Monday, July 19, 2010

The Travelling Avatar... Part II

"On the first part of the journey I was looking at all the life
There were plants and birds and rocks and things.
There was sand and hills and rings." - America, Horse with No Name


What better place to start than a night to gaze at the aurora borealis...
Moon gazing also makes for an awesome "life drive"... that's what I, and a few friends, like to call a late-night drive in the country with just the stars and the moon as light... of course, the scattered street lights of the towns and villages, and the lights in the windows really add to the experience...


Tuesday, July 13, 2010

The Travelling Avatar...

I always loved the concept used in Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (a.k.a. Amélie) where Amélie persuades her father to follow his dream of touring the world by stealing his garden gnome and having a flight-attendant friend send pictures of it posing with landmarks from all over the world.  Wikipedia has loads of information about gnomes cropping up in pop culture all over the place referring to the The Travelling Gnome Prank.  Since I love to travel so much, I knew I had to use it somehow.

This is how my story goes...

Some time ago, I found a very cool application on the iTunes AppStore called AvatarCreator.  What a great tool to make a personal avatar of yourself or of friends and family.  It's time-consuming, but VERY precise, and the likeness is uncanny if you choose the right eyes and nose, and manage to get the appropriate size, rotation, and placement on the face.  I encourage you to get it, and create some friends or family... it is a lesson in how much you really pay attention to facial features.

Once completed, you can save the avatar in various situations. It's what I like to call an Avatar for all Seasons and Situations.  Here are a few examples:
And then the fun began, with the help of a few other Apps (e.g. PCaptions, PhotoChop)...  First, I started using them in Christmas cards,

New Year's greetings,
and profile pics for Twitter and Facebook, but knew that there was something missing... Ah, yes!!  Of course... Travel & adventure. 

So, I decided to send my Avatar on a world tour to the places I've actually been, those I plan to visit, and those I only dream of visiting.  This is the start of my Avatar's journey...

"I'm drivin' in my car, I turn on the radio..."  
I wonder what's playing? May-be "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane.
ENJOY THE TRIP!!