SIGGRAPH 2013: A Strategy for Attending SIGGRAPH

Update Aug 1 2013

This is the second part of my little SIGGRAPH review.  In this post I discuss a "new" procedure for attending SIGGRAPH.   Well, its new for me anyway.

The problem(s) were legion but the big ones were that there was too much to do in the time allowed, the motion picture / entertainment industry stuff was annoying, the technical program could easily be missed if one wasn't careful, and although there were things like the "job fair" there was not in fact much to find in the way of projects or employment.

The "solution", for me, anyway, was to concentrate on the technical program, ignore the Hollywood stuff, and give up on finding a job / work / projects at SIGGRAPH.

So here is the plan that evolved and which I recommend to anyone who attends SIGGRAPH who is interested in the technical program.

1. Register for the Full Conference, but at half price.  There is an "unemployed" special rate at SIGGRAPH but they do not advertise it. It is equivalent in price to the Education rate, which is exactly what I proposed to SIGGRAPH a year ago (perhaps they heard me?). So for $495 you get the full conference, proceedings, receptions and film show. In other words, you can fully participate.

2. Attend the Fast Forward event which is usually on Sunday at 6PM. This means that you must be at SIGGRAPH no later than about Sunday at 4PM to register and find the right hall. The Fast Forward is essential for figuring out which of the papers you want to see.  The titles are often not sufficient to make that choice.

3. Really, seriously try to attend the Technical Papers.  That means getting up early to be at the conference by 9 AM, not going for 4 hour lunches, etc.    Use your program guide to determine which of these sessions you want to attend and which you can miss. Only time spent in the darkened room counts. Since they run these papers simultaneously, you normally have to choose 1 in 3 sessions anyway. I move around. I saw perhaps 1/2 the papers I wanted to see, which is a very good percentage for me.

4. Attend the "Awards Talks" which is a new feature this year.  The Awards have been augmented with "Awards Speeches" which includes an introduction by the head of SIGGRAPH, Jeff Jortner. This was the best of SIGGRAPH for me. All the talks were worthwhile.      

5. Avoid all the Hollywood stuff.  Just pretend it is not there and maybe it will go away.   Dont get me started about what that stuff is really all about, I would have to use bad words.  By ignoring them, I had much more time to see the Technical Program and I was in a far better mood.  

6. Receptions if possible.  Parties if invited.  You have to be considered important enough to be invited to such parties as the Disney R&D Mixer, and this year I was not important enough. Their failure to properly recognize my genius will be their undoing.  Maybe next year.

7. Trade Show during periods when there is no technical paper you want to see.  The tradeshow floor is now concise enough that you can see it in two 4 hour sessions.

8. BOFs or Birds of a Feather if interested and time allows.

9. Electronic Theatre is totally optional.

10. End of conference "non reception" reception if you are available Thursday evening.  At the Conference Hotel. 

So in summary, with this  new approach I really attended the Technical Program, got a copy of the electronic proceedings, saw the awards talks, and blew off the Hollywood crap.  It was a much more productive SIGGRAPH for me.

Now more on what I actually saw and other opinions and issues in Post #3.

SIGGRAPH 2013: Electronic Theatre Gratuitous Human Meat Display

[revised]

Whatever the Electronic Theatre is or should be at SIGGRAPH, we can all agree that it is not what it was and it can not be what it was. In its earliest period it was the premiere of new work in synthetic imagery to a community of people who were inventing that media. Today, the community has expanded and fragmented, and it is no longer the premiere of just about anything given that most of these "films" are available on Youtube or even at your neighborhood theatre.

This year's Electronic Theatre was the first I had attended since 1991. In 1991 there was a political event that was so obnoxious that I just threw up my hands and wished them all the best, and ignored it. It did not really matter. The theatre had become sample reels, and ways for large corrupt media organizations to recruit, and so forth. Thats fine, but who cares.

I kept hoping that I would either be invited to a jury or in some way be in a position to help recreate the theatre but that never happened.

So this year I decided to give it a shot and see what it was.

I lasted about 7 films until I walked out.

It started out very strong with two very amusing pieces. The first was the Centrifuge Brain Project, which you can find on Youtube at the URL below. And the second was a series of bumpers for the FMX Conference. Both were very amusing and well done.

Centrifuge Scientist Discusses His Vision

SPHEROTHON Centrifuge, 1982

The Centrifuge Brain Project on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVeHxUVkW4w

Then we had some silly art films or something which were pleasant and inconsequential. Certainly a lot of work, but not particularly new or original or ... well anything really except a lot of work. No problem.

The 7th or so project was a very well done shock piece that used photoreal images of people turning into garbage hamburger shit as part of some sort of political statement. I could just see a bunch of trendier than thou assholes in England showing off to their friends how fucking crude they could be.

Sorry, I don't have any pictures.  I do not even remember the title.  I do know that they had some sort of rendition of "God Save The Queen" as soundtrack.

The film show had a warning that the content contained "Adult material". I thought they meant kinky sex, I did not think they meant gratuitous human meat displays.

Whatever, its not what I want to see the technology I helped invent used for.  But, if you want to see this garbage, thats ok with me.   There it is, go for it.  I can always walk out if I don't like it, and I did.

SIGGRAPH 2013 Post Mortem Delay

There will be a delay while I go to Los Angeles and deal with my various doctors.  Sorry about that.  I have about 10 or 20 posts that come from SIGGRAPH, which is too much material, and I want to be at my best when I write this up.

Among other things, we had a very interesting interview with the SIGGRAPH Executive Committee Nominations Committee, a number of very interesting conversations with past and present members of the Executive Committee, and a number of comments about the technical program.  I loved the awards talks, and hope they continue that every year.   I was able to force myself to watch the technical program, and it was very useful to me (the need to be forced has nothing to do with the technical program per se, it has to do with my ability to get up in the morning and go into a dark room at 9 AM).

We had a visitation from Harvie.  No Michael Naimark.  I missed the MIT Reception, unfortunately.  

Of great interest was the realization that Anaheim has a Chinese Islamic district, but that their restaurants were closed for Ramadan.

So this is called a zone plate, eh?  I used to call it a render torture pattern.

There is a tree to the front of the Anaheim Convention Center, in the front right of the Arena as you face the center, that has a history.  I do not know what it is.

To my amazement I was interviewed for the Pioneer's History project of Frank Foster and Joan Collins.  Its a complicated topic and like Rashomon has many points of view of people who were there but saw different things.

I tried to attend the electronic theatre for the first time since 1991, and walked out after the 7th or so film.  I have a problem with splatter movies.  The first film, which you can find below, was very amusing however.

The Centrifuge Research Project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVeHxUVkW4w

More in the days to follow.

Special thanks to Tom Duff, Greg Turk, J Walt, Jerry Weil and others for trying to cheer me up.   MK Haley who was chair of SIGGRAPH this year spent many emails being very pleasant to me, and I appreciate that.  Special thanks also to Ken Perlin for financing this escapade indirectly through his project.   

At SIGGRAPH For the Next Week

I will be checking my email now and then, but the best way to reach me is by calling or texting my phone at 323 833 9087.  

Hope to see you there.

Self-Portrait in NYC

My bedroom in NYC. 

Notice the Hudson River outside the window.

I think I look like a cartoon character in this picture.

Richard Yuricich on Event Horizon

Richard Yuricich, ASC is one of my favorite people in the world.   Here he is on the set at Pinewood and in London on the movie Effects Horizon (1997).    As the date back on my little camera says, this must have been 1996.

 

Somehow Richard got me to London to help design "blood in space".  RY is a stickler for detail and he had accumulated zero G fluid photography from the Soviet space program.   We had lunch at the Commissary at Pinewood Studios, where Hitchcock ate every day.  I doubt there has been any production that has treated me with so much courtesy.




Effects Horizon on IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119081/combined

Joan Collins and Kelley Ray on Starship Troopers

These are my friends Joan Collins and Kelley Ray who were at the time representing SONY Imageworks on Starship Troopers at MASS.ILLUSION in Lenox, MA.

Not only had MASS.ILLUSION collected a fabulous crew doing great work, it was in a drop dead gorgeous part of the world.

I was only on one small part of the project, but it was one of the most enjoyable projects I have ever had.  For another post on this complicated production, see here.  This production was a classic of the situation where a production can be rocky but individuals, in this case me, can have a wonderful time.

Kelley is now efx supervisor on an episodic show called Vampire Diaries, and I don't know what Joan is doing, but last I heard she had several films that were about to start.

Before Joan left Lenox the last time, I bought her dinner and tried to talk her into doing some project with me, I think.  I still remember the restaurant in Lenox, MA.

This must have been about 1997.

Vampire Diaries on IMDB
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1405406/

Shinae Tassia in New York

Shinae in New York City looking enigmatic.   The dots on the window that look like water marks on the photograph are actually rain drops on the window of the taxicab.   Shinae is my favorite person of Korean-Sicilian descent and worked at the time for the Museum of Natural History in New York.

Shinae wore her first dress (she tells me) to the opening of the Rose Center / Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History on the fake millenium, Dec 31, 1999.   As we were walking around the museum we were suddenly circled by an older gentleman looking completely perfect in a tuxedo and his long-suffering wife/girlfriend, taking dozens of photographs of us.  He was obviously a professional photographer and as he documented Shinae,  he exclaimed "Like a flower!  Like a beautiful flower!  How Lovely!", etc.   As fast as he had appeared he started to fade into the darkness at the Museum.... I called after him and asked who he was with.

He answered from a distance fading away "I'm with the Times ...".   He was, apparently, the very well-known society photographer for the NY Times.

If a picture of Shinae had appeared in the society pages of the NY Times all the other women at the Museum would have plotzed in envy.  

No such photograph ever appeared to the best of my knowledge.

[Scott Anderson suggests that this might have been the famous Bill Cunningham, and it might have been.  I am checking with someone who knows].

SIGGRAPH 2013

SIGGRAPH 2013 is this week of course and I am desperately trying to finish a dozen things before I go.  I hope to see you all there and feel free to text me or call me at 323 833 9087 to arrange a place to meet.  Reading email will probably be hit and miss for that week.

Civics and Intelligence: Does the US Government have the Constitutional Right to Keep Secrets

It is commonly asserted that "the people have the right to know".

In other words, that if the government is keeping a secret is that by definition in violation of the law. Does the government have the right to keep certain types of secrets legally and constitutionally? What have the courts ruled on this matter? What are the precedents in American history. What did the writers of the constitution have in mind on this topic.

The following is a legal and historical analysis by John Warner. The article is reprinted from the CIA's Studies in Intelligence.

You should read this 20 page paper in order to understand the arguments that can be made for the government keeping secrets from its people and under what circumstances they may do so.

If you do not feel like reading the entire 20 pages, read the first 5 or so, which goes over some examples from American history in the very early days.

The document can be found online in several different forms at

http://research.archives.gov/description/7283238