‘Stop right there Mister!’
‘Ah what have I done now?’ you ask reaching into your pocket.
‘It’s not what you did; it’s what you didn’t do. How many times have I told you to... [silence]’
You hit the pause button and grab a drink from the fridge as you slip the ultimate remote control back into your pocket. The nagging can wait.
The idea of a remote that can control both people and time has probably been around since the creation of the very first remote control. The idea has appeared countless t… Continue
There is a knock at the door. You’ve been feeling pretty sick lately so you don’t bother crawling out of bed. It’s probably just a stupid door-to-door salesman anyway. They knock again.
‘Okay okay, hold your horses?’
‘I’m already here. I knock only because I have been told that it’s polite.’
The voice, that sounds like two cement blocks rubbing together, sends a chill down your spine or it would have if you could still feel your body. All of a sudden you feel rather light-headed and transparent.… Continue
For one reason or another, you find yourself without a car. Luckily, a friend is prepared to lend you one. You head over to their place to pick it up.
‘You come for the loaner?’
You nod.
Your jaw drops to the ground as your friend points to the car sitting in the driveway. This is because:
A) Your friend is the biggest nerd on the planet and you’re actually embarrassed to call this person friend
Or
B) You can’t wait to see if the Mr Fusion, time circuits and flux capacitor actually work.… Continue
You hear several high pitch screams. You scramble over the rocks, arriving at a cliff where two boys are struggling to hold onto the edge. As their fingers slip, you grab hold of their arms, stopping them from plummeting to their deaths. Slowly, you try pulling them back onto the cliff. Either you’ve just won the World’s Weakest Person competition or these kids are the type that won’t eat vegetables unless they’re deep-fried. Whatever the reason, you’re unable to pull them back onto the cliff as… Continue
Instead of curling up under the blankets, you find yourself standing in a busy market place on a cold Sunday morning. Your friend keeps on telling you that this will be fun. You tell them that you could be at home having fun in bed. You smirk as they glare at you.
‘The Xbox will still be there when you get back.’
Clearly you’re not going to win this argument, so you allow your friend to tow you through the crowds.
At some point you become separated, Thank God, and as you stumble around for the… Continue
A few years ago, there was an advertising campaign on Australian television where someone would rub a lamp and a genie would appear. They got the standard three wishes but all anyone would ever ask for was a never-ending packet of Tim Tams. Now I love Tim Tams, but seriously, that’s the last thing I would wish for.
So, suppose you find a lamp hidden in a chest of drawers. It was wrapped up in a dress, which strikes you as odd because the chest belongs to your brother, the captain of the school… Continue
Several years ago, while at university, I took a semester of Philosophy via distance education. It wasn’t taught at my campus so I had to do it online and this was at a time when online resources for students could only be describe as pathetic. I learnt very quickly not to do a second semester despite getting high grades. One of the questions dealt with a holodeck-like scenario in which they asked: if you had lived your whole life in a holodeck would you care?
Yes, I would care because it wasn’… Continue
After being killed for the umpteenth time, I threw the controller across the room and ejected the disc from the console. In other words, I hit the reset button. This wonderful ability isn't available in real life, but what if it was. What if life had a reset button? Would you use it?
Obviously, it would be a one time only kind of deal. Otherwise, the result would be Groundhog Day on a Global scale. Assuming that you could do it only once, what exactly would happen? In a game, you lose everythin… Continue
While mucking around on the net I came across a news article that made me glad to be the owner of an Xbox 360. And if you don’t have one it’s time to start dropping those pennies into the piggy bank.
Imagine a game where you talk to the characters. A game where you could draw an object on a piece of paper, hold it up to them and have them recognise the drawing. Of course, with the way I draw not even Picasso could recognise it, but that’s beside the point. Imagine a game wher… Continue
Added by Glenn Dusting on June 15, 2009 at 4:28am —
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I was quite impressed with where J.J. Abrams and Paramount took the Star Trek franchise with the latest film and am fascinated to see where they go from here with their rewrite of Star Trek history. This blog is not so much a review of the film but of just one element: J.J. Abrams decision to shoot entirely with a Handycam.
Okay, he probably didn’t use a Handycam but for almost the entire movie, the camera bounces around the scene like a kid who has just consumed an entire bottle of red cordial… Continue
Added by Glenn Dusting on June 7, 2009 at 7:39pm —
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I’m not sure of the reason, but recently I found myself watching some of the You Can’t Do That on Television clips on YouTube. I used to watch the show as a kid and it’s even better now that I’m an adult. These clips led to my discovery of You Can’t Do That On YouTube.
The YouTube version is a little rough around the edges. There is clearly a tight production schedule as the kids often stumble through their words and the show is clearly m… Continue
Added by Glenn Dusting on June 1, 2009 at 4:05am —
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As the very wise and rather odd Aunt Billie put it: “From failure you learn; from success, not so much.” And yes, I’ve started another blog with a quote from Meet The Robinsons. But there are just so many good ones. There’s also “... I’m just not sure how well this plan was thought through. Master?” Either one perfectly describes the past week.
I decided to heed the call and respond to the… Continue
Timing and I have never gotten along. Oh we get along great when we’re sitting around together just twiddling our thumbs, but the second I start doing something; BAM, Timing has other ideas. For instance, when I sat down to write this very blog post Timing interrupted me with something else I had to do first.
One of the best instances of my clash with Timing occurred when I was a teenager. There was a story on the nightly news that I wanted to catch. So, out of a thirty minute broadcast all I w… Continue
This Friday will once again see me setting off on a new adventure in land of Albion. This time, instead of rescuing slaves for the umpteenth time or searching for those blasted silver keys, I’ll be getting a glimpse of the future. That’s right, I’ll be downloading the latest add-on for Lionhead Studio’s Fable 2. And yes, I know that the actual release date is the 12th of May(1) but staying up until the wee hours of the morning then going to work just isn’t a good idea.
As I mentioned in my firs… Continue
Added by Glenn Dusting on May 11, 2009 at 3:41am —
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This is my review and unboxing video for the Wacom Bamboo Tablet that I will be using to do the story reel for my upcoming 3D animated short film. I have written more detailed notes that you can find at my website http://www.glenndusting.com. I would have uploaded the notes here if it wasn't for all the screenshots. Continue
I used this animation as the end credits for my Wacom Bamboo Medium Tablet Unboxing & Review video. It was done in the 3D open source application Blender. If you're interested in how I did it head over to my website http://www.glenndusting.com and click on the 3D blog. I would have uploaded the blog here if it wasn't for all the screenshots. Continue
Added by Glenn Dusting on April 27, 2009 at 3:30am —
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It’s that time of the year when the roadside (and most of the footpath) gets taken over by hordes of broken furniture, out-of-date televisions and computers manufactured in 1982. There is also a lot of junk that not even Sherlock Homes could identify. That’s right, it’s another council hard rubbish collection and the Wombles are on the move.
Wombles really should be out doing their thing in the dead of night. Scurrying from pile to pile, taking… Continue
While watching Catch That Kid for the first time this weekend, I was reminded of one of the most important rules of storytelling: make it believable. The only thing believable about Catch That Kid was the ending.
Believable does not mean realistic. While I doubt that three kids could even rob a bank. I also doubt that a kid who is Home Alone could booby-trap his house in order to catch the bad guys. But I suspect that Chris Columbus wasn’t going for realism, he was going fo… Continue
Lewis: I don't even know what I'm doing.
Wilbur: Keep moving forward.
Lewis: I mean, this stuff is way too advanced for me.
Wilbur: Keep moving forward.
Lewis: And what if I can't fix this, what are we going to do?
Wilbur: Keep moving forward.
Lewis: Why do you keep saying that? And don't just say keep moving forward! (1)
That phrase from the movie Meet the Robinsons leapt into my head at eleven… Continue
Added by Glenn Dusting on April 6, 2009 at 7:01am —
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