Interactive Art (The Dream Machine)

Wow.  Just wow.  I love artsy point and click games that encorporate music, story, dialogue and visual art to create an entire atmosphere.  Luckily for me, these games seem to be getting more popular  (Machinarium, the Dream Machine, Botanicula, Stacking, and although it is more of an adventure game, Limbo).  The Dream Machine, made by two "Swedish Nerds", has a unique twist to it: sculpture and stop-action style figurines.

Ever since I watched Gumbi as a child, I have been in love with this art form.  There is something palpable about three dimensional art that makes me feel like I am falling into a different world entirely; it draws me in, it claims my attention and mind.  So, naturally, when I saw The Dream Machine available on Steam, I felt drawn to it and purchased it immediately.  All I had to see was clay figurines and I was opening my pocketbook.

When I actually played it, I was even more impressed than I thought I would be. All parts of the game are constructed by hand out of clay, cardboard and paint.  The scenery is so incredibly detailed, that it feels like walking into an alternate universe where everything is made of clay.  Each scene and character has been painstakingly created to perfection.

The story is something outlandishly fantastic on its own.  Your character (Victor) starts his day out in a perfectly normal fashion, living his normal life with his normal pregnant wife after just moving into a new apartment that seems normal.  If you've seen Rosemary's Baby, then you know where I'm going with this.  In the building lurks a great mystery which you will uncover, and a great evil which you will have to defeat.  Victor goes from his normal life to a discovery which leads him through the dreams of others, solving puzzles and problems in order to get to the center of each dream, the lair of great evil that holds dreamers captive.

If you would like to try the game out, you can play it for free online, but I would strongly suggest purchasing it (on steam or at their website) because it is much better quality.  Also, of course, by purchasing it you would be supporting this wonderful art form.

You can try the game out here:
http://www.thedreammachine.se/

Happy gaming!

Pencil Face

"He'll help you draw, he'll help you erase; waste not want not...he's Pencil Face."


Just a few days ago I stumbled upon this jewl: a sufficiently creepy short film by Scad shorts.  The music, the pencil, and the eerie development of the story made me queasy with a quiet sense of horror.  It was much like an old German children's story book; a very very disturbing tale, with a righteous moral to be taught.  

Stupid Girl!

For Shame

I have had another spurt of blogging lethargy, as is probably painfully obvious.  Go ahead, spank me, I deserve it.  However, to be fair, I have had a wild ride for the last few months.

Anyway, we celebrated our first Halloween together: the most significant religious holiday on the calendar (just kidding!).  We dressed up like ourselves and went to the only fucking goth party in this entire fucking country.  FUCK!  I wore an underbust corset that I made a while ago and he wore a shirt that we jubilantly destroyed.  Below are some pictures we took after the party, which is of course why we look haggard and sweaty (not a bad addition to our costumes).  Ta-da!

"The Passion" takes the streets in Central America

Here are a few pictures I took of a religious procession in CR during Easter Week.  CR is a mainly catholic country, with each town built around a church (and a soccer field).  Nearly every town has its own religious processions during easter week, each varying in quality and realism.  The people who "play" Jesus take their roles very seriously and try their best to inherit his pain and suffering, actually dragging behind a real wooden cross and receiving multiple whippings and beatings from those who "play" Roman soldiers.  At the end, supposedly he is put up on the cross, but as these processions are hours long, I didn't have the patience to stay and see it through to the end.  Maybe next year :)
Take a look a the pictures and click on them if you would like to see them enlarged/in more detail.

  the beginning of the procession...

These kids were clearly bored

One of the thieves. Obviously the blood is fake, but I wouldn't be surprised if this man

found himself covered in bruises and scratches the following day.

There was an impressive group of drummers following the procession.  It sounded like a death march.

Jesus dragging his cross in the scorching sun for several hours

As I said, it was a good sized cross

Thats all, thanks for looking

labyrinth earrings

 

I made these earrings with copper wire which is pretty fun and easy to shape.  I tried soldering the edges, but then just ended up burning my finger and screaming out in frustration and agony.  Mainly agony.  I suppose I just don't have to patience to solder metal with a puny nearly-useless soldering iron.  Blast!  I kind of wish I would have put another bead in the center, but alas, I thought of it after my coils were already formed.

schwarzwälder kirschtorte

I made a gluten-free schwarzwälder kirschtorte!

 

earrings!

I thought I'd try my hand at jewelry-making...its sort of fun and easy!  So here are my first three pairs of earrings ever.  They're pretty sloppy since I'm just learning how to do this, but not too terrible for a first timer, I guess :-P

sideways glances

Just a few leftover self-portrait shots that I didn't realize I liked until now :-P

if I had a body guard...

I clearly have a thing for octopuses!  And yes, its strange, but apparently grammatically speaking, octopuses is actually the correct plural for octopus.  Contrary to popular belief, it is not octopi.  Did I just shoot down all of your your dreams and hopes of achieving grammatical perfection at the young ripe age of ***?  Take heart in knowing that your grammar will always be better than mine ;)

So, here is the photo I was working off of... http://img.wallpaperstock.net:81/octopus-wallpapers_13744_1680x1050.jpg

...and here is my charcoal drawing ( 16x 24 inches)

sloppy charcoal!

Its been a while since I last did charcoal...you can tell, this is pretty awful!  This is a 18x24 inch charcoal slop that I whipped up in 30 minutes or so.  Charcoal always feels sort of relieving to me (attack the paper!).  Its quick, satisfying and always looks wonderfully bold.

zombification!

It has been too long since I last posted a blog.  Let me just say, happy time is over!  Brooding time begins yet again!  You know what that means??  Art!  Or in the case of this post, a ponderance of sorts (firefox seems to disagree with me concerning the existance of the word ponderance.  Suck it, firefox!).  The question in mind is this: if I were a zombie, what would I look like?

drumroll please...

These photos were heavily photoshopped, aside from the eyes.  Those are "wild eyes" prescription contacts.  They are suprisingly comfortable for "fun" contacts, but the slight peripheral view impingement is more than annoying to me.  I rely on my peripheral vision to keep an eye on the creepers ;)