text:
Google Maps Florida Worm Farms
Red Wigglers+Red Worms+ Florida+ Google Maps
Thanks you for your interest in Florida Red Worms. We are a Company that specializing in a native Red worms to the U.S. Vermicomposting with native Red Worms is a safe composting approach. Red Worms are great for turning your food left overs into compostIn Tampa Hongkongwillie Red worm Farm sells a Native Red Worm to Florida. This worm is is part of a solution for eliminating part of your waste going to landfills around Tampa. Vermicomposting is the process of using worms and micro-organisms to turn kitchen waste into a black, earthy-smelling, nutrient-rich humus. This possess is a inexpensive way to compost and in return organic matter into rich soil. People in Tampa interested in composting have visited Hongkongwillie Red worm Farm for over 30 years. Hong Kong Willie Red worm Farm in Tampa started in 1965,from Hongkongwillie living on a landfill as a child in Tampa on Gunn Hwy. This making a large impact on his life. Composting with Red worms can reduce a large amount of our waste that go to Landfills.
We Sell by size of Red worm,which are large. On the average is 450 Red worms to a pound. The reason why we don't ship by thousands or use this term is because it can be confusing. To explain, a thousand grains of sand is one thing, or a pound of sand is a something else.When ordering Red worms by the thousand expect worm size to be smaller than a needle. Selling large Red worms which are like a chicken ready to lay eggs and stress less. Our Red Worm Farm Started in 1965. .
Call Tampa 813 770 4794 Any question call 813 770 4794. $49.99 per pound .
813 770 4794
Studies have shown that invasive worms (Eisenia foetida, or"European Night crawlers). Their voracious appetites and reproductive rates (Eisenia foetida, or"European Night crawlers) have been known to upset the delicate balance of the hardwood forests by consuming the leaf litter too quickly. cause natural impact on the environment.
Eisenia foetida
Eisenia foetida, or"European Night crawlers."are non native worms,This is why we
with any non-native species, it is important not to allow them to reach the wild. Their voracious appetites and reproductive rates (especially among the red wigglers) have been known to upset the delicate balance of the hardwood forests by consuming the leaf litter too quickly. This event leaves too little leaf letter to slowly incubate the hard shelled nuts and leads to excessive erosion as well as negatively affecting the pH of the soil. So, do your best to keep them confined!
Eisenia foetida
Eisenia fetida, known under various common names, including redworms, brandling worms, tiger worms and red wiggler worms, are a species of earthworm adapted to decaying organic material. They thrive in rotting vegetation, compost, and manure; they are epigeal. They are rarely found in soil, instead like Lumbricus rubellus they prefer conditions where other worms cannot survive. They are used for vermicomposting. They are native to Europe, but have been introduced (both intentionally and unintentionally) to every other continent except Antarctica, occasionally threatening native species.
Here is a Little of History
on Hong Kong Willie
Tristram DeRoma
The Story Behind the Eye-Catching Art at I-75 Exit 266 Tampa Florida
transforming a Gerber baby bottle into a piece of art."The Gerber bottle had no intrinsic value at all," he said. "But when
(the instructor) got through with me that day, she made me see how
something so (valueless) can be valuable."By the time class was over, Brown learned many other lessons, too,
such as the importance of volunteerism, recycling, reuse and giving back
to the community. He recalled being impressed by the teacher's
volunteer work in Hiroshima, Japan, helping atomic bomb survivors."One of the last words she ever spoke to me about that was, 'When I
left, I left out of Hong Kong,' " he said. After turning that over in
his young brain for awhile, he decided to use it in a nickname, adding
the name "Willie" a year later.You've probably seen Hong Kong Willie's eye-catching
home/gallery/studio at Fletcher Avenue and Interstate 75. But what is
the story of the man behind all those buoys and discarded objects turned
into art?Brown practiced his creative skills through his younger years. But as
an adult, he managed to amass a small fortune working in the materials
management industry. By the the '80s, he left the business world and
decided to concentrate on his art. He spent some years in the Florida
Keys honing his craft and building his reputation as a folk artist. He
also bought some land in Tampa near Morris Bridge Road and Fletcher
Avenue where he and his family still call home.Brown purchased the land just after the entrances and exits to I-75
were built. He said he was once offered more than $1 million for the
land by a restaurant. He turned it down, he said, preferring instead to
make part of the property into a studio and gallery for the creations he
and his family put together.And all of it is made of what most people would consider "trash."
Pieces of driftwood, burlap bags, doll heads, rope — anything that comes
Brown's way becomes part of his vocabulary of expression, and, in turn,
becomes something else, which makes a tour of his property somewhat of a
visual adventure. What at first seems like a random menagerie of glass,
driftwood and pottery suddenly comes together in one's brain to form
something completely different. One moment nothing, the next a powerful
statement about 9/11.One Man's Trash …Trash? There is no such thing, Brown seems to say through his art.He keeps a blog about his art at hongkongwillie.blogspot.com. He also sells his creations through the Website Etsy.com.In his shop, he has fashioned many smaller items out of driftwood,
burlap bags and other materials into signs, purses, totes, bird feeder
hangars and yard sculptures.He sells a lot to the regular influx of University of South Florida
parents and students every year who are are at first intrigued by the
"buoy tree" and the odd-looking building they see as they take Exit 266
off I-75.Brown Sells More Than ArtOf course, the real locals know Brown's place for the quality of his worms.If there's one thing that Brown knows does well in the ground, it's
the Florida redworm, something he enthusiastically promotes, selling the
indigenous species to customers for use in their compost piles. Some of
his customers say his worms are just as good at the end of a fishing
hook, though."To be honest, what made me come here is that they had scriptures on
the top of his bait cans," said customer John Brin. "Plus, they have
good service. They're nice and they're kind, and they treat you like
family."Though Brin knows Brown sells them mostly for composting, he said
they are great for catching blue gill, sand perch and other local
favorites. He also added that he likes getting his worms from Brown
"because his bait stays alive longer than any other baits I've used."For prices and amounts, he has another blog dedicated just to worms.Of course, many people also stop by to buy the smaller pieces of art
that he and his family create: purses made of burlap, welcome signs made
of driftwood, planters and other items lining the walls of his store.He's also helped put his mark on the decor of local establishments too, such as Gaspar's Patio, 8448 N. 56th st.Owner Jimmy Ciaccio said that when it came time to redecorate the
restaurant several years ago, there was only one person to call for the
assignment, and that was his good friend Brown."I've known Joe all my life, and we always had a good chemistry
together," Ciaccio said. "He's very creative and fun to be around, and
that's how it all came about."Ciaccio says he still gets compliments all the time for the
restaurant's atmosphere he created using the "trash" supplied by Brown.
He describes the style as a day at the beach, like a visit to Old Key
West. "They're so inspired, they want to decorate their own homes this
way," he said.It's that kind of testimony that makes Brown feel good, knowing that
others, too, are inspired to create instead of throw away when they see
his work. He simply lets his work speak for itself."Somebody once told me to keep telling the story and they will keep coming," he said, "and they always do."
Tampa Art Gallery University of South Florida, Florida Focus,Fletcher and 75
Tampa gallery practices the art of creative reuse
By Kerry Schofield
year was 1958. Joe Brown, 8, lived next to a county dump site in Tampa,
Fla. Brown found old junk, fixed it up and sold it. Brown knew he had a
higher calling in life — he was destined to be an artist.
is as colorful as the gallery — he wears a bright tropical shirt with
red, white and blue plaid shorts. Patrons tell him they can smell the
salt water when they drive up. The gallery, however, is perched inland
near Morris Bridge Road and Interstate 75 where a rusty-hair hen named
Fred, first thought to be a rooster, patrols the property. Fred,
abandoned five years ago by tourists, trots between the gallery and
adjacent hotel leaving a trail of droppings behind her.
lived on the Gunn Highway Landfill from 1958 to 1963. The Hillsborough
County landfill operated for four years and was closed in 1962. "It was
astounding how quick they could fill the 15 acres in pits that were
enormous," Brown said.
apartment complex now sits on top of the old landfill. A report by the
Florida Department of Environmental Protection indicated that a lining
was placed underneath the complex when it was built to block methane gas from leaking. The gas is a byproduct of rotting garbage.
lived on his father's dairy and beef farm. Brown said during heavy
rain, the low land on the farm flooded the neighboring Gunn Highway. In
1957, Hillsborough County officials offered to elevate the low land to
stop the flooding by turning it into a landfill. When the property was
sold in 1984 by Brown's father, soil testing revealed heaps of old paper
and punctured cans of spray paint.
dug up and took out newspapers like the day they were put in," Brown
said. "It reminded me of nuclear bombs that were going to go off. They
dumped everything in the landfill."
a child, Brown foraged at nearby dumpsters. County workers saved junk
for him that people dropped off. One day, Brown's parents got a call
from his elementary school teacher and told them that Brown had $100 in
his pocket and that he must be stealing.
picked up the saved junk after school and turned it into something new.
Contrary to his elementary school teacher's accusation, he wasn't a
thief after all. Instead he was a young entrepreneur who sold other
people's trash.
Brown's mother wanted him to pursue his talents and dreams, not money.
But he developed a business sense during his young junk collecting days
and told his mother, "I'm not going to be an artist. I've read that
artists starve to death."
mother became concerned. He said his mother knew "the value of
happiness and the travels of life" and sent him to a summer art class.
art teacher inspired awe in Brown. She taught him how to reuse baby
food jars by melting the glass and adding marbles to the mix to create
paper weights. The teacher had traveled to Hong Kong, China and
Hiroshima, Japan after World War II. She saw how people were forced to
recycle and reuse items out of necessity after the war. This left an
impression on Brown.
was at this time that he personified the name Hong Kong Willie, which
harkens back to China where the mass production of merchandise occurs.
The "Willies" are people like Brown and other environmentalists who try
to reuse trash instead of throwing it into landfills.
high school, Brown went to college to study business but dropped out
after three years. He worked in the material handling industry until
1981. Although Brown had achieved a successful career and lifestyle, he
had become discouraged in 1979.
had been diagnosed with depression in 1973, a condition that was caused
from high fructose intake and that lasted for more than four years.
1985, Brown and his artist wife, Kim, bought the half-acre property off
Fletcher Avenue and Morris Bridge Road. For two decades the two small
wooden shacks, built around 1965, that now house the gallery operated as
a bait and tackle shop.
Brown raises and sells worms by the pound mainly for composting. He
recycled 250 thousand pounds in the worm bed in 2009. Brown still sells
the worms for $3.50 a cup for fishing.
1981, Brown resurrected the Hong Kong Willie name from his childhood
art class. In the early 1980s, both he and his wife, Kim, began
upcycling trash into art. Brown entered another world when he left his
mainstream lifestyle behind — he joined the art scene and booked rock
bands at the same time.
Brown family spent half their time in Tampa and the other half in a
small home on Boot Key Harbor in Marathon. Brown gained the reputation
of the Key West lobster buoy artist.
in Key West, Brown became friends with local fishermen. He and others
organized efforts to clean up plastic foam buoys that had collected in
the waterways from years of fishing.
Earth Resource Foundation reports that plastic foam is dumped into the
environment. It breaks up into pieces and chokes animals by clogging
their digestive system.
sells the buoys from the Hong Kong Willie Art Gallery for $2.00 a
piece. He said he has sold from 30 to 40 thousand buoys in the last ten
years. Some of the buoys are more than 50 years old and are collected by
tourists from China and Japan.
you go to the Keys right now and you see a buoy floating, you'll see
someone slam on the brakes to get it," Brown said. "They're the most
prized buoys of the world."
made a holiday buoy tree 12 years ago from the Key West buoys. Hundreds
of buoys are strung on rope and wrapped around a utility pole next to
the gallery. Brown hopes the novelty of the buoy tree will inspire and
stimulate children to find new ways to reduce, reuse and recycle
Kate Shoup's "Rubbish! Reuse Your Refuse," the author said much of what
we get is designed to be scrapped after only a few uses. We easily
throw away pens, lighters, razors and dozens of other items. Shoup said
Americans consume 2 million plastic drink bottles every 5 minutes.
Brown finds uses for items that would otherwise end up in a landfill.
He buys used burlap bags from coffee and peanut producers. He sells them
to the U.S. National Forestry Service for the collection of pine seeds
and Samuel Adams for hops production.
also an artist, paints fish, turtles, crows, parrots and the like on
driftwood and on wood that Brown has salvaged from saw mills and from
old buildings in Key West.
said art is viewed and appreciated by certain people. "If it all came
out the same, it would be like bland grits all the time," Brown said. He
likes to refer to the gallery art as reused rather than recycled, which
takes waste and turns it into an inferior product. Reuse on the other
hand involves remaking an item and using it again for the same intended
also try to stay away from imprinting a definite use for a definite
item," Brown said. He explains that 2-liter bottles are not limited to
making bird feeders. The bottles can be used for art and craft projects
as well.
Hong Kong Willie photomontage
working on a feature story about Hong Kong Willie aka Joe Brown and
family who are reuse artists. I recently spent some time interviewing Joe Brown at his studio in Tampa, Fla. We had a pleasant talk about his
working gallery. We sat outside and there was a nice breeze, although it
was a warm sunny day still here in Florida. Join me in the midst of
writing the story. I took a few pictures to share with you. Enjoy.
Kerry Schofield
View photographs of the Hong Kong Willie art gallery
Tampa Art Gallery,MY FOX TAMPA BAY,Charlie's World Fox News
Tampa Art Galleries,Florida Focus
Chris Futrell, Florida Focus
TAMPA, Fla. – Have you ever seen the building on the corner of
Fletcher and I-75 with a bunch of buoys strung everywhere? This small
business that many think is an old bait n' tackle shop is actually Hong
Kong Willie.
Derek Brown, 26, and his family own and operate Hong Kong Willie.
The little shop specializes in preservation art. The artists don't take
preservation too lightly either.
"99 percent of everything that has gone into a piece of art has been recycled and reused," Brown said.
Just as unique as the art is, so is the company's name. Brown says
the name was created by his father, Joe Brown, in the 1950s.
"My father being in an art class, being affected by a teacher, they
were melting Gerber baby food bottles," Brown said. "The teacher
interjected that Hong Kong had a great reuse and recycling program even
Brown's father then took that concept and later added the
Americanized name Willie to the end. And that's how Hong Kong Willie
was born as a location that offers recycling in a different and
creative way.
Hong Kong Willie artists are what are known as freegans. Freegans
are less concerned with materialistic things and more concerned about
reducing consumption to lessen the footprint humans leave on this
"I'm sure everyone has their own perception of a freegan, possibly
jumping into a dumpster or picking up something on the side of the
road," Brown said. "There [are] people who will have excess. There
[are] also things that can be trash to one man, but art or a prize to
another man."
Brown and his family carry this practice through to their art. It's
his family's way of life, turning trash, which would otherwise fill up
landfills, into an art form.
The Brown family gets a lot of their inspiration for their art from
the Florida Keys. In fact, this is where the deluge of buoys wrapping
around the 'Buoys Tree' came from, the fishermen of Key West.
"It is Styrofoam, we understand that it does not degrade, but to
blame the fishermen for their livelihood wouldn't be correct, instead
we find a usage for those," Brown said.
Brown said there's a usage for everything, even the hooks to hold
the painted driftwood, which are also salvaged, to the wall are old
bent forks. Everything's reused here. Purses made out of old coffee
bean sacks to "kitschy," as Brown described it, jewelry made from old
"Hong Kong Willie truly believes that a piece, whether it's a bag or a painted artwork, it's meant for one person."
North Tampa- The night light shines like a beacon on the bait shop's buzzer, beckoning to early morning and nocturnal fishermen.
At A-24 Hour Bait the workday doesn't end. The rustic store sits off the Fletcher Avenue ramp to Interstate 75 South. A windowless blue mobile home and worm bed are it's companions on a one-acre slice of land.
buildings are a sharp contrast to their new neighbors, Hidden River
Corporate Park rising out of the woods on the north and growing Tampa
Telecom Park on the west.
Owners Joe and Kim Brown work about 20 hours a day, occasionally resting in
"the cave", the mobile home they live in behind the store.
The couple's shop is well stocked with shiners and worms.
"What we try to do here is carry the best of baits," Joe Brown said.
He's got night crawlers from Canada, salamanders from North Dakota and
wigglers from his own worm bed behind the store. A refrigerated tank is
home to cured shiners and minnows sedated by the cold.
"Wild shiners in a non-refrigerated tank would be going crazy," Brown said as
he peered into a tank of fish separated by size. "They'd be jumping
around trying to commit suicide. With the cold water they're pretty
sedate, but you let the water (temperature) rise, a shiner would be like
a race horse."
Larger shiners are selling for $24 a dozen a dozen today because the fish are
dispersed and spawning, so they're are difficult to catch. Normally,
large shiners cost around a $1.50 each, Brown said.
Good bait, proximity to the Hillsborough River and convenient hours lure in fishermen.
"It's all the time," Brown said. Catfish lovers are out early to snag popular
fishing spots, and during snook season there's a real run for shiners,
he said.
It's not uncommon for someone to ring the bell at 3 a.m.
"I stick my head out of the door real fast and tell them I'll be there. It
takes a lot for someone to ring a bell that time of the day," Brown
The Browns opened their shop about two years ago with a top notch but small
stock of bait and tackle. Born anglers, they knew it was hard to get
bait late at night or early in the morning, so they decided to stay open
24 hours.
Now they think their hard work is paying off. The shop has gradually grown
to include all kinds of lures and bobbers, rods and reels. Hillsborough
River fishermen know they're there. And others find out every day, Brown
"I've seen this place a bunch of times, off the interstate, but this is the
first time I've been here," customer Michael Walker said one afternoon.
"We got a pretty good (fishing) hole near here, so this will suit us
just fine."
Walker said he's been to a few saltwater bait shops that were open till midnight.
"But I don't know any that stay open past midnight," he said.
Although sometimes blurry-eyed when he waits on customers, Brown is never too tired to swap fish stories and other tips.
Normally when he's fishing with a shiner, Brown hooks the bait behind the rear
dorsal fin with a Khale hook. A bass usually grabs a smaller fish head
first, so the gills and fins smooth back as the larger fish swallows its
victim, Brown said.
But during spawning season, like now, he uses a straight hook and punctures
the crease at the bottom of the shiner's mouth, hooking upward through a
hole in the snout.
"Now bass are eating and striking so hard they take him and swallow him," Brown said.
The shop has given Brown more than a chance to make a living and tell
stories. A former designer of conveyor systems, he gave up two houses,
boats and other luxuries to move to the woods 10 years ago.
"I had what you're supposed to want," Brown said. "I just wasn't happy."
But he loved the river, and he lived for years on the Hidden River property
north of his shop. Today he said he thinks the land surrounding his
home will become Tampa's version of Central Park.
"I had the foresight to have bait and tackle because there's 25,000 acres
of Southwest Florida Water Management district property adjoining the
river that will always be public," Brown said.
Lettuce Lake Park, Trout Creek, Wilderness Park, Hillsborough River State Park
and other natural settings also are permanent parts of the landscape, he
As the area grows, the Browns hope their business will follow suit. They
feel lucky that they're in the middle of a developing area minutes from
the pristine quiet of the undeveloped Hillsborough River.
Soon Joe Brown plans to have canoes for rent.
"We're going to grow slow, we don't believe in carrying debt," he said. "It
takes a lot to start a business." We've had to sacrifice, but we
wouldn't trade it."
Tribune Outdoors Editor
The Hillsborough River has seen some tough times, It's been dammed and
drained and polluted and sea-walled almost to the point of death.
But it keeps on hanging in there. Old man river just keeps on rollin'.
The upper river, above the Fowler Avenue bridge, shows fits and starts of
the sort of thing that brought the lower river to its knees years back.
But all things considered, its still got a whole lot to offer a
city-world wearied soul.
I went up there a week or so ago with Joe Brown and his fishing guide pal
Ted Sawyer, both Hillsborough River fans since they wore knee pants.
Joe asked ask me to ride along to take a look at some of the trashing
problems that are starting to peak out here and there along the shore
lines, and we saw more of it than you'd hope to.
But what we saw mostly was rich-looking black water and tall, thick cypress
dams, lots of birds and fish and turtles. And solitude.
It's not pristine wilderness. But considering it's within shooting distance
of the downtown towers of a major American metropolis, the upper
Hillsborough ain't bad. Not bad at all.
The river snakes through the backyards of a number of homes and an
apartment complex or two until it slips under the Fletcher Avenue
bridge. From there on up, city turns country in a hurry. There's a
landing at Tampa Palms, but you can't see any buildings, and for much of
the rest of it, the river swamp spreads out all around the flow, a lot
like it must have when Tampa was a two-bit fishing village 10 miles
There are lots of interesting creeks to explore, including several that Joe said were excellent bassing spots.
Lettuce Lake, the only open spot in the river, gave us a look at the county
park tower where folks so inclined can view the swamp without getting
their feet wet. And a little further up, we found the buzzards.
They come in hundreds, maybe in thousands, Joe said, every winter. They show
up in November, they stay until March. They festoon the trees in
dozens, fight and hold discussions along the banks, bath in the river.
Yep. Buzzards bath.
Apparently they get a bit too strong even for themselves after a time. We watched a
dozen of them flutter like sparrows in a bird bath as they washed up
along a sandy shoreline near Nature's Classroom.
The birds roost in the trees along the river at night, fly out over the
surrounding pasture land by day looking for assorted horribles to fill
their stomachs.
Sometimes they go visit the downtown towers, where they whirl for hours on the
thermals of heated air rising up the glass cliffs.
We found the trash piles, too. Heaps of plastic cups, beer cans, paper
plates, the fallout from the civilization that bustles around the edges
of this little piece of wilderness.
Joe said he can't understand why folks would take the trouble to come out
here, to get away from the pollution and the ugliness of some parts of
the city, and then turn the shorelines into a dump wit their leftovers.
I couldn't either.
Joe Brown runs 24-Hour Bait, on Morris Bridge Road just off Fletcher
Avenue. It's the nearest bait shop to the river, and the only one that
operates around the clock. (Well, sort of around the clock. If you show
up at 3 a.m., you have to press the buzzer and wait a couple of minutes
until Joe rolls out of the sack and comes on down to the shop to serve
The folks who buy bait there return with stories of their successes, and
this along with his own long angling experience has allowed Brown to put
together a pretty good picture of what works, when, on the river.
Wild shiners, Joe says, are the choice offering for the river's large mouth.
"We sell 'seasoned' shiners that have been in chilled, chemically treated
water for a week or two. This gives them a slightly silvery color, makes
their scales a lot tougher and makes them stay alive on the hook longer
than domestic shiners or even fresh-caught wild ones," he says.
Brown says the way to fish the shiners is to use a Kahle-style hook with a
big bend, made of light wire so the bait stays lively. The hook should
be inserted under the skin back of the dorsal fin. The bait is then
either free-lined, with no weight or cork, or with a cork only, around
beds of floating grass and along the deeper cypress shores.
Joe says that simply putting a couple of the baits out behind the boat and
letting it drift with the current will also turn up plenty of fish.
He says the side creeks are good spots to fish plastic worms, rigged Texas
style with a slip sinker. Colors favored by river experts are tequila
shad, red shad and crawfish.
Joe says that the waters above the "pop-off canal" dam, which shuttles
water to the Palm River in time of flood, are good for top-water plugs
early and late in the day.
Brown is also a catfish angler, and notes that there are plenty of spots where big channel catfish gather in the river.
"Every major bend has a deep hole along the outside bank," he notes. "Most of these holes have big catfish in the bottom."
In fact, some of the holes marked nearly 30 feet deep on Ted Sawyers LCD
depth finder, and suspended dots showed there were plenty of cats
waiting in the depths.
Brown said that cut shiners were the best bait for cats. He said the fish
usually feed right on the bottom, so the bait should be weighted with
plenty of lead to make it hit and stay put.
He said speckled perch or crappie have been biting well in the river for several months, and should stay active through March.
Some of the best spots, he noted, are the hole just below the Fletcher
Avenue Bridge, and the island near the upstream end of Lettuce Lake. He
said Missouri minnows about two inches long are the best bait in either
The river offers good fishing year around, but water levels drop in late winter and early spring.
This means possible problems for boatmen new to the river, according to
Brown, because there are many unmarked rocks and stumps, particularly
near the Fowler ramp.
Guide Ted Sawyer suggests using only shallow-draft aluminum boats during the
low water period, and proceeding slowly until you learn the water.
Joe has one request, however you fish the river: take a trash bag with you.
Frank Sargeant
Tribune Outdoors Editor
They call themselves the Mutt and Jeff of Saturday morning fishing shows.
On the air they are argumentative, querulous and cantankerous by their own
admission, but Jim Lee and Joe Brown of WFNS, 910 AM's "GETAWAYS" radio
program get along just fine when they hop into a boat and head out for
some redfish and snook action, as they did a few weeks ago with captain
Tod Romine of Bradenton.
Lee is an insurance man at his "real" job, while Brown runs Tampa's only
24-hour bait shop. Both say the Saturday morning radio gig is more for
fun than profit, but the 25 weeks since they started they've managed to
collect enough sponsors to break even and enough listeners to put them
in the ratings book.
"It ruins your Friday's nights because you have to get up at 3:30 on
Saturday morning to be on the air by 6," Lee said. "And we usually like
to get together at least once during the week to go over the next show
and plan the sound effects."
The program not only covers hunting and fishing, but also family adventures
like locating shark's teeth on the beaches near Venice and going
on-site at Gatorland at feeding time.
We enjoy a lot of foolishness on the air," Brown said. " We want to
provide information, but more than that we want to entertain. It's
humbling to know you're just a push of the button away from disappearing
from your listeners."
For a part of the trip on Sarasota Bay, the fish were somewhat humbling,
too, with the temperature around 95 degrees and baits scarce, Tod Romine
had to delve into his bag of tricks to turn the fish on. But after a
few dry holes, he managed.
The big problem with fishing this summer has been the bait scarcity in
this area due to the red tide," Romine. " There's lots of little stuff
on the inside that are good for chum, but the larger sardines we want as
bait are very hard to find."
Fortunately, Romine had a "sardine mine" in a 15-foot deep hole in the grass flats
where he managed to collect several dozen 4-inch baits with five or six
throws of the 10 foot net. He then visited a spot near the mouth of the
Manatee River where one toss of of a small-mesh net captured all the
chum-sized sardines he could lift aboard.
I like small sardines for chum because they turn the fish on but don't
fill them up," Romine said. " Once you get them popping on top, put out a
bigger bait and you're hooked up in a hurry."
Lee caught the first fish, a snook of about 23 inches. He pulled it aboard
and was still posing for photos when Brown nailed one of about the same
" That fish is just like mine, only an inch shorter," Lee told him.
" Yeah , but it's an ounce heavier," Brown said.
" Mine has a higher IQ," Lee said.
" He wouldn't have hit if I hadn't put it in there just right.
" Mine is better looking," Brown said.
" Yours has a crooked nose."
And so it went. We managed 15 snook total, all but a couple smaller than
the legal 24-inch minimum, and a dozen redfish, six of them in the legal
spot, six over the 27-inch maximum. In between was a mix of lady fish,
jacks and undersized trout — a busy day considering the sweltering heat.
Romine fishes a mix of yellow holes on high or rising water, deep cuts and island points on the drop.
For more on fishing the Sarasota Bay area, Romine can be reached at (941)
747-3866. For more on Jim and Joe, their shows runs from 6 to 9 a.m.
Jim Tunstall TAMPA TRIBUNE
A break with the mainstream led a couple to their own little corner of happiness from another day in time.
I believe every individual has a purpose. When you start going on your
journey to discover yours, you learn some things along the way."
Joe Brown loves to express himself.
If you want to see how, take a spin by his place on the southwest corner
of Interstate 75 and Fletcher Avenue. His yard is coiffed with a sassy
blend of crab-trap buoys, bottle art, fishy wind socks and a dog and two
cats that co-exist on a mainly peaceful basis.
Then there's the man. Brown, a page out of the 1960's better side, owns A-24 Hour Bait and Tackle.
On one hand, he's private enough not to want his photograph taken, on the
other, he's gregarious enough to talk the ears off anyone interested in
fishing. Fact is, this 51-year-old Tampa native is primed to gab about
next best to anything on the minds of his visitors, including the way
things used to be.
Like in 1983 when he and his wife, Kim, planted roots on this corner and the new Interstate was their only new neighbor.
Before that, Brown had been part of the establishment, but he chucked his
mainstream career and spent 3 years on a 700-hundred acre spread across
Fletcher, searching for himself.
I was seriously unhappy," he says.
"I left (the job) Nov. 13, 1981. That Date, the moment I left the office,
it blazed in my brain, I was 31 and dealing with severe depression."
One day he heard a voice.
"People will tell you you've got serious problems when you hear voices," he
says behind a grin. "But this wasn't that kind of experience. It just
said, 'Joe, what if it gets better?'"
Well, slowly it did.
He and Kim took an option on the corner that been home to a worm farm for 25 years.
" The worm business was at it's ebb," Brown says.
" I bought it to sell. I had no idea I was going to continue it."
Over the years, neighbors started putting down roots to the west, including
apartment complexes and more than a half dozen hotels, such as Extended
Stay America and Residence Inn.
bait and tackle business stayed reasonably strong until the economy
went south last year, Brown says, adding that he still carries a full
line of rods, reels, cane poles, lures, crickets, shiners, and shrimp.
" But we did a lot a wholesale and we lost 90 percent of that business Sep. 11," he says." " That's dead. It's not coming back."
Fortunately the Browns have branched out.
Last year, they opened a gift shop that sells gator heads, sea shells, stuffed critters, t-shirts, and other trinkets.
Brown also started dabbling in bottle art — melting everything from vodka to
Sprite bottles, reshaping them then letting them cool and harden.
Through the last 20 years, he seems to have learned to be a survivor.
He's also learned his reason for being on this corner.
"I believe every individual has a purpose," he says, turning serious for a moment.
"When you start going on your journey to discover yours, you learn some
things along the way. I like working with the public and making them
happy. And if you're doing what you want to do, it's a beautiful thing."
TAMPA– Every month or so, Kim and Joe Brown pile into the family flatbed
truck, he one that's decorated with multi-colored stencils of fern
fronds, and drive down to Key West.
There, they inevitably find what they're looking for: a few thousand discarded
plastic foam crab and lobster buoys, maybe a battered surf board or a
life preserver. After a week or so, they strap the whole load down, turn
the truck around and head home to Fletcher Avenue at Interstate-75,
where they have lived for nearly 25 years.
If you've driven by there recently, and you'd know if you'd had, then you
have a pretty good idea, of what the Brown's do with the buoys once they
get them off the truck.
They wrap them around metal poles, until they resemble marshmellow Christmas
trees. They festoon them outside the gift and bait shop they run. They
line their parking lot with them.
"It can drive you crazy," Kim Brown said as she stared at a mound of them.
"There's got to be something else to do with them. I was thinking maybe
I'd cut them in half and make them into little planters."
Occasionaly, a restaurant owner who fancies a nautical theme will relieve them of a
few thousand buoys. Sometimes a home owner from New Tampa wants a dozen
for his new poolside bar.
But generally speaking, the treasures of the Key West trips come in at a
rate far faster than they go out. Doesn't matter a bit to the Browns.
"I have a pretty good life. I don't have to bust my butt," Kim Brown said.
"I don't make a lot of money, but when someone likes my stuff, that's
In a corner of Tampa dominated by late-arriving corporate parks and hotel
chains, they live a life of enviable self-sufficiency. If they appear
eccentric, it is only by the relelentlessly conformist standards of
their neighbors. If the decor appears kitschy, maybe it's because we've
lost touch with what's truly authentic.
On a recent morning, Kim Brown was giving an impromptu tour to a surprise
visitor. She was wearing a loose-fitting white shirt and a long gray
cotton skirt. Walking around in her tanned bare feet and sunglasses she
seemed glamorous and unfussy. She casually mentions her age, 46, without
a trace of self-consciousness.
The sky was threatening rain and that wasn't doing much for sales at A-24
Hour Bait. "Fish are going to eat today," she says, shaking her head at
the squandered opportunity.
But it gave her time to tell some stories.
"Those rings, they came from a Cuban refugee raft," she says, indicating a
clump of artifacts outside thet baitshop. " When I can, I take a picture
of the man or the woman and that becomes part of the story of what we
She grabbed a bass lure dangling from the inside of a metal cylinder and
gave it a good tug. It clanged loudly. "We make the bells out of dive
tanks that were going to be thrown away," she says.
"I've got a real nice anchor. It's over 100 years old. That came from a Cuban who got it caught in his lobster traps."
"The Lobster guys are lucky," she says with real admiration in her voice.
"They find this stuff all the time, just floating out there."
grew up near Lowry Park Zoo. Her husband was raised out on Anderson
Road. They met in 1981, the circumstances of which are one of a few
stories she's reluctant to tell in detail. At the time she was boarding
horses across the road in what is now the Hidden River Corporate Park.
"WhenI met Joe, he was in a suit and tie. He always had a thousand dollars
on his back," she said. He was in the materials handling business, but
it wasn't long for that corporate life.
They saw some land was available for sale on Morris Bridge Road, the part
where it bends in the southwest corner of I-75 and Fletcher. The acre or
so had a worm farm on it when they bought it. The previous owner had a
Coca-Cola cooler out front, and fishermen on their way to the
Hillsborough River would come by and fill a can with worms, leave a
little money in a cup. All on the honour system.
"That tapered off. Fishng wasn't simple anymore. You couldn't just get a cane
pole and a can of worms and go catch some dinner," Kim says. "Now
you've got to have permits and expensive reels and the latest lure."
"That's why we kind of went back to our art."
In the early 1990's they made their first trip down to the keys. They
began to meet fishermen. They stayed in their homes, ate dinner with
them. Joined in the parties at the beginning of stone crab season.
It wasn't long before they saw all the buoys overflowing the trash cans.
Buoys generally last a few years. Turtles gnaw them. Storms scatter
them. Sun and salt bleach them.
"Hey, we can do something with those," Kim remembers saying. "We make something out of nothing."
The gift shop, known as Hong Kong Willie, is full of stuff that was
perilously close to oblivion before the Browns identified some hidden
Kim makes "coconut grams". They're painted coconuts with a space clearly
marked for the address. There's not much room for the message. But the
U.S. Postal Service will actually deliver them, Kim says.
The gift shop's ceiling is packed with coffee sacks. Glass bottles that
have been heated in the Brown's kilns sit on shelves slumped like Dali
clocks. Gnarled pieces of polished Lignum Vitae are scattered about;
Kim's son Derek, 22, is responsible for that work.
Nothing has a price, because prices depend on too many variables for it to be
worth specifying. (A string of five buoys will cost you $12.99, though
the price drops for bulk purchases.) But whenever possible a piece will
come with a picture of the shop, or of the person who provided the
piece, to commemorate the item's passage
through history.
"This telephone was on Duval Street," Kim says. "It's got all these names and
numbers written on the side. And a picture of a raccoon on the front.
Who knows why?"
The demand for items such as this is unpredictable. Ditto the 1961 mailbox
with the rusted front. But the Browns' customers tend to share their
"I bought 1,200 buoys a month ago," said Jimmy Ciaccio, owner of Gaspar's,
a restaurant on 56th Street in Temple Terrace that has a brand new
patio with an aggressive Key West theme.
"I must have 3,000 of them around here," Ciaccio says as he walks the
deck, talking a torrent. "I got a raft, those traps, they all came from
Joe. I've bought a lot of novelty stuff from them. That's what they're
all about and that's what we're all about. And there's always a story
behind everything. I love that. He gave me that thing, it's like a piece
of wood or something I don't know what it is, but it's from Key West.
We've got that chemistry."
If there were a few more customers as fervid as Ciaccio, Kim Brown might
not be toying with the idea of getting into the food business. But there
aren't and she is.
"Not everybody wants a buoy or a bell," Kim says. "But everyone wants to
drink a cup of coffee. I don't want to be a Starbucks but maybe a little
coffee shop. Maybe a good Cuban sandwich."
"But then you get into hiring and firing. I've got friends in the retaurant
business. I see how hard they work. It's never-ending," she says,
beginning to argue with herself. "I just don't want to work that hard."
She circles back to a calm contentment with life as it is currently defined.
"We're happy. We don't want to sell. We're not rich, but we pay our bills.
The zen of junk
A Tampa couple devotes itself to creating something from nothing.
by Alex Pickett
Avenue, and you can't miss it. The tree appears first, hundreds of
buoys wrapped around its branches, resembling a sort of Dr. Seuss-ian
Christmas ornament. Then the rest of the 20,000 buoys come into view –
thousands of strands of the multicolored foam balls stretching from the
tree to two wooden shacks, hanging from their roofs and walls, and
stretched out over the property.Strewn about the lawn is a menagerie of surfboards, car doors, CB
radios, wooden sculptures and painted signs. A 1979 Ford pickup sits in
the front driveway, painted with a rainbow of colors, four racks of
antlers affixed to its roof. An old stuffed caribou sits in a lawn chair
beckoning visitors.Of the thousands of motorists who pass by this eclectic landmark off
Exit 266 every day, few stop in the funky gift shop and Key West-themed
folk art gallery that is Hong Kong Willie's. But this is not your
typical roadside store selling cheesy Florida magnets and beach T-shirts
(although they have those, too). From the moment the owners come out to
greet you, it's clear that for them this isn't just a business — it's a
lifestyle.As I step out of my car, Joe Brown ambles toward me wearing a red
Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts. With his disheveled shoulder-length
brown hair and strong jaw line, Brown, 56, looks a lot like Mel Gibson
in Braveheart. He ends most of his sentences with "Do you follow
me?" and stares with wild gray eyes until you nod in agreement. His
46-year-old wife, Kim, who bears a strong resemblance to Grace Slick,
sits near the shop's open sign, branding her latest creation. Wearing
large sunglasses, she gives a smile, hardly looking up.Joe and Kim — Tampa natives — bought the half-acre property off
Fletcher Avenue and Morris Bridge Road in 1985. For the next two
decades, the Browns operated A-24 Hour Bait and Tackle, living on the
premises and bagging worms for K-Mart and Wal-Mart to make a few extra
bucks. But in 2001, they decided to abandon fish food to pursue the
fickle business of art, although they will tell you Hong Kong Willie's
was always "part of the journey.""We were artists," says Joe. "We were born that way. We had no choice. You follow me?"The underlying theme of Hong Kong Willie's is creating art out of
objects destined for the landfill, and while browsing the items, I get
the feeling the Browns are trying to make a point rather than a sale."Thirty percent of the gifts given will be in the dumpster by next
Christmas," Joe says. "Most Christmas gifts will be given because they
think they have to. Very few will have a social impact."Every item at Hong Kong Willie's is either art made out of an object
destined for the landfill or products that other companies were throwing
away and the Browns retrieved before they made it to the dumpster. But
don't call this recycled art. The Browns prefer "preservation."Recycling implies the material will be used for the same purpose. "If
you get stuck in that word, then you get stuck in that form," Joe
explains. Instead, the Browns create a whole new use for an item that
would have been otherwise thrown away.Kim looks up from her painting after Joe finishes his long ramble.
"We've always been able to take nothing and make something out of it,"
she says.Although most people assume Joe is "Hong Kong Willie," he says the
name refers to the origin of junk: Hong Kong produces much of the
useless merchandise that Americans buy and quickly throw away, he says.
So it's up to the Willies of the world — i.e. the Browns and other
conservationists — to find new uses for the trash."All of us who believe what we believe is Hong Kong Willie," Joe says.The gift shop is a space not much bigger than a tool shed, cluttered
with handmade candles, pottery, ceramic figures and deer skulls painted
tie-dye style. Joe, who's not content to allow me to wander by myself,
darts from item to item, sharing each one's origins. One of the first
objects he shows me is an old scuba tank cut in half, stenciled with
yellow and purple spray paint with a weighted rope attached on the
inside. What would have been a heavy addition to a landfill or junkyard,
the Browns now sell as a nautical-themed bell. Another popular item: a
used Starbucks Frappuccino bottle filled with sand and shells, and the
words "Florida Beachfront Property" written in paint on it."Is it really pragmatic to say this had one life — to have
Frappuccino in it?" he says, holding up the $3 gift. "That's not true.
You follow me?"Joe picks up a droopy glass vase — the result of an Arizona Ice Tea
bottle stuck in a kiln for too long. He says it's a collector's item:
Only 300 were made and none look alike."People really want something that is one of a kind and something
that means something," he says, holding up the vase and pointing to a
stack of Beanie Babies. "Which one is the real collectible? The one that
cannot be copied or the one that is mass-produced just on a small
scale? You follow me?"Most of the materials the Browns work with come from Key West. Every
few months they hop in the pickup, drive the 425 miles to the Keys and
start looking for the junk no one else wants: used dive tanks, the
lobster trap buoys, burlap bags and even old wooden planks from ships or
homes destroyed by storms.In fact, the latter is one of their biggest sellers. They bring back
an imperfect piece of lumber, slap some urethane on it and Kim paints
everything from colorful fish and birds to old Key West landmarks on it.
Every piece is branded, marked with a lobster cage tag and affixed with
brass rings or forks with which to hang them. In the building opposite
the gift shop, among stuffed animals and fish (Joe was once a
taxidermist), 30 of these painted planks hang from the walls.Customers are few at Hong Kong Willie's, but the Browns say they're
doing well. They never try to push their art on anyone, figuring that if
someone stops and buys something, it was meant to be. ("A piece of art
is a love affair," Kim says.) They count Gaspar's Patio Bar and Grille
in Temple Terrace as one of their best customers. Their other business
comes from Tampa residents looking to add a tiki feel to their
backyards. Among Joe's most popular creations are old car doors
outfitted with waterproof speakers. A few Key West bars bought the
unique sound systems to hang from their ceilings.But the Browns are not just content to sell their art to passersby –
they want to live the ideals that inspire their art. The couple is
working on getting their business off the electrical grid and powered
completely by solar energy. Kim wants to start a coffee and ice cream
shop with free wireless Internet to bring in likeminded people. Joe
wants to be in the Guinness Book of World Records for hanging the
greatest number of buoys to a structure (it's not a category yet). And
they're always trying to find new uses for the trash they see lining
area roads."We're not just sitting out here being weird," Joe says suddenly.
"We're actually taking objects and making these thousands of people say,
'What's that?' We're doing it because it's the right thing to do."His eyes get wide."You follow me?"


text:
Below is the feedback from the students who attended SIGGRAPH 2009 in New Orleans through the Spend a Week at SIGGRAPH program. The ACM SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Pioneers and the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored the students.
We've removed the students' and mentors' names, and reformatted the text for consistency.
All content, grammar and spelling are directly from each student.
SIGGRAPH was very fun and exciting.
This was the very first time I have gone to a convention for computer graphics and I am happy to say that it exceeded my expectations by far. I loved the exhibitions, galleries, and the sandbox along with all the special speakers and talks.
The exhibitions were wonderful. First off there was free stuff and who doesn't love free stuff, but it also taught me a lot about some of the companies and what they have to offer. In addition, the exhibitions for colleges were good to help me see what colleges are good for computer graphics and which ones I like. I also found out that Pixar gives the best free stuff and that they're an awesome company.
The gallery I liked the most was probably the emerging technologies. It was great to see brand new technologies that were cool and amazing, yet at the same time simple. For example, one emerging technology was an easy to make recorder that played, stopped, and turned the volume of music up and down just from the different sounds of different patterns of scratching on the table. If you scratched a circle on the table it would recognize the sound and you would be able to assign that sound to play or stop music, so whenever you scratched a circle on the table the music would either stop or play music. There were many more emerging technologies that I fancied, but I'm afraid it would take too long to talk about all of them. Overall I was very impressed with the emerging technologies and wish there were more.
The sandbox was superb. It was a great way for me to actually test out new programs that I had never experienced or even heard of before. One program that I thought was very fun was Z-brush, which I had never heard of before. In addition, I found an animation program that made the whole taking shot after shot a lot easier. Not only that but I found out that you can download that very program of the internet for free.
In between playing in the sandbox and looking at the galleries I went to speeches. Most of the speakers I went to I liked. I was surprised at the amount of speakers there were and sometimes wanted to go to different speeches that were at the same time. I went to all the keynote speakers and I truly believed that they were great picks. I liked Will Wright the most on playing with perception. It was a very fun and enlightening speech that I thought was well thought out.
I had a wonderful time at SIGGRAPH, and am glad that I decided to go. With all the new technologies, speeches, and plain technologies that I had never heard of, SIGGRAPH blew my mind a way. Overall SIGGRAPH was a great experience and would love to someday maybe go again.
It was the most exciting experience I've attended in my life!
Siggraph opened my eyes not only as a technology conference but the culture of the entertainment industry itself. From the observing the developmental processes of robots manipulating organisms to learning about the long process of computer graphics in blockbuster movies from keynote speakers. It was amazing!
One of my favorite parts of Siggraph had to be the exhibition floor; showcasing all the latest company technologies, gear, and especially the college booths for the pursuit of studying arts.
The entire conference was mind blowing in ways I've never thought were possible. The community of professionals, teachers, and mentors felt energetic, either as an animator, special affects artist, editor, or just a businessman in the entertainment industry. The mentors were also very helpful with feedback on their own experiences. My mentor was a kind person who not just told me a lot about her own career but her view of the industry. She was a Visual Affects designer; one of the projects she worked on was the special affects for Fantasia. We actually sat down for lunch and talked for little more than an hour plus the walk through the conference. I appreciated that interaction with a professional, and it wasn't intimidating. It was just one on one conversation with student and professional.
Intel had its' own section where anyone could come and sit down to learn about the different the software's used in the industry. The most helpful booth of the exhibition floor was the college booths. It was unexpected and very helpful with me choosing college this year. I talked with teachers, watched demos, and received a lot of information about colleges like Ringling College of Art and Design and Savannah College of Art and Design. I went into Siggraph with a dream of either becoming a computer animator or videogame artist. Now, I want to truly continue my dream with the opportunity Siggraph has given me.
Thank You! I hope one day I can be one of your keynote speakers in the future.
Having never attended anything like Siggraph, I at first felt questionable about whether I would enjoy it.
Being only a freshman in high school, I had little knowledge of computer world I was about to step into, and truthfully, I feared that all of Siggraph would be a little over my head. But after my first day at the convention, my opinion changed entirely.
Walking through hallways of technology, I was very surprised to find how willing people were to help me understand the methods in which everything worked. They really made the effort to explain the extremely advanced technologies in a way that made sense to me. I saw virtual reality systems, interactive and 3D holograms, fabrics with animated ink, revolutionary video games, and countless other gadgets of the future. The best part about this, however, was that not only did I learn about and see this technology, but I was also able to have a hands-on experience with it. I myself wandered through those realms of virtual reality and tried out nearly every new gadget there. I was beyond impressed by the things presented, especially considering that many of them were developed by independent teams of just a few members.
I had one particularly good experience with a group who had created a touch-based system of controls for every electronic appliance in a living-room-style set up. This included a television, assorted light fixtures, digital picture frames, speakers, and to top it off, a little motorized vacuum cleaner. The touch controls for this room were all within a coffee table in front of a comfortable couch. The table was a touch screen monitor of sorts that displayed an overhead view of the living room from a small camera on the ceiling. To control each device in the room, I was told simply to touch. I could turn on the TV by tapping it on the table-screen, dim the lights by sliding my finger along them, open a folder of videos and play one on the TV in front of me by dragging one to the TV, do the same with pictures in the picture frames, all on this remarkable coffee table. And if some trash lay somewhere in the living room set up, I could touch the image of the vacuum cleaner, drag a path to the site of the trash, and away it would go.
I listened to several speakers introduce their projects and show what they brought to the table. I found Electronic Arts' presentation on their new boxing videogame Fight Night Round 4 very interesting, as it featured a revolutionary new physics engine that truly made the in-game action seem real. However the speakers as a whole were excellent, their talks were all engaging, and to my pleasant surprise, they were highly comprehendible.
The diversity of technology demonstrated at Siggraph made it an incredible event to be a part of. With big name exhibition booths from companies such as Google, Intel, and Autodesk, motion capture studios and 3D printers open to use by visitors, and digital artwork created by talented individuals, unbelievable levels of ingenuity filled every hall of the convention center. To think about the mind blowing ways that the developing technology I witnessed is revolutionizing the entertainment world and affecting so many lives amazes me. I am so glad to have been a part of the 2009 Siggraph experience, for it will certainly not be one I will forget.
When NOCCA offered me the chance to attend the 2009 SIGGRAPH conference in New Orleans, I jumped on the opportunity.
I have always wanted to be a professional animator and work with computer graphics and that is what the SIGGRAPH conference is all about.
On my first day at the New Orleans Convention Center, I was in awe. I was shown around by a mentor that said that she had previously worked on many animated films, such as The Hunchback of Notré Dame where she animated the special effects. She took me to see the emerging technologies and open studio.
Most of the emerging technologies shown at the conference were pretty amazing such as the hologram that you could touch, the vibration feedback umbrella, the table that you could program to control the whole room at the touch of your fingertips, the holographic teleconference which projected your face in 3-d and the virtual reality room. However there were some new technologies that I couldn't help but think to myself, "What in the world could you use it for other than maybe computer games?" For example, there was one exhibit that was a helmet that pulled on your ears to make you go right or left. The open studio was also pretty neat. I got to try out a Wacom tablet with Photoshop and Z-brush. I also used a 3-d printer to make my 3-d character into a small plastic figure. They also had a table set up for me to make stop motion animations, and they had a motion capture set up with people moving the characters in real time.
The keynote speakers' presentations that I got to listen to at the conference were very impressive. Will Wright, who is known for creating innovative games like SimCity and Spore, gave a talk about how we see the world and how the entertainment industry can work with that perception. Another talk I thoroughly enjoyed was a talk by Peter Sohn who is a professional animator at Pixar. He directed a short film called Partly Cloudy and spoke about the story behind the idea and some of the techniques used to make it. The only thing I didn't like about the sit down talks was that the ones that I was interested in were so spread out in time. It seemed like there were a lot of technical talks between the creative ones. Being a right brained thinker, algorithms or crowd generation doesn't really draw my attention.
Some of the booths in the exhibition hall that I found interesting were from the motion capture companies, 3-d movie studios, 3-d screen companies and 3-d printing companies. At Alias' booth they talked about the newest version of Maya and at Pixar's booth had their fantastic program Renderman on sale which drew a crowd and very long line. If I were to go again, I would set up a personal schedule so that I could stretch the whole experience of the exhibition hall out over four days.
My first encounter with a fellow Siggraph attendee was on the sidewalk of the convention center.
It was a young man with a red vest drawing a beautiful welcome sign in chalk on the sidewalk. His energy as he worked was contagious and soon I could not wait to go inside. Little did I know what strange and wonderful things awaited me. I met up with my classmates and flew through check-in all the wile gawking at the floorshow behind the curtains. As excitement mounted we set off to explore the new and exhilarating universe called Siggraph.
One of my fellow Siggraph attendees, Neil, and I set off to explore a room, I forget the name, where a man explained his revolutionary program that allows people to search through a database of pictured by drawing out their desired results; so instead of typing in "tree" the person can just draw a tree. This may not sound like an eye-opening experience but the applications that Neil and I thought of amazed us. So, starry-eyed, we walked out of the room and onto our next adventure.
We followed some signs to "emerging technologies" in hopes to top the amazement we had just encountered. We stumbled into room after room with each room opening new doors into our minds and expanding our definition of the future. We played with holographs that we could feel; walked on wooden boards that felt like ice, saw semi-virtual games that respond to eye-movement, and even robots that fold clothes. One of my personal favorites as a large interactive floor that the creators explained to me is currently being used at a university for teaching purposes. This floor tracks movement with a wand held in the participant's hand. With this technology they were able to explain physics, which I have never taken, to me in visual terms. They explained to me that they also work with special education children to help them recognize each other and form social relationships with one another. It was a very impressive and highly applicable technology. Overall the emerging technologies were all highly impressive and most likely my favorite part of Siggraph. But there was so much more to see, so we were off once again in search of something that could compare to the wondrous world we just encountered.
That lead us to the generative fabrication rooms. If the emerging technologies are our future then the generative fabrications are our paralleled universe. One step into any of the rooms and you are in an alien world strange and unknown. There were giant plastic sculptures that responded our movement as we walked through the confusion of plastic fern-like arms and feelers of this tremendous plastic beat. There was a miniature world that responded to your interactions such as blowing to create a windstorm that erased the landscape and covering up the light source to transform the world into a nighttime wonder world. There were also buzzing glass tubes that derive their song from strands of human hair as well as breathing fabric, and I don't mean cotton. Amazed and somewhat terrified, we walked out and continued our hunt for adventure.
Neil and I, after a quick lunch to settle our nerves, decided to visit the computer animation screening which, I am pleased to say, was fantastic. The animation was topnotch and the story plots were highly entertaining. We sat though two sessions of the festival and enjoyed every minute of it. That concluded the first exciting day.
The next day proved to be just as exciting as the floor opened up to us. A classmate and I met up again and we explored our new playground. Each booth proved to be amazing and insightful. We watched the motion suited people who were dancing to demonstrate the capabilities of their amazing suits and their digital counterparts who mimicked them. I had my face scanned into digital 3-D by one of the any amazing scanners and I watched a printer print out 3-D objects. The whole floor seemed to be buzzing about 3-D television and cinema, but that did not impress me as much. Over all though the whole floorshow was incredible.
We stopped exploring to floorshow to see the keynote speaker, Will Wright. He was the most amazing public speaker I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. He was insightful, direct, entertaining, and highly informative. He was amazing. I cannot think of adequate words for his speech other than that. We also were able to see the making of Coraline. How they made the movie gave a whole new light and inspiration to the movie itself.
To sum up my experiences I can say this about Siggraph; it opens up your mind and eyes to a whole new world of possibilities and achievements. I was amazed and enchanted throughout my whole experience and I cannot wait to see that the future holds.
When I went to SIGGRAPH, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, as a sophomore in High School.
I soon learned that the conference was absolutely massive, taking up three floors of the Convention center. After looking through the program, I realized that there was going to be something that interested everyone at the conference, and henceforth, worked out a loose schedule.
SIGGRAPH was a learning experience for me, and I attended a few talks and courses. The one Keynote Speaker I want to point out was Will Wright. He's the type of guy that can keep the attention of a large crowd by placing jokes throughout a 247 slide (approximately) speech. However, the information he gave was highly accurate, and gave me a completely different view of artwork and game design. His speech about perspective was very appealing to me, as an artist, as it taught me about how the placement of an animal, human or object can change how different people view it as a whole.
I was also impressed by the Computer Animation Festival entries. Most of them were top quality work and had an interesting concept, taking creativity to a completely new level. The sheer amount of work put into everything I saw was overwhelming in its own right, and the programming for the animations must have taken a lot of trial and error.
However, the thing that stood out the most to me was the Emerging Technologies section. Out of the many things I saw, one of the things I would applaud the most was the FUNbrella. Though its practical use is questionable, I think the way they transmitted vibrations was extremely intriguing and applicable in other places. The FUNbrella was a very creative invention, and worked really well.
Another technology that impressed me was the Touch Pad Table. It allowed you to control anything electronic in your living room, as they rigged it up to a cleaning robot that could clean the carpet. They also connected it to the TV and Computerized Picture Frame, so you could simply drag and drop Movies/Pictures for you to watch. The table has insane practical uses if it could ever be implemented in an entire house, and can easily go very far.
Lastly, I was impressed by the helmet that could control your movements. The helmet utilized clothespin-like objects that created a negligible pull on your ear. This pull would affect equilibrium, and henceforth throwing off your balance enough to where you would have to walk forwards, backwards, or to either side. It was a really cool invention that had a lot of thought behind it.
All in all, SIGGRAPH was a very good experience for me, and I learned a great deal about how far technology has advanced in the world today. I believe that the only problem SIGGRAPH has is that there's not enough time to do everything. SIGGRAPH truly is the greatest and most prestigious technology in the world today.
SIGGRAPH 2009 made a very different impression upon my mind than I thought it would with the creative pieces of work, art, and electronics.
I was very amazed by the caliber of new technologies each corporation showed me. I made sure to get a poster for SIGGRAPH 2010 and I wish to attend SIGGRAPH 2010. I also had my first Japanese candy there from the "Funbrella" group in Emerging Technologies. With the theory of virtual rain falling on to an umbrella and experiencing the actual vibrations of cats and dogs falling from the clouds or even buckets of water falling from up above, this is very constructive and worth a try. The Japanese candy was a definite plus.
GigaPan was one of the great robotics groups that also was at SIGGRAPH2009. I made my first gigapixel panorama with their new machine, the GigaPan. A member of the GigaPan group showed a few members of our group the new technology of GigaPan. The new machine lets photographers have a more precise panoramic photo with more images in a variety of organized ways to create the panorama and I actually had the chance to upload my first gigapan onto the website. Being that I am a NOCCA | Riverfront student, we've been loaned the actual device from GigaPan that creates the wonderful panorama gigapixel photos. I'm looking forward to that in the future along with also helping and sharing with my fellow NOCCA students what I've learned and created.
I really enjoyed Second Life's presentation which was across the room from GigaPan. Though they had a lot of technical difficulties, I stuck around for a bit. I think that way that users and players would be able to purchase land and buildings. I was also surprised that artist used the program as a host of their artwork. Sadly I had to leave early. I was able to see never-before-seen clips of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs in 3-D. I must say that it is definitely a must see movie. The colors and vibrancy of the film along with the depth of field is beautiful. You should all go see it. I know I am.
As an aspiring animator the SIGGRAPH 2009 conference was a wonderful affirmation in my choice in career.
I had always had a profound love of animation ever since was a child but it wasn't until I saw the numerous possibilities for an animator in the world at SIGGRAPH that I truly felt that I was putting my heart and soul in the right place. I'm so excited about my future as an animator I don't know what field I want to work in the most. I can't decide if I want to do special effects for films, make cartoons, or design video games. I couldn't believe how many heavy-hitters in animation were simply walking around and mingling with people. I met on of the founders of Dreamworks Animation Studio and it was incredible how humble and sweet he was. I felt so lucky to be a part of it and I can't wait to go again.
The strides being taken in technology are so astounding that I don't simply want to be a passive observer in its evolution.
One of my favorite exhibits was the Emerging Technologies section on the third floor. The user interfaces of all the tech is just so fascinating and intuitive. Who would have thought you could make a 360 degree oscillating hologram of another person that changes perspective as you do? Or a coffee table that puts a person in full control of their living room? Or a helmet that controls people by tugging on their ears? Seriously that's outstanding. I managed to get my friend to walk into a wall, it was incredible.
It was really interesting to see the Will Wrights presentation on perception. As someone who never really paid much attention to the Sims franchise I really wasn't expect that much when I went to his presentation. One of the things that I truly wasn't expecting was one of the funniest, most insightful observations of the way humans perceive their surroundings I've ever witnessed.
One of my favorite things about SIGGRAPH was the open studio. I used the dry-erase stop motion station to make a short morphing film. You can actually see my video if you go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AahRtGR9yPE.
Another feature of SIGGRAPH that showed infinite possibilities to me is the combination of three-dimensional scanners and resin printers. I found myself thinking that if the convention decided to set up camp permanently and become its own business right there in New Orleans, it could be one of the biggest entertainment industries in the world. I could get a USB drive at the Intel booth, bring it over to a 3d scanning station, scan my face, save it in Autocad, put the saved file in the flash drive, bring it to a 3d printer and print out my face. That. Is. So. Cool.
One refreshing aspect of SIGGRAPH was the cultural diversity. I met so many interesting people from all around the world. It makes me want to travel the world and learn more about technology in France, Japan, and others.
The digital animation festival was thoroughly inspiring and impressive. French Roast is probably one of my favorite short films of all times. It took me a few watches to notice that the whole short is facing one direction with the use of a mirror to show the full scene. It was beautifully orchestrated, well developed, and funny as hell. I'm very happy that it won the Best In Show award.
I can't thank Terry and NOCCA|Riverfront enough for giving me the opportunity to attend SIGGRAPH. Its one of the single most satisfying experiences of my life so far. I felt blessed to get a full convention pass and my only regret is that it wasn't two weeks long so I could have done even more.
My mind is literally spinning with excitement and drive that I wouldn't have had had I not attended the conference. The leaps and bounds in digital animation and computer graphics software alone were enough to make me run around the showroom floor like a kid in a candy store. I'm so astounded by the technology and possibilities the future holds that the future is looking brighter than ever.
I was very much amazed with Siggraph.
It was my first time attending, so I guess it would be amazing to me no matter what. I went to many talks, courses, papers, The Exhibition, The Job Fair, The Studio, The Sandbox, & Emerging Technologies. I found some things very fun & entertaining, & some things boring.
Some of the talks, papers, & courses I attended, I found to be rather boring. I fell asleep during most of them. There were a couple I did find interesting, such as The Art History of Games, & Playing With Perception with guest speaker Will Wright. Otherwise, most of the other talks, papers, etc… I attended just couldn't grasp my attention. On Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday, I found myself wanting to go to the Exhibition, Emerging Technologies, The Sandbox, & The Studio more, than wanting to attend any talks, papers, panels, & courses.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Exhibition & The Job Fair. The Exhibition had so many things to see & do, I didn't know where to begin & where to end. I discovered all kinds of new software & hardware, & I even got to try some of them out! I think that also having art colleges & institutes there also made the Exhibition worthwhile. I got to learn about a few colleges I'm hoping to attend. So in my opinion, not only was the Exhibition fun, it was educational, & beneficial to me in many ways. The Job Fair was great too. I got to learn about some graphic companies, & even learned about intern opportunities. The Job Fair was beneficial as well.
The Studio, The Sandbox, & Emerging technologies were very entertaining to me. Hands on technology grasped my attention & kept me entertained. I can't say specifically what I found amazing because all of it was amazing; there's not one thing in particular I didn't like.
In conclusion, Siggraph2009 was great. It had its pros & its cons, but the overall experience at Siggraph was magical, mind blowing, & beneficial. I had an enjoyable time. If I ever get the chance again, I would love to return to Siggraph.
I'll cut to the chase, SIGGRAPH was probably the most fun and interesting experience I've ever had in my own city.
I can't thank the people who made my attendance possible enough. I had a really amazing time. SIGGRAPH was the kind of experience that I had only dreamed existed, much less be able to attend. So when I heard from Mr. Terry that they were letting a few students from NOCCA go, I more or less begged him to let me attend. SIGGRAPH sounded perfect for me. My dream job is to work on designing video games as a career; I have also considered working as an animator too. Pretty much any job that involves the combination of art and computers interests me. So when I was chosen to go to SIGGRAPH I knew that if I could only go to one conference in my life this would be the one.
When I arrived on Monday morning I was surprised by how many people were there. I had expected a crowd, but not thousands of people. I immediately noticed a variety of languages being spoken. It had never really occurred to me before that animation and computers was such a worldwide phenomenon. I was also surprised that most of the people there were actually in the industry, networking and communicating. I had thought that it was going to be mostly a bunch of interested tourists such as myself wondering around, gawking at things in awe. Believe me; I did a lot of gawking. My first impression of SIGGRAPH was that it was a just a big family, a place where people with the same interests got together to help each other out and to show each other new ways to solve industry wide problems.
My first day was mostly spent wandering around and getting a feel of the Convention Center. Even though I've lived in New Orleans my entire life I had actually never been inside. I went to the 3rd floor to see Emerging Technologies and had my mind ripped apart. I can't wait for many of those products to come out on the market. Especially the fabric with invisible ink, just think of all the cool fashion ideas that can be accomplished with that. While I was up there I ran into someone I really admire, Johnny Lee. He revolutionized what could be done with the Wii-mote and it's capabilities in motion tracking. He was very nice and we talked for a short while. It was really amazing how such prominent people in the industry were just nonchalantly walking around the building readily available to talk to.
I also went down to FJORG on Monday to see how the animation teams were doing. (I wouldn't mind doing that myself sometime in the near future.) While I was walking through a team member yelled at me to stop where I was. I was worried at first, but then I realized she was just sketching me, or actually my pants. She told me her animation was going to have an artistic theme based around a plaid pattern, and I was the only person she had seen all that day that had plaid on. I went to FJORG throughout Monday and Tuesday to check how her team (Team Sparkle Kittens) was doing. During the awards ceremony her team won best art style, and I would like to think it's thanks to my pants. The remainder of the day was spent not getting lost and just getting used to the building.
I was very excited for Tuesday, because that was the day that one of my idols, Will Wright, creator of the Sims, was speaking. I found his talk on how we perceive things very interesting and it gave me a lot to think about in terms of what work a game designer has to do and how they have to think. Tuesday was also they day that the main floor opened. I spent more or less the rest of the day in there. I was happy to see many of my favorite companies there such as, PIXAR, DreamWorks, Anime Studio, Google, and Autodesk. I went to these companies first but I eventually found myself looking at companies that I had no idea existed. I also found myself looking at colleges. Before SIGGRAPH I had though that they're were only 2 good colleges with good game design/animation courses, but now I have about seven colleges to choose from. I also signed up for a tutorial on Tuesday on how to use Anime Studio 6, I had bought the software a week before SIGGRAPH, fooled around in it a week before and left it alone, now after the tutorial I can't get off of it. I was sad when I had to leave on Tuesday, but all the freebies in my book bag were weighing me down.
On Wednesday, I discovered the studio. When I walked in there was not a single computer available except for the clay-mation booth. At first I fiddled around with the clay thinking it would be something to keep me occupied for half an hour, but that half an hour turned into a 2 day project. You can see the result here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anNDR_gAdBs. I also helped a fellow NOCCA student with his dry erase animation right next to me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AahRtGR9yPE. I used my clay-mation in an art project at school last week. Wednesday night, I went to the animation festival, there were some really interesting clips and some really creepy ones. But all in all, I enjoyed watching the best animation of the year, the festival gave me something to aspire to.
On Thursday my teacher had scheduled a camera workshop with GigaPan for NOCCA students. I was the only student that showed up. We were taught how to use them and went outside to test them; this is the result of that ( http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=29880). GigaPan donated two cameras to NOCCA and I actually rented one this weekend and went out yesterday to take pictures with it. The rest of Thursday was spent either on the main floor or going to various talks. One of the talks I found the most interesting was by the director of the short animated PIXAR film, Partly Cloudy. He gave us an inside look at PIXAR's storyboard techniques and how ideas are chosen to be in films. It was a very interesting talk and I am considering working for PIXAR now too.
On Friday, everything was pretty much closing down so I spent my time in the bookstore waiting for the special showing of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I bought two really good books at the store. They are sitting on my desk now half way read. SIGGRAPH was a great place to find books; they had so many interesting ones, if only I had brought more money. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs looks like it's going to be a great movie; it was shown in 3D and looked beautiful. So if you see it, make sure you see it in 3D. After the movie the conference was more or less over, so I headed out.
SIGGRAPH was an amazing experience and I would like to thank you and everyone else that made my attendance possible. It was an eye opening experience, and now I'm more excited than ever about possibly working in such a great, friendly industry after college. I had a lot of fun and saw many interesting technologies and people. I had such a good time; I might even be back wearing a red vest next year.
The first thing that hits you when you arrive at the SIGGRAPH convention is how much there is to do.
There are talks, course, presentations, an animation festival, and a showing of cool new technology and that is not even counting the massive exhibition that they have. There is pretty much something for everybodys different technological tastes. Also, even though it was very big, everyone was very nice and if you had any questions they were glad to answer them.
One of my main interests is film making and animation, so for the most part I sat in on the programs based around those concepts, but for the first day I was there, I went to go check out the new technology that was being developed. What I saw was very impressive and weird at the same time. One of the weirder inventions was an umbrella that could simulate the feel of rain, and, uh, spaghetti falling on the top. Im not sure what practical use it has, but I enjoyed it never the less. One of the really cool inventions that will probably not see the light of day for at least six or seven year as I was told, was an augmented reality game, which is similar to virtual reality, except that it was a game that you played virtually using actual, physical, game pieces. Its really hard to describe but really awesome.
Starting on the second day, I would go to whatever interested me, and like I said, there is a lot there, and pretty much all of its interesting, so you have to stick with what you are really interested in, but it doesnt hurt to see things you normally wouldnt look at. So for the most part, I sat in on a lot of the animation and film making talks and sessions. I got to see how they made the CG and effects for the blockbuster films Terminator: Salvation, Transformers, and Star Trek, and each one blew me away with how much work they put into it, and how excellent they were in terms of technical design.
I also got to see how an upcoming film, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, was made. I had never really seen how animated movies were designed before, and the work they did was really good. I saw how the movie I made, from the beginning to end. They walked through how the idea first came up, then how they decided on an art design, then the story boarding, all leading up to the technical designing, and I even got to see some clips from the movie. Again, just the amount of work that goes into these production is amazing, as is the dedication you have to have to make them.
They also had an animation festival, which was very interesting, many of the videos they had showed off some incredible technology and creativity. My favorites were from the 2 Cool 4 School presentations, which included Chroma Chameleon, where I got to see some really nice camouflage effects and a funny storyline as well, but there were a few, specific ones, that were really just commercials.
One of the most enjoyable talks I sat in on was called Building Story in Games: No Cut Scenes Required, which was about the budding new efforts to place more immersive story telling in games. What was really interesting, however, was being able to listen to these guys talk afterwards, and being able to really get some insight into the interesting. I also managed to come away with some good writing tips that not only apply to video games but to film making as well.
My whole experience was both educating and fun. I managed to learn a few things about subjects I enjoy, and get some insider information about what goes on behind my favorite studios, while also getting some practical knowledge that I can use to help my own film making and animation interests.
I'm not sure how to start out this essay, except to say that SIGGRAPH was a great experience.
Right upon entering the New Orleans Convention Center, I was immediately impressed by the scale of this conference. I had never been to the convention center to begin with, so I was expecting some kind of small building with a couple of little rooms. Instead, there were of course numerous huge rooms filled with all things siggraph.
My first and probably my fondest memory of siggraph would probably have to be Quazi the robot. Though I knew it wasn't a real robot, I simply couldn't pass by him without stopping and watching for a few minutes. For some reason, almost everything that little robot said made me laugh. Whether people asked him if he knew about FJORG or whether he had seen Star Wars, he always had a humorous response. Not to mention, seeing people's responses to Quazi's questions were often just as funny. I wish they had something like him in the French Quarter. Another lively aspect of Siggraph that Quazi mentioned occasionally was FJORG. I enjoyed seeing the FJORG Vikings roaming around the convention shouting, "FJORG!" and whatnot. Although, I have to say, I was a bit disappointed by the winning FJORG animation that was shown. But then again I guess you can't expect too much out of an animation made in 36 hours.
The next best thing about Siggraph was probably Will Wright's keynote presentation. He talked about a variety of things, from how different forms of media affect each other, to how popular his cat was on KittenWars.com. I liked his advice on creating video games that instill creativity within the game-playing community, such as in Spore. Because people are able to create such a huge variety of monsters, the game swelled in popularity much faster than they had anticipated. It was this and other bits of information and humor that made Wright's speech easily the best I saw at Siggraph.
The other keynote speeches were good, but not as good as Wright's. Randy Thom's talk on sound production for movies was interesting, but I didn't like having to sit through the hour or so of awards ceremony before he came out. It was like a big, "Ha ha!" to anyone who didn't look closely enough at the schedule. I guess, though, if they had the awards ceremony take place as its' own separate event, then they wouldn't have gotten half the audience that they did.
Anyways, Randy's speech was more or less worth the wait. It's amazing how much work goes into the sound production of some movies, like Apocalypse Now and Wall-E, which Randy was involved with. When I start a new film or animation, I hardly ever think of sound as a major factor. Even when I'm watching a movie, I don't always pay attention to all of what I'm hearing. After hearing Randy talk for a little while, and then watching a long clip from Wall-E again, I was amazed at what I heard. He was right, in that Wall-E is completely the opposite of a silent movie. There are sounds everywhere; it's just that if it's not dialogue people don't pay attention to them. In the future I'm going to try and put a lot more pre-production thought into sound. Finally there was the last keynote speaker on Wednesday, Steve Duenes, who talked about the New York Times. It was an interesting look into the interactive maps and charts that his newspaper creates. The subject matter of newspaper charts seemed a bit out of place at Siggraph, but I liked it nonetheless.
One part of Siggraph that I guess I could say I was a bit disappointed in was the Sand Box and interactive area. While some of the creations were interesting, most of them lacked any practical functionality. Sure, a paper shredder with eyeballs and a sense of touch is quirky, but nonetheless pointless. Then there was the squishy baby doll that cries or giggles at various touches. There were the blocks that change colors when you move them on a grid. All of this was mildly amusing, but I couldn't honestly tell the creators, "Good job." At such a high tech convention, I was expecting much more out of these never-before-seen inventions. Instead, a lot of what I saw seemed like something made for a high school science fair. Now, don't get me wrong, there were some things that impressed me. The living room coffee table that controlled the digital picture frames, T.V, and lights in its' surrounding area seemed to be something from the nearby future. The virtual reality headgear and green screen room seemed like the beginnings of a new type of video gaming. In the future, I would rather see technical geniuses spending their time on such practical things, rather than a lot of the other things saw at siggraph.
One aspect of Siggraph that I didn't really love or hate was the bottom floor booth area. I spent my fair share of time wandering around the booths; looking at all they had to offer. A large portion of them, though, seemingly had nothing to offer. A lot of the company booths simply had TV's set up displaying their work and a nearby stack of brochures. To me this was no better than the random popup advertisements you get on the Internet that you usually immediately close, (or in this case, walk past). The better of the booths were the ones that had demonstrations. One man was digitally scanning into Maya a sculpture of a lion using some new device the company was selling. Other more flashy booths like the MoCap one had a man constantly dancing on stage demonstrating their product. Had I been a rich technology man looking to invest in something, I probably would've been more attracted to the demonstration booths. While wandering the booths, I also almost won a $1,000 animation program. The 'Art Wars' people gave it out to the first person to raise their hand and shout something about Art Wars. Sadly by the time I realized, "Whoa, this is a free $1,000 program. You should raise your hand," one other guy had already raised his. Despite not getting it, it still made that booth much more interesting and I came back later to see if I could win anything else. Free stuff is always great, and there was a decent amount of it at Siggraph.
Besides all of that, the rest of what I enjoyed was the various other presentations I went to. Chris Landreth gave a great presentation on his technique of 'Psychorealism', in which he depicts mental aspects of characters in their physical attributes. According to him, once you reach a certain point in CGI realism, you either have to distort your characters or they will become too freakishly real. He also showed his latest animation, 'The Spine', which I hate to say I was disappointed in. Another film I got to see at Siggraph, which I was the opposite of disappointed in, was 'Coraline'. It was a great movie with almost seamless stop motion animation. The earlier demonstration on the 3-d printing machines they used was really interesting too. Apparently this whole 3-d printing thing is a big deal, because everyone went crazy when they were allowed to take pictures of the 3-d printed models of Coraline and other characters.
I also got to see a great presentation on the animation of Terminator, Transformers, and Star Trek. They showed in depth images of what the special effects and animation looked like at all stages of production. For one scene, they created 3-d images of Arnold Schwarzenegger's head from scratch and pasted them onto another man's body, (sadly, Arnold's real life head wasn't available to scan). I also later went to a similar presentation on the production of watchmen. It was interesting to see how regular hand drawn animation is still used in the 3-d world. To create the swirling inkblot patterns on the 'Rorschach' character's mask, they hired traditional animators to first create original drawings. Then they digitized them and applied the patterns to the mask.
Besides those, there were various other presentations I went to that were pretty good. There were a few, however, that were a bit over my head. I made the mistake of going to one of the 'Technical Papers' presentations, where basically everything they said seemed like another language. Another presentation that I was attracted to by the schedule title of 'Benjamin Button' ended up being about digital lights and stuff that I almost fell asleep listening to. At another presentation on 'estimating specular roughness from Polarized Second-order Gradient Illumination', I actually did fall asleep.
Anyways, that about sums up most of my experiences at SIGGRAPH 2009. It was great having the convenience of such an international festival at my home city, and being able to go completely free. I'll probably consider volunteering or somehow going to Siggraph again the next time it comes to New Orleans. I want to thank you so much to everyone who helped make it possible for me and the other students to go. It was definitely a worthwhile experience.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The One Ring Messageboard
scirocco wrote:changes over the time could explain all the things wrong with your theory, like Tazekka National Park to Agadir being only about half the distance from Rivendell to Minas Tirith, and in quite a different direction. Obviously the land got squashed up.
I'm just wondering if I'm the only one that notices the similarity.
ngaur wrote:I'm just wondering if I'm the only one that notices the similarity.
No need to wonder. You are the only one.
Xlranet wrote:Gondolin=atlantis?
(just read and looked through it all and I can see where you're coming from with the lonely mountain)
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


text:
If your child has an itchy rash that consists of raised red bumpy areas, perhaps with pale centers and no flaking skin over the lesions, he probably has hives. This rash may look like mosquito bites, and can occur all over the body or just in one region, such as the face. The location may change, with the hives disappearing in one area of the body and appearing in another, often in a matter of hours.
Among the most common causes of hives are:
In at least half of the cases, it is not possible to identify the cause.
An oral antihistamine should relieve or at least help reduce the itching of hives. It can be obtained without a prescription. You may need to use this type of medication for several days. Some of this medicine may need to be given to your child as often as every four to six hours while others can be given once or twice a day. Applying cool compresses to the area of itching and swelling also may help.
Other treatments may be necessary if internal parts of the body are involved in the allergic reaction. If your child is wheezing or having trouble swallowing, seek emergency treatment. The doctor usually will prescribe a more effective antihistamine and may even give an injection of epinephrine to stop the allergic response. If the allergy causing the hives also results in severe breathing difficulties, your pediatrician will help you obtain a special emergency injection kit containing epinephrine for possible use at home, in child care, or at school, in case of such reactions in the future.
In order to prevent subsequent outbreaks of hives, your doctor will try to determine what is causing the allergic reaction. If the rash is confined to a small area of skin, it probably was caused by something your child touched. (Plants and soaps are frequent culprits.) But if it spreads all over her body, something she ingested (a food or medication) or possibly an infection is most likely to blame.
Often the pattern to the appearance of the hives provides a clue to the allergy. For example, does it usually happen after meals? Does it seem to occur more during certain seasons, or when traveling to particular places? If you discover a specific pattern, alter your routine to see if your child improves. Sometimes hives will occur if your child eats an unusually large amount of a food to which she is only mildly allergic. If you discover the cause of the problem, try keeping your child away from it as much as possible.