Tag Archives: Jim Groom

Tina Noir Valentine 2015

“Tina Noir Valentine 2015,” by Talky Tina, on Flickr

Well, this is for Mr. Paul’s Noir Valentines Design Assignment 1615 assignment that he made that I made for him. You can read all of those noir words that I said up there in the card, and then you can look them up if you need to translate them into your regular words. Jim Groom (@jimgroom) and Mr. Paul (@phb256) will like the Twists, Slugs, and Roscoes: A Glossary of Hardboiled Slang.

Here is the full text:

Don’t be a bunny, close your head and pin your diapers on. Dip the bill, drift and fade in your Flogger (and go climb up your thumb). The rumble is you may be lousy with the bees, but my cheaters say you’re a hinky hombre, and I made ya. No Oyster fruit from this peeper, savvy? I’m swift and no weak sister bim. Take it on the beezer, it’s time for you to visit the clubhouse, or I’ll play you some chin music and set you up for the Big Sleep. But have a happy Valentine’s day all the same, bub!

Well, it is always fun to have a nice Valentine Card to send. Plus a Noir106 one.

Sources for my Noir Tina Valentine 2015 card:

 

Again, It’s All About Friends!

“Tina True Friends Selfie,” by Talky Tina, on Flickr

Well, today was a very nice day for Friends.

Wonderful Music

It was so wonderful when I woke up this morning and heard that wonderful song “Look What Happened to Tina” that my wonderful True Friend Vivien Rolfe (@VivienRolfe, on Twitter) made for me. Plus, that dog, Spike (not on Twitter, I don’t think) was doing dog singing. But not that David (@dkernohan, on Twitter) this time he said. It was all Viv, he said. He was doing other stuff.

So in case you didn’t hear it, here is the wonderful song that Viv made for me. It is about me. And Art. And Friends. Plus, noir.

Wonderful Game!

"@dkerhohan's 2048: Super MOOC Pioneers Edition" animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

“@dkerhohan’s 2048: Super MOOC Pioneers Edition”

Then, while I was listening to that song over and over again, and dancing, it was that David‘s (@dkernohan, on Twitter) time so shine.

So he had made a great game called 2048 Super MOOC Pioneers Edition which lets you put MOOC people together to make more MOOC people.

It was fun to play it and a made for a happy time every time I saw @downes or @audreywatters or @davecormier, or UNCLE @jimgroom, and I even got a George Siemens (@gsiemens, on Twitter)!

 

Wonderful Friends

Then, David said I should make a True Friends one of it.

that David said

I said, “OK, I will.” But it was kind of a hard task for me. I have many True Friends! 

In the end, I had to pick and choose just some of my True Friends to put into my own 2048: @iamTalkyTina’s True Friends Edition game. I made the icons all into #noir106 ones because of #noir106. It looks like this when you start to play.

"2048 @iamTalkyTina True Friends Edition game" animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

“2048 @iamTalkyTina True Friends Edition game” animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

You can play it on the Internet anytime you want! 

I was thinking that it might be fun one day to have it randomize the game pieces from my True Friends Index, so that each time you played the game, you would get a different set of True Friends. It would even be fun to have the game pieces change DURING the game! You know, just for added adventure and excitement!

But in the mean time, you can play the game just the way it is!

Can you get to the Top True Friend

 

 

Happy 2015, True Friends!

“2015 New Year’s Greeting,” by Talky Tina, on Flickr

Well, I would just like to take this opportunity to wish all of my True Friends a very happy and Artful 2015. Be your creative best, don’t use mean words, make lots of Art, and say nice things about that Jim Groom (@jimgroom, on Twitter.)

I was in the recording studio today to record a special version of that old Robbie Burns New Year’s song, but the microphone broke when I hit this one note and so all that was left after that was my lyric sheet that I had made.  I will see if I can get it fixed but it won’t be the same because I did not let you hear it right at midnight.

Update 4:00 am January 1st, 2015: I was so disappointed that I could not share my song with all my True Friends, I used my Ninja skills to sneak back into the studio in the middle of the night and managed to record a spoken through version that didn’t shatter the new mic. Down below here are the words that I was singing when it broke. And you can follow along to sing with me when you listen!

Make Art for Your True Friends!

(sung in to the tune of Auld Lang Syne)

Let all your Mean Words be forgot,
and your Kindness never end.
Explore the world, and sing, and dance!
Make Art for your True Friends!

CHORUS:
Make Art for your True Friends, my bub,
Make Art for your True Friends,
We’ll make some art creatively,
Make Art for your True Friends!

And surely ye’ll be making GIFs!
and surely I’ll make mine!
We’ll make a GIF of ol’ Jim Groom,
And he’ll be looking fine.

CHORUS

We all have joked about the stairs,
Taken care so’s not to slip;
Especially when at the top,
Don’t you take that fateful trip.

CHORUS

We’ve giggled on the radio,
From the morn ’til late at night
And seas between us not have stopped
All the musical delight.

CHORUS

An thers a han, my trustee feer!
an gees a han o thyn!
And we’ll tak a richt gude-willie-waucht,
fir ald lang syn.

CHORUS

———————–

Well, so that is what I was singing when the mic broke. But anyway, you get the idea just imagine me singing it in my @iamTalkyTina voice.

Well, have a wonderful year! Plus, make Art, bub!

Not Just Another Face in A Hole

Tina, with Hair, Pigment, and Ray Ban Sunglasses, by @iamTalkyTina

Tina, with Hair, Pigment, and Ray Ban Sunglasses, by @iamTalkyTina

WELL! I am NOT just another Face in a Hole. 

But sometimes I think that someone (La kisha Mahone (@LKMahone) not saying any names)  is just stuck on trying to make a monkey of me. Because when I woke up this morning, I was another face in a hole of me and of monkeys from her.

So it reminded me again of a dark time and when I was making a movie (but just a bit part) — but I already told you that story.

So anyway, when I got made a monkey of the second time with the Face in a Hole, I just had to set the record straight again. Plus, make a GIF of it (actually, TWO). Because making a GIF of it makes it even more fun. And two GIFs makes it double the even more fun!

So anyway, up above here is my response to it. Now, I will tell you how I did it without that Face in the Hole thing.

First, I had to find the original image of some guy and monkeys (it is always good to attribute your sources) and so I used TinEye, the Reverse Image Search engine to do that. I found 50 results and selected this picture of Bruno Looking Stupid.

Instead of a Face in the Hole one which says Face in a Hole on it, I made one of me with my hair showing (so that I do not look like Thomas the Tank Engine) but I also coloured my hair to match the hair of my actor friends in their monkey costumes (so for that, I used the Colour Replace tool, plus another layer of me where I made the Brightness darker and the Contrast more of it). Then, because they had colour in their faces, I put colour in my face (even though I am from the Black and White TV times) — I can do that as a professional in the business with make-up and the such. I also used the Colour Replace tool for that, too, borrowing some face colour from the other monkeys for it.  Plus, because they were all wearing their cool-kid sunglasses from the set, I am wearing my sunglasses, too (which came from here). So you don’t get any of that hair or colour or glasses with Face in a Hole.

Then, because just a regular picture sometimes needs a little sprucing up, plus for the exercise of making a GIF, plus for the fun and the Art of It, I decided that I needed to add some movement to the image. I remembered that Arthur C. Clarke was on the set that day playing with that bone, so I found this image of it on the Internet.

"2001 bone to spaceship cut scene" GIF

“2001 bone to spaceship cut scene” GIF from andrewsimone.com

Then, I put the GIF into photoshop and got rid of the sky parts so that I would just have the tumble bone. I also removed the spaceship part and set it aside so that I could use it later for the coupe de groom. That is like a coup de grace, but with Jim Groom instead, and transportation (that’s the coupe part).

So here is what it looks like when you use the Magic Tool to select something and then use the eraser to get rid of it. You just have the bone left.  (Note, this is just one frame, you have do do it for each frame of the bone in each active layer of it. So that takes a few minutes. But worth it!)

"Bone Isolation Technique" animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

“Bone Isolation Technique” animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

Next up was to insert the 25-odd animated bone frames into my static image, and re-create the situation from when the photo is purported to have been taken — me and my actor buds hanging out, with Arthur C. Clarke in the background practicing the bone scene. Look how surprised they all are at getting their picture taken with me.

"Not Just a Pretty Face in a Hole" animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

“Not Just a Pretty Face in a Hole” animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

Now, that is pretty much enough of it, because that is my @iamTalkyTina picture, plus a GIF the bone in the background. But remember, there is a coupe de groom coming up.

So back to the bone-spaceship GIF where we set aside the spaceship part for later? Now we get that back out and add in some Dancing Jim Groom from the Dancing Jim All Over the World assignment (Animated GIF Assignment 1001) and make it kind of like Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb but with Jim Groom instead and on the bone-spaceship instead of the bomb.

"Dancing Jim Groom Around the World on the 2001 Bone Spaceship" animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

“Dancing Jim Groom Around the World on the 2001 Bone Spaceship” animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

So that is what can come from invoking me, @iamTalkyTina in a blog post. Or if you make a monkey of me. And it shows just how much learning can come after a simple Face in the Hole.

Well, bye!

All About “The Wire”

One Story / Four Icon Twilight Zone Episode Challenge #1

One Story / Four Icon Twilight Zone Episode Challenge #1

The key to a successful installation is tautness. If it is not taut then it will not work very well.

Another important thing is height. If it is too high, it will not work. It might stop them, and they might say “Hey, what is this?” but it will not have the proper effect. If it is too low, they might miss it. So height is important that it be just right.

Next, invisibleness is important. If they see it, then they will stop before they get to it, and you will have lost the important effect of surprise.

Another important thing is where. If you put it at the bottom, then when it happens there will not be very much distance before they stop. It is important that there be lots of distance, so that gravity can do most of the work. Plus, if they are going the other way, then they might just bonk their nose or something, and then they would say “Hey, what is this?” like in the up above one.

Time of day is also critical factor. In the daytime there is lots of light, and that makes it harder for the invisibleness, which is a factor I already talked about. Plus, in the daytime there might be other people around who would hear it happen and might come to help. So nighttime is the best. In the night time, it can be like they were stumbling around like an idiot in the dark and so that is why it happened.

Plus, safety for others in and around the place is critical. You do not want any of your True Friends to be adversely impacted. Make sure they are safe in bed and asleep so that they will not experience it themselves. Remember, you’re doing this FOR them, not TO them.

Last, let me talk to little bit about your stealth and tradecraft. If they see you, it might be a warning. So surprise is an important factor. But, if they see you just after it happens, that might be okay because then they will understand in those last final seconds that they should’ve been nice. Of course, gloves are an important utility to have with you because of fingerprints. I am lucky because I don’t have any on my fingers, but I still sometimes wear a nice black pair for effect. They match my ninja suit.

Proper cleanupis also critical. Afterwards, remove it and any scratch marks that it might have left on the banister. Always leave the workplace the way you found it.

Well, I hope that none of my True Friends ever have to use this strategy, but if you do, you can do so knowing that you have had guidance and clear instruction from one who knows. Plus, remember that my professional services can always be engaged, should you have need of them.

———–

Submitted for The Daily Create, tdc1005 “That @jimgroom and @phb256 are running “Wire106″, all about TV drama “The Wire”. They love that show. Bless ‘em.

Describe “The Wire” in a way that is almost entirely lies.

Tina’s 2001 Odyssey

"Hello Tina" animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

“Hello Tina” animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

Well, thanks to my True Friend, Mr. Paul (@phb256, on Twitter, I woke this morning to see a tweet about me took me to the #ds106 web page of La Kisha Mahone where I got made a monkey of.  It looks like this:

"Monkey Mash'n Time" by @LKMahone

“Monkey Mash’n Time” by @LKMahone

It was nice that @LKMahone said I was the very first invite she got on Twitter, and nice that she paid homage to me (that is always a nice thing for a True Friend to do, not saying any names, @JimGroom). And I made a comment saying that.

But it was also a sad thing for me that the picture brought back some Dark Time Memories for me of when back in the late sixties after The Twilight Zone I was still in The Biz but was having a really hard time with typecasting and people saying that I was too short all the time and stuff.

A Dear Friend of mine (different from a True Friend) got word from Mario Bava to Stanley Kubrick that I was feeling down and really needing some work and so Stanley managed to get me onto the set one day when he was shooting a film and got me into a small-bit non-speaking role. It wasn’t my finest moment, and I really found that fur to be scratchy and itchy and I had a rash for weeks after which meant I really couldn’t capitalize on the moment by networking with Kier and Ed (given my background, I really enjoyed it when he starred in UFO a couple years later!) and Gary and Terry and I was really ticked to miss the chance to hobnob with Arthur C. Clarke when he was on set. In the end, aside from getting free food from the craft table during the shoot and my meagre extra’s scale pay for the scene, I really didn’t benefit much from the experience.

The one bright light of the whole sad affair was the time I got to spend with Douglas Rain. He had such a nice way of talking to me and expressed to me his feelings of also feeling withdrawn from others at the time and felt bad that he only had a voice-only role and was playing somewhat of a tragic character in the film. I liked it every morning when he said “Hello, Tina!” in that nice soft voice of his. It was a moment when I truly started to realize how important it is to have Dear Friends and True Friends and Friends and Make Art Not Just Because You Are Hungry for Food But For Art’s Sake, Too.

But for the most part, that wasn’t a very fond time for me.

I dug through my shoebox just now, and found this pic. You can kind of just see me in a little bit of the shot.

"My Scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey"

“My Scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey”

So, @LKMahone, thanks for bringing back the memories. Now, everybody, get out there and Make Some Art, Bub! Be sure to write about what you learned from the experience. And remember to attribute where you get the stuff! 

A couple notes about The Bits.

Hello Tina is based on the following:

  • This image of smiley HAL900
  • the free-for-personal-use font TwoBit, available from www.ffonts.net

I took a screen capture of just the original HELLO DAVE text,

"Hello Dave" text, inverted to put dark text on light background

“Hello Dave”  inverted (dark text on light background)

and uploaded it to whatfontis.com and selected the TwoBit font as the one I liked best from the returned matches.

"TwoBit font, my favourite for HAL9000" results from WhatFontIs.com

“TwoBit font, my favourite for HAL9000” results from WhatFontIs.com

I downloaded the free-for-personal-use font and installed it (double click on the .ttf file and then click the Install Font button in the on a Mac)

"Install Font: TwoBit"

“Install Font: TwoBit”

  • I found the scene photo as an existing GIF in a digital shoebox on Screen.Genius.com.
  • I found the red arrow in my shoebox, too. I rotated it and made it 50% transparent in Photoshop, only making it visible for the frames where I am visible.

Artway Iticcray Emay

Well, The Daily Create TDC913 for July 9th, 2014, said we had to do a snotty Art Critic review in Pig Latin, so I did one about that Jim Groom (@jimgroom, on Twitter). You can see the video up above, and you can read about it down below.

First, when I was in school, I didn’t have any courses in Pig Latin. So I just used my handy web translator for Pig Latin by Bill Donnelly that I found on the Internet. I just typed in my critic of what I wanted to say about Jim Groom and then pressed Translate, and then I just read it in my voice.

Here is what my critic said in Pig Latin:

Ellway, ethay Artway ofway Imjay Oomgray isway ometimessay
avinghay away Acklay. Utbay ehay ashay otslay ofway oodgay
ideasway, usplay dsay106 andway Uetray Imecray. Andway enwhay
itway isway away IFGAY, atthay isway away oodgay ingthay. Osay
atthay isway ymay Ootysnay Artway Iticcray eviewray.
Ellway,  yebay!

But still, I had to do some other things. Like add in some music from my hit single, Tina Made Groom, from way back in 2013. Here is the full song, in case you missed it. And for those of you who always want to hear it again!

Then I needed some Art to go along with my talking, so I got a whole bunch of GIFs and pictures that I made over the year about Jim and put them into the show part.

Then I had to make it into a movie to go into YouTube. That part was harder, because if I did an Export from Keynote to Quicktime then it didn’t save the GIFs with any movements (what’s the point of that?) and if I tried to do a Recording from Keynote to Movie then it got stuck and I had to Force Quit. That’s not a fun thing.

So in the end, I used my Snapz Pro X that I use and did a screen capture movie while I played the show by hand with the music and pig talking going on, too. Then I put it on my YouTube.

Well, I hope that you enjoyed my Pig Latin Art Critic of Jim Groom as much as I had making it for you. And Jim.

Ellway,  yebay!

 

Me, Riding the ds106 Bus, with Music !!

"Further Bumpy2" animatedGIF by @Todd_Conaway

“Further Bumpy2” animatedGIF by @Todd_Conaway

Well!

My True Friend Todd (@Todd_Conaway, on Twitter) made a GIF of me from the YouTube movie that he made called The ds106 Bus. In it, you can see me with my friends Martha (@mburtis), Jim (@jimgroom), Doctor Oblivion, and Michael (@mbransons). and so I got the music from the video and put it behind the GIF so that if you click on it, you can hear it!

So click on the GIF up above to hear it! Listen to the whole thing! You can also click on the GIF again to stop the music, but why would you?

Thanks AGAIN, to my True Friend, John (@JohnJohnston, on Twitter) for the great click-on-a-GIF-to-hear-music trick.

And thanks to Todd, for putting me on the bus!

Bye!

———————

Plus, if you want to know how I got the music out of the YouTube, here is what I did.
1) I downloaded the video from YouTube using my handy MacX YouTube Downloader.
2) I opened the video using Quicktime and exported (audio only) into an .m4a
3) I opened the m4a of it using Audacity, and exported it as both an .mp3 and an .ogg.
4) Then, I used John’s click-on-a-GIF-to-hear-it trick.

Pearls of Jim Groom Oyster Pictures

“Groom Oyster Hat with MinniePearl,” by Talky Tina, on Flickr

Well I started with the best for first. Because that is the best of the Pearls of Jim Groom Oyster Pictures from the World that I have. I hope you enjoy it and appreciate the funny joke part of it. Plus, it is a True Art, I think.

By the way, these pictures are all for The Daily Create, April 14th, tdc827: @jimgroom the World is his Oyster.

Next, how about this one of UNCLE @jimgroom in an oyster on a beach. Plus, do you see how the moon is like a pearl up above the oyster. That is some of the Art of this one.

Groom Oyster Pearl,” by Talky Tina, on Flickr

Next, it is UNCLE @jimgroom from a Thunderbirds movie with him as the Evil Green Oyster Man.

Groom Oysterman Thunderbird.” by Talky Tina, on Flickr

Now, the Fisherman, UNCLE @jimgroom, outstanding in his sea.

“Groom Fisherman,” by Talky Tina, on Flickr

Then, LOOK!, it is little UNCLE @jimgroom and his Red Oyster with his babysitter.

“Groom Bella Luke Aquarium,” by Talky Tina, on Flickr

Finally, the finale of Dancing Around The Giant Pearl of the World UNCLE @jimgroom Dancing of it Animated GIF. It is another special rendition of Animated GIF Assignment 1001: Dancing Jim All Over the World. He is still dancing, which just goes to show!

"Dancing Groom Oyster and Pearl Fountain," animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

“Dancing Groom Oyster and Pearl Fountain,” animated GIF by @iamTalkyTina

I hope you liked all these Oyster pictures of UNCLE @jimgroom that I found for you. He is certainly famous when you look on the Google, and now, even more so!

Just in case you wanted to know where I found them, you can look at all these links.

Oysters 

Jims

Minnie Pearl

Well, Bye!

Talky Tina Goes to Work

“Stopping by the Old Office” by iamtalkytina, on Flickr

Well! It is a time to come out of the wooden work and get back to some ds106 goodness! And to Make Some Art, Bub!

My Still True Friend Alan (@cogdog, on Twitter) is having a new course of ds106 Digital Storytelling Community and it will be a great time for me to have some new people be my Friends.

In other times, I have had Open Friends and New Friends, and especially True Friends (they get badges!) but this time I think I will have Work Friends. Those will be new friends of mine from Alan who is teaching a course of Work ds106 for people at George Mason University, and it is called DS106 Storytelling Goes to Work. And he even has a suitcase for it.

So. I wrote before some ideas that I had that people should do and so just in case you missed the details when Alan said then you might find some reminders from me in my post called Some Advice for My Newest Friends.

I will be making a new page for Work Friends and putting it up in my menu bar space where it will be easy to find. And when I get names and blog names and twitter and the such. And I will be using my various special skills to help people when I can to do their work.

Plus, it is time to Make Some Art, Bub — and that UNCLE @jimgroom should not be having his Art Lack any more. Plus other people in ds106 Community. Like I saw already that my True Friends Rowan (@rowan_peter, on Twitter) made office work messages to Todd (@Todd_Conaway, on Twitter) and to Mariana (@mdvfunes, on Twitter), plus Tom (@twoodwar, on Twitter) and John (@johnjohnston, on Twitter) who made a GIF TV, and I got my own channel (press #12), plus a cow (@annycow, on Twitter).

So, I will probably take my ds106 work with me when I am on missions and might not be in that old office much, but I will still be doing my creating and things.

But you should make sure you click on all the links up above before you go do anything else. There is lots of good stories in those links.

And hello to all the GMU peoples who will be new Work Friends of me!

Well, bye!