Erma and me

Hello my long-lost friend...
Having recently learned of people making a mint by blogging, I've decided it's time to expand on my facebook stati and get a-pecking here on our very own BB&B. Trying to keep posting upbeat was somewhat of a challenge - plus I'd run out of steam/ideas for what to write about. Now I'm just gonna let it all hang out, considering our ongoing experience with comic writing, thanks to the Norfolk Hepburn Library. Among the 10 or 20 books I took out earlier this week is "Aunt Erma's Cope Book" by Erma Bombeck. It's retro, about 3 decades, and for lack of anything better to do (hehe), Chris decided to read it. This morning, I awoke to what sounded like sobbing, only to find that it was - Chris was laughing so hard he was crying. He's been reading sections of it to me all day, and it clicked that perhaps reading about our crazy life, foibles and all, would be kinda fun. At least it's fun for me to write about how there's something in the toybox that talks - but only when you are far enough away that it's impossible to find it.
We have an ongoing battle these days in the Sweeney household - it rages on weekdays between the hours of 3:30 and 4:30. It's the battle of the scentses, meaning that for some reason, the god who gave me the ability to smell cigarettes from a mile away is also the same god who gifted me with Nico, Sterling, and Troy - 3 human beings who, individually, can put another human into a coma with the stench of their feet. I wish I was that human, but alas, I am awake to endure the hour-long accusation, denial, and subsequent relenting and foot-scrubbing that is our collective reality during said time period. If it were not for that damn PE class, I would have thrown away every last pair of sneakers, but as it stands now, I may resort to throwing all the sneakers and newly purchased sandals away. If only I didn't fear being labeled and uncaring, cruel mother for sending my children to school shoeless... My next tactic involves an aerosol can of antiperspirant for the offending feet and a bleach-dip for the shoes. I sure hope the battle is won and I can focus my energies on what to make for dinner when there's no food in the house - even though it's Friday, and on Wednesday we spent $300 on groceries for the week.

Retro Five

So here is the last of the Sister Mars 2009 video retrospective (unless I manage to stop fighting with Flash long enough to make another.)

Of all the video work I've done in the last year, these three connected videos are my favorites. They were all made using Blender 3d for the character modeling and then Final Cut for the editing.

The first is entitled Ink. I modeled this sort of abstract spaceship vessel and let it loose in a brightly colored flashing world. Although the silver surface of the vessel reflects the happy colors of the outside, the object's inner alienation is revealed in the clouds of ink it releases:


The next video moves from the loneliness of Ink to the beginnings of a courtship dance. The Path of Flowers Lights My Way finds two abstract paper cubes floating in a world filled with flowers while we look in, as if through a lens:



The final segment of the trilogy, Behold! continues as our two abstract objects, this time spheres, welcome a third into their expanding universe:

Retro Part Four

In today's video retrospective installment, I first offer Panorama. This video was made one warmish early spring day when I went out to our front garden to take some macro pictures of the dead flowers. It had been perfectly still, and of course as soon as I got out there the wind started. After a couple minutes I gave up trying to focus, but I was intrigued by the twitchiness of the flowers in the breeze, so I decided to capture it on video. I used the splitscreen because the song features several interwoven melodic lines:

Retro Part Three

In today's installment of the SMA video retrospective, I'm posting three pieces that use stop-motion animation. The first is Translucent, which has been featured on this blog already:
Beads Beats & Bytes: World Premiere, Sister Mars Atrocity's "Translucent"

The second is a short one called Popcorn. Ginger says there is insufficient lighting in our kitchen; this video proves it:


The third is one of my favorites from the last year, Habanero. It features dancing habanero peppers, all of whom were sacrificed for a celebratory meal after the video was completed:

Retro continued. . .

Next up in the video series is To Face the Dying Sun. I had originally planned to make a video layering piles of wood and shots of flames in the woodstove. But when the time came, it was too warm to light a fire, and there was all this fog lurking about our front porch. So we get a sort of abstract moth circling. . .

Retrospective

Well, it's been a while. A whole semester in fact, where so much happened neither of us had a spare second to post. But now that the semester is over, and the year is coming to an end, we've decided to revive our humble little blog.

So I thought we'd start anew by looking back a bit. Over the next couple of days, I'm going to post all the music videos I've made in the last year, in sort of reverse order.

First up, Neptuna. This was an experiment with using the 3D functions in Photoshop to make an abstract environment:

THIS is the life...and those were the outtakes

Another day at the beach - why do we always ask each other where everyone else is? Hard to believe that we have so much freedom...so much time. I can only assume it was my (teenage) passionate wish to be retired (those dreams of becoming an anthropologist and architect aside). That's right. I worked in the mall, and so envied the old Italian men, sipping coffee and chatting in the middle of the workday, that I decided being retired was the key. Well, some people retire to go to work like our friends at White Pillars B&B...(thee place to stay if you're visiting the Canton/Trout Lake area http://www.whitepillars.com/).
About lakes and lounging at the beach, we'll find ourselves in Lake Placid tomorrow, Saranac Lake in the evening... Hmmm. While I dream of my house by the ocean, I certainly do love Visiting the Adirondacks (yes, that's a big V). My Mom and I spent many-a-vacation at the Golden Arrow on Mirror Lake, and I'll never forget the July 4th fireworks and how they "Set The Night To Music" (choreographed fireworks/radio). Good times...Anywhoo, it's late, little ones are asleep, and "Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter" has Finally screeched to a halt on the flat screen. Time to sleep now - night night angels ;)