COVID Dystopia: No One Seemed to Mind

Posted on by Thor

Stockholm Syndrome is a is a psychological response where a victim develops an emotional connection with their abuser or captor.

It seems so many Americans fell in love with the virus, they want to share it with friends and family. Mass infection for them is an act of kindness.

Unfortunately they are doing this with the assumption that repeat infections build immunity. The opposite it true however, COVID is weakening the immune response, not just to COVID but every other pathogen. An entire generation has been encouraged to live lives of constant repeat infections. At first the hope was that vaccines would stop the infections. Vaccines have helped reduce hospitalizations and death, but break though infections are common. Being infected also only offers some immunity for a few months to the variant of the moment. You can be infected by COVID any month of the year, every several months.

A parent who realizes that they have put their children in harms way will resort to the only psychological response that makes sense, which is denial. Denial has been the American marching order since the pandemic began, and the pandemic is not over.

COVID Dystopia is available to be seen at the Virtual Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival happening now through November 24, 2024. COVID Dystopia can be seen in the Eventive – Chiller Theater Block 2 – Shorts online. It can be seen anywhere in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. After you start watching the films, you have 48 hours to complete watching them. Tickets are $18.

Maker Faire Orlando Steals Illustrator’s Work

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I had a rare day off from teaching this Sunday and thought I would head over to the Maker Faire to do a sketch. I have sketched the Maker Faire quite a few times over the years.

I went to the website to see the hours and was shocked to see that one of my illustrations was being used to promote the event. No one had contacted me about using the image and I was certainly not paid for the use in their promotional materials. The image was cropped to remove my “Thor©” symbol.  Back in 2015 when I did this piece I wasn’t watermarking the work that way I do today. I went ahead and added the watermark, signature and AADW logo that I use every day today. I had to go back to the site and replace the image so others do not continue to steal the art. I am surprised that the Maker Faire does not understand the meaning of the copyright symbol. Using the image without the consent of the artist is theft.

Well after visiting the Maker Faire site, I decided I will never be sketching at that event again. Maker Faire does not promote the work of engineers, artists, scientists and crafters, it steals from them. Instead of going to the Florida Fairgrounds I had to spend the day going through old AADW posts to make sure watermarks were added to all Maker Faire posts before more work is stolen.

So I voted against going to the Maker Faire. Instead I decided to sketch at the Maitland Rotary Art Festival. The Oak Hill Drifters are going to be playing on the main stage and I love that group. I also noticed the art event goes late into the night so I might stick around and do several drawings. I should also be a good chance to catch up and see the work of fellow artists.

Tech Romance

Posted on by Thor

While on a long road trip my iPhone would not take a charge. I was using Google Maps to go to a location deep in the Florida back roads, an hour and a half from where I am renting a home.

The red warning blinked on, saying “low battery. I had no idea if my phone would have enough battery to get me to my destination before blinking out and becoming a useless brick. I had an iPad but it was useless since it needed a Wi-Fi connection to show the maps. If the phone died, I would have no maps, and would not be able to call my friend for directions. I have grown so dependent on the pleasant voice of my female navigator. I stopped in a Dollar General parking lot and quickly wrote out the remaining series of directions on the back of a sketch. Sure enough the phone shut down after driving a few more blocks. My pencil notes got me to where I needed to go.

I conducted a virtual art class from what felt like a peaceful country cabin on my iPad. The trip back would involve even more twists and turns but more pencil notes got me home. Actually before going home, I stopped at the Apple Store in Millennia Mall. The place was packed. Clearly everyone’s charging ports had failed at the same time. I sat at the Genius Bar and a tech quickly helped me out. He took the phone out back to find whatever had clogged the port. I had spent hours trying to clear the port myself the night before with a toothpick, but every attempt failed. I kept plugging the phone in, hoping it might miraculously decide to charge.

While I waited for the tech to come back out with my phone, I sketched. It felt good to have this low tech option to record the moment. Pencils never run out of charge and they never crash. The tech brought the iPhone back out and plugged it in. I kept sketching while the phone charged. Thankfully there was no cost for clearing the port.

Back out in the parking lot, I plugged the phone back into the car charger. I turned on Google Maps and set a course. The first thing the pleasant and familiar female voice said was, “Head North to Conroy Road.” Sigh… She understands my every navigation need. She had me at “head”.

COVID Dystopia is an official Selection of the Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival

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COVID Dystopia will be screened in the Virtual Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival between November 14 and November 24, 2024. It will be available to watch in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. It is one of the short films in the 40V – Chiller Theater Block 2 – VIRTUAL -Shorts24. A general admission ticket is $18.

I will be flying into Pittsburgh for the final day of the festival to attend the awards ceremony. You never know. It should be a fun black tie and black N-95 mask affair.

Hopefully I will have time to watch a few films that I haven’t seen at other festivals.

COVID Dystopia: He Shot Us All

Posted on by Thor

Being unvaccinated is like playing Russian Roulette with just one chamber empty.

With the presidential election fast approaching,  we have a candidate running for president who was responsible for trying to overturn the results of a fair election.

Will we have a free and fair election this time around? Of course not. The only advantage this time around is that he does not have the power of the office behind him.

This scene only had a depth map applied to add dimension. Spinning the chamber would have been far more complicated than it was worth. The shot lasts less than a second which is just enough time to register an impression of what is happening.

COVID Dystopia will screen at the Orlando Film Festival on November 1 and 7, 2024. The November 1 screening is at 4:15pm and the November 7, 2024 screening is at 2pm, both in theater 9. At 8pm on November 7 is the Awards Ceremony which I will also attend in case I need to pick up another award. The Orlando Film Festival runs from October 31 to November 7 at the CMX PLAZA CINEMA CAFE 155 S. Orange Ave, Downtown, Orlando FL. A one day pass is $20 and you can see a whole lot of films in one day. When I attend a film festival I treat it like a movie marathon. If you go to a screening, I will be easy to find as the one person in a KN-95 mask. We might be done with COVID, but COVID is not done with us.

Orlando Film Festival Awards Ceremony

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Last night I attended the Orlando Film Festival Awards Ceremony. COVID Dystopia had screened earlier in the day. That morning Donald Trump was announced as the winner of the presidential election. Trump appears in about 10 of the darkest scenes in the film. The horrific first months of the pandemic came flooding back.

I found it odd that no one stood on the red carpet as we all waited for the doors to open to the awards ceremony. It got incredibly crowded as time went on and the red carpet seemed like wasted real estate. One couple did have their picture taken and they stayed on the red carpet afterwards. The theater entrance was at the end of the carpet, so I made my way up there. Since I was alone it was easy to move anywhere I wanted.

Then an announcement was made that we should all line up n the red carpet. I was second in line behind a couple. I offered to take a picture of them with the long line behind them. Tech issues inside the theater kept the doors closed. Any time I am forced to stand in a crowd I get uncomfortable. How was the seal on my KN95 mask. A man coughed as he walked past. Maybe my goatee was too long and would break the seal. Masks work but they aren’t inflatable of no one else is wearing one.

We were finally let in. I made my way to the very back row of a decent sized theater. Most people crushed together up front. Where I sat gave me plenty of social distancing and made sure no one was breathing down my neck. Trailers were to be shown of the top feature films. Unfortunately, a screen kept cropping up accusing the user of being a bot. He would have to log in. We have all been accused of being a bot at some point and were are used to proving our humanity  by picking out photos of bikes or bridges. The audience went wild shouting to the tech to log in. I started singing “Send in the Bots” to the music of “Send in the Clowns” in my head. “Where are the bots? Send in the bots.”

When the time came for the Best Animated Short category, I was so pleased to see COVID Dystopia on the big screen as a nominee. I had to scramble to get a photo, I have trouble figuring out how to use the camera. I am more used to sketching but there was no time for that. The audience applauded all the nominees.I had seen maybe half of the nominated films. Scavengers was an awesome film from the UCF animation students. A small army had worked on that film, so it was a real contender.

Then the winner was announced and it was COVID Dystopia! I wasn’t expecting that. I had to walk all the way from the back row to the front of the theater. The steps on the way down were oddly spaced and I didn’t want to trip. Daniel Springen, the executive director of the Film Festival filled the time by explaining to the audience that they needed to see the film, he liked the pacing and how contemporary it was. I wish I had turned on my voice recorder to save the moment but I was numb and in shock.

Upon acceptance I was handed a microphone. I my Disney Feature Animation background and someone from the audience shouted out, “I loved Brother Bear“. I mentioned my collaboration with local musician Andy Matchett and talked about how I sketched rehearsals for his Apocalyptic play Key of E. After handing the microphone back to Daniel, he said something that lead me to shout out how the election of Donald Trump had made the film suddenly very relevant again. I said something bout how the 45th had mishandled the early stages of the pandemic and Daniel rightly chimed in that the festival does not support any one political viewpoint.

I had paid $60 dollars or so for a foam core mounted movie poster. I was sad the poster had not won an award for best poster. After the ceremony I worked to unstick the poster from the movie theater hallway. There were eye hooks screws into the top of the poster but they were unutilized. Then I walked around and collected COVID buttons and cards. Quite a few buttons were picked up, I was surprised. Everyone I passed congratulated me. I am not used to being the center of attention. I realized that all recognized me since I was the only person wearing a mask. They might think of the mask as a bit of theater, but it is my new reality, I wear it to all indoor events and think of it like a cummerbund of bow tie. A well fitted mask it my new formal look.

COVID Dystopia: Shot Us All in the Dick

Posted on by Thor

In this shot, all the sperm tails were animated in sync to the beat of the music. I considered offsetting the timing, but decided that having them working in unison made more sense. The added benefit of course was that I only had to animate the tail wag once and then I could duplicate it and move each to their respective sperm head.

The added depth map and camera move makes the sperm swim to screen left.

COVID Dystopia will screen at the Orlando Film Festival on November 1 and 7, 2024. The November 1 screening is at 4:15pm and the November 7, 2024 screening is at 2pm, both in theater 9. At 8pm on November 7 is the Awards Ceremony which I will also attend in case I need to pick up another award. The Orlando Film Festival runs from October 31 to November 7 at the CMX PLAZA CINEMA CAFE 155 S. Orange Ave, Downtown, Orlando FL. A one day pass is $20 and you can see a whole lot of films in one day. When I attend a film festival I treat it like a movie marathon. If you go to a screening, I will be easy to find as the one person in a KN-95 mask. We might be done with COVID, but COVID is not done with us.

COVID Dystopia: On the Red Carpet

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On Sunday November 3rd at 8pm there was a second screening of COVID Dystopia at the Orlando Film Festival. I had quite honestly not realized there was a screening Sunday, so I hadn’t promoted it like usual with a Facebook invite.

I feel it is important to always go to any screening to be there for the question and answer sessions that follow the screening. I went early to get a sketch done in the theater lobby. There was a red carpet set up so film makers could pose in front of all the corporate logos. I took a selfie but haven’t had an official shot taken yet. I have one more chance with my final screening on Tuesday. I shared a shot of myself in front of the COVID Dystopia movie poster and that shot got more engagement than any of the trailer of stills from the film I had shared. It wasn’t my smiling face that got the likes because I was as usual wearing my formal black KN-95 mask. One of the staff took the photo. I usually cross my arms for such a shot, but the lanyard got in the way, So I ended up putting one hand on my hip. On this trip to the festival I finally brought along some COVID Dystopia cards and buttons. The cards have an early poster on one side and the lyrics to the other side. The buttons have a laurel and “COVID Isn’t done with us yet”.

I figured an 8pm screening might be better for getting a crowd in the theater. I was wrong. The producer for the animated short Matty Cat sat in the back and there were two others seated house right. I had met the producer at the first screening where there were lots of filmmakers and about 5 audience members. I joked with him about how I had hoped for a more packed audience. We had a very pleasant conversation about the trajectories of our careers, and lives, then the films started.

Seeing all the films a second time I got to better appreciate things that worked well in each film. With the first screening I cringed every time animation seemed flawed. I put that aside and just looked at textures, lighting and all the aspects that I could learn from should I once again commit to making an animated short.

The two person audience filtered out when the lights went back up so there was no point to a question and answer session. One of the staff however asked us both questions. He was fresh out of film school and just breaking into the film business. Talking to him was awesome since he was in touch with all the Hollywood gossip and so passionate about wanting Independent films to make a mark. There is a horror film that was just made with a budget of $15,000 and it made about 6 million dollars in theaters. That is a one in a million shot but it is what keeps filmmakers motivated.

The last Orlando Film Festival showing of COVID Dystopia will be on November 7, 2024. The November 1st screening 2pm, theater 9. At 8pm on November 7 is the Awards Ceremony which I will also attend in case I need to pick up another award. The Orlando Film Festival runs from October 31 to November 7 at the CMX PLAZA CINEMA CAFE 155 S. Orange Ave, Downtown, Orlando FL. A one day pass is $20 and you can see a whole lot of films in one day. When I attend a film festival I treat it like a movie marathon. If you go to a screening, I will be easy to find as the one person in a KN-95 mask. We might be done with COVID, but COVID is not done with us.

Macbeth Act II

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Macbeth with music by Giuseppe Verdi was presented by the Orlando Opera at Steinmetz Hall in the Dr. Phillips Center for the Perf0rming Arts.  During the intermission I finished up adding watercolor washes to my first sketch.

The second Act opened up once again in the witches cave. I am loosing sight in my left eye which causes me to see two overlapping images. I decided to use my opera glasses to do a second sketch. The advantage of the opera glasses is that the double vision is no longer a problem. One actor or actress fills my vision as I sketch. The problem is to keep my head still as I sketch and resist looking don at the sketch. Both of my fountain pens failed as I sketched and I found that colored pencils became blunt too fast. Despite the technical issues I enjoyed sketching each with in turn, knowing full well it would be a quirky result. I think I will do drawings more often using the opera glasses. It puts me right on top of the action.

Macbeth

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Orlando Opera presented Macbeth with music by Giuseppe Verde at Steinmetz Hall in the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts ( 445 S Magnolia Ave, Orlando, FL), on October 25 and 27, 2024.

The opera opened with the conductor walking out and conducting the small orchestra in the pit.  A witches cave which had a black scrim with 2 openings at the top of the two ramps. I suspected there must be more behind the scrim so I resisted sketching the openings, instead sketching the audience. The theater went pitch black, so I used my iPhone to illuminate the sketch. The witches predicted the future to two generals.

The scrim opened to show the kings castle. Lady Macbeth convinced her husband that he must murder the king to rise to the throne. He had a vision of a dagger and realized that this was his future. The king was murdered in a large projected silhouette, and Macbeth walked on stage with very bloody hands.

The lyrics were in Italian. Since I was sketching, I didn’t have time to read the subtitles above the stage. The emotion behind every aria however was clear. I have seen several productions of Macbeth as written by Shakespeare, so the story line was familiar. I let the music guise my hand as I struggled, putting lines on the page in the dark.