Composer and Programmer
Reorchestrating the Overture
Feb 3rd
As some of you already know, and some of you probably don’t, I am writing a musical about nerds. Recently, with changes to the plot to make the show less predictable, I found myself needed to make changes to the music. It was at this point that I discovered that my original plan of having a synthesizer do the string and brass parts was too restricting. So, to take advantage of Sibelius 6’s feature set and to give myself more room to breathe musically, I killed the synth and replaced with a brass section and a string section. Anyway, here is the rewrite of the Overture, opening song, and the play-off for the opening song.
[MP3]
Also, I tend to update my Facebook Page with music-related updates more often than I do here.
Video a Day Project Update
Jan 28th
I am slightly behind on the project but is still going. Today, expect several more videos to appear, mainly from juggling club.
After MusicHostr
Jan 27th
After I finish the rewrite of MusicHostr, I am reviving a previously dead project.
Then again, zymio never really died.
A Myth About Penn State
Jan 26th
With 40,000+ students here at University Park, one common misconception rises. People entering Penn State believe that you will rarely run into people you know around campus.
As a second semester Penn State student, I would like to say that this is a load of hogwash. Everytime I travel around campus, I run into at least one person I know and recognize at least three others a distance away from me, all in the timespan of a minute or two. During my walk from physics to math this morning, I counted 28 people that I know the names and majors of walking past me on the sidewalk, one of whom is a girl I like but can’t quite find the time to try and get anything started with her.
Even when walking around campus, I am constantly recognized. I hear shouts of “Colton,” “Provias,” and even the occasional “CJ.” It happens to me about twice to three times a day. Unfortunately, I sometimes fail to connect face to name or to where I know them from and simply respond with “Hey…uh…”
So in short, you will recognize people quite often at Penn State. It’s not quite the sea of faces people think it is. Heck, I know many people here and many people know me.
Although, I think I might be a little too involved here at Penn State.
Nah.
Fitting In
Jan 25th
When somebody talks about fitting in, it is assumed that they are referring to changing themselves to better fit in. But when I came to Penn State, I was worried more about if I could fit by being myself.
To those who don’t know me and are just starting to follow me, I’m a person who hacked MIT and then got rejected from there. Of course the rejection and the hack are not related except for both being related to their admissions deparment. I had tried to make myself into more of a computer science student to get in. When I entered Penn State, I didn’t know if I could survive being myself.
I have always enjoyed entertainment in many forms. Whether it be live performance or a recorded show, I find myself pining to get out of the audience and to help put on the show. Computer programming is not my love in life, but merely a tool I use to bring entertainment and social interaction to others. MusicHostr was not created for me, but rather to give other composers a method to much more easily entertain a larger audience. My real love lies in the art itself, rather than the tools used to create and distribute it. There is not a day that goes by that at least ten melodic themes arise in my head, just to go unwritten and fade into less than the faintest memory. I look everywhere and see many things in one: mathematical patterns, physics, nature, geometry, and subjects for art. I capture many scenes across campus in video, but even that video fails to go anywhere.
As I walk into Fisher Hall during one of my weekly attempts to gain a chance to play the piano, I find it taken by another young pianist who is crafting their art to no audience at all. The work they are producing in many cases is doomed to go unheard by many ears. But, as a sign of encouragement, I don’t walk away. Instead I sit and observe their work, listening to every tone. And when I hear something strong enough, I do take leave but return with my own saxophone to join in with the artist behind the keyboard. The music may only be heard by us, but at least it is being produced.
I dream of being able to push a new song out every few days, to be able to finish my musical, and to work on a film. But I am never in a prime position to get this done. My class schedule keeps me away from my tools from dawn until midnight. And after returning, I find myself exhausted and spending more time doing homework. My tools go unopened, but hope is not lost.
While walking out of a room in Innovation Park, a few miles off campus, I realized that I do fit in much better to Penn State than I thought. I may not be the computer science nerd that I tried to be for MIT, but I am something better: myself, the entertainer and artist. At Penn State, I broadcast music and sports entertainment via radio at The LION 90.7fm through a transmitter that can be heard on radios for miles. I do work on television broadcasts to campus through PSNtv. My equipment is getting use in Second Floor Studios to bring comedic material to the internet. I even do stand-up comedy infront of live audiences with Second Floor Stand-up and juggle with the Penn State Juggling Club. And when I get a chance, I sit down and play the piano until another pianist walks in, whom I will gladly give up my seat at the piano just to watch them get a chance to perfect their art.
I have finally fit in. I’m not the mindless drone of a programmer that I tried to be in my past. I am a distributer of art, performer of art, appreciator of art, and a creator of art.
I am Colton J. Provias. I am myself.
Heads up
Jan 19th
This is just a heads up. Expect regular updates to resume this week.
On a side note: I just filled up 3 TB of HDD with HD video and audio. Expect a new video later this week or some time next week.
Server Move
Jan 4th
Due to technical issues, all of my websites will be moved to a different server over the next 24 to 48 hours. There will be downtime. I apologize for any inconvenience.
UPDATE: The first phase of the server move has been completed.
Daily Video
Jan 3rd
As I have previously discussed, I will be doing a video per day for all of 2010. Well, the project has started and as I stated in the first video, there are a few guidelines I have to follow.
- 1 video-per-day
- Videos cannot be posted in advance
- Videos can be posted late as long as they follow sequentially so no dates are skipped
- As a bonus, try to do something different with the technical aspects of each video.
Two days down so far, 363 left. You can find the videos on my YouTube channel.
The Climax
Dec 31st
So my family just bought The Climax, the world’s only drive-thru strip club. Here are some links for those who haven’t heard of it:
- Hold the Pickles, Please (Time Magazine)
- World’s Only Drive-Thru Strip Club (RoadsideAmerica)
- Road Trip – Pennsylvania’s Drive-Thru Strip Club (Automopedia.org – Best Pictures)
The club has also been featured on David Letterman. I’ll be getting video later today and some pictures will be appearing on my Twitter feed.
Alert and Confirm Dialogs for jQuery UI
Dec 31st
In zymio and now in MusicHostr, I’ve developed a few solutions to simplify problems. So I present to you my confirm and alert dialog solutions. These extensions to jQuery UI are meant to simplify alerts and confirmation dialogs considerably.
Installation
- Download jQuery UI 1.7.2.
- Download dialogs.js.
- Include the following code in the head of your HTML file(s):
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="path/to/jquery-ui-1.7.custom.css" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="path/to/jquery-1.3.2.min.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="path/to/jquery-ui-1.7.2.custom.min.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="path/to/dialogs.js"></script>
Quick Alert
To quickly display an alert, all you need is:
$.alert({text: "This is an alert!"});
That’s it. Quite easy, isn’t it?
Displaying a Confirm Dialog
A confirm dialog would take more code. Here’s just a quick and dirty example of how code would be written for a confirm dialog:
$.confirm({ text: "Click OK to release the hounds.", ontrue: function () { $.alert({text: "The hounds have been released."}); } });
Customizing Dialogs
There are numerous options for the dialogs. So far you have seen text and ontrue. However, this small script has been written for full customizability.
- title – The title of the dialog (Defaults: “Confirm” for confirm and “Alert” for alert)
- text – The text within the body of the dialog (Defaults: “Are you sure?” for confirm.)
- width – The width of the dialog. (Default: 300)
- height - Height of the dialog. (Default: 150)
- text_true – (confirm only) The text for the true button. (Default: “OK”)
- text_false – (confirm only) The text for the false button. (Default: “Cancel”)
- button - (alert only) The text for the only button. (Default: “OK”)
- ontrue - (confirm only) Function callback for true.
- onfalse - (confirm only) Function callback for false
- onclose – Called after the dialog is closed
