Albino Blacksheep

Breakup

It's been a while since Albino Blacksheep posted a casual game. I would liken this one to The Blue Button Game, except Dot Catcher is much simpler and more polished. Thanks to Jacob Ray for taking the time to learn some new Flash skills in the process.

Dog Bum Chancer is Turbo's followup to last month's Fuk Yoo Banarnee. His latest makes a little more sense, but still way out there on the edges of imagination land. Be amazed at how he animated both the characters and their shawdows. Not something beginners can handle.

This is very sad. Slinkers broke the news to me that Ducky and his duck girlfriend broke up. I remember when they first met, and Ducky was getting his game on. This would be a perfect time to revisit Christmas Quackers. On the bright side, after 8 episodes, Slinkers' Ducky series has been discovered by BBC Radio 1, and they asked Ducky to perform a song for them. Slinkers could have stopped at 7 episodes, but he pushed on knowing from your feedback that Ducky is a lovable series that was destined to be noticed.

These are great videos, but if you are a fan of the game Portal, you'll sneeze over these. MP3s included.

Nice ABS

Nice Bear

Anthony tells me this is the result of him going on an "animation rampage". He captured his feelings perfectly and picked the least harmless outlet for his rage, Flash animation.

These seem appropriate to post today, April 20th.

Remember to dip twice

I can't not post this classic JibJab this time every year. It's tradition. Be sure to share with the family.

There are many "one picture a day" creative videos, but they are nothing than a timelapse of one person taking a picture in front of a mirror. I contrast Cory Fauver's with John Stone's. Cory Fauver actually took the time to plan out the whole process in advance while process growing a beard doesn't take much work, unless you're lacking in testosterone. John Stone's took a lot of work at the gym, but not as much thought put into photography.

The Gap Theory of User Interface Design

In a nutshell John Gruber is a well-known fan of Apple products and criticiser of Apple competitors, and sometimes even of Apple. I am not an Apple fanboy (I'm not using an Apple), and I don't expect more than 10% of readers here to be, but that's not why I am featuring a presentation revolving around Apple.

A lot can be learned from this presentation for both technophiles and especially technophobes, to learn how and why everything on their computer is the way it is today. John gives a brief visual history of Graphical Operating system designs from the first Mac OS to BeOS to Windows 95 to iPhones. He shows how there was a decade of no visual progress out of fear that people wouldn't be able to adapt and recognize the new controls. Although the presentation is about OS User Interface design, the same was true for Web development back in the 90s. It was a big risk to specify non-blue links, as the Web was new, and deviating from the standard would cause usability issues for grannies and kids on AOL.

Even Albino Blacksheep followed some visual standards in usability, but instead of relying on familiarity of the Web, Albino Blacksheep followed certain elements of the Windows 98 user experience. ABS used the old Windows Media Player icons from the Windows shell beside links so visitors knew they were multimedia files and whether they were Wav, MIDI files, MPEG video, JPEG image, GIF animation, TXT files and so on. Directories got a folder icon, so the whole menu was a list of folders. Instead of thumbnails of the animations, ABS used the orange "burst" icon that shipped with Macromedia Flash and later it was updated to the iconic "F". Moreso, large icons were left-justified and had three lines of text just like Tiles view in Windows with the last line specifying the filesize in KiloBytes. There was even a Windows 98 skin on ABS as an alternative choice. As the OS became less familiar to surfers and the Web more familiar, ABS adopted into a tabbed blog format and introduced thumbnails. The thumbnails became widescreen as HD widescreen TVs entered the market regardless of the square icon familiarity on the Web.

Today, programmers of operating system software are given a guide to follow with pre-made controls and icons at their disposal. The same ones used in other programs and the operating system itself. In today's age, authors aren't bound to use any of these, and the presentation shows programs designed by those who follow the standards, those who deviate a bit and those who come up with something completely different. John's presentation shows the grammatical errors that appear in every paragraph of best-selling authors because personal style has overtaken strict structure in the literary field.

User Interface design is at a pivotal point to find the balance between familiarity and originality, taking cues from the iPad to old timey analog systems in order to keep usability familiar without taking design cues from inside the system that it itself lives in. Excuse my grammar.

Enjoy John's lecture.

Dick Figures

Red and Blue Dick Figures

Cropping the background for these stick figures was slightly confusing, but had to be done anyways for the Dick Figures animated series page.

You can catch up to all 10 episodes, and the series has also been added to the Flash page alongside the other featured series.

When Mondo first partnered with ABS, they submitted their older works like Heavy Metal Guy 1, 2 and 3, as well as their well-known series Happy Tree Friends. What makes Dick Figures worth featuring, in my opinion, is that I find it more timely or "of the now", but not in the way that it will become out of date. Even when all the memes covered in the series are old, they can be revisited with a sense of nostalgia.

If any of you other animators want to feature a series here or are considering starting one, all you have to do is let me know.

Quick Monday

New member, WooleyWorld, is back with another submission so soon. To be filed under Miscellanious because there's really no other category for it.

April Submissions

KrEid and Mr.Fizzy are back with new submissions for 2011. Also, a new submitter has appeared from the tall grass, WooleyWorld.

If there are no gems here, the next update is automatically a Tube Tuesday or sooner.

April Fool's Part 3

It's not April Fools Day anymore, but these new applications are pretty enticing. It's like a two-party system.

April Fool's [Edit 1]

Everytime I am uncertain if something is real, I check the date. "Is it April Fool's Day?" "Nope, it's November, idiot." For 364 days, this may seem like an unnecessary question, but today it would pay off.

The post below is a prank. Yes, I was in the hospital and all that. No, I am not looking for an admin, never have looked for an admin, and have never considered anyone for admin. Nobody screwed up an opportunity, okay?

Every year this site tries to have an April Fool's prank for tradition. This year's came very much from a conversation with Muslix when he asked me why I so "behind-the-scenes", and we talked about how an ego would get in the way of both creativity and administration. We talked about how some people combine their real life and online life (especially if they are important online and a loser in person). Others, like myself, keep two seperate lives. In addition, I answered some questions for a high school essay only a couple weeks ago addressing some of these questions.

Yes, I use harsh words like "loser". It was a very slight nod to jackbliss's "I Am A Loser" music video and even "Internet Fame".

So what seemed like an obvious prank to any regular visitor of ABS (as there is an April Fool's prank every year about some dooming change to the site), people seemed to really believe it this year, even after checking the date. Anyone who got hurt or got their hopes up, I'm sorry. Almost everyone who contacted me mentioned their sympathies for my pain, which is appreciated. I'm quite suspecious of the few who didn't.

There were some strange interpretations and feedback. Next year, if there is an April Fool's prank, it will either be extremely obvious or as innocent as possible.

Edit:

Who am I to end this prank early and stifle whatever creativity will be born of it? Here's Halloween contributer and Twitter friend TastyBabySoup's video résumé.

I'm being told to expect another video résumé, so stay tuned, and I will put it in this spot when it comes.

TL;DR

In 1996 Albino Blacksheep began, and I was optimistic that one day, some how, people would recognize the unique name "Albino Blacksheep". Not recognize myself, not my music, just the name, "Albino Blacksheep". I was right.

What I didn't realize were the eyestrain headaches and the bad posture required to make that happen, but that's a small sacrifice. Those are minor details compared to the work, drama, education, money issues, blackmail, threats, lies, stress and general nonsense that could be made into at least three action movies. But to let some paradoxical oxymoron be known worldwide, some of that should be expected. What I completely ignored, but couldn't avoid, was having a life outside of Albino Blacksheep.

I am getting older. I may be settling down. I was in the hospital last week with pains I cannot cure. I have bills that say something other than "hosting fees". I'm not shortsighted. I knew real life would come sooner or later.

For the past year, I have had the motivation, energy and ideas to take this site to the next level. The only problem was this pesky thing called real life. In real life, I am not the administrator of Albino Blacksheep. That's my online identity. In real life I cannot be at the computer all hours of the day answering boilerplate mass-emails. In real life, I live a real life.

I kept a close eye on Albino Blacksheep members, secretly looking for someone I could make into the next administrator. Once I thought I found him, I stopped looking. Big mistake. He completely misunderstood what Albino Blacksheep represents and what my role is.

Albino Blacksheep is a site that features the amazing work and talent of other people. Sure, there's a lot of my own, but there's also 100 other artists that shaped the identity and culture of ABS. Some of whom are not only amazingly talented, but amazingly loyal to this site for no good reason. That's what this site has come to represent. I do not sign my name on this site. I do not talk about myself and I do not crave any personal attention. Perhaps if I were insecure in the real world, my place in Internet meme history could smooth me.

What I thought of as my future admin, didn't share these values and engaged in unethical destructive behaviour to gain the personal attention he craved. One cannot use this site to supplant his or her personal identity. For example, if you are a loser in the real world, a Website can't change that. This Website doesn't owe a position or status to anyone. It does not owe someone a new identity. The site belongs to everyone equality as a place to showcase talent. Not ego!

This site gives what cannot be asked of it.

I get asked by highschoolers doing an essay on a Website about what makes me want to be creative. The answer defines this site's identity and anyone who I would allow into it.

People seek their place in the stars, their immortality or the spotlight. Whatever you want to call it. For every million people attempting fame in the creative and entertainment industry, 999,999 people fail. What does the successful person do differently? The successful person portrays their unique and true experiences, their culture and personal influences onto their work. Successful comedians, artists and musicians paint their true persona for the audience. Loved for their true expression of identity, not for a false perfect identity they want to portray.

Let me get to the point.

This part year I have taken Albino Blacksheep to the streets. Meeting big names at Google, YouTube and Reddit as well as little names of equal importance. If ABS is going to continue, it's going to work with the best by representing itself in the best light. This will be both behind a computer and in real life.

I am looking for this site's successor. I am looking for the next administrator. I don't need a shady anonymous person hiding behind a computer demanding to be a partner who hasn't a clue or respect for what this site's been through to strive and survive. Show me who you are and tell me what would make you a good administrator of this site. Record a video of yourself and send it to me. Don't be afraid to show the world either.

Do it now. Do it today. There is no later.

Edit: Videographer and animator jackbliss submitted a video résumé.

Keep your résumés coming and I'll see you on the new Flash Forums for an amazing contest.