cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog Here comes the requisite apology for late blogging… I had plans to write up some reflections on the past semester of ds106; this is part 1 of a series, in the next one I hope to look out the front windshield to some ideas for the next iteration of the class I am teaching at UMW starting January 14. Some summary I’ve assembled from my section (I reelly like using Storify for this): Final Projects – this can give future students ideas on how to do (or not do) projects. Best Of – each student was asked to keep a blog category for their favorite creations – and I hope some of you will consider using this as a source of things to nominate for the ds106 in[SPIRE] site. Advice to Future Studens created in any media they chose, video, ...

The other morning I was out aiming for some photos of the fresh snow on the pines in my back yard- my timing was good as a passing jet was scratching the sky with contrails, and in a flash I aimed to angle a photo with it in the background of a branch. cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog Boom when I saw that in my stream, I said, this has to be GIFfed, making an animation from a single photo. It looked like something was shooting right out of that pine tree. Woah, see even in Arizona, the pine trees are armed with pistols! I don’t know whether to put this GIF in for Gun Crazy GIFs or GIFFing Impossible! so I am tossing it in both. This is where it helps to think in stacked layers. I knew I wanted to make the contrail ...

In my late night Youtube wandering, among the suggested videos that popped up last night was, An Ox’s Tale, the full length documentary of The Who’s bass genius, John Entwistle. The guy was in an orbit of his own for what he accomplished, from building his first electric bass by hand, to the way he transformed it form the dull background instrument to one that leads. I then found myself digging this thundering bas solo from a 2010 concert performance of “5:15″: Those segments looking at him from the camera view at the top of the bass, screamed “GIF” because of the lack of movement of the bass, it almost looks not real. If you watch the video, you can see that he had a small camera mounted there to record his rather amazing fast finger work (one of his nicknames was “Thunderfingers”). The video was also available Here is ...

The Abominable Pine Man was spotted in the vicinity on December 15, 2012. Unlike the Lock news Monster, Sasquatch, the photos of this super natural creature ares sharp, clean, and obvious no fabrication or some buffoon in a fur suit. cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog In time the monster morphed into a floppier version cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog But it was not invincible, in fact, it had pretty much transformed into a sad shell of its former glory: cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog Until today! It’s back, reformed, and now something more of a Squirrel Bear Hybrid: Just for the sake of the ds106 GIFfest, I call this a sporting event GIF … who’s gonna stop me? When will the GIFfing stop? NEVER!

How could anyone resist doing Tom Woodward’s Not Quite Norma Jean assignment? The past is strange. Remake this classic Marilyn Monroe “expressions sheet” with self-portraits or with the aid of a friend. Bonus points for the involvement of a stranger. And I thought, if Tom Woodward can pose coyly like Marilyn, than surely my stuffed animal Feldspar can pull it off? And as I worked with the image I made from it it started saying to me, please make me into a GIF, yeah, a Riff a GIF type of GIF. Enjoy. For the makings, I created Photoshop file with the background a capture of the screen at Retronaut (I liked the frame on it), and in the top layer, a copy of this made with the images of her cut out, so it was a copy of the frames around the images that sits above the 9 separate image ...

This next phase of GIFfest 2012 returns to the movies, and the westerns, with some slices of Hang ‘em High, the 1968 western notable because it was the first one of Clint Eastwood’s westerns that was not filmed in Italy. I’ve already noted GIFfed some of the continuity problems in the opening credits, now let’s get to the action. Right in the opening sceme, Captain Wilson, the leader of the mob that wrongly accuses Clintwood’s character Cooper of murder, issues the “Hang “em” command that puts the plot in motion. Yes, that is Alan Hale Jr pitching in with the bad guys – how can the Skipper do that? What will Gilligan think? Brought in to Fort Grant, Cooper is released by Judge Fenton, who makes the offer for him to become a Marshall. The Judge lectures Cooper not to take revenge but to let justice play out (which translates ...