when i was in university i really got into web design. this was during the heyday of people discovering the web as a new and interesting medium for visual design (1997-2001), and i was heavy into designers like kaliber 10000, joshua davis, yugo nakamura, erik natzke, and gmunk. flash was still a new technology then, and director (remember that program?) was also still a force to be reckoned with. i spent a lot of my free time playing with photoshop, and anything macromedia. most of the time i made these silly “toys” which were a way to try out new ideas, but sometimes i made fully fledged websites or interactive installations. one of the nice things about going to brown was that you could design your own courses if you had a passion, and i took full advantage of that to feed my enthusiasm for the technology.

when we unpacked all of our stuff from seattle i found a cd-r with most of my creations. unfortunately the disc is corrupted somehow and i am unable to get some of the data off it… which makes me really sad because i’ve thought about some of these pieces from time to time and wondered if i had backups anywhere. perhaps i’ll see if i can find some data recovery expert who can help me out. i did, however, manage to rescue some of the projects, which i thought i would share with you all. the bulk of them have audio so i’ve set them up to pop up in new windows. i like to think they have aged well, considering they are all over a decade old. i’d love to hear what you think about them, so feel free to leave a comment!

cubes – an experiment with z-sorting in flash. i remember this was a major pain in the butt to do at the time. (hint: click your mouse and hit the number keys to play)

jellyfish – i think i had read something about artificial life and wanted to see if i could create something like it. this is one of my favourite things i made. the only thing that bugs me is how the creature “bumps” into the edge of the frame… oh well.

fire – this was me trying out procedural textures in director. this thing used to run sooo slowly on the machines at the time. now it doesn’t look like much at all.

brickles – this was made during the time that me and my friends had started a video game company. i was so sick and tired of thinking about game design and playability, so i made a mean game.

particle – not sure why i called it that, but its an experiment with looping movies in flash… or something like it.

mondrian – another play with 3d using director. i love piet mondrian and thought about what his work would look like with an extra dimension. i also remember being really excited about the charles mingus loop too. i’m such a nerd!

nayou got his second ever haircut yesterday. i was at work and when i came home i was greeted by the cutest thing ever. brenda had it cut much shorter this time which was a good idea considering how hot it is and how tangled his hair gets. his short hair reminds me of when he was much younger… its amazing to think back to those times and then see this articulate, chatty boy. his thing these days is to pee all by himself. he stands on his tiptoes and does it like a big boy (and yes, brenda and i are always there holding the seat up for him!). so cute.

and just for reference, here is a “before” shot.

apologies for the long interval between posts. there hasn’t been all that much to report on the diaz-tanimura front except that life is chugging along nicely. this week we were hit by the mother of all heatwaves, with temperatures nudging 38C (100F) almost constantly. today is the hottest. as i am writing, it is about 40C (104F) outside. it is HOT. normally this would be the day to get to the pool or beach, but we decided to buck the trend and have a garage sale.

you see, two weeks ago we finally got all of our stuff from seattle. for those of you who might not know, many, many moons ago brenda and i moved from seattle to new zealand. this was back in 2004. we had intended to ship all of our stuff to new zealand, but got scammed by the moving company who took our money and left everything in the port of seattle. so we ended up taking everything and shoving it into a storage unit in seattle, where we paid ungodly amounts of money every month for the privilege. this went on for seven years, but when we decided to move to sydney we also decided to get our stuff shipped over.

brenda and i were not living together in seattle so even though we got rid of many things, we have still ended up with doubles of stuff – dishes, cutlery, chairs, lamps. you name it. plus of course we also had a medium sized shipment of stuff from new zealand, so our house looked (and still kind of does look) like a bomb went off in it!

we’ve gone through several rounds of sorting and shedding, but we definitely needed to have a garage sale to kick things into high gear. so today, despite the heat wave, we set up camp on the patch of grass outside our building. the great thing about doing a garage sale with brenda is that she can convince anyone to buy anything. its amazing to watch her work everyone as they preuse the wares. they probably came in just for a look, but end up leaving with a bag full of stuff. win-win.

this garage sale was a really fun one. not only did we sell most of our stuff within the first 90 minutes, we were also blessed with visits from friends and family. our neighbours clayton and jess were superstars and helped us set up, clean up, AND take care of nayou while we were out there. clayton and jess have a seven year old called alex who is nayou’s bff at the moment.

chris and stacy also popped in for a visit. they too, left with more than they bargained for… sorry for being so pushy guys! hehehe.

i also sold on my beautiful pink ladies that my mum sent me way back when. i was reluctant to sell them but couldn’t find a good place for them in our new house. better that they go to someone who will love them than keep them in storage. their new owner is really cool and i was happy to see them get a new lease on life!

brenda had a brand new pair of coach shoes to sell as well. many ladies came and tried them on, but none of them bought. it was starting to become a bit like waiting for cinderella when adele and bill rocked up. adele tried them on and they were perfect! they made her outfit look awesome. fabulous daaaahling.

we packed everything up just after lunch. it was getting too stinking hot. i really wanted someone to take the red sofa, but i think i will have to try my luck online. at least our apartment is starting to look respectable again. still got a ways to go, but we’re getting there! once nayou wakes up from his nap its going to be time to go to the beach! hope you’re all having a great weekend 🙂