Ignite

Fast, fast, fast, give me, toss it out, give me more, don´t want that, see more, pick one, toss it back, fast, fast, come here, get out, see that, see this, link, link, fast, show me, tell me, shut up, mark it, show,  fast, faster,  come, go, play, fast forward, stop, play, do not pause, play, close, open, open, open in new window, open in new window, close, close, don´t care, what?, don´t care, I like, saw it… and so on.

The world today is casual in every form. Games, education, movies, food, and now even things like TED are having it´s casual cousins.
Like IGNITE. Take a look.

“What Is Ignite?
If you had five minutes on stage what would you say? What if you only got 20 slides and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds? Around the world geeks have been putting together Ignite nights to show their answers.
Ignite was started in Seattle in 2006 by Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis. Since then 100s of 5 minute talks have been given across the world. There are thriving Ignite communities in Seattle, Portland, Paris, and NYC.”

Look and shoot

Focus.

No ideas

I´ve found out that the best way of coming up with ideas is not to think about it. It´s not news that creativity works in mysterious ways, but since this blog aims mainly to force myself to put things into words, i´ll make a list of some rules that I use when I´m feeling empty.

1- Get away from the computer. Get out.

2- Stop thinking.

3- Start a project from zero without an idea. Often times this evolves into an actual idea to work on.

4- Tell somebody an old idea that I had. Explain it usually forces me to understand it and something new allways pops up.

Internet noise

It´s just too much noise. I have to check my email accounts, answer the IM, post in the blog, see “the best video ever” on youtube, google something, check new games, read blogs, compare news in different sites, follow links, download and try something, reboot the pc, etc.

Noise, noise everywhere. We can limit it of course, but it requires and extra effort, and every day something new is thrown to our heads that adds to that extra effort required to concentrate on something.

Games today are faster than a decade ago, because there is too much to see and we don´t have the time to check if something is worth our time. If the game doesn´t work for me in the first 5 minutes, I move on. I´ve become a soccer mum gamer. Back in time we used to install a game and try it out until we got it, that´s how we were able to enjoy some games that wouldn´t stand a chance today.
We have lost the ability to concentrate because of noise, noise that we need to eliminate from our ambient in order to move on and keep working on what matters for each one.

It´s just too much data and we don´t know how to handle it properly yet.

Energy rush

When you abandon a project, you get your “energy boost”, the one that comes with starting something new. For some people it´s a drug, they start projects all the time and never finish anything because they need the rush of starting something, feeling full of energy, ideas, everything is a potential hit. Until they start actually working on it, that´s when they came up with yet another genial idea! Thinking that “this is the one”. Over and over again.

Basically it´s about the learning curve. When you start investigating a new field or idea, everything moves really fast, you feel like you are some kind of genius cracking every code here and there, understanding the theory and applying it like no one before you has, the universe is the limit, you will be the best in the field! “How did I waited so long to start doing this?!” Until you hit the first bump, maybe some little problem that slows you down. But you need to move forward, it can´t wait!, “I´m stuck”, “I can´t do this!”, “How is this possible?!”, “I was going to be the best in the field!”, “Such a promising beginning!”, “It´s impossible!”, “Damn this thing! Why me?! Oh God! Why me?!”.

The learning curve has become a little flatter, and so it does the enthusiasm in most cases. The “energy boost” that propelled the fast paced movement in the early stage of the project empties, and if you don´t have a back up energy tank, you´re doomed.

I use to be an addict to the energy bust. I´ve been clean for the last year, five months and fifteen days… one day at a time.

Are we making people stupid with games?

No. People are becoming stupid and games are just tagging along.

Game are simpler now, and they need to be. Because we don´t want to think, we don´t want to understand, we are too busy watching commercials, thinking about what to buy next.

Everyday I read about how games are violent, addiction-based, without meaningful stories, etc. And everyday I see people being more violent, prone to get addicted to anything and mentally lazy. I know because I see it in others and myself.

Magia

“Cinco mangos por un mango” y “un mango por cinco mangos”. Lo puedo interpretar de 4 modos.
La majia de la linguistica no deja de azonmbrarme.

1984

Cuando los discursos cambian drásticamente tanto como lo hacen últimamente da para pensar que cada día estamos mas cerca del mundo de “1984″ (G.Orwell).

Feliz navidad querido/a

Si de pronto te regalo cien lucas verdes (100.000 U$), cuanta felicidad te doy?
Y si te regalo un palo (1.000.000 U$), ahi cuanta? Mas que con cien?

Pensalo de nuevo, otra vez, otra vez, otra vez. Te dan la misma felicidad las cien que el palo.
Curioso no? La vida es asi.

No me dejan respirar

After Effects tiene su linea de tiempo y sus cosillas, Flash no, flash es distinto, es como papel y lápiz a la hora de animar. Ahora Flash CS4 es como After Effects, olvidate de las motion tweens con keyframes, ya no mas path guides dibujadas a mano. A todo agregale siempre commands y plug ins, ni quiero empezar con 3dStudioMax y sus render engines, no me jodan con el Photoshop que ahora tambien es CS4 y tiene objetos 3d. Alguien preguntó por el Zbrush? Me duele el bocho. Modelar con zspheres?… pero y los polys de 3dSMax? Y si lo dibujo a mano alzada? Mejor en Illustrator? Porque no en Flash? Ah… tiene algunas cosas mejores y otras peores, claro, como todo.

La conclusión es que no nos dejan en paz. Quiero pedir un alto el fuego con los recontraputisimos softwares. Por favor, no me den mas herramientas porque no puedo, no me da la cabeza, en serio. No me da. Solo me dejan el camino de la especialización, y eso es triste, no quiero ser experto en nada, no quiero siempre depender.
Nos estan convirtiendo en hormigas, les aseguro.
Solo nos queda trabajar bajo la máxima “Forget about tech”