After getting that NES sound module for GarageBand, I wanted to try some devamps, and Alex suggested some Advance Wars... so here are Sasha and Grit's themes, 8-bit style! It's pretty crazy all the different sounds you can get just by tweaking four wave patterns (triangle, square, 12.5% pulse and 25% pulse) and a static generator. Trying to match the original instruments, and not have the waves stack up badly or sound too repetitive, is pretty challenging. Fun stuff.

Grit's Theme and the original (since there's a high probability you don't know it, or not well anyway).

Sasha's Theme and the original.

For the Sasha one, I made that entire portrait sprite from scratch too! The Grit one was just a recolor.

ALSO JUST SO YOU KNOW I GOT MY VISCOMM STUFF ALL CAUGHT UP I AM NOT PLAYING WITH GARAGEBAND ALL DAY REALLY

(also just cause I'm caught up doesn't mean I dislike this project any less...)

I found a very nice arrangement of the EarthBound song "Smiles and Tears" on youtube, but realized that the lyrics weren't the official lyrics ("I haven't lived half as long as adults have, but I already have a backpack full of memories...").

The lyrics weren't listed in the comments or the video description, so I decided to try writing down what I heard and Googling that, but it turned up nothing in English or Japanese... so here is an attempt at translating part of it (only part because it's very time consuming -_-;;).

I'm sure there's a lot of mistakes in the transliteration, since I don't know what to listen for / expect. The translation bit was done using a combination of my limited knowledge of Japanese, jisho.org, rikaichain firefox plug-in, and google translate. I tried to make sense out of it, but some of it is just baffling. If anyone understands more of it or could correct it that would help!

つきよいいてんしたち／じゅんぱくのはねおとし／このせかいをつつみ／よかぜがそまる
On a moonlit night, good angels drop snow-white feathers
Shielding the world from the night wind

かわらずまどのむこう／ゆきがすれたくつもる／あのまちにをつれた／おもいのように
On the other side of the window, the snow is frosting and piling up
leading me to that town like a memory

つづけうえるとともに／いろあせるおもいで／はぐるまはいよく／かこもそしていまも
As I keep growing, memories fade, (something about a gear?), in the past and now

だけどねだいつづける／ほしのふうだあのひ／ちかったやくそく／わすれるように
But, going to bed, the appearance of the stars that day is forgotten like a sworn promise

Video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxeSm32pQck&feature=related
The bit I tried to translate is from the beginning up to 2:07.

I finished my first animation for class! It's just a pinball bouncing around; it was for a squash and stretch assignment. It's not on dA or youtube... for one thing, it's kind of dull and only 7 seconds long, for another youtube hates me (read: even if I did want to put it up, youtube removes about half the frames and makes stuff look like crap. I was trying to upload something else, but anyway). We also did a flipbook before the squash and stretch animation, so if I ever feel like scanning 170 or so notecards maybe that will make its way onto the internet.

Also I scanned about a million doodles and pictures before leaving for school and then some more yesterday, so I've been coloring and posting some of those.

Um... these ones are all Fire Emblem -____-;;
http://tinsil.deviantart.com/art/Matthew-136390736
http://tinsil.deviantart.com/art/Eirika-136387945
http://tinsil.deviantart.com/art/FE7-Overweight-136407858

And! I finished (well, for now... in time, who knows, I might not like it anymore and might change it) a piece of music on GarageBand. It's not up anywhere either, but I sent shikuchi the file (and of course I have the file). It's kind of grating.

So thanks to the iMic, a double-ended headphone jack, and Live (a recording and midi program which came with my keyboard for Audio last semester), I can now record music from Bebot and Ocarina (and any other apps if I get others) right to the compy.

Also, by using the iMic, I can make the computer's line out its line in! Meaning, I can record any sound on the computer at original quality, including music from online apps like Tone Matrix. :D

Now I need to improve my improvisation skills with Bebot and the rest...

What I made for my audio 2nd project (final project), if anyone is curious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUHMqzOL7sw&feature=channel_page

1. Overhead pens and hot glue = nail polish
So, while waiting in to speak to Erin after the freshman/sophomore general advising meeting, I noticed some fine tip pens for the overhead projector lying unattended. This was an unspoken plea for me to start drawing with them, so I started drawing patterns on my fingernails. When the light hit the ink, I realized that was a rather beautiful bright red, and had a metallic green sheen to it. This reminded me of that super-expensive hard-to-make safflower (I think?) lipstick in old Japan, and at that point I felt compelled to color all my nails with it, despite not normally being one for nail polish. Sadly it washed off before I could get a picture, but when washed away it left the nails bright pink. And, as I discovered accidentally later on, a thin layer of hot glue makes a protective color cover.

2. Our keys are ridiculously soft.
I never realized this before, but then again I never tried bending or scratching up the key on account of needing it to be usable. But the other day, it got snapped in half. Right. In. Half. Accidental, and far too easy. It was mistakenly put in the wrong door, and then rather than just not working, it split off in the lock, which meant that not only did I need a new key, so did both of them (since we had to call a locksmith to remove it and an entirely new lock core was put on). So be careful! And don't let people get your keys mixed up with theirs.

3. CAPTURE THE FLAG, hall v. hall.
We had noticeably fewer people than the opposing team, and lost most of our offense right off the bat. We had a huge playing area, it was nighttime, and there were buildings making good cover, chokepoint, etc., which all made the game far better than any time I've played it before. I was defense, and managed to get a lot of people-- some people several times with "ninja" tactics, as they said. There weren't enough of us, and eventually we lost due to 1)number disadvantage 2)confusion about rules 3)we were only playing defensively, having lost our offense, so we could not win-- we were just delaying their victory. We're having a rematch next week! Everyone who had gotten caught early on wanted to play again right then, but defense was totally beat, and some of the opposing team just left without waiting to see about a rematch. Anyway, good times.

75 % of the school year down.

Since coming back here, it has been sunny, I have not worn my coat once, and the air and light just say "spring!"
Students can be seen throwing frisbees, studying and relaxing outdoors, and being generally picturesque and campus advertisement worthy.

Anyway, with this much of the year gone, I had an advisor meeting about next year. Erin says hi.

I'm not as far along in my requirements and classes that I should be aiming to take as I want to be, and Bio in particular is just in the way at this point. Taking a substitute class over the summer would probably help.

So looking at the 5 colleges:

This class is a 4 credits Bio I class with a lab, which I'm fairly sure are the only requirements for a substitute bio class.

Amherst and Hampshire Colleges don't seem to offer summer classes in bio, Mount Holyoke might but their site layout is unhelpful. I can't find anything about summer classes in their course listings or calendar, but they mention the existence of summer classes in other parts of the site. Smith doesn't seem to have summer classes, only interterm classes (useless here). General course search on the 5 Colleges site turns up nothing, too.

Japanese is still a big question mark, the school might try to arrange something for language students, it might not. I'm to fill out a Japanese minor request form as a "just in case"; also if they want to keep track of students who still are interested in language classes. Also, study abroad is still murky.

IN OTHER NEWS:
Two of Andrea's friends from home were visiting her this weekend, and they both were easy to get along with and seemed right at home with our group. One was lively, one was quiet.

We went to get lunch/dinner/food yesterday, only to find the place we planned on going to was closed on Sundays.
However
the owner or someone happened to be there, noticed us and actually opened just for us. As everyone pointed out, it was a large group of us and as he was there it was actually quite practical for him to do so, but it still struck me as very-- kind? Old-fashioned? Anyhow. It made an impression.

No more foreign language D: Fail school logic is MAJOR FAIL
What should I do about this?

Okay, it's a lot so it's under a cut.
( here be photos )

Reading/Watching: Well, I've read Watchmen and all of D.Gray Man thus far. Watchmen: not as good as all the hype, imo, but good. Also I still have trouble with WComics because now and then I'll just be reading and suddenly think, "It's ugly!!" lol @ visual conditioning. D.Gray Man is on hiatus until April D: Author hurt her hand.

Vidya: Started Shin Megami Tensei (a "Megaten" game, same meta-series as Persona). It feels like Thy Dungeonman + really minimal graphics. Also started Cave Story (Doukutsu no Monogatari, probably the most famous freeware/indie game on the web. Certainly the one I heard the most/the best about, that's why I tried it. So far, I love it. It's a side scroller, but it has a story and is not as crushingly difficult as most side scrollers seem to be.

So, I have not been posting for a while. I've been taking pics though, and will post those in another entry. This entry is for
HOURLY COMIC DAY!

So, if you follow certain webcomic artists, you may have heard of this. Basically, on February first, you draw one comic every hour that you're awake. I forgot about it until the afternoon though, so I did my own hourly comics for Feb. 3rd (i.e. yesterday). Why not Monday? Because Monday would have been very, very dull.

I'm sorry if they're hard to read-- my handwriting is terrible. If there's a specific one you can't read or just don't get, I can explain it, but I am too tired to type out that sort of stuff atm.

So anyway, ( here they are )

21. Snow sphinx, a bit eroded (I did not make it):


22. Bamboo! A late Christmas present. The blue stuff is some sort of crystal gel... ooze.


23. Headscarf-y things Andrea's family gave her, from Israel.


24. We built a fort! :D Yes, we are so mature.


Animation: I'm now at 37 or 38 seconds. I'm having some trouble with a transition.
Vidya: I now have all the regular jobs in FF3. :D
Reading/Watching: I read Arakawa's one-shot debut manga, Stray Dog. Her art style hasn't changed much, but her storytelling has. Also, I'm slowly reading Skip Beat (shikuchi's recommendation, and quite funny once it gets going) and watching Bleach (everyone else here is caught up on the anime, and I hate being left out when they all watch it... plus it is one of those anime/manga that I feel I ought to know).

In other news: My first video assignment went pretty well, but I'm once again stuck on ideas for the next assignment. If possible, I don't want to use actors, because it is difficult and sort of rude seeming to get other people to act for me, but what can I do if I don't use actors?
Also, I have been doing some of the Python tutorials. It will take a while, but maybe I'll actually learn something.

Also, I need to sort out my sleeping schedule. IT IS 2 IN THE MORNING. But I don't have time during the week, so I stay up late when I can... hm.

19.
Someone made a spectacular snow sphinx, but it was too dark at the time to take a photo. And today I was busy for all the suitably light hours, so I missed photographing it again.
But! I got my filming done for media studio. It was... fairly ridiculous (the actual stuff filmed, that is). I had to try shooting again and again, because people kept being cut off or timing things wrong, and since 1)they were focusing on what they were doing 2) I could not give them any audio cues, it was impossible to signal to them to fix problems.
Here is the little tape:


20.
Classes all day, so no inauguration activities for me. Also, not tucking in my jeans in my boots + way too much road salt and slush today + capillary action= white jeans.


And as the title mentions, old movie stuff:
For our lecture classes for media studio video/audio, we've been seeing clips from famous pioneering movies (a few examples of things we've seen all or part of: La Jetée, Un Chien Andalou, The Battleship Potemkin). I was really struck by the music as much as the images in the clip from the 1929 Russian "experimental documentary" by Dziga Vertov, The Man with the Movie Camera, which you should all see/hear right here. I am not sure when the sound was recorded, but it is some spiffy stuff.

So I've read all 91 currently available chapters (about 17 volumes) of FullMetal Alchemist and it's pretty awesome. I want to draw a bunch of FMA stuff now, so here's what I spent most of today doing:
Greedy Greedy Greed

And now for photos.

Friday: the camera and tripod for media studio


Saturday:
I sat around reading FMA because people were at parties or away.


Sunday:
All the tools used in my picture today except for the mech. pencil. I must repeat how much I love these markers.

Monday:

Taken from my window, hence the screen and reflection of my wall. It was too cold to go outside for this... anyway, I just took this picture because I liked the combination of different colored lights from the high school.

Tuesday:

I built a mini snowman when I got back from class (8:00-ish)! He is master of the surrounding lands.

Wednesday:

Ed, Brian, and Andrew made a pact to not be jerks for 24 hours, on pain of having to drink a horrible concoction: energy drink coffee sludge. As you can see from the emptiness of these bottles, they failed their morality test.

Thursday:

The textbooks and required materials I've had to buy so far for this term. Missing from the picture are my 2 cds for Japanese, and my calc book (which I bought last semester, actually...).

Animation: haven't worked on it
Vidya: haven't played since Monday, when I beat Portal. :D
Reading/Watching: I've read 35 or so chapters of Full Metal Alchemist (there are 91 so far and it is still running). It diverges from the anime around about the time the brothers break into the 5th Laboratory. The pacing and mood-setting is, I believe, much better done in the TV series, and I prefer the anime art. Also, as the manga is much longer than the show, it goes off in strange directions which I do not necessarily care for. It is very interesting, but not what I was expecting, I guess? Also, there are some things which I downright dislike. No spoilers though, in case you might like to read it.

It snowed quite a bit, as I mentioned previously. But this time around (as opposed to last semester, I mean), I have snow boots! And Andrea has useful boots and useless boots:


Also, we now have Guitar Hero World Tour. :o
Guess who's failing at (but slowly improving at) drums!

Animation: 35.9 seconds
Vidya: well, GH doesn't count since it doesn't have a story or levels or something to complete... and other than that, I did no video games today. Praise me, I laid off the drugs!

So, now I'm back at school for the second half of the year. There was a delay on the way up-- one of the main roads was closed, for a reason which the trooper directing traffic would not disclose. But, the snow which was feared did not start until fairly late and is quite light and fluffy. Is it dangerous to drive in? It's not icy snow, but I suppose it could really obscure your vision. It is the kind of snow so flaky and sparkly that it looks like it could be fake snow.

Anyway, most people I know are back now too, so we've been hanging out and now everyone sauf moi is busy making hemp bracelets and necklaces.
Beads for hemp stuff:

The can of beans was found in my drawer as I was putting my art supplies away. It was a rather odd surprise and was apparently left in their by one of my friends earlier on by accident, or rather by forgetfulness.

Also:
animation: 34.2 seconds, or +2 seconds from before.
vidya: beat Doga and Unei in FF3.

If this was a drawing, I would say the perspective looked all wrong. Molly looks like she's not standing on the ground, the hall seems distorted, etc. But it's real. Weirdness of the photo aside, I should put more effort into perspective and architecture in my drawings.


Ao, tomorrow I head back to school, which is a mixed-reaction matter. There are classes I look forward to, but I am not looking forward to stress or deadlines, or busywork / boring classes. I am going to get to see people there again, but will no longer be able to see people at home. On that note, I wasn't able to see everyone I wanted to during the break, but today some of our oldest (time, not age) friends from the area came over. We caught up, talked, etc, well into the evening.

animation, reading and watching are still not updateable.
video games: Cleared chapter 19 of FE: Blazing Sword (that's FE7, fyi).

Although the villains are certainly hateable, I still found the death of the evil Ephidel rather horrific compared with anything I've seen in FE so far. He gets burned alive in a failed attempt to call forth a dragon, as the dragon bursts into flame and falls apart like the god soldier in Nausicaa. :o

In fact, this game just has more death than either of the other two FE titles for GBA (Sword of Seals and Sacred Stones). As in, I started to write up all the plotline deaths, but realized it would take too long. However! The deaths all seem right in the course of the story-- it has the best (most involving) plot of the 3 GBA titles.

Movie watching (Omnmyouji!), movie memes, and movie quote talk today made me decide to take this picture today (terribly lit, and flash... a real photographer would be embarrassed to share such a photo).

It's part of the magnetic poetry movie quotes set.

Also:
I got a haircut today, just in time! I head back up to school on Saturday, and wanted it done before then.
The woman there was talking to me about taking night classes and the like and eventually becoming a nurse. She said she had wanted to be one when she was little, but wouldn't have been able to before. Having kids though, she said:
1) made her deal with the idea of pain, or specifically inflicting pain to treat or avert greater pain or trouble in future
2) made her less squeamish about many things
3) made her want to lead by example and go through with becoming a nurse

These are things and a situation which I can't exactly relate to, but I think she's probably making a good choice. It is not exactly "inspiring", but something like that. At any rate, I found it interesting to hear about.

Today I attempted to make more cookies. I left out lemon (for flavor), salt (flavor enhancer!), and an entire egg (I was wondering why the consistency of the dough was entirely wrong).
I then rolled out the dough too thickly, causing the cookies to blob against each other as they baked, and also I burned half of them.

This is worse when you take into account the fact that I was making these cookies for other people as a sort of Christmas/New Year's gift.

Moving right along! Today's photo:

Yes I do walk around in the icy snowy stuff barefoot sometimes.