So, I got to sleep at about 8 a.m. this morning. Long long long hellish night. It sucked. I think I've talked about insomnia before, so we'll move on.
The rat got another bake, but I don't feel like this step warrants pictures. She's got a bigger bust and butt now, and she has 'eyes' of a sort. Nothing else changed at all, so no pictures, yet. I've also started very roughly on her limbs, and I will post about them specifically later.
Today in my haze of having slept the morning away, and having a sleepless night, I went to TED.com to watch some sort of educational/science-y video to try to motivate me into doing stuff. What I got was actually a bit of a revelation. I realized why I make the things I do. I watched a talk by Cynthia Breazeal, who makes robots.
What I realized is that I make dolls, puppets, and the like because what I REALLY want is robots. I don't know how to make robots, but that seems as close to 'playing God' as one can get. Creating something that looks and acts like a living thing. Puppets come a bit closer than dolls, but you have to animate them yourself, of course, and that's fine. I LOVE puppets. Baby New Year, from the first post of the year is a simple rod puppet, but it still gets some expressive quality from that. I want to make more advanced puppets, but I tend to hit a wall in what I am able to do, versus what I want to do.
The whole idea of robots fascinates me, and not just because I want to mimic life. I don't see them as being creatures but more as being puppets with mechanical parts....which made me realize that a puppet I've been wanting to make may be actually doable if I buy a robotic arm kit. Honestly, I currently have two ideas for puppets that could use a robotic arm kit. If I manage to get a robotic arm kit (they are around $50, and you have to build the thing yourself, so there's some question as to if I will do this), I can tell you that I will probably do something really weird with it, and you will get to see it!
The photo today is Leonardo, a robot that Cynthia Breazeal made. He's pretty awesome and amazing...and kinda cute, so I figure he was a good example of what I want to do, even if it's not what I can do.
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