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There are 276 blog entries within the category of Blog Entry
 The traditional type of scale allowed for the weighings
One afternoon she presented me with what she claimed to be one of the most difficult logic puzzles she had ever attempted. Evidently her father had given her this at one point. I honestly can't remember if she ever managed to solve it or not, but I spent the next couple of days playing with it and much to my joy, eventually solving it.
The puzzle and my solution are below.
Puzzle:
There are 12 balls. One of them is either heavier or lighter then the other 11. Assume that you have access to a traditional balance scale (one side is weighed against the other). Using only three weighing, determine which ball is off weight AND if it is heavier or lighter than the rest of the balls.
Solution for a 4x4x4 grouping:
Start by numbering the balls 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. Because they can be re-arranged in any order without losing our principle, we can defer to the standard mathematical concept of WLOG (without loss of generality).
Step One
First Possibility: 1 2 3 4 > 5 6 7 8
1,2,3,4 are greater or 5,6,7,8 are lighter (9,10,11,12 are equal)
Second Possibility: 1 2 3 4 < 5 6 7 8
1,2,3,4 are lighter or 5,6,7,8 are heavier (9,10,11,12 are equal)
Third Possibility: 1 2 3 4 = 5 6 7 8
9,10,11,12 are either heavier or lighter (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 are equal)
Step Two of First Possibility
First Possibility: 1 2 5 11 > 3 4 6 12
1,2 are heavier or 6 is lighter
Second Possibility: 1 2 5 11 < 3 4 6 12
5 is lighter or 3,4 are greater
Third Possibility: 1 2 5 11 = 3 4 6 12
7,8 are lighter
Step Two of Second Possibility
First Possibility: 5 6 1 11 > 7 8 2 12
5,6 are greater or 2 is lighter
Second Possibility: 5 6 1 11 < 7 8 2 12
1 is lighter or 7,8 are greater
Third Possibility: 5 6 1 11 = 7 8 2 12
3,4 are lighter
Step Two of Third Possibility
First Possibility: 9 10 1 > 11 2 3
9,10 are greater or 11 is lighter
Second Possibility: 9 10 1 < 11 2 3
9,10 are lighter or 11 is greater
Third Possibility: 9 10 1 = 11 2 3
12 is either lighter or heavier
Step Three of First Possibility of First Possibility
First Possibility: 1 6 > 11 12
1 is the heavier ball
Second Possibility: 1 6 < 11 12
6 is the lighter ball
Third Possibility: 1 6 = 11 12
2 is the heavier ball
Step Three of Second Possibility of First Possibility
First Possibility: 3 5 > 11 12
3 is the heavier ball
Second Possibility: 3 5 < 11 12
5 is the lighter ball
Third Possibility: 3 5 = 11 12
4 is the heavier ball
Step Three of Third Possibility of First Possibility
First Possibility: 7 < 12
7 is the lighter ball
Second Possibility: 7 = 12
8 is the lighter ball
Step Three of First Possibility of Second Possibility
First Possibility: 5 2 > 11 12
5 is the heavier ball
Second Possibility: 5 2 < 11 12
2 is the lighter ball
Third Possibility: 5 2 = 11 12
6 is the heavier ball
Step Three of Second Possibility of Second Possibility
First Possibility: 1 7 > 11 12
7 is the heavier ball
Second Possibility: 1 7 < 11 12
1 is the lighter ball
Third Possibility: 1 7 = 11 12
8 is the heavier ball
Step Three of Third Possibility of Second Possibility
First Possibility: 3 < 12
3 is the lighter ball
Second Possibility: 3 = 12
4 is the lighter ball
Step Three of First Possibility of Third Possibility
First Possibility: 9 11 > 1 2
9 is the heavier ball
Second Possibility: 9 11 < 1 2
11 is the lighter ball
Third Possibility: 9 11 = 1 2
10 is the heavier ball
Step Three of Second Possibility of Third Possibility
First Possibility: 9 11 > 1 2
11 is the heavier ball
Second Possibility: 9 11 < 1 2
9 is the lighter ball
Third Possibility: 9 11 = 1 2
10 is the lighter ball
Step Three of Third Possibility of Third Possibility
First Possibility: 12 > 1
12 is the heavier ball
Second Possibility: 12 < 1
12 is the lighter ball
Solution started on Thursday July 22, 1999 @ approximately 12:00 AM EST
Solution completed on Sunday July 25, 1999 @ 7:44PM EST
Time of solution was approximately 3 days 19 hours and 44 minutes
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 Ginger Spice signing autographs for her fans in Manhattan
Naturally I had my video camera strapped to one arm, my Minolta 35mm strapped to the other, and a backpack of film and tapes strapped to my back. It sounds like I'm kidding, but I most certainly am not. I wound up shooting a few 35mm pics of her but decided that I would also film some of the event. Here are some of the stills from the Sony Digital 8mm tape that I shot. ...and yes, I am most certainly ashamed of myself for the celebrity hunt, especially in the case of a damn Spice Girl.
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Take away all of the nails and screws. Not a bad idea to cut down on the materials used in bombs. But why stop there? Get rid of aluminum, tin, copper, silver, and every other metal on the periodic table. Ban the creation alloys, synthetic metals, and anything else that could be used for shrapnel. We could have a whole society built with wood, rope, plastic, and an occasional squirt of glue. Maybe we could just live in tents. I agree with Ryan, guns don't kill people, people kill people. But let's change that just a bit. People buy guns, and then people kill people. Would it help to change the second amendment? Probably. People argue that taking away guns is taking away from their entertainment. I guess it is always fun to go and pop Bambi now and then, but how much is that fun really worth? Does anybody think that the people in Colorado are saying, "It's so great that Americans can buy guns off of the shelf to hunt with..."? Of course not. If the banning of guns will cut back on your leisure time, find a new hobby. I certainly do not want anyone banning football. It's a great sport. Likewise, I am sure that hunting is just as great of a sport. But when crazy fuckers start going to Oshmans to stock up on footballs, walk into schools, and start killing people with them, I will be happy to change my opinion.
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Alive April Chase is the first movie I've ever shot on actual film. The film is being shot for my RTF314 class on a Super-8 reel.
Script
Open with computerized credits.
* three-o-three productions presents (hold and fade)
* a film by: Kevin Ludlow (hold and fade)
* Alive (fade) April (fade) Chase (hold and fade)
SCENE 1
(the printing press)
Opening shot takes place in the Daily Texan newspaper room. A person is sitting at their desk hard a work on a sketch. After a few seconds of shooting, they get up and walk out of the room (cut).
Begin in the hallway outside of the door and follow them from the front down the hallway with the paper in their hand. (cut)
As they walk into the pressroom we are behind them again following along to a table. They reach their hand down to the table.(cut)
Do a close shot of their hand setting down the paper on the desk and zoom out as they walk off and someone else picks it up. The person who picked it up walks it over to the press machine and appears to be laying it for the copying process. (cut)
We follow the press machine along and it should appear that we are following the paper that was just put in. (cut)
Do a close up of two of three of the machine processes.
Finally get a frontal shot of the paper coming out of the machine as it slides down the beltway. (cut)
Somebody walks in from the other angle and picks up the stack of papers and sets them down on a desk. The person leaves the room and the camera “walks” over to the papers and up above them. In this same shot the camera slowly gets closer and closer to the papers from the top until the shot is completely black and out of focus. (cut)
SCENE 2
("April Chase")
We zoom out of the blackened paper and as we do it opens to the comic section. We pan over on top of a comic strip titled “April Chase”
The "April Chase" scene is animated in single frame 12fps mode. There will be 360 frames shot or 30 seconds of 12fps animation. When played back at 18fps this will appear to be a faster 20 second shot of “April Chase” moving about. (cut)
The paper quickly closes itself up and we see yet another person tying up the papers with rope or twine. As they do this a light blinds the camera (slowly pan a flashlight at the lens). (cut)
This shot is the hardest to film because it is so time consuming. The camera sits atop the roof for one hour before sunset. Every 20 seconds one frame should be shot. After one hour of this, 180 frames will have been shot, or 10 seconds of a time lapsed sunset. (the flashlight in the previous shot is necessary to make a smooth cut from the dark shot to the sun shot)
SCENE 3
(delivering)
We see the paper trucks driving out on their way delivering papers to the boxes. (cut)
There is a shot of the driver getting into his truck and backing out. (cut)
We are in the street as he pulls into the street as well. (cut)
We see him at a Daily Texan box dropping off a stack of papers. (cut) and then at another one (cut) and then at one more. (scene fades to black) (to do this, completely underexpose the frame one F-Stop at a time).
SCENE 4
(reading the comic)
(scene 4 is subject to change)
We follow one more person as they make their way in the morning.
Shoot them walking down the street and picking up a Daily Texan from the stack. (cut)
As they open the box door of it, the camera appears to be inside of the box but is really behind it. We see them reach towards us to pick up the paper. (cut)
The camera moves out of the way as the person walks over to a bench and opens the paper. The camera is steady in front of them as they chuckle just a bit. They throw the newspaper down on the bench, get up, and leave. The newspaper is sitting stuck to the side of the bench due to the wind. (use a fan and a piece of tape on the back of the newspaper for this shot). We zoom into the newspaper once more and again see "April Chase". (cut)
We go back to single frame animation but this seen will only appear to be 5-10 seconds long at 18fps. "April Chase" turns and looks at the camera and shrugs her shoulders at us. (fade to black). (cut)
'No Mas' fades into the screen.
THE END.
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While living at the Duval Street apartment, my roommates and I had quite an elaborate display of crap in front of our apartment door. Most of this was designed / put in place by none other than me. We had a park bench, an assortment of fruits and vegetables, plants, a 400 pound wooden Shiner Beer bottle, and for Halloween of 1998, a cool pumpkin.
Seeing on how our apartment was a common ground of music lovers and such (we had the full band setup in the apartment), I guess classic rock was always something that everyone could agree upon, regardless of their specific music tastes. And of course somewhere atop everyone's classic rock stack is a collection of Led Zeppelin. I wanted to make a cool looking pumpkin that everyone would find some interest in and so I looked to Led Zeppelin. Perhaps one of the most known symbols (at least to the LedHeads) is Jimmy Page's "Zoso".
Making the Pumpkin
The process of making a "Zoso" pumpkin is actually pretty simple.
1. Go to your local pumpkin patch
2. Pick out a nice looking 8 pounder
3. Pull out all of those tasty pumpkin guts
4. Surf the web for a picture of the Zoso logo
5. Print the picture and tape it to the pumpkin
6. Use a tack to outline the picture
7. Remove the picture and cut away on the tack holes
That's about it. For anyone who is mildly curious as to what in the hell Zofo means, I couldn't tell you. I've read far too many accounts to really speculate where it came from but the simplest one is that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were looking at calligraphy-like symbols. Jimmy Page found one that he liked and apparently the symbol 'sounded' like "Zofo" (apparently pronounced Zo-So). From that point on, it was sort of a trademark of his. For any of those now curious as to who the hell Jimmy Page is, he is/was the guitarist of Led Zeppelin and is credited with being one of the more (if not most) famous classic rock guitarists.
 The pumpkin glowing on my front porch
 Another picture of the same thing
 A closeup of the 'Zoso' logo
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After heading back to Austin for my sophomore year in college, I put this little album together for Sarah Wagner. The original title track on the album had been crafted for her several months earlier.
Sarah was from Oklahoma. The artwork used throughout the album was taken from the storm systems common to the area.
Track Listing
 The front and the inside of the CD jacket
 The back of the CD jacket
Duval Street
Written and Recorded September 1998
Music by Victor Perez
Lyrics by Victor Perez
Guitars: Kevin Ludlow
Vocals: Victor Perez
Small Lake of Wishes
Written and Recorded June 1998
Music by Kevin Ludlow
Guitars: Kevin Ludlow
Bass: Kevin Ludlow
Drums: Kevin Ludlow
Duval Street Lyrics
Duval Street is where we live
Four guys: Chuck, Vic, and Kev
Don't forget the one who brought the first girl
He's the one, he's the only shadow
He knows a girl named Christina
She's blonde
She's a Kappa Delta
He sleeps only five feet away from me
Living in this place I feel so free
We have a back porch where we smoke our cigarettes
We sit down on the one dollar chairs and talk about
How we did nothing all day
Nothing all day
It's okay on Duval Street
Duval Street...
Duval Street...
Take me home
Make me cry
Kevin knows a girl that goes to Duchense
Her name is Sarah she's in the 12th grade
She woke me up today and told me happy she was to be on Duval Street
She's so sweet, she makes him happy
Sometimes she sits on my lappy
Chuck's in his room taking a nappy
Don't forget to give it a tappy-tappy
Tappy-Tappy
A tappy-tappy
Chuck is happy
Kevin's happy
Ludlow's happy
Kevin's happy
Mike is happy
Shadow's happy
Chuckle's happy
VP's happy
Victor's happy
We're all happy
Cook me some spaghetti, Kevin
Duval Street...
Does this bus go to Duval Street?
Or 32nd Street, that'll be just fine.
Shhh...
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