Da-Do Do Do, Da-Da Da Da is all I want to say to you.This week is the annual CG conference known as
Siggraph. While there is some sort of convention floor, the real draw (at least for me) is the large amount of lectures and classes that go on during the show.
What surprises me at these lectures is how much I actually understand. There is a lot of intense jargon flyin around and the fact that I can pick out most of it and figure out what the lecturer is tryin to say makes me feel pretty good about myself.
Of course a lot of the stuff is still over my head, and even though I understand what each term is meant to convey I doubt that similar sentences find their way into my own thoughts on a day-to-day basis.
Stuff like, "you don't even need to use a deformer for this bit of MEL to work. You can even take a simple locator and select its transforms, and you can see its got a complete rotational matrix in terms of world-space."
or whatever.
There was even more crazy talk to be heard outside the classroom walls at the convention this year. Before I continue I should say that I have spent plenty of time in Los Angeles. Every time you go you get to see some sorta "LA stereotype" played out in front of you. On this particular trip I got to see all the random insane people that I imagine Midwesterners assume exist around every corner and in every boutique.
The bulk of these experiences were had in and around the LA public library. It was a warm sunny day and the grounds outside the library seemed like an ideal place for strolling or finding some shade. It turns out its also a very popular place with the invisible gremlins that plague our nations homeless.
Some of these gremlins are quite the jokesters, as the man sitting just beyond the main entrance could tell you (if you dared to start a conversation with him). Others are clearly annoying naggers like the one pestering the gentleman sitting on one of the shaded benches around the side. Others are more likely to rat you out to the cops -- there was a particularly frantic man who was trying to dissuade his gremlin from that very thing as he ran across the courtyard.
The fun didn't end there though. Once inside the library I found myself in line for a public internet terminal. To my right was a guy who seemed normal until he turned to the woman standing next to him and drawled, "you're beauuuuuutiful. hehehe"
"uh...thanks." she replied.
"you're weeeeeeelcooooooome"
(I don't think he pulled any digits).
but the grand finale was the guy who came in later standing in line but giving the person ahead of him an unusually wide berth. When someone came in behind him and asked if he was in line for the computers he responded with, "yea...Get the fuck away from me". To which the man who asked the question said, "well...I'm standing in line..." but was interrupted with another, "Just back the fuck off man".
Later this same angry computer user randomly shouted at all of us, accusing us of staring at him. "what the fuck are you all lookin at"
I was tempted to say, "Im lookin at a crazy asshole in the middle of the public library" but I thought better of it.
-B
Labels: people are strange, video games
