I’m leaving. Bye bye. Alright I’m back. Class started at 10:00, although I probably should have been there at the original time of nine o’ clock because I had to mop up the floor because the water was left running all day long. It was a problem, but we mopped up all of the water and then I worked on spackling a cube for the upcoming production of “The Putnam County Spelling Bee”. At least I think it’s Putnam County, I may be confusing it with an elementary school in my town called Putnam. The elementary school is called Putnam, not the town. I need to do my laundry now. I was able to find these sheets in the grocery store that have both Tide cleanser and a dryer sheet combined into one sheet, which will probably save me money because I won’t have to buy two packages (I believe it costs as much, maybe even a little cheaper, than a carton of Tide, and I’ve been told to always use Tide. It’s a tad bit expensive, yes, but it gets the job done well and it works the best). However, I also have a few pants that are dry-clean only. Thanks to modern technology, though, it no longer matters if something is dry-clean only because they have special sheets that you can put in the dryer with your clothes, and the sheets dry-clean your clothes. It’s really nice, because otherwise either I wouldn’t have two great pairs of pants, or I would be spending a fortune on dry cleaning. I also have to clean my coat. I only gave it a detailed wipe-down after my sister’s dog threw up on it, so it probably needs a good clean. I’ve also got to clean my sheets sometime soon, but I’d want to do that over the weekend when I have more time. Anyways, I guess that’s all I’ve got to say, really. I’ll go ahead and wrap everything up right now. Uh… I ate scrambled eggs this morning, and then I decided to start writing this because there was a blizzard last night that resulted in a two-hour delay this morning. However, I should have gone to my morning class on time because there was a good deal of mopping to do. However, instead I walked through how I de-T a poster, and how de-Ting is all about the resolution of the poster file you get. I also need to make a dental appointment, because I need to get my teeth cleaned. Also, during my last dental check-up I found out that I have three cavities that are forming, which is probably because I ate a good deal of sweets last year because it made me feel better about all of the horrible things that were happening. I have to do laundry, which I’ll probably work on after I’m done writing this paragraph, and during my laundry-doing I’ll probably dry-clean my coat because it needs a good, deep clean. I’m pretty sure thats all I’ve got to say. Oh, I need to make my dental appointment now because my Health Insurance runs out in March. That’s a problem, a very big problem, but I think we’re going to be getting on another health insurance plan that covers basic hospital and doctors visits, but not dental or psychology (which is too bad, most of my problems are psychological and physical). Oh, for dinner I ate a veggie burrito. It had zucchini and cheese and beans and onions and some other vegetables. I also ate some beets and squash, which was quite delicious, although from what I heard, a lot of people don’t like beets. This is too bad, because I think beets are pretty neat things. I’ve also heard some Borsch-bashing during my time in New Mexico, although from what I’ve heard from everyone else is that Borscht is very delicious. This leads me to think that maybe people in New Mexico just hate beets for bizarre reasons beyond me. When I was kid, I used to eat beets all the time. This is because my Dad used to have a gigantic garden that he’d grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables in, including beets. So i ate a lot of beets as a kid, and I guess it stuck with me because I still really enjoy beets even though I don’t eat them as much as I should. I think beets are high in Vitamin A, although I don’t really remember what vitamin A does for your body. I know Vitamin E helps with hair and skin, and so when you’re older you need to eat a lot of Vitamin E so your skin will stay healthy, same with your hair. But I don’t know what Vitamin A does. So I like eggs and I like beets, although I shouldn’t like eggs because I have high cholesterol. I’m pretty sure I told you that. I’ve got high cholesterol. And I probably shouldn’t like beets because they probably stain your teeth. Beet juice is a pretty potent red dye that was used by many indian tribes during the weaving of their baskets and tapestries. I also really like Kale, and I should like Kale because it’s a very good vegetable to eat. I think Kale is also high in Vitamin A, but I may just be saying that things are high in Vitamin A because I can’t think of any other vitamins that vegetables are high in. I’m pretty sure wheats are high in Vitamin E. I know fish is. Fish is quite high in Vitamin E, and fish is also apparently good for your cholesterol. Fish and Quinoa. Both help reduce cholesterol. I keep misspelling cholesterol, I keep thinking it ends with an “A”, and the computer keeps telling me I’m wrong, but I just keep on spelling cholesterol with an “A” anyways. I also keep thinking its spelled “orol” as opposed to “erol”. So I guess cholesterol is just a difficult word to spell. Like Nietzsche. That’s another difficult word to spell. When I tried to spell it just now I forgot the “S”. That’s a problem when you forget an “S”. I think its an “S”, because phonetically “S” starts with a vowel sound. Just like its an honest man. Honest begins with a vowel sound, and so you use an, not A although the word itself is actually beginning with a consonant. I’m getting pretty tired, so I’ll probably stop writing soon. Although I’ve got a meeting at 8 o’ clock, so I can’t really rest yet. Which is too bad, because I spent most of today out and about and I didn’t really have any time to rest except for an hour wherein I played Pokemon. I’m playing Pokemon Crystal right now, and its going pretty well. I’ve got all eight gym badges, however I just caught a low-level Dratini (level 10), and I want to take a dragon-type pokemon with me into the Final Four battle. So I need to work on leveling up my Dratini, and I also need to work on leveling up all of my other pokemon too. Pokemon is spelled with an accent over the “E”, but I don’t really feel like going through the hassle of putting it in there. I have to open up a word document and use the “Special Characters” tab there because Safari doesn’t had “Special Characters” as a choice in any of their drop-down menus, which is a big problem because I probably use Special Characters the most over the internet. I might just be noticing it more when I need to use special characters on the internet, though, because I can’t actually access the Special Characters on the internet so I notice it because I have to take special steps in order to use special characters. Well I guess that’s it, thanks for reading, but like I said I’m pretty tired and I kind of want to rest before I have to leave at 8 o’ clock. I also want to start my laundry. Bye bye.

Without the T’s: Stop Making Sense

Vv — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:44:48 +0000

Well this’ll be interesing, because I haven’t seen hat many concert movies, heck I haven’t even seen hat many concerts. But alas, I shall now take a look at Jonathan Demme’s Talking Heads Concert Epic: Sop Making Sense.

Wih Music by He Alking Heads

I suppose the most importan part of a concert movie is the concert, and the concer itself depends heavily on the band I’d say. So: The Talking Heads. What struck me most about Stop Making Sense is he amount of energy the band had, they were having a very good time feeding off of the energy of the audience and I think it really showed through the screen. Of course I don’ think the film version of Stop Making Sense compares at all to the live version, but sadly hat concert is over 20 years old now.

So: The band was raher kicking I’d say, so the next question is: How was the concert? Well, it sarts with an empy stage lit by a couple of overhead work lights. David Byrne walks out onto stage with an acousic guitar and a boombox. “Hi, I’ve go a tape I want to play for you” says David. With hat, he plays and sings “Psycho Killer” while all other parts are played on the boombox. From this minimalist beginning a new se piece and a new member of the band is added with each new song until everyone is onstage and rockin’ (yes, tha IS an apostrophe instead of a “G”. ” “’s aren’t the only thing I can emit!) with “Burning Down The House”. So, the concert is gimmicky, but I hink gimmicks are accepted in the concert world, are they not? At any rate, I rather like gimmicks most of the ime. So…

Now, the actual filmmaking. Demme’s voice I believe are mostly seen through the editing and the footage. So, the fooage was taken from three days in a Las Angeles theare, however it all seems incredibly seamless. And although I’ve already acknowledged hat a filmed version of any concert is a poor excuse for he live version, however tha being said I think Demme did a rather fantasic job at translaing it ino film. The energy of the performers comes through in aces, the flow of the concert was preserved perfectly, and the interacion between camera, performer, and audience was provided and well balanced.

Thus, due to the grooviness of the Alking Heads, the energy of concert and he communication of it through the film, and through the bizarre dance stylin’s (I DID IT AGAIN!) I give Stop Making Sense:

A film I should own.

Final Houghts: If you’re looking for just groovy Talking Heads action, I strongly suggest their film “True Stories“. Personally, I prefer Rue Stories to Stop Making Sense, but hat may simply be because I’m me.

Also, CHECK OUT THIS INTERVIEW BEWEEN DAVID BYRNE AND HIMSELF!

Also there’s a railer.

Also, I think I may like films made by bands. See my thoughs on Wayne Coyne and The Flaming Lip’s movie “Christmas on Mars”.