Photoshopped Mug Shots

Tom McMahon points out that the Fulton County logo is different sizes in the various mug shots.  My guess is that Trump has simply photoshopped his image to reduce the size of law enforcement and probably to clean up his image so he doesnt look as old as he actually is.  In other words, its faked, and of course our weak and stupid news media isnt able to point this out.

 

Examine the following mug shots.  What do you notice.

 

 

 

Thats right.  Four of them are nearly identical in composition, one looks like it was cropped, and one, of the cheeseball rapist himself, has clearly been modified to reduce the Fulton County logo.  Oh yes, he has also had his face retouched to make him look younger than his age.

[Oh Oh!  Did I say something that is going to make the people who regulate free speech on the Internet mad at me again?  Is this "hate speech" because I express my opinion about Trump and the news media?  Will Boingo and Akemai block me again, or more, or in addition to how they have blocked me already?]

Art, Moral Improvement and Midjourney

Some people believe that art can inspire people to be their better selves.  Can art result in moral improvement?

 

Using Midjourney at the lower levels of subscription is like using a party line (for those of you who know what that is).  Everyone in your Discord group can see your work and you can see what they are doing.

 

I had nothing to do with the following image.  The theme it represents is an old one, still I thought it was entertaining and well executed.  I was impressed that this technology can produce an image that looks like this right out of the box.

Is the 14th Amendment to the Constitution Real?

A recent editorial by Turley in thehill.com argues that of course the 14th amendment is not relevant or in current use.  I dont expect Republicans to agree with me on much, but I dont appreciate it when they insult my intelligence.  And this has larger implications.

I wonder if I am just being overly precious about what is standard debating / rhetorical technique. I find it offensive that a republican that has been so very adament about "original intent" and "every word is precious in the constitution" would then with a straight face say "oh, that 14th amendment, ha ha, they werent serious". When in fact they were very serious, the clause is to our amazement completely relevant to the current situation. But these are republicans which means that they have no credibility when it comes to actually defending and supporting this country (see two impeachment fails to convict, there will never be a better case for impeachment in our lifetimes). The conclusion I reached long ago is that it does not matter what arguments a Republican makes, they arent serious, they are just lying to steal the money. Well, OK, nobody's perfect, but this is a very dangerous situation and this kind of glib bullshit reinforces the belief that the Republican party is the enemy of this country and must be removed from any critical political and judicial position. There is no point in compromising with these people. They are literally the enemy just as much as, for example, Vlad Putin is.

A corollary of this is that whenever a "democrat" says "bipartisan", I think "traitor". There is no point in compromising with fascists, they are just stalling for advantage.

Mid Journey Tests III

Midjourney is a lot of fun.  The trick is to be your own client, then you can judge what is a success and what is not.  I am not so sure how well this would work when you have to deliver something for a client who may or may not be at one with your point of view.

 

The following are more tests, generally in the area of mosaics that could be used as elements of a 3D scene.  Notice the whimsy of the bee person.  I didnt do that, I said swarm of bees and a hive and this is what it gave me.

 

Generally "vintage photograph of" produces entertaining images.

 

Mosaics of Bees 

Mosaics of Sea Creatures

 

Sumerian statuary of Alien Gods

Siggraph 2023

draft

This is a brief report on SIGGRAPH 2023 national conference held in Los Angeles, CA.

 

As always, one must choose between seeing and interacting with people vs. attending the technical program.  As the technical program is very expensive and since most of the value of the program comes from the published papers, this makes the decision a no brainer.  You either pay for an exhibition badge or a "everything but the technical program" badge.  There are those who think the technical program is the heart of SIGGRAPH but I think such people are living in the past.

 

In the same way, the electronic theatre, aka film show, is also a relic of the past and has no particular value in today's world.

 

Even Emerging Tech, usually the height of SIGGRAPH, was boring.  The one exception was the fabulous Sensorama curated by Scott Fisher of USC.  This was a recreation of a pioneering location based 3D entertainment.

 

 

People included but not limited to (and in no particular order) Terrence Massan, Maa and wife from Paris, Craig Reynolds, Scott Fisher, Bart Gawboy, Paul Debevic, Scott Fisher, Sylvester Sylvan, Jim Blinn, Ed Catmull, Mike Zyda, Andy van Dam, Jim Foley, Joan Collins, Diane Piepol, Rebecca Allen, Nick England, Mary Whitton, Jackie Morie, Tom Sito, Joseph Goldstone, Laura Scholl, Gene Miller, Debbie Deas, Julian Gomez, Copper Giloth, Jane Veeder, and many others.

 

 

Midjourney Concept Art II

More concept art generated with Midjourney.  Yes its a little tepid and too similar but I think that is mostly my fault.  Still we did get a certain distance.

Samurai fights prehistoric monsters

 

Samurai fights space men

 

Creatures from the tar pits

Midjourney Concept Art

Various concept art themes generated with Midjourney.

 

 

Revolutionaries At The Beach

Karl Marx playing beach volleyball

Karl Marx leading aerobics class

 

Karl Marx at the beach

Playing with Midjourney

 

After playing with Midjourney for a few days, I got what I consider plausible results on some of the topics I was interested in.  I dont really know how to use this program but I could see it immediately being useful for concept and look development as well as possibly image asset generation as part of a scene.

 

In the case of "concept art", such as the dinosaur in wrecked museum image, below, it is not intended to be a final in a scene or shot.  It is intended to communicate an idea to other artists where it will be reworked before something is created for the actual sequence.  The mosaics on the other hand, or the Sumerian relief, might be elements in an actual sequence or shot.  Imagine a scene with the interior of an ancient palace and some of these mosaics are elements on the floor or walls.