That glassy, object above is called the Bubble Nebula. It was formed by the explosion of a star 45 X the mass of our sun. How do they figure out things like that?
Above, a neutron star that appears to be cooling off after ejecting most of its mass. The reason I put it up is that the star's center is thought to be the first real world example of a state of matter that previously existed only in theory, i.e., neutron super fluid.
Above, dark sand dunes on the floor of a crater on Mars. The dunes are about a hundred yards across. What are those tiny white specks? Are they dust devils?
Above, a rare Montana thunderstorm cloud called a monocel. Rain from a cel like this one comes down
hard!!!!
Above, a bright nebula partly obscured by a ragged dust cloud.
Above: Tethys, a moon of Saturn, and one of the most reflective bodies in the solar system. That might be because ice particles are always raining down on it from Saturn's E ring. Cracks on the surface raise speculation that the moon might once have had an underground ocean. If so, we can hope that living things deposited fossils there.
Above, the surface of a comet. What an ugly little stub of a thing!
Above, a solar eclipse from the end of the world...from Anarctica!
Above, a pretty picture of a nebula. What's so special about that? This nebula is in the Andromeda galaxy!!!! Our imaging is that good!!!!!
I love the last one, did they use the Hubble fer it? Also if you like pictures of things far away try this one on for size: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQJf2i-u2TU
ReplyDeleteAlberto: Ah, the famous Deep Field picture. It makes me feel pretty insignificant. The universe is immense!
ReplyDeleteI think the Hubble took that picture of the nebula in Andromeda.
Alberto: Hey, Alberto...I just took a look at your profile and saw that you mentioned Anthem as a favorite book. If you liked that, you'll love Rand's later book, The Fountainhead!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed these space pictures also have some funky color ideas.
ReplyDelete"It was formed by the explosion of a star 45 X the mass of our sun. How do they figure out things like that?"
ReplyDeleteThey are really, really smart. However, they often have trouble getting dates, so I don't envy them.
I usually resort to short stories and poetry for reading material, i can never read more than 300 pages. It's not out of laziness or some hatred of reading, for some bizarre raisin something in school or work causes me to have to put it down for a bit, and when i pick it up from where I last left it I have no idea what is happening. I have made three attempts at reading "Atlas Shrugged" I got to 400 and something.
ReplyDeleteOh, pretty stuff!
ReplyDeleteBy the way Eddie, does it get on your nerves when John K bashes a show without watching it? I mean, i love that guys blog and i've been following it since 2009, but the guy has the gall to accuse a show of "stealing" from him, just by judging it from some crummy box art! The show in question is "Oggy and the Cockroaches", which is NOTHING like any of John's cartoons outside of the pseudo-R&S esque art style. It's a chase cartoon ala Tom and Jerry, and the characters don't even SPEAK.
Sparky: I hadn't heard of Oggy til you mentioned it. I just watched a couple of episodes on youTube, and was impressed. It's really great to see cartoony animation that's built around gags.
ReplyDeleteThere is a definite John influence, but that's in a lot of post Ren & Stimpy cartoons, including my Tales of Worm Paranoia cartoon. The price of success is that a lot of people reference your work, including some who are reluctant to admit it. John is very gracious, and even very helpful, to artists who admit to being influenced, but he sometimes rankles when it's not acknowledged. That's understandable I think.
Anyway, if I was a kid I'd watch all the Oggies.
Oh, thanks for telling me Eddie.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, i have several questions for you:
1. What is your favorite Classic Disney feature?
2. Is it possible to make a homemade, good quality animated feature on a shoestring budget, even if it takes a very long time and is a one man project ala Richard Williams?
3. Do you think old Felix the Cat cartoons and comics are good for me to study from? I've tried my made at drawing Felix today by looking at one of Otto Messmer's old sketches included in that John Canemaker Felix book, and noted all of the mistakes i made. It didn't seem to have any head construction though, but i'm not sure, since my attempt (which did not use construction) wound up so far off from the real thing. Also note that i did not trace the drawing, but rather i'm putting my observational skills to the test, which i think is much better for me to do, since tracing these drawings hasn't helped me at all. I'll post my attempts at drawing Felix soon, once i get a scanner working to put it on my blog.
4. For a while now, i've been writing a big article for TV Tropes on The Golden Age of Animation. Can you take a gander at it, and tell me what you think of my work?
OGGY!!! AH, MEMORIES!!! Yes, I too spent a goodly year or two of my childhood rabidly digesting the French pantomime cartoon show about the gay cats and the bugs named after The Ramones. I remember thinking the first two episodes were the best - I think at one point I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe for about a minute. And furthermore I think the reason for that had to do with the TIMING of one particular action all by itself. I still love the concept of an identically pink-rooftopped suburban grid that literally stretches around the entire earth like a sheet of latex, such that the planet looks pink from space.....wow, that is actually somewhat related to this post! Why, I didn't think I had it in me!
ReplyDeleteYeah, those pics........what to say of them? What words suffice. None, say I. Except to say that that rare terrestrial storm clould looks terrifying and is among the weirdest things I've ever seen. Wouldn't want to get stuck outside in THAT. Yeesh....
Sparky: My favorite Disney film of all is Three Cabaleros (minus the penguin part), and my favorite non-compilation film is Alice in Wonderland. I'm not saying that Alice is objectively better than Pinnochio or Fantasia, just that it appeals to my kind of person.
ReplyDeleteA homemade feature? I wouldn't attempt it because I like comedy and comedy works best in shorts (maximum: 1/2 hour). Features are for drama.
Studying Felix comic strips is a great way to learn composition. There's better examples of rubber hose animation. John says rubber hose is a great way to learn animation fundamentals, and I think he's right.
About the tropes, I might not have time right to read something long and comment on it. I will if I can, but I can't promise.
Lester: Coincidentally there was a science show on the History Channel today that addressed that very subject. Recently we've surveyed a lot of nova remnants, which that nebula is, and we've concluded that all novas of the same class have a predictable luminosity and original mass. That may be how they figured out the Bubble Nebula's mass. Nifty, huh?
Zoran: Haw! Stretching a pink film over the Earth so we'd look pink from space...it's something Tiger Beat would do if that magazine ruled the Earth.
ReplyDeleteHey, Eddie. This is a bit off-topic, but I'm becoming really concerned and a bit worried about where I need to go for college, since I really want to major in something like graphic design, and my mom is not going to be able to pay for any of those private colleges, and it was something that was brought up by one of my teachers at my local high school. Where did you go exactly to get all the training you needed to get into animation, besides on the job and how did the studios hire you to begin with? I'm very grateful for all the positive, encouraging impacting advice and philosophical wisdom have given me in the past (this is also a thank you to your brilliant, influential colleagues John K. and Vincent), and I hope I'm not asking for too much. I'm just really passionate about drawing good, appealing cartoony cartoons like you do and literally practice and work at it every single chance that I get. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteRoberto: Everybody has different needs. I can only tell you what I would do. If I didn't have any money, and wasn't able to get a student loan or a scholarship, then I'd go to a community college and take liberal arts courses for two years. That's because I believe in the importance of a general education. You can take some of the art courses there (they're probably not too good), but mainly take things like English lit, economics and history. After two years of that then bail out into art school. The liberal arts courses they teach in art school are a joke, so your only chance to get serious liberal arts exposure is before art school.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand....if you're an artistic genius then forget liberal arts and concentrate 100% on art. Aaaargh! It's a big subject. I'll have to do a whole blog about it soon.
Some art history courses can be incredibly intensive liberal
ReplyDeleteArts courses. After college I took one at a college
Of Art, and the freshman intro was as intensive as
A 400 level course, tougher than any history I had
In college.