Being Tall Ain't all it's cracked up to be

So first of all, I don't know why this wasn't my very first post, but here it is nonetheless. I've realized that, as the title states, being tall...really is not all it's cracked up to be. I thought of a list of pro's and con's and the pro side was a bit lacking to say the least. Where to begin?

I think the biggest disadvantage to being tall out of my cons list is probably the reactions you get when you're in public. They can either consist of a) people gawking and/or staring at you as if you're some sort of freak of nature, b) people whispering "holy *expletive* that guy's tall!" as you walk by, 99% of the time not realizing that, yes, you are tall, but that does not mean you cannot hear them (what with our head in the clouds and all), c) people asking if you play basketball (you're tall, why the hell wouldn't you?), or d) a combination of a - c.

Let me break down c) of disadvantage #1 - and let me preface by saying that I hate when people jump to conclusions. Being tall does not mean I suddenly HAVE to play basketball - I could write a whole dissertation with that being my thesis, so don't get me started. But, you learn to have a bit of sense of humor when you get asked that question every time you're in public; you simply ask them if they're a horse jockey (or depending on the mood you're in, ask if they play miniature golf), they simply MUST be because they're just so darn short! And besides, being tall is all a matter of perspective - I simply say I'm normal and EVERYBODY is short (7 is the perfect number after all.) Another thing people say alongside that comment (usually folk of colored ethnicity) is "Man, if I was that tall I would be in the NBA and dunkin' on EVERYBODY!" I beg to differ. Being tall does not automatically mean you can dunk on people any more than it means you were born with a basketball in your hands or that your parents fed you Miracle Gro. I couldn't even consistently dunk until I was 6'11" - and that was because of my lack of hand eye coordination. I could barely dunk in a game because I was (and am) so skinny. If you have a 6' guy on the other team guarding you, sure, you have the height advantage, but he outweighs you by 50 el-bee's, so good luck trying to dunk while he's pushing you with his over-sized belly. And then you have the problem of not having a guard that is willing to pass you the ball, and last time I checked, it's kinda hard to dunk without it. The list goes on, hopefully you get the idea. That's not to say I didn't enjoy basketball, because you better believe that I enjoyed dunking on people and blocking shots, but dunks were fewer and farther between than you might think.

I would have to say disadvantage #2 kinda meshes a bunch of similar things together. First you have the fact that it's hard to find clothes. If the Big and Tall section of JCPenny doesn't have anything, you have to pretty much order everything online. That's not so bad, because online retailers tend to have a better selection anyway. Shoes are a pain in the butt, and again you're stuck searching online stores for the best size 15 in your style. The next thing is fitting into vehicles. You may think it's all about leg room, but that's only half the battle - the other half being headroom. Having your head touch the ceiling of a vehicle is just as uncomfortable as having your knees in the dashboard (i.e. right in front of the air bag, making your knees a potential tool in the breaking of your face.) Fitting in beds is a challenge. If your feet stick off the end you have to either sleep diagonally or curl up into a little ball. I have a California King Bed (bigger than a regular King) and when I stretch out all the way, I'm just as long as the mattress. Fitting in showers is a pain, especially in hotels, when the water comes up to your shoulder blades at most. Ducking under doors becomes a sort of unconscious habit that you do, whether you can easily fit through it or not (you bump your head so many times, you learn to duck pretty quickly.) And I don't travel much, thank God, so this one is not as big of a deal - but the last thing would have to be the 6-foot-nothing "business man" that has to sit in the one good seat in the emergency exit row of a plane so he can somehow justify having to cross his legs over while he reads his precious newspaper. Can you tell that pisses me off?

Moving on. Disadvantage #3 would have to be not being able to find a suitable mate as easily as everyone else. And by "suitable" I mean "tall" (no ladies, sorry, 5'10" is NOT tall, I don't care if it's tall for a woman.) I am 21 and have never had a girlfriend for this very reason. Is it so bad for a tall man to want a tall woman? I don't want want a girl that comes up to me knees thank-you-very-much. It's ok though, because I know my beautiful tall redhead super model wife is out there somewhere waiting for me :) After all, my grandparents met in a tall club (yes, a place where you can go and not feel like a freak), as did my parents. So I may have to keep the tradition going.

I seem to have forgotten the rest, or I listed all the disadvantages without realizing. Either way, on to the advantages. Let's see...umm...*nervously shuffles through index cards*...Oh! there's the fact that you can screw in light bulbs without a step stool or ladder! That's definitely fun...um....hang on just one second...Uh, you never get lost in a crowd, yeah that's a good one. How bout the fact that you never get in fights because someone would be crazy to want to fight you with your ridiculously long reach advantage. You'd make a good movie extra, in the event they needed a tall person? Sure, why not. What else? Nope, I'm all out.

So next time you see a tall person, dear reader, and think to yourself "What I would do to be tall for a day" - that tall person is thinking the same thing about being short. But as my late Grandfather told me, you have to put your shoulders back, stick your chest out, your chin up, and just roll with it.

CTN

So like, my first CTN was totally awesome. I went in not knowing what to expect and came out amazed and blessed. In the end I am so glad I was able to go, because I almost didn't. I met a lot of people, some I already knew from AM but just needed to meet in person, others that were AM students but I was just meeting, and more that were just students at other schools.

And I totally hate myself, because there was another tall dude there, and if I can't relate to any of the other 1000 people there, I should be able to relate to this guy, and I didn't say anything to him. But, you live and learn. So, other tall-animator-but-still-not-quite-as-tall-as-me-guy, if you're reading this, I am truly sorry for being a shy idiot and not saying anything to you. But, as you probably noticed, I have at least an inch on you, and the title of Worlds Tallest Animator is still mine :)

I am already planning on attending again next year, and by then I will have business cards, a shirt with "Worlds Tallest Animator" on one side and Spike on the other. I know what to do now that I know what to expect.

Updates?

Wow, long time in between updates.

So, a lot has been going on lately that I just haven't been updating. I'm still slowly transitioning into this whole blogging thing.

I guess the first thing I should start out with is Animation Mentor. The second term started about 6 weeks ago, and I suppose that's the reason why I haven't been updating too much lately. I originally had Dana Boadway as a mentor, who actually mentored my good friend Asif Siddiqui, but someone wanted to switch with me so now I have Raquel Coehlo (she goes by Raquel Rabbit since Coehlo is so often misspelled, I like it better too). She's really cool, she's got a great personality and a great sense of humor. As for my assignments, I'm not too proud of the work I've done so far, mostly because I'm not spending as much time on my assignments as I should, and I really am trying to change that. For this current assignment I chose dancing from the pick list, since everyone and their mother (and their mother's mother) is doing Parkour. I chose dancing because I was watching Psych (I absolutely LOVE that show) and Dule Hill's character, Gus, was in a tap dancing class. So I figured that would be, if nothing else, original. Turns out tap dancing is a LOT harder to animate than one would imagine (so props to the folks at Animal Logic for their work on Happy Feet), and this assignment is really kicking my butt. I actually used referenced from the same guy that did the reference and "sound effects" of the tapping for Happy Feet (whose name is currently alluding me and I can't seem to find him on YouTube.) Suffice it to say that he is insanely good at tap dancing.

What else? Ah, yes, Bishop 2.0. Long story short, Bishop 2.0 is the flagship character used at AM, and their new version allows for easy customization and millions and millions of different combinations of possibilities for different characters (something that until now was a lot harder to do). So I had the idea to do the same kind of thing with a free rig, since fresh character rigs are so few and far between nowadays. In an effort to not be completely redundant with my posts, you can check out the blog following the development of it at 11secondclubrig.blogspot.com, also written by yours truly.

I actually had a lot more in mind to post, but currently my cat is in my lap and it is rather hard to type while avoiding touching her and disturbing her beauty nap. So, I'll probably have some other crap later.

In between Week and Apple Rant

So, the first semester of AM officially ended last week, and now I'm on the in between week with nothing to do. Seriously, I'm really, REALLY bored, and I have been this whole week. I know right now I'm going to dread these in between weeks, mostly because of a lack of a social life. (But in my mind that's not necessarily a bad thing).

While I'm waiting, I thought I would post a rant about Apple. They recently released the new OS4 platform for the iPhone and iTouch. Great news right? Well...yes and no. Sure it has enhancements such as multi-tasking (but unfortunately only limited to the 3GS model). So already Apple is tossing the older models to the wind and not caring. What's more, is Adobe spent a lot of time and effort to bring Flash to the iPhone, which has been a huge issue pretty much since it came out. No Flash means no support for videos and other interactive media we're so used to seeing on our normal web browser. Apple updated their TOS to basically ban any program or app that doesn't use native code, i.e. things made in Flash. I mean, kicking Adobe out to the street is one thing, but then chasing after them and specifically kicking them in the balls afterwards is just too much. Apple has turned into a controlling, conniving , scheming company, who don't care about anyone but themselves (I'm lookin' at you, Jobs).

And another thing related to the iPhone, I just love how they took out support for car connectors or radios. If you try to plug in your iPhone or iTouch into an old iHome model designed for an iPod, or something like a car connector so you can play your favorite playlists through your car stereo, it'll come up with a message saying "This device is not compatible". This is Apple's way of saying "you need a separate connector for your iPhone, even though technically this connector should work just fine, but we just want more money". I'm almost certain a simple firmware patch would allow them to work, but no, good ol' Apple is desperate for more dough (although I don't see why; with their Apple-or-Nothing fanbase, not to mention the fact that their revenue has surpassed Microsoft's for some time now...one can only speculate).

Yeah, I despised Apple before because of their high prices for mediocre hardware, or their hardcore die-hard fanbase that will line up for 15 hours outside of an Apple store to buy the latest and greatest creation with a shiny logo...but this is just too far. Sure, I have an iPhone, only because I've never had a decent phone and the iPhone was an obvious choice since my family uses ATT. But I can definitely see switching to an Evo or HTC or Droid whenever my contract is up. And after that, officially boycotting anything Apple related. Forever.

Note: Comment moderation is now on. No more anonymous commenters :)

Updates...

So yeah, AM is going pretty sweet so far, although I must admit it's rather slow at the beginning. I'm really just looking forward to next semester with the body mechanics stuff. In any case here's a few of the assignments thus far:

Shirt ideas

Here's a shirt idea I've been playing around with, I think it's quite witty personally.

Make custom t-shirts at CustomInk.com

Macro Mania 1.0!

I have released a cool little script that auto-records macros in Maya. You can download it here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?3d24kf1dmg3

And for a demo video, see here:

Or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LSjwk5bkcA