when I was working hourly at my first real design job, doing the work-from-home “just be on call for emergencies” Thanksgiving shift always felt like a real treat. ok, I can get paid to chill w/ fam & friends and tinker on my own stuff for a few days? in retrospect I’d rather just be able to chill 100% and not be tryna book enough hours to afford a reasonable living, but NYC rent amirite?
resource roundup!
I am still new to all this Houdini stuff, but stumbling upon this cute trickery for a random irregular grid is making me want to carve out some time for it. Vincent De Oliveira’s experimental showcase is just fun and makes me long for a day when making a tooltip isn’t a mess of pseudo elements.
I haven’t downloaded Engare yet mostly because I already have a couple of mobile game addictions I can barely support, but I’m also curious about the Engare drawing software developed as part of the game dev process. each of the tools is based on a mathematical system inspired by rules of Islamic Art and Architecture, with beautiful results.
now is that time of year when all the lists start coming out and everyone starts to lowkey wonder where they are versus where they were at the start of 2018. this dev.to post on live/work balance is a nice reminder that being healthy, physically/mentally/spiritually/whatever, is as important to the creative process as anything. sometimes going for a walk with your dog IS part of finishing that project you’re working on.
and, as we’re looking toward the new year and new projects, here’s a great collection of resources on how to begin the planning process. making a thing isn’t just about finding the right tutorial for the framework you want to use, it’s also about considering your intentions, the needs of your audience, the history of the space you are interacting with, and much more.
? upcoming events!
tonight November 19! Beta Publix IX! London UK: London’s only curated night of video games and theatre returns for a NINTH jam-packed evening. if you want to check out the cutting edge of performance and play, this looks like a good way to spend a monday night. tix are £10-12 and available thru Camden People’s Theatre.
saturday November 24! The Intimate Space at St. Mary’s Tower! London UK: Steep – a night for adventures in electronica, improv, and sound art returns to the St. Mary’s Tower for the final time in 2018. this is an intimate experience featuring Janine A’Bear and The Slate Pipe Banjo Draggers. here’s a soundpiece that A’Bear recently made for the listening room of David Lynch’s Silencio nightclub. tix are £5.50 and available on wegottickets.
and if any of y’all are at MUTEK CDMX this week, HMU!
opportunities!
Her Environment is seeking entries from feminine spectrum artists in multi-disciplinary works relating to New Media. sounds pretty open and like there’s a lot of room for exploration with technology. tomorrow is the LAST DAY to apply! apply here.
the 2019 Game Developers Conference has an open call for Alt.Ctrl.GDC, the on-site showcase highlighting unique control methods for playing games. the deadline is November 30, and you’re invited to submit any and all one-of-a-kind game peripherals, contraptions, and novelties to share how they enhance game experiences and challenge expectations. more info, including some inspiration from standouts from Alt.Ctrl.GDC’s past, is available on Gamasutra.
ElectroCities has an open call for their programming for 2019 for artists and collectives working in new media, sound, performance, video, net.art, interactive art and more! this residency program hosts one artwork every two months on the Electrofringe website, with 3 artists/collectives hosted over the course of 2019, culminating in their annual showcase in October. submissions are due December 1 so get to it! apply here.
Afrotech Fest, a tech festival by and for Black people of African and Caribbean heritage, has an open call for submissions for their 2019 event in London. even if you have never given a talk before, they encourage submitting your idea for consideration and offer some great resources for how to prepare. deadline is January 13, apply here.
some shameless self-promotion: my company, Withfriends, is hiring a Senior Software Engineer. this is a contract to hire position with the potential for equity, and we’re fairly location agnostic (some of the team is in NYC, I’m in CDMX, and our ideal candidate is experienced in working with a distributed team). we’re looking to bring someone on for a short-term contract for a scoped project who can transition to a full time lead position if it’s a good fit. underrepresented candidates (POC, female-identified, LGBTQI) are especially encouraged to apply. check out our full job description and send a resumé and short cover letter to team@withfriends.co if you’re interested!
just for lulz:
I wanted to include the YMNTD link but does Flash even work anymore? anyway, here’s a classic.
*~housekeeping~*
as always, submit to the open artist call if you have anything in the works that you are excited about! and if you have an event or opportunity to promote (anywhere), please send me all the details. the next newsletter will cover the week of November 26 to December 2, but I’m happy to promote events farther in the future as well and keep them on the calendar.
