The best laid (snicker) plans...

... can certainly go awry.

No, that doesn't mean the trip sucked. In fact, it was AWESOME! We found quite a few places down on the Fleurieu we didn't know existed, and saw some we knew existed butt hadn't been to yet.

Here's a teaser pic of Around The Fleurieu (ATF) --multipart blog post series thingy coming soon to a blog near yew.


Please click on it to see it full size, you'll love it! The pic is a closeup of the sunset over Gulf St. Vincent as seen from Normanville, South Oz. The only thing I did to the pic was to resize it (that means shrink it down a ways). Absolutely ZERO computer enhancements were done.

Yes, it was Yours Truly (don't swoon ladies, I'm human) who tooked this photo. The camera helped a wee bit of course.





And for those of you who'd prefer the flickr pic...


If you can't see all of the flickr pic, just click on it and it'll take you to it's flickr page where you can view it at any size you'd like, no worries.

Much more soon so stay tuned campers!

I Am Still Here...

... and you are not! HAHAHHAHAHAHAH

I joke, of course.

I think I'll survive July this year, especially since Cadel's got a broken elbow. The Pyrenees are looming... Caffeine is my bestest friend right now.

Got some pics and some kapshuns for you, hope you enjoy them.

Have I mentioned how much I really really really like sushi? If not, then I have now.

Those are my mushrooms, BTW. All the other veggies are local.


I think everyone ought to have these:




This was taken at the beach a week or so ago.



I make the world's bestest homemade chips. Or pomme frites, or steak fries, or french fries.

No, I DO NOT make freedom fries!


My BIL is a very good modeller. He has several articles published about kit conversions, scratch builds, casting his own parts, airbrushing, etc. He also works parttime up at the Flinders Uni paleo lab painting and airbrushes fossil castings. He's pretty darned good. Here's a pic of piece of a cockpit for some model that HE HAND PAINTED!

Yeah, I'm impressed too.


Hey, you'd be looking pissed off too if you had this branch stuck somewhere!


Naturally, a predicament like that tends to attract a crowd and everyone offers their advice for extrication.




I have a new toy!!!!! Guess what it is!




Why, of course it is a...




You just plug it into a USB port, press the switch on the back, hold it in your hand and it massages away all the aches from typing and mousing all day!




It's also very good if your neck it tight or stiff. Have you ever had a little knot in your upper back around the scapula? Works for that too!

In
fact
it
has
a
whole
plethora
of
uses!

A
veritable
cornucopia
if
you
please!

There's one particular use I just LOVE to use it for!

J
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s
t

s
c
r
o
l
l

d
o
w
n

a

b
i
t.

D
o
n
'
t

w
o
r
r
y
,

i
t
'
s

w
o
r
k

s
a
f
e!


You can tell it works cus of the stain on the shorts!

It Needed a Critter

There's something rather fun about 3d artwork. Would you like to know what it is? Too bad, cus I ain't tellin'!

Well, ok, I'll squeal for you...

Lighting

Yes lighting. You can do SO MUCH with the proper lighting. And, of course, knowing how to drive the software you are using.

Shall we revisit the 3d sunset? Do you remember this?




Well, I decided that the scene needed a critter. But what type of critter, thought I? Hmmmm, dolphins jumping? Pelicans soaring? A shark devouring a person?

Decisions, decisions...

I finally decided upon something different.

In order to do what I wanted I needed to use Daz along with Terragen. I'm still learning Terragen and I've NEVER made anything in Daz (but I did beta test a tutorial) so I wasn't sure I'd have time earlier today to make what I wanted and still get a nap in. As it turned out, I didn't get my nap.

What saved me (as in this didn't take all day) is the fact that I know 3d lighting very well. I mean really, really well. And I'm also very good with surface specularosity, reflectivity, refractivity, coloring, and such like.

But I'm sure I'm boring you by now, so how's abouts I just give you the NEW sunset with "The Critter" in it. As is per usual on the large sized pics, just click on it to embiggen. It's 1280 by 960 and should resize itself nicely to use on a 4:3 screen for a wallpaper. If you have a widescreen then make sure you use a good program to resize it without the picture getting "the jaggies". I recommend Irfanview. It's free. It's very very very very very good.

Oh, would you like to see the sunset with The Critter? Of course you would. Here you are:






Last night I made stuffed squid tubes for dinner. Actually, everyone else had chicken... But I had my stuffed squid tubes!

The stuffing was brown rice, prawns, red bell pepper, seaweed, shrooms, garlic, chilli peppers and a lemony-wine sauce. I was happy.

Damned Good Just Ain't Good Enough For Yours Truly

Nope, it is not. Especially when it comes to 3d artwork. And especially if I KNOW there is a way to fix it.

Remember the previous post? Ti mentioned that I did any abso-posi-lutely great job on the sunset. And, well, yeah, it was damned good.

But I just knew I could make the reddish, fiery, cloudy cave that can sometimes appear over the ocean in warmer climates as the sun dips down into the ocean. I know cus I seen 'em.

Needless to say, I learned a lot about 3d stuff today.

May I humbly present to you a tropical sunset which was done 100% by Yours Truly --don't swoon ladies, I'm human.






Click on the pic to embiggen it to 1280 by 960 and then feel free to use it as wallpaper, no worries.

You know, the more I looked at it, the more I thought that I could get the sun just dipping down into the ocean... I then came up with this:






Again, just embiggen it and snag it for your computer wallpaper.

Even then I wasn't satisfied...

So I blew the dust off a 17 year old morphing program --that was light-years ahead of it's time-- and played God as I made the sun set.







Yeah, I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out. Oh, I had to zoom way in on the sun the get the control points placed properly. Yes, I was actually wearing my darkest sunglasses with my nose about an inch away from the monitor.

If anyone likes my 3d stuff and would like to continue to see it appear RIGHT HERE then puh-leeeeeeez let me know. Comments are always open.

*sound of grinding gears*

Switching gears now! Guess what didn't get done today as I played with pixelly pixies? The algae was not getting scrubbed off the pool walls. I admit I have been a bit lax about cleaning the pool as it gets on towards winter down here. Do I really want to go for a swim when the water is 22 C --that'd be 71.6 F for those of you calculationally-challenged folks? Would you? No, thought knot.

I even have proof:





Next topic that I have time to write about before I go made dinner... I have new mushroom spoor for this season! About 4 kilos worth!!!! In about a month I'll have fresh shrooms all winter long! Woo-Hoo! Yay me!

I guess I'll share some with Wifey-Poo.

Ai Izz Uh Phailyur

Didja eber halve one of "those" dayz?

Ok, I'll stop typing in cheezburger-speak now.

One of those days when nothing seems to go right? Or left?

I was going to dump this sunset render cus it's just WRONG! Didn't come out anything like I wanted. Blech. The undersides of the clouds aren't lit up in red tones, the sand STILL doesn't have the sandy-twilight color, and I totally f*ck*d up with the sun dipping down below the sea level horizon as astute perusers will note a SECOND horizon line halfway up the setting sun...

About the only good thing is that I finally carved some shallows properly so that their is some soft wave action on the beach in the lower right.

Otherwise... this sucks.

Don't click on this to embiggen it or you will be as disgusted as I am. The only reason I'm showing it to you (yes YOU, not that other lurker) is cus cus the d*mn*d thing took 2 hrs 28 mins and 4 bl**dy seconds to render! And I'd like to share with you the fact that I ain't always prephekt.





And I can't even take good caterpillar pics! This should be simple! They don't move quickly! They even pose! Sheesh. Bl**dy stupid cattapliers. grumble Just LOOK! One of the antennae is owt of phocus! Another photo phailyur by Yours Truly --don't swoon ladies, I'm still human.






You'd think that with me being a master chef and all, that I'd be able to make jellied ox tongue easily. Nope. My ox tongue DID NOT jelly-fy. Just look what I had to start with...





This is just won of those days when I decide to just do this for the next 16 hours...

Alien Abduction Act X... Zombie dave Aboard The A.S.S.!

Butt before we get to that, I have some things I need to get off my chest --like this tattoo that says "I love you, man!".

Y'all 'member last post? Oh, c'mon, the one where I used lots of swear words and was all pissy.

Ah yes, you do remember. Good.

I have been hoping that someone, anyone, would comment about it. Butt no, not a single one of you did. Did any of you try to tell me to lighten up? No. Did any of you offer a shoulder to cry on? No. Did I lose/gain any readers? Nope, not a chance --well, I may have lost some.

Did anyone realize it was one big, bloody joke???????? Not just No, butt HELL NO!

Witch brings me to my next thingy-doo-dad that I was tagged with a while back (just trawl through the last 10 posts or so and you'll figure it out): Just Another Thing You Won't Learn About Me By Reading This Blog!

I'm a nice guy.

Really, I am.

No, seriously! I am!

When BIL (shall we just call him "Mike"?) got his Masters degree just who do you think had the video recorder set up on the tripod so that MIL (shall we just call her "mum"?) could see her youngest obtain serious accolades? Yup, Yours Truly (that's me, don't swoon ladies as I'm human) was not only doing the duties but he also took Mike to a celebratory lunch at a high-class pub afterwards.

Every week I do a mechanical once-over of mum's wheelchair.

Wifey-Poo gets massages whenever she needs them.

I give rides to strangers. Yes, I really do. There was one time when I was dropping off WP and mum at the doctors office when a very lost Nigerian gentlemen asked me for directions to a side street in the area. Once I made sure that WP and mum were fine I tried to direct him to the street in question. I could see that he was not going to be able to find his way so I gave him a lift to not only the street but to the house where he needed to go.

I also fetch items off of high shelves in the grocery store for little old ladies and gentlemen. In fact it has sorta become a habit that when I see someone elderly stopped in the aisle looking up that I do ask if they need anything from up high. 9 times out of 10 they do.

I took Mike grave-robbing so many times for the research of his PHD that I still respond to calls of, "Hey, Igor!"

The last time we moved house it took A LOT of trips in a rental truck. Guess who did the driving and moving without too much bitching? Yup, Yours Truly.

I've stayed up all night for a week keeping an eye on mum when she was going through a "bad patch".

I've rescued orphaned, baby mouses.

And if any of you ever decide to come down for a visit I can promise that you'll have a place to crash at, be fed gourmet meals (unless I'm cooking --I JOKE!), hang out in the pool, have loads of good home brew, and I'll even pick you up from the airport --or the beach if you came by boat.


So do ANY of you really think that I was really swearing and bitching like that in the last post?

**************************************************************************

Next topic...

Pretty birdy picture! I'm sure all my regular readers will immediately recognize this bloke...

Those are some really, seriously, cool-looking claws!




**************************************************************************

As my regulars will also know, I like playing around with 3d programs. Been doing that for almost ten years now. I am, however, still trying to get good glacial ice with, ahhhhh, inexpensive (free) programs. But I do have sunset colours down quite well as the beach faces westward here and we are about a mile from it.

What do you think of this?




Here's a contest for you:

Did dave, Yours Truly (don't swoon ladies, I'm human), make this sunset in 3d? Or did he actually take this photograph? Or did he shamelessly steal the image from an online source?

The first correct answer in the comment section wins something. Don't know what but I'm sure the winner and I will come to some sort of arrangement.

And now what you've all been waiting for...


Alien Abduction Act X My arrival onboard the A.S.S.!!!!!!!

Just a quickie recap for you, the name of the alien craft is A.S.S. which, of course, stands for Alien Space Ship. Well, what else could it mean? Perverts. And remember that the rego of the A.S.S. is C4P-PFP2012 and in my zombie state at the time I had no idea what that meant.

C'mon, as any zombie I was just wanting to eat some brains!

In case you have joined me late, here's a quick pic recap!







Which, of course, brings us to my stealthy arrival in a corridor of the A.S.S. This was just before I materialized --please note the A.S.S. is parked above Oceania!


And then there's a bright flash!




And I slowly start to materialize...

Hmmmmm, something appears to be slightly wrong with dave...






Yes folks, my smashing of the pyramid atop my house with my lightning-charged sledgehammer whilst in my zombie state had caused the alien transporter beam to become totally discombobulated! It had somehow taken my awesome brainpower and shoved it into my muscles!

And just what type of aliens would I find aboard the A.S.S. rego'd as C4P-PFP2012? And would there be any brains at all for me to eat?

Those 2 questions (and probably lots more) just might be answered soon so STAY TUNED to this channel!

Tropical Sunset Photo UPDATED

Go ahead and click on it to embiggin it. It's 1024 by 768, made for a 4:3 monitor.





Oops. Forgot to do a bit of post-production cleanup... here ya go, compare to the one above.



Yes, it is 3d. I wasn't going to post it cus I kinda messed up on the clouds (or LACK THEREOF) on the left side of the sky and I put waaaaaaay too much algae on the beach. For those of you in the tropics, you'll notice that the size of the sun is too small for the size of the reflection. But dang did I NAIL those sunset colors! And I got the shore foam of the ocean right this time. Took about 2 hrs to make and 32 minutes to render.

As I said, I wasn't going to post it but Wifey-Poo insisted. She obviously either A) didn't see the errors or B) was stroking my fragile ego.

Personally, I like it when she strokes other things of me besides my ego.

And I'm just about done with the lettering detail on the outside of the alien ship that abducted me so in the next post you'll find out the callsign of the ship!

Winter In Oz...

... means almond blossoms!!! And the cherry blossoms will soon be following on! Naturally, this calls for pics of almond blossoms.

I just happen to have taken a "few". Oh, for my new readers, if anyone wants any of my pics cropped to your screen size for wallpaper then just let me know, no worries. I'll go back to the original file so you get a high quality wallpaper.

Ain't I nice?

No, don't answer that...

Ok, almond blossoms:


Those of you with good eyesight "may" be able to find a bee in that shot.



Here's an easier one. There's 2 live thingies in this pic. Can YOU find and identify them both?




And when the sun is dipping down below the height of the almond tree I can get some really nice shots. Oh, I'm standing next to the pool, btw.










And what can dave do on a freezing cold winter day? Well, besides cooking, of course? He can play around with one of his two new 3d programs. Unfortunately, the learning curve for 3ds Max is pretty steep so it'll be a while before you see some awesome stuff from that. And it has lots of very thick manuals. And WP comandeered the other program that's specifically for making characters. Sigh...

So I went back to my good ole trusty standbye prog that was made for (hold onto your hats) Windows 3.1! Yes, it still runs under XP, not even going to bother trying loading it onto the vista machine.

Anyways, here's some sort of spaceship.

... they're taking me with them, Doolittle...

So, like, what movie am I referencing and what the hell does the title of this post mean? I'll give you a hint: Very Famous Director.

Here's the rest of the shoot:











I'm assuming (and guess what that makes both of us!) you've all had a chance to research koalas. Everyone should now know about the two claws on "one" toe of the hind feet. And also how many digits on the front paws are opposable. Of course you all probably know about the fingerprints too, also.

What? Did I confuse you? Then go visit Ma Google and find out! Sheesh, like I've got time to do your research for you? Well, if you pay me...

Busy, busy, busy

I think the title says it all. Busy! And tired! But I'm not above putting up some pics to keep y'all happy while I get my shit together for a couple of long posts:

This is a typical sunrise down here

I know this sunset doesn't have anything in it for reference, but trust me when I say this looked really cool.

I personally like this shot of the cockatoo. It may not be much, but since it's my blog I'll post whatever I want.