douglaskoke.com - journal

Serenity Now

Wed, 8 Oct 2008 10:57:02 CDT

I sowwy, Amewikka. I wub you.

Monkey Waiters

Mon, 6 Oct 2008 16:57:54 CDT

This makes me indescribably happy:

Summer Motion Project - III

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:10:38 CDT

I know it's not technically summer anymore, but with all the insanity at work, it's been really difficult to find time to tinker on the motion project I started a couple months ago. Anyway-- here's some test footage I put together this weekend.

The helicopter gets a little too wobbly at the end, and the transitions are temporary, but I'm starting to like where it's headed.

Liquid Compass - Ver.4

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:51:38 CDT

Below are a few After Effects pieces I put together for our new website at work, which is scheduled to launch this week.

Sarah Palin Terrifies Me -- Part I

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:30:35 CDT

Sarah Palin scares the living bejeezus out of me.

The woman is absolutely petrifying.

I watched her interview with Charlie Gibson tonight, and I have to tell you, it made my blood run cold. The possibility that she might end up running the country leaves me truly, truly terrified.

The utter lack of reflection and total absence of humility she expressed when asked if she had hesitated to accept her party's nomination "even for a moment" was unbelievable. "You can't blink.", she said. "I said 'yes', and did not hesitate."

Dude -- you weren't asked if you were capable of managing the salad bar at a Pizza Hut. You were asked if you were ready to to assume the Presidency of the United States if John McCain is elected and dies-- which is entirely possible, given his advanced age and history with cancer. You *might* wanna mull that one over, just a bit.

Good lord, if the last eight years have taught us nothing else, it's that maybe a complete dearth of modesty and careful deliberation are not traits we really want in a world leader.

We're talking about a person who could feasibly inherit the nuclear launch codes. A little rumination, if not an outright job requirement, would certainly help the rest of us sleep better at night. We live in an increasingly blurry, nuanced, and often dangerous world; a few blinks might make the difference between forging a peace accord, or reducing a large segment of the populace to radioactive skeletal ash.

Go ahead and do some blinkin'.

We don't mind if you take a couple of days to kick around the idea of invading Syria before you start scrambling the F-15s. Seriously. It's cool. Take the weekend. We can wait.

We've seen the folly of rushing to judgment.
30,000 American soldiers have been killed or wounded for it in the Iraqi desert.
We don't mind if you need a few moments to play things out in your head, or talk it over with your advisors.
As a matter of fact, we'd prefer if you did.

Next, she suggested that Georgia and Ukraine should be allowed admittance into NATO, -- an act which would exhibit real potential to draw the US and Europe into an armed conflict with Russia. When questioned about the potential military ramifications of such a decision, i.e., war, she smiled and glibly remarked, "Perhaps so. I mean, that is the agreement when you're a NATO ally"." Her tone was disturbingly casual and offhanded, and she even chuckled a bit while discussing a possible confrontation between the US and a former super power... a former super power which is growing more and more ultra-nationalistic, and remains a nuclear state.

To follow, she suggests that her mere geographical proximity to Russia lends her some kind of insight into the strategic military thinking of Vladimir Putin. "You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska". The statement would be laughable, if this insanely illogical assertion was coming from "just an average hockey mom", and not a potential successor of the most powerful office in the free world.

When asked about Iran's threat to Israel, she warned us about the dangers of Achmadinijad having a nuclear weapon. Only, she didn't pronouce it correctly. "NEW-KYOO-LUR". Just like Dubya.

Speaking of... she was later asked if she agreed with the Bush Doctrine.

"Do you agree with the Bush Doctrine?"

"In what respect, Charlie?"

"The Bush -- well, what do you interpret it to be?"

"His world view?"

"No, the Bush Doctrine, enunciated in September 2002, before the Iraq war."

She appeared puzzled for a moment...

Charlie Gibson then needed to EXPLAIN the Bush Doctrine to her, before she could decide whether or not she agreed with it. I'm not making this up. She was obviously flustered by the question, thinking that the Doctrine referred to a set of ideology, rather than an official US foreign policy stance which asserts that the US has a sovereign right to take anticipatory, preventitive military action against perceived threats to our national security. Regardless if those threats are immediate, or simply plausible.

She couldn't answer the question without help, because she didn't know the name of her own party's foreign policy edict. One would assume that she would have made note of this particular item, being that it provided the de facto legal basis for the US invasion of Iraq. A war which she and her running mate heartily support.

Here's what she finally said, ""Charlie, if there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the President has the obligation, the duty to defend."

So, in her eventual answer, she essentially comes down in favor of *preemptive* action, and not *preventitive* action, which is what is called for in the Bush Doctrine. The difference sounds subtle, but it's pretty massive in it's implications.

Preemptive doctrine states that a country can legally launch a strike of self-defense against another sovereign power when there is solid, credible evidence that an attack is *imminent*. In short, we have to *know* the other country is going to attack us, but we don't have to wait for them to land the first blow before responding. Fair enough.

Preventive doctrine-- like Bush's -- states that we can launch an anticipatory attack when we simply suspect another country has plans to harm us... either now, or in the future. It basically comes down to credible evidence vs. a general sense of danger. You can see how this muddies the water.

Given all the context, this exchange freaked me out for a few reasons:
1.) Palin didn't know the name of an edict that represents a radical departure from past US foreign policy, which has been extremely controversial, which has been widely discussed in all circles of US national politics, and is familiar ground for anyone with a serious interest in US foreign affairs,
2.) From her answer, it appears that she wasn't even aware that there was a debate about the issue,
3.) By talking about "legitimate intelligence" and using the word "imminent" she shows that she doesn't know enough about the issue to realize that her answer actually places her in opposition to both Bush's and McCain's stated platforms. It also places her in opposition yo many hard-line conservatives, who's votes she is supposed to secure for the Republican ticket. Oops.

The good news is, that when forced to pull an answer out of her ass, she ended up coming down on the side of the far more reasonable and internationally accepted doctrine of preemption. The bad news is that Sarah Palin apparently has no background knowledge of a highly-contested issue that could easily be in the forefront of our lives in the near future-- i.e., did Russia have the right to invade Georgia, based on precidents set forth in the Bush Doctrine? Could North Korea invade Japan if they simply *perceived* Japan as a threat? Would we support an Israeli preventitive strike on Iranian weapons facilities? You can see how it quickly becomes a big deal. And she came up empty.

Later, when asked-- three times, in fact -- if she believed that the US would be within it's rights to strike terrorist cells within Pakistan's borders, without seeking the permission of the Pakistani government, she said, "We must do whatever it takes, and we must not blink". Again, her apparent disdain towards blinking. Again, no mention of prudent pause, or thoughtful deliberation. Again, her reponse is one that calls for immediate, impulsive reaction. Reaction involving yet another nuclear state. A largely Islamic one at that.

Yikes.

Sound like anyone else we know?

Perhaps a current chief executive? One from Texas? One who is also not fond of judicious reflection before making strategic military decisions? One who, like Palin, doesn't seem overly interested in the pesky details of governing? Pesky details like bothering to learn the name of a historically unprecidented foreign policy principle? One who had limited political experience before his Presidential run? A guy who dispensed a lot of folksy charm and claimed to want to "change the tone in Washington"?

Ring any bells?

Just like the man she reminds me of, this woman scares the shit out of me.

Summer Motion Project - II

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:31:19 CDT

Here's a little sneek preview of some footage I'm putting together for a motion experiement and/or demo reel. Needs some fine tuning, but I'm pretty proud of it so far.

Below is the original effects composite, before I added camera movement, sound, time-remapping, distortion and vignetting.

A gigantic thank you to Andrew Kramer and his website for providing invaluable resources and inspiration for guys like me who are new to After Effects .

Summer Motion Project

Mon, 9 Jun 2008 00:40:14 CDT

I started making some concept sketches for an idea I had for a narrative motion-graphics piece this weekend... could be really fun.

Some Stuff I Remember Thinking Today

Tue, 13 May 2008 02:07:43 CDT

1.) Life demands two things: answers, and candy.

2.) I wonder what I would look like in an obvious toupee.

3.) It's unfortunate that this person chose to act like an enormous asshole just now, 'cause I honestly wanted to help them out. Now? Not so much.

4.) Eating tacos four meals in a row is probably too many.

5.) John Hodgman is a funny mamma jamma.

6.) New DVD from Netflix tomorrow! Yay!

7.) Dunno why, but I always feel kinda lonely when it's overcast.

8.) I bet that girl smells like vanilla.

9.) Neither the donkey nor the elephant would have been my first choice for a mascot if I started a political party. Maybe a monkey, or an orangutan. Something with thumbs.

10.) I am fatter and older than I was last year. A disturbing trend has emerged.

11.) I think it would be fun to start an advice column on my blog; "Ask A Disgruntled Graphic Designer". If no one asked me stuff, I could just make shit up.

12.) I want an upright bass again. Bad.

13.) I need to get my car fixed first.

Werd

Thu, 1 May 2008 15:02:54 CDT

Update on The Terrible Awful

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:31:22 CST

Okay-- so things are gettin' back into shape again. Yay!

The boss-guys threw down for a pretty badass mobile workstation for The Doug. This thing's a beast. I suppose the fact that it's physically possible to pick it up and move it technically qualifies it as a laptop, but I'm pretty sure you'd crack your pelvis if you actually tried to set it in your lap. It has roughly the same size and heft as one of those tablets they handed down to Moses in The Ten Commandments. And if the weight didn't get Heston, the heat would. After a couple hours of use, he could cook a T-Bone six inches thick. H-O-T!

The best part, however, is the dopey backpack that Dell delivered with it. It's friggin' ridiculous. It looks like the life-support system for astronauts performing extra-vehicular activities-- big, boxy, and odiously trimmed in tacky, ultra-futuristic, luminescent sliver. Dead sexy. (insert copious sarcasm here)

I have yet to find a decent messenger bag that will fit my new computing boheamouth, so I've been forced to lug the asanine NASA-pack around downtown. I felt like telling everyone I saw that I had dehydrated ice-cream and a thousand gallons worth of Tang in the one of the pouches. "My Mom said that if I got straight A's and didn't lose my retainer again, that I could go to Space Camp!!! That would be sooooo neato!"

Needless to say, I don't think any of Denver's numerous foxy business ladies will be hittin' me up for a closer look at my astro-bag.

But at least my crap works now and I can get back to the office. Although, I have to admit, it was kinda' nice working from home. It was pretty sweet doing my daily designing in track-pants with a bowl of Coco-Puffs on my desk. A fella could get used to that.

I did miss the aforementioned foxy business ladies though. And with springtime upon us, it's only a matter of time before Eskimo-like layering gives way to little cotton sundresses and tank tops. Sigh.
I guess it's good to be back after all.