Affecting Lives...

I made another song and video the other day. Unlike the other videos, I didn't use any footage from educational videos... Instead, I took over 300 long-exposure still photos of my Sputnik lamp while it was rotating with LED bulbs. I then attempted to animate the stills using a few different techniques. By the end of the video I found a few methods that I feel work really effectively. These methods will be applied to future videos... but for now...

I present 'Affecting Lives' ...Enjoy!

Affecting Lives from (steven) Buck on Vimeo.

secret code...

If you know what that is then you know what to do with it...

If you don't... It's probably best not to worry about it.

Go When it's Safe

Here is another video that I made for your enjoyment... ENJOY!

Go When it's Safe from (steven) Buck on Vimeo.

This is Your World...

I've had a relatively productive weekend... I produced another song/video using footage from the Educational Archives and various samples of loops and circuit bent devices... The entire song and video were assembled in Ableton Live...

This is Your World... Enjoy!

(steven) Buck - This is Your World
from (steven) Buck on Vimeo.

Videos... an update.

For your viewing convenience, I thought I would embed the newest versions of my two new videos...

ENJOY!

Initiating Change (The Wrecking Ball Track) from
(steven) Buck on Vimeo.

Not Found (Bambi McMillion Extended Remix) - (steven) Buck
from (steven) Buck on Vimeo.

Making audio/visual stuff...

Never before has a blog had a name that has rung more true. :)
HOWEVER, this week has been rather productive (in a sense). After receiving my Reed Ghazala Incantor (which I won in a raffle over the summer), I began exploring the possibilities. What began as a test song has evolved into a song/video called 'Not Found.' The tricks I discovered while playing with video for that song had motivated me to create another test video using footage of a wrecking ball that I captured on my phone. Apparently, I've found people who enjoy what's in my head because my friend, Michael Una, submitted a nice write-up about me at GetLoFi.com and I've been receiving a lot of positive feedback so far.
So, I just thought I would share... Both videos are viewable on the write-up page... Enjoy!
Direct link to the write-up: http://www.getlofi.com/?p=3472

My new drivers side mirror

This video explains what happened. But the short story is that I lost my drivers side mirror and feel crippled without it. Parking on the street in Chicago and not being able to easily see bicycles or cars before opening my door or pulling out of a parking spot is dangerous and scary. This is my temporary solution. I think it was more of a personal challenge. Once I had the vision, I was more motivated to see if I could make it work than I was motivated to deal with insurance companies... My procrastination usually produces interesting results.

Classic video...

This one still manages to put a big smile on my face...

How I spent my birthday...

So, on April 7th, 2010, I turned 35... I've never been one to follow tradition, therefore I didn't end up at a bar. I chose to have my family take me to The Farnsworth House in Plano, IL... The one designed by Mies Van Der Rohe in 1945-1951... In one trip, I was able to get back in touch with my family, with nature, AND with modern architecture!

Here are the photos from my trip:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/74651358@N00/sets/72157623707200237/

Photos...

Today I took some photos... Here is the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/74651358@N00/sets/72157623465561715/

I need this to be real...

I need to believe that this is not some clever marketing ploy

carefully designed to tug at our heart-strings with

the most spectacular animated short. EVER!

Written by a 5 year-old... Animated by a 29 year-old...

It's more amazing than you can even imagine!

Have you seen my website?

I'm guessing you haven't, since I just made it today.

I'll add more stuff soon...

www.stevenbuck.us

Too Underground for MTV...

As a result of my A.D.D., or the fact that I'm an Aries, or my love of sugar as a child, my attention jumps from one project to another, often straddling various medium. One week I may be building a lamp and the next week I might be reupholstering a chair (even though there are countless other things I should be doing)...

This week, audio seems to have a good grip on my attention. Exploring my new Bleep-it has reminded me of the important role that music plays and the calming/healing effect it can have on my own life... especially when that music stems from within myself.

Today I downloaded Windows Movie Maker and attempted to use some of the random LED footage I've been filming and stockpiling. This video was a method of exploring Movie Maker, but I also consciously decided to use my new audio track in the hopes of having a somewhat-acceptable "music video" to unleash upon the world when I was done...

It's no OK-Go-Rube-Goldberg-video, but, whatever... Enjoy!

This came out of me last night...

LOL... dirty, dirty minds... anyway...

I am pleased with myself when I make things that are calm and relatively less chaotic...

but usually chaos reigns. I was tinkering last night and must have been relatively relaxed, because in less than an hour I had completed this track... I find it rather soothing...

The Opposite of Madness by (steven) BUCK

Extreme Rube Goldberg

OK Go is one of the few bands that I admire and that I would also consider popular. I don't actually own any of their albums, but their videos are so simply creative and refreshing. Their latest video for their song This Too Shall Pass is basically the most amazing Rube Goldberg machine I have ever seen and by the end of the video I was giggling out loud with giddy enthusiasm of what would be triggered next... and just when I thought I had grown tired of Rube Goldberg.

Tilt-Shift!

I really enjoy things that challenge our perception of scale... We are very tiny, and we are also huge. It depends on your perspective. Like the Doozers of Fraggle Rock... Or that solar system thing in my last post... Or this video of New York City using the tilt-shift technique for making everything look really, really tiny...

The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.

I just wasted an hour!

I find most of my interesting links through neatorama.com or geekologie.com

Today, neatorama presented me with this nifty little appllication to explore planetary orbits...

It made me rethink the orbit of our moon. I think of the moon as traveling in circles around the Earth... But this application made it clear that, much like a spirograph, the moon travels in a squiggly orbit... FUN!

Tinker with mass, direction, and velocity and see how long your solar system can survive!

http://phet.colorado.edu/sims/my-solar-system/my-solar-system_en.html

Welcome to Procrasti-Nation! (The Video)

I did not make this video. This video was not made for me.

However, I think this shall be the official video of my blog...

...if not, of my life.

Procrastination from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.

I took Bleep-it out for a spin the other day...

Every Saturday at noon, I meet up with a bunch of circuit benders in a bar and we exchange ideas and take apart toys and solder things. We've recently gained the ability to record video as well as audio of any impromptu 'open mic' performances that may occur.

The video below was taken on 02/13/2010... It shows me tinkering with my new toy for the first time, some minor fine-tuning by Michael Una, and at some point I even stop to help secure the camera with a piece of wire. Eventually Jason Drexler, aka Drexltron, plugs his new device into the audio board and begins a sonic siege on the tiny town which I made as an LED accessory for my Bleep-it...

The video ends when the music starts to get interesting, but that's when the higher quality audio recording begins...

City Under Siege

Bleep-it modification.

Today I added a 9-pin connector to my Bleep-it device. This connector allows me to quickly and easily swap out accessories to be controlled by the Bleep-it...

Bleep-It!

I have finally received my Bleep-It device, designed and built by Michael Una. He's much better than I am at explaining the technical aspects of his sound-generating sequencing device, but I commissioned the device to have outputs to power LEDs on interchangeable external devices that will be built by myself. Shown in this video is the first LED mini-city that I completed as well as the device itself, inside-and-out.

Flash-back

While scouring my hard drive, I found an old video I had filmed to demonstrate the modifications I made to the tail lights of my 1986 Buick Skyhawk purchased from my grandmother.

I had to convert the center bulb on each side to a dual-filament bulb so it would light up with the brake lights. Then I added the circuitry which was purchased over the internet and painted elements of the bezel to give a striped, black-out effect. It was a fun car, and it was clean, but it was so under-powered.

Please pardon the old-school fonts and fades in my video... lol

Unhappy Hipsters make me smile...

I found a website that has been putting a smile on my face recently...
It's called Unhappy Hipsters.
They take photos from Dwell magazine, (a magazine about pretentious living), and add captions to the photos that put the image into real-world context...
Enjoy!

Organic Art via Google Maps

I was exploring Taos, NM in Google Maps satellite view today when I realized how close it was to the Colorado border. When I scrolled up past the border I saw this strange, circular-pixelated area... Zoom in, zoom out, and explore!

View Larger Map

Thoughts on Technology...

I never realized how much I have in common with Patrick Stewart...

We have very similar opinions on Twitter... iPhones... Phone conversations...

Writing letters... Information retrieval via the internet... 

...and his reason for avoiding video games. 

This is also partially the same reason I avoid television. Except for The Joy of Painting.

Back to life... Back to geometry...

Why not start things off with a link to information about the Noösphere?

Hi.

Welcome! I have been feeling like I'm posting too many things to my Facebook wall,

so I finally started a blog...

My own personal little soapbox...

But I'll probably just share interesting links that I come across

and other things that I find to make me happy.

Enjoy!