Wacom tablet

The Wacom intuos tablet that I purchased arrived last week. It is a drawing tablet that offers Flash artists more control and accuracy that drawing in flash with just a mouse. I have let several students play around with it and it seems to be a hit.

The tablet came with an assortment of software and brushes. We'll keep you posted of any discoveries that we come across.

Crazy....

Things have been nuts lately. I've been trying to give everybody and everything my 100%. Well folks...it didn't happen. I think everybody has been getting about 10-15% from me. So I had stop and take a breath. I just had step back and not try to run on instinct, because it was just scatter shot! I had to get organized and get a plan in place to get everything done that I needed to get done. I haven't got everything done but I am in better shape than I was 2 or 3 weeks ago. So what I am saying is...Yes, things in here are going to seem like they're overwhelming but if we just sit down get a plan in place and follow through. Everything will be okay.

Peace out!

Paper Prototyping

I started Paper Prototyping with my class yesterday. The students really seemed to be getting into it. to spice it up a bit, we decided to use colored pencils. I think when we present using the ELMO, the colors will stand out better than just black and white. Check in next week to see the videos.

I Love Tweening!!

There I said it. My first impressions of Flash back in April and May it would be nothing to conquer given my years of experience using AutoCAD. Boy was I wrong!!!!! It is so different to me that I can't even really make comparisons between the two. I love the functionality of AutoCAD, I mean it has been my bread and butter my whole career. But I really like the unlimited possiblilties that Flash offers. I really like the tweening effects. When I went to see KISS on the Reunion Tour back in 1996 ,they had a giant video screen that showed each member's face morphing into each other. I wouldn't have dreamed that I would be able to do something similar, so easily. One of my goals is to recreate the KISS morph. More later.

Hey music lovers

I just stumbled across a really cool music blog called The Screen Door . The blogger’s name is Anthony Kuzminski from Chicago, Illinois and he is the writer for UNRATED MAGAZINE and ANTIMUSIC.COM. Just at a glance, it appears he covers all types of music and movies. It appears the last few days he has been into Bon Jovi, not my favorite by any means. But if you look on down he’s got some posts about Guns N Roses, Metallica and the Allman Brothers.

Spider

Spider

Mr. Warfield's Globaloria class: Watch this video!

Guys and Gals,
Check out this video from one of the students at Greenbrier West!

A Tale of Two Classes

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Yesterday's 8th block waws like A Tale of Two Cities. The students were really getting into the Mini Game Tutorial, overcoming the obstacles of learning new software & working to together. It was really good to see them taking off. Me, on the other hand, I had the anti-Midus touch. Everything I touched yesterday broke. My computer was suffering from an overdose of Facebook Mafia Wars or something, it would not do anything I wanted it to do. I pretty much spent the whole class starting and restarting my computer. Next class will be better, but this blog is really meant to commend my 8th Block Globaloria class on holding things together while I fell apart.

My video game Journey continued.....

Those of you who know me know that I probably know more useless music trivia than any sane human should know. While most people were learning relative’s birthdays and anniversaries, I was reading album liner notes. So I could probably tell you Ace Frehley's guitar tech before I could tell you my mother's birthday. But enough about that. What I am here to blog about is one of the earliest, if not the earliest marriage of rock music and video games. The band Journey was on top of the world in 1983 when Bally Midway decided to capitalize on the bands upcoming U.S. tour and released the Journey video game.
So what you say. This game was really ahead of its time. It had scanned images of the band member’s faces on cartoon bodies trying to retrieve their instruments on different planets. Once you obtained all of the instruments it played their hit song “Separate Ways”. The song was looped on a cassette player inside the machine. Due to the degradation of the cassette tape finding one of these machines that still works is nearly impossible. So you won’t be able to put on your parachute pants and Rising Sun T-shirt and push some quarters into this innovative machine.

A New Perspective

Since the 1^st Globaloria training in June, I have looked at video games in a new light. Until then I had never really cared about what was going on behind the scenes to make these games work. After the June training, whenever I play them now I am thinking in the back of my mind “How did they do this” or “How did they do that”. Recently, I had a flashback. I went into Pizza Hut to pick up some pizzas for my daughter’s birthday party and there before mewas a Donkey Kong machine! This took me right back to 1982.Until I had to put 50 cents in to play.

I will confess, growing up I was a video game junkie. I would pump quarter after quarter into these machines. It started with pinball and evolved to Pac Man, Centipede right on until home platforms got affordable. But seeing this Donkey Kong machine got me thinking. Thinking back to that training in June and how we had a created a game that was comparable in a few hours and how Donkey Kong was state of the art in 1982.

On the ride home I got to thinking about the advances in technology in just the last 20 years. In my adult life I have evolved through Pong, Atari, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Playstations 1 -3, Play station Portable, Nintendo DS. I never would have dreamed that I would have all of this technology in my life.

Bloggers Block

Finally.... every few days for the last month I have opened my blog and stared at the screen racking my brain for a topic to comment on. Every time I drew a blank. I have a big mouth and a lot to say (whether or not it's relevant is another story). But I just haven't posted anything. I have Bloggers Block!

I have this fear of coming across as an idiot or something. Or I'll post something and it will be my view at the time and somebody will comment 6 weeks from now. And my opinion will have changed and I'll look like a hypocrite.

Does anyone else have these fears or am I just over analyzing all of this. Should I just put the pen to the paper and spew out what ever is on my mind. Please advise.

Metallica Number 1

Check out the new Metallica number 1 blog. It has tons of videos.

Notable Educational Experience

One of my most powerful learning experiences was in my 10th grade biology class. I was under achieving in this class( it was guitar class or drafting, so there for I under achieved), and my teacher questioned my intelligence in a somewhat insulting manner. And told me I couldn't pass her class. Well, at age 16 nobody told me what to do , not even me! So I upped my game, and aced her class. Through the course of the year we started getting along and by June we were both satisfied with my efforts. I had never been called out like that by a teacher and I guess that taught me lesson about myself and how I should handle by business. Twenty some (very)odd years I find myself calling some of my bright under achieving students out. The 2 that come to mind have turned out well. The first graduated this year and the second had learned his way to being one of first recruits for Globaloria. You'll get to see first hand how that one plays out.

Bass Blogging

I chose a bass blog because I play bass and I'm am always looking for new approaches to the instrument.

Metallica Blog

I chose a Metallica blog to follow because I am a pretty big fan of the band. And having been a fan for nearly 25 years it is always interesting to compare notes and opinions on the band.

Warfield's Opening Blog

Hello,
I am blogging for the first time as part of the Globaloria training I am getting in Charleston this week. This program looks like it is going to be a blast. Hang on!