Hey guys and gals, after just over a year of blogging, Passy World is going on a well earned holiday for the next three weeks.
We are packing the netbook, and getting on a great big silver bird just like this one:
Image Source: http://2.bp.blogspot.com
And where in the world are we going ?
Image Source: http://a3.twimg.com
That's right, travel destination is the good old U S of A, where Big Passy will be getting re-aquainted with his old hometown of McLean Virginia.
We pretty much have the game plan all figured out and have even made a Wordle out of it:
First up we will be going to Los Angeles:
Image Source: https://fisher.osu.edu
And doing all the usual tourist things like Disneyland, Universal Studios, etc.
Then we head south to Knotsberry Farm amusement park for the world's biggest collection of roller coaster rides.
Image Source: http://www.ymcanationals2010.org
and also to Lego Land in California:
Image Source: http://away.com
and from the Lego Land version to the real thing, as we fly cross country to Washington DC to stay with some old friends from Virginia. We will even be in the nation's capitol for the 4th of July Fireworks!
and while in DC we will be getting the Amtrak Metro train up the coast to see the sights of New York City:
Image Source: http://www.bgawebsites.org
So it's going to be a big trip for us all the way from here in Melbourne Australia right across the world, but we have the ipods loaded up, USB sticks full of entertainment, and a BIG appetite for adventure.
It is unlikely we will be updating this Blog while we are away, but we should have plenty of good material and fresh ideas when we get back in about three weeks time.
Hey guys. From our webpage background, you have probably guessed that "The Matrix" is our favorite movie of all time here at Passy World.
So this week we are delighted to bring some of the lighter side of the story into a Friday Funny.
We realise that we might be alienating some people, because they have not seen the movie. But what we recommend is that you get it on DVD and educate yourselves, one and all.
Our first video today is a great Matrix Parody from the 2003 MTV Music Awards, featuring Justin Timberlake:
Finally there is a great animated series of movies made by some animal rights campaigners called "The Meatrix". These movies are a bit more on the serious side, and not so humorous.
Here is the first movie:
The Flash animation in these stories is very well done indeed, and so are the animal caracatures of the original cast of the movie.
Here is the Meatrix II movie, that continues Leo's adventure into the Meatrix, and the exposure of mass production farming and its shortcomings.
Finally, a Futurama snapshot of their entry into the parody of the Matrix. Looks like everyone is in on it!
Image Source: http://files.myopera.com
So that's it for another working week, time to unplug from the matrix and relax for a couple of days.
This week we are dancing our way into some very funny situations.
Dancing is fun anyway, but it can also be extremely funny when it is done in a careless manner, as per these classic examples:
Now I've heard that some guys are real animals on the Dance Floor. But how about this for an extreme example of someone bopping around with their feline friends:
Image Source: http://www.2flashgames.com
Check out the look on the girlfriend's face, who is standing in the background !
Here is a dancing and party bloopers video from YouTube:
Some Important Dancing Q & A's:
Q. Which dances do the burgers do best? A. The burger-loo and the char char!
Q. What's a vampire's favorite dance? A. The Fang Tango.
Q. What do cars do at the disco? A. Brake dance.
Q. What kind of dance do buns do? A. Abundance.
Q. What do baby swans dance to ? A. Cygnet-ure-tunes !
Q. What is a duck's favorite dance ? A. The quackstep !
Q. What is the fly’s favorite dance? A. The jitterbug!
Q. What's the best kind of water to dance on? A. Tap Water!!!!
One dancing craze that has been recently growing at a huge rate is "Zumba".
From what I can gather it is some kind of "Dancercize" class, where groups of people dance energetically to Latin rythms and burn up plenty of calories.
There is a guy on YouTube called "Zumba Boy" who claims to be an expert at this style of dancing. However, here at Passy World we doubt whether his moves are authentic Zumba, and they are probably just some bizarre improvisations?
(But for entertainment value alone, Zumba Boy is definitely a winner this Friday).
Watch the following YouTube clip, and you can be the judge of his virtuosity:
And let me tell you that Zumba Boy isn't the only one into some pure animal dancing:
Now it's a well known fact that a lot of guys might have great intentions, but are actually not so good on the dance floor:
You Know You Are a Dancer When...
You use long hallways to practice grand jetes.
You have more pointe shoes than street shoes.
Instead of toes on your feet you can only see the blisters.
You buy stock in the bandaid company.
You use your swingset to practice your fouettes.
Before everything you do you say 5-6-7-8.
You dont dance for a week, and even your brother notices.
You have fights with gymnasts about who works harder.
You can whip up a ponytail in 5 seconds flat.
You suddenly can't count past 8.
You can't sit still when you hear music.
Every time you turn on the lights, you start 100 watt smiling, because it reminds you of being on stage.
You are well coordinated in class but trip over your own feet walking.
You know a combo to every song that comes on the radio.
You don't think it's weird when boys wear tights.
Here is a very famous good fun dancing clip off You Tube, all about a mammothly long wedding dance:
And last but not least, another feel good clip from You Tube. This one is by a guy called "Where the Hell is Matt", and has had millions of views.
It is amazing how much effort he has put into making this clip. Using only a shoestring budget on dance costumes and moves, the images speak for themselves, and show us our world in an interesting light.
So wherever we are in the world, and whatever dancing we like, let's waltz our way into another great weekend!
Bezier curves are an essential part of most computer art. It is with these that we are able to make smooth curved shapes on our drawings and art work.
Adobe Fireworks "Pen Tool" is a great beginner's Bezier curves maker, and is a good launch pad into Adobe Illustrator and other graphic art applications.
I start my junior high school students off using the Pen Tool in Fireworks to create straight lines and angles. They are given a glass with an olive like this:
It is then their task to add straight lines with the Pen Tool to create a city background for an imaginary James Bond movie poster. The fun comes when the CS3 Fireworks styling effects are applied to create some amazing final results like this image:
Once students are confident with dot to dot straight lines with the Pen Tool, we progress to holding down the mouse button at the end of a line segment, and then moving the mouse to create smooth Bezier curves.
The brief to students this time is to create an umbrella using Bezier curves, import some clip art, and stylize the image to create a final result like this one:
The following set of instructions explain how to use Fireworks Pen Tool Bezier curves to draw a basic umbrella.
If you would like to have your own full size copy of this PDF, then simply click the save disk icon button on the PDF viewer, and you should be able to save it to your own hard disk.
Alternatively, you can view or save the full size PDF by clicking the link below:
Students are also shown how the Pen Tool combined with stylizing can be used to create "Grafitti" style tag names like this one:
Students make straight lines, curved lines, and also apply styling effects. They also import other graphic items, and some even use layers in their work. Shown below are some of the creations from my Year 7 and 8 students.
The following Wondershare slideshow gives examples of student's work that was made using the Abobe CS3 Fireworks Bezier Pen Tool.
It's as easy as putting pen to paper; so get started in Adobe Fireworks with the Bezier Pen tool. You will soon see all the fun you can have making some really classy art work.
Right then. This week we're putting everyone into a headlock and making them look at a whole bunch of interesting wrestling trivia that we found on the Internet.
Now some people take this sport a bit more seriously than we do here at Passy World, but let me just say that we do appreciate and respect the strength, agility, and showmanship of the professional wrestlers.
Image Source: http://www.columbiamissourian.com
But we have to admit that those tight lycra costumes the guys wear are a bit out there. Perhaps this YouTube clip might help clarify how all this comes about.
You Know You Watch WAY TOO MUCH Wrestling When.......
On your resume you write "I'm the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be".
You call a beer by your name Instead of hugging relatives you give them bear hugs & mandible claws.
You begin to shake someone's hand in public, but then hesistate to look for the crowd's response.
You tell your significant other, "Not tonight, I'm watching RAW".
Every time you sit down a table you consider how easily it might break if you were to moonsault it.
You get in fights with people who say wrestling is fake.
After you beat someone up, you spray paint their back.
You clothesline people in the supermarket for no real reason.
You elbow smash your dog & turn him/her over for the three count.
You do heel turns on your best friends for no reason.
You don't understand why there are wars when a steel-cage/grudge match would settle everything.
Instead of reading a bedtime story to your kids, you put them in a sleeper.
Instead of punishing your kids by grounding them, you threaten them with stunners, choke slams & tombstones
When your king-size bed has ropes and turnbuckles surrounding it.
You get fired from work then show up the next day wearing a mask.
Your boss fires you and you come back to work and challenge him to a no-holds barred steel-cage wrestling match.
There are thousands of clips on the net about wrestling, but this one containing a few interesting highlights managed to catch our attention here at Passy World.
Now this next clip is kind of funny, but you have to watch it right until the very end.
Then you will see the final funny outcome.... well maybe not that funny for everyone in the clip?
Japan is a wonderful country, (after all that's where Wasabi comes from)! It is also the home of "real" wrestling.
Just check out these mighty big Sumo boys.
Here is another great ad featuring some big Japanese wrestling lads.
Of course Sumo wrestlers aren't just mighty sushi eating machines. They are in fact highly versatile all-round athletes as per the following pictures.
or what about this Kentucky Derby horse racing legend:
Image Source: http://www.funtoosh.com
And this Sumo in heavy training for the next Tour de France:
Image Source: http://www.freakingnews.com
and here is a well known Japanese joke commonly referred to by Westerners as: "A Sumo Jump"
Three men, an Scot, and an English man and a sumo wrestler were going to commit suicide by jumping of the top of a building.
The Scot jumped off and shouted ''God save Scotland !'' The English man jumped off and shouted ''God Save England!'' The Sumo wrestler jumped off and shouted ''God save the person I land on!''
And let's not leave the ladies out of this. You know "Jelly Wrestling" sure looks like a whole lot of fun. Who would have ever guessed that kids' party food could help a bunch of adults to have so much fun!
Image Source: http://www.jellowrestling.com
Take away the Jelly from the equation, substitute a competitive element instead, and things look a bit less fun, and a heck of a lot more serious:
Image Source: http://z.about.com
Well I think we have certainly covered enough of the Wrestling spectrum for this post.
So now I'm off to wrestle with the idea of how much it would cost to buy enough jelly to fill half a swimming pool.....you know....just for a bit of light entertainment at my next birthday party!
This week we are looking at the great online adventure game "Runescape", which my son used to play a lot, before he started becoming a teenager.
Apart from the actual online adventure game, there are endless spinoffs in the form of "Machinima" animations and "RSMV" (Runescape Music Videos).
It is these two genres of entertainment on You Tube that we will be looking at today. Runescape players capture game play using Hypercam or Camtasia and then put the footage into movie maker software and overdub, add effects, and thereby make their own spin off movies.
Okay then, this week's FF may not be outrageously funny, but it will certainly be educational.
Here is a typical Runescape Animation to get us started:
Now for most people that was probably way out there. Bob is the avatar of Runescape player "Bob IRL" who is the Monkey character operating the computer, and "plox" means "please".... so are we starting to get any of it yet ???
All right, this next clip should help unravel more of the story.
In fact it will tell us the full story of how Runescape was created in the first place.
And here is a video all about the begginnings of the legendary Runescape player "Bob IRL":
Now there are many "Bob IRL" videos on You Tube, as well as many "Teh Noob Show" Runescape play sequences, but this next clip is definitely one of our favorites here at Passy World:
A guy offers you full steel for free and you say "no thanks I have full bronze its better".
You know Lumbridge castle like the back of your hand.
Chickens are a challenge for you.
Men lvl 9 is WAY out of your reach.
You have only cooked 1 out of 4578 raw chickens, the rest are burnt.
You keep burnt meet and try to sell it.
You can't even mine tin and copper.
You have your own respawn spot for were you die.
You brag to your friends about buying a rusty iron dagger and a medium bronze helmet.
The farthest from Lumbridge you've been is still in Lumbridge.
RSMV - RUNESCAPE MUSIC VIDEO CLIPS
Let's now look at some RSMV music film clips. First up, here is a great Linkin Park song:
There are lots of these RSMV clips to be found on You Tube, just search on "RSMV", and don't plan going anywhere for at least a couple of hours!
Here is a great RSMV clip of one of our very favorite Foo Fighters songs:
And the really cool thing about RSMV is that we can discover all kinds of new songs we've never heard before like this one:
It has been really hard to choose from all the great RSMV clips on the Tube, but we figure we just have to include this great one of the Korn song "Word Up":
You Know you Play Runescape too much when:
Packages are sent to you in your Runescape name.
You rename your street Varrock.
You smith noobs full rune armor just to see them cry when they can't wear it.
They made a village named after you.
You go to a corner store and try to sell a bronze square shield saying its worth 23 gp.
You walk around saying "Selling my lunch Shout 123 to buy".
And saving the very best for last, here is an absolute classic:
Runescape meets Machinima meets Chicken Jokes:
Hope this post wasn't too foul of an experience for our dedicated fans.
If Runescape is not your cup of tea, then you may not have laughed a whole lot, or you may have even lost the plot.
But let's hope it's all okay, and you get yourself a weekend with the lot!
Adobe Fireworks is a great tool for creating artistic drawings. It is simple for beginners to use, and has a vast array of special effect textures and paint brushes.
See previous post about this, (including "How To" instructions), by clicking this link: Draw a House in Fireworks
The following Wondershare slideshow showcases the recent efforts of my Year 7 and Year 8 multimedia students.
The brief was that they had to make an Alien Space picture. They were allowed to use up to two images from the Internet, but had to draw the rest of the picture using Adobe Fireworks.
Note that we can click on the bottom of the slideshow on the "Manual Play" option at any time. We can then advance through the photos one by one at our own pace. This allows us to stop for longer on the photos that we really like, and quickly bypass the ones that we are not interested in.
(Push the Play button arrow below if the slideshow is not already running).
