I finally watched BCON20, the Blender Conference: Together Apart today.  It was great how they put the video together to show aspects of Blender and how the different people and studios use Blender to do a variety of different things.  It was hard to look away!  So I wasn't able to really work while watching.

At the end, where Ton Roosendaal closes the conference I couldn't help but become a bit emotional.  Ton is the creator of Blender, and it is his life's work.  To hear that he was diagnosed with a rare acute leukemia in February, and had to undergo an awful experience with chemo for it was really saddening.  He did say his tests were all positive, and that just one DNA test was last to hear about before declaring himself cancer free.

To hear him talk about having a great healthcare system where he and the doctors could just focus on saving his life was really poignant because I would love to have that in the United States but I don't know how or if that could happen.

So I was researching Riot games and decided to try playing League of Legends.  The League of Legends website had a pop-up for a new music video so I went and clicked it.  I had seen fan art of the characters in this music video and the past one, but never knew where they were from.


Right off the bat I'm like whoa nice bike! Then I see it's a Ducati ... and then with the sexy women it clicked.  This music video was definitely targeting men.  One thing I learned when getting into motorcycles, if you want to get all the guys, buy a Ducati.  


One thing I was kinda bummed by was that the women where all so similar, their legs, hips, and faces were almost the same.  With 3D animation in general, there is so much we can do, so it just makes it seem a little boring in this aspect.  Even their movements were identical.


The highlight was definitely their outfits, sold as 'skins' I believe.  And the beautiful environments they were in.​

Without spoiling anything, the movie deals with heavy themes in a fantastical way and yet a realistic ending.
This is a movie that will most likely make the viewer cry, as they see the characters have genuine emotions and react to their experiences in a real way.  

The timing of this movie's release is a bit difficult as we are still living under a pandemic where many people have died worldwide and shutdowns are again happening.  This movie could be too much for someone who has recently lost someone dear to them, or someone working up close in the medical field.  

I would definitely recommend that children watch this movie with an adult, and that the movie is researched before watching because of our worldwide situation right now.  

~~~~~The soundtrack is available on Amazon to buy!~~~~~

One of my cats was diagnosed with mast cell skin tumors .  She had three so the doctor removed them today in surgery, and it went well.  Having to manage my cat though, she's a terrible patient, has been an experience so far. 

It's made me wonder about animation and video games that focus on experiences like someone going through cancer themselves, and how there should be more made about our pets going through similar experiences.
​
Our pets are an extension of ourselves and we love them as family members.  I think pet portrayals should be more than just fun and cute.​

Mean Cone

Nice Donut

Netflix is going to have a new Godzilla series!
It will be hand drawn and have cgi. 
​The studio behind My Hero Academia is working on it too with the studio behind Beastars!
It releases in 2021.  I'm so excited! I love My Hero Academia and Beastars so I'm expecting this show to be good.  

This is a sketch of the characters by the studios.
​
​https://www.ign.com/articles/godzilla-singular-point-netflix-anime-series-2021

A week ago I started playing No Man's Sky on my computer.  

It was developed by Hello Games and originally was released in August of 2016.  It had a rocky start as players didn't feel like the game lived up to expectations.  From what I understand the game is remarkable in that every planet is randomly generated, and the game has so many planets that no one alive now would ever live to see every planet discovered!  The early problems were that there wasn't enough variation of the planets and ecosystems.  Players complained that every planet was basically the same but with slight changes.  One early player wrote "As wide as an ocean, but has the depth of a puddle. Angry Joe - 2016" on a Steam review.

The reason why I recently bought the game and started playing, is that the developers saw what was happening and decided to change the game for the better.  They rolled out numerous updates for the game and basically now it feels well rounded and enjoyable to players.

The graph above is pulled from Steam and shows that while reviews were very mixed and mainly negative in the beginning, their updates really brought players back to where they started recommending the game.  

I never played No Man's Sky back in 2016, but I can say that now it is very enjoyable!  It's full of grinding and pure exploration that makes me feel almost like a real person in Star Trek, although solo.  The visuals are great and it makes me think more without feeling frustrating. 

So I got my motorcycle license on September 1st and I've been riding the small family motorcycle for about a month now.
It's a little 2007 Kawasaki 250 Ninja and while it's great, it triggers my carpal tunnel because of the positioning of the handle bars.  

(Me on the Ninja)

Today after taking the Ninja out, with my dad on his bike, I went and tried taking my brothers bike for a ride.
His motorcycle is a 2004 Honda VTX 1300R.  To put it into perspective, his bike makes the ninja look like a toy. 
​The VTX is a large and heavy cruiser style bike with the handle bars out wide.

(Random internet photo of the VTX)

As a newer rider, the VTX was intimidating because of its size.  But when I took it out, man. It was amazing! It has so much more power and is easy to maneuver.  The entire ride I felt that pure enjoyment and de-stress feeling.  I didn't feel any worry and my wrists weren't strained at all.

Motorcycle riding is a dangerous activity but it really helps me and other people de-stress.  

I always wear all my gear all the time and ride as if I am invisible. 
​We go as a group as well to improve visibility to other cars. 

I just got back from going to Magic Kingdom today.  Seeing the new Tron ride being constructed made me think about the movies and how an animated remake would be really cool.

Live action remakes of animated shows and movies just seem boring to me.  Animation has much more freedom.

I recently watched the new Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous series on Netflix by DreamWorks and Universal.

It is labeled for children in that there is no gore or blood visible, but there are people who die and are eaten by dinosaurs.

The show is great in how scary and suspenseful it is! I was fully engrossed while watching and had to remind myself that this was actually made for children.    

Visually this show is gorgeous, I would love an artbook for it.  I can't wait for season 2!!!

A couple friends of mine told me about these cool sculpting apps for the ipad.

A couple months ago I bought the iPad pro and its been great for illustrating on the go and watching videos.  But I never thought I'd be able to sculpt as well!  

Forger was only $10 and Nomad was only $15; very low costs compared to Zbrush which is around $400 for the student discount.  Blender is free, but as far as I know it can't be used on the iPad.

I bought Forger first and its great! But Nomad has more features, like the gizmo for transforming.  Both have multiresolution sculpting and remeshing.  They can also export obj files to open in Zbrush and Blender.  

These programs are great and I've been working this week on a sculpt for anatomy practice.

Still a work in progress. ​😅