Payback

Hello all,

IMHO I think that our kid's time span of 'childhood' is shrinking. The amount of information available (and not so good info) is staggering and most children grow up way too fast. As parents, we rush around taking care of work (I'm laid-off, so I find myself busier than ever between my 'Start up', running errands and the Honey-do list) and having not much time to let kids be kids. I really can't say that I agree with the amount of academia our kids have on them today. We need more culture, people - too much 'reality', sports, competitiveness, rude behavior and pushing kids (not in that order), I believe contributes to the shocking headlines of these poor kids when they snap.

(OK, I'll get off my soap box and onto the point of the post ^_^)

Last week I played a small gig in this great spot called Kindergarten. It's right down the road and I suggest it to any Dad that has a talent for playing music. Really Dad's, they won't miss you that much at work if you call in sick (hint-hint), and if you're laid-off, absolutely no excuses... There was no money involved, took me a few hours for prep. of materials, some practicing, and the payback was immense!

Ally on the left, my late brother George's guitar, center...

There is an activity called 'Centers' in Mrs. Bray's Kindergarten class. It's where a volunteer parent (I'm the only Dad so far) comes in and does an activity with the class. This is the second one I have done. Last time, I read "Don't let the Pigeon ride the Bus" - one of my favorites from Mo Willems (since the kids get involved and get to say 'No' during the book) and then the kids put together Construction paper buses which I cut out the day before.

Good Times.

This time I sang "Bingo", "This Old Man" with cue cards for the kids to follow along.

I also did Ice Cream Man by VH for the potty break,
and No - Eddie VH, I am NOT ^_^.
Check out the kid in green - right back at ya, bro.

I believe that steeping kids in the classics is paramount. After that, it was 3 books including "Parts", and 2 Dr. Seuss - "Sneeches on the Beaches" and "Fox in Socks". I can't really say which of the Dr.'s books are my favorites - they both are so great.

If you are looking for the defacto standard
of tongue-twisters to read to kids, "Fox in Socks" is it.
Thanks to Mr. Wigley (my son's 5th grade teacher) for having me
read it for his class, introducing me to a wonderful book
that is a challenge to read at a normal pace and gets the kids giggling.
(I ran out and bought it that day)

The payback I mentioned came that Friday afternoon. My Wife went in to school for "Tea time with Mom" for Mother's day, and she spoke with a few of the Moms there - she is one of the 'Room Mom's for Ally's class. They said that their kids were singing "Bingo" and "This old Man" out of the blue. When asked, they said some Dad came in with a guitar and they all sang together - SCORE!!!

I plan on doing an encore next month, so if you have any suggestions - I'm all ears. And remember friends, Don't play down to kids - just play with them.

thanks for listening...

Music - Michael LuBrant

Hello all,

Well it's been a long road, and I love it when life affords us the karma that comes when paths cross of good people whom you haven't seen in so long. Remember folks, it's a journey. I feel lucky to be given one of these moments a couple weeks back.

When I worked at Teknion, I worked with a cool guy, Michael LuBrant in the IS (IT) department. I also played bass with him once or twice at open mic nights. Back then, he had already began his musical career recording his own music - and it was good then. I bumped into him, and he turned me onto his latest stuff - You have to check it out!

The music from his latest CD, 'Any Road You Take' shows his accomplishment and maturity as a singer/songwriter. From the rock beat in 'Long Time Gone' to his soulful balladeer's delivery in 'Rainy Sunday', Michael demonstrates his formidable songwriting ability. 'A Little More Time' hearkens back to 80's influences from pop music and shows more of the vast creativity he possesses. No need to look further, his music is fresh, soulful and you can see right into him and feel what he gives to you.

Like I said...karma. It's the best.

...Thanks for listening...

Animation: Moe Test

Hello all,

Here is a quick animation I made of an original character for my upcoming Flyball Short. His name is Moe. He's all happy now, but keep an eye on him. His mood can change at a moment's notice. ^_^ / -_-



...thanks for listening...

3d Rigging: Free Lightwave character- Pawn

The year before last, I designed a character named Pawn which I was going to use for animating shorts to use in my (upcoming) reel. I still plan to use him, but sometime life gets in the way of getting the personal projects done.

I visit the 11second club here and there. They have a monthly animation competition for the fun of it and they have free rigs for Max, Maya, etc. But they never have any free rigged characters for us Lightwavers.

So I found a need to fill... Why not clean him up a bit and post him for free for others to use and learn by picking the rig apart? I have learned so much from these forums - I taught myself 3d, no university schooling yet ^_~. I thought this would be a good opportunity to give back, for so much I have taken.

I contacted the 11second club a few times to offer it for free to the users with no response - maybe I'm on their spam list. So I decided to go to the source and post the rig for free on the Spinquad and the Newtek forums.

Of course with human nature, there is always someone riding your coat-tails or trying to steal your fire. My thread on the Newtek forums got Hi-jacked by a guy in the UK offering his own rig for free to reel in people to buy his tutorials and all. Well, he has to pay for his schooling somehow - no worries, there's always one.

Anyways, mine has a control panel to manipulate the facial morphs and mouth for lip sync - his doesn't even have a mouth ^ ^... Live and let live.

...thanks for listening...

Rendering: Li & Fung,New York, NY

This is a visualization which I did for an office furniture client in New York. It was a space planning and color scheme exercise, that is why you see 2 countertops with different colors.

Renderings: Game Development

Back in 2001, I made some concept art and 3d models for an independent game company in New York. The game never went too far in development due to the developer cancelling production. Here are a few images that I made for the proposed game.
2d concepts


3d images just before production was canceled...

Animation: Flag Icons

I also made some animated gifs for an Administrator of a racing web forum. I developed these in 3d studio Max 4 back in 2001.