Recently I was faced with the following situation: How does one make something cool? And what is “cool”, exactly? “Cool” seems to be this ever-changing intangible “something” that everyone wants. Perhaps the mysterious nature of “cool” is the very thing that makes “cool” so desirable. In other words, “cool’s” state of being is what perpetuates its own existence.

Nevertheless, suppose you have an object or product, that… don’t tell the manufacturer of this product, but… maybe this product doesn’t exactly posses the “cool”. This begs the question: Is “cool” transferable? Can someone or something become “cool” by association? I think so. Please allow me to spin the yarn of the following proposition:

Take for instance, the “Gem” style paperclip. First patented in 1892, the paperclip hasn’t really been an international symbol of “cool”. But is it possible to place the uncool paperclip in a cool environment? In today’s age of computer graphics, there’s actually quite a lot you can do. But I would argue the simple act of placing an uncool paperclip into a “cool” environment, and having it move about in was that are regarded as “cool”, could, in fact, result in a transfer of “cool”.

For the sake of this demonstration, let’s exclude the founding fathers of the paperclip, because, of course they will recognize and appreciate the “cool” of their own invention. Meanwhile, for the rest of us who need to temporarily bind bits of loose parchment in a manner that doesn’t damage said parchment… Our reaction to the paperclip: meh.

But what if you drop said paperclip into an environment that isn’t the typical environment of a paperclip? Something other than an office? Well that’s a good start. What if there was an environment that nobody had ever seen? Something dark? Oily? You’d end up with something like this:

This is by no means a complete experiment. There is quite a bit of work to be done, but this experiment was actually necessary to complete in order to push a different project through to completion. After it’s done, I will likely return to this experiment and deliver some better renders. See you then!

Goodness! It’s been a while! I finally got a chance to hop back onto the blog and give some much needed updates (plugin updates, and life updates). I know this is primarily a technical blog and I’ve got more of that goodness coming, but I  figure I’d stick with tradition, and do a “happy new year” post.

2020 Goals Recap

2020 threw us all a curve ball and I don’t know if I ever formally published my new year’s resolution(s) or goal(s), but I had two last year and neither one of them were completely fulfilled. The first goal I had last year was to build and fly my own FPV drone. That one didn’t work out simply because of finances, and I knew it’d be more of a toy than anything. I know lots of guys and girls go out there and make great livings flying drones, but my first 2020 goal would have been more of a hobby than anything.

My other goal for 2020 was to publish my very first app in the Google Play Store. That one actually came pretty close to being fulfilled. I built the app, which was the hardest part! Just couldn’t get it into the app store. I bought the dev account, and when I tried to upload the app, Google was starting to change the way they accept apps into their store (moving away from APK files and toward app bundles). Unfortunately, the software I used to create my app didn’t yet support app bundles, so I wasn’t able to actually publish to Google Play. But I did publish to itch.io! So, uh… half complete?

2021 Goals

Keeping with tradition, I’ll shoot for two goals moving into 2021. First off, I’m shooting kinda low here, but I’d like to really put some more work into this blog and make it even better. I know I’ve left a few months worth of a gap between posts (now and Septemeber), so I’ll try to be better about taking time to post little tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way. In addition to posting more often, I’m definitely going to put some work into the design of this site. I’m making a transition away from video production and starting to focus more on web development, and I want that to be reflected in the design of the site. Obviously, the homepage is just text right now, and I’m probably going to move a way from this “terminal” style font, which is cool, but not stylish? Anyway, lots of sub items for goal number one.

Alright… goal number two. If you’ve followed my blog for a bit or even if you’re new, last year I posted a few articles about airplanes and aviation-related stuff like joystick reviews, and top 5 most affordable aircraft. So I’ve been interested in aviation for quite some time already. After much research and much deliberation back and forth, I’ve decided to make goal number two of 2021 to save up and get my training and become a paramotor pilot.

It may sound crazy, or unexpected, or extreme, but after about a year of off-and-on research, I really think it’s the most realistic and affordable option for me to get into the air. There are several advantages to paramotoring, and I’ll probably cover all of those in future posts, but that’s it. Become a paramotor pilot by 2021.

That’s it! Those are my goals for 2021, hopefully I can achieve both of those and do a little bit better than 2020 (I think we all hope the best for 2021 after this past year…), and I’ll try to post updates here more often as I try to keep my schedule from spiraling out of control. I bit off more than I could chew around September, so that’s why the blog updates stopped, but I’m back now, all the projects are starting to settle down, and let’s have an awesome 2021! Have your own goals for this year? Drop them in the comments below!