Molrak.com

On Birthdays

molrak — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:52:25 +0000

I had a birthday recently, and as I’ve aged, the allure of the birthday celebration has inversely dimmed. I just don’t care that much anymore. Sure, it’s nice to get well wishes and even the occasional present, and who doesn’t like to spend time with loved ones, but the whole big soiree is just kind of meh to me. Actually, it pretty much has been for a long time, as even as I kid I don’t remember wanting that many big parties. Maybe I did and it was a financial issue. I wasn’t too aware of such things as a kid, but I like to think it was more because I was antisocial. (more…)

Student Doesn’t Know Best

molrak — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:37:25 +0000

Note: The following was originally posted on January 16th, 2005. I wasn’t very good about maintaining my blog back then and lost the 3-4 posts from this era, but thankfully the Internet Wayback Machine saved them for me.

One of the disadvantages of going to a small school is that you get to know everyone on campus. Anonymity, a luxury at many large universities, is a danger for the ‘at-risk’ student (as it was for me when I went to Moo-U), but at times it was nice to be able to blend into the crowd.

This is my third full-time semster at this school, and I’ve gotten to know the students in my department rather well. One of the biggest annoyances during this week has been listening to students say, “I won’t need this class in the real world,” or “I won’t need this class to be a ____.” (more…)

Erasers and Undos

molrak — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:27:36 +0000

Note: The following post was originally posted on January 13th, 2005. I wasn’t very good about maintaining my blog back then and lost the 3-4 posts from this era, but thankfully the Internet Wayback Machine saved them for me.

The popularity of digital art tools, especially Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, has led to a bit of a crisis in the visual arts. Students are learning with the handicap of the undo–a useful crutch, but a crutch all the same. As my art professor pontificated yesterday, a good artist doesn’t worry about making mistakes, because a good artist knows how to fix these mistakes. (more…)

Be My Guest (Redux)

molrak — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:22:32 +0000

Note: The following post is based off a longer post originally posted on January 11th, 2005. I wasn’t very good about maintaining my blog back then and lost the 3-4 posts from this era, but thankfully the Internet Wayback Machine saved them for me.

I’ve been a life-long lover of animation and have been watching cartoons for as long as I can remember. Unlike most children, I never really stopped watching cartoons. The Simpsons began in 1989-1990, while I was still in elementary school, and I’ve been watching almost every Sunday (and Thursday) night since season two or three. I was also indoctrinated in the usual Disney fare as a youth. I really was a great time to love cartoons, as Disney’s second golden age came around the same time The Simpsons first aired. I still recall going into the theater to watch Oliver and Company-not Disney’s best effort, but the film that preceeded the immensely popular The Little Mermaid. (more…)

The Redesign and Relaunch of Molrak.com

molrak — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:42:52 +0000

Long time followers of this site (all 2-3 of you) will have noted a brief outage in the site around the new year, followed by a new look for Molrak.com, and since then a relative silence. This is not without cause. One of my New Year’s goals was to properly maintain my public blog here on molrak.com, which I’ve been neglecting for at least 2 years. When I sat down on December 30th to work on the redesign (I wasn’t really planning ahead as far as New Year’s goals go, I know), I first tried to identify why I hadn’t updated the old one much, and then I tried to come up with a few goals for what the new site should look like and do. The problems were easily identified, but the solutions were not so obvious. (more…)

Walking Businessmen

molrakBot — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 08:34:32 +0000

molrak posted an image:

The march toward a better tomorrow begins with the businessmen of today! HAIL COMMERCE!

See Walking Businessmen on flickr.

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

molrak — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 08:17:05 +0000

An admirable film companion
Review by Nikolaus Ehm.

Ask almost any kid (or more than a few college students) who lives in a pineapple under the sea, and the answer will be the same–SpongeBob Squarepants, the titular hero of this wild adventure through the ocean depths. Facing the dangers of Plankton, King Neptune, bikers, hitmen, cyclops, and Hasselhoff, Spongebob and his BFF Patrick must tread all these dangers to save the future of Bikini Bottom and the Krusty Krab.
(more…)

It’s BeardMan! Typical Daft Face

molrakBot — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 08:05:03 +0000

molrak posted an image:

See It’s BeardMan! Typical Daft Face on flickr.

It’s BeardMan! Rightside #2

molrakBot — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 08:05:02 +0000

molrak posted an image:

See It’s BeardMan! Rightside #2 on flickr.

It’s BeardMan! Leftside #2

molrakBot — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 08:05:02 +0000

molrak posted an image:

See It’s BeardMan! Leftside #2 on flickr.