So I went for a wee stroll around Upper Hutt last night with my new Xiaomi Mi5 – which is a most pleasing phone I might add – and felt compelled to take a few photos.
They came out looking pretty good but then I started goofing around with Paintlab and the results were way more interesting. I don’t know how they do it but they seem to achieve the sort of results one could achieve from #DeepStyle but it would render in a few seconds on a phone instead of taking minutes or hours cranking a neural net on a high end PC.
Window on Fergie DriveSame window on Fergie DriveSomeones front yardTaniwhaTree on Main Street
Anyways. I totally rate this phone and Paintlab is choice.
So here we have one of the early works of aronimus. Landscape at Dusk. I fiddled around with the octave value, but otherwise left all the other parameters alone.
The original image is an acrylic on canvas piece involving extensive dry brush techniques. Which isn’t all that obvious from the mediocre photo I took… 😛
Landscape at Dusk Original Painting
At an octave value of 2 we have not much of a change. Just an overlay of interesting shapes and eyeballs.
Landscape at Dusk – Octave 2
At an octave value of 7, things get rather interesting. 3d writhing worm like creatures, a figure with a deformed head and where did that duck come from?
Landscape at Dusk – Octave 7
Quite a different result with an octave level of 10.
Landscape at Dusk – Octave 10
I had a big play around with photos of oil refineries the other night and was going to post them but they were simply not all that interesting. A machine working repetitively on the imagery of a rather linear and repetitive machine created all very repetitive and linear results. Yawn… Though may have been more interesting if I had done what I did tonight with some octave tweaking. I shall revisit a couple and see if they become worthy of the internets… Or maybe warp them a bit in photoshop. Yes.. that could work.
aronimus discovers deep dream and manages to actually make it work!
So after traipsing through the creative desert for some time now aronimus stumbled across this juicy visual goodness that is Googles deep dream. Not being content with looking at the creations of others, or queuing in line on the overloaded servers making this tech available to the masses, yours truly did set his mind into ubergeek mode. The task: with no knowledge of Python and scant knowledge of programming or linux for that matter, make Googles code work on his trusty, if aging, i7.
The code is actually quite easy to use. Getting the linux VM up to run it… not so easy. But after 2 evening’s of brain hurting exertions…. here are some of the early results.
temple ruin viewed through the lens of deep dream
Not sure I’m down with all the dogs that keep coming up. Apparently this is because of the copious amount of cute doggy pics in the the Google dataset. Must look into finding a way to load other datasets. Managed to get what one could only call a hipposlug in the picture above though. Interestingly the Hermit managed to come through looking much the same. Could this be that the image is in the dataset so the neural net actually knows what it is so no need to invent fanciful interpretations? Not sure what that is bottom right. A morbidly obese Jack Russel?
Deep dream landscape
Rather pleased with this rainbow hued kaleidoscope of weirdness.
Cliff Walk deep dream infection
Defintely pleased with Eketahuna’s Cliff Walk land of mutated forest dwellers.
Because Google were feeling generous I’m feeling generous too.
1. No need to use Powershell. Use the command prompt
2. No need to set the path variable, it does it itself.
3. For those unfamiliar with navigating a filesystem in Linux… If you can’t find the ‘vagrant’ folder once you get the VM running… type “cd /” then “ls”
Here we have another chapter on the life journey of Harun bin Perci al-Zelandi and a wee treatise on that great enigma “The meaning of life”
And lo, Harun Bin Perci al-Zelandi did venture forth unto the countryside and it was all very pleasant up there in his caravan in his paddock, surrounded by lambs and grass and rednecks. By day, hawks flew vigil overhead while bellbirds and tuis called out in the trees. By night, the sound of rampant cattle beasts in the surrounding farm land and sneaksie stock rustlers killing sheep.
Alas, the place was all together uninspiring for the cultured sensitivities of a great prophet and sage. Hence the total lack of updates. He could write about shit that would be highly amusing but got people in trouble or ramble on about the banalities of eating and sleeping. Much like so many fools Facebook feeds. Then again, posting images of his fathers cooking disasters could have provided much mirth.
Ultimately though, the meaning of life could not be found in a caravan in a paddock in Eketahuna. Now, back in the great urbanised locality of the Hutt Valley, Harun shall share his musings with renewed vigour! Allahu akhbar!
Country retreat
Speaking of the meaning of life…
Early on in the piece, your humble narrator did muse about a place in Thailand and Laos called Sala Kae Ku. Wandering into his hotel one night in Nong Khai he chanced upon a piece of black and white printed A4 which stated “The meaning of life is in Nong Khai” and happened to be the key to all those confounding mythological statues located at Sala Kae Ku. He thought he’d share this with his avid readers and random Google searchers…
aronimus took a photo of it, but fortunately another traveller managed to scan a copy of a similar document, though without purporting to know the meaning of life, merely claiming to be a diagram of The Wheel of Life. Which looks much better than aronimus’ grainy image, so here it is.
Wheel of life
Bask in its awesomeness! If you click on it, it’s actually big enough to read the text, no less. Anyways, it all about being born and marrying and rooting and breeding and cheating and ultimately dying. While all this is going on, one is dodging or embracing the influences of te poaka (police), suits, love, crims and beggars among other things. So armed with this legendary piece of A4 born wisdom, may thou safely navigate the influences on your horizons. Make of it what thou will.
Go forth and be born and live full lives and die a good death! Amen.
Harun takes the dog for a morning walk in Eketahuna and does some Qigong next to an electrified compound.
The sun did stream in this morning and Harun did venture forth from the freezing cold confines of his caravan. By night there is a tendency for the skies to clear and many a star can be seen. The milky way shows itself in magnificent brilliance. So quiet too…. very peaceful! Except it is bitterly cold and after a brief observance of the workings of the universe, Harun is forced inside to the relative comfort of his cheap Warehouse oil column heater. There are benefits to this, for Harun needeth no refrigerator. Here merely places his milk and beers outside the door.
Vertically growing tree on Cliff Walk.
Having consumed breakfast he took the family dog Mate aka Pukanani aka Manatle for a walk around this small town. This included Eketahuna’s one and only walking track, Cliff Walk. Harun mused unto himself that a rather nice walk it is too. The sun was streaming down and Harun took in the vista of tree and river and State Highway 2. This was pleasing unto Harun and he declared this to henceforth be, his super secret gong spot! It also happened to be right next to some random survivalist’s electrified compound. There was a 2 metre high electric fence and video cameras and warning signs though the place was clearly uninhabited at present. He proceed to engage in the Chinese monastic Qigong system Jen Jhi Dao (Pearl Way of Heaven) in front of the local bovine community. They were not very interested, in fact they were blissfully unaware as they milled about on the river flats below, munching grass and chewing cud. Mate performed his own gongs the whole time, by gleefully excavating dirt around an old pine tree. Harun shall go further into Jen Jhi Dao at a later date for it would seem the internet knows not of its very existence.
The ancient tennis club ruins situated at Eketahuna
Feeling both relaxed and invigorated from his exertions, Harun and Mate carried on their way. They came upon a pine forest… an overgrown and broken forest it was. They ventured forth and the forest did yield a large clearing which contained the magnificent ruins of the old Eketahuna Tennis Club. Some miscreant had sprayed “FTP” upon the wall in blatant disregard for a place of such historic significance!
Now satisfied with their morning adventures, the pair did stroll on back to the abode.
The woman on the rock sits there sunning herself. Engaged in the contemplation of greater insight. This does not specifically mean she has received greater insight on anything in particular. Merely giving thought to the concept.
The Fishermans Wife. Kep – Cambodia
This statue is known as The Fishermans Wife and located in the former resort town of Kep in Cambodia. When aronimus visited Kep it was pretty much all in ruins. A scattering of stripped out villas left over from the french colonial days.
Here we see the hidden junction at Kaitoki Regional Park. The location of the mythical Rivendell. Founded by Elrond and home of the elves.
A path runs through the rainforest there. Winding its way among fern and tree. Uma and Harun walk this path and stop in a small clearing before a great tree. They pause for a photo opportunity. Totally unaware of the hidden junction they are standing upon. A fire elemental doth materialise from a portal in the path. They become aware of a choice before them. One could continue on down the usual path as most everyone else has before… Or one could take the fork to the right. Wander off into the forest and seek the primate self. To devolve. To shed all trappings of civilisation and reside in the forest. The sharp eyed crow is down that path. Watching and waiting…
Uma pauses for a photo opportunity. Completely unaware of the going on around him.
The artist sits here musing into his visual diary. Beer or contemplation on greater things.
Having consumed a number of beers he pauses to consider… should I have a couple more beers and a feed of noodles? Should I be content with this? Or should I seek something greater.
Maybe that is what is happening here.
Maybe he’s tripping out, that temples doing some weird warpy shit man… and just maybe a beer and a feed of noodles just might put things straight. Not sure who normally eats noodles when they’re drinking beers. Whatever is going on, that crow is looking on as always…
the artist aronimus sits musing into his visual diary. Images of his past experience warp in the background.
While writing this up, I did ponder on these lyrics by Sublime while looking upon this creation.
Life is too short so love the one you got, Cos you might get run over or you might get shot
Death is coming for all of us… it maybe tomorrow or 60 years from now.
Compared to the scale of the great workings of the universe, our time here is so very, very short.
The sharp eyed crow sits at the end of the row of meditating figures. He’ll claim us all in the end.
Whilst we still draw breath, it might be prudent to pour ones energy into what the heart wants.
Stand still for a moment… Perfectly still. Look around you and take in the workings of the universe.
Harun was walking through the botanic gardens some years back. There had been a recent volcanic eruption in South America. Up near the observatory he did see the full moon rise above the Rimutaka ranges and it was blood red. He then did sit upon a park bench and marvel at this most wondrous natural phenomena!
Whilst taking it in, he did look upon the the suits busily walking past on their way home… tuned into their iPods, horse blinkers on walking flat out in an almighty great hurry. Only one guy actually noticed it and briefly stopped to observe the rare sight before continuing on his way. Everyone else was oblivious.
As we rush through the daily tasks of our busy lives, it is so easy to miss the beautiful things that make life worth living. Stand still for a moment and see what you’re missing.
This scene is happening in a secluded corner of Ta Prohm Temple in Cambodia.
