Coding animations and the roaring 20s
Don't call it a comeback!
Welcome back! Housekeeping stuff is at the bottom because, honestly, who cares. I’m writing to share cool things I’ve come across, and I feel that’s mostly why you read. So here it is!
In this issue
🎨 Open-source animations.
📽️A mesmerizing YouTube video that lies rent-free in my head.
🔥 Matches are cool again? What is this the 20s?
🎨Motion Canvas
One of my goals in life is to release my own indie game. Some might remember that I was practicing pixel art and posting here about it now and then. Turns out, if you want to make a game, knowing how to code is very helpful. Whoda thunk? So learning how to code is where most of my efforts have been going over the last year. Learning about this has led me down some very interesting rabbit holes. One of them being Motion Canvas. It’s an open-source animation project by YouTuber aarthificial.
While most of this is beyond my current understanding, the beginning guides are intuitive and fun to mess around with. As someone that really hates using After Effects for graphics, I’m all for anything that could make the process more enjoyable. Plus, I prefer simple shapes and flowing colors to hardcore animations, so this seems right up my alley. I can’t wait to dig into it.
📽️Scott Yu-Jan strikes again
One of my favorite (small?) YouTubers is a guy named Scott Yu-Jan. I know nothing about him besides the random YouTube videos he uploads every couple of months. His most recent video is one that I can’t stop watching. It’s so mesmerizing and enjoyable. If you’re a fan of ✨a e s t h e t i c✨ desk setups and DIY objects fitting together in a way that will make your OCD purr, I highly recommend watching this 9-minute video.
The whole premise of the video is that over the last however-many-months, he continuously built the perfect organizer for his desk drawer. He measured every item he used and designed a custom organizer from the ground up. Then he 3D printed it, and voilà, perfection. I wish I could cuddle with this video fr.
🔥Pebble Match Strike
You know Seth Rogen? My favorite thing he’s ever done used to be Superbad, but now it might be this match holder. If you don’t know, Seth Rogen does pottery (he frequently posts about it), and he’s pretty good at it. So good, that he started a company based on what he has designed, and it’s kinda sick? He designs ashtrays, lighters, bowls, well…you get it. It is Seth Rogen. He has many great products, but the one that I keep returning to is the Pebble Match Strike.
The entire match holder looks like two stones, but it’s actually made of cast iron which is a great surface to strike a match against. So the match holder itself is the same thing you use to strike the match against. It’s like a matchbox, but if a matchbox was gorgeous and designed to be a centerpiece in your living room. Whether you want to light a candle, something else, or even a candle, I think it’s so freaking clever. And I love that the lid doubles as a holder when you remove it.
🏠Housekeeping
I’m not sure when the last newsletter was sent out, but it’s been a while. In that time, Revue (the service that I used for writing/publishing this newsletter) was shut down when whatshisface bought Twitter. When that was announced, I told myself that I would take a break and do a huge overhaul of the newsletter. I’m talking about a complete redesign. New logo, new format, and, most importantly, a new way to host it all myself so I wouldn’t have to worry about being shut down again.
Obviously, none of that ever happened. Life got busy, and passion projects like this fell by the wayside while new ones (like learning to code) popped up. I figured if I was going to bring this back, I just needed to start again and figure out the rest as it comes. That’s what this is. So here’s to figuring it out as we go! 🍻
