A week has just passed, and I have begun my senior year of college. I am taking 17 credit hours for this semester. It may sound like a lot, but it's nowhere near as awful as taking 18. Actually, this is one reason why I think taking 17 credit hours isn't so bad. Here is what my fall semester looks like. The following descriptions are taken from the syllabi.

FALL SEMESTER 2009 SCHEDULE

CADD – Fundamentals of engineering drawing & sketching: orthographic projections, dimensioning, tolerancing, and scaling; Introduction to the CADD interface and environment; 2D drawing basics; using object snaps, layers, blocks; dimensioning; Introduction to 3D modeling; extrusions, revolves, & rendering.

Technical Communications (8:15 – 9:35 T,TR) : A comprehensive study of technical and professional communication in written and oral form. Covers rhetorical principles and their application in a variety of business correspondence, reports, and technical/scientific documents. Lecture, discussion, oral assignments and classroom exercises.

3D Lighting and Rendering (11:15 – 2:05 T, TR) : This course will focus on rendering with Maya. We'll start with raw models, go through the texturing decisions and process, and proceed through rendering. We'll be creating shader networks and work with different techniques for lighting, texturing, and rendering. We'll be working with at least two renderers: the default Maya renderer, and Mental Ray. We'll be discussing modeling and animation only as they impact to lighting and rendering.

Introduction to Film (online) : In this course, the techniques and aesthetics of cinema are studied through the presentation of feature and short film. Students read selections in the text, peruse course information and independently view films illustrating certain techniques and aesthetics that are to be chosen from a list of selected films for that purpose. As there is no central viewing area, students are expected to locate films on their own (video stores, public libraries, university media centers, various online rental or purchase sites) and view them. The list of films ranges from classic examples of the technique or aesthetic under consideration to more modern variations or modifications of it, and is designed to aid students who may not have access to classic films.

Those are the main courses I'm taking this semester. The rest are just concert band, tuba/euphonium ensemble, and brass choir. So it seems that my writing intensive classes may be my only concern. I don't consider myself the best writer, but I do try to convey thoughts like I do in my blogs. Other than that, I think this will be a good semester for me. However, I may have to limit myself by not coming onto MSN which I haven't been doing as much lately. If it's something you feel like sharing with me, you know how to contact me.

SUMMER 2009 MOVIES

I won't go into this much, but I did manage to see four movies this summer. This was a topic I left out in my previous blog, but here is a list (from great to decent) of what I saw.

1. Ponyo

2. Up

3. District 9

4. Public Enemies

All I can say is that I am very happy to have finally seen a Hayao Miyazaki movie in theaters. The experience was really phenomenal. Sure, it was an English-dub since it was released through Disney, but I still enjoyed watching it nonetheless. This is one movie I hope to get when it comes on DVD. As far as Miyazaki movies go, I'd say this is his best animated one yet.

Up was a very different movie coming from Pixar. I'd say this movie is more for a mature audience in regards of how the story is told. Speaking of mature, I don't think this movie is intended for smaller children. I'd say anyone over the age of 10 would be more suitable to watch this movie because of the few intense scenes the movie has. If you thought Wall-E was brilliant, I highly recommend seeing it.

District 9 was a big surprise for me when I went to see it with a friend. I did like the documentary feel at the very beginning of the movie even though I did feel it was dragging the movie a bit. Then, it hits you with a lot of over-the-top action sequences which I thought would done pretty well. I'll paraphrase from what I put on my Facebook status after I saw the movie: It was very bloody, gory, and vulgar, but I thought it was very entertaining.

Now Public Enemies was slightly disappointing. I was expecting to see more robberies and more familiar gangsters than the few the movie had. Another letdown was how much the camera angles kept shaking especially during the shoot-outs. Seriously, I have seen some amateur camera work that are much better than what I saw in theaters. I understand this is Michael Mann's style of filmmaking, but I think the guy could give it a rest and just shoot with steady camera shots. What I did admire was how well Johnny Depp and Christian Bale did their roles in the movie especially when you see the two of them having a conversation. If anyone is curious to see it, I'd suggest renting it.

SEGA DREAMCAST 10TH ANNIVERSARY

Anyone what the date is? Oh boy! Ten years ago, Sega released the long defunct Dreamcast. I didn't get it until mid-2000. I had loads of fun playing it even though I had skipped on the PSOne/N64 consoles. However, I was unable to experience the online portion due to the fees they would charge. It would have been nice to have that experience, but there are others ways to get that experience elsewhere. Anyway, here are my top five favorite Dreamcast games. Please note that this is based off of what I have played.

1. Rayman 2: The Great Escape

2. Sonic Adventure

3. Phantasy Star Online

4. NBA 2K1

5. Sonic Adventure 2

GAMESPOT ANNIVERSARY SHOUT-OUTS

Here it is, everyone! The shout-outs you all have been waiting for! If I have left you out, then it may be you and I never got a chance to get to know each other well. Out of all the people I have on my friends list, there are very few that I keep track of because they were kind enough to stop by and comment on my blogs and such. Plus, there's no way I can list everyone right off the bat. So consider this an apology in advance.

sonicphc
ValtheJean
nsoliveira
xdude85
ayanami_rei
GAMECAMILLER
gamer_girl15
dbz345
roguele_beau
Cutekitten6_18
vgm007
sonicboom713
hart704
usagi704
ebbderelict
HavQ-san
and everyone else at the Anthro Lounge Union (you know who you are!)

As much as I wanted to say something to all of you, it would be like asking the impossible, but I will say this. Thank you all for being good friends throughout my four years on GameSpot. Things may have been rough at the very beginning when you guys got to know me, but I have changed in a lot of ways now that I have dedicated this much time coming here. I know I keep saying this, but I will say it again. I hope that someday I will play either with or against you all when I get a place for myself and the proper gaming consoles needed.

With that, I better be on my way and do some studying… and drawing… and hanging out with friends… and waiting on music I ordered from Amazon (a couple by Philip Glass and one from John Williams)

Thank you all for reading!

Until next time!