frozen octopus

It was the last day of the 30 day animation class yesterday. Waking up today with no animation assignment in my inbox is an odd feeling.

There was a survey at the end of it asking about what I learned. I think the thing that is sticking with me about the class is not going into an animation without a plan.

Before starting the course, I would go into an animation and start drawing frame one and then frame two. After the class, I know the animation technique deeper. I can get a point across with a lot fewer frames.

I setup an Apple shortcut that randomly selects a drum rudiment from a list of 80 stored in Data Jar. It's cool to have one rudiment to figure out each day instead of a huge, daunting list of all of them. I have a drum pad and sticks in the office so I can zone out and play the rudiment a little bit all day.

I find that if you do a minute here and there all day, the practice time really adds up. A fifteen minute practice session feels like a task. One minute micro sessions fifteen times doesn't.

Cliché lyrics are in the ear of the beholder for sure. We all have those phrases that make our eyes roll. It's impossible to write and make the whole world happy. You write what makes you happy and ignore people who aren't into it.

That being said, I do have a text file with a list of cliché lines from songs on it. I add to it sporatically and sparingly. It has to be a really high level cliché to make the list. I heard two today...

• "it's a choice I have to make"
• "get my feet on the ground"

There is an old way to slightly dampen the ring of a drum using felt and a clip. You take a strong clip and clip a stack of felt to the rim. The stack is made up of strips. When you hit the drum, the felt flies up allowing the drum to sound like a drum. As the felt falls back down it gently cuts of the ring of the drum.

There are other ways to dampen a drum for sure like putting tape on the head or detuning one lug. Since I am using the house kit at clubs in Japan, it feels rude to get tape gunk on their heads or mess with the tunings.

Clipping on some felt from the local 100¥ store could be the solution to reduce some of the clanginess. It was also cool that when I went felt shopping, there was a wide range of color packs. The only things I am wondering about is which kind of clip is going to be able to stay on. Might have to go hunting for some tiny clamps.

On the way home from our show last night, I kept thinking about how punk bands in the eighties spray painted bedsheets with their logo on them. My first band made one and it was SOOOO important to us to have it behind us at every show.

I kinda want to make one for our next show but I already have to carry 1000 pounds of merch on the train.  ( ^ . ^ ) \m/