Corne van Dooren - (Multimedia) Designer

April 27, 2006

Hello again. Its the last Friday of April 2006 and to kick off the weekend I'd like to give you a link I think is pretty cool - or in fact, brilliant.

This is a videoclip of the band Nizlopi. I think their videoclip for the JCB Song is the coolest clip of 2006 already! Kudos to Monkeehub for this animation!

Compared to all the hip-hop self-entitled pimps and gangsters with naked bitches (at least that's how they call them) in their videoclips this animation just tops my list. The soundtrack to the video obviously is great as well, but this clip is fantastic. This should clear up all the awards at any MTV show... Oh no. Wait. It won't. It hasn't got naked women in it...

Yes, this is me being critical about the Dutch MTV channel and the Dutch channel TMF. Wouldn't it just be nice if they actually start showing a wide variety of music again - instead of the commercial "pimped-up" stuff that is presented by people who know absolutely nothing about music in the first place?

Anyway, have a great weekend. I know I will because we'll be celebrating my girlfriend's 25th birthday. Yes, she is getting old... ; )

All the best.

April 26, 2006

Hello again. This time I'm gonna place something from work in my blog (with kind permission of my boss - best boss ever!). At Andriessen and Partners we are currently looking at producing educational games in-house. The animation below was a sample I made to show how HTML would most likely look compared to Adobe Flash (still feels weird to call it Adobe...). We want to produce modern games and hope our clients understand why we want to use Flash after seeing this sample.

Hit the upgrade button for a more advanced animation. There are 4 scenes: horse running, horse running on grass, horse running on grass with speed and finally a full game animation scene. Hope you like it.

Take care.

Update: The flash animation has been taken offline.

April 21, 2006

Heya guys and girls. After all my UPC-bashing I felt it was time for some good news. Otherwise you'll think I'm always complaining... ;)

Actually I am a very happy man. I get to do what I like, have a girlfriend who supports me in my every move I make and have a company that is running really well. Actually it looks like the coming months are extremely busy again. Strange though that I am mostly asked for websites, while animations are my real deal. Or at least, I'd like to think so. But hey, work = work and income = income!

Also kudos to my man James King for sending in a personal video message. That was something else. I do receive quite some emails through this site, but never before had someone send me a personal video message. James, one day we'll meet and I'll buy you a beer! ;)

By the way - to all readers: if you are thinking about sending me big stuff I'd appreciate you sending it to my Hotmail-account:globalcorne@hotmail.com

Now I want to share something else with all of you. I am thinking about emigrating more and more these days. Ever since I was offered a job in Aruba last year I have been thinking about my future in the Netherlands. And the more I think about it, the more I start to feel something for emigrating.

Although many Americans (take a look at the very poor Deuce Bigalow sequel) tend to believe that The Netherlands is all about "coffeeshops", "legal weed" and the "red light district" it is actually also a country of (too) many rules. Its becoming more absurd every day. The government has absolutely no sense at all about what they're doing and what the common Dutch man/woman wants (but hey, guess that's in all countries all over the world).

Anyway, I'm looking forward to another great weekend. Hope its the same over there. So, after all my bashing its time for happier thoughts (weekend, and they say the weather's gonna be great!). Looks like I needed it if I take a look at the blog of this month!
Anyway, take care, make love, all the best & have a great weekend ya'll!

April 18, 2006

Hope you've all had a good Easter?! Me and Nadine had a blast so its hard to get back to work now...

One negative point. They must have read the blog at UPC or something because since posting it I have not been able to use my internet. The phone has also been dead for over a day...

Okay, they haven't read this blog... I know. Its just their crap services. This Thursday they are sending another (number 11 in 1 year!) mechanic. Just like last year I have decided that this is the last chance for UPC to make it work.

This time though, I'm sticking to it! If the mechanic isn't able to solve my issues this week - its over. I have had 5 great years at UPC, but this last year its been nothing but shit. That's because they've signed up more people to their services, yet lack the capacity...

Anyway, looking forward to that UPC-mechanic. I don't think he'll be able to help out, but who knows - they surprised me last year too...

Take care.

April 13, 2006

Its that time of the year again. My internet is down a lot, the telephone isn't working and the television's got these great diagonal lines going across it...

That's correct, all these services are provided to me by UPC. You may remember me writing about these people last year (blogs april - may) when I was experiencing similar problems.

Today there was a mechanic from the company to check what was wrong. As usual the kid (the mechanics of UPC all seem to be under 20 these days) couldn't find anyhting and left without actually doing anything to improve the service.

I just wanted to use my personal webspace to release my anger just a bit. Hope you guys and girls don't mind. Maybe if they read the blog they'll shut me down completely for this. Or does that sound too far fetched, too Enemy of the State-like? Anyway, if there's no new message appearing this month - they have read this blog and have shut me down from the outside world... ; )

To everyone, except UPC, have a great Easter & take care.

April 12, 2006

Because I've been experiencing headaches for about three weeks now, I visited my doctor last week. He told me it could just be stress (though I wouldn't know what from - I haven't been this happy and relaxed for quite some time...). His advice was to take walks.

So for the past couple of days I've been walking...

The headaches aren't gone yet, but walking is definately very relaxing. I simply take my iPod and walk about 10 kilometres a day. It really clears the mind and just has something relaxing about it. Now I can only hope it makes the headaches dissappear.

During the walk I can really enjoy looking at the sky as well. I am a very big fan of the sky and clouds. Every day the sky is different. It can be very colorful at sunrise or sunset. You just never know what you're gonna get. Great! Anyway, enough about my love for the beautiful sky... ;)

Take care and take a walk from time to time.

April 9, 2006

Yesterday me and Nadine have been spending some quality time with my sister & boyfriend and my brother & girlfriend. First we've been to dinner. After dinner we've been to Ice Age 2: The Meltdown.

What can you say about a sequel? Exactly that. Its a sequel. Part 1 was more original and had a better story, but Ice Age 2 is not a bad movie.

As a 3D animator/designer I spotted some real nice effects (which the average visitor wouldn't even spot because they wouldn't be looking at the effects, obviously). When the animals hit the water, the hair gets wet. That was a really nice effect! The big water explosion was a bit fake, which was a shame because the water effects were very cool throughout the movie.

The story is okay - though not spectacular. The animals look a bit more polished and they have noticed what was popular in the first movie. Scrat is playing a bigger part in this movie.

I also want to point out that the first part of the movie was a bit dull, but after about 25 minutes or so the movie gets on a roll. The second part of the movie is better.

Overall judgement for Ice Age 2: The Meltdown would be a 7 out of 10. Its a good sequel, but it is definately a sequel...

Now, gotta go - there's cake downstairs! Its my dad's birthday... He turns 51 today. Happy birthday dad and I hope there are many more to come.

Anyway, all the best & take care.

April 2, 2006

This weekend I received a letter from Dutch Justice. Finally, after 8 years of driving, they managed to fine me for speeding! Don't get me wrong, I did speed and deserve the fine. But if you'd know how often and large-scaled the Dutch police is trying to make money this way...

I feel its kinda sad that the police is not there to do what it has to do. Protect the Dutch inhabitants. Let me give you a couple of examples...

1. The police was present at the entrance of a school. Obviously a lot of people were bringing their kids to school by car. On that day they had been giving out fines of many Euros to every car that stopped to drop of a kid stating cars weren't allowed to stop in front of the school (which I feel is a kind of very stupid rule...anyway...). When people told them there was an illegal crack-house one street from the school - they didn't even bother to check it out. Fines make the police more money...

2. About a week ago a young kid was shot dead. The police knew the killer had been carrying a gun for weeks. Again, they didn't bother to check it out. That has left one kid dead, just because they'd rather fill their working hours writing out fines to drivers...

Again, the fine I received is correct and I deserved it. That does not take away the fact that I feel the Dutch police hasn't got its priorities right. And that's not the fault of the men and women of the police. They're just following orders from head-offices and the government... I just hope they will one day get their priorities sorted out.

Anyway, take care and all the best.

Corne van Dooren, Multimedia Designer