Jump to content

Tufi Piyufi

Forum Administrators
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,062

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    15

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by Tufi Piyufi

  1. Tufi Piyufi

    Downright Festive

    By Tufi Piyufi,

    No, no, the Festivus story is still stick in the legendary pre-production nightmare. It'll be Festivus in March at the earliest, folks. Sigh.
     
    I'm here about something that's ahead of schedule, actually. You see, last year, around this time, I did this thing based on the Japanese Girls' Festival. That'd be Zinia and Samantha there. The dolls are based on various BBC people. Yeah, okay, I know Tok was long gone from BBC by that time. I needed a third person for that spot.
     
    So, here we are this year. Photo-Paint still isn't anywhere near this computer, yet I still really wanted to do something. So I kinda looked in Paint's direction...
     
    And here we are so far. I'm currently debating whether or not I should have those middle three be holding stuff like in last year's. I've got the time to fix 'em up, certainly, but still... hn. Switched Makaru in for Tok this year.
     
    Now to keep on working...
  2. Tufi Piyufi

    A Map At Last

    By Tufi Piyufi,

    The scanner lives, the card reader lives, the tablet lives. It is a glorious occasion.
     
    And, to celebrate, I bring you pictures. You know, to prove I'm not all talk and no action about this. Which has happened far too many times in the past, I will readily admit. But not this time. Oh no. I have you guys to hold me to things.
     
    Exhibit one: some manner of preliminary map. For starters, I wouldn't hold me to anything but the most basic outline of the palace, and maybe not even that. No clue what I was doing there. I know there's a big open garden-type place fenced in by those walls you see there, though. The rectangular-looking part. That much is for certain. Also, minifig feet/legs. Those aren't actually there. And the road to the pollish area should prolly be southward. Otherwise, I present The General Idea.
     
    And exhibit two, for the heck of it: in relation to the rest of the Creative Outlet. Come to think of it, I should prolly figure out where all the other forum-type places are. I can't imagine all the action staying in BBC. Oh no. Those other people are plenty crazy too.
     
    So? Convinced I'm not just bluffing yet?
  3. Tufi Piyufi
    So, as it turns out, yes this conceptual gun does have a bullet or two in it, punk. I have the means, I have the drive, but... I'll admit something. The actual writing part... I'm kinda falling flat on. I've got two or three complete story ideas, but that's about it. That just plain doesn't feel like enough. I know there should be more.
     
    Why isn't that more coming to me and smacking me upside the head?!?
     
    Which is why I turn to you people, once more. I'm looking for scenarios. I'm looking for sparks of plots. Interesting interactions. We've got tons of tinder here: spam, contests, a pirate and a ninja in the same forum, building crazes, and Kex and his crossdressing habits. It just feels like it's been left out in the rain, is all.
     
    So c'mooooooooon... help a puffin out?
  4. Tufi Piyufi

    Oh Look, Entry

    By Tufi Piyufi,

    Well, that's what this is...
     
    So I still need to figure out what in blue blazes I'll be doing with this thing. Can't keep on posting 'hey I've got a blog isn't that nifty' entries forever, you know. Seems vaguely 'not gonna work'ish, and I've found that that feeling is usually fairly accurate. The few times I haven't trusted that feeling... it's not been too great, I'll tell you now. And then there's the 'I'll know it when I see it' gut instinct. Gotta love that one. Yeah. I'll go with that one, too.
     
    So bear with me for the time being, will you?
  5. Tufi Piyufi

    Assorted School Bits

    By Tufi Piyufi,

    The computer I'm currently using is making some rather strange sounds. Not exactly healthy sounds, either. I'm hearing some raspiness and some fast-paced waspish humming and this thing is about two feet away from both torso and head. Monitor is aimed directly at my face, and I have my doubts about that component as well. Should either part blow, it's goodbye Jennifer. It'd freak out some Grade Eights, though, so it wouldn't be entirely pointless.
     
    They marched us to the 'mainland' earlier this week for some assembly. We don't have such things down here. They have 'em up there. I haven't been to one in years. In any case, off I go to sit on a rather uncomfy wooden board. For an hour. An hour of 'you're Grade Twelves now, if you go to anything that doesn't have 'university' somewhere in the name you're scum and a failure (mostly implied, based on certain comments made), and Porfolio is dead but do it anyway because you're insane like that'. And a rather ironic choice of song in the band's mini-performance.
     
    I've listened to 'One', right. Grade Seven, project on Broadway musicals, done simply because I could. I've read about it. I'll tell you something: that is not a song with which you promote individuality and a strong group identity all at once. That is a song sung by people who have worked their feet off (and worse) in audition and rehearsal and all that, only to wind up simply glorifying the lead actress and playing background to her in the musical the characters were auditioning for. It's actually a rather depressing song, if you listen to the lyrics. The performance itself was fine (just instrumentals), but when he tried to tack that on at the end... horrific.
     
    And yeah, being made to try and recall assemblies I've never been to was awkward, too.
     
    It was worth it when he made the most unfortunate comment ever, though. His intentions were all well and good: no tolerance for drugs, alcohol, all that stuff. Simply no fault to be found there. Delivery, however...
     
    Oh, how lucky he was that we were no longer Grade Eights.
  6. Tufi Piyufi

    Of Blogs

    By Tufi Piyufi,

    I love these things. I really do. The blogs add a whole other level to this place, make it that much more than just a forum, y'know? Real community. Just love 'em.
     
    Then there's the little things about them. Like categories. A note to all present and future bloggers: get your categories set up as soon as you can. You will be struck by the urge to sort things out at some point, and you do not want to have to go through a ton of old entries and file 'em away one by one. Even, oh, say, eleven can get tedious. The first nine may be easy, but you'll find yourself slipping up around the tenth.
     
    You will switch that tenth from 'published' to 'draft'. You will not realize this until the next day. On that day, you will be looking through your blog for no apparent reason, and you will notice that something's different about that tenth. You will shrug, go in, and republish that entry. You will feel the fibres of space-time being jolted as the entry you posted the day after you got the blog is yanked to the top of the list. You will feel the stab in the great Continuity Continuum. You will sigh and draft-republish your real latest entry in order to get some sense of order.
     
    Then you will post about it
     
    So yeah, that tenth step's a doozy.
  7. Tufi Piyufi
    Exhibit five.
     
    Based on the first story in the whole project thing (yes, that's done and yes, I'm working on the second one). Once/if you've read the story, you'll see what's up with this picture. Also why I left it kinda sketchy. Hey, it was a rough day.
     
    Speaking of which, I should really wrap up that second story soon. Then I'll have to decide if I'm still going to wait for a minimum of three finished stories (not counting intro seen earlier in this blog) before posting the topic in Comedies, or if I can wing it with two. Hn. I'd really like to take that step soon...
     
    Hn.
  8. Tufi Piyufi

    So Incredibly Sad

    By Tufi Piyufi,

    Coronation Street. Yes, I watch it. Before making a snarky comment on that, I remind you who has the Global powers here.
     
    But oh cripes. Mike. It's absolutely heartrending watching his current story... We just got up to the point where he's sitting outside the restaurant. It's such a scary thing in real life, and even seeing a dramatisation of it...
     
    At least we got some good Battersby time out of that episode, too.
     
    And, um, yeah, please be with the not-discussing of specific plot bits. Canada's almost ten months behind (currently on Christmastime 2005 episodes), so I'm not too keen on getting spoilers splashed up in here, and I dunno if there's anyone who's even further behind us (I think I've heard something, though), so it'd be best for all if we avoided the spoilers. Note the vagueness in the above portion of the entry. Nothing more specific than that, please.
     
    So yeah, Tufi watches Coronation Street. Got something to make of that?
  9. Tufi Piyufi
    The location of a related picture. Oh, Photo-Paint.
     
    Yes, yes, I'm alive, huzzah. Haven't had much to blog about lately, is all. But now I have the above to show you. Oh yes. Working on the people portion as we speak. That should be fun. Also conversion of the picture into a desktop. Cripes do I need a new desktop.
     
    Oh, and also finished one of them stories for the comedy portion. Hurrah. Now to start on some more. Not posting that thing until I get at least three done, you see. Two to go...
  10. Tufi Piyufi
    I actually got a very very rough BBC Empire map done today! Yay! Very basic, though. Just general placement of palace, docks, big open-air/not-too-sure MOC display place, some commercial (including best pizza place in all the forums) and some residential. And a random forest near the palace. Why not?
     
    So then I think to myself that I should prolly get that thing scanned in while the thing's still in the front of my mind. I'll have to figure out what I can unplug from the powerbar and replug the scanner, but okie. I've known that for a while now, I've done it before, no big deal. I hop downstairs and figure out what cord belongs to what. I eventually unplug that wave machine that's older than I am and we haven't had on since that one guy came over months ago. No clue why we dug it out. It's unlikely anyone would notice it's disconnected, anyhow.
     
    Alright, that lovely green light is on at the front of the scanner. That's a good sign. Slide the book under, open up that Smart Panel thing. Save to File, yes. Something about how the scanner is not connected or already in use or something like that. What? Unplug. Replug. Save to File? No, same thing.
     
    Then it hits me. It's the exact same reason the card reader's been dead for over a week: neither are actually plugged into the computer. The reason for this, of course, being that the big box itself was unplugged over a week ago to get some serious internal dusting done. Cripes, was it ugly in there. Kept overheating and restarting because of it. A note, folks: keep your computer clean. Make sure the fans have good air flow, and maybe even have it cracked open at least once a year or so for a good cleaning. It's how dad saved the Calgary relation's computer last Materialist Festivus. It's amazing how much difference it can make. Take that away with you tonight.
     
    Um... yeah. And now that I have no way to get anything onto the computer, I know I'll come up with a gazillion things for the whole BBC thing. Hooray for progress!
  11. Tufi Piyufi

    Ah, Ninja Puffins

    By Tufi Piyufi,

    What a fantastic concept indeed. And they're all mine, too. Get yer hands away from my ninja puffins.
     
    And here's some now. Well, just three ninja puffin doodles, really. There's also a guy with a hat, a ninja puffin sword, random shark-thing, and a bit of Orthano going 'huh'. Still, there are ninja puffins in there, and that is what is important.
     
    That is all.
     
    (man, Othie looks baffled)
  12. Tufi Piyufi
    First of all, if you post spoilers for book #13 of A Series of Unfortunate Events, you will face full modly wrath. Seriously. Not even in tags; you know people can't resist temptation. Every single part of that book is something that one should be first exposed to as they read it. I'd have killed if anyone told me any of the big things that went on.
     
    So, that said, I'd just like to announce this:
     
    I so called Beatrice's history.
     
    For years, at that. Since the Unauthorized Autobiography first came out, though it was lacking a great deal of support at that time, I'll admit. But now... oh yeah.
     
    If you've read it, you should know what I mean. If you haven't read it, go and read it. I'm not gonna tell you anything. I just needed to get this out there.
     
    But oh, I called it.
  13. Tufi Piyufi

    Art Of The Cold Read

    By Tufi Piyufi,

    I ran into someone who I know on the bus today. Well, that isn't exactly right. To be exact, someone who I apparently know recognized me and struck up a conversation. I then proceeded to feel absolutely awful in the back of my head whilst continuing a conversation up front. Eventually, I got off the bus, and all was well.
     
    This isn't the first time this has happened, either. I have been stopped by people who knew me in kindergarten - kindergarten - and recognized me. I then manage to keep from totally embarassing myself long enough for them to eventually head off to their business elsewhere. The remaining time is spent trying to figure out who remembers people from kindergarten.
     
    But my same inability to recall this earliest of years also keeps me from initiating these conversations. As such, the freak-memoried participant goes first. Greetings are exchanged, "I remember you from ___" is uttered. "Oh, really?" "Yeah! So..." And then, the dialogue following that 'so...' is my saving grace. I can then haul discussion off to a completely unrelated subject (hurrah school), I can bluff my way through a memory the other recalled, or once in a blue moon will I actually remember some bit of what they're talking about. Sometimes, such as today, I can go without even mentioning their name. All of this is seamless. As far as I can tell, they suspect nothing.
     
    I realize that these same skills could also land me a gig as one of those John Edward-type 'psychics.' Oh yes. The cold read is not that much of a stretch from what I do now. I can milk the most useful information out of people without them ever knowing. At the very least, I could totally clean up at parties. I wonder if I could even add seances to my repertoire...
     
    This will have to go under 'careers-plan-B', I suppose.
  14. Tufi Piyufi
    So I've been contemplating what to post next for a few days now. There's only so much ranting I can do, and I'm not about to turn this into some 'oh my day was so awful here's every minute detail' journal thing. Just can't do it. Then again, coming up with decent ideas hasn't been so easy either. Nothing inspiring, unless we're willing to go back to the modly ranting thing again... It's quite the dilemma. I take comfort in the fact that this is hardly an isolated thing, however: the same block's struck just about everything else.
     
    For starters, there's the whole MOCing thing. I am exceedingly selective in what I build. I simply cannot bring myself to build a plain old humanoid with a plain old weapon, simply because that form has been done to death a million times over. I don't like Castle... never a big fan of the whole medieval thing. I don't do Trains, mostly because I don't actually have any Train-y pieces. Town... nah. Never was too big on Space for some reason. It's always got to be somewhere in the area of left field for me, be it System or Bionicle.
     
    So I don't settle for any old concept that comes into my head. It has to be off-beat. It has to be different. It has to be strange. The very nature of these ideas results in them not coming around very often. After all, if they hit me every day, they'd start being less and less out-of-nowhere, right?
     
    Art... I never really drew all that much. Mostly sticking to the whole Lego thing. But now I draw absolutely nothing. Oh well. And I've even got ideas for a story- yes, something in the realm of writing-, you know, counter to the whole 'Hahli isn't incredibly pretty and feminine end of the world!' thing. But I've not even put a word to keyboard. Le sigh. It would be such a good thing to whack people with, too.
     
    Well... at least I got a blog entry out of all this.
  15. Tufi Piyufi

    The Block

    By Tufi Piyufi,

    If you'll look to your right, you'll see a shiny new content block. You get three guesses as to which one it is.
     
    I've had the idea for a while now, but it took the suggestion of such by one BCii to get me seriously thinking about it. Now, here it is. Some of the stuff's super-old, and some hasn't even been posted ever. Not only has it all been gathered up, but it's also in an assumedly continuous order. Hurrah.
     
    So?
  16. Tufi Piyufi
    I present to you this image.
     

     
    Is it a symbol of the futility of man's struggle against the inanimate? Something more abstract? Or is it just a bit of much-needed frivolity in a rookie admin's blog?
     
    (it's the last one)
     
    (I swear I'll get a proper entry on the contest and promotion and all that up at some point)
  17. Tufi Piyufi
    Did the Geek Test yesterday. Got 16.somethingforgottosaveit%. Female geek for the win.
     
    Also did more BBC Empire story thing contemplating. Definitely gonna need to mash out a map for the thing. That should be fun and continuitytastic. Maybe dig out those sprites I was working on. Prolly unplug the printer and replug the scanner. Mayhaps a few raids on the sunshine and fresh air with a notebook and writing utensils. You know, little option-providing things like that.
     
    As for the various things that could be portrayed... That's still the big question. The whole 'Princess Peach' bit deserves a treatment, definitely. So does some contest-y goodness. Oh yes. I must admit, though, that's about all I've come up with at this point. I know, I know. I really should be able to think of more. And I'm sure I will. But it doesn't hurt to get some inspiration from the people, hn?
  18. Tufi Piyufi
    Status: Three-and-half hours to go before showtime
    Current Location: Safely out of notice of a gathering of 'volunteers' to move stuff around, so there, you three
     
    Oh cripes is it a long day. Very, very long day. Helped none by the fact it's absolutely beautiful outside, might I add. Though I have had the chance to get out there. You know, to eat lunch and get some ice cream and go down Memory Lane and all that. But now that is over. Now there is only waiting. At least an hour until the possibility of hair/makeup/etc. There have been talks of 'slicking me back' hairwise, seeing as how I'm supposed to be a guy and all. Well, at least I don't have to deal with the massive hair-fiddling that the female roles have to go through. Woo!
     
    And now I just watched a guy tie a tie when he did not know how to tie a tie before. I am inspired. Awed, even.
     
    Six-and-a-half hours total to go. This is gonna be such a long week. You know, spending too much time at school and all.
  19. Tufi Piyufi
    So there is this thing I do, you see. All done for the glory of scale and not taking up all the good pieces in a few MOCs, which in turn is related to having more than three or four characters built at any one time. So they're what one may call Toa modifications. So what? They are to me as Megos are to those wonderful, wonderful brilliant genius comedic masters at Toyfare.
     
    Anyhow. In each folder, as with just about every other folder I have in my gallery, I have a line or two or three outlining a basic backstory for that figure. Sometimes it isn't even backstory: sometimes it's just a snarky comment or something else like that. It's really not very expository. I have to rely on the picture stories for that. And, as you may have noticed, I haven't exactly been turning those out lately.
     
    I have something all ready to shoot, though, provided I can work out how/where to lug all the huge props that are absolutely crucial. Not only does the entire story revolve around them, they are also pure awesome.
     
    As for the text files, these are rather unsatisfying. I like having something quick and snappy in the folders, but I also want something more extensive, you know? Therefore, I've been slowly (even more so than The Project) writing up bios for all figures found in the Fun With Toa folder. It's been slow, but fun. I've got three done already. Go me!
     
    So yeah. Some progress for you.
  20. Tufi Piyufi
    Late one summer night, there was a topic... There was a member, but nobody else could be seen around... The member came and left a post, then turned around... but when he turned back to the topic... the post was gone!
     
    This is why I never tell the bonfire story at camp. Now I shall provide you with something a bit more technical:
     
    Life of a Spam Post
     
    -Spam post is posted
    -If lucky, spam post is reported
    -Moderator comes across spam post
    -Spam post is deleted
    -Spam post ceases to exist
     
    Despite all the evidence, I had a friend/failed love interest in Grade Seven who insisted that Darth Sidious and Chancellor Palpatine were two different people.
     
    The forum does experience some hiccups from time to time and the occasional post is lost in invisi-post limbo, yes. Much more common these days, however, is the member utterly convinced that their post, where they managed to actually only say 'good work' (if it's even that relevant) in a paragraph's worth of words, actually added anything to the discussion and wasn't spam. Since, you know, only the new are capable of spam, and once you hit a certain length of time on the forum, all your posts are gold.
     
    Put effort into your post. Go into depth about things. Elaborate. Please. New members taking their first steps in a whole new community can be forgiven. I expect the more adjusted, established members to know better, simply because they should.
  21. Tufi Piyufi
    I've just been that busy.
     
    Status: Over over over
    Current Location: Home, hurrah
     
    Day Three: They love us! They really really love us! There were lots more of them than us, and they laughed this time! Not like the previous night, where they didn't really laugh that much. No, they laughed, and they laughed often. It actually felt like a comedy. As it should.
     
    But then I missed that infernal tea cue. All I had to do was bring out tea, and I was late. I recovered, though. I'd feel worse if other people hadn't missed their cues and skipped huge chunks of dialogue. Since they did, I've come to accept my delay.
     
    Day Four: So in that long stretch of time between school and play, four of us head off to the local mall to pick up some manner of gift for the rest of the cast. A box of Purdy's is considered, but then we (read: one of us) get cheap and just buy two boxes of Pot of Gold instead. The same one of us insists that we'll need a third box in order to have enough for everyone, but the rest of us insist that two is plenty. It was, by the way. Not like anyone really ate them.
     
    We return. Costumes are donned. Hair is messed with. Play is performed. Card for teacher-director-boss is signed. Close call is had with said card and the secrecy surrounding it. I help maintain secrecy of card. Play is finished. Curtain call. We get out there and remind the audience that we've got Grade Twelves in the cast that, yes, have just had their last performance in a high school play. The gift for teacher-director-boss is given, complete with card. We all head back into the 'greenroom' (really just the class sharing a gap in the wall with our 'theatre' of a classroom). That is when it gets touching and sad and people cry and oh my gods we're gonna miss you you Grade Twelves you. And the chocolates are so not eaten. I knew I shoulda stolen a box after all.
     
    Then I get to go home, but not before picking up a cherry milkshake. Cripes they're good.
     
    Day Five: Things sink in. We realize we can actually go home at a reasonable hour today. Cast party is planned. Not much happens. I keep my majorly gelled-and-bunned hair, partly out of happiness with how it turned out and partly out of laziness, since I'd just have to wash out the gunk anyways. That's about it.
     
    So that's where I've been for this past week. In case you were curious.
  22. Tufi Piyufi
    Yeah, I've still been thinking about the great BBC Empire comedic fiction multi-whatever project. Just because I haven't exactly 'been' here for the past few days doesn't mean Tufi-thoughts and -things haven't been done.
     
    First of all, yeah, multi-whatever. There's the main fanfic-ish thing, of course. It'd prolly be in more of a serial format than one big defined story, where there'd be the individual stories, but they're all on the same continuity plane. If that makes sense. I think I lost my coherency somewhere after 'serial'. But that's the key word here. And then, of course, there's the art, if I ever get that infernal scanner hooked back up. And then... well... oh, there's no easy way to say this... something with those sprites I work on every blue moon or so... comic. There. Yeah, you heard me. This, in turn, would prolly be some sorta blog-only thing, because I simply do not trust myself to keep a topic like that alive. No, much better if I release an arc all at once every so often.
     
    And yes I do so have ideas for what these stories would be. Naturally, the written bits would be bigger and tons more substantial, and the sprite thing would cover smaller, lighter things. Yes, continuity would be maintained between the two. Love that continuity. You tend to develop an affinity for continuity when you're the kid of a scriptie.
     
    Maybe I'll scratch something out for practice soon. Hn. Possibly. Yes.
  23. Tufi Piyufi
    Status: Performance #1
    Current Location: Beginning of Act III
     
    Cripes, these loafers are killing my heels. I think they're actually cutting into the flesh. Well, I don't think they actually are, since I don't see any blood, but still, it's that general sensation. And I gotta keep these babies on for at least another hour. Oh joy.
     
    But man, I feel like... a man. Servant. Manservant. Straight outta the 20's. Hair and everything. Oh yeah.
     
    First two acts went well. Long unnecessary speeches were 'forgotten'. Hurrah. Still went for about an hour and a half. People laughed: very good. All fifteen or so of them laughed. Not a very full house, I gotta say. Oh well. No complaints. Music cues were brilliant. Tons of cheesiness thus added to 'serious, dramatic' scenes. A chair fell by accident during big spat scene. Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.
     
    Yanno, maybe this won't turn out so bad after all.
×
×
  • Create New...