The video below is a failed attempt at a Flex tutorial on the Tree component post I wrote recently. Please don’t expect to learn anything.

I’ve been playing around with John Grden’s wonderful Go3D which is an implementation of the GoASAP tweening ‘architecture’ developed by Moses Gunesch who gave us the legendary Fuse kit for AS2 … {sigh} … those were the days.

Launch demo

Right-click, View Source to grab the code and if anyone has any input regarding some of the comments in the code please do get in touch. You will need the Go3D and PaperVision 2 classes and there’s also a reference to the Thunderbolt Logging classes which I would urge people to check out if they regularly use Firefox and would like to Log their Flex apps in firebug as part of their day-to-day development.

Something that is bothering me is the way the Wall pops out of its container. This is something to do with using a UIComponent in Flex and seems to be related to a previous post of mine regarding the drawing of graphics onto a Canvas in Flex. You need to set the dimensions so it masks properly. If anyone has any feedback on this please let me know. I’m going to look into it when I have five minutes.

This CubeWall could just as easily be a SphereWall or PlaneWall and although it is a very basic look at what is possible it will act as a basis for anyone (like myself) starting out with PaperVision. I need to look into the lighting and shading now. More soon!

LucyandBart is a collaboration between Lucy McRae and Bart Hess described as an instinctual stalking of fashion, architecture, performance and the body. They share a fascination with genetic manipulation and beauty expression. Unconsciously their work touches upon these themes, however it is not their intention to communicate this. They work in a primitive and limitless way creating future human shapes, blindly discovering low – tech prosthetic ways for human enhancement.

Lucy and Bart create thought-provoking images of the subverted and manipulated human form. The results are shocking and intriguing and there’s a wonderful aesthetic achieved by the contrast between the materials they use and the beautifully shot photography and models they use. It’s a strange mix that has me re-evaluating my ideas of Fashion as an art-form; I don’t usually get on with it. I tend to find ‘weird fashion photography’ a bit pretentious and pathetic but Lucy and Bart’s work is experimental, sculptural and so not fake or deceptive in any way. You get the feeling that they are just experimenting and playing with ideas and materials and in the process they are twisting our idea of body-image into something new and strange. They’re also creating some remarkable portraits. I start to see these images as paintings, images Jenny Saville might be able to get her teeth into.

From looking at her blog it looks like Lucy is also experimenting with wearable jewellery with some help from Philips. It’s hard to gauge exactly what the project is about from the limited information on the site but check it out if you have more time to delve. Link.

Check out their blog and then go and subvert your own human form with some elastic bands and fish hooks. Have some fun but don’t go too far for gods sake.

Another note to the Jingers … Does the ‘play’ button really need to be that big?

It seems that the whole Web 2.0 social networking phenomenon has proved that maybe the general public aren’t always the best people to generate content. Maybe it’s time to consider quality over quantity again.

… and then there’s Web 3.0 to save the day; the semantic web. Maybe that can filter out the crap for us? Well, without being too crude, you know the old saying … ‘You can’t polish a turd’.

And an impressive article too.

Link.

Also, the URL of this image kinda gives it away.

Why don’t his glasses age?! Ay?!!

Very funny guys. Anymore web based April Fool japes out there today …hmm, let’s see.

The ImprovEverywhere team are an arts/collective, happy anarchist’s group (I just made that up … good init?) who have performed over 70 missions since 2001. A further dig reveals the group used to create sketches for Comedy Central.

The Trafalgar Square ‘freeze’ was arranged by The London FlashMob group on FaceBook … the group still exists here.

The London FlashMob group are arranging a ‘Silent iPod Disco’ on Saturday the 21st June 2008 in Trafalgar Square. Should be interesting. To join their group on FaceBook, click here.