Here in the UK, the last episode of season 4 of “Supernatural” aired about a week ago, with the opening of Hell and, I am assuming, the direct opposite of God Rays coming out of it heralding the rise of Lucifer.
Well, the identity of Lucifer has been confirmed as Mark Pellegrino.
Jacob in Lost.
An abusive husband in “Dexter”.
Now Lucifer.
So, not really typecast as a seriously deranged individual, then…
Prior to the airing of Children of Earth, The BBC has commissioned and produced three audio dramas based on the characters in Torchwood, the first of which, “Asylum” airs on BBC Radio 4 tomorrow at 2.15pm. Bit of a bugger of a time, this, when you are working and you can’t get to a radio. However, the joys of the BBC internet sites means that without too much bother there is a link to these said plays which makes them available for download for a week after each is broadcast.
Glad I found it too. It’s :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/torchwood/download/
and I reckon it’s servers are going to be busy tomorrow.
BBC One 21:00 6 Jul 2009
2.15-3.00pm, Wednesday 1 July 2009
When PC Andy arrests a teenager for shoplifting, he thinks it is going to be a routine case. Then he sees the weapon she is carrying and decides to call in the Torchwood team.
By Anita Sullivan.
Download available here on 1 July 2009.
2.15-3.00pm, Thursday 2 July 2009
The Torchwood team are led to Delhi on the trail of a dangerous energy field.
By James Goss.
Download available here on 2 July 2009.
2.15-3.00pm, Friday 3 July 2009
When a Cardiff hospital is inundated with patients who have fallen into coma – like trances, Torchwood move in to investigate.
By Phil Ford.
Download available here on 3 July 2009.
Sorry for the time I’ve not been posting.
Work has been quite a rollercoaster, the highs and lows of advertising taking its toll initially and now springing back to heights unseen for a while.
Anyway, I have put the 3DWorld tutorials for magazine 111 – 117 up on my website. These are:
111 – How can I make an occlusion textureUV map in Maya?
112 – Is there a simple flocking procedure in Maya?
113 – How do I create is a material with the look of tarnished silver?
114 – Is there a way to stop Paint Effects flickering during camera moves?
115 – How do I create a tooth brushing action in Maya?
116 – How do I simulate a magnet, like balls rolling to a common point?
117 – How do I grow Maya’s Hair system?
I hope they are of some interest. If there is anything that you would like to see on the website, or even have a question asked, please ask me.
Thanks for reading
Take a look at this: A wonderful take on the story of Little Red Riding Hood.
To anyone who doesn’t know who Andy Hallett is, he’s the man who played the demon Lorne in the series Angel as well as being a very accomplished singer. I just found this in the Slice of SCiFi website:
Actor Andy Hallett, best known for his role as Lorne on Joss Whedon’s “Angel” has passed away at the age of 33 according to SciFi Wire. According to a spokesman, the actor died of heart failure last night.
The actor had a five-year history of battling heart-disease and passed away last evening at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. According to reports, Hallett’s father was with him at the time of his passing.
Hallett was known to fans of the Buffy-verse as Lorne, a green-skinned demon who could read people’s auras when they sang. The role of Lorne was originally intended as recurring one but soon Hallett quickly became a fan favorite and was added to the full-time cast of the popular “Buffy” spin-off, “Angel”.
The accomplished actor was also a musician and sang two songs (”Lady Marmalade” and “It’s Not Easy Being Green”) on the “Angel: Live Fast, Die Never” soundtrack, released in 2005.
Hallett had spent his post-”Angel” years working on his music career, playing shows around the country. He had been admitted to the hospital three or four times in the past few years for his heart condition.
A private funeral service will be held for family and close friends in Cape Cod, most likely over this weekend.
Wow. Only 33 years of age. what a sorrowful moment this must be for his family. I send out my sympathies at this most difficult of times.
Andy Hallett during Season 5 of Angel
Cameron Fielding. Animator. To say the images speak for themselves, is an understatement. Well, press the play button and see. If I could character animate half as well as this guy, I would be a very happy man indeed.
Character animation has never been a strong point for me. Organic modelling is something I don’t get a lot of time to do professionally and on occasion I feel that I am losing my skills a bit in this department.
Saying that, when I see something as wonderful as this, I realise that I am happy to be able to see work of this quality even if I can’t achieve it myself.
G
The main cast of BBC's new series "Being human"
For quite some time, the United States have shown that when it comes to Fantasy and Science Fiction, they rule the roost. Let’s face it, the wonders of Lost, Fringe, Chuck, Eureka plus having a history that includes Star Trek, Buck Rogers, Outer Limits and thier contemporaries shows that the US TV industry knows how to put its money where it’s mouth is.
This side of the pond, we have lived off a twee existence of science fiction programing born from the wobbling sets and man-in-a-suit monsters associated with Doctor Who and Blake’s 7 of old. Apart from the odd piece of accidental cash injections into the genre – such as the BBC’s adaptation of The Day of The Triffids – this has not been seen a serious genre for the British to throw money into. Then in 2005 the BBC brought back Doctor Who with a more proportional budget in relation to its demand and rewrote our concept of what the UK could accomplish. Remember, a lot of CGI in motion pictures is done in the UK now – especially with a weakened Sterling of late. Since then the UK has created Torchwood, Primeval, Demons, and so many others, the most recent being “Being Human”
Based on a pilot created in the mind of Toby Whithouse which aired in the Summer of 2008, Being Human is a show very much out its comfort zone. Neither a straight comedy nor a horror drama, it tells us the tale of three supernatural beings – a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost – all living in a house together in the suburbs of a City, the two living characters spending their days working in low profile jobs at the local Hospital. All three of them are only just coping on a daily basis with their individual situations and the problems it creates for them in the world of naturals around them.
The Vampire, Mitchell, and the werewolf, George, moved into the house in an attempt to forge something like a normal life only to find a tea making ghost, Annie, living there. Having chased out the previous tenants, Annie can only be seen by supernaturals such as werewolves and vampires and thus the three of them seem to forge something of a normal relationship. If only.
In this six part series there is evidence from the first episode that something on a grand scale is afoot. Their are other vampires in the City and they seem to be awaiting for some imminent event that will tip the balance between them and normal people, putting Mithell – a vampire trying to stay on the wagon – at some kind of risk. George is finding it hard to come to terms with his “curse” and Annie doesn’t seem able to resolve issues she has over the actual cause of her death, something we can currently only guess at.
The thing about this series is that something tells me it shouldn’t work. It should end up being a farcical mish-mash. But it isn’t. In fact it is well written, heart-felt and poignant in every possible way. Mitchell’s everyday exterior occasionally slips to show a sinister maturity and the animal underneath, his suffering more akin to a drug addiction making it accessible to angst ridden teens and 30 year olds alike. George’s blustering, house proud character and his inability coping with his other self is sometimes hilarious and at other times heart-rending. Annie’s character is caring and almost childlike one moment and the next appears alone and sad even in a crowded room. The secondary characters driving the plot are solid and played with deft hands. The filming is well lit and atmospheric and the visual effects – which go from recolouring eyeballs black to a complete werewolf change sequence not dissimilar to the masterful work of Rick Baker on American Werewolf in London – are wonderful. it scores on so many levels, it deserves to go on for some time.
Two episodes in and I am completely in love with everything about it. It has classic written all over it. If you are in the UK and can get to the bbc iplayer service, download it and watch it. If you are in the US, you are so going to be in for a treat.
Okay, yup, snow, yadda yadda yadda. It’s all over the UK. First time in years, whatever.
It’s cool, in more ways that one, especially as it means I’m getting out of the office and taking any work I can home. Rather be buried near Buxton than in the depths of Manchester
Also, hell’s teeth! The bandwidth on www.garynoden.co.uk was been exceeded so I’m going to have to find a cheaper way of getting out the files. I think. I’m going to have to keep the archives and just leave up the PDFs seeing as they don’t take up much room in comparison. If you need the archives, I’ll sort out another way of getting them to people. As soon as I can upload again, I’ll put this info on the website.
As for now if you try to go to my site, well, you can’t. And I can’t afford over £150 a year for unlimited bandwidth right now.
Hello there, long time no blog.
Well, I am delighted to let you know that the tutorial section of my website is back up and running. About time too. There are 33 tutorials covering a wide range of topics from modelling objects, through animation, dynamics, rendering and some compositing.
I have some more up and coming – one in particular about nCloth which will go up in a couple of months that shows exactly how to make it… well, you’ll have to wait. Wow, I’m such a tease.
Anyway go to http://www.garynoden.co.uk follow the link to tutorials and check them out.
