In today’s episode:
The Marauding Marauder strikes again, and H & H turn to an unlikely source for help!
Listen to episode 18 of this exclusive series from Pendant Productions:
After decades of intensive research, Joe’s Dump is proud to announce it’s very own line of FITNESS PRODUCTS!
Get the full story on Joe Lamé Fitness below!!!
A successful business in the arts requires all three. But how much of each? And how can you tell if you’re on the right path to succeed?
Let’s start with an analogy: Imagine your career is a car.
The engine is your talent.
The fuel is your effort.
And the steering wheel is your desire.
Talent: Your Career’s Engine
The engine of your career is your raw talent. We’re each born with a certain amount, but that can be improved some through training. Just as the engine moves the car forward, so does your talent help move your career. Some may move faster, some may be stronger, and others able to shift better. Knowing the capabilities and the limitations of your own talent can help you to better utilize it to its fullest potential.
Effort: Your Career’s Fuel
Talent alone isn’t enough, though. Just as a car needs fuel to run, your career needs effort to succeed. In some cases, effort can even augment other qualities you may lack. Persistence and hard work can accomplish a lot on their own. However, it is equally important to know when your effort isn’t paying off. More fuel won’t make the car go faster, or run better. Pause. Take a step back occasionally to assess how your doing, and if you’re working way too hard.
Desire: Your Career’s Steering
The final ingredient needed for the car is a way to steer it in the direction you’d like to go. Knowing what you want at each stage of your career, and being honest about your desires, will assure you’re headed down the right road. Without the steering, you may end up somewhere, or you might just land in the ditch.
Talent, effort, and desire: to succeed, you’ll need all three. The combination is unique to each of us, and finding the best balance is often a difficult challenge.
Good luck!
In today’s episode:
Season 3 of Henderson and Havner is finally here!!!
But H&H have no time to enjoy their newfound fame, for evil is afoot!
Listen to episode 17 of this exclusive series from Pendant Productions:
While cleaning out my garage, I kept running into lots of small collectibles and nonsense.
I also had a bunch of small, clear boxes (left over from chocolates!)
So… I combined the two to make some “Art Boxes”:
(click photo for large size)
Contents:
What kind of tiny art have you made?
This gallery contains 6 photos.
MET Public Domain Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art (aka. “The MET”) has an amazing collection of artwork. As of February 7th, 2017, thousands of these artworks have been made available online in the public domain. (full press release HERE) … Continue reading
Animation, music, business, poetry and utter nonsense…
How do I come up with a new Joe’s Dump post most every Monday?
I use a Creativity Farm!
Whenever I have an idea for Joe’s Dump, I jot down a short title and a few notes in a Google doc. These are the “Seeds” on my farm.
I use a Google doc because it lets me edit my ideas on my phone, tablet or computer. When the muse inspires, I’m ready.
Next, I cultivate the Seeds by choosing a promising one and giving it my time and focus. This is like sunlight and water. The promising Seeds then grow into mature Plants, ready for posting to the blog!
Of course, along the way, some weeding must also be done. Not all ideas will bear fruit.
Once I’ve posted the finished crop, it’s moved to another Google doc for archive.
Here are just a few samples from my current batch of Seeds (who knows which will grow?):
If you’ve got the time and inclination, maybe you can start your own Creativity Farm!
What do you do to keep your creativity flowing?
Ever wonder who you’ve worked with in the entertainment biz? If you’re on IMdB, then the Oracle of Bacon can tell you that and much more…
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
It all begins with Kevin Bacon. The idea is that everyone on the planet is somehow only six steps away from Kevin Bacon. For example, if I know Kevin Bacon, I’m one step away. If I know someone who knows Kevin Bacon, I’m two steps away… and so on. By the time you get to six steps away, that’s a lot of people – maybe even everyone on Earth!
The Oracle of Bacon
The Oracle of Bacon web site finds the shortest connection between any two people listed on IMdB. The default is Kevin Bacon and whoever you type in. As an example, my Bacon Number is 2. I’ve worked with someone who’s worked with Kevin Bacon. But the site has some other very useful tools…
3 Ways To Use The Oracle of Bacon
The default is Kevin Bacon, which will tell you your Bacon Number. But you can find the link between any two actors.
This gives you a full list of everyone connected to you (or anyone else in IMdB).
Here’s where you can find the total number of connections to an actor sorted by the number of connections.
Be sure to play around with the advanced search options. They’ll let you include things like video games and TV series.
Once you’ve found your Bacon Number, be sure to post it in the comments below.
Have fun!
Joe
Henderson is a cheesy beefcake of a man. If you haven’t met him yet, he’s a loose-cannon cop with the intelligence of a small soap dish. I’ve been providing his voice for Pendant Productions for a little over 3 years now, and since Season 3 is coming on March 22, I thought something special was in order.
I always wondered what Henderson would look like in real life, and recently, I purchased some new software called “Poser” that can create realistic 3-D human models. Time for a test run!
Virtual Henderson Project: The Process:
The modeling software does have a learning curve to it. This may be less if you’re actually a graphics person or an animator, but for me it was about medium level of difficulty.
After creating the model, the next step is rendering. For still images, it’s not too bad. A few minutes for each one. The animation, however, took a looooonnnnggg time on my computer. Since I wasn’t going to buy a new computer just for this project, I decided to limit the animated portion to 5 seconds. That’s 150 frames (at 30 fps), and each frame took about 4 minutes, so, yeah, long time.
The rest of the video is still shots that I pan up, down, or sideways in the video editing software (I use Sony Vegas).
For the whole project, I’d guess I spent about 30-40 hours.
Bonus! Here’s the blooper reel from Henderson and Havner Season 2:
…and Links to Everything Else Mentioned:
Enjoy!
Joe
Here at Joe’s Dump, we’ve got a lot of music going on…
So, to help keep it all organized and handy, we’ve added a new Music Menu Item (at the top of every page)
A few of the articles you’ll find there include:
… Plus: Personal Profiles, Politics, Parodies, and plenty more!!!
Music Trivia Two-fer
This week, I’ve also got two trivia stories about some surprising back-stories to popular songs.
First up: You Don’t Bring Me Flowers (duet by Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand)
Did you know that this famous duet came from a radio program director’s divorce?
Neil Diamond recorded the song first in 1977 as a solo, followed by Barbra Streisand’s solo version in 1978. This is where WAKY-AM/Louisville KY program director, Gary Guthrie, comes in. He spliced together a duet version as a parting present to his wife after their divorce. His version became so popular that the record label got Diamond and Streisand to record an official version that was released in the fall of 1978!
(Click here to read the full story on Wikipedia)
… and here’s Gary Guthrie’s mixed version on American Top 40:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmjKMiBShVk
And second: Mike Sammes – the backup singer for Olivia Newton John’s “Let Me Be There”
The bass part in “Let Me Be There” by Olivia Newton John is so prominent, I’d almost classify the song as a duet. Out of curiosity, I checked into who the bass singer was. His name was Mike Sammes, and his credits are amazing. He also sang backup on The Beatles “I Am The Walrus”, and for the TV show “Supercar”.
(Click here to read Mike Sammes full bio on Wikipedia)
… and here’s “Let Me Be There” for your listening pleasure:
Enjoy!
Joe