Stuck in my head: Through Glass by Stone Sour

It got in my head Sunday, and it's still not out! Luckily, it's a beautiful song. :) Fans will love to hear it again, those who don't know it should listen.

Enjoy: Through Glass by Stone Sour.

I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
Oh god it feels like forever

But no one ever tells you
That forever feels like home
Sitting all alone inside your head

How do you feel?
That is the question
But I forget you don't expect an easy answer
When something like a soul becomes initialized
And folded up like paper dolls and little notes
You can't expect a bit of hope
So while you're outside looking in
Describing what you see
Remember what you're staring at is me

Cause I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
All I know is that it feels like forever
But no one ever tells you

That forever feels like home

Sitting all alone inside your head
How much is real?

So much to question
An epidemic of the mannequins
Contaminating everything
When thought came from the heart
It never did right from the start
Just listen to the noises
(Null and void instead of voices)
Before you tell yourself
It's just a different scene
Remember it's just different from what you've seen

I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
And all I know is that it feels like forever
When no one ever tells you that forever
Feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head

And it's the stars, the stars
That shine for you
And it's the stars, the stars
That lie to you, yea

I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
Oh god it feels like forever
But no one ever tells you
That forever feels like home
Sitting all alone inside your head

I'm looking at you through the glass
Don't know how much time has passed
And all I know is that it feels like forever
When no one ever tells you that forever
Feels like home, sitting all alone inside your head!

And it's the stars, the stars
That shine for you
And it's the stars, the stars

That lie to you, yeah

And it's the stars, the stars
That shine for you
And it's the stars, the stars
That lie to you, yeah

Oh when the stars
Oh when the stars that lie

I don't really understand what it's about, but I just love it! I wish I could play the guitar already... :)

Greets,

x Marcia

New Furby!

Hey all!

Do you remember Furby? The robotic creature from the 90's that you could tickle, pet, feed, etc? There's a new one coming out soon, with a lot of new functions!

I have to admit: I love Furbies. I had 3 when I was younger: a multi-colored one, a white-with-black-spots one, and even a baby Furby. So now, about 13-14 years later, I was quite trilled when I heard on the radio that they're doing a remake. So I did a little research, and this is what I found:

Looking good!

First thing you might notice are the eyes. (Well, it's not very clear on this picture, but it sure is in the video's.) Its eyes are screens, and can display a wide range of emotions. Also a new feature: Furbies can have different personalities now, each with their own eyes, emotions and preferences. Two personalities that are already described are the "Valley Girl", which is outgoing and happy, and a more "evil" personality, that apparently sings guitar riffs from Black Sabbath. Nice! 

Music, maestro!

But they can do more than just singing a pre-programmed melody: when playing music near Furby, it can "sing along", mimicking the music a bit with Furby-sounds. And of course, it can also dance, as demonstrated in several video's.

The Furby food app!

Feeding and communicating, 2012-style
This is 2012, and what's hot right now? Right: apps. Hasbro (the company that makes Furbies) will also release a free app on iPad, which can translate Furby to English and vice versa, and you can use it to feed your Furby different kinds of food, and he/she will even react differently to that food. How it works? With sounds that are inaudible for humans, but the Furbies can pick them up.

And about communicating: you should talk a lot to Furby, because then it will pick up English words and incorporate them in its own speech. Different Furbies can also talk and interact with each other, and even learn from one another!

I guess I said most of what is already known, just watch some video's to see it in action:

Haha, I like how it moves too! :)

Colors?
What's up with the neon blue color? Are there any other colors too? The answer is yes. It took me a while but I found a site with pictures of some other colors:
Hmm... I like the blue and the black one most. The white one is soooo fluffy! :D But there are still some more colors to be revealed. I'm curious! :D

How much does it cost & when is it coming out? 
About 60 dollars, which should be about 48,92€, so my guess is 50€. Its release date is now set at September 2012.

My opinion
I like it! I like the new functionalities, I like how it looks and moves... I'm definitely going to buy one! :) The only thing I'm quite disappointed about is that the app only works on iPad... Maybe it's something technical? Otherwise I hope that it will also appear on other iOS devices and Android.

It could be Area42's mascot, haha! :D I'll keep you updated!

Greets,
x Marcia

P.S: Want to read more/see more pictures & video's?

• http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/06/furby-hands-on-video/
• http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57467675-1/furby-returns-ios-app-and-all-hands-on-with-the-2012-version/
• http://www.squidoo.com/new-furby-2012
• ...

New Pokémon B/W 2 Promotion Trailer

Wiiii! A new Pokémon anime trailer!

And for those of you who have missed the first one, I preferred it over the new one. It's a bit longer, but certainly worth the watch.

Aaah, if only the regular anime would be this nice... And the Japanese, it sounds so cool!

For your information: Pokémon Black 2 & White 2 are already out in Japan, coming to North America on October 7, Europe on October 12. I better finish Black till then...

Greets,
x Marcia

Hotel Transylvania

Hey all!

I wanted to share a trailer that a friend showed me with you.

"Hotel Transylvania" is a 3D animation movie by Sony Pictures Animation, that will hit the theaters by fall of this year. It has the voices of Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg, Kevin James, Cee Lo Green and other celebrities.
This comedy tells the story of Dracula, a vampire who tries to protect his teenage daughter. He builds a "monster-hotel", so she could have everything near her, and so she has no excuse to go out and explore the world on her own. But Dracula never counted on a human visiting his hotel... And of course, vampire-teenager Mavis falls in love with the boy...

I hope the whole movie is as funny as the trailer! I certainly like the characters. :)

I think I'm going to watch this one :D

Greets,
x Marcia

Defiance

Greetings and salutations!

In this first post of mine I would like to talk about an interesting new "entertainment experience" called Defiance.

 

Defiance consists out of two main parts: an online game and a tv series.  It's being developed by Trion Worlds and Syfy.

The game is a cross-platform third-person shooter MMO. It will be released on PC, Xbox360 and PS3. In the game you are a soldier and you have to fight off alien monsters. To me it looks like a mix between the visuals of Halo and gameplay-elements of Borderlands.

The series is a science-fiction show from the minds behind Battlestar Galactica and Farscape and will be aired on the Syfy channel in the US. The basic premise of the story goes as followed:

"Drifting through a terramorphed American landscape, the mysterious Joshua Nolan settles in a border town where aliens and humans fight against the fragility of peace."

What's cool about all of this is that the game and the show influence each other. The story of the show will change things in the game, and actions that players do will have an impact on the show.
This all sounds like a really cool idea if it's executed  properly. I'm just wondering how the game will affect the story of the show. Are there just going to be some references to fights in the game, or will they change major parts of the story so it reflects the game properly? I really hope the last one, but it will really be up to the writers of the show to make it all work. If they would do it like that, the game better be good too, because if the game sucks, no one will play it, so the show can't be influenced by it anymore.

I hope it will work out for them, because the idea seems cool and could bring forth even more of these cross-platform entertainment experiences. I currently have no idea whether it will also air here in Belgium, but I certainly hope so.

This will all be released during april 2013 in the US.

If you're curious, you can find out more at these sites:
http://defiance.com/en/
http://www.trionworlds.com/en/games/defiance

Greetz,
Yannick

Another feelgood video: Ode to Joy!

Hey all!

Not a long post today, but another nice video :) Really worth watching! Enjoy :D

How can you not like this? :)

Greets,
x Marcia

Ouya: new competitor in the game industry!

Hey all!

I'm quite happy to announce this: there's a new console coming! Yes, you read that right: Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo will have some competition from an unexpected corner...

What is this mystery box? :)

Ouya has a unique concept. This console runs on Google's Android, and everyone who wants, can develop for it. They want to keep it very "open". The only requirement is that your game is free to play is some way. This can be a demo, or a free-to-play game with micro-transactions. Other than that, there's no special test you must pass to be able to develop for Ouya, and developers can choose their own prices (split is 30% for them, 70% for the developer, which is not bad at all). And when they say open, they mean it: you can even screw it open, hack the hardware, root it... "your warranty is safe" (actual quote from their Kickstarter page).

The interface... I do sense some Xbox-influence here :)

The controller is touch-sensitive, like a smartphone, so all current Android-games work on it, but also has the standard buttons and joysticks, so developers can play around with it! Other hardware specs: 1GB RAM, 8GB flash storage, Nvidea 3 Tegra quadcore processor, built-in Wi-Fi... Not super-impressive, but as long as it works, I'm happy. :)

Ouya has just begun with a Kickstarter, with a goal of $950,000, and they've already almost reached it. If you donate $99 or more, you get an Ouya even before it hits the stores! (For deliveries outside the US, they ask to donate $20 on top of that, if you want a second controller, add another $30.) Their estimated delivery is March 2013. Click the Kickstarter link to read more about their offers when pledging a certain amount of money.

Watch their video! I find it so inspiring :D

So, I calculated a bit: 122€ for the console + extra controller + shipping... That's not too much. Guess I'll be going for it! What are your thoughts on Ouya? :)

Greets,
x Marcia

Sunny Sunday! #1

I love the Sun! So why not dedicate a post to it? :) From now on, every Sunday, I'll post some nice pictures of the sun. ^^ Today's sub-category: colorful. Enjoy! (Click for a larger image)

Greets,
x Marcia

Rising star? :)

Hi all!

This is a friend of mine, Joanne Van Bastelaere. She went to the same high school as I did. Her voice is beautiful, check out her newest song:

And this slower song, where she's playing the piano:

I still secretly hope she will also produce the song that she sang a few years ago at a concert at our school, it was so catchy and emotional too. Joanne, I'm waiting for more songs! ;) If you release an album, I'll surely buy it! :D

Please support her!
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/JoanneVBMusic
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheJoanneVB

Greets,
x Marcia

Beautiful video: Validation

Hey everyone!

Today is going to be a short post, but with a long video. A friend sent it to me. It's long, but really worth watching. If you can't watch it now, remember to watch it later. It will cheer you up in no time. :D

Hope you like it as much as I did :-)

Greets,
x Marcia

Ni No Kuni: Wizard's Edition

If you don't know Ni No Kuni yet: shame on you! :p
Okay, a short explanation: "Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch" is a Japanese RPG for PS3 that was created by the combined powers of game studio Level-5 (Dragon Quest 9, Professor Layton...) and animation studio Studio Ghibli (known from "Spirited Away"). Just... just watch the trailer. And prepare to be amazed! :D

The visuals, the story, the music... I was in love with this game from the first time I saw it...
And now, they announced the Wizard's Edition!

That's the collector's edition and it will include:

• The game (of course)
• 2 DLC monsters: the golden mite and the golden drogo
• A plush doll of Drippy (your in-game side-kick)
• Last but certainly not least: a replica of The Wizards Companion, a 300-page full color book filled with information about all monsters, items, spells and history of the game world.

I.Want.This. It's because of the book, I really have a weakness for it. There is no European price announced yet, but the price for North America is $99,99. That's a lot of money... but... The book... 300 pages... full color... I'll be saving a bit I think!

Ni No Kuni will be out in North America on January 23, 2013. For Europe, it's January 25.
If you live in North America, you can pre-order the Wizard's Collection here.
I'll keep you updated if a European reseller is announced.

Have some spare time? You may as well watch some more trailers then ;-)

Gameplay Trailer:

Can't wait! ^^

x Marcia

Preproduction lesson 1: Perspective (part 1)

(http://jezreelkang.blogspot.be/2011/01/sj18-perspective-drawings-one-point.html)

As I'll be giving an "introduction course" of preproduction to Mike, I thought "why not put it on the blog, so everyone can benefit from it?" So... Here it is!

Note: the images used in this article are not mine. Since I'm working this month, I don't have the time to draw examples. Where possible, I give the source of the image.

Lesson 1: Perspective
The first preproduction lesson is about perspective. You can describe perspective a bit like "How do the lines you draw behave?"
The kinds of perspective I will talk about here are orthographic perspective, one-, two- and three-point perspective.

* Orthographic perspective
Orthographic perspective is not a "natural" perspective. In this kind of perspective, parallel lines will never cross. It is mostly used for technical representations, but we will practically never use it.
Some examples:

The difference between perspective and orthographic
(http://ofps.oreilly.com/titles/9780596804824/chmath.html)

A little example
(http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?148878-Creating-an-Isometric-Camera)

Another example (okay, I just liked this image a lot)
(http://www.bighappyaccident.com/blog/2010/01/fun-from-an-orthographic-perspective/ )

* One-point perspective

This is the easiest form of perspective, and therefore the first one we will learn to draw. Before teaching you how to draw them however, first some examples:

(http://timluv.deviantart.com/art/One-point-perspective-exterior-142005975)

(http://www.art-rageous.net/Perspective.html)

In this kind of perspective, you should notice 3 types of "main" lines: horizontal ones, vertical ones and the ones that go to the vanishing point.

Now, as for how to draw 1-point perspective, this video will explain it better than text will do ;)

What I'd recommend to do though, it to draw the guidelines really softly, otherwise it will be very hard to erase them later on.

The video is from this site: http://www.learn-to-draw-lessons.com/realistic-drawing.html

You can look through it a bit, it seems quite interesting. :)

Another short video about drawing a cube in one-point perspective

The next video is a bit long, but it's really worth the watch. It explains how to draw cylinders in perspective. The way this woman draws the cicles is also the way we learned it. Pay attention ;-)

So, now you know how to draw boxes and cylinders in one-point perspective! Those are the most used shapes to "build up" common objects. This was lesson one, first practice a bit on drawing shapes and a simple landscape, like a road with houses. Then... go for the assignment! :D

Assignment 1: One-Point Perspective

time to deadline: one week

• Go to your local town/city (or another city if you want to :p ) and make about 10-20 pictures in one-point perspective.
• Select the 5 pictures you like most. Try choosing different viewpoints (low-mid-high horizon, left-mid-right vanishing point...)
• Put those pictures in black and white, and put them on a format of 12 cm width / 8 cm height. Print these out and cut them carefully
• For every picture: hold your blank paper vertically and carefully paste the picture in the center of the top half. On the bottom half of the page, draw a frame (with black pen) the same size of the picture.
• Now, in each frame, redraw the picture pasted above it. (Do NOT trace the picture, use a lightbox...) Build up your drawing: horizon line, vanishing  point, guidelines... Try to build up everything you see with basic shapes: boxes, cylinders... Leave out the details
• Try to keep your drawing clean: leave the guidelines, but make sure the actual drawing stands out enough: work with contrast!
• Every drawing should take about 20 minutes, 30 minutes max.

Extra:

• Select your two favorite images
• For each image: draw a frame of 24 cm / 16 cm on a new page
• Redraw the image, but change the viewpoint a bit. (more left/right/up/down...) Make it look even cooler!
• Same as before: use horizon, vanishing point, guidelines, basic shapes... to build up the image. Work neatly, leave the guidelines (softly), use contrast.
• If you want, you can add more detail. It is as you wish!
• About an hour for each drawing.

Goals:

• Recognize one-point perspective
• Find interesting viewpoints/compositions
• Recognize basic shapes within complex objects
• Build up one-point perspective (shapes)
• Work neatly, have an eye for the "finishing touch"
• Respect deadlines, learn to plan your work :p

Estimated time: about 6 hours (taking pictures, selecting, printing, cutting, pasting, drawing...) if you do the extra.

Okay, so this was my first "teaching article"... Please comment if you there are some parts that need more explanation. I'm only learning (to teach) too ;-) 

Next week I'll tell you more about two- and three-point perspective!

Greetz,

x Marcia

Holiday plans

Summer job
Today was my first day at my summer job. I didn't have a lot of work to do, and even though it's a bit annoying and I feel guilty for just sitting there, I secretly hope it stays that way, because...

Making our first indie game together!
Well, me, Yannick and Sven brainstormed about the game project we'll do this summer, and I'm really looking forward to it! :D This month, we'll be fine-tuning the concept, make art, the story... Next month we'll start the production. :) I can't promise anything, but maybe we can give a sneak peek when there is some concept art done ;)

Playing teacher
Since it will be Mike's first year in DAE, Sven asked us to give him some kind of "preview" of the study. I'll be playing... the Preproduction teacher. Preproduction is the course where you learn to draw, to design, paint, make concept art... I'm not super-good at it (I'm a programmer after all) but I'll do as a substitute-criticizer :p And I'll try to teach and give tips of course. I'm actually looking forward to it :)

Moving out, moving in
Our previous apartment mate moved out a few days ago, Yannick and Mike now officially moved in. But there's still some cleaning up & moving to do :p

Gaming, maybe?
I have a HUGE list of games that I still have to play, but will I have enough time? :p Currently, I'm playing From Dust. Maybe I'll write a short review about it when I finished the game :)

Overall: lots of plans, lots of work, we'll see what we get done and just enjoy ourselves! ^^

Do you have a lot of plans for the holidays? :)

Greets,
x Marcia 

Caution, quite addicting: Pinterest

You've probably already heard of it or at least seen it around: Pinterest. I've discovered it a week or two ago and I must say: I love it! :D But what is it exactly?

How does Pinterest work?
You can see Pinterest as an online pin-up board. First, you register (it's easy, you can use Facebook or Twitter to log in if you want). Then, you receive a link to put in your bookmarks bar, that you can use to "pin" pictures from the web. During registration, they ask you what your interests are, and based upon that, Pinterest suggest you some people you can follow.

The concept is very simple: you just make boards (consider it as a category) and pin any image you want to any board you want. When you create a board, you can even add other pinners so you can pin together.

Social
Pinterest is social too: you can browse the pins of people you follow, separate categories or all pins. Then you can repin (put it on one of your own boards), like, or comment on pins. Other people can follow you or one/some of your boards. And Pinterest shows you whenever someone repins, likes or comments on your pins.

This is what my Pinterest looks like at the moment

What I like about it:

• You discover beautiful, cool, awesome pictures & sites
• You can use it as moodboards & to get inspired
• It shows what people like/find interesting
• Nice interface
• It's fast & easy!

What features I'd like:

• Private boards/only people with the link can see (just because I'd love to use it as private moodboards/shared moodboards with teammates) 
• Easier to organize: a drag 'n drop system with multiple select would be very handy
• Folder structure: folders with multiple boards (like a Games folder with a Pokémon-board and a Zelda-board)
• The option to make a scrapbook with your pins. This is asking to much, but it would be awesome if you could take pictures and just "paste" them in a book, at any size, place, rotation... But again: I ask to much :p

Conclusion:
I'd say: try it out! Maybe you like it, maybe you don't. I thought it wasn't really something for me, but I love it! :D There's nothing to lose ;-) It's pretty easy to understand, but if you should be stuck somewhere, this guide explains everything in detail: http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Pinterest

If you'd like to check it out, this is my Pinterest :)
http://pinterest.com/miralci/ 

Greets,

x Marcia