One Arm Elbow Lever progress / How to progress in your training on shitty days

Training these past few months has been quite a wreck for me, with what seems to be: Low energy, long lasting DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness), decrease strength in some skills. I manage to pull through, with proper rest and just stay moving,  going easier on my training; working on greasing the groove instead of up the intensity.

One Arm Elbow Lever 

One of my current Side Goals that i've been working on, i'm stuck around using a few fingers from my other hand as assistance. I'm twisting my body around trying to find that sweet spot where i can balance on the elbow. On the video, i'm on my index finger and thumb, on the last few sec i could go on only my thumb, although my hands are quite shaky.

How to get started on training One Arm Elbow Lever

If you want to work towards the One Arm Elbow Lever as well, i suggest working on two arms first. If you can do 4 sets of 20 secs with both arms, i would say you are ready to try this.

Your hands should be rotated out, fingers pointing towards the side. The supporting hand, can be on full hand on the ground, and slowly lift each finger off as you progress. DONT RUSH IT, people try to just quickly take their supporting hand off the ground, jumping right into it, instead slowly peel off your fingers one at a time, till you find that balance.

How should you train on days you just feel like shit/tired/off?

On days where you don't feel good, for whatever reason, its better to step back on a progression or 2, OR you could stay on the same progression, be work with much lower reps with more sets.

So for example you are working on a Front Lever progression, usually you would do 4 sets of 10s holds, with Straddle legs, on those shitty days you prob have a hard time, so do 5 sets of 5s instead. Or you could step back a progression, which would be the Flat Tuck, and do your 4 sets of 10s there.

It's always important to stay moving, whether its a light jog, some yoga, or just doing some boring cardio on the bike. The point is to get that momentum going, before you know it, you are doing a full workout, and you will be performing like a beast.

You can apply this to pretty much any kind of training you do, perhaps your life in general

Andrew's WOD: 20 HIT Tabata cardio

From today onwards i shall blog my workouts, if i have time i might upload my meals as well

20 HIT Tabata + Plank = 3x

1. Burpee tabata
(30 sec rest)

2. Plank with arms on physio ball
(1 min rest)

-repeat 2 more times, so that makes it a total of 3 rounds
-took about 15-20 mins

EPIC INSPIRATION: Be Great, Powerful Beyong Measure

Motivation : just having a coach like this in your head.

Acting ref : Will Smith in Pursuit of Happiness.

6 Great Ways To Motivate Yourself To Exercise

At this point, everyone is pretty much aware of the huge upside to exercising regularly. The reason that there aren’t more people doing it, is the sheer lack of motivation. There is nothing that pushes them enough to go out there and exercise. Fortunately, there are some very useful ways which you can use to motivate yourself to become a more active individual. Let me elaborate on each one of them a bit more:

Change from a “maybe” to a “must”
The first thing you need to do is to categorically include exercise into your lifestyle without any maybe’s or but’s. Exercising should be a must within your daily routine. Within your time management, there should always be time allocated to exercising. I can’t stress enough how important this is. For example, a few years ago I decided to go for a bike ride every day and allocated 1 hour of my time to it per day. Before I did that, I was always putting everything else before it, and I never could find the time for it. So instead of trying to fit exercise into your tight schedule, make it a permanent part of it which is non-negotiable, and make other non-productive activities such as watching television secondary to it.

Surround yourself with fitness-oriented people
If you are not exercising, have a look at your close unit of acquaintances. Chances are that most if not all of them are just as non-active as you are. If you want to be successful at not only starting but staying active over time, you definitely need to have friends that share this same goal with you. Having a training partner is one of the best ways to get yourself the proper motivation to keep at it day in and day out. Someone with whom you can discuss the good and the bad, the positive and the negative, and that understands you fully is extremely important to your success at staying active. The bottom line is, if you are trying to be active, your non-active friends will never understand what you are going through and they are certainly not the right people that will motivate you to keep going.

Want to be better looking?
I have found that most people will pretty much do anything to become more attractive and more desirable. The good news is that you do not have to subject yourself to grueling & potentially dangerous plastic surgery to get the job done. With a little patience and a strong will, you can literally reshape your entire body via exercise. Use this desire of seeking to be more attractive to your advantage and turn it into pure motivation to exercise. Sure, there are tons of reasons why people exercise, but I am certain that 100% do it partly to be more attractive. Looks matter in our current society, and we associate looks with success. Play that card to your own benefit and you will see that you will possess plenty of motivation to keep exercising over time. To motivate you even more, take pictures of yourself on a weekly basis. I guarantee you that the change you will notice in the pictures over a few months will make you want to keep exercising for the rest of your life!

Think long term health benefits
As I mentioned in my previous point, physical appearance is a huge motivating factor, but your health should be an even bigger one. The thing with health, is that we do not “see” it. It’s hidden, and thus in a very visual and superficial society such as our current one, it becomes secondary to looks. Luckily, people are becoming more and more concerned with being healthy and living a better quality of life as they get older. Use this to your advantage as well to motivate yourself to exercise. The list of health benefits that exercising provides you with is just enormous. By thinking about maintaining a high quality of life for years to come, you are thinking long term and thus you can find the proper amount of motivation to stay active even during times that you feel like giving up. We all want to be healthy, and going through health concerns brings about much stress to our life as well as to those that we love. When I hear of fathers or grandparents that are changing their lifestyle and becoming more active to be around to see their children grow up, I am so proud of them. That’s one of the strongest motivation you could ever have to turn your life around with exercise.

Work towards a goal
Do you have a reunion to go to in a few months and you want to look your best? Do you have a vacation planned and you want to look fantastic in a bathing suit? Do you idolize a certain person and want to look just like them? These types of goals are extremely powerful, and can provide unrelenting motivation that can then carry you towards those very goals. The key is to always have such a goal, because you don’t want to go back to your old ways once you have reached that goal. I’m sure you’ve seen people flip flop over and over again with their fitness, and this is due to the fact that once they reach their goal, they do not have another one to aim for. Always have something to work towards, and every time you reach one, create a new one. You will not only be amazed at the amount of motivation this creates, but you will astound yourself at how much you can accomplish that you never thought possible before.

Simply start
As hard as it is to get yourself to start, you will be happy to know that things get much better as you keep going. The steepest hill to climb over is to start. Once you start, you have conquered the biggest obstacle. This is something that you should be proud of, in and of itself. Once you start, you put the wheels in motion to create momentum, and this momentum is crucial to bring you towards the finish line. But for that to happen, you need to start. So stop finding excuses and ways to delay your start. Choose to start exercising today, and never look back. You will be thankful that you did

Original source here at www.ineedmotivation.com

100 Benefits of Meditation

I started doing meditation, thought it would help me in my everday life, since i been having sleeping problems, from anxiety im guessing. So here's a list of benefits for meditation i found

Physiological benefits:
1- It lowers oxygen consumption.
2- It decreases respiratory rate.
3- It increases blood flow and slows the heart rate.
4- Increases exercise tolerance.
5- Leads to a deeper level of physical relaxation.
6- Good for people with high blood pressure.
7- Reduces anxiety attacks by lowering the levels of blood lactate.
8- Decreases muscle tension
9- Helps in chronic diseases like allergies, arthritis etc.
10- Reduces Pre-menstrual Syndrome symptoms.
11- Helps in post-operative healing.
12- Enhances the immune system.
13- Reduces activity of viruses and emotional distress
14- Enhances energy, strength and vigour.
15- Helps with weight loss
16- Reduction of free radicals, less tissue damage
17- Higher skin resistance
18- Drop in cholesterol levels, lowers risk of cardiovascular disease.
19- Improved flow of air to the lungs resulting in easier breathing.
20- Decreases the aging process.
21- Higher levels of DHEAS (Dehydroepiandrosterone)
22- prevented, slowed or controlled pain of chronic diseases
23- Makes you sweat less
24- Cure headaches & migraines
25- Greater Orderliness of Brain Functioning
26- Reduced Need for Medical Care
27- Less energy wasted
28- More inclined to sports, activities
29- Significant relief from asthma
30- improved performance in athletic events
31- Normalizes to your ideal weight
32- harmonizes our endocrine system
33- relaxes our nervous system
34- produce lasting beneficial changes in brain electrical activity
35- Cure infertility (the stresses of infertility can interfere with the release of hormones that regulate ovulation).

Psychological benefits:
36- Builds self-confidence.
37- Increases serotonin level, influences mood and behaviour.
38- Resolve phobias & fears
39- Helps control own thoughts
40- Helps with focus & concentration
41- Increase creativity
42- Increased brain wave coherence.
43- Improved learning ability and memory.
44- Increased feelings of vitality and rejuvenation.
45- Increased emotional stability.
46- improved relationships
47- Mind ages at slower rate
48- Easier to remove bad habits
49- Develops intuition
50- Increased Productivity
51- Improved relations at home & at work
52- Able to see the larger picture in a given situation
53- Helps ignore petty issues
54- Increased ability to solve complex problems
55- Purifies your character
56- Develop will power
57- greater communication between the two brain hemispheres
58- react more quickly and more effectively to a stressful event.
59- increases one’s perceptual ability and motor performance
60- higher intelligence growth rate
61- Increased job satisfaction
62- increase in the capacity for intimate contact with loved ones
63- decrease in potential mental illness
64- Better, more sociable behaviour
65- Less aggressiveness
66- Helps in quitting smoking, alcohol addiction
67- Reduces need and dependency on drugs, pills & pharmaceuticals
68- Need less sleep to recover from sleep deprivation
69- Require less time to fall asleep, helps cure insomnia
70- Increases sense of responsibility
71- Reduces road rage
72- Decrease in restless thinking
73- Decreased tendency to worry
74- Increases listening skills and empathy
75- Helps make more accurate judgements
76- Greater tolerance
77- Gives composure to act in considered & constructive ways
78- Grows a stable, more balanced personality
79- Develops emotional maturity

Spiritual benefits:
80- Helps keep things in perspective
81- Provides peace of mind, happiness
82- Helps you discover your purpose
83- Increased self-actualization.
84- Increased compassion
85- Growing wisdom
86- Deeper understanding of yourself and others
87- Brings body, mind, spirit in harmony
88- Deeper Level of spiritual relaxation
89- Increased acceptance of oneself
90- helps learn forgiveness
91- Changes attitude toward life
92- Creates a deeper relationship with your God
93- Attain enlightenment
94- greater inner-directedness
95- Helps living in the present moment
96- Creates a widening, deepening capacity for love
97- Discovery of the power and consciousness beyond the ego
98- Experience an inner sense of “Assurance or Knowingness”
99- Experience a sense of “Oneness”
100- Increases the synchronicity in your life

Original source from here at www.ineedmotivation.com

How to Escape a Fart

6 Steps to accelate your animation career

Do your best work

It doesn’t matter if you’re animating at school, at work or at home on personal projects – but practising with the intention of doing your best work is the fastest way to get better.

George Leonard’s brilliant book Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment says it’s not enough to practise. You must practise with the intent of perfecting your craft – regardless of the outcome.

Update your reel

Your reel is a living document, and if you still have a demo reel that hasn’t changed in a year – you need to address that as a matter of priority.

As a start: Why not focus on adding one thing, and removing one thing.

Progressively culling your worst animation and adding more awesome shots is a must if you want to keep moving forward.

Meet some new people

It’s a simple fact that jobs get offered to people that studios already know. Especially in an industry as small as ours.

Take the opportunity to expand your circle of friends: go to an industry night, volunteer at a film festival, attend a guest lecture or a panel session.

The more people that know you, the easier you are to hire.

Connect with people in your network

Haven’t given your animation school buddy a call in a while? Jump on the phone, email, skype, facebook – whatever.

There is nothing worse than someone who only reaches out to contacts when they want something.

Don’t be that guy.

Keep in touch. Ask about their work and their personal projects. Offer your help. You know – be a friend.

That way when you do need a favor, you’re not cold-calling random people in your network hoping they remember you sufficiently to help you find work.

Revamp your website

Ahh … you have a website, right?

If not, then don’t put it off. Setting up a personal website is something you can do in the next few weeks that will greatly increase your exposure and improve your ability to advance your animation career.

You can start with a free service like Blogger, Tumblr, or WordPress. Or if you’d prefer to have your own domain name, grab it before it gets taken and create your own site to host your reel.

Personally – I use PowWeb because they’re cheap, reliable and have great customer service, but there are tons of great web hosts to choose from.

And if you haven’t updated your site in a while, spend an hour adding some new information about you and your work.

Animate

Yes really. (Did you think I was going to miss that one out?)

Make a film. Enter a competition. Experiment with a new medium.

Unless you’re working in your absolute dream job, chances are you have some ideas and techniques you’d like to try out, but can’t do in your regular work.

Adding to your set of skills is not just valuable – it’s marketable.

Best of luck! Looking forward to what you come up with this year.

original source of this article at www.animationideas.com

Secrets of the Self Employed (or How to be an Amazing [insert profession here])

I found this article in Keri Smith site, and found it very inspiring and helpful mentally on your career

Here is the source

Secrets of the Self Employed (or How to be an Amazing [insert profession here])

1. Don’t worry about marks while you are in school. No one will ever ask you what school you went to or what your marks were when you leave it. (this pertains to the field of illustration).

2. You are always working for yourself, even when you work for others. Sometimes it feels like you are just the hired hand (and some clients can be really challenging to work with). But there is always some way to turn an illustration job into something exciting for you. Some ideas: experiment with a new technique (or a new color palette), use it as an opportunity to learn about a new topic, rebel against the job in tiny ways (do some roughs just for yourself in which you insert subversive material).

3. There are no actual rules for how to become a successful [insert profession here]. Make your own path.

4. It will help you to create a social network of other self-employed people.

5. Move your body every day. There are many health reasons for this, but it also helps you to work on ideas subconsciously. Ideas and solutions will come in when you least expect them but (almost always after a minimum of one hour of walking). There are new studies that suggest increased oxygen to the brain is a greater source for creativity than “creative brain exercises”. I have found this to be true for myself.

6. Goof off on a regular basis.

7. If you want to work on your art, work on your life. All those personality traits that aren’t working for you will come back to haunt you in your career (i.e. assertiveness, fear of conflict, fear of confrontation.) It’s all connected.

8. What you think becomes your reality. I always had a belief that if I cleaned out my recycling bin in my studio I would get new work. And guess what, it always happened. If you think the industry is screwed and there is no work to be had, guess what you will find out there?

9. Focus on ideas instead of tools (technology). Anyone can learn to use the tools, but it is the thinkers who really impact the culture in important ways. In the end the tools don’t offer anything interesting.

10. Worrying about the competition does very little to help your career. I know it’s hard sometimes to ignore what other people are doing (we all think that others are doing better than us), but every one of us is on a different life path. We are all here to accomplish different things and even though it would seem like one person’s path is similar to yours, it is not.

11. Only work for free if you are passionate about the cause or receive something of value in return. (Be wary of people who offer your name in lights in lieu of money. Many people will tell you something is good promotion for you, often it is not and there are no guarantees when it comes to promotional value). If you are not getting something of a measurable value (i.e. printed pieces, or money) ask for something else, creative freedom. If they refuse then they may not be a good client to work for anyway.

12. Take some small risks on a regular basis. Some ideas: write some places/companies you would really like to work and let them know why you think they are great.

13. Don’t worry about whether or not you are good (good is subjective and most people are not great judges of their own work), just keep making work.

14. Ignore cool. Successful people do not try to be hip, they just do work that excites them.

15. Always come back to work that excites you. Even if you get off track for a while. Do personal work on a regular basis, show it to others. You can reinvent yourself at any time.

"Dead Island" Cinematic Trailer

By far one of the best cinematic trailer i've ever seen this year, and maybe EVER!

Coca-Cola Siege

Awesome commercial at 2010 Super Bowl

Breaking Bad Season 2 Bloopers (Gag Reel)

My #2 fav series, its nice too see bloopers on such a dark tv series

The Office Season 5 Bloopers Part 2 (of 2)

More funnies, i like bloopers

The Office S05 - Gag Reel

I love watching gag reels, and also im testing out this sharing on blogspot thing with youtube, since i've never tried

My demoreel for 2010

Andrew Tan Animation Demoreel 2010 from andrew tan on Vimeo.

Some of the best one-liners

Found some great funny one-liners:

1. Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

2. Sex is not the answer. Sex is the question. "Yes" is the answer.

3. Men have two emotions: Hungry and Horny. If you see him without an erection, make him a sandwich.

4. Having sex is like playing bridge. If you don't have a good partner, you'd better have a good hand.

5. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

6. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

7. There's two types of people in this world, one who can count, and one who can't.

8. The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

11sec Sep 2010 progress

Joining this month 11sec, actually more of just practicing my polishing. I did the first 6 sec first, just in case i cant finish, at least i get to practice, still blocking the second half, gonna be quite accupied after starting RnH training.

I try to polish it as much as i can, the best of my ability, see how much i can do, cause i notice i slack off during polish stage in the past :p

Atkins diet - Day 5

Mood: i still feel sleepy, maybe sleepier, last night i just pretty much past out on bed. Today was the first time i had black coffee since the diet, yes it worked for the first few hours, after that i just felt sooo sleepy and tired. Driving back i was sleeepy as well, was listening to some Tony Robbins audio tapes while im driving to keep me motivated in this diet or anything in life.

Today's food:

Breakfast: 3 eggs, 1 sausage, 2 pieces of spam

Brunch: 2 1/4 chicken with tomatoes and cucumbers

Lunch: 2 1/4 chicken with tomatoes and cucumbers

Snack: 1 chicken whole leg

Dinner: 1 chicken pattie with mozarella, 2 eggs, 1/2 cucumbers

Atkins diet - Day 4

(this is for yesterday)

Mood: I feel sleepy and dizzy for some reason, i was ok yesterday, but dont know why so sleepy.


Today's food:

Breakfast: 3 eggs with mozarella, 1/2 cup cucumbers

Lunch: 4 pieces of chic thighs and drumstick, 1/2 tomato, 1 cup cabbage

Snack: 1 slice pork sandwich meat

Dinner: 3 piece of chic thighs and drumstick, 1/2 tomato, 1/2 cucumber

Portal 2 (coop!!) + Eight Bit Strange

Portal 2 has co op! awesome! wonder how it would turn out.

Video Games | Portal 2 | Exclusive Co-Op Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

This is a new game i think, i have no idea what kind of game it is, it's a nice little short, its a good example for animation students that are required to make a small clip with ating and principles for their assignments.

Video Games | Eight Bit Strange | Episode 1: Enter Snake

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Video Games | Eight Bit Strange | Episode 2: Porta-Ops

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Atkins diet - Day 3

Mood: I feel better today, i still feel abit dozzy and blur, but if i think about it, im always blur and dozzy, from staring at the screen too much and i dont usually take alot of sugar, so my sugar could be quite low. I love the amount of meats i can eat though, but sometimes its just too fatty, i dont even mind eating vegetables raw, with the amount of fatness i have to eat, and i can only eat a limit of vegs.

Today's food:

Breakfast: 3 eggs, 1/2 mushrooms with mozarella cheese

Lunch + Dinner : 5 medium size buffalo patties with mozarella cheese, 1/2 cup mushroom, 1/2 cup cucumbers, 1 cup cabbage

Supper: 4 eggs with mozarella, 2 pork sandwich ham, 1/2 a tomato

Atkins diet - Day 2 + Missing Emma :(

Diet Mood: I still feel tired, whats weird is, when i woke up i feel fine, then later the day after my breakfast i feel sleepy and dizzy, as the day go by, i feel more sleepy and dizzy. By the time i got home i was hungry for dinner, and after the food i became dizzy again lol. What's weird is the workout make me feel stronger, temporarily.

Today's Food:

Breakfast: 2 piece chicken drumstick, 2 eggs, cucumbers

Lunch: (continue from breakfast) 4 piece chicken drumstick, 2 eggs, cucumber

Snack: 1 piece friend chicken drumstick

Dinner: 2 eggs, 3 beef patties with mozarella cheese + mushrooms + cabbage

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Emma is such a good girl, she so responsible, and she has such a good heart. She has the cutest voice and the cutest expressions i've ever seen. Yes, she likes to mess with me and with other people, but she's just spreading the love in bully form. I heart you.

You happy now Emma?

Atkins diet - Day 1

Im starting my "all protein and fat" diet, i already feel dizzy lol, maybe im just anxious, like i cant sit still. I decided to write like a Atkins diet journal of sort, like about what i ate and how i feel, also i have to take a picture of me self today to see progress when im done with this 2 weeks of ketosis.

Im doing this diet to get myself toned up, to burn the fat thats on my belly and my thighs, while maintaining my muscle. I needed a change in my diet to help me achieve my fitness look, been delaying this for so long, so i have to do this

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Today's food:

Breakfast: one scoop protein shake(could be bad idea to do that),
3 eggs, 1 piece of spam

Lunch: 3 piece chicken thigh

Snack: 2 piece chicken thigh

Dinner: 3 piece chicken thigh

Snack: 2 piece chicken wings with cheese, and little cucumbers

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
mood: i was walking around the grocery super dozzy like a zombie, and i was feeling pretty stressed out there, just wanted to get out of there ASAP. Whats weird is i feel the urge to workout, i couldnt sit still, i was rubbing my hands together, when i sit down i was leaning on stuff, constantly tapping my feet like an impatient person

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I was suppose to post this last night, but came back late from grocery shopping and was cooking todays meal, after that im just so exhausted,

DC Universe Online! + Street Fighter x Tekken!

Video Games | DC Universe Online | Exclusive Who Do You Trust Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Video Games | Street Fighter X Tekken | SDCC 10: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Acceptance of Rhythm and Hues + Starcraft 2 epicness

Im in PapaRich right now, waiting for my girlfriend's last art class before she goes to India for Rhythm and Hues BG prep apprenticeship program(yup my gf is going to RnH too.)

So i've finally gotten my offer letter for Rhythm and Hues's Animation Apprenticeship program for , after much delay. im gonna start in middle September, it's a 3 months program and if i do well i'll be in their RnH team, im sooooooo excited! be working and learning from the best who worked on so many awesome movies. I be working at TOA till end of august and also currently doing some freelance.

At the mean time here is the new awesome Starcraft 2 trailer by the bigboys of hardcore games, Blizzard!

Will Smith's spectacular acting

I was doing some research about great acting, and how if you just watch the key poses of without the audio you can still get the story, just like in animation. I bumped into Will Smith's old sitcom tv show, Fresh Price of Bel-air. Even as young as that Will is still so talented.

Here is the video(watch it with the sound off first, see if you get whats going on).



Will Smith did a great job in demonstrating change of emotion(happy, depression, anger, and deep depression), and the other actors in the scene as well.

At the beggining when Will's uncle is talking to Lou, his uncle has his hands on his hips, this is a defensive gesture, a gesture that says "challenge me if you dare" or "i look down on you," kind of gesture, and you can see Lou's gesture is abit hunch over, like a rat, showing unconfident and fear.

Will walks in all happy like cant wait to do something with Lou, Lous stops his tracks(reaction to another action) and turns around slowly, you can tell by his nervousness when he turns back and forth, shows unconfident and the "wht to do" kind of emotion.

You can tell Lou is giving bad news by how he's always look down and his hunch over gesture, after he told Will, you can see Will's face turns from happiness to sadness and anger, and Will says he's ok with it, when he doesnt mean it. When someone lie, they will try to contain their body from showing their real emotion, but that is easier than done. There's this thing called "Leaking" in acting terms, is when emotion would leak out(such as when your are nervous and ur hands start shaking), kind of like Micro Expressions in Lying. In this case, Will is touching his clothes alot(sign of nervousness), Will is turning his torso left and right(shows that he wants to punch him), he also rubs his nose(which is sign of lying), he looks down alot(when you think of an emotion you look down), his mouth shows Micro Expressions of anger. That's for the first half.

Second half(still watching without sound), Will gesture shows Sarcasm, cause of the big gestures and hard they are, making it look like he's happy, but he's actually furiously angry, when he closes his mouth, it shows anger:(. And then he explodes, his anger is gone, now he starts to feel sorrow. And then he starts to tear up and cry, when someone feels depress or sad, they would hunch over making them as small as possible.

That's all folks.

I almost teared up watchinng this

Azureus Rising by Black Sun Entertainment

I just saw this super kick ass short film by Black Sun Entertainment.

Love the animation style, gotta study it.

My laptop is here! ASUS

I’ve finally received my laptop after waiting for almost a month, i actually got this few days ago. Cost me about RM3k, it’s pretty cheap considering its pretty much same price as Acer but alot more stable and solid. I gotta tell you this model is ridiculously hard to find, it’s always out of stock. If i were to get Toshiba or Sony i would have to spend about 1k+ more with the same specs.

This is a so called NEW model, its similar to the A52jr exc

ept that the graphic card is lower, that’s it, and the price is slightly lower, just very slight. So im actually typing this blog using Windows Live Writer on me laptop, and it also has bluetooth so i took a pic using my phone and bluetooth it over, what a way to test it out.

Messy background, at my work place.

11 Second Club April 2010 entry

I've been missing in action haven't I. I was working on the April 11 Second Club. I ranked 20 out of 177, it's not great, but definitely better than my last entry last year. I wanna get top 10 next time :)

Im Not Protecting - Polished from andrew tan on Vimeo.

Action!: Acting Lessons for CG Animators review

I just got this book recently, and i like it alot. This book is not like any typical animation book, i would say its an Acting book. Its more like 70% acting, and 30% Animation principles and how acting is applied to animation. This book also open your eyes to how acting REALLY is, cause the way we see it through movies and such, they made it look fun and easy, but it's actually requires ALOOT of preparation for the actors, just like how animators would have to plan their shots before actually animating in software. If you want to further extend your acting skills AND acting in your animation, this is the book for you.

It contains materials from history of acting, how it was developed through out the movies, stage, opera's etc. It teaches you some techniques on how to develop your acting, whether its exercises to do with a partner, or exercises to do by yourself. One of the few exercises i thought was really interesting, was to have a friend hide a key or sort somewhere in your house, and you have to find it, at the same time, observe how you act, what do you think? what do you say? what does your body do? After you have find your key, react it again, except you're not actually finding the key.

There's a section about the 12 Animation Principles as well, that part is not necessary unless you still don't understand your principles, if you got all that down pretty good, you can just skip it.

There is also a CD included in this book, inside there are some real life examples, and animated examples. The animated examples are not the best, but it's mainly to show how the acting is applied to animation. The real life examples are great though, they have the actors doing different type of walks, whether is a happy, light-feeted type or a stompy angry kind of characters, it even have actors just standing there in neutral mode, breathing and blinking. There are emotion shots as well, like sad, a guy crying in front view, and side, to a girl feeling pleasure, yum. It also includes some recorded dialogues for you to animate to, there have a few lines, using the same script but with different emotions, to work on how to animate your character depending on the voice emotion. Not only that, they recorded the voice actors in video while they are recording the dialogues, so you can use the actors as ref when animating, just like how they do for those animated movies!

Overall i say this book is Great for people who has intermediate level in animation and starting to advance into doing Acting in animation, it's not recommended for beginners that just started animation and still learning the 12 principles.

Marvel vs Capcom 3 : Fate of Two Worlds

OMGoodness i just gotta share this

Video Games | Marvel vs Capcom 3: FTW | Captivate 10: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Gears of War 3 + Cyrsis 2 Cinematic trailer

Video Games | Gears of War 3 | Ashes to Ashes Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Video Games | Crysis 2 | The Wall Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

6 months of having my piano + New videos of me piano

Yup, its been 6 months since i have my piano, so to celebrate my 6 months of practicing on an actual piano, thought i post some new songs i've learned since the last time i posted vids of me piano.

1. L'Absente by Yann Tiersan


2. "Up" theme song by Michael Giacchino (i think)


3. River Flows in You by Yiruma


4. Beauty and the Beast by Disney people?


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What else is in store for my life?

Currently waiting for call back from R&H after taking the in-studio test, and at the mean time im working on my next personal animation, using March's 11 second club dialogue.

R&H Animation Test

I recently finished my animation test for R&H, i passed the first test, im going for the 2nd test in their studio next week. 2 full days to do 2 animations that they will brief me, insane! 2 days with 2 animations! Im gonna do my best on it, get good rest and drink coffee.

Nervous.

In the mean time, you can take a look at me test

animtest01 - 3 Balls from andrew tan on Vimeo.

animtest02 - Jumping on Platforms from andrew tan on Vimeo.

animtest03 - Step Over from andrew tan on Vimeo.

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There's always plan B if i dont make it, i tell you wht it is later.

Why You Need A Plan

I just bumped into an interesting article about success in career, thought i share it here for anyone who wants to get to where they want to be before they die. Using Benjamin Franklin as the model.

"It's all part of the plan." -Joker : )

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By the age of 20, Benjamin Franklin had already established a plan by which he intended to live the rest of his life. If that strikes you as an unrealistic expectation, well, Franklin did exactly that, and he became one of the most accomplished and dynamic figures in American history along the way. It evidently worked out pretty well for him.

By the time he died in 1790, Franklin had been carrying that plan -- his 13 Virtues -- with him, in some form, for 64 years, using it to track his own progress decades after he had it committed to memory. That sense of personal accountability is certainly part of why he was so successful at it. Even if you have a pretty solid idea of where you're headed in life, adhering to a plan like Franklin's requires you to be responsible about your future -- otherwise you'll find it far too easy to explain away your failures and put off your goals.

You don't necessarily need to abide by this exact plan, or even to write one out like this at all, but you do need a framework for your self-improvement. If you're looking for someplace to start, Franklin's design is as good an example as any.

1- Self-improvement needs direction

Everyone, everywhere, has had the experience of settling on some haphazard goal for improving his life only to forget about it two weeks later (except, apparently, Ben Franklin). New Year's resolutions are representative of these enthusiastic but ill-conceived promises ("I'm going to get in shape -- and with no particular idea what I mean by that! Yeah!").

You can't just make a vague decision about becoming a Better Man and expect that impulsive, undefined concept to actually change your behavior for any real stretch of time. That is, after all, what you're almost certainly trying to do, and altering whatever routine you've become accustomed to means you need a definitive framework on hand. The value of actually writing this stuff down is that definite goals, goals you actually track, are harder to ignore than some indeterminate, conceptual self-improvement that doesn't really call for you to do much of anything.

2- A plan forces accountability

The puritan origins of Franklin's virtues are pretty obvious in this regard: His plan calls for temperance ("Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation") and moderation ("Avoid extreames"), as well as frugality, cleanliness and chastity. Although permitting yourself to become an overweight, wasteful drunk will probably present you with no difficulty in staying chaste, the point here is that you're sabotaging your life if you don't hold yourself accountable for the mistakes you make.

Again, Franklin's Puritanism was his, not yours, and you don't need to go become a monk, but you should be aware of all the stuff you do that isn't helping your life one bit. Modern examples of life plans tend to acknowledge the importance of accountability. Bill Phillips' Body for Life tracks both diet and weight-training progress, and financial frameworks (budget or investment planning, for example) are even more dependent on showing progress with concrete figures.

3- Knowing your direction keeps you from wasting your life

Franklin was raised with the belief that hard work has inherent worth, which is a good way to look at life if you want to excel at your career -- or really any extensive personal accomplishment. Three of his virtues were industry ("Lose no time"), order ("Let each part of your business have its time") and resolution ("Perform without fail what you resolve"). Holding yourself accountable for your mistakes is only the first half of accountability, because just being aware of what you’re doing wrong isn't much of a self-improvement.

If, on the other hand, you're forcing yourself to maintain progress based on a set of intelligently chosen goals, you're actually trying to accomplish something genuine. Apathy is your worst enemy, and the best intentions in the world are far less effective at getting you where you want to be than a set of intelligently chosen goals.

13 virtues to a good life

Just because Franklin's plan is oriented toward self-denial doesn't mean that yours has to be. Some of his virtues are easily covered by the simple decision just to be good to people: These include silence, sincerity, tranquility, and, the most representative of them, justice ("Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.") That last bit about duty is sort of what this entire process is about, and it calls for you to supplement the part of the plan where you avoid detrimental things with a resolution to be actively good as well. Self-improvement too often focuses cosmetic or self-serving goals, but it's just as important to start being a Better Man by being a better human being.

source of article here at AskMen.com
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Blink Cinematic by Blur studio

Its awesome

Video Games | Brink | GDC 10: Cinematic Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Animation applied into Gymnastics/Tricking

Yesterday when i was in the gymnasium(the gymnastic type), i have made a splendid discovery, a link between Gymnastic and Animation.

How does it work? I was standing there on the mats, preparing for my run, jump, and flip, i started seeing this move as an animation(cause i was still in the animating mood, i was animating like 20 mins before i got to the gym), as in how i would plan it before i "animate" it.



For a front tuck, you would run, have a little skip, also known as Blocking in tricking terms, land, squash down(anticipate), and JUMP, with my torso leading up as high as i can, lower body being follow through, and when reach the top, i would tuck my body in as fast as i can, and automatically land on my feet.

So here i go, i went for it, and landed. It was the highest front tuck i ever gotten. After that move, i was so amazed, cause i have discovered this link, of how you can apply animation principles into gymnastic. I started using this move for other moves.

Like the Cheat 720 Kick



First i would do a half spin and jump, tossing my arms up to get height(my body being the follow through), when i reach the top, i would spin, with my torso leading, and my lower body following(follow through), i would also use my head to lead, creating faster spin, when i reach the peek of my spin, i would angle my body down and whip my leg out like a kick.

I did this, and my spin was so much faster, and i got so much higher.

So if you are gymnast, or tricker, or breakdancer, or u do anything that requires harcore physical movement, and you are an animator, try seeing you moves as an animation, like you were to animate it, and then apply it to the move you trying to do, you be amazed by how well it works.

Starcraft 2 Terran funny comments

Here some funny comments by the Terran units of Starcraft 2, enjoy.

Video Games | StarCraft II | Terran Funny Voice Quips

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

How to be Good at Everything

I always wanted to be good at everything, still on that journey...well not everything, but as much things as i possibly can. I found an article about this. Enjoy ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You probably know someone or know of someone who is great at their job, excels in athletics, intelligent, and can even play an instrument. Or maybe they are very artistic, social, good with numbers, and able to learn a new skill or task with seemingly no effort. Who are these well rounded gifted people and how did they get that way? A better question may be, is it possible to become more like them? What it means to be good at everything There are individuals in the world who seem to have a bottomless well of skills and gifts that allows them to achieve in almost any endeavor they participate in. They are sometimes called overachievers because they seem to almost always perform at an above average level in everything they do. Most overachievers have been overachieving since a young age and over time have just strengthened the traits necessary to achieve in almost anything. Does this mean that a person who has not been overachieving for a lifetime is doomed for mediocrity? Absolutely not! What enables overachievers to do so well is the habits and thought processes that they have developed. In order for you to begin to become multi-talented and skilled, you must understand the mindset of those who are overachievers. Alexandra Robbins wrote a book entitled The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids where she lays out the negative aspects of high school students whose lives are driven by perfect GPAs and the pressures of students today. Although the book is well written, it represents a very small number of students in American society. The truth is that overachieving students and adults are rare. If they were common, they would not be called overachievers.

You may be good at your job and good with numbers, but now you want to increase your athletic and artistic ability. Or perhaps you are good at sports but now you want to increase your intellect. You may even be good at dealing with people but when it comes to computers or electronics you have no clue where to start. Well, there is a way to get you closer to becoming more well rounded.

Overachievers Most overachievers posses nearly the same characteristics and habits. These traits are applied in almost every challenge, task, or activity they take part in. So the key is to gain a mindset that enables you to consistently perform at an above average level in almost all activity. Looking at some of the great overachievers through the ages, most have had a heavy dose of the following characteristics. Knowing you can be good- Being sure of your ability and aware of your capabilities is an invaluable skill. To begin to be good at everything you must begin to be confident in your ability to be above average in the things you are skilled at. You must even be confident in your ability to do well in things you’ve never even tried.

Persistence-An underrated attribute, persistence can make a mountain of difference. One rule of sales is that you have to hear a customer say “no” three times before the customer may actually mean “no”. Those who overachieve understand that how good you are at something you try for the first time is not a measure of how good you could be the fifth time.

Foresight-Making good observations on the activities that are going on around you and then gauging the right moves to make are common characteristics of overachievers. Some of the world’s greatest athletes understand this skill also. This is why it sometimes seems that they make the perfect move, play, kick, or pitch at the perfect time. Knowledge-Learning all about the activity or skill that you want to be good in is crucial. Having all the knowledge and understanding that is needed to carry out your task can be an enormous advantage.

The Desire to Be Good One attribute found in most overachievers is the desire they have to do well. Nobody wants to fail but the level of desire you may have to do well can help elevate how well you perform. Along with persistence, desire can sometimes outperform talent. That desire usually elevates the effort you may put into the activity that you are doing. When you see a singer, dancer, athlete, or even an artist, it is easy to assume that they are succeeding with little effort. The great ones make it look easy. But this is almost never the case. I recently visited a museum that was displaying the works of Norman Rockwell. He became legendary for capturing the realness of American life in the early and mid 20th century. The most intriguing part of the exhibit for me was where they displayed the different drafts of the masterpieces. I was amazed by how often he would change the facial expressions of the characters, readjust the positioning of objects, and alter points of view. This showed that along with his talent for painting, he also applied much effort into his work. Start Being Good You’ve learned that overachievers and well rounded individuals have a mindset and a set of habits that enable them to do what the average person wishes they could. So how do you stop wishing and begin to be good at everything. Here are some ways you can instantly elevate how you perform in everything that you try.

Focus-Concentrating on the task at hand is crucial especially if you are trying something for the first time. Being able to drown out external distractions as well as internal ones, allows you to center your attention at what you are doing thus making it easier to concentrate. Self control-Once you are focus, you are able to control your mind and body so that you can apply all your efforts to what you are doing. Learn to control nervous reactions and any thoughts of doubt that may arise. Ask and learn-Find out what your strengths and weaknesses are from someone who knows how to do what it is you are trying to do. Be willing to fail-Give it your all but understand that you might not succeed at first. Failing is a part of the learning process and it is when you fail that you have the opportunity to learn the most. Try it all-Never be afraid of a new experience and learn from everything you try. Remember, you are building habits and a mindset. A new experience can sometimes give you insight that you can use when you attempt to be good at something else that you may try. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Origin of the article can be found here

My demoreel for 2009/2010, And R&H!

I am done compiling my demoreel for 2009/2010, theres actually more stuff i wanna work on, thats why i called it 2009/2010. I compiled this for R&H to see, so now im doing their animation test. I will do my breast on it! Wish me luck!

In the mean time, here is my demoreel

Andrew Tan Animation Demoreel 2009/2010 from andrew tan on Vimeo.

In A Bar - acting animation

Hello again, i have done my acting animation, the last animation im gonna do before i compile my new demoreel for 2009/2010.(im still gonna do more, but just for this demoreel is the last)

I should show you my POLISHED first, then i show my progress of how i did it

In A Bar - polished from andrew tan on Vimeo.

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Blocking

In A Bar - blocking from andrew tan on Vimeo.

Before i did the Blocking, i recorded myself acting out the shot, i re-recorded it a few times, because i had a hard time feeling the character, i even tried putting on a dress shirt, so that i would feel more like the character(which actually helps). I also found that it's best to act out the shot without lipsyncing to the audio, because theres too many stuff to focus on, cause you have to remember the poses that you gonna do, and you have to listen to the audio making sure the timing is right. Your body tends to do little subconscious movements when you're listening.

So instead, i act out the scene myself, i listen to it over and over and over, until i memorized all the lines and got myself use to the timing. I realised that when you act out without the audio, you can find new poses and subtle movements that you can add in(in my case, was that nose rub).

I read the article about acting out your lipsync in 11 second club