I have twenty minutes between computer science classes for lunch. I am a CPU looking to make a turkey and cheese sandwich as fast as possible, so that I have enough time to eat.
This is a reflection on my Winter Term project this year. There’s a small portfolio at the bottom. You can skip to the portfolio if you wish.
Going into this Winter Term, I thought I couldn’t draw. But the drawing book I used (Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards) met me there and helped me make a lot of progress. More than just teaching me to draw, the book taught me how to see. It helped me see edges, perspective, size relationships, and light and dark, and translate that to the page.
This is a short rundown of albums that came out this year that I liked. One of them is secretly an EP but it still made the list. Featuring NNAMDÏ, Dua Lipa, CHIKA, Tall Tall Trees, Anjimile, and Luke Titus.
About a year ago, I watched Frozen Ⅱ four times in one day, which was in a sense a feat of movie-related endurance. This year, I did something else: I watched one movie per day for the entire month of November. Here are exactly five words about each one:
Pumpkin Man was a great experience. We did live shows (with me voicing Pumpkin Man) on Halloween weekend and the weekend before, and people really seemed to enjoy the experience. Pumpkin Man had great interactions with a bunch of his visitors. The day before we took him apart, Sam and I made a video about how Pumpkin Man works.
I’ve gotten complacent. As much as I have tried to remember that he might win re-election, I think at this point I believe he will definitely lose. In 2016, we all thought he would lose, and it was devastating when our confident assumptions were violated. Just think of how much worse it will be this time around. I’d be a lot more prepared if I were more skeptical.
So much has happened since my last update! Pumpkin Man was fleshed out, and we’ve “performed” twice now! As the voice of Pumpkin Man, I’ve had a terrifically spooky time interacting with the friends and neighbors who came to see him.
For the previous post click here.
Since we last checked in, Pumpkin Man’s cybernetic brains developed the ability to start up automatically and self-update. Also, there’s a new control interface for operating all eight relays. And perhaps most importantly, the team working on his physical form have made great strides. He now stands triumphantly!
For last week’s post click here.
This week, I worked on a recording system for Pumpkin Man’s control interface. This enables us to prerecord a sequence of motions and play it back later.
My friend Sam DuBois has enlisted my help in building Pumpkin Man for Halloween 2020. Pumpkin Man is set to be a larger-than-life being with a 🎃 for a head who interacts with passersby. The project is reuniting Sam, Kai, and me, the team behind 2019’s Avenue Adventure. My primary focus is on developing the computer control systems to bring Pumpkin Man to life.