Coca Cola billboard is so old that the landmark marker is itself now a weathering antique

This landmark and archaic Coca Cola billboard is so old that the landmark marker (which tells the story of the sign) is itself weathered to antique status. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C46JjFEPGlT/

Godzilla Minus One does not deserve their Oscar

Unpopular opinion? The Best Visual Effects Oscar win for Godzilla Minus One (G-1) is undeserved. G-1 was great for a movie for a budget of $15M, but isn't in the same class as The Creator, which was also made on a smaller budget by Hollywood standards. The Creator is far richer and more impressive, with proper depth of field and gorgeous scenes. 

Also, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 (GOTG3) has a big  advantage. In GOTG3, a lot of completely CGI characters that are so well done, you forget they are CGI. In my opinion, both The Creator and GOTG3 are far superior films than G-1 in terms of VFX.  In particular, GOTG3 was robbed.  However, that wouldn't be so bad if The Creator won instead.  But to give the award to G-1 instead of either of those two? Yikes.

I have seen all three of these movies in the theater on the biggest screens available for each.

Recent posts from #3DXW24

 

Final day of #3DXW24 and the closing General Session finishes with the announcement for next year's event @ Houston, TX. First time for me in Houston was last year. Second time was this January. (Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3V4UwovEoS/?hl=en)

Dan McGinn & Chris Pagliarini presentation on "Elevating Design Efficient with SOLIDWORKS Cloud ~ drawing, parts and assemblies" 3DEXPERIENCE World 2024 (Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3TKjJcPnaA/?hl=en)

Chris Pagliarini gets applause when talking about single-source-of-truth between MBD and Drawings, being able to create product definition in either drawings or MBD environments and have that drive both environments seamlessly at the same time with no additional work to operate in either ~ Future of Design session at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2024 (Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3S8wZ9rVKB/?hl=en)

cadence is excited about their partnership with DS at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2024's Future of Design session. (Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3S7OmprJbY/?hl=en)

Three "D's" of Flowserve on main stage during #3DEXPERIENCE World 2024's Tuesday General Session. (Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3Srx9fslb4/?hl=en)

glüxkind AI driven rocking baby carriage at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2024 in the Playground. (Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3SkHkUsWMY/?hl=en&img_index=1)

Crowd for my What's Recently Been Added to SOLIDWORKS Drawings presentation! Great group for a great session. (Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3Q6bunL8SZ/?hl=en)

Nutella empanada at the Denver International Airport Concourse B in my may to 3DEXPERIENCE World 2024 (Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3LaxZcPxbv/?hl=en)

3DEXPERIENCE World 2024

February 10 - 15 2024, we had another great year with awesome people, such as Heather Hasz, Michael Lord, Chin-loo Lama, Yoshihiro Dobashi, Joe Lance, Justin Kidder, Kristen Wilson Syrek, Santiago Laverde, Brenda Monahan, Salih Majid Al Ani, Michel Cloutier, Utpal Kumar, Lennart Tinndahl, Maria, David Ferreira, Kevin Berni, Rick Encello, Mark Biasotti, Suchit Jain, Casey Gorman, Allan Azcuna, Mhal Louh, Eric Beatty, Jonny Harrison, Kim Richardson, Denny Bahl, Madhav Joshi, Erin Kimbrell, Jason Pohl, Sarah Downey, Jessie Long, Matt Long, Avelino Rochino, Frank Ruepp, Sal Lama, Dan Ferrucci-Herzberg, Steve Calvert, Kirby Downey, Tara Hodgetts, Ditmars Veinbachs, Dan Riffell, John Matrishon, Josh Mayes, Robert Jost, Brad Williamson, Karen Daley, Mark Martel, Luke Daley, Matthieu Fourcade, Mike Buchli, Mike Sabocheck, Rachael Naoum, Brad Meador, Saurav Saha, Pruthvi Venketesh, Betty Baker, Shigeo Kimura, Shravan Jodalli, Jeff Niederman, and many others visited Omni Dallas Hotel, The Owners Box, Gilley's, Frankie's Downtown, Derby Restaurant, The Backyard, Deep Ellum, Elm Street Cask & Kitchen, Cafe Herrera on Lamar and Morsel's. (FB post/backup link)

Rare foggy evening in Denver area as seen with damaged Polaroid 600 film

 

A rare foggy evening in Denver area, with mood set by airport security x-rayed #Polaroid 600 film for an especially stark gloom. 😮 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C28nAy7LTEP/?hl=en

New Flag Design in Planning for Illinois

Back in August of 2023, the State of Illinois started the process to design a new flag for the state. From the announcement, I'm not sure if the process will take suggestions from the public directly.  Instead, there's going to be a relatively huge design committee, though.

Vexillologically speaking, the current state flag is not a good design. Problems include:

• A complex image directly pulled from the State Seal, where details are lost in the cluster and not easy to draw;
• As a result, the flag also has too many colors;

• Unnecessary, distracting, redundant and poorly placed text "ILLINOIS".

 

The only thing that makes this flag distinct when comparing it to other state flags is the white background.  Other than that, from a glance, you wouldn't know if this was the flag for Michigan, North Dakota or Vermont.

One interesting fact is that Illinois created anniversary flags. I think the answer for a new flag design lies in the Centennial flag.

This flag isn't perfect, but it's much better and more distinctive. I think this would make a great basis for the new state flag.  Here's what I would consider to change in order to adopt this flag as the new state flag:

• I don't think the star fields are necessary, as these represent other states and not Illinois itself; 

• The design looks like a missile (or even something rude) in modern aesthetics.

I would remove the star fields and move the white star to the center.

This concept is historic, unique when compared other states, easily recognizable on its own, and simple enough for grade school children to draw from memory. It also falls in line with the regional motif established by the Chicago flag; while offering more strength of design by being even more succinct.

It should be noted that Wallace Rice designed both the Chicago flag and the Illinois Centennial flag.