Imagination

A few days ago I saw a documentary on PBS about aging and creativity. There was a 109 year old man who was a composer, a 80-something year old who still did ballet, and a 90-something who made paintings. They went to nursing homes where the elderly were using their imaginations instead of sitting around on a chair, and they were loving it.

As it turns out, doing creative things can slow the effects of Alzheimer's, among other things. It won't stop it once it starts, but it will slow it down. The key is that while you can lose your memory, you can never lose your imagination.

The 109 year old was incredible. He composed for the beginning of his life, became very famous, then disappeared at the height of his career (circa like 1920). He got married, had kids, and moved out of the city. When he was in his 80s, he resurfaced and decided to start composing again. The great part is that most people in their 80s are basically done with life, but this guy still had so much music flowing out of his brain that he decided to start writing it again. He did so for another nearly 20 years! It's inspiring. The guy who still danced ballet was just as great.

All of the elderly people interviewed spoke about how young they felt. The only times they felt old were when their bodies were hurting. One lady said her knee was her only reminder of her age, and otherwise she felt just as young as she was in her 20s. When she paints, age or memory don't matter - it's all about the creativity and stretching the mind. New ideas always form.

Imagination is timeless.

I absolutely love to use my imagination, so that's what I'm about to do. Time to work on the story for Omnivore - it's been a while! I plan on using my imagination for the rest of my life, for the enjoyment of it, for the excitement of new ideas, and to stay young-at-mind.

Animation Festival

I am unbelievably excited to go to Siggraph again this year! Check out the trailer for the computer animation festival. There is going to be some amazing and inspirational computer graphics going on there!

So, uh, how far away is August??

Logo Try #1

Here's my very first attempt at a logo for Omnivore. I went with a tiger theme (picture courtesy the Save the Tiger Fund). Click on it to get the full sized version, and keep in mind it should be on a completely black background:


I like it! I'd love to have the tiger animated, or a movie of a tiger instead of just a picture, but that's for a future try. Plus, I couldn't find any free-to-use-and-distribute videos of tigers. I might have to find a zoo and take some of my own video!

Any comments or ideas? Maybe it's too dark. I do want it on a black or at least dark background for the game itself.

No more wires!

I've told people in the past that there is just one more advance needed to really bring us into the future, and it looks like a team at MIT is finally figuring it out on a real scale.

Bring it on!

more BioShock

I just have to say thank you to Adam for sending me a link to a great article about BioShock. Here's another site that I check out about once a week about the game and what's going on in its world. One very cool point they have talked about is that they will be releasing a limited edition version of the game, with a bunch of extras. I'll definitely be picking that up, mostly for the "making-of" DVD that will come with it! How cool is that?

Also, the site that the article on BioShock is on looks great - it's one I've never been to before, and one that I will be watching from now on!

The director at my job is taking us (the department) all out to lunch in town today! You can't go wrong with a free lunch, especially when it's delicious.

Game Dev

Just read an article on independent game development with Jonathan Blow, and he had some great things to say. His blog is loaded with information about game development in general, and his current game, called Braid, looks quite amazing. I'll be watching this guy for a good time to come - he seems to really know quite a bit about making video games.

Also, I'm currently listening to an old Cosmosis album from 1996, and wow! Even after over 10 years, it still sounds just as recent as anything released now. You can tell that the hardware used was not as sophisticated as it is now if you really pay attention (limited range of effects and sounds), but that doesn't matter anyway if the person using it is talented enough - as Cosmosis is!